Music Elixir
Eavesdrop on a conversation between two friends about their favorite Asian artists and music and how music is their tonic of life.
Music Elixir
Skzoofoofoos, Ticket Scams, And A Tour That Vanished
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The weirdest part of being a music fan right now is how often you have to play detective. We’re seeing fake merch that looks almost right, resale tickets that flip to “invalid,” and tour info that changes before agencies say a word. So we sat down to sort through the latest K-pop chaos with clear eyes and a little humor, because sometimes laughing is the only way to stay sane.
We start with our own “deep fake” merch moment, then jump into girl group whiplash: Secret Number’s ongoing member exits and the bigger question of what happens when a group name outlives the actual lineup and promotions. From there, we talk about the i-dle North America tour cancellation rumors spreading through fans and Ticketmaster pages, plus why silence from the source makes everything feel ten times worse.
Then we zoom out to the ticketing system itself. We break down resale culture, scalpers, platinum pricing, and the Live Nation Ticketmaster antitrust verdict, including what it could mean for fees, venue power, and how tours get routed. We also get into HYBE and BigHit’s sharper stance on BTS-related leaks, counterfeit merchandise, defamation, and privacy violations, and why this crackdown feels like a turning point across the industry.
We wrap with some joy: Monsta X VIP excitement, and BTS interview moments that show how the guys are navigating fame, boundaries, and pure chaos. If you’ve ever been burned by ticket fees or tempted by a too-cheap listing, you’ll want to hear this one. Subscribe, share with a fellow fan, and leave us a rating and review so more listeners can find Music Elixir.
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OK ASIA
April News Whiplash
SPEAKER_03Thank you for joining us here at Music Elixir. I'm Sattershe, and with me is Miss DJ Panic. And we're gonna be doing sort of another all over the place talk. We have a bunch of topics. There's so much. We're just gonna match together.
Spotting Fake Merch In The Wild
SPEAKER_02April seems to be wow. There's something happened in cosmic in April that so much have been revealed and happening, and we're just like, oh my god, what's going on? I know. I mean, on our last uh ransom rambling, we talked about um SM really putting people out there in prison. Mm-hmm. Then also start to entertainment, putting another statement for legal action against some, you know, other individuals just being heinous. You know? I know, yeah. We're like, oh my god. And I'm like, well, you know, we're happy that things like this is happening because it's there's just way too much. Way too much fake. Oh, yeah, fakes, too much, you know, people just being out of control, and it's just like, oh yeah, I'm gonna say whatever I want because I'm behind some, you know, social media handle that nobody can nobody knows who I am. Exactly. And um, of course, there was another thing that happened, because we went to that event for straight kids, and uh, we couldn't buy all the casous that we wanted. Correct. Sarah found some casous, but then they turned out to be kafufoos, meaning that they're not real.
SPEAKER_03I had you know, I when I was ordering them, I had a feeling because I was like, how can they go from being like usually at least a$25 item to being a$19 item and then being on super sale for$9, and then I got another discount for$8. I was like, yeah, I don't know. But I ordered them anyway.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, when Sarah got those, and she's just like, dang it, these are not real. These are fakes.
SPEAKER_03I was like Skafufoos. Like the lafufoos.
SPEAKER_02Yep.
SPEAKER_03These are the fake skufufoos.
SPEAKER_02But they're still cute.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, they are.
SPEAKER_02You know, it's not they don't look wonky like for the little booboos, like they look really like some of them, yeah, look way off.
SPEAKER_03These are this is more um sort of a slightly smaller in some of the colors. They, you know, like I was saying the p the ears were pinker on the fakes than on the original, like they actually changed the color, and that's you know, I used to work in the printing, like t-shirt printing world. Yep. And stuff like that's totally allowed because you change a color.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Like you only need to make three changes to a design, and that can include colors, size of something, and you know, like the font used or whatever. So like yeah, it's a slippery slope into the the world of bootlegged.
SPEAKER_02So we get the the bootlegged side of of the skufufoos, the sk the skus, we get skafufus. But they're still cute. They are kind of similar color, but you know, we'll I'll get the originals. So we'll get the originals when we when we come up on them. Can find them, yeah. I know. So anyways. So that's our deep fake for our experience.
SPEAKER_03But we'll move on to even even that though, you know, there's always been knockoff things like that. Of course.
SPEAKER_02Hello, my my RShi bootleg t-shirt. I wear it proud because I can't find, you know, RShi stuff in, you know, in my area at all.
SPEAKER_03Well, because um we're going to another BTS event this weekend. So I'm wearing a bootleg BTS shirt.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we are going to another live stream, the y'all the BTS live stream out in Tokyo. So yeah, at this is the year of the BTS. This is what we have said. It is, you know, we're gonna go as much as I can to see our and support our guys, you know, it's been empty in a long time. I know. Well, because we were gonna get we were so torn between Arashi and BTS. But since Arashi is all in Japan, so they made the decision for us, so we're giving our attention to BTS.
SPEAKER_03But we're gonna do the live stream. The live stream for the last Arashi show, yes.
SPEAKER_02Because that's the um only thing that's available for us.
SPEAKER_03So yeah. We've done it before, we'll do it again.
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_03Actually, we had to do BTS live streams too during COVID.
SPEAKER_02So that's true.
SPEAKER_03The permission to dance that we were like we could go to Vegas, but it's still it was still COVID period, so yeah.
SPEAKER_02We don't want to be, uh we were kind of weird out. It's like, should we do that? I don't know. Some people went, that's fine, you know. Anyways, but we did like that was cool.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, we made the best decision for us.
SPEAKER_02Yes. I think that was also out of my budget reign at the time. Oh, yeah, yeah. Probably.
Secret Number’s Never-Ending Lineup
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so no.
SPEAKER_02Anyways. But many factors. This is news that came out, it's on Sunpy, and I was very surprised that this there was still a group. And the title reads, Secret Numbers Zoo Leaves Group and Agency. I was like, What? There was still a secret number? Because it has made no activities for the girls, no music, nothing like that. So I was very, very, very surprised to see that. I so um because they were really good.
SPEAKER_03We didn't segment on them, yes, way back in our early stuff. You can find that in our archives. Yes, because when they had a couple of songs that came out that I was like, these are awesome, these girls kick ass. And we were like Sarah's my favorite group, it's my favorite group. I'm like, yay, they are really good. We were, yeah, like totally loving what they were doing, and then the company just sort of dropped the ball with them.
SPEAKER_02I don't know what happened to them. So secret number, okay. So I've said secret numbers, Sue has officially left the group. I'm reading this from uh Soompi uh on April 14th. Vine Entertainment announces that Sue has partakeways with secret numbers following the expiration of her exclusive contract. You know, and then there's a statement here from from the uh from Vine, but it's I don't want to read it because it's just like you have not done, in my opinion, done much for the girls. So in April of last year, Leah, Dida, Ginny, and Minji left both the group and the agency. That's been that's already a year ago. In August, it was Navi, Dinda, Eben, and Mincy joined the group uh returned this same month with the song Don't Touch. Suram left in December of last year, and now Zoo just left this month. So, like, what's going on? I don't even know who's there and who's not. I know. Are any of the original members still with it? No, it's just like they kept the name and they just say recycling girls.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Or just you know, recycling, but like changing, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03It was weird because uh the only things I ever really saw in regards to them was just that they were doing like little YouTube, you know, hang out short videos of them doing stuff, not actually promoting music for them, giving them music to do like nothing.
SPEAKER_02So what is so what is secret number? Is it a music group? Is it just like an entertainment YouTube kind of thing?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I don't know.
SPEAKER_01Huh.
SPEAKER_03Like I said, the they really sort of just dropped the ball on those girls when they were really starting to build momentum because they had the two mini albums that came out, and then just all of a sudden it was like eh. It was crazy.
SPEAKER_02So read- I'm gonna read the last sentence of Vine's entertainment statement, uh, you know, of their thing. Uh moving forward, Secret Number will do their best to greet fans with a new image, and we asked for your continued support and love. I wasn't supporting because I thought everybody dissolved because there's nothing. Just how am I gonna continue to support what's going on with the girls? What what is your idea?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I don't know. It was it was so hard to actually find anything going on with them. You know what I mean? You you'd see bits and pieces here, but like never any follow-up. No, it's just crazy. So I don't know. That's just it's weird how they're managing this group. It's well, maybe they'll sort of come together somewhere else as something new. Yeah, you know, some of the girls who left together might be working on a project together. I don't know. Yeah, that's but yeah, this whole thing is I just hope they didn't have to just give up on their dream, you know what I mean?
(G)I-DLE Tour Cancellation Rumors
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's just crazy. Now, still continuing with girl group news. Now, this is not on any nobody is reporting of this. I know this is just from fans that had happened yesterday, which it was April 17th. Uh it's now April 18th, and uh we have not heard anything, so why I'm being so encrypted. So what Amazon, of course, uh family's like, have you seen X Twitter on Idol? And I'm like, No, what's going on? Is there any announcement? There's no announcement. This is from the fans from um from Newland. Newland's been going on X Twitter saying it they're saying that they have canceled the North America tour. And I'm like, what? So I was like, okay, hold on. It could be just deep fakes, you know, people just calling, you know, being blah blah blah. I went to Cube Entertainment, there's no announcement from them. The last post they made was just some they're promoting a some song that they did for a Japanese anime, and that's it. So the last post from Cube on April 17th was just saying uh that they're boosting the Japanese anime Otogayaru because hide and seek is the opening song for the anime. Remember, we're talking about don't look at the comment section. But if you go to that post on the comment section, you can find a lot of new lands saying, I'm I'm reading this one. This is the first one. Cube. I don't know. We had our differences, but speak up for once. OMFG. Another one. So y'all gonna say something about canceling idols US tour or dot dot dot. So I'm like, what? So I'm like, you know what? Let me go to to Ticketmaster because that's where it's supposed to, you know, the tickets are on sale. But if you go to the page, Ticketmaster page 4G idol, if the cancel dates, I was like, oh MG, this is crazy. So we have New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Florida, Texas, California, Washington, and Ontario, Canada. Cancelled. Now they are to appear at Lollapalooza, and there's no word.
SPEAKER_03Like looking up real quick, there's speculative articles, you know, the Korea boo, which yeah, we don't all K-pop, which is sort of eh-they said though that like numerous fans received notification of the cancellation. So it was just like, I guess Ticketmaster just said, guess what? But according to this, they do still plan to be going to Lollapalooza in July. They've got an album coming out, and they they're still planning to take the stage at Lollapalooza, but again, there's nothing official from anyone. This is just word of mouth.
SPEAKER_02There's no announcement from kids.
SPEAKER_03It's sort of all just speculation from people.
SPEAKER_02But is and of course the fandom New Land, they're out there just, you know, with their torch fire torches and pig and pick forks going, what the heck is going on?
SPEAKER_03Well, you know, they're they're saying also that they believe they fell prey to the soaring platinum ticket pricing.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_03Also rampant resale. And this is actually going back to like BTS. This is something that's been happening. People are buying tickets and then getting a notification that their tickets not valid, whether it's like a resale transfer. Like, I don't know exactly what it is, but so I've been checking my Ticketmaster continuously, being like, I know I was on Ticketmaster, I was part of the presale, I got these tickets, I got these tickets. So it has to do with the resellers on Ticketmaster, it has to do with second-party sites selling tickets that you know. So it's kind of crazy. People are like, I just got word my tickets no good. What do I do?
SPEAKER_02So it's like with that being said, you know what happened on our media over here on Ticketmaster or Live Nation, it was all over the place. So that happened, and then this canceled. So maybe aligned them two and two together. It could be, but I mean, it seems more like to make it right. So, you know, the cancellation, we don't know. Yeah, it could be about this whole lawsuit with uh live nation, right?
SPEAKER_03Well, that's it. It's about a monopoly they because they work with certain venues. When I was reading the article, they were like it could be those venues.
SPEAKER_02There's a lot of venues. Okay. Oh no, no, I know. So this is this is happening after this whole thing with Live Nation and Ticketmaster. It could be under that range as well. And Cube could be like, listen, we just heard about the BS that you guys are doing. Uh, we're just gonna cancel until you get this result, right? Well, it's this is just me thinking as a business person and seeing what's going on with these tickets, I would be like, no, then we're canceling. You better give the money back to those people, but get back to the fans. Yeah. But I think they're just trying to figure it out how to say it. Because you know, if I was me, I'd be like, listen, Ticketmaster's a shit show. So we're just gonna cancel everything. And when they come down and actually give a price, you know, a good, you know, a uh feasible price for the fans, then we'll go ahead with the tour.
SPEAKER_03Well it's all about money. It's yeah, but it could be it could also be sales are lower because they just happen to be coming to all the areas that BTS is touring at the same time. So you're talking competitive, you know, venue and time touring. Like that's a huge tour happening, and they're trying to compete because they're gonna be two days before BTS at New Jersey was because I remember I was talking about, oh, we could try and go see Idle down in Jersey. It was an option, but it's so close to everything else, so it it could be low-ticket sales, it could be the reseller BS. Because, you know, again, scalpers buy hundreds of tickets that suddenly aren't accounted for because you know what I mean? They're trying to crack down on the way reselling is happening. That's why the whole brew haha with I got my tickets for BTS and now they told me they're canceled, you know.
SPEAKER_02So you should not do any resale.
SPEAKER_03Right, exactly. Or, like we've said, you have to sell it for what you bought it for, and yep, that would get rid of scalpers because if they can't make money, they're not gonna buy, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_02Exactly. I mean, South Korea's already doing that. There's no reselling. You buy your ticket, and if you sell it, you gotta sell it at the same price.
SPEAKER_03I think that I saw something with Japan too, that there's there's no more reselling. New, new reselling. So good. I just I feel so bad for Idol because I really do like them. I love their music.
SPEAKER_02I like we didn't like and we were gonna like, oh my god, I had we had tickets with the pandemic. Because I even I know it, bro. I have my pen light, I have my pen license 2020, waiting for my girls, and then all this BS.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I know. It was like, uh so um Yeah, because we've just seen them the year before at K Con.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and we were so excited. We're like, these are my girls, these are my girls, and it's like, what the hell happened? What's going on?
Ticketmaster Monopoly Verdict Fallout
SPEAKER_03And you know But so hopefully, hopefully, their July 31st expected date at Lollapalooza is still happening. Yeah, and maybe they'll just rework something, set up a tour at a later date, you know. Fingers crossed, let's hope. Yeah, yeah. I I can't wait to hear the official reason.
SPEAKER_02It's very interesting. This cancellation, it happens days after Live Nation illegally monopolizing ticketing market and jury in antitrust trial fines. I'm reading this on ABC News. NBC News. Uh so yeah, a jury in high-stakes, antitrust trial fines Wednesday that live nation and a subsidiary ticketmaster illegally maintain a monopoly power in the ticketing market. Uh, jurors de deliver the verdict in federal court in New York City after around five weeks of trial, which feature testimonies from dozens of witnesses. The jury began delivering Friday. Witnesses. Uh so this is from NBC New NBC News. This is I'm reading Burbatum. This is the uh Allie Connell, Chloe Atkins, and Adam Areys have actually are the reporters for this piece. Uh so the lawsuit allege that the company engaged in anti-competitive conduct, resulting in fans paying higher fees, artists having fewer options for touring, and venues being co-haired to used Ticketmaster. So they've been a monopoly for years, though. Oh yeah. The jury found that Ticketmaster overcharged concert goers in the plaintiff's state by a dollar seventy-two cents per ticket at major concert venues as a result of its anti-competitive behavior. Other monetary um damages are possible, which US district judge Aaron Subramanin. Wow. Subramanian. That's wow. I love that last name. It's powerful. Will ultimately decide later. Hey, it's a district judge. That's an awesome last name for a district judge. Uh then okay, this is fantastic outcome for the American people. Omi Asifi. Oh sorry, I couldn't pronounce that correctly. But the uh acting assistant attorney general for the Justice Department, antitrust division, said in a statement, DOG and some states settled their case and got instant relief. The remaining states received a liability finding and will now move on to next phase of a remedies trial. Everyone but Life Nation wins with this scenario. Okay, so you know this is gonna continue and there's more plans on this.
SPEAKER_03I wonder if they're gonna make us make not us, make them send everyone who's bought tickets a certain amount. Like you bought 10 tickets,$1.72 per ticket. Here's$20 refund. That would be nice. Make them give back.
SPEAKER_02I mean, hello, the fees. That would be well, you get the ticket and then you see the fees, and we're like, what the hell? Why do we need to pay like almost half of the ticket on fees?
SPEAKER_03Fees, yeah, exactly. So that's weird though. When so when you were like$1.72, I'm like, our fees are way more than I'm like, what do you mean$1.72 and what? They overcharged us$1.72?
SPEAKER_02$1.72, how many times? Plus, you know, plus plus plus plus 50 75 times. Wow. So that's probably you know, it's this is just we don't know what's going on. We still waiting from Cube Entertainment to make an a statement of what happened to the North American tour. But hey, it could be from this. It could be like, you know, we we have fans that they're paying up the wazoo to see our girls. Um, it's being complicated. This is going on. So we're just gonna stop right now on this thing and then do a reschedule until you get your priorities right, you know.
SPEAKER_03Talks in a row, yeah.
SPEAKER_02So that could be a possibility or something. Well, we know. We don't know. But it's kind of funny that they cancel right after this verdict happened. It that's you know, and it's Ticketmaster. Very true. It is interesting.
SPEAKER_03We'll just have to we'll have to wait and see. Exactly. We can speculate all we want, but we don't know really what happened. Because it's just you know, crazy because like we saw twice a couple of weeks ago, and that all went off without a hitch.
SPEAKER_02That was already yeah, but this bird's oh yeah, yeah, no, I know. This is way before.
SPEAKER_03But I mean, I would think it would affect more than just idols tour.
SPEAKER_02Well, little by little, some army are like, hello, why am I ticket getting cancelled? And you're like, what the heck is going on? Oh, oh, I don't have it here, but family is have been following a shit show that's been going down with Coachella. Oh, really? Yes. People are gone, they have bought resale tickets, and then when they go to Coachella, they're like, uh no, this is not your ticket.
SPEAKER_03Right. Well, that's what I'm saying. That's part of the whole thing that's going on with BTS is Ticketmaster is I don't know how, somehow finding these resale tickets and being like, it's cancelled.
SPEAKER_02They know from the get-go, like who reselling and who's not. Oh, yeah, absolutely. Oh no, we just can't, you know. So now they're just like, oh no, okay, we'll we'll be nice now and tell you who's got who's being buying resale tickets so you can get them.
SPEAKER_03Well, and I wonder if because that was happening about a week before this, while the trial's been going on.
SPEAKER_02So I wonder if they're they're being held accountable. So now this happened. People were going to Coachella that bought resale tickets. They're like, no, these are not your tickets. And they these people have lost money and not and not going to a show.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_02Ah, this sucks. Oh, and another one, people who are reselling, they have actually, yeah, they'll get the money, they canceled the ticket. Oh. So they just wanted the money and they don't give the ticket to the person, so they can't resell it again. Oh wow. Yes. That's so that's been happening too. Yes. So people are at Coachella who bought that's why I'm like, don't buy a resale. Oh, yeah. Do not buy resale. No, if you couldn't get that ticket at the first go, forget it.
SPEAKER_03Right. Well, that's why, like, there have been other concerts that I was like, why are I bought you know some tickets at the regular price, but then one of them was like resell. I'm like, wait a minute. This was supposed to be a group of tickets. Why is it suddenly resale? So I was like, canceled the whole transaction, you know what I mean? And it's just crazy. You have to keep an eye on it. And uh, and those were ones that weren't even going for, you know, double, triple the price of the original ticket. These were ones that were like on par with the the price, but I was like, wait a minute, I don't I don't want resale tickets. Do not, you know.
SPEAKER_02How can you buy them and all of a sudden resale? And I'm like, dude, the tickets just went on sale today.
SPEAKER_03It's gonna be a resale. Exactly.
SPEAKER_02That's ridiculous.
SPEAKER_03I'm like, if it doesn't say standard, I'm not buying it. Because that's it's like either standard or resale.
SPEAKER_02I'm like, nope, nope. There was like there was a reel that I saw from um one of uh a musician who uh not the genre that we are, but you know, he's been around. Got his name. And he said, You're not going to concerts right now, you need to be a millionaire. Because it's like, how can you afford a ticket just to see your favorite band? And he's like, I I think the most I I pen I spent was like twenty dollars. This like, you know, and then also the thing is that he also mentioned that venues are also taking a percentage out of the sale. Oh yes. Which is like so that he was like, Yeah, this is why it's so hard to tour now. You know, the ticket prices not really we're not getting enough. You you you know, our fans are the ones getting, you know, uh how do you say uh losing here all their money just to see us screwed you know exactly from from getting into the merch.
SPEAKER_03Well, when we the uh first time we were gonna try and see Epic High, and I was like, oh cool, tickets are only 40 bucks, but then the fees were like 35. I was like, what I could this is like three extra tickets worth of fees. Yeah, it was ridiculous, and it was it was the venue that was doing that. Oh my god. And that but so that's why I was like, I'm not I I want to see them, but I can't afford to pay that much to you know go. So we did much better the second time around when we saw them in Boston.
SPEAKER_02At the orphan. They're falling apart both years. God, they're so there.
SPEAKER_03It's such a beautiful place, though.
SPEAKER_02It is, but it just needs so much maintenance.
SPEAKER_03But you know what? The fees they charge you are supposed to go to the venue, fixing the venue. Yeah, that's what those fees are for. I'm like, I don't know. These are the same dilapidated seats we sat on 30 years ago. Where are my fees going?
SPEAKER_02We saw, we saw they six there, and they then the banner's like, can you please don't jump? Because they were seeing the me and this and he go like jumping. He's like, Oh my god, what's going on there? They were wary, poor guys. They were like, uh, oh man. I think who was it, Jay? I think it was JJ. He's like, could you please don't jump? We can see the second floor moving. You can feel the whole building, but yeah. He's like, I'm scared.
unknownPoor guy.
SPEAKER_02I'm like, I feel you, boo. I'm gonna say that it's like uh I was like sideways.
SPEAKER_03Oh my god. That's why you always get the balcony there though, because if anything happens, at least you're in the top part.
HYBE Targets Leaks And Bootleggers
SPEAKER_02Oh my god, girl. So moving on to another lawsuit. Mm-hmm. I you have this one. Yeah, yeah. Hive takes action over BTS album Ariran Leaks. Go ahead, Nasierra.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, this is uh big hit music has petitioned a U.S. court to unmask an anonymous ex formerly Twitter user account for allegedly leaking songs and artwork lyrics from the BTS latest album, Arirang. Um, so they're they're uh targeting a specific person. I'm not gonna say who, because they probably already shut down on Twitter anyways. They posted unreleased material earlier in March 2026, weeks before the album's March 20th release. Big Hit intends to use the the unmasked identity to file a civil lawsuit in South Korea for copyright and trade secret infringement. They argue that the leak destroyed the element of surprise and caused significant economic and reputational harm. Along with this, they're also going to push for further things such as counterfeit merchandise. Wow. Um, yeah, they're filing a federal lawsuit in Florida against John Doe bootleggers to seize unauthorized merch ahead of BTS's upcoming US tour dates, as I talk about my bootleg shirt that I'm wearing now.
SPEAKER_02Um Well that well, you don't know you didn't bother from that person.
SPEAKER_03Oh no, no, no, this is years ago. This was the tour that got canceled. Oh, okay. So due to pandemic. So it was like, you know, long time ago. Okay. Um they're also going after malicious posts, so ongoing criminal complaints against users on platforms like the Q and DC inside for defamation and spreading false rumors. They're going against stalking a zero tolerance policy for privacy violations near artist residents, and they already have arrested one repeat offender who's on trial. So, like we've said before, people, these companies are not playing around anymore. No. If and and the fact that they're adding like the bootlegging, because you know, there's always people outside shows afterwards, like 10 bucks, t-shirts, 10 bucks. And they're exactly, you know, they're not originals. Yeah, pullsters for five dollars, you know. Yeah, and and as much as that's a good deal, I honestly prefer to spend the you know 40, 50 bucks for the t-shirt, yeah, like the actual tour t-shirt. But not everybody can afford to do that, so they like to have, you know, the option, I guess.
SPEAKER_02Like with the zoo, it's kafu woo, it's foofus, you know, because with you can't obtain it. I get that, you know, because it's like you want to have something that kind of looks like what you want it.
SPEAKER_03But if you sort of look at the flip side of that, and it's sort of like what's going on with ticket sales and reselling, is if there weren't so many bootleggers making cheap versions of things, they wouldn't have to charge as much for the merch because when you go there to buy it, you know what I mean, more people would actually be buying the official merch.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_03Like it's sort of I know it sounds kind of weird and counterintuitive, but they could drop their prices if they could guarantee that everybody was gonna buy them at the venue.
SPEAKER_02You know, so another another thing too that um like they were saying the actual venue will be like, yeah, we'll take like you know 20% of your sales. So that kind of sucks. So of course they gotta increase the price so they can be eating exactly.
SPEAKER_03And I mean it's this has been a trend though for years, because there was like I don't know, pre-pandemic. I remember like 2530, occasionally$35 for a shirt. And then like after pandemic, you went to show that suddenly it was fifty dollars. What the hell? You know, and I was like, I just I remember the days when t-shirts were 15, girl, but dang. Remind me. I know, right?
SPEAKER_02And so, you know, everything does go up in cost and material, like everything costs money, but remind me when the last time Vamps was here in Boston, I bought everything and I didn't win over a hundred dollars. I have hoodies, of uh a long sleeved t-shirt, two short sleeved t-shirts. Did I got the towel? I got the towel. I got what else? I didn't get the tea chain, but I would have got that in the keychain too. I pretty much get the tote bag, the bag. I got the tote bag, and that was yeah, because I I remember that it was affordable. And the guy's like, What you want? I'm like, I want that, I want that, and he's like, Okay, okay, what else? Okay, he was like, damn, those ladies buying everything, and I'm like, Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Well, and that was that's another thing that sort of makes the difference too, though. They were a smaller band playing smaller venues. Um, not saying they aren't popular, hugely popular with but like it's a niche crowd for sure. So they were playing smaller venues, less venues. I think that they were in charge of their own merch, really, which makes a difference too. You know what I mean? Like they didn't have as many people involved in the whole process. But yeah, I I don't know. It's it's crazy.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's crazy. So now this. But yeah, so they're they're like one experience that we can talk about was Jin's concert at in Newark. Mm-hmm. There was a guy out there, you know, trying to sell tickets, and the police said you can't be here, you gotta go out, you gotta leave. Selling what? Oh, t-shirts? T-shirts. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I was I thought our tickets tickets? No, t-shirts. T-shirts, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, because I remember.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, he had he had hats, he had t-shirts, and another guy had posters. But yeah, the police were knockoffs, and they're like, No, you can't be here.
SPEAKER_02You gotta get out.
SPEAKER_03And I mean we have our we have our um fan-made shirts, but they weren't a ripoff of any designs that Jin was using, you know.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, this is just fan-made exactly, you know. Uh which it was cute. It was I like that, and people it's something we saw all the people with the designer. And we're like, oh my god, yes, love it! And like, whoa. That was cool.
SPEAKER_03So, but that's that's different too. Like the the things they're doing are sometimes like a similar design to the original play on the design, you know, playing on songs, play on that, you know.
SPEAKER_02I saw we saw this uh made super tuna one. It was like a drawing of a tuna. There was a lot of t-shirts of the that was really cool.
SPEAKER_03Yep.
SPEAKER_02Uh so yeah, uh, so there you go, people.
SPEAKER_03But yeah, so high they're not high big hit, yeah are like we're we're going, we're going after everything now. Yeah, we are done with this. So like three, four major points there that they're like, we're not gonna tolerate this anymore.
SPEAKER_02So we're glad about that. We're glad about that. Yay, finally, and no more resale. Stop it with the resale. And if the resale that should be at the day of the concert and at face value. I understand there's people that cannot make it to the concert, and they're like, well, you know, might as well just sell my ticket.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_02But not like, oh, bye today. Hey, resale now.
SPEAKER_03And I was like, what? That's crazy. Well, remember we talked about I read that article, the girl who was like, Oh, I've got an extra extra ticket to sell so that I can cover my travel expenses. It's like, what? You're what a jerk because she you know she's selling it for more than she paid. Yeah. Like, nope. Or it should even be, yeah, any tickets that are unaccounted for, they sell at the ticket office, you know, at the ticket booth. Something like anything, but I don't know. So yeah. There everybody, everybody's cracking down, and it's about time.
Monsta X VIP And Manifesting
SPEAKER_02I am so happy about that. We have we have said this so many episodes. We have said this so many times, and it's happening. Well, because it's happening. Oh, speaking of manifestation. Oh, well, so you know Monster X is coming. Yes, and there was one episode that I that we were talking about Monster X is coming. We gotta go, we're getting tickets, we're getting VIP. We're getting VIP. Okay, so we got VIP. Yay! Now, I was just thinking saying saying to myself, so okay, that manifestation happened because we were very strongly that we are to get VIP. I didn't know there was an ultimate VIP. If I knew that was an ultimate VIP, I would have said, we're getting the ultimate VIP, we're getting the ultimate VIP. Well, you know, we got VIP, because that's this that's what we put out in the universe, and the manifestation station happened, and the station brought us VIP.
SPEAKER_03So thank you very much. It's funny you say that though. I saw a couple people posting, they were like, I got my VIP tickets, and I saw that there was ultimate VIP. What is right? Like it was like people didn't even know, but it was yeah, I don't know. Crazy.
SPEAKER_02I didn't even know there was an ultimate VIP. Of course, it was no not whoever got the ultimate. Hey, congratulations.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02But the add-on is just a group photo. That was it. Well, but we're gonna get everything else but the group photo.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I don't know what the price difference would have been, but we're okay. We're okay with it.
SPEAKER_02We have VIP, yay, manifestation station. I'm gonna manifest that we are to meet at least the members in some way. That we are to meet Johanny Shonu?
SPEAKER_03Okay. I'm like, wait a break. Oh, oh, well, I no, I thought you were listening. I just thought you were listening.
SPEAKER_02Yep, and that's it.
SPEAKER_03That's it. That's all we can do. Because I am it's in the military. Yes. Actually, speaking of which, did you see? No. He he was, you know, I mean, obviously he's getting sent off currently. Um, apparently, all the guys stopped their schedule. They've been doing some promotions and stuff, like in Japan. They they canceled a couple of things and flew back to surprise him to see him off. Right? Is that so cute? Here he is thinking like, I'm all on my own, gotta go out of the military. I'm I'm sure he probably wasn't really crying, but you know what I mean. Yeah, he was probably like bummed out, you know, off I go, and they're all going to have fun. And but they all came to see him off. So that's so cute. And Jew Honey, wow, have you seen like he opened his own YouTube channel? How did I miss that? You missed that? I missed it.
SPEAKER_02Johanny has his own when did that happen?
SPEAKER_03Oh, a few days ago.
SPEAKER_02What?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, he had it was announced he had he did it on his uh Instagram. I um he was talking about it.
SPEAKER_02Okay. So you have to I can tell you what Johanny has his Johanny one honey channel?
SPEAKER_03100, yeah. Like like 100. So what did you find it?
SPEAKER_02Is what is the some thumbnail a a son with a face? Um let me look.
SPEAKER_03I just I went and found it and then I was like, alright.
SPEAKER_02It doesn't look like his face, it's somebody else's face, I think. That's why I'm like, is that his? It you it looked like a telethoby son, but not the baby is somebody else's face.
SPEAKER_03Oh, he must have changed it. Okay. Yeah, that is it. Because I'm like, that would that look like you, honey. No, that's not what it was when he first did it, but Okay. That's funny. Because I'm like, what are you talking about?
SPEAKER_01That's not him.
SPEAKER_02Is it him? Just like screaming? Maybe it is him screaming. Oh my god, I'm like, who is that man? But well, he is a man. But yeah, that's that's his thing. Okay, I think yeah, it is.
SPEAKER_03It's the the son with his.
SPEAKER_02I only see like two shorts in there.
SPEAKER_03Okay, yeah. Well, he only just opened it.
SPEAKER_02Like I said, it was like 44, a seven. What? Okay, I'm here now. Yay! Oh my god, Johanny! Oh my god, we love that boy, Mr. Dimples. I know, right? Cutie P dootie. I'm still waiting for the call out with Adam. Adam and Johanna. I know, yeah. Come on, come on. How can you be teasing us with your army gear on, looking all like pros? I'm like, that's so good.
SPEAKER_03I know, hanging out, right?
SPEAKER_02Well come on, they gotta have ideas.
BTS Interviews And Hot Ones Chaos
SPEAKER_03Come on, BTS is on tour for a year now. So the collab will have to wait. I know, I know. Oh, apparently, but I was watching some clips from the Rolling Stone interviews.
SPEAKER_02I saw the RM one. Oh my god. But yeah, go ahead.
SPEAKER_03Well, the the one with Jin. Uh-huh. The the guy had asked him about not doing as much writing and whatnot on the album, and Jin said, Well, you know, I was I was touring, I was busy keeping Army occupied while everybody else was in the military. So I had to finish that up, and he's like, But that's why I pushed for us to do a larger tour. He's like, because we promised Army when we'd come back that we wanted to see them all. He's like, originally the tour was only scheduled to last like four months. He's like, but I pushed for four days. I was like, that's him getting back at them first. That's the young for you. You guys are gonna like pick all the songs and record. Um, you know, obviously he recorded his parts too, but he's like, I had to finish up all my stuff and I come back and you guys are done with everything, and then you say just a three-month tour. Nope. I'm changing that.
SPEAKER_01No, three months. Oh no.
SPEAKER_03I mean, it's not if you go, you'd have to go watch the Rolling Stone interview. I'm sort of like moshing together a bunch of things he said, but I was saying it revealed. But I almost I almost died laughing because he's like, so I pushed for more dates. And it was definitely he said because he he's like, we promised Army that we'd come back and we wanted to meet as many of them as possible. So that's why we're doing a year-long tour.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, go gym, yeah, sassy. Oh no, yeah. This tour is just like uh he's like no booger face, he's just doing whatever he wants, just gonna enjoy himself. It's just like, yeah, I'm just gonna go whatever. I know, right?
SPEAKER_03The the few things we've seen. I mean he's like the uh the live stream we watched, he's definitely like I am the oldest. I don't care if RM is the leader, I am the young, and I'm gonna do what I want.
SPEAKER_02I'm gonna do what I want.
SPEAKER_03Too cute.
SPEAKER_02But yeah, so definitely check out the um do do do all the little Rolling Stone interviews. Whatever I want. Yes, you and guess.
SPEAKER_03Cool, insightful things to say. Yeah. And it was, you know, very interesting questions and topics, sort of like the hot ones. It was not your generic sort of, you know, where do you like to eat? Oh my god. Like really sort of meaningful, potent questions.
SPEAKER_02So yo, I saw a reel that somebody had taken out from one of those interviews. Uh I don't know who the interviewer is, this kid. Cause it just it looks like he was just a brah, you know, a bro. But a bra is somebody more less intelligent. Anyway, so then it's just like, yeah, I'm gonna have this question to see if I just just to get who in trouble or something. I'm like, and RM was like, no, we're not doing that. Yeah, what the? We're not answering that. Yeah, what the hell? Just like that's not funny, dude. Like, even RM's face is like now, you know our boy, boy boy, RM. Now he just like really don't give an F. Mm-hmm. So now his poker face is like completely none. So he's been wearing these glasses, he's been wearing shades lately, so he doesn't really have to show his real expression. And that's what people who play poker do. They always wear shades so you don't see what's going on. Like, really, you you don't see what's going on in their minds. I'm like, well, my boy's trying to keep his cool, so that's why he's been wearing shades lately.
SPEAKER_03Well, his his poker face was pretty weak, actually. He'd try, but everyone you'd catch an eye roll or like that grimace.
SPEAKER_02Because we have following him for many years, and we kind of see, oh yeah, my boy's not going good. No, my boy's not right. Yeah, he's not mm-mm. But he's like, I'm gonna wear these shades because I kind of kind of protect everybody from like sassiness.
SPEAKER_03My side eye, my eye roll, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Like, like I wanna I wanna tell you F you with my eyes, so that's why he's like just gonna cover my eyes so people don't get in trouble. Because I am the leader and I'm just I don't know, getting tired tired of it. You know what? I'm tired of these interviews that they're doing because you can tell that they're just like another interview, another interview. Why are we doing this interview?
SPEAKER_03Well, yeah, the you know the Rolling Stone one happened a while ago, I think. Yes, yes, and and like I said, the hot ones was sort of like just a completely different type of setting and different sets of questions. Like when Arm was like, dude, where are you coming up with these? Yeah, it's like you really dug deep.
SPEAKER_02So I love but like Sean is a great interviewer, like he it's has respect. You know, he may say some things I not funny, but I mean good taste. He has taste and he knows where to push from personal to like jokedly and and just like serious. It I love him because of that.
SPEAKER_03Well, yeah, and he's very quick thinking on his feet. Yes, like when when uh J-Hope was like walking around and he's like, walk it off, walk it out, dance it off, J-Hope.
SPEAKER_02Okay. I like J-Hope. Swimmer. It's really like I'm crying because I'm internally like dying from this heat.
SPEAKER_03Actually, I like the way Jung Yi just sat there sweating. Yeah, he was just he was really pretty tame right up until the very end, but like you could see the glistening. He was trying to play it cool.
SPEAKER_02I wonder who was who was the person who said, yeah, let's do hot ones. I wonder if it was JK. He was like, the boy was dipping the lower. Come on, Wings. Oh, Jimmy. Jim and Jimmen, come on, come on, Wing. I think Aaron was getting annoyed by him. Because when he was saying, shut up, who are you saying? Shut up. Nobody's saying, he was getting annoyed by him. But then Jimmy's like, why are you crying? Why are you crying? Your body's crying. He's like, My body's not crying, he's getting it's like seeing all your boys together in a dinner table and just being chaos, complete chaos.
SPEAKER_03Yep. Oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_02I love that. I love that episode so much. I know it was awesome. It was awesome. Oh my god. All right. And like V, he's like, I'm done. Yeah, he was the only one laughing at everybody. He's like, no. Oh god. Oh, I love our boys. All right. Uh speaking of our boys, we gotta go because we gotta get ready to go see the last live stream in Tokyo. Yay! We're traveling with the boys. We've seen these groups all over around the world. That's why I say.
SPEAKER_03Well, and they've got they announced that one for June 13th from Busan. Yes. Looks like we'll be going to that too. Of course. Mm-hmm.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_03All right. So on that note, shall we?
Closing And Rate Review
SPEAKER_02Yes. So see. We just want to rate and a review. That's it. Yep. On whatever platform you're listening to. On Spotify, our podcast, I think are the two the only ones that I know. Just, you know, rate and review the podcast. We appreciate you so much. Thank you, thank you, thank you. And until next time. Bye-bye. Bye, Danny.
SPEAKER_03I was gonna check too. Are we doing our usual thing? Go to the grill and then go to the movies.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Alright.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Sounds good. I was gonna suggest the Texas place, but I was like, I don't know. But I think I'll stick with the grill. Well, we could try Texas. I think I can order stuff there. Oh, we can go to the grill. You say grill. It's fine. Okay.