800,000 fans. That is the amount of fans the group BIGBANG met through their concert last year. Big Bang has visited 12 countries and 24 cities from small countries to big countries with varying populations. This was the first time a Korean artist had brought out this many audiences. Unlike other idol groups that only tour around Asian countries, Big Bang even reached to America, South America and UK. Big Bang, as an idol, successfully held a world tour that only pop stars like Lady Gaga or Beyonce could hold.
Big Bang started off their tour “BIGBANG ALIVE GALAXY TOUR” in March last year in Seoul. After going to Japan, China, Indonesia and many other Asian countries, they crossed the Pacific and landed on America. After selling out all four concerts (50,000 crowds) in LA and NJ, they continued their tour to Lima, Peru and London, England. And finally, Big Bang finished their long journey at Seoul Olympic Gymnasium on January 27th.
In this tour, Bigbang worked with Live Nation, production agency that produced tours of famous pop stars like Lady Gaga. Every show, 445 staffs were involved. Big Bang performed and sang live 2 hours and 30 minutes on every show, in 48 shows, which in total is about 7200 minutes. All 48 shows were completely sold out. Estimating that each ticket was about 100,000 won, Big Bang’s revenue for this tour is estimated to be about 80 billion won (Note: Not yet counting revenue from merchandise).
It was very amusing that Big Bang was able to sell out in Europe and South America because Korean artists had never reached out to those parts of the world. In 2008, when Wonder Girls went to America, their tour was a small club tour for promotion. In 2010, many Idol groups were trying to appeal to the global market and spread K-pop all over the world but they could only appeal to Asia. Only artist that was able to target countries outside of Asia was Psy. However, if Big Bang sold out all 60,000 seats in England and America, that means they have a plenty of fans that are willing to pay for the expensive tickets. The staffs said “Having 12,000 audiences in each show cannot be covered with invitations.”
Big Bang also received a favorable notice from the press in many countries that they can proudly compare Big Bang’s tour to other pop stars. New Yorker said, “G-Dragon is like the Lady Gaga of Korea.” New York Times also chose Big Bang’s Alive tour as one of the Best concerts of 2012. And The Guardian from England rated Big Bang’s concert with 4 stars out of 5.
Music critic, Han Dong Yoon said, “It was rare for one Idol group to sell out their tickets globally and continuously like Big Bang. Also, the fact that they could sing and dance live in all 48 tours proves their skills as an artist. This shows that Big Bang has the possibility to go beyond Korea and compete with other pop stars.”
Source: Economic Daily
Translated by: Dana / @BIGBANGGisVIP