KBS Music Bank becomes first K-pop show to bring back live audience, fans thrilled
K-pop is finally allowing a live audience for fans to see their favorite idols perform live on music shows. Music shows are an integral part of K-pop promotions as it allows artists to perform their new releases on television. It garners good-natured competition as fans get to vote and the song with the most points wins. It is an easy way for K-pop artists to promote their songs to the general public. It also allows fans to watch their favorites perform live apart from concerts. But due to the pandemic, no live audience was allowed but that seems to be changing thanks to KBS Music Bank.
Concert tickets are universally expensive and don’t allow many fans the chance to see their favorite artists perform in person. Music shows, on the other hand, are free and are on a first come first serve basis. Idols also interact with the fans before and after performing. It also creates good synergy as fanchants create an exciting atmosphere. While the lockdown did not slow down the K-pop industry, it did cancel all live performances.
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KBS to allow live audience for its music programs
But thanks to South Korea’s quick and efficient management of the pandemic, fans can watch artists perform live once more. We have several K-pop groups introducing offline concerts once more from BTS to Monsta X and TWICE. Even fan meetings, award shows, and music festivals are letting people attend in person. Well, KBS has become the latest to allow a live audience. The broadcasting channel announced on November 4 that they would be allowing people to attend their music programs like Music Bank, ‘Open Concert’, ‘Yoo Hee Yeol’s Sketchbook’, and ‘Immortal Song’. On top of that, even their year-end Gayo Festival will have a live audience.
KBS revealed that they would be allowing a live audience with strict social distance maintenance beginning with the program ‘Open Concert’ in mid-November. Following it, the other music programs like Music Bank too will become open to the general public. If no other channel takes a similar decision in this period, Music Bank will become the first music show to allow fans to watch K-pop artists perform live. It is quite a turning point for rookie groups and idols that debuted in 2020 and haven’t been able to perform in front of a live audience yet. Fans of these groups are especially looking forward to watching them live.
One fan shared, “Aw i'm happy for the rookies who are performing this month and onwards. it must be nerve racking since many of them have been performing with no audiences but i hope they all do a great job.” Another fan added, “Happy to get back to some sense of normalcy.” With no confirmation, if fanchants are allowed or not, one hopeful fan shared, “We’re gonna hear the fanchant again.”
