[Experience] Hope World Getaway: Hope on the Stage in Chicago (Rosemont) Day 1 & 2 + MNCR POP-UP

             .・゜✭・𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘱 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 : ̗̀➛𝘏𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥

⠀ ┊͙ ˘͈ᵕ˘͈ sweet dreams come after hours ┊ ˚➶ ｡˚ :cloud:

⠀⠀«﹙Day 01﹚: hope world landing.⭑ :black_joker:

I arrived at chicago at 3:00 PM and went check out the sweat dreams themed cupcakes and banana pudding at magnolia bakery.

I went in a bit later in the afternoon, and the line was still SO long. I only managed to get the cupcakes; last one for the day! I got a bit lucky.

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cupcake rating: 7/10 - the design was so pretty   (honestly didn’t even want to eat it). It tasted, though, like any other cupcake; good!

pudding rating: 10/10 - i had the pudding before, not hobi-themed, but it was sooooo tasty. genuinely THE best pudding i’ve ever had. so smooth and had the perfect banana flavor.

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after that, I just went back to the hotel. we (the army group i went with) were so close to the allstate arena! only a 5-minute walk! for dinner, we just got chicago deep-dished pizza and drank somaek! so good.

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the area we stayed in was like town, where a bunch of hotels surrounded the arena because the airport was also nearby. so, it felt like a bts town where almost ALL the cars in the parking lots had bts stickers on them. such a beautiful sight. i go in the hotel, i see an army. i’m go out the hotel, i see an army. it just made me super happy.

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⠀⠀«﹙Day 02﹚: d-day! hope day! ☻   :black_joker:      

I woke up at 3:00 AM, got ready, and arrived at the merch line around 4:30 AM. I was 96th in line, but I saw a few friends a bit in the front, and got in their line LOL. probably around 80th in line.

the goal was to stand in the cold from 4:00 AM to 10:00 AM (when the merch goes on sale). so, that’s a total 6 hours in the cold, midwest weather. fyi, it was also snowing the day before!

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we had to run to starbucks and the nearby target a few times for warmth. so many freebies were gathered through this experience! armys are always so kind and generous! some armys also started blasting BTS songs so the wait wouldn’t feel so long.

1x chipmunk, 1x rosemont acorn, 1x lucky draw, 1x album lucky draw, 1x sweat hoodie & zip up hoodie, 1x blanket

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may or may not have splurged too much but at least i got the acorn! the acorn was the main item that kept selling out for Seoul and NYC shows, but for Chicago they decided to start limiting one acorn per person.

(it’s literally so cute guys I can’t)

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The monochrome pop-up was set up in a way where we did not have to stand in line in-person, the line was online with a queue number (so genius). when the number goes down to 10 people in front, it send you a automated text message.

If you look on the website, they have a map of the d stores you can visit as you wait in the virtual line. the line actually wasn’t that long and it only took us around 40 minutes, so we were only able to visit the choc choc skin care. do note the map is very deceiving, the stores look close together but it was actually like a 15 minute walk.

the aesthetic is very up my valley so I spent so much… again.

2x monochrome t-shirt, 1x jitb weverse album. this purchase totaled up to be over $100 so i got the port cover, luggage tag (over $50) and keyring freebie (keyring is only for those who have HOS tickets)

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៸៸ :thought_balloon: ... concert time !   ִֶָ   

doors opens at 6:00 PM for the concert so we started to head back at around 5:00 PM to get ready.

literally the walk for my mental health, because I almost bursted into tears when I got inside the arena. last time i saw a bts member was back in 2023 in seoul for yoongi :(

was worried the seats wasn’t going to be good, since it was so hard getting tickets this time. i got in the queue and 8000 people were in front of me. by the time i was in, floor tickets and vip tickets were long gone. but actually it wasn’t bad! we were in the dead center of our section and the arena was pretty small so i still saw hobi so very clearly.

i got a really good view of the ocean. such a sight to behold in the hope world. i love armys so much. made me quite emotional.

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៸៸ :thought_balloon: ... commentary time !   ִֶָ  

alrighttttt. my experience! phewwww!!! how do I even start! first of all, mr. jung hoseok DEFINITELY outfreaked mr. seven days a WEEK. he was SO charismatic on stage, it’s like he revealed to us a brand new side of him we have NEVER seen before. i was so shocked-actually shocked is literally an understatement because he was just so attractive on stage. everything about that man, he was BORN to be on stage; i can’t say this enough.

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staring off with “what if” i literally screamed so damn loud. he. was. staring. straight. into. my. SOUL. while rapping in a RASPY VOICE. HELLO? i can only handle so much. not to mention his OUTFIT??? I was genuinely blown away. he was so sensual with his movements it was actually insane. he’s now a grown man and you can TELL!!!! his charms have doubled by a HUNDRED. “Arson” was exactly like this too with that red leather outfit of his!!!!! it’s like double kill.

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”STOP” was a song i was looking forward to the most in the setlist and gosh. my appreciation for this song goes beyond its lyrics! the beat, the flow ugh everything! and it was so remarkable LIVE. my ear was blessed. the fan-chant for this song was incredible.

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the dancey part of the setlist with four songs from the HOTS album, genuinely put me at a loss of words. wow. just: the dancer he is. i just love how he made this tour so uniquely him because i have NEVER seen anyone go on about concert production like this. from him demonstrating his ion for dance on stage, to him showing his appreciation for the street dance community by giving his background dancers the spotlight majority of the time was just incredible. he is so irable. i love seeing him in his zone, you can tell dance makes him the happiest. our talented dancer from gwangju.

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SWEET DREAMS !!!! OH MYGOSH i didn’t expect myself to know the lyrics so well so the fan-chant was SOO FUN. i had so much fun with this song. ARMYs voice was so loud and pretty for Miguel’s verse.

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MONA LISA !!!! LET ME ENLIGHTEN YOU BECAUSE THAT SONG HAD ME HORRIFIED. Hoseok is so attractive guys it’s actually not funny anymore, it’s like dangerous. he knows too. he likes his girls employed and confident. i love it.

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”baseline” and “hangsang” i recorded it all, but let me tell you i cannot post a single one of them because i was screaming way too loud. the fanchant was LOUD and everyone knew the song bar for bar. it was so fun.

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of course we have to mention “mic drop.” army screamed so loud for this one. fanchant? on POINT. the “mianhae eomma” was so loud hobi literally got so shocked he let out a “WOW!”can’t wait for ot7 reunion. we’re all craving it given how excited we were for mic drop.

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equal sign, future and neuron genuinely made me cry so bad. the neuron chants had be BAWLING like he loves us so much and army loves him RIGHT BACK. we’re all in this bangtan sonyeondan sht forever.

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that concludes day 1! I am so grateful for this unique experience. you can always expect bts to give their 200% and that was exactly what it was. the setlist was perfect, showcasing years of his artistry. you can tell the concert was intricately produced, so meaningful to both the fans and j-hope. every moment of the concert just made sense. it showed us what was important to him and how he has matured, almost like he introduced himself to us again but now, the best version of himself. he’s come such a long way to now holding his own solo concert and to say armys are proud him is just such an understatement.

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many have mentioned that throughout his tour so far, j-hope was a lot more comfortable with armys. and i have to say, this observation is very accurate. even though the d-day tour felt more intimate, you can also see how much trust a member have accumulated over time for armys through j-hope’s solo concerts this time. the interactions j-hope had with armys were all so close and wholesome so far. i hope we can maintain this mutual respect and trust in the future, so we can have more interactions like those equal sign moments where j-hope did not feel pressured nor unsafe to lean into the crowd. oh yes! the crowds this time for chicago and throughout the shows were all so wholesome; armys were all trying to live in the moment and i love that for us.

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⠀⠀«﹙Day 03﹚: pcd round 2.⭑ :black_joker:

day 2 was the result of post-concert depression and so we grabbed tickets on stub-hub very impulsively. it was very much worth it.

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having a side view was genuinely so perfect for day 2 because we saw the whole stage day 1, and now we get to see hobi way closer.

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hoseok baepsae-ed on our side day 2!!! i’ll have to ask my friend for her really stable video during the hip thrust because my video was everywhere! i could not keep my phone still for the life of me.

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hangsang with hobi!

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outro: ego. so loud once again. we all miss bts.

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day 2 we sat in a much louder crowd so the fan-chants were even louder! so much fun! i also loveeeed the army time for day 2; armys were getting really creative and sneaky with the signs and so we saw so many “bts is seven” and ones asking about yoongi as a reminder that he is so loved. it was soooo wholesome.

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that concludes day 2! every moment in the hope world was filled with so much joy and love. thank you, hobi for giving us such an amazing performance. you were incredible. i came out of the two shows having newfound appreciation for hobi. congratulations on wrapping up your north america tour! i’ll see you in korea for encore, maybe. LOL!

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almost forgot to mention!!! while we were heading back for when doors open, we saw hobi and his dance crew doing the mona lisa tiktok dance challenge! the ones where there were giant red trucks behind them!!!! we were SO close, but we were in the uber. which, even if we weren’t, i would’ve still given him privacy but it was just so crazy to think about.

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⠀⠀«﹙Day —﹚: departing hope world?.⭑ :black_joker:

everything i got in hope world! (not even everything) i also managed to get the hobi money from a friend that was in the vip section for day 2 LOL.

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thank you so much for another core memory BTS! you make up the brightest days of my life.

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┊ ˚➶ ｡˚ :cloud: 𝘌𝘹𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘏𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 ♡̩̥̩♡̩̩̥͙♡̩͙ˊˎ﹤