entertainment

Korean group Big Bang finish 5-dome tour, drawing 740,000 fans

26 Comments

South Korean all-male group Big Bang completed their five-dome concert tour of Japan at Osaka’s Kyocera Dome on Sunday night. The tour drew an estimated 740,000 fans, Sports Nippon reported Monday.

The tour was the first time that any overseas artist has performed in the five domes of Japan for two consecutive years. The group also announced at the concert their first new album in three years will be released in the summer.

At the end of the concert, leader G-Dragon announced, “We promise to make a good album and come back,” to the cheers of 50,000 fans.

G-Dragon, who has been focusing on his solo career after Big Bang’s 2012 album, “ALIVE”, apologized at a press conference before the concert for not releasing any new material in three years. “From now on, we plan to focus and release new material. We want to spend the summer with our fans singing and dancing," he said.

Throughout the tour, Big Bang played on a stage that was surrounded completely 360 degrees by audience seats.

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26 Comments
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More like Damp Squib....... G-Dragon must try harder.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Glad young people pay no attention to all the stuff going on between Japan and Korea politically.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

True - although most of the love is of Japanese folks for things Korean. Don't think it is so much the other way round.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Wakarimasen: " Don't think it is so much the other way round."

There's a reason for that, and that reason is quality. A lot of Korean movies enjoy huge international success, as do their bands, and while a few J-pop bands, like Baby Metal, are enjoying success touring with Lady Gaga or whomever have you, the numbers are not comparable. Same with K-pop and Korean dramas in Japan in particular -- huge success because they relate to a wider audience than just within their borders, but not the case with most Japanese dramas. Personally I dislike them all, more or less, but to each their own.

-10 ( +2 / -12 )

Quality has nothing to do with it. There is nothing original or innovative with K-Pop. It is more or less it is a rehash of J-Pop from previous decades, with modern Western styles and beat thrown in. Combine this with huge funding from the Korean government to promote it as a 'cultural' product along with movies and dramas. (Which begs the question why not traditional Korean arts and crafts instead. Korean government has no confidence in them?)

The Korean movies and dramas are nothing to write home about either; they tend to be long, protracted and all over the place. What they tend to have is a polished production, but a polished production does not equate to quality. It just means Korea developed later economically than Japan, and have now access to newer equipment and resources. And most of the knowledge they learned or copied from Japan anyway. So, just because they're marketed well to 30-50 year-old obasans has nothing to do with quality. People need to learn the difference.

9 ( +9 / -0 )

Chinese, Korean, Filipino, Thai, Malay, Indonesian etc etc is very interested in Bing Bang, they have quite large numbers of fan that residing in Japan, we dont really know much about that 740.000, and how did they count the numers, don't just go assumed that Japanese entertainment is less interesting or less open, in my opinion, Japan entertainment is fine as it is.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

And most of the knowledge they learned or copied from Japan anyway.

Then how come Japan doesn't have its own version of Big Bang that sweeps Asia? Where is the Japanese Big Bang?

-10 ( +0 / -10 )

Just trying to follow along here: so the argument is over which is more original, J-pop or K-pop and which is higher quality? This could get ugly.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Big Bang. Nice name. I think I'll name my band "evolution," or better yet, "creation theory."

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Then how come Japan doesn't have its own version of Big Bang that sweeps Asia? Where is the Japanese Big Bang?

You assume that Japan needs to have its own version of BB. No need. Japan and Japanese are not insecure like Koreans who feel the need to constantly compare themselves with Japan. Are you Korean, by the way?

In case your reading comprehension is weak, as I wrote above Japan is not like Korea whose government promotes something shallow like entertainment and market it as 'culture.' So, you should be asking why not Korean arts and crafts instead. Either they don't have confidence in their own culture or they don't have any interesting to show to the world at all. It's most likely both.
6 ( +6 / -0 )

J-POP & K-POP are so somilar. A group of 4 to 100 girls singing crappy songs with weird costumes. Music for 12yo kids

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Suport for all things @genjuro told in his statement , and more bonus info on that, the sole reason why Korean wave exist is only because big investment from Korean goverment,for instance, Korean goverment gave from budged 5.2 bilion dolars to the culture ,and majority of that money if fueled into K-pop groups Kdramas, and thats why Korean dramas and music videos look better, its because Korea is spending serious money into that area, for Korean goverment, its a way to propagate their agenda , but yet, 2014 in K-pop will be remembered by the huge protest of lots of K-pop members , who protested for not getting proper money for their work, and the reason behind that is whole Korean K-pop industry, witch is based on searching for talents from early age, and then training them for years , until they attain certain age , but then, when they start their carrier, the money they earn first goes to the company that trained them, to repay all those trainings that they got , and that results in crazy fact that majority of these popular artist actually barely has more money than normal citizens, in fist several years of their carrier .

And for @smitingjapan, I am sad to inform you , but BABYMETAL was popular way before being as opening act for Lady Gaga, they only used that for promoting it self to the pop audience, while Metal audience knew it very well who they are, because lots of metal magazines in the world had lots of articles of them.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

@smithinjapan: In Asia, and specially in Japan, K-pop culture is popular for sure, but it's not like that everywhere, I'm pretty sure in Europe Japanese popular culture is more popular than Korean popular culture (at least in Italy) because Japanese food, animation, comics and fashion style (also in home furniture) are basically mainstream. You should also notice how Koreans copied a lot Japanese pop culture (for example the drawing style in comics) even though Koreans will never admit it. Also the fashion is strongly influenced by the "kawaii culture" and Harajuku style. Pucca is a Sanrio character clone. A western person can see how much Korean pop culture was influenced by Japan, but it's like Korea is oblivious to this fact. Japan is the most lucrative market for K-pop, not Europe or the uS. This is something that all the Koreans who always bash Japan should consider.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Alex80. Many people outside asia see koreans and chinese the same.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

@kiyoshiMukai:

I can speak about Italy, my country. The most popular Asian countries are Japan and China, Korea is basically unknown. I'm speaking about mainstream culture. Everybody basically know Chinese food and sushi, but very few people know Korean food. Everybody knows Bruce Lee movies and Japanese animation like Candy Candy, Heidi, Dragon Ball, etc. for TONS of years, but what about Korea? Only recently Gagnamstyle! Also, Japanese music in Italy was known to some extent thanks to cartoons (I love Maison Ikkoku openings and endings), because we watched these cartoons on tv. Chinese and Japanese cultures are mainstream, Korean culture isn't known. No offence but this "Korean wave" is for a niche of people, it's not mainstream! I don't know what people in Korea think...Recently a Korean drama arrived in a minor Italian channel (it was the first Korean drama in Italy) and it was a huge failure...now you can watch the episodes on Youtube. Korean wave in Asia? Yep! In Italy? NO! And also in the rest of Europe I don't think there's a Korean wave at all. Chinese and Japanese cultures are the most popular, also for martial arts. I appreciate Korean efforts for getting their pop and traditional culture known worldwide, but they should be more humble and admit that they are not at the level of China and Japan YET...they have not Hong Kong movies (Bruce Lee, Jacky Chan) or popular animation like Pokemon, Doraemon and other stuff. In Italy we got also Stand by me Doraemon at the cinema. Look at this:

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/intl/?id=_fSTANDBYMEDORAEMO01&country=IT&wk=2014W46&id=_fSTANDBYMEDORAEMO01&p=.htm

It did rather well, better than some Hollywood movies. This means be mainstream. You can see Doraemon everyday on Italian tv. Maybe someday Korean culture will have some mainstream things like Chinese and Japanese culture in Italy, but at the moment, it's not like that.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

@Alex80

Oh, Pucca! Though it wasn't a hit in the US, I remember that cute girl and her ninjya boyfriend.

My friend from Thailand bought a few Pucca goods in Bangkok for me as a gift.

Her in broken English: "I got them for you because her buns reminded me of you. Japanese." Me: "??? Thank you." Her: "And it's Sanrio. Sanrio is Japanese. I used to love Keroppi when I was a student." Me: "Yes...is it really Sanrio? I never seen her in Japan." Her: "Look, she has a ninjya boyfriend." Me: "???...Okay! That's nice!"

We later found out it's a cute Korean cartoon and had nothing to do with Sanrio.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

The tour was the first time that any overseas artist has performed in the five domes of Japan for two consecutive years.

Sonically speaking, a rather dubious achievement.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

I don't care Kpop or Jpop but I happy to read foreigner geeks (otaku in Japanese?) defend Japanese. Good job!

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

How can the 5 domes accommodate 740,000 fans?

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Alex80 its true. Also many people watch korean dramas since they wont get sued and they are mostly free over the internet. But its always the same Siap Opera. 2 young people in different circunstances meet each other and in the end they kiss.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

kiyoshiMukaiJAN. 21, 2015 - 12:50AM JST J-POP & K-POP are so somilar. A group of 4 to 100 girls singing crappy songs with weird costumes. Music for 12yo kids

Have you heard "Blue Rose" from AKB48 and "Dazai Osamu wo yonda ka?" from NMB48? Did those song for 12yo kids? How about Momoclove will collaborate wit "KISS"?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

http://ygex.jp/bigbang/special/dometour201415/

5 domes, 15 concerts, 740,000 fans.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

it is a rehash of J-Pop from previous decades

Yes, when J-Pop was good with nice tune and nice singers.....

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

@ProudJapanese: I'm not a "geek". Why should I be a geek? Anyway, I'm only saying the facts about Asian pop culture in my country.

@citizen2000: There are good singers in Japan also today, sadly they are not popular like idol groups. About K-pop, I think in general it's all the same stuff. It sounds like Euro dance in 90s. I bet there are some good Korean singers, of course, saldy also in this case the most popular artists are boybands and girlbands without any genuine real talent, built up like clones by their own agencies. Worldwide music quality is in decline everywhere, it's all about looks (plastic surgery) and cheap music. The Beatles were ugly boys but they were real talent.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I love japanese music/ bands! one ok rock, Shugo Takumaro is very popular. Hayao Miyazaki and Hirokazu Koreeda are world renowned in their field .

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Waouh ! There are lots of critics here... I don't know if you know but in France for example Japan and Korea are both very famous! First of all with the animation, then, with bands like Bigbang for Korea but there are also in japanese one ok rock or News. Many people loves their bands (in France) and wait that band come in. So, to my mind is too easy to critizice because (maybe) lots of people here doesn't hear their songs and that's why there are critics. I don't know if i explain correctly (and i'm sorry if i don't).

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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