BIGBANG stages biggest-ever concert

K-pop band BigBang performs during their 10th anniversary concert “BIGBANG10 THE CONCERT: 0.TO.10” at Seoul World Cup Stadium in western Seoul, Saturday. / Courtesy of YG Entertainment

Psy pops in to celebrate group’s 10th anniversary

By Kim Jae-heun

One day was enough for the five-member K-pop band BigBang to captivate their 65,000 fans gathered at Seoul World Cup Stadium on Saturday, where their 10th anniversary concert was held.

The hip-hop group presented the show “BIGBANG10 THE CONCERT: 0.TO.10” as part of their 10th anniversary celebrations, along with the documentary film “BIGBANG MADE” opening in late June and exhibition “A TO Z” in early August.

YG Entertainment, the band’s agency, originally planned to invite 60,000, but fans requested 5,000 additional seats along sides despite the poor view. It recorded the biggest audience for a K-pop group’s solo concert in the country.

The company did everything to satisfy the audience from a flying VTE Beam Trolley of KINESYS that provides various range views of the stage and installing 10 delay speakers for the best quality sound for an open-air football stadium.

Scene from “BIGBANG10 THE CONCERT: 0.TO.10” / Courtesy of YG Entertainment

Beginning 20 minutes past 7 p.m., leader G-Dragon appeared on stage with his four bandmates, greeted by thousands of yellow light sticks ― introducing himself as the leader of BigBang for 10 years. The band prepared 22 hit songs from the opening song “Heaven” to the last encore track “Bae Bae.” The show lasted over two and a half hours and each member staged a solo performance as well as sub-group hits.

BigBang members Seungri and Daesung said G-Dragon deliberated for a long time choosing songs for his solo performance at the concert as he has too many hit songs. Instead the duo decided to stage their leader’s “Crooked” after both sang their own solo title “Strong Baby” and “Look at Me, Gwisoon.”

G-Dragon presented “Heart Breaker” and “Crayon,” plus “High High” with rapper T.O.P, who performed his solo “Act Like Nothing’s Wrong” and “Doom Dada.”

“Since I joined YG, I always remembered August as the month of my birthday. But from a certain point, it became days when I think about members and fans more and I feel happy. Ten years flew by and I hope to see you all again in ten more years,” said G-Dragon.

Taeyang also thanked the audience for allowing them to come this far and said the group is already planning their next 10 years with the fans.

The company’s biggest surprise for fans came when the guest singer Psy, another artist of YG Entertainment, appeared on the screen to drive the audience crazy with songs “Champion” and “Gangnam Style.” The world star introduced himself as a good brother of BigBang and congratulated the band on their anniversary.

“I remember my last performance with the song Entertainer in 2006 when Yang Hyun-suk asked me to watch BigBang’s debut. It was the day the group debuted with La La La and Hyun-suk said they will kill everybody from now on,” said Psy.

“In the history of boy bands around the world, I wonder who else has evolved so much with such a distinctive music and identity as BigBang. I have never seen so many people gathered at a pay concert like this in Korean history.”