Hundreds of fans were shocked Friday when K-pop band Katseye made a surprise appearance at a pop-up event at the Mall of America and later visited a Target in downtown Minneapolis.
When Lance Buendia heard the announcement that fans should return to the mall’s rotunda, he thought it was for a drawing he entered that included a chance to win signed Polaroids by the band.
Seeing the six singers go on stage and talk to fans, one day before their sold-out The Beautiful Chaos Tour concert at the Armory, was a complete surprise for the 23-year-old.
“That was crazy,” Buendia said.
Los Angeles-based Katseye drew thousands of fans to the Mall of America for a concert last year, a big reason the Grammy-nominated girl group decided to kick off its U.S. tour in Minneapolis this weekend.
During Friday’s appearance at the mall, hundreds of people like Buendia received a notification from Instagram: The band would also meet with fans and sign autographs inside the downtown Minneapolis Target later that afternoon.
“We bought our albums, got our raffles and came straight here,” Buendia said as he stood with about 250 other people in a line outside Target that wrapped around the building.
Paola Puentes, 24, was the first person in line at Target and was with her little brother Emiliano Hernandez, 3, and her friends. They were at the Mall of America when they saw the notification and immediately ran to their cars, booking it downtown. They stood in line for about six hours before they were able to meet the girl group.
