Getting tickets from websites a breeze
From following their idols on Twitter to joining international fan clubs, some intrepid K-pop fans have found ways to get hold of concert tickets on their own.
In January, Changmin of ballad group 2AM tweeted that they were going to hold a concert in Seoul in March. As soon as analyst Nur Adlina Adyani, 27, read the tweet, she Googled the information and found out that tickets were on sale on the English version of Korean ticketing website Interpark.
Miss Nur Adlina, who was already planning a holiday in Seoul at the time of the concert, bought two tickets for herself and a friend for the equivalent of $100 each.
She says: ‘It was surprisingly easy, and since I’m learning Korean, I could understand what Changmin tweeted.’
For non-Korean speaking fans, it helps to belong to an international fan site.
Earlier this year, Devon Lucas Tan, 20, found out that his favourite group Girls’ Generation were holding a concert in Seoul in July through Soshified.com, an international Girls’ Generation forum based in the United States. (The group, whose Korean name is So Nyeo Shi Dae, is also referred to as SoShi.)
Mr Tan, who is waiting to enter Temasek Polytechnic next year, has been a member of the site for three years. He knew that CTC Travel was organising a tour package for the concert, with prices starting at around $1,200. But he decided instead to book the US$1,000 (S$1,306) package that Soshified was offering for a concert ticket and five nights’ accommodation. It did not include airfare, so he had to buy his $700 air ticket from Singapore to Seoul.
‘Soshified was getting tickets directly from SM Entertainment, so I felt that being a member of an international fan site, there might be additional perks if I booked through it,’ he says.
He was right: He and a friend whom he travelled with ended up with mosh pit tickets – usually the first ticket category to sell out – so that they were standing two rows from the stage. The fan site also managed to get tickets for its members to attend live recordings of variety show Immortal Song and music chart show Show! Music Core.
Aside from concerts, fans also fly to Korea for musicals that their idols appear in. Architect Adele Sim, in her 30s, changed her dates for a planned trip to Seoul in February when she managed to get tickets for the musical On Air Live, which starred Kevin, one of the members of her favourite boyband U-Kiss.
The co-founder of SMTown Singapore fan club found tickets on itourSeoul.com, an English ticketing website.
‘It was really easy because all the information is in English since it is targeted at foreigners. Plus, the people manning the site were very helpful and answered all my questions,’ says Ms Sim, who paid the equivalent of less than $100 for her ticket.
Likewise, Miss Nur Adlina will be fitting in the musical The Three Musketeers when she is in Seoul for Super Junior’s concert next month. It stars Super Junior member Kyuhyun.
She will be attending with 19 other SMTown Singapore fan club members. She ordered the tickets, from $105 to $200, from Singapore-based Mtertainment, a two-month-old ticket booking agency.
‘I’m happy that I’m able to watch both a concert and a popular musical in Korea. Although I may not be able to understand with my limited Korean, I”m still looking forward to having an enjoyable time.’
Incoming search terms:
- kpop in hk 2012
- kpop concert july 2012
- 2pm korean group hk ticket 2012
- Kpop concerts in Seoul in July 2012
- kpop concerts in seoul 2012
- sm town concert seoul 2012
- kpop hong kong 2012
- k-pop seoul in july 2012
- Korea kpop concert July 2012
- kpop hk 2012
Ringo Shiina
Sam Milby
The Apparition (Album)
Mirotic Album