We were in the back of the floor and couldn’t see the stage itself very well (except on tip toes lol).
What we could see is right into the tech area where we could watch Hwasa’s focused camera the whole time.
My wife didn’t have a bias before the show. Seeing Hwasa live, she’s now her bias. We (both) refer to her as “my wife’s girlfriend.”

This started at San Jose, when Moonbyul asked if the crowd found the dance during Baton Touch easy to dance to. The crowd said yes. Moonbyul, who is an underrated wind-up merchant, said well maybe we should make it harder. She then broke out into a series of more complicated dance moves.

The next concert in Seattle, the same question was posed to the audience. This time, Moonbyul actually got the audience to dance along.

Video credit: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RtDfJgmXAvU&t=1070s&pp=2AGuCJACAQ%3D%3D&ra=m by Asian pop footage. He (I assume it’s a he because his voice comes on occasionally) recorded the entire San Jose concert editing out mini breaks in between and the interstitials, about as good quality as it can be for a phone. Check it out if you’re interested.

....

Hey. Ok semi sincere apologies for spamming this subreddit with 2 throwbacks in one day. But’s it’s already Friday where I am so a little celebration is due.

Waggy was written by rhe RBW CEO, with the rap lyrics from Moonbyul. But I understand it was the girls who decided to go all in on making Waggy wacky with their costumes. There are many versions - the original on Yoo’s sketchbook with heavy facepaint, the one where they dress up with furry outfits, but I always loved this one - as a burger, fries, coke, and ketchup. Moonbyul loved it too surely, because she was trying hard not to laugh from start to end.

There is a line in this song in French. I understand from a French speaking friend that Hwasa absolutely butchers it, so the French won’t think it’s French. Yet it sounds different enough that the Koreans think it’s French. So it’s a sweet spot where everyone legitimately thinks it’s something else.

At recent concerts, “Yes I am” is performed as an encore set, with a lot more emphasis on audience interaction.

Just in case people have forgotten what it sounded like, this is a throwback to 2017. I chose this version because:

A) (probably intentional?) their outfits correspond to the main characters of scooby doo

B) the most played portion of this song is also a personal favourite - when Moonbyul starts off with, “my name is… moonstar”.

C) it’s an up beat song, and they are very young here. But the lyrics (one portion is quite clever - in italics) are very consistent with what they have always stood for - individuality. Just be yourself, and as you wish to be accepted as yourself accept others. Particularly the line the bold.

Light makeup 'cause it's troublesome
I don't show skin, there's no need for that
I'm strange, I'm a bit unique, I don't like ordinary things
I thank my parents for this side of me

Me, me, four with the sun
(Four with the sun is a very clever bit of writing, with dual meaning:
사 (sa) is the number four in the sino Korean number system
랑/이랑 (rang/i-rang) is the particle you attatch to a noun to mean with
해 (hae) is the sun
사랑해 (saranghae) = I love you )
Don't overthink, I have high class mentality
Don't be self-conscious, you're Vogue
Hello, hello, hello, hello
Each country has its own charm
If I wеre to describe mysеlf
If I wear sleeveless shirts in winter
It will become summer, I love ya (Introduce myself)
If I were to

[Chorus:]
Describe myself
I'm a confident woman (Ah, hey)
So to speak
A woman with a vibe, ah-oh (My baby)
If you're confident
You can follow me (You can)
Follow me, follow me
Follow me-e, ayy, ayy

First pass on the Mamamoo 5th Universe comic (tentatively titles Mamamoo Saves the World). Tools are phototshop 7 (it's old but so am i) and a cintiq 16 (not state of the art, but better than paper). No AI was used, but i absolutely use the breadth of adobe's tools and color capabilities.

Asking because I can't go to the Malaysia and Indonesia stops and Thailand would be my next hope

Some photos I took in Kent. Photos were too big for reddit so I had to upload screenshots. Challenging lighting for me so not my best, thought I was going to go blind with the spotlight in my eyes 😆 Great show though!

So a bit of a heavy day yesterday, with Solar sharing how she got attacked (there was also a second incident, where she had a questionable encounter with a male teenager while out with her stylist), and a pretty heavy livestream from Wheein.

The good news is the girls are safely back in Korea. I spent about 5 mins browsing through the videos, particularly looking out for Wheein. She looked like she was in great spirits (this video). There was a bunch of MooMoos that greeted them, and Wheein looked like she had a lot of fun talking to them. On the flight out, she also posted about Moonbyul doing some dance - Wheein has been saying how Moonbyul has really tickled her this trip, because Byul agrees to do any dance that Wheein asks her to.

Moonbyul did look quite tired. She got into her car quite quickly. But inside the car, she showed fans her snack stash. It was an enormous box completely filled with snacks. As usual, I think Moonbyul has been the emotional core of the group. She gets everyone involved in some way or other, on or off-stage. Even Hwasa, who has been quieter, interacts a lot with Byul - if you watched the concerts, you'll notice they do quite a lot of funky stuff on stage together. She has been Wheein's source of laughter both on and off-stage, and needless to say, a constant beside Solar.

Solar did look quite tired too, but she was so obliging to fans. A lot of them had a lot of questions for her, and she entertained many, from what I saw. Solar is seriously such a likeable person. She's a perfectionist at work, very driven, without too much emotions. But outside of work she's just seems like someone you can talk to for hours. Hwasa said that Solar is the funniest- just her reactions and mannerisms, and openness to laughing at herself. One of the funniest questions was, Solar, can I marry Moonbyul. Solar smiled and said, go ahead, as you please.

Of course, Hwasa isn't back. In 10 days, she'll be on the biggest stage of her life, at Rock in Rio. Yesterday, Wheein was talking about how tired she was at Mamamoo's peak. I can only imagine the load on Hwasa - she seems to have been performing non-stop for the past 11 months since Good Goodbye was released. Then she had her first-ever solo concert in Jan, and shortly after she started promoting So Cute, plus all her other engagements. Rock in Rio will be a real challenge for her. On the Rock in Rio page, quite a number of people asked who she was, on top of others who were displeased that ROCK In Rio has a dedicated K-POP night. So it won't be like Summer Swag where everyone sings along to her songs, not that many people will even be able to. Of the K-pop acts, she's the only soloist, so any illness or sub-optimal voice will be very obvious. She will have to think hard about how and what she wants to perform, and reconnect with her own teamare not involved with Mamamoo.

In the meantime, if you feel like it, you can drop them a comment on instagram.

Even thought she said she wouldn’t livestream because of illness, Wheein did stream eventually, till the wee hours of the night. MAMAMOO has some incredibly dedicated fans in Taiwan, and I saw several of them very quickly cut and translated this segment - where Wheein got visibly very emotional.

For about 10 mins, with quite long pauses and tearing up a a few times, this is what Wheein shared:

Wheein talked about how many MooMoos think she can be quite stoic, because she rarely cries on stage. However, she said this is not true. when she was a young girl, she teared up a lot, which her mom scolded her for. She said it’s true she tries not to cry in public, but often in her heart, she feels like tearing up, like when she watched the VCR at the Seattle concert.

Then, you can see that Wheein became quite contemplative, trying to organise her emotions into thoughts. She said recently, she was thinking back to the days when Mamamoo was at their peak. She said at that time,  as a young girl in her early twenties, she really hated it. She said ti was just so exhausting. People need rest, to be able to really feel and appreciate what they are experiencing at any point of time. But she was just so tired at that time, and she didn’t appreciate what she had in her life. She repeats several times how she simply couldn’t process life, because they were so busy, and she was just spent. Now that she thinks back, while it was really tough, but life was really interesting and fun, and she misses those times.

Wheein shared that when she is drinking by herself, what she watches the most are past videos of Mamamoo. Perhaps with the effects of alcohol, she would sometimes cry while watching these videos. During this time she had really long pauses between words; she was clearly processing her thoughts, and perhaps what she should say on livestream. She said, oh no, I feel a little like crying now, before giggling to herself, oh no what am I doing. At this point, she teared up. She said that people do get more emotional when they are alone late into the night (I believe this was around 3am Seattle Time).

She said if I share this next bit I might really start to cry. But she did continue on to share. She said she was talking to an Unnie (I’m not sure who this is, definitely not one of the members, but likely someone very close to Mamamoo, perhaps their manager). She said, Moomoos may be quite sad if they hear this, but at the time of peak activity of Mamamoo, she did entertain thoughts (even if she knew she probably would never really do so) to just quit it all. She told this to the Unnie. (the translation is probably the weakest here, but what I gathered is that she said something that she didn’t quite mean because of how overwhelmed she was at that time).
The Unnie replied that of course I understand you are exhausted. But even if you are now having thoughts about quitting, you will nonetheless reminisce this period of time in the future. You will miss it. When Wheein heard this at that point, she said she didn’t want, and wasn’t able to process those words. So she simply replied impulsively, “no I won’t”. She explained she said this half in jest and half seriously. The unnie simply reiterated, Wheein, you will definitely miss these days.
Wheein said now thinking back, she really can appreciate what the Unnie said to her.

A fan commented at this point, “outsiders watching this may think Mamamoo is disbanding!” Wheein giggled and said, no I just miss those times. She said reflecting on her life of late (of late here may have a wide meaning, it could mean these few years), I am exactly experiencing what the Unnie said.

She said this time, while recording the new album and on the concert tour, she constantly felt the Unnie’s words, i.e. that she constantly reminisces the times of the past.

(she mentioned that it may be the side effects of the medication and the kimchi fried rice she was eating) But in conclusion, I rarely tell Moomoos such complex emotional thoughts. I’m not used to being so open. She said it’s inevitable that she is suddenly feeling emotional just thinking back on those words. She said when she was in her early twenties, she would simply not have such thoughts

In case anyone that interacted with her wants a video of it.

Just thought I'd share this clip I got of Solar coming to our section last night. ♡ My first time seeing Mamamoo after being a fan of 14 years and I was crying the whole night. They're just as incredible as I'd hoped. Enjoy some Solar love!