Jasmine Khan, Dubai

My long-time wish to attend a BLACKPINK concert and witness Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé, and Lisa perform live on stage came true with their Born Pink World Tour announcement post their long-awaited album release titled, “Born Pink.” As soon as I got to know, Abu Dhabi, is one of the venue destinations, I made up my mind to attend this concert as this venue was the most feasible for me to travel and attend. The concert took place on 28th January 2023, at Etihad Park, Yas Island, Abu Dhabi. Here’s my experience of attending this concert, covered on behalf of Hallyuism.

Ticket Booking Experience

First of all, starting with the ticket booking experience for Blackpink’s concert; that was relatively smooth compared to my dread of not being able to secure the tickets at all. I was able to book my tickets from Ticket Master’s Middle East website. The price for the ticket was set at AED 350 (Rs. 7500 approx.) for General Admission and AED 1,350 (Rs. 30000 approx.) for Sound Check. The process was simple, one has to create an account on the website beforehand, choose the event, seat type (General Admissions and Sound Check were the two options to choose from), number of seats, and proceed to complete the payment. If you had Weverse membership, you would be able to book tickets during pre-sale. I was able to secure tickets for the General Admissions area when the tickets went live for the public sale.

Concert Experience

I arrived at the concert venue when the soundcheck had already begun, but that couldn’t stop me from listening to the girls practice as they all were pretty audible from the outside of the venue. Shortly after, there were queue for the general admissions audience, and there were multiple gates to get through upon scanning the tickets and passing through the security. Upon entry, there were two zones dedicated to merch line and food & drinks for people to make purchases while they wait. I took a few snacks and water to stock up on my energy once I entered the audience area. To my surprise, there was an additional beverages and dining section, which means you can easily order food and drinks while enjoying the concert, which was a plus point that at no given point one is going to be low on energy as there were easy accessibility to walk in and walk around the venue. In the General Admissions area, there was no dedicated seating zone, so one could probably take up their space on a first come first basis. While waiting, a lot of people came prepared with their picnic mat sort of arrangement to sit and enjoy the music that was playing before the concert started. All in all, it was a fun festival vibe.

Just as we were getting comfortable at the venue, all lights went off, and with a thump; the concert begun with a VR titled Enchanted Garden that was just as its name very enchanting and had the audience mesmerised entirely with the members’ beauty and aura and making all of us excited for their entry on stage in anticipation. All those who were sitting previously, stood up and geared up for the members’ entry on the stage that was just as captivating as the visuals on the VR.

The set list of the concert was solid right from the start as the performance began with the banger song How You Like That, followed by power packed performances on Pretty Savage, Whistle, Don’t Know What to Do, and Lovesick Girls. For the interlude of the concert, all members performed on some of their latest releases from their newest album, Born Pink, along with some of their most memorable tracks from their discography such as Kill This Love, Crazy Over You, Playing with Fire, Tally, and Pink Venom. What made the concert all the more enthusiastic was that everyone in the audience were equally engaging by singing along the lyrics as well as dancing on the beats making the entire concert feel like a festival. Not shortly after, the stages were prepared for each members’ solo, starting with Jisoo, who gave a scintillating performance on the cover of Liar (originally by Camilla Cabello). Followed by Jisoo, Rosé took over the stage and performed on two songs, Hard to Love and On the Ground, that were testament to the fact that she is a top-tier vocalist! What took me to surprise was Jennie’s solo stage which as per my expectations was not the SOLO song performance, but an unreleased song ‘You & Me’ that she performed with her dance partner, and she nailed it and I really hope this song is released officially some day! Last but not the least, was the powerhouse of BLACKPINK, LISA who raised the energy of the audience by just her presence! With back to back performances on her hit tracks Lalisa and Money, she surely lit the stage on fire and that too with her trademark smile constantly on her face. This girl is meant to be a performer and of all the solo stages, she was undoubtedly my favourite from that evening!!

Solo stages were accompanied by four more highly anticipated tracks performances, namely, Shut Down, Typa Girl (that I was pretty much excited for, as this was one of my favourite tracks from the Born Pink album), DDU-DU-DDU-DU, and Forever Young. There were a few moments of breaks before the Encore started during which all the members were again back on stage and were just as giggly and excited, while performing on Yeah Yeah Yeah, Stay (Remix version), and As If It’s Your Last! With a setlist of nearly 23 tracks, the concert was approaching towards the end, but it certainly didn’t feel like one.

Memorable Moments

There were various moments from this concert that are etched in my heart as precious memories. One of those, was the early celebration of Rosé’s birthday on stage, where a cake with flowers and messages was organised by the UAE’s Blink fanbase. The girls were taking pictures of Rosé from different angles while singing her the birthday song with the fans in crowd, which was a very wholesome moment to see. There was also the Blink ocean with the pink lightsticks also known as Blinksticks, waiving from back to front on command of Lisa and Rosé which made the entire crowd come together as one and look pretty beautiful.

I was also pleasantly surprised to see the diverse groups of fans among the crowd as there was no age limit to it. The best part of the crowd that attended the concert was that there were fans who belonged to all ages and cultures. There were grandparents attending the concert with their grandkids, from teenagers to office goers, couples, families, group of men to Emirati women in hijab; all were present to enjoy the concert that was not a single barrier due to language or culture differences, and this was a beautiful sight to experience all around. It felt like a picnic at some point in to the concert, where people gathered together to just have pure and unfiltered fun. There was a dedicated eating and drinking section at a walkable distance from the audience area. The crowd was disciplined despite a major section of the concert venue being a standing area. Everyone was chill and vibing throughout, as well as jumping and dancing truly immersed in the concert. On top of that the weather was just perfect, even though it took place in the month of January, in Abu Dhabi, the weather was just perfectly pleasant and not chilling to attend an outdoor open event like this!

During their speakers’ note part, all the members seemed thankful and grateful to such an enthusiastic crowd because this was their first time performing in a Middle East country, and especially Jennie, who mentioned that she was equally nervous coming across a new audience, but all her worries were put to an ease as the crowd was very respectful and receptive towards the girls. They felt welcomed and happy throughout their stay and visit for Abu Dhabi’s concert. They were constantly looking out for each other. Coming such words from them truly made me appreciate all the hard work and efforts that goes into pulling off such concerts at a scale, and how much rewarding it would have felt when the idols or groups are reciprocated with the same love and energy that they pour into making every bit of the moment count. Because for many, having the privilege to attend such events is a lifetime experience, and I truly felt grateful and lucky at that moment, getting an opportunity to be able to attend one! Even though attending a concert in person, and reading the experience of attending one are truly incomparable, but I hope all those who have read this, could live through from my eyes my experience of attending a BLACKPINK concert and I really hope you all get to attend such concerts too.

Tell us in the comment your thoughts and how you would feel if you get to attend a concert of your favourite artist!