Ever since going to Mitski in 2022, I’ve been on a concert high. There’s just something about being there in the crowd, hearing music live, and seeing your favorite artist’s stage presence that you don’t get with simply listening to music on Spotify.
Most of the concerts I have gone to are those of indie singers like Mitski, mxmtoon, Ginger Root, dhruv, Keshi, Phum Viphurit, and wave to earth. At these concerts, it’s all about standing, which can be a challenge. Sweating it out in a crowded area for three-plus hours isn’t exactly the most fun, but it’s always worth it after hearing the artist perform.
While these concerts were always fun, my recent jump back into K-pop concerts has added a new dimension to my concert high. I’ve gone to two K-pop concerts: Red Velvet in 2018 and Tomorrow X Together (TXT) in 2023.
Freebies
One unique aspect of K-pop concerts I haven’t seen at other concerts is the freebies, free gifts fans will make to give out to attendees. Freebies can range from stickers to bracelets to posters; it’s a cool way to share the love and creativity between fans.
Lightsticks
Most stadium concerts will give out lights that fans can use during the concert. K-pop concerts take this to an extreme. Fans can purchase lightsticks (which are essentially glorified glowsticks). These lightsticks aren’t cheap, either. They can range from $50 to $70 per light stick. This lightstick trend was started in 2006 by Kwon Ji-Yong, more popularly known as the G-Dragon of BIGBANG. In 2006, G-Dragon designed the first official fan light, an innovation that sparked a trend for other groups to create light sticks to represent their fandom.
Run time
I’ve noticed that indie concerts rarely follow their start times. Indie concerts will always start an hour or two later than listed. But K-pop concerts strictly follow what open time they say. I went to TXT’s concert over the summer, expecting the concert to start an hour after listing, but to my surprise, they started exactly at 7:00, the time they said they would. K-pop concerts are also much longer. Indie concerts usually range from one to two hours, but K-pop concerts can last three to four hours.
Performance
A K-pop concert will include various performances. The performance will include dancing, lip-synching, live singing performances, and segments of time for audience interaction and conversation. K-pop concerts will often break these segments up by playing music videos to give the idols a break to change outfits and prepare for the next performance. This break also gives the audience a chance to sit down. After experiencing the privilege of sitting down during the concert, standing in a pit has become a lot less enjoyable for me now that I’ve experienced the relief of sitting.
These aspects of K-pop concerts are unique to North America. In Korea and surrounding Asian countries, concerts are more casual since idols travel there more often, so a K-pop concert in Asian countries is not as big of a deal as in North America, where we are lucky to get even one concert.
