There are actually multiple opportunities to see Korean music artists other than attending a concert. However, attending a concert is the best way to see a certain artist for longer and perform more songs of theirs. You will be surprised at how many concerts are available through just being in South Korea. Usually, ticketing would be through Yes24 or Interpark (keep in mind they also have a website separate just for ticketing, try not to confuse with the shopping website). There are Korean and global versions of the website which I find very helpful. It works almost the same as any ticketing service being first come first serve. However, one difference is that all tickets are going to be the same price, meaning very front seat on the floor is the same as the farthest seat in the stadium. There are also no direct reselling. You can only cancel your ticket for it to be put back on the website as normal price, meaning no more worrying about ridiculous scalpers! These global ticketing websites also allowed for foreign card payment and paypal! There may be benefits such as getting access to tickets earlier than the general public. For Stray Kids, since I am officially part of the fan club, I was able to have access to buying tickets a few days before it was open to the general public. They provided instructions to verify my fanclub membership on the website beforehand which allowed me to do so. I found that many other groups had this pre-sale benefit for their fan club members as well, so if you want a higher chance of getting a floor seat, you may want to get that fan club membership of your favorite artist just in case! I also have a separate post on my blog talking about the process of the Stray Kids concert which goes into more detail of how it usually goes.
On the topic of being a part of fan clubs, being a part of the official fanclub actually comes with many benefits when being in South Korea. Especially if you want to attend events for the group or for any members of the group need audience’s for. For example, Stray Kids had a weekly MC for a music show, so weekly, a first come first serve entry form comes out for people to attend. If they also have a comeback, they will have the same process of a first come first serve form to attend their pre-recording or live recording for different music shows that occur weekly. I was lucky enough to make it to their pre-recordings. Pre-recordings often happened in the beginning of the comeback (when their song/album just released) can happen in the middle of night, I realized mainly due to having a special decorated set. I had to taxi at 1:00 a.m. for attendance check, also meaning the performance recording occurred around 3:00 a.m.I wasn’t even the one performing but it made me incredibly tired. Luckily these happened during the weekend, but there were events during the weekdays too. Also these studios where they record the music shows are way smaller than they appear, so even the farthest seat you would still get to see them very clearly.
You may also have the opportunity to see other group’s pre-recordings and at a reasonable time if they do not have a special stage set. On the last pre-recording I attended (which occured on the same day as the 3:00 a.m. one), it was around 4:00 p.m., there were no special sets, just the normal LED screens, and I was able to watch Cravity and AB6IX pre-recordings along with Stray Kids. They had split the seating areas by fandoms. Another thing I found interesting was that they also switched the fandoms standing at the very front according to who was performing so that you could hear cheers and see the designated cheering light sticks on broadcast. This whole time I thought it was always a big stadium and they had areas of multiple stages and that’s why the audience in the front always matched the artist. It was interesting to realize a good majority of them are pre-recorded.
Something very important to note that I wish I did earlier, was to get my Alien Registration Card (madatory if staying in Korea longer than 90 days) earlier and with that, to also get a Korean bank account as soon as possible. To attend the pre-recordings (may not apply to all artists, but have noticed all JYP artists have the same procedures), you need to purchase their new album/songs ONLY on Melon, which is a Korean music platform. You have to print out the songs were bought along with your verified account information. The major problems with it, is that to verify your account, you need your Alien Registration Card linked to your Korean phone number. To buy the songs, you need a Korean bank account (which also needs a your Alien Registration Card and a Korean phone number). There are no other ways around it and those were the only way. I was just incredibly lucky that they did not specify Melon platform for the purchase of songs, so they just told me to bring it next time (which did not happen due to not getting Alien registration card in time, the comeback had ended by then). After my little incident of bringing the wrong music platform of purchased songs, they then specified it had to be ONLY on Melon. So if time is on your side and your favorite K-pop artist is conveniently having a comeback while you are in South Korea, it is best to have that Alien Registration Card ready as soon as possible. With that, also getting a Korean phone number linked to it, then finally getting a Korean bank and purchase those (surprisingly cheap) songs on Melon. Not only did it allow for attending pre-recordings, but also for buying tickets for award shows (which are surprisingly cheap too, one with BTS performing was only around $20.00 for any seat, first come first serve) where in fact multiple can perform in that one event. Unfortunately, I did not attend any award shows, because again, no Alien Registration Card in time which also meant no Korean bank account to purchase it.
On a more positive note...
With all the hardships of having no Alien Registration Card can do in stopping you from seeing artists in real life, on a positive note, there are opportunities to see these artist in real life for free! At a certain time around the beginning of the semester, many universities will have music festivals for free, and these music festivals can often have many well-known artists perform all in that one day. I know that Yonsei University had all of my favorite artist perform in theirs but I think particularly for theirs, it may have been just only their own students. I think Yonsei’s was the most iconic. If you want to see their lineup or videos of Yonsei’s, you can search up “AKARAKA 2022”. However, there will be others open for anyone to walk in! The girl group Itzy has been a long time favorite of mine and I was so grateful that one of my friends in my class mentioned they were going to perform in Dongguk University. It can be a little difficult to figure out when and who these artists would perform in these music festivals, but at the time, my main goal was just to see Itzy, so maybe a helpful tip would just to search “artist name” “university” on twitter and see what comes up. Through that, I was actually able to find out flyers of universities, music festival times and those performing in it. I took the subway to the Dongguk University, followed the crowd walking towards the University, watched the music festival and did eventually see Itzy perform!
Another way can be a little tricky to find out. You may have to closely follow up on the particular artist in order to make it to these. It is to show up in public fansigns and/or fanmeetings. BLACKPINK had their comeback while I was in Korea and so they also had a fansign event, which usually consists of lottery drawn people who get to talk to them for a while and get their album signed. Some artists, such as BLACKPINK can have these occur in public places. They had theirs done in IFC mall. I took the subway to IFC mall, and behold I saw BLACKPINK talking to fans and signing albums. There were many other people who were taking a look at BLACKPINK so it just a little pretty crowded around the fansign space and along the ledges of the floors where you could still see them. I was viewing them from the second floor and they did look around to acknowledge the people around the mall too. Overall, it still was pretty cool to see them in real life and so easily!
Mini fan meetings are a little different. It doesn’t consist of signing and talking to fans one by one picked by a lottery, but it is where fans gather and the artist just talk, play games, and maybe perform a little. These mini-fan meetings do have a somewhat assigned ground seating to people who had first come first serve through the fan club membership, BUT they can possibly be in a public space too, where you can again just show up to see them in real life. Stray Kids had a mini-fan meeting after their last music show broadcast for their comeback, and it was located… in a public park. The artist’s Twitter account will usually have all types of announcements. These things aren’t announced as largely as concerts, so it is good to be aware of what’s going on with artists you like to make the most out of those opportunities!
Comments