Asia News: SZA At Fuji Rocks; Swift Diplomacy; Coldplay Wristbands Lag

JAPAN

SZA To Headline Fuji Rocks

Smash Corporation has finally announced the headliner for the opening day of the Fuji Rock Festival, which will take place in Niigata, Japan the weekend of July 26-28. SZA will play the main Green Stage on Friday night.

Other new additions to the lineup include Omar Apollo, Beth Gibbons, Friko, Glass Beams, Noname and Oliver Tree.

Japan’s other international summer festival, Summer Sonic, has also added new acts to its roster for the weekend of Aug. 17-18 in Osaka. In Tokyo, Lil Yachty, Babymonster and Hoobastank appear.

INDONESIA

Minister Exploring Singapore Concert Pactss
Indonesia Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Uno recently visited Singapore to explore “potential bilateral cooperation” for hosting major concerts following Singapore’s successful campaign to get Taylor Swift to perform only in Singapore during her swing through Southeast Asia for the Eras Tour, the Jakarta Post reports.

Sandiaga reportedly met with Singapore’s trade minister, Grace Fu Hai Yien, on March 9. The next day, he released a statement saying, “Considering the recent Taylor Swift concert in Singapore, the Singaporean economy has seen a significant increase, as the concert brought in five times more spending than typical tourists.”

Though the specific terms of Swift’s exclusive deal with Singapore have not been disclosed, other countries in the region have expressed dismay at having been shut out of the tour, though Singapore itself says that the move was not meant to be disrespectful to its neighbors.

Consequently, one Indonesia minister told the media that it would “not be outdone by Singapore” and vowed to begin organizing concerts with “international appeal” in order to
boost tourism. During Swift’s concert run, demand for accommodations in Singapore increased 30%.

Sandiaga said the government would prepare a special fund to help local organizers bring in big concerts that would cover other events as well, including sports competitions. Along these lines, the government pledged to “improve infrastructure, permit issuance and human capital to enable the initiative, including fighting ticket scalping.”

The latter measure seems to be a vital consideration, since ticket scams were rampant for the six-show run at the Singapore National Stadium. Initially, the government hopes to endow the fund with about $130 million.

Jakarta Lags In Coldplay Wristband Return

Jakarta has the dubious distinction of being the lowest city on a recent ranking of stops on the recent Coldplay tour in terms of returns of wristbands, according to VOI.

During its “Music of the Spheres” tour the band asked audience members to return wristbands so that they could be recycled for subsequent shows as part of Coldplay’s efforts to make the tour more sustainable.

Of the 25 cities on the list, Jakarta came in 25th with a return percentage of 77%. Tokyo came in first at 97%, followed by Copenhagen with 96%.

The other Southeast Asian stops on the tour had better rates of return than Jakarta: Singapore, 91%; Kuala Lumpur, 90%; Bangkok, 89%; and Manila, 87%.

SINGAPORE

Fans Livid At Botched IU Onsale

Though Singapore seems to have become concert central for Southeast Asia, ticketing woes have continued with the announcement of IU’s “H.E.R. World Tour” shows at the Singapore Indoor Stadium April 20-21 went on sale the morning of March 15 and sold out by 1 p.m.

Fans, apparently, were livid, saying on social media that the online ticketing system kept crashing and, as a result, scalpers managed to purchase many tickets. Almost immediately these tickets were being offered on other sites for more than twice their face value.

Unsuccessful fans blamed the situation on bots being used by scalping parties. Another complaint was that the organizer did not use a presale code for fan club members. One told AsiaOne that he logged onto the ticketing website as early as 9 a.m., one hour before the tickets were officially available, and still couldn’t buy any.

When AsiaOne checked the resale site Carousell, it found tickets originally priced at S$298 going for S$800 even before booking fees were applied.

MALAYSIA

ALIFE Takes Aim At Protestors

The Association of Live Event Organizers (ALIFE) of Malaysia plans to take legal action against protestors who oppose live concerts in the country, according to Business Times.

The president of ALIFE, Rizal Kamal, said on March 15 that the association wants to safeguard Malaysia’s event scene from “bureaucratic hurdles and unwarranted political interference.” Given the potential for live music in Southeast Asia, ALIFE wants to ensure Malaysia’s “global entertainment competitiveness.”

Various political and religious groups have demanded that concerts featuring artists associated with “sinful” activities, or which support certain communities, such as LGBTQ individuals, be disallowed from performing in the country. ALIFE denounces such targeting.

“Live events are pivotal in boosting Malaysia’s international reputation and driving economic growth,” said Kamal. “However, bureaucratic inefficiencies and political pressures threaten to hinder our industry’s potential.”

ALIFE is ready to take legal action against “baseless claims and discriminatory acts” that get in the way of the public’s access to entertainment in Malaysia’s “live performance landscape.”