Yesterday, I went for Farenheit's autograph session at IMM. This is my second autography session in my entire life.
Judging from their popularity regionally, as well as my previous experiences (either as an attender or just a watcher), I knew I had to go very early for there'll certainly be a lot of people queuing as well. I went straight after lunch, and arrived IMM at around two, four hours before the autograph session, but I was shocked to see that the fans were already queuing out of the mall and into the carpark. I think these fans might have arrived since the mall opened for business yesterday! I quickly called Amai to informed her of the situation, because she wanted to come as well, but was not about to leave that soon. On hearing my report, she immediately dashed out of her house. Well lucky for her that I was already in the queue, or else by the time she arrived at her orginally planned timing, she'd most likely have to queue up to the open space in front of the mall.
The queue started to move at around 5.30pm, and in a matter of seconds, Amai and I were already standing inside the mall. Though we were granted entry already, the stars of the event did not turn up until around 6 something. Their appearance onto the stage immediately resulted in screams from their fans, but as we were still far away from the stage, we weren't able to see or hear much. As if this was not bad enough, it was made worse by the poor crowd control yesterday. I would not want to blame it on the security personnel hired for the event, but the management did not set up enough barricade for the queue, and many thick-skinned fans were actually cutting queue at various points in the human chain, resulting in our queue not moving at all for at least the first 2 hours. I even met a group of hypocritical young girls who purposely made loud sacarstic remarks about people cutting into their queue, but in the end they themselves resorted to such despicable moves.
The queue started to move a bit about a long wait, and everytime the queue inched a bit, everyone behind would be pushing and rushing. Fortunately, though it was a bit chaotic, nothing drastic really took place. As I moved closer and closer to the central stage, the queue cleared faster, and by around 9.30, half an hour before the official ending time for the autograph session, I could finally see the stage, as well as the four members of Fahrenheit. It was a long and tiring wait, but actually, it was equally tiring for Fahrenheit because they had been signing for hours, only taking about 5 minutes of intermission break. I guessed like us, they had not even taken their dinner yet. Therefore, as a token of appreciation, I decided not to say the usual "Oh-how-I-support-you" kind of standardised phrases, but thanked them for their autograph and also to acknowledge their tiring effort. They were still very friendly and replied that they did not find it tiring. Well it may be just out of courtesy that they said that, but at least they replied, unlike some stars or actors who were only keen to sign autographs and make you disappear from their faces immediately. As for Jiro, I gave him some words of encouragement as well, as I knew he wasn't feeling too good lately. He was kind of surprised by my words, but as with his chracter of acting tough, he gave me the "I'm-fine-thank-you" kind of gesture. That's so typical of him!
Amai and I left at around 10pm, feeling contented that our programme booklet for Fahrenheit's album was finally signed. The quartet was actually scheduled to sing one last song after the autograph session closed, but we did not want to linger around any further as we need to take care of our stomachs. So what's my impression of each individual member of Fahrenheit? Chun was more focused on his work; he was eager to finish signing every album he was presented, but it was also because of his focus in his work that made him spent relatively less time interacting with the fans. Aaron was the most shy among the four, and hence talk much as well. Jiro was the friendliest and was always smiling widely. Calvin seemed very approachable too, and is a good talker. In short, all of them are rather nice. See you around, Fahrenheit!
Judging from their popularity regionally, as well as my previous experiences (either as an attender or just a watcher), I knew I had to go very early for there'll certainly be a lot of people queuing as well. I went straight after lunch, and arrived IMM at around two, four hours before the autograph session, but I was shocked to see that the fans were already queuing out of the mall and into the carpark. I think these fans might have arrived since the mall opened for business yesterday! I quickly called Amai to informed her of the situation, because she wanted to come as well, but was not about to leave that soon. On hearing my report, she immediately dashed out of her house. Well lucky for her that I was already in the queue, or else by the time she arrived at her orginally planned timing, she'd most likely have to queue up to the open space in front of the mall.
The queue started to move at around 5.30pm, and in a matter of seconds, Amai and I were already standing inside the mall. Though we were granted entry already, the stars of the event did not turn up until around 6 something. Their appearance onto the stage immediately resulted in screams from their fans, but as we were still far away from the stage, we weren't able to see or hear much. As if this was not bad enough, it was made worse by the poor crowd control yesterday. I would not want to blame it on the security personnel hired for the event, but the management did not set up enough barricade for the queue, and many thick-skinned fans were actually cutting queue at various points in the human chain, resulting in our queue not moving at all for at least the first 2 hours. I even met a group of hypocritical young girls who purposely made loud sacarstic remarks about people cutting into their queue, but in the end they themselves resorted to such despicable moves.
The queue started to move a bit about a long wait, and everytime the queue inched a bit, everyone behind would be pushing and rushing. Fortunately, though it was a bit chaotic, nothing drastic really took place. As I moved closer and closer to the central stage, the queue cleared faster, and by around 9.30, half an hour before the official ending time for the autograph session, I could finally see the stage, as well as the four members of Fahrenheit. It was a long and tiring wait, but actually, it was equally tiring for Fahrenheit because they had been signing for hours, only taking about 5 minutes of intermission break. I guessed like us, they had not even taken their dinner yet. Therefore, as a token of appreciation, I decided not to say the usual "Oh-how-I-support-you" kind of standardised phrases, but thanked them for their autograph and also to acknowledge their tiring effort. They were still very friendly and replied that they did not find it tiring. Well it may be just out of courtesy that they said that, but at least they replied, unlike some stars or actors who were only keen to sign autographs and make you disappear from their faces immediately. As for Jiro, I gave him some words of encouragement as well, as I knew he wasn't feeling too good lately. He was kind of surprised by my words, but as with his chracter of acting tough, he gave me the "I'm-fine-thank-you" kind of gesture. That's so typical of him!
Amai and I left at around 10pm, feeling contented that our programme booklet for Fahrenheit's album was finally signed. The quartet was actually scheduled to sing one last song after the autograph session closed, but we did not want to linger around any further as we need to take care of our stomachs. So what's my impression of each individual member of Fahrenheit? Chun was more focused on his work; he was eager to finish signing every album he was presented, but it was also because of his focus in his work that made him spent relatively less time interacting with the fans. Aaron was the most shy among the four, and hence talk much as well. Jiro was the friendliest and was always smiling widely. Calvin seemed very approachable too, and is a good talker. In short, all of them are rather nice. See you around, Fahrenheit!
1 comment:
Wow... No wonder Mai said its an experience and achievement :) Good to know that they are friendly.. at least it makes the support and waiting "worth while". xj
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