Indonesian fans of K-pop boy band Seventeen who saw their idols live in Jakarta concerts last weekend have voiced their displeasure towards the event’s organizers.
Seventeen held back-to-back shows on Saturday and Sunday at Indonesia Convention Exhibition (ICE) in BSD City on the outskirts of Jakarta. Many carats — as the band’s fans call themselves — say they were disappointed with the running of the concerts.
The carats of Indonesia yesterday published an open letter to promoter Mecimapro, pointing out instances of alleged unprofessionalism by the latter that led to a bad time for many concert goers.
“From ticketing and throughout the concerts, we, as consumers, feel cheated by the lack of responsibility and transparency by the promoters,” a passage in the letter reads.
The fanbase alleged that there was a systemic manipulation of online ticket sales, as fans say they lost their places in the virtual line after bots flooded transactions. On show days, carats say they noticed numerous instances of scalpers selling passes, which come in bracelet form, outside the venue.
Furthermore, the fans say they saw people entering the venue using fake passes, and security guards turned a blind eye to concert goers being in the wrong sections.
The Indonesian carats say they hope Mecimapro — who has organized several major K-pop shows in the country recently — can do better in future events so as not to disappoint more fans of the genre.
For their part, Mecimapro denied any manipulation on ticket sales or cooperation with scalpers. The promoter said that tickets sold out quickly as supply was limited due to the venue’s capacity.
The company said all allegations of shady activity were baseless and were presented without evidence.
The 13-member boy band performed at ICE as part of the Asia leg of their world tour, Be The Sun. The band is promoting their fourth studio album Face The Sun, which was released in late May.
Seventeen, which debuted in 2015 with the EP 17 Carat, are divided into three units — the hip-hop team, consisting of the group’s leader S.Coups, Wonwoo, Mingyu, and Vernon; vocal team with Woozi, Jeonghan, Joshua, DK or Dokyeom, and Seungkwan; and performance team, which is made up of Hoshi, Jun, The8, and Dino.
The group has released four studio albums, two reissues, one compilation album, and 12 EPs in total, with the latest releases being Face The Sun and two EPs last year, Your Choice and Attacca.
