The smell of thousands of sweating people packed into an arena, the piercing sound of screaming fans, the feeling of buzzing in your feet, chest, and fingertips from the booming bass. These are just a few of the components that go into a concert. Whether you’ve been to one, two, three or fifty concerts, each one is an experience to remember. Some are so amazingly put together that the memory just sparkles in your mind, and some are so terrible that you want to forget but can’t.

At 1 am October 2, 2018 my two friends, Allina and Rachel, and I woke up to go to a BTS concert – my first concert. Because we got pit tickets, we wanted to get there super early and get a good spot in line. When we arrived at about 2:30 am we saw a line of tents that wrapped around the corner on the side of the street and our stomachs dropped.

Approaching the venue we were asked if we had gotten wristbands yet. Apparently there were people who had camped in front of the United Center for seven days waiting for this BTS concert, and they contacted the people from the venue to set up an unofficial wristband system. If everyone followed the rules of the line then the United Center would take the number of the unofficial wristbands as your spot. My original number was 247 of the over 1000 in the pit.

After getting the unofficial wristbands we had seven hours to kill in the line. This is the time where most people sleep in their tents, but no, we didn’t have a tent. We didn’t have a blanket. We didn’t have chairs. We just had a bag of food and the clothes on our backs.

The first few hours were a bit chilly and very, very quiet, but once the sun came up, the people came out of their tents. Time to make friends.

It’s strange how you can not even know someone’s name, but still have a connection based on one single event. Because we all loved BTS enough to stay in a line for hours on end, we all had that connection.
Rachel, Allina, and I drew murals on the sidewalk with chalk and watched people’s reaction as they walked past with their phones out taking pictures. We placed random pictures of BTS members on the ground and on lampposts and waited for people to pick them up and chuckle at their favorite member’s silly face.

At 10 am we formed the unofficial line. In this formation we got to make stronger connections because we would be around these people for a couple hours. We talked about our favorite members, favorite dances, and more.

Some people brought speakers with them and started playing their favorite songs. At this time the campers started doing the choreography to the songs. It was like we were having our own little party on the side of the street.

Around 1 PM a buzz went through the crowd and the line slowly moved forward because the United Center workers started giving out official wristbands. Everyone’s heartbeat sped up in anticipation.

As we moved closer we saw people sprinting around the venue to get to the merch tables. Once we got our official wristbands – I ended up being number 213 – we joined in the mass pandemonium and sprinted to the next line filled with hundreds of out of breath teenagers.

This is where we counted up our money we had been saving for months and figured out what we wanted to buy at the front of the line, but as we got closer to the T-shirts, posters, and pickets, more and more sold out stickers were being put up on the banner.

I saw the T-shirt I wanted was sold out and the picket I wanted was sold out as well, so I went to my second choices. This is when Rachel told me she didn’t have enough for the picket she wanted. In secret, I put the picket she wanted down on my order.

Once we got out of that mess of a line, we laid out what we bought. Then I pulled out that Taehyung picket and Rachel’s eyes lit up. She was so happy; she didn’t stop thanking me for a solid five minutes.

After we collected our things, we prepared our minds for the final line. For me, it had still not set in that I was going to see my favorite band in just a few short hours.

The final line was full of jitters. Everyone had gotten dressed in their concert clothes and we were ready to see our boys. The doors opening was like pulling the drain in the bathtub. Everyone rushed forward to get in as fast as they could.

When I took my first step into the pit I was overwhelmed with the sheer size of the arena. Looking up at the highest seats, I saw what looked like little doll chairs.

Once the initial shock wore off, we went up as close as we could get to the bar – two rows back. But this isn’t where it ends, no.

All of a sudden everyone squashed over to the right. Someone fainted. Security guards rushed in. All I could hear is “Is she okay?” “What happened?” “Does she have to miss the concert now?” I am so close to the person in front of me that I can feel her heartbeat through her back; she moved her head back and hit me in the face. The girl who fainted is carried out of the arena.

People rush into the open space where the fainted girl was, so we end up shifted towards the right instead of in the middle like we were originally. We were fine with it though, because we also got shifted a bit further up in the rows.

By this time, the concert was about to start. The fans started chanting. The lights dimmed. We saw seven heads emerge from the main stage, and my eardrums were blasted with piercing screams.

The concert was a blur. It was absolutely amazing. I was so close to my absolute favorite band members for three hours. I heard them sing, I saw them dance, and I saw them goof around on stage.

After the lights came back up, we stood in place for a few seconds before silently walking outside. Rachel, Allina, and I sat down on the cool concrete and took some deep breaths. My calves were burning from standing on my tiptoes the whole concert, my head hurt from lack of sleep, and my stomach growled because we lived off of only applesauce and Belvita for 21 hours.

A few minutes later we all looked up and laughed. We had finally seen them up close and in person, but even to this day they don’t seem real.