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The ‘SM Town Live Concert‘ which was held on October 23rd, turned New York City upside down as city dwellers witnessed first hand, the power of Kpop. As if fans storming the ‘W’ hotel wasn’t enough, thousands of Kpop lovers were seen camping outside of Madison Square Garden at 4AM! This massive movement had commoners turning their heads while drivers had a hard time passing through some streets, overcrowded with Kpop fans.
It’s not surprising that Korean and American reporters alike were kept busy, taking notes on the special day. Even the popular news source, NYDailyNews joined in on the buzz to discuss about the extreme popularity of Kpop. Today, Billboard, who is recognized for their wide coverage of music news has stepped out to talk about this phenomenon. Check out the article below.
If fans storming hotel rooms or camping out at 4:00 a.m. for their general admission seats wasn’t enough indication, K-Pop officially hit New York City this weekend.
October 23 marked the first performance of an Asian pop group in Madison Square Garden with the SMTown Live ’10 World Tour. In previous years SMTown, a South Korean entertainment company, has put on the popular tour but never ventured to America. This New York stop follows successful shows in Los Angeles, Paris, Toyko, Shanghai and Seoul as part of the 2010/2011 run. That L.A. performance at The Staples Center was a sell-out landing the show at No. 9 Billboard’s Boxscore Grosses that week with 15,015 tickets sold.
The sold-out showcase brought out some of Korea’s biggest pop acts, including solo stars BoA and Kangta, girl groups Girls’ Generation, f(x), male groups SHINee, Super Junior, and male duo TVXQ.
“We would like to have this opportunity, if there was any a wall between the West and East, to take this opportunity to squash this wall,” said Kangta via a translator at the start of a press conference that included all the performing artists. “Hopefully we could be much more famous in the United States, as well as all the other Western countries.”
“We’re simply very flattered to have so many fans around the world, not just us, but all the members of SM Town. They really appreciate all the fans,” said TVXQ’s U-Know via translator. “Since this is our first time in Madison Square Garden performing, we’re going to do our best and we hope everyone has a great time.”
If the massive roars of the sold-out show were any indication, everyone had a great time at the first — and most likely not last — major Korean pop show at Madison Square Garden.
You can read the full article at Billboard.
Source + Photos: Billboard
