May is over and rainy season has begun in Thailand. It's crazy to think that at the beginning of this month when I was celebrating BamBam's birthday it was 42°c and now it's raining everyday and so cool I don't even need to use my fan! Other than the heat I've had a lot of personal stuff to deal with this month which has seen me take an unexpected step back from being active online, however it is always good to take a break every so often and I'll probably continue this break into June whilst I organise everything for my trip back to the UK in July. I hope you are all well and the weather is much better where you are ....
BamBam a member of my favourite K-pop group GOT7 recently hosted his first ever solo fanmeet in his home country of Thailand, a tour of five cities and a total of seven shows with his three Bangkok shows being completely sold out and only a handful of tickets remaining for the other five shows. There was no doubt in my mind of his popularity here with his adverts for Vivo, AIS, CP and other brands all over the country, you literally can't walk five minutes without seeing his face somewhere. Despite his obvious popularity BamBam still remains shy and humble even doing a livestream with the fans the night before ticket sales expressing his fears about doing is solo show and that nobody will want to come see him.
Tickets for his first two Bangkok shows sold out in just a few hours and unfortunately I was not able to get one, however they announced an additional show and as I was an AIS customer I was able to get access to the pre-sale so was able to get a ticket for his first night. I was very much looking forward to BamBam's fanmeet as he's such a natural performer, with a very artistic vision (even filming & editing his own videos) I knew he would put on a special show. I've been following BamBam since about 2016 and seen him grow up before my eyes yet still remain very childlike, sometimes he feels like my little brother as I relate a lot to what he says about growing up abroad and wanting the best for your family, so I always try to support him as much as I can in all the activities he does, be it group or solo. He has such a genuine love and appreciation for his fans just recently saying on an episode of GOT7 Real Thai:
"We inspire each other. I want to grow up together with them and I hope that we will be together for a long time. I hope to see them be successful in their life. Someday in the future, I’d like to see a fan who is studying right now graduate then you guys can tag me to let me see! And those of you who are going to get married, let me see too! I believe both of us want to see each other’s achievements. Let’s grow up together!"
I arrived at the venue around midday and at first wasn't going to buy merchandise but somehow found myself in the queue and as expected everything sold out within a few hours, normally if I was planning to buy merch I would have arrived much earlier in the morning to start lining up but despite arriving much later and being quite far back in line I luckily managed to get myself the last t-shirt and also some free posters and stickers from the sponsored booths there. After that I picked up my souvenir ticket and I grabbed myself some food and coffee at the mall next door while I waited for the doors to open and the show to start.
The show exceeded all expectations and was absolutely amazing proving BamBam as an all round performer, not only can he sing, rap and dance but he can write and compose his own songs to, premiering a new song "Black Feather" which was made especially for the occasion. The styling was beautiful to, from the stage imagery to each of the outfits he wore, I adore how fearless Bam is when it comes to fashion he really knows how to style himself. There was also a section in the show where he talked to us about GOT7, growing up and his hopes and dreams which really warmed my heart, BamBam has such a genuine love for his GOT7 members. BamBam also gave a chance for those of us in the audience to come on stage and play games with him, even though I wasn't selected I still had the best time watching everyone playing on stage together and laughed so much, Bam is such an adorable kid and seeing his interaction with fans no matter age or gender is really heart warming, he treats everyone like we're his family and is always very respectful even when he's joking around with us.
The biggest highlight for me was when Nichkhun of 2PM arrived on stage to support him and sing Hand's Up together, after their performance Nichkhun stayed to play games with more lucky audience members, again I wasn't chosen but our side of the stage was declared Nichkhun's Team and after some hilarious mishaps and confusion we won, as we scored the winning point we began cheering only for him to tell us to be quiet and that he's still trying to play the game haha! I love how cute they are with us. Nichkhun wasn't the only person there supporting him though, his mother and aunties were sat just a couple rows in front of me and at the back of the hall fellow GOT7 member Mark sat along with his friend Randy who had flown in from Korea the night before especially to support him. You could just feel the love for BamBam in every inch of the room, everyone adores Bam and don't have a bad word to say about him, he inspires so many to be better people while working hard to achieve success not just for himself but those around him, which is very admirable.
After the show was hi-touch and I was lucky enough to be one of those people, this was my first hi-touch experience with a GOT7 member and I was nervous yet excited, there were a lot of people with hi-touch that night and I was kinda worried that I would miss the last train home so it was a rushed experience but a very sweet one. As I stepped up for my turn to hi-five him as saw his big smile, his crinkly eyes and chubby cheeks my mind went blank and I forgot all the things I was going to say to him only managing to squeak out "Baaaaam" as out hands clumsily met, we nodded at each other politely and he ended the exchange with a low pitched "ขอบคุณครับ" (thank you) and that was the end of a magical night. BamBam came from very humble beginnings and has achieved so much in his life, and seeing him standing on stage living out his dreams makes me very proud of him, he's matured yet remained the same good kid he always was and I can't wait to see the heights his career takes him to next.
Today is BamBam from GOT7's birthday and Bangkok right now is looking like Bam's kingdom with not just his usual adverts all over the city but fans funding their own special birthday adverts as well as hosting special cafe and gallery events to celebrate the occasion to. Today I'm planning on celebrating by visiting B'Chill his family owned and run cafe and wanted to do an extra something special for my homeboy to celebrate with all of you who can't be in Thailand right now so I thought I would also host a giveaway in his honour.
♥The Prizes♥
GQ Thailand BamBam Cover Edition
CP Sausage BamBam Poster
It's Skin BamBam Bamboo Sheet Mask
Fan support cards & stickers
For your chance to win, be sure to follow all the details and rules in the widget below, the giveaway is open to everyone worldwide and closes on May 31st when winner will be randomly selected, please also make sure to leave a valid email address that I can contact you with should you win as if there's no response after 7 days I will select another person for the prize.
