As it’s no surprise to anyone, I like alt music. Any look at my music blog, at my semesters as songs showcases what genre of music I tend to listen to. So, when my friend asked me if I wanted to go see AMPERS&ONE with her in Milwaukee in March, of course I said yes.

Before the Show

March 6th rolls around, we’ve been preparing for months for this. She gave me the information on them, and I will be honest I still don’t remember them (sorry Anna). Truth be told, the images I got of them did look different to how they look now and I’m not used to remember more than 4 band members (and even then, I cannot remember them). I made us bracelets so that we have a token to remember even if we didn’t buy merch (spoiler alert, we did buy merch).

But, I drove us to Milwaukee as a thank you for my free ticket. Luckily, my schedule allowed for us to leave with enough time to get there (the ticket said arrive by 4 but we got their early to hopefully get a better number in line). We listened to our road trip playlist as we drove from small little De Pere to Milwaukee. We parked (for free) and were on our way. No coats, small bags and our wallets. It was us against Milwaukee.

We got our wrist bands, and I got myself a poster for them to sign. Our VVIP included a lot, from autographs / meet & greet, a group photo with them and then a high five from them after the show. During the autographs they really liked my ice cream earrings, I wish I could say who it was but when they saw my earrings he exclaimed “Ice cream!” (Maybe Kyrell? I need Anna to double check this). But, we stood out in the cold, with the wind hitting us and both freezing like many of the other people around us. We met a girl in front of us who was probably a highschooler and we talked to a her in between our autograph signing and the group photo.

At the end, we luckily got to escape the cold for the soundcheck. They played 3 songs as their warmup which they already did at what seemed at full power and the crowd was ecstatic. I was more so happy to be inside and stay there because it was nice and warm. After soundcheck, I went to get us merch and my friend fought her way bravely to the pit before the general admission people came in. Luckily, I got back to her when the gen. admission was about to be let in and embracing K-pop I got myself a light wand.

The Show

The show was so energetic. The music was most of their discography but as I knew before from the guide, there would be covers. But, I heard my favorites, knew enough of the lyrics when we were there and didn’t even notice when one of their songs was the English Version only. But, the covers they did were not just K-Pop but they did a Justin Bieber cover and a Bruno Mars cover.

They also went through costume changes, which wasn’t unusual for me to know since twenty one pilots did that but it wasn’t one costume change. It was 3 costume changes, and I was so surprised to see that many changes. They split up the 7 man group into 3 and 4 and there were little activities in between before it would be one of the groups singing. They asked us (since this is their first North American tour) if in Wisconsin we eat cheese plain, and of course I was the only one around us who said yes. There was also a Culver’s chant when they asked us where they should visit.

But, since the group was around our age (which I was still surprised to just remember) they talked like us, acted like us and it was just such a fun thing. But also, it was a bit cringe just as a reflection of who we are as a generation. It was such a fun time, the music was great but our only issue was that my loops barely saved me from the bass because both me and my friend agreed that the bass was loud.

After the Show

After the concert, we were herded out to our designated tier packages. I just got the high-five so I waited while my friend got the whole 9 yards (a high five and a photo with the whole group) but I got to wait outside and I met a girl from Milwaukee who was dressed to the nines. Finally, I was reunited with my friend and we scurried back to my car before I had to drive us back to little old De Pere, where my GPS never told me the way back I would have to go to an alternate route but, we got to see Milwaukee. It was, interesting.

I definitely would go with her again, because this was lifechanging. The music, the group, the culture it was so cool to see the synchronization of their dancing and the energy for such a small event space.