[11.10.16] The ’2011 Asia Song Festival’ is an international disgrace?

The ‘2011 Asia Song Festival‘, which was held at the Daegu Stadium on October 15th, is being interpreted by many as a complete disaster, due to its many technical flaws.

This year’s festival celebrated its 8th anniversary, and the event was a highly-anticipated one due to its elite line-up of representative performing artists. In addition, there were plans to award trophies for ‘Asia’s Best Rookie‘ and ‘Best Artist‘ to the deserving artists. Due to the event’s international exposure, even a small problem would be interpreted as ‘unprofessional’, which was the case for this year’s event as a number of stage disasters occurred over the night.

First off, the event was suppose to kick off at 5:00 PM with a showcase from rookie artists, but was delayed to 5:40 PM. It was an uncomfortable experience for the organizers, as 400 reporters and 40,000 visitors waited impatiently in the rain. There was no shelter provided, so spectators had to remain in their seats for hours in the heavy rain. Complaints were loudly vocalized, as many pointed out that there could have been preparations made well in advance to provide shelter, especially since rain was forecasted several days before the event.

This was only the start of their problems.

Both SNSD and Super Junior‘s performances experienced numerous technical errors, one of which forced SNSD to stop their performance and begin again.

In addition to all of this, there were conflicts between the reporters and security guards. This year’s ‘Asia Song Festival’ was going to be broadcasted to over 40 countries and thus reporters were competing for advanteous spots that provided a better view of the stage. Security was so tight, however, that reporters had problems watching the performances themselves.

With all the major problems Korea faced this year, next year’s host for the ‘Asia Song Festival’ will have to step up and be wary of making the same mistakes.

Source + Photos: Osen via Naver