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Jakartans turn up for Big Bang
A K-pop concert like never before, in a good way and bad
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A K-pop concert like never before, in a good way and bad. Even before G-Dragon, TOP, Taeyang, Daesung and Seungri appeared on stage, the audience was singing and dancing to the music video played on a giant screen.
By the time the concert kicked off, they were unstoppable. Nobody could have a normal conversation -- not that anyone needed to have one -- with the audience shouting along to the songs (you can't call it singing) while jumping up in the air.
Both the performers and audience had fun, until it was all over.
The five-piece Korean hip hop group Big Bang was in the city last Saturday for its MADE world tour at the Indonesia Convention Exhibition (ICE) in BSD City, South Tangerang, a buffer city of Jakarta.
The band just released its long-awaited live broadcast, exclusively and for the first time on Naver V app, on Aug. 4 as reported by Korea Herald, kicking off with a fist-pumping live performance of the group's summer track 'Sober', which was followed by a soulful stage featuring 'If You'
The latest concert at ICE was presented by promoters MecimaPro and AMI Live Ent.
Touted as the biggest act in Korea on account of its widely appealing music and strong fashion sense, the concert was highly anticipated.
The group belted out 20 songs, including six new releases that came out in pairs every month since June 1 and their evergreen hits such as 'Tonight', 'Lies', 'Stupid Liar', 'Blue' and 'Fantastic Baby'.
Beginning with the fast-paced 'Bang, Bang, Bang', the group set the mood for the next two hours.
The fans pushed forward to get closer to the stage, prompting G-Dragon, the group leader, to ask the audience to step back.
'We are concerned about your safety,' he said.
Taeyang added, 'We cannot continue if you are like this'.
With that, the audience calmed.
Near the end of the concert each member of the group praised the audience, repeatedly saying how they wished to return to Jakarta.
G-Dragon and Taeyang even tweeted that the concert was 'the best ever'.
That was expected considering how well-prepared the audience was.
Most of them came in large groups to show 'support' for Big Bang.
The VIPs, the nickname for fans while the group was also known as the Kings, brought along crown-head light sticks, banners and other paraphernalia associated with their idols.
Indri, 25, who works at an IT company, even waited for Big Bang late on Friday at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport to arrive from Manila, where the group had just completed a leg.
'They walked by us. TOP appeared last and he was close to me. I stood frozen,' said the fan of the charismatic rapper.
While the fan fully enjoyed the performance despite the small stage and confusing seating arrangement, many attendees voiced their complaints.
A fan posted a petition on change.org demanding the promoters to explain alleged mistreatment of the VIP ticket holders.
She said that the promoters did not waive the waiting time to enter the concert venue and to meet the Big Bang members in person after the concert, as promised.
The group left the venue to catch the last flight back to Seoul.
The promoters reportedly sold 1,200 VIP tickets, resulting in overcrowding. Some audience members even fainted.
The VIP ticket holders, she said, were also left in the rain without explanation on why the send-off session was canceled while some of the staffers laughed at their unfortunate situation.
'Many people witnessed that half way the show, your crew told people outside with no ticket to just go inside,' she wrote.
In the petition, the fan also alleges that the promoters sold bootleg merchandise at the supposedly official booth of YG Entertainment, the management of Big Bang.
The promoters have not returned a call from The Jakarta Post. Fransiska Melani from MecimaPro has deactivated her Twitter account following hordes of messages from angry audience members.
As Korean the wave has invaded the country's shoreline, demand is on the high for more K-pop concerts and linearly, more professional promoters.
' Photos courtesy of YG Entertainment
