An integral part of the K-Pop experience is the K-Pop concert. We listen to our favorite artists music every single day, but seeing them live is a completely different, emotional experience. You get to see your favorite idols up-close and in-person, watch how they move, see how their eyes shine. It’s a completely unforgettable experience that is 100% worth every dollar you spent on buying concert tickets. You may even cry, yell, or have a mental breakdown!
In order to get to that day where you are seeing your favorite artist so close that you can practically touch them (don’t actually touch them, as security may come after you), there is a lot of prep work. You have to make sure you have a place to stay, order the tickets, budget out food and expenses, think about all the places you want to go shopping while there. The list goes on! On top of that, a lot of the times, these artists only drop their schedule a month or two in advance! So, you really have to be prepared!
To make this all a wee bit easier for you all, I’m going to lay out all of the things you need to prepare in advance before a concert to ensure you have the best experience. Bet you all didn’t know that the K-Pop Hero was a bit OCD about planning for things!
K-Pop Concert Prep Phase One: Make sure you are on the tour planners’ e-mail lists
If you are even going to begin prepping for a concert, you need to know the schedule for the following things:
- When tickets go on sale
- What the actual tour dates are
Once you have both of those things, in front of you, here’s where the hard part begins: you have to start going through the calendar, finding out what days of the week the concerts are, and figure out which ones are the easiest to get to, and are the least expensive. This is especially important if you are like me and do not live in a city where K-Pop concerts usually go. You know you will have to travel, so being informed is the best way to ensure you will get the best possible seats to make it worth your time.
Some Common K-Pop Concert Promoters in the USA:
- SubKulture Entertainment – Promoter for many of the biggest tours in North America (SM Entertainment and JYP use these guys)
- KCON USA – Planner of the biggest K-Pop Conventions in the US (LA and NYC)
- Powerhouse Live – Another Popular Planner in the USA (JYP uses these guys)
- KPopMe Entertainment – great resource for tours coming through the US
Know what website you will be buying concert tickets from
Although the promoter takes charge of setting everything up for the groups, all of the ticket sales go through whatever website the Venue uses. This means that in advance, you have to know which site you are going to be buying tickets off. More importantly, you need to understand how the site’s coding works when tickets go on sale. Do they slow release tickets? Do they slowly let people into the line for the tickets? Is is a free for all?
I always tell people that when it comes to buying tickets, it is always best to get them right when they are released. After that, the prices can fluctuate as hawkers try to jack up the prices. I even heard of $200 tickets being jacked up to $1000.
The main places that I have seen tickets being sold are:
- Ticketmaster: This company uses a queue for ticket releases. They also release tickets as the sale goes on to ensure as many people can get the seats that they want as possible. The current system on Ticketmaster is the best that I have seen from them of late. Until probably the last six months, the queue was not a thing. People were basically let into the places as soon as tickets were released. This caused a mad house and lots of timing out on the site, but this most recent update seems to have resolved that problem, and the system seems much better.
- LiveNation: This ticket seller manages selling tickets for a number of smaller venues that you will see some groups at. NCT will be performing in venues with tickets sold by LiveNation in 2019. As LiveNation is a sister company of Ticketmaster (they merged in 2011), they have similar ticketing software. Both have the slow release of tickets, and the waiting room for purchasing.
- AXS: This is another, (slightly smaller) ticketing site. Most venues, it seems, are managed by Ticketmaster or LiveNation these days. The nice thing about AXS, in comparison to LiveNation and Ticketmaster, is that you are not stuck paying for everyone’s tickets! This application allows you to reserve the tickets next to you for your friends! Basically, after you pick your seat, you can reserve tickets and send out invitations to your friends for those seats. It’s actually pretty cool. I haven’t used this site much, as the one venue that I usually buy tickets for in my area, I can actually get the seats through my office for a better price. So, I just do that. I do like the idea of this system though!
Map out your Ticket Adventure
Once you know what venue you are going for, it is time to develop the battle plan! You are on the confirmed to be on the promoter’s e-mail lists. You also know what venues you are going for and what company sells their tickets. Now, you have to plan your ticket buying adventure.
Here is what I recommend:
- If you are going with friends, make a group chat in advance so you all can discuss it. If you all have iPhones, I recommend that you just use iMessage to communicate. You can also use KakaoTalk or Line. Both are messaging apps that I use, and they have desktop apps so you can still text while on a computer.
- Once the group chat is created, discuss with your friends how much you are willing to spend on the tickets. Everyone has a budget, and it’s good to come to a consensus from the start. I know for me, if I’m traveling far, I want to be on the floor, or only slightly up in the seats. Any higher than that, and it isn’t worth it for me to spend the money on plane tickets or the driving time.
- Once you know budget, go check the seating chart so you know where to look for your price point.
- Finally, discuss with your friends on the day that the tickets go live what time you will get into the queue, and make sure you all get on a group call to discuss seats in real time.
Buy your tickets
The day has come, you have planned everything out, and you are ready to go. Now, all you need is a little bit of luck and maybe a ritual dance to get the tickets you want. Make sure that you are on the page far enough in advance. For certain concerts, like BTS, I recommend getting on at least 20 minutes in advance and being prepared for lots of people. Note: this past time, they did not crash because of the new slow release system.
More importantly when the time comes, you must remain resilient and keep trying until you get what you want. It may take about 20-30 minutes, as well as multiple browsers to get yourself up to the front of the line. Once you finally get seats though, it is more than worth the time and effort. You are now officially going to be going to see your favorite artist on stage. Embrace that ticket!
One final note on buying concert tickets, I highly caution you all on buying resale tickets. Yes, the seats may be better, but you’ll be paying far more than the group and the venue has decided the ticket is worth. More importantly, you have no idea if the person is legit, or if the tickets are real. You could be 100% duped.
So what’s next?
Well, once you have your tickets and are ready to go, it is now time to officially begin planning your K-Trek to go see your favorite artist. If you want to find out all of the steps that I recommend for getting prepped for a K-Pop Concert after the ticket is purchased, stay tuned, as that will be coming soon!
What tips do you all have for people buying concert tickets, K-Nuggets? Let me know down in the comments below!
사랑합니다!
–Rachel
