Fans of K-Pop have come to the defence of the organisers behind a major tribute concert in Belfast, following complaints from ticket-holders.
The KPop Forever! Tribute gig took place on Thursday night (20 February) at the city’s SSE Arena. Further shows are scheduled for next Monday (23 February) and later in May.
Some people who attended the concert reported feeling underwhelmed and disappointed, with one parent telling BBC News Northern Ireland that it was “just horrendous”.
Another atendee, Ruairi George O’Connor, said the performance, which he attended with his fiancée and their five-year-old daughter was “not appropriate for kids, at all”. Their daughter was left “bored out of her head” by the event, and asked “countless times to go home”, he said.
O’Connor added: “It was just devastating, it just wasn’t what I was expecting for the amount of money I was spending.”
Aiken Promotions and the SSE Arena defended the event, claiming that “the majority of customers enjoyed the show”, but admitted: “We understand that this was not what some expected.”
Their statement said they were “content” that the show delivered “an arena-standard tribute to the entire K-Pop genre” – with Aiken Promotions later adding that they took “all customers feedback seriously”.
As of Saturday (21 February), SSE Arena’s statement on Facebook has received nearly 2,000 comments from concert-goers and others debating the show’s quality.
Many fans of the genre pointed out that most of the complaints seemed to be over the lack of songs from KPop Demon Hunters, the 2025 smash hit film by Netflix, which has contributed to the rising popularity of K-Pop music.
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They noted that such complaints are unreasonable given that the show was never advertised as a KPop Demon Hunters-themed concert.
“So in other words parents didn’t actually bother to research what they were buying tickets for?” wrote one person.
Another attendee, Michaela Hutchinson, told BBC News NI: “I knew what I signed up for. Whenever we bought the tickets, it was never advertised as a KPop Demon Hunters concert… it was KPop genre music.”
She added that she had a great time with her six-year-old daughter at the concert, during which eight songs from the hit film were performed including “Golden”, “Takedown” and “Soda Pop”.
As for complaints that the show was unsuitable for children, Hutchinson said “it’s no different to a Katy Perry concert or a Beyonce concert”.
“Not at one point throughout the whole show did I think, ‘This is inappropriate,’” she said.
Commenting on a viral video of Thursday’s event showing a seated crowd apparently bored, one person defended the act, writing: “I feel so bad for the performers that worked so hard on this just to get complaints.”
“The poster never said it was a KPop Demon Hunters tribute btw. Read the poster,” said one person.
“KPop is a genre NOT a movie,” reiterated another. “That’s like going to a rock concert and being confused why Dwayne Johnson didn’t show up,” said someone else.
Posted by username @tara_conaboy, the video was captioned: “May as well of burned the £250 spent on our 5 tickets. The most confusing, underwhelming, boring load of dribble I’ve ever witnessed in my 42 years.”
SSE Arena’s website describes the concert as featuring “all-live performances of smash-hits including Blackpink, BTS, Twice, Soda Pop, Golden and many more, this is the ultimate non-stop party for all ages”.
The website advertises “four epic live vocalists, accompanied by four world class dancers amidst a background of eye-popping lighting and effects”.
