September 19, 2022 10:52
Singer IU drew huge crowds with two concerts, titled "The Golden Hour," at Jamsil Olympic Stadium in Seoul on Saturday and Sunday.
With a capacity to accommodate up to 100,000 people, including standing areas, the stadium has served as a concert venue for big K-pop stars including legend Cho Yong-pil, '90s idol group H.O.T., Psy, who took the world by storm with "Gangnam Style" in 2012, and global sensation Bangtan Boys, also known as BTS.
IU is the first female K-pop artist to hold a concert at the stadium. In consideration of spectators' safety and to accommodate the stage set, a maximum of 44,000 tickets were made available for each performance, which were sold out within an hour at prices ranging from W99,000 to W165,000 (US$1=W1,388). Having drawn the biggest audiences ever for a female artist, the shows raked in W8 billion in ticket sales.
She opened both concerts with "Eight," a song originally recorded as a collaboration with Suga of BTS, and the stadium immediately erupted as all the fans began chanting the lyrics of the song. The stadium glowed as concertgoers waved their orange light sticks, a symbol of IU's official fan club.
Sunday also marked the 14th anniversary of IU's debut in 2008 at the age of just 15, launching an extraordinary career that would see her become a K-pop diva with one hit song after another. She put on splendid performances throughout the three-hour concerts, which some 1,500 staffers were reportedly involved in setting up.
- Copyright © Chosunilbo & Chosun.com