YouTube stars leap from screens to Bangkok screams

Some of the biggest names on YouTube ditched their webcams to appear in the flesh Tuesday before howling Bangkok fangirls overwhelmed to see their internet obsessions larger than 1080p.

While staging a world tour featuring the world’s Internet celebrities confirms technology’s upset of the fan-celeb-media equation, some patchy performances proved bringing their online magic into real life could have benefited from a little editing and some re-takes.

There was hardly anyone over 30 at the official YouTube event, where fans held light signs spelling the names of American musical duo Sam Tsui and Kurt Schneider, who belted out their original singles to the loudest screams of the night, while lusty cheers rang out for cover stars Tiffany Alvord and Jason Chen.

“I’m very excited. I’ve been waiting for Sam and Kurt for five years,” said Siranee Silakod, head of a fan club which brought about 15 people to the event. “I want to say Thai people love Sam and Kurt. Please come back and have a concert in Thailand!”

The biggest star of the night was Bethany Mota, who drew teenage girls addicted to her online makeup tutorials and cute clothes. She greeted fans and presented a video of her shopping for traditional costumes in Yaowarat. Of course the crowd went wild when the 19-year-old soon emerged from backstage wearing one.

While it was a great chance to see the American celebrity YouTubers, the event also brought in some of Thailand’s top intertube talents. Local label artists were included because their music videos dominated Youtube. Slot Machine and Songkran The Voice caused some heads to bang, but being a Thai audience, everyone remained politely seated.
 

 

Fortunately for Cocktail, the band was up last and closed the night bringing down the house with their hit Kook Kao, which had the crowd jumping up and down.
 

 

Comedy proved difficult to translate from the small screen to the stage and mostly fell flat. Fedfe, the biggest Thai YouTube comedians known for their Iron Man parody, fell short as they couldn’t come up with more than beating each other on stage with different-sized trays, hoping someone would adore the outdated comedy trick.
 

 

Meanwhile, Timothy Delaghetto, the Thai-American star beloved for using his online success to pay his parents’ mortgage, presented his rapper side. While the meaning to lyrics about being your “First Asian Boy” might have gotten lost in translation, his attempt to show his Thai side and speak Thai pleased the crowd, which agreed he was adorable.
 

 

The only comedian group to kill it was Toey Tiew Thai, the Thai “khatoey” group famous for their travel videos featuring the hot men in the restaurants they visit. Pompam, Gotchi and Golf ended up partially hosting the show, showing a natural sense of humor that carried into the real world and drawing laughter from the crowd every three seconds.
 



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