40,000 Audience Members Attend “Dream Concert”

Even on a rainy day, the heat continued to rise in Seoul Sangam World Cup Stadium.

Star Korean singers such as Rain, Lee Hyo Ri, Wonder Girls, 2PM, and Super Junior came together at Seoul Sangam World Cup Stadium on May 22 to have a harmonious performance. The concert, entitled “I Love You Korea: 2010 Dream Concert,” was held in Sangam to wish good luck to Korean soccer players at the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa. The concert, which was hosted by the Korea Entertainment Producers Association, had the stadium shaking with all the cheering from more than 40,000 audience members.

Kim Hee Chul, Ok Taek Yeon, and Shin Se Kyung hosted the concert, and representative star male and female singers Rain and Lee Hyo Ri appeared in the concert, and other all-star singers, including the Wonder Girls (who just returned from the US), SS501 (who will release their new album at the end of this month), Super Junior (who released their new album recently), f(x), 4 Minute, MBLAQ, Davichi, CNBLUE, and newly introduced group F.CUZ made an appearance on the stage.

The concert began with U-Kiss‘s performance and all singers sang a medley of their hit songs one by one from the beginning to the end, and for the last performance, all singers came on the stage together and sang the World Cup cheering song “Oh! Peace in Korea” to complete the concert in an exciting and pleasant atmosphere. Audiences members took seats depending on which fan club they belonged to and cheered for their star singers holding colorful placards symbolizing their favorite singers. Also, there were many placards on which cheering messages were written, such as, “I have been waiting for you, Super Junior,””Super Junior has conquered the World,” and “SS501, Your performance is the best.”

Whenever singers were introduced, audience members greeted those singers with clapping and cheering, and people in the seats showed orderly manners during the concert. But, some fans called out the name of “Park Jae Bum,” who was withdrawn from 2PM, when 2PM sang on the stage. Also, people belonging to different entertainment agencies conducted "psychological warfare"–even though the concert was actually organized for harmonious performance–to make their singers perform last on stage, and that behavior caused people to raise their eyebrows.
 

The fact that many large Japanese entertainment companies such as Sony Music, Avex, Universal Music, and Victor Records visited the concert drew attention. Atsushi Suzuki, the CEO of FET Record, which is under the umbrella of Universal Music, said, “I was surprised to see many fans who came from abroad such as Japan and other Asian countries just to watch the concert are so young. We are now taking care of group 4 Minute’s activities in Japan, and like 4 Minute, Koreans singers sing very well and also show powerful dances. Those are their advantages.”

An executive of JYP Entertainment, Jeong Wook, said, “The fact that many fans in other Asian countries came to Korea for the concert means that the status of Korean pop music has been upgraded. After Dong Bang Shin Ki has shown great success in Japan, many Japanese are more interested in Korean singers.”

Proceeds from the concert, which were accumulated by selling tickets for 5000 won apiece to audience members, were delivered to the Korea Compassion Social Welfare. A volunteer actor from the organization, Cha In Pyo, received the “Dream contribution” and delivered his appreciation by saying, “I really thank each one of you. This money will be used as a valuable gift for people in the world in need. It will contribute to serve people in hunger, so your donation is like saving lives.”

The Seoul mayoral candidate, Oh Se Hoon, and a member of the Democratic Party, Jeon Hyun Hee, visited the concert.

A spokesperson for the Korea Entertainment Producers Association said, “We will hold a concert entitled 'Hallyu Dream Festival' in which many star singers will come together in Kyungju in September. We are preparing for this concert in cooperation with the Visit Korea Committee.”

The “Dream Concert” will be broadcast on May 30 on SBS TV.

source : KBS Global