Asia News: BLACKPINK Adds Dates, Woodstock Comes To Seoul, Soccer Fans Vs. Jay Chaou

KOREA

BLACKPINK Adds Asian Dates

BLACKPINK’s sold-out Asian tour swelled by four additional concerts Jan. 9, with new dates in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, March 19; Singapore, May 14; and Macau May 20-21. BLACKPINK’s Asia tour will now take in 12 cities comprising 22 concerts.

The Macau shows were especially noteworthy due to fans from the Chinese mainland rushing to Hong Kong and Macau to take in large-scale pop concerts now that mainlanders are free to travel after several years of COVID restrictions.

Mainlanders still need visas to travel to Hong Kong, but they will not have to undergo quarantine upon entering the territory. Three Hong Kong shows sold out long ago, so the chance to see them in Macau means a lot to the group’s Chinese fans. Once restrictions were announced, prices of BLACKPINK tickets available on secondary sites skyrocketed to almost 10 times face value.

Woodstock Comes To Seoul

Woodstock is coming to South Korea. SGC Entertainment has signed a copyright agreement with the Woodstock Music and Art Fair to host a three-day festival under the Woodstock name.

The festival will take place July 28-30 at the Hantangang River Geopark complex in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province under the slogan “freedom, peace and love” as a means of commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Korean War armistice agreement, according to the Korea Herald.

It will mark the first time that a “Woodstock” festival is to take place outside of the U.S. The original Woodstock festival was in 1969, with anniversary events taking place in 1994, 1999 and 2009. A 50th anniversary event slated for 2019, however, was cancelled due to financial problems.

In 2010, there was an attempt to host a Woodstock festival in Korea, but it never took place because of “copyright and artist lineup issues,” according to the Herald.
SGC did not announce artists at the press conference, but said that it would include at least “30 performances.”

MALAYSIA

Soccer Fans Versus Jay Chou

Taiwanese Mandopop superstar Jay Chou’s Jan. 15 concert at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium in Kuala Lumpur has caused some grief for Malayasian soccer fans.

The stadium is home to the Malaysian national soccer team, which was to play Thailand as part of the ASEAN Football Federation Cup. According to CNA, stadium capacity is 87,000, but only 59,000 tickets were made available for the Jan. 7 match since the enormous stage setup for Chou’s concert cut capacity by 21,000 seats.

Malaysia’s Minister of Youth and Sports, Hannah Yeoh, addressed the matter via Twitter, explaining that Chou’s team booked the stadium on March 19, 2019. At the time, there were no soccer matches scheduled for 2023 – the latest match at the time was slated for Aug. 18, 2022. In addition, Yeoh told the New Straits Times that both the concert and AFF Cup follow international standards, meaning both events “have implications for the government,” and canceling an international concert like Chou’s would be extremely “disruptive.”

The problem, according to Yeoh, is that Chou’s concert required 14 days to set up the stage, as well as a 185-member crew, 45 pieces of heavy machinery, 200 speakers and 800 lights, making it impossible to postpone or move the show without incurring an incredible amount of lost money and time.