After its “Love Yourself” world tour sweeping across North America and Europe, hit South Korean boyband Bangtan Boys, better known as BTS, has returned to Asia for more shows. The boyband is set to stage two shows on Saturday and Sunday at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium, which is capable of accommodating up to 25,000 fans at each show.
To prevent ticket scalpers from selling at excessive prices, buyers had to correctly answer a series of questions about BTS before they purchased tickets. Even then, the 50,000 tickets were sold out in mere minutes. The demand was so high that a ticket originally priced at NT$7,800 (about US$253) was reportedly sold at NT$170,000 by an online scalper.
With the huge success of its new album worldwide, BTS is perhaps the most popular Asian group today. However, controversy arose last month over a photo of member Jimin in a T-shirt featuring a "mushroom cloud" created by an atomic bomb. Japan’s TV Asahi later canceled its performance after the photo went viral online.
Photo: Wang Wen-lin, Liberty Times
照片︰自由時報記者王文麟
(Eddy Chang, Taipei Times)
在其「Love Yourself」世界巡演襲捲北美和歐洲後,南韓天團防彈少年團(BTS)光榮返回亞洲持續熱唱。該團預計週六、週日在桃園國際棒球場舉辦兩場演唱會,每場可容納近兩萬五千名粉絲。
為遏止黃牛高價轉賣,買家必須正確回答關於BTS的問題才得以購票。然而近五萬張門票仍在幾分鐘內完售。因門票太搶手,媒體報導一張原價七千八百元(約兩百五十三美元)的門票,竟被網路黃牛炒作到以十七萬元的天價售出。
隨著新專輯在世界各地都大獲成功,BTS可說是目前人氣最旺的亞洲樂團,不過上個月卻因一張照片而引發爭議,照片中團員Jimin身穿一件印有原爆「蕈狀雲」圖案的圓領衫。由於圖像在網路上瘋傳,日本朝日電視台稍後只好取消該團原訂的表演。
(台北時報張聖恩)
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