GOT7 held their first ever fan meeting in Manila, and it was one huge success. Thousands of iGOT7’s (what their fanbase is called) flocked the SMART Araneta Coliseum on the evening of November 14, to witness the group showcase their talents, charms and their sincerity towards their fans.

In the world of K-pop, fan meetings are, to put it simply, special. In Korea, they hold events like these mostly with official fan club members. It is the time for the group to not only showcase their best stages, but also to address their fans in a more personal manner. After all, who would understand the band better than their fans? So to speak, fan meetings come with a lot of perks. In GOT7’s case, there was indeed that personalized interaction that the fans hoped for. Selected iGOT7’s got to play games with the guys up close. There were also short yet interesting interview sessions during which the members showed off both their serious and wacky side. Sam Oh, who was the evening’s emcee, proved to be a good host as she translated the conversations well.

So as the number goes, let’s round up GOT7’s fan meeting with the top 7 highlights:

Let’s start off with their stages.

GOT7 performed their most thrilling hits including “Stop Stop It (하지하지마)”, “Girls Girls Girls”, their latest “If You Do (니가 하면)”, “Magnetic (너란 Girl)”, “Bounce (by JJ Project)” and “A (Remix version)”.  Each song in their set drew the crowd into a frenzy as they sang and cheered energetically.

The in-between moments

In-between the performances and the games were questions answered and requests granted, including the following: reenacting their roles in “If You Do” music video, Junior doing a sexy dance, Bambam imitating the choreo of “Ohh Ahh” by Twice and Yugyeom’s surprise birthday celebration. Well, a lot happened that evening. Even these moments deserve a mention.

Oh, the games they played.

Selected members of the audience from the VIP area got a chance to climb on stage and interact with GOT7 face-to-face. The lucky ones, as anyone would call them, got the chance to play the following games:

Musical chair, which is more commonly known to us as Trip to Jerusalem – the classic Filipino parlor game.

The telepathy game, wherein the selected fans got to choose who among the members they wanted to be paired with. They were to stand back-to-back with each other and on count, raise either a red or white flag. The team who gets the most number of the same flags raised wins. Interestingly enough, some of the members proved to be a smartasses as they raised all red or white flags. Their partners, in turn, caught the pattern and did the same, invalidating the purpose of the game. In any case, the fans still left happy as they all got a group photo-op with the guys.

The shake shake game, during which a pedometer was attached to the players. They had to do whatever they can to raise the number on the pedometer within a specified amount of time – the most logical thing being to shake their limbs in order to get the meter to rattle up, thus earning the name of the game, too.

The prize for all this? As mentioned before, a group photo-op with the band. Bonus? Some fans were gutsy enough to snag a quick hug after the game, and well, the boys were kind enough to oblige.

They did eat Filipino food.

“Gusto ko kumain ng mangga! (I want to eat mangoes!)”, Jackson proclaimed with pride. Jackson, being the liveliest (and loudest) out of the group was a fanatic of mangoes. Mark, too, said he liked dried mangoes and added ‘pig’s feet’ which Sam clarified to be crispy pata. He probably mistook it as jokbal (족발) due to the similarity in the appearance. BamBam, on the other hand, liked ‘peanut soup’ which Sam Oh interpreted as kare-kare (which BamBam agreed to).

BamBam’s Ngiti.

Yes, it’s that song by Ronnie Liang. It was short and sweet, but the way BamBam sang it was remarkable, earning him more cheers from the crowd than ever. In fact, he seemed to like the song so much that before performing “Playground” toward the end of their set, he joked that he’d sing it in full.

Video message – Filipino iGOT7

As the first ever GOT7 fan meeting to be held in the Philippines (and well, K-pop fan meeting rarely happen here to begin with), the PH iGOT7 made it very special for the boys as they presented a personalized video message which was aired at the Coliseum that night. Upon watching the video, the members of GOT7 were so moved, one of them almost cried.

They will be back.

As JB said in Korean, “Thank you so much for being with us here tonight. We are feeling the love and we’re bringing it home with us. Since we know you are here for us, we’ll try to come back as soon as possible.”

Jackson reaffirmed this sentiment, “We’ll be back in the Philippines again. You know what’s the best? It’s not the mangoes; it’s not anything else – It’s you guys! We promise to be back as soon as possible.”

That’s about it for the seven (plus plus) highlights of the evening. For those who unfortunately missed GOT7’s fan meeting, keep your fingers crossed and look out for their return!

Special Thanks to All Access Production

More Photos at GOT 7 Live in Manila 2015 Photos

By Sandra Mae Laureano