As you should all know by now, Korea is the Hub of Asian Culture and Tourism, with Hallyu at its center. Hallyu is the name given to the wave of popularity that Korean films, pop music and tv drama series have been enjoying throughout Asia over the last few years. It is a source of some pride for many (especially young) Koreans, and the KNTO has called 2004-2005 the ‘year of Hallyu Tourism’.
And all was well until last night. On 31st October there was to be a concert at Jamsil Sports Complex to make every Hallyu-ite tremble with anticipation. The concert was to feature such stars as BoA (????????), Sinhwa (??????) and Bi (????) and was to start at 6pm. According to one report I saw on television tonight, some 2,000 Japanese and Chinese fans had flown to Korea especially for the concert. Sometime before the concert was due to start it was realised that an unspecified number of the total 7,000 tickets had been double-sold. This meant that the ticket holders who first arrived at their designated seats, and those that arrived afterwards with other tickets for the same seat numbers were forced to sit elsewhere, and this had a knock-0n effect. Ultimately untold numbers of fans were unable to be seated.
As you can imagine the crowd got restless, and the concert was postponed for 2 hours while angry fans protested to the event organisers - some demanding instant refunds, and others hoping the seating could be sorted out in time to have a concert. Ultimately the organisers cancelled the event, and everyone had to go home. Today the concert website is well and truly down, not even a google cache can be brought up. But needless to say before it went down some hundreds (perhaps thousands) of angry fans left a few choice words to the company that caused their grief. The event organiser, ??????????? ???????? (not sure how this renders into English - Aven Planning?) appears to have no website of its own other than the one for the concert itself. I dare say they won’t exist much longer. I only hope nobody commits suicide over this (seriously).
The ticket agency’s website is up and running, and a pop-up window leads to a page explaining that all those who had bought tickets to the concert would have unconditional refunds. This is only just - but what about those who had flown internationally to see the event? A number of travel agent’s sold tours based around this concern, and at least one agency is today reported to have said “we are worried about what we should do in regards to compensating and refunding these tourists because of the concert’s cancellation.”
A spokesperson for one of the ‘talents’ said they were concerned that if this kind of thing happened repeatedly it would badly hurt the image of the singers overseas. Indeed, the title of the article from which these last two quotes come from is “Poor concert planning throws cold water on ‘Hallyu.’”
Police are investigating the exact cause of the matter, focusing their attention on both the event organiser and the ticketing agency.
Donga Ilbo carries the story with the photo we see here of the events company rep announcing the concert’s cancellation (an experience I hope never to have to go through in life), and also talks about the stars carrying some of the blame. BoA’s manager claims that the starlet had to just sit in her car for a long time because the waiting area (dressing rooms?) had been occupied by fans. On the other hand, the article points out that the stars did little to make sure that the event was being organised properly (Aven had no experience of planning large scale events, and there appear to have been questions raised even before the day of the concert), which makes it hard for them too escape a bit of finger-pointing, too.
For those that have the Korean skills and more interest in this topic, OhMyNews carried a very comprehensive article with some photos and a link to the Daum cafe where angry fans are commiserating together.
In the meantime, thousands of fans went home last night with unsigned autograph books and empty digital camera memory sticks.
7 Comments
This isn’t unusual:
Inexperience, Irresponsibility Give Black Eye to Entertainment Industry
Although to be fair, the Chili Peppers/Jane’s Addiction concert went alright. Ah, Korea…always wants to be the center of attention…then blows it.
‘korea wants to be cneter of attention and then blows it.’
really? did korea blow it or did the folks involved with the concert
blow it? you mean if a few individuals commit a crime, all of korea is guilty?
maybe you’re just a racist.
korea wants to be the center of attention? so? what’s wrong with that?
isn’t that what every nation wants? koreans are just learning how to promote their
culture. but not just externally, internally as well. these things have
happened to koreans too. now that it involves foreigners and growing piles of
money, you can bet this kind of stuff will be cleaned up.
Shin Jong Il, did you look at the story linked to by Michael about the canceled Scorpians concert? The parallels are interesting.
yes, I agree that Michael did say something silly about Korea wanting to be the centre of attention.
It is interesting that neither English language newsletter mentioned the story either yesterday or today, although there was a full page story in today’s K Times which was titled “`Korean Wave’ Cannot Be Complacent.” I thought it might make at least passing reference to the concert cancellation, but nothing.
Well, one concert going wrong, you can blame the organizers. But what is the concert/screw-up ratio in Korea? Going back to Triport in 1999, attempts at big concerts have regularly bit the big one. Triport washed out (yes, there was a typhoon, but that is what happens when you plan a concert in the middle of the rainy season… and the show was incredibly poorly organized… I was there, I saw for myself).
Even Namie Amuro’s show a few months ago was a mess, with the Korean promoters trying to reduce their fees to Namie *after the show*.
Japan gets Radiohead and Pixies and first-rate jazz. Korea gets Dream Theater and Deep Purple and Kenny G. You make the call.
Japan has J-pop, but also J-rock (Bump A Chicken, Boom Boom Satellites) and jazz and more. Korea has K-pop and… uh, K-pop. And ballads. Lots and lots of ballads. Again, you make the call.
Nulji–I’ve lived here for years, and no, I don’t mean the whole damn country, Mr. Simplistic, I mean the media and the government is obesessed with international reputation–why else constantly angle for World Cups and Olympics etc. (and I’m not saying anything is wrong with that) and then let amatuers muck it up. This includes the “entertainment” industry, per the link I gave.
‘world cup….olympics…amatuers running them.’
really? the 88 games were well run from my understanding of what i
remember reading shortly after they concluded. world cup in korea
also went off quite well. amateurs? i don’t think your assessment is
correct. back up what you’re writing here. how are the oympics and world cup
related to sham concerts? and please don’t tell me about boxing or the
twelth player, ok?
*****
looks like bush will retake the white house. a clear indication
that a majority of americans think nothing about killing a
hundred thousand innocent brown people during a war that was predicated
on distortions, lies, and, deception.
we’ll have more war soon. brace yourself, world.
ps i’m sure the sean hannitys of the world feel they’ve
found their penises again.
‘you kill one of us, we have the right to kill anyone who looks
and acts like you. never mind you’re innocent. you’re all the same
ragheads with you’re spit spewing language.’ lush rimbaugh
ps i’d like the moniker ‘nulji’ to be used if you don’t mind, mr hamel.
if tommorow you change your moniker to ‘gurga’, then that’s the name
i would use for you.
Nulji, if you get back to this part of Marmot’s blog, I don’t know what the hell you’re going on about with killing brown people and so on, but I really enjoy living in Korea, and am always cheering on the country, but sometimes I see Koreans shooting themselves in the foot and have to say something, just like I did about people in L.A. when I lived there. It’s personal opinion about a segment of society, not an assault on an entire race. You really should chill, before I report you to Homeland Security
(Just a joke! Hugs all around!)
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