Asia News: Live Nation In Singapore; No Name For NewJeans; Flaps At Clockenflap

SINGAPORE

Live Nation To Open First Venue

Live Nation will open its first live music venue in Southeast Asia, in partnership with Lendlease Global Commercial REIT and supported by the Singapore Tourism Board.

Presently referred to as the Grange Road Singapore event space, the venue will hold 3,000 people and include a state-of-the-art music hall with multiple rooms and stages that can host both international touring artists and local acts. It will also feature a cafe-bar that can be used for smaller events.

In addition to expanding Singapore’s capabilities for presenting live music events, the new venue provides facilities for meetings, incentives, conferences, exhibitions and community events.

KOREA

NewJeans Has NoName At First Show Since Ador Split

Earlier this month, K-pop girl group NewJeans announced it has terminated its contract with management company Ador. On Dec. 7, the group made its first concert appearance since the announcement, which has shaken the Korean music industry.

The five members appeared as guest performers at the Korean concert of the Japanese duo Yoasobi, which has garnered a huge following throughout Asia. NewJeans performed several of its hits and members introduced themselves as individuals without ever mentioning the name of the group.

In addition, “NewJeans” was not displayed on stage or on screens, nor was the group’s logo shown. The only mention came from Yoasobi themselves, who briefly referred to the group by name.

According to K-pop fansite Kbizoom, the news spread quickly on Korean social media, pointing out that in the wake of breaking their contract with Ador, NewJeans would seem to be up in the air as to whether or not they can use the name, which is obviously controlled by Ador.

At least one fan asked, “Do we now have to call them AKA NewJeans?” The appearance has sparked speculation about how the group will handle their future commitments and the most common scenario is that, at least in the short term, the members will simply operate as individuals rather than as a unit.

Ador continues to state that its contract with the group “is still valid” and has filed a lawsuit against them. In addition, the Korea Entertainment Producers Association and the Korea Management Federation have released statements demanding that NewJeans resume normal activities by retracting their decision to terminate their contract.

HONG KONG

Social Flops At Clockenflap

After Scottish DJ SimOne complained about teenage boys making “obscene hand gestures” during her performance at Hong Kong’s Clockenflap 2024, the South China Morning Post ran an article on Dec. 4 outlining other problems with the festival that “cast Hong Kong…in a bad light.”

The article quotes social media posts from festivalgoers who complained about people moving to the front of the stage in an aggressive manner and cutting lines to get into venues.

There were also complaints about the “heavy police presence” on the grounds, including plainclothes officers who were constantly patrolling the festival, obviously concentrating more on political activity than the bad behavior that was so evident.

One Japanese band remarked from the stage “freedom for Hong Kong people,” thus prompting the SCMP to wonder if the group will ever be allowed in Hong Kong or China again.

Also, there were reports that St. Vincent attempted to crowd surf during her performance but that some audience members tried to pull her down into the pit. In any case, it didn’t seem to faze the musician, since she later praised Hong Kong as one of the best cities in the world.

Nevertheless, when she tried to thank the audience in their own language, she used Mandarin instead of Cantonese, the language spoken in Hong Kong, and the well-intentioned gesture was met with a cold response.

To add insult to injury the lead singer of the Canadian rock band Mother Mother told the crowd how happy they were to be there for “our first time in Japan.” At least he corrected himself shortly afterwards.