Plans to Build Largest K-Pop Performance Venue

What is the quality of the audience experience if the venue was ten times times this size?

 

      The latest news signifying the spread of the 'Hallyu wave' (otherwise known as the expansive craze for K-Pop) is that The Ministry of Strategy and Finance under the South Korean government is planning to build a new performance arena in Korea to seat over 15,000 people. Once built, it would be the largest stadium in the nation. So far, Korea's largest venue of choice has been the Olympic Gymnastics Stadium, which hosts a little over 15,000 seats.

The plan was proposed to encourage the Hallyu wave and appeal to fans from overseas. The idea was given on September 5th during the New Growth Engine Performance Evaluation Report Conference with the presence of President Lee Myung Bak.The project completion year is 2016, and there seems to be some mixed opinions over the announcement.

An anonymous agency representative reminds that a similar project idea to build a large Hallyu theme park a few years ago had halted because of financial complications, so what's to say the huge project won't be postponed or indefinitely scrapped because of construction expenses? After all, land in Korea is expensive and fans are wondering if the Hallyu wave will even last until 2016. A lot can happen in four years, and yet more fans are even protesting that most of their K-Pop oppas will be engaged in military service by then.

Personally, I don't see anything wrong with building a larger arena to host grand-scale performances, but I wonder if South Korea really needs it. True, the Hallyu wave is booming, but would there be enough events where they would need much more than 15,000 seats? Yes, concerts for top Hallyu stars like DBSK and Big Bang would sell out even in such an arena, but how often does that happen a year? What would the venue be used for in the meantime, and more importantly, who can afford to rent out such a hefty venue if they were short of being the biggest entertainment companies? It's a lot of land and money to be throwing to waste, and I hope they've done their full research. What do the entertainment company CEOs and entertainment Big Players think? Would they use the venue over smaller venues prized for being more exclusive, controlled and convenient?

Speaking as a K-Pop fan, I would not attend a concert if my seating happened to be more than half-way from the stage. The nosebleed seats would not be worthwhile if I had to hold binoculars to see a limited view. Say if I didn't have binoculars, I would have to view the live recorded screens, and honestly, what's the difference between watching from a TV at home? Not to mention, I would be deafened by my chanting, neighboring nosebleeders and have trouble hearing the performer's voices. Sure, you get the live experience of being there with your artists, but maybe I'm not such a big fan of inconvenience and prefer a little more intimacy with my favorite artists.


Read the original article from allkpop here:
http://www.allkpop.com/2012/09/south-korean-government-announces-plans-to-build-an-official-15000-seat-k-pop-performance-venue