K-pop group Twice drew massive crowds in Kaohsiung over the weekend as Taiwanese member Chou Tzu-yu (周子瑜) returned home to perform for the first time, attracting thousands of fans to Kaohsiung National Stadium.
Greeting fans in Mandarin, the 26-year-old on Saturday night said she was thrilled to finally bring her bandmates to Kaohsiung.
Fans began lining up early on Saturday to buy official merchandise, and by afternoon more than 10,000 people had gathered to listen to the group’s rehearsal, cheering loudly as the music carried across the stadium grounds.
Photo courtesy of the Kaohsiung City Government
Large numbers of foreign fans were seen in the area, packing nearby MRT stations, where many posed for photos with oversized posters of Chou.
The concerts pushed the Kaohsiung Metro’s ridership to 350,000 on Saturday, the highest single-day figure this year and the ninth-highest in the system’s history. Light rail usage also reached 54,000 trips, according to officials.
Officials said the surge was not solely driven by Twice’s concerts, but by other major weekend events, including performances by Wu Bai (伍佰) and Sun Shu-may (孫淑媚), as well as city festivals.
Photo: Lee Hui-chou, Taipei Times
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) wrote on social media that her feed had been filled with Twice-related posts and shared a “blue hair” photo with Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) to match the group’s fan color.
Tsai said Chou’s long-awaited first concert in Taiwan had made many proud to support a Taiwanese artist performing on their home soil.
Photo courtesy of the Live Nation Taiwan via CNA
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