Angry EXO fans in China feel shortchanged by 30-minute gig
Photo of EXO from Yahoo KWave
By Elizabeth Tong
Thousands of EXO fans in China paid top yuan to watch the hugely popular K-pop group perform in Shanghai on Sunday (27 March) but their experience ended on a sour note after the concert lasted only 30 minutes.
Having paid for ticket prices ranging from 4,000 yuan ($835) to 10,000 yuan ($2087), the fans vented their anger online as the event organiser had promised that the “2016 K-Friends with EXO Live” concert at the Shanghai Gymnasium would last for three hours.
The organiser had also said before the concert that all nine members of EXO would be performing. But Lay (Zhang Yixing), a popular China-born member of the group, was nowhere to be seen on stage due to a conflict in schedule, further fuelling the ire of fans.
Many EXO fans who attended the concert raged about the poorly organised concert on Chinese microblogging site Sino Weibo and demanded a refund.
A Chinese news report said that the Shanghai cultural administration has ordered the organiser to refund the concert-goers. But this was not enough to placate the concert-goers as they can only collect the refund in person.
According to some fan accounts, the band members were told by their manager to stop performing after having sung only three songs. But EXO stayed on to perform three more songs and left the stage after thanking their fans.
EXO has performed at many sold-out concerts in Asia and won a string of awards including the Sino Weibo Global Fan’s Choice - Male prize at the 2015 Mnet Asian Music Awards.
