BoA Riot!

Amongst the many crazy things I’ve seen at San Francisco’s annual Pride celebration the ten minute concert that BoA gave this past weekend is the craziest. For those of you that haven’t heard of her, BoA is a South-Korean pop singer that is SUPER FAMOUS. She has the kind of world fame that is usually only in the domain of western singers. BoA has recently released her first album aimed at a North-American audience and was at Pride to promote it. During her show it was announced that this was her first large scale live performance in the United States.

The program on the main stage was running an hour and a half behind but I decided to stick it out and wait for BoA to come out, slowly working my way towards the front of the stage. As the hour and a half progressed the crowd went from sausage party to excited teenagers. Shirtless Bears gave way to a legion of kids chanting her name between other acts. Once her music started the crowd just lost it, there was a huge surge forward and people started screaming their heads off. It was like a bunch of Catholics realizing that their only standing 20 feet from the Pope.

I’m not gonna front like I’m a huge BoA fan but I do know more about her career than most westerners. I first heard BoA sing in 2004 when she collaborated with my favorite hip-hop group M-Flo on the song The Love Bug. I always thought her appropriation of Rapper’s Delight was super adorable. Since then I’ve followed her collaborations with the group and member Verbal. Peep her code-switching prowess below.

With all the movement of the crowd I gave up on video and started taking photos. It was damn hard to find a good angle with everyone else trying to take a picture at the same time but I managed a few good photos, the results are below.

But I digress, I wasn’t there just to see BoA, I was there see Pride! My homegirl extraordinaire Lex and I traversed Civic Center together taking in the sight and sounds.