T-ara Great China Tour was South Korean girl group T-ara's 5th tour and its first in China. The tour started in Shanghai on and ended in the same city on 25 November 2014.[1][2] The last stop on the tour in Shanghai was attended by 12,000 people.[3] In October 2015, T-ara became the first South Korean artist to hold a concert in Hefei.[4]
Background and development
On 29 December 2014, T-ara held their "T-ara China Tour - Shanghai Greeting Concert" initiating their tour promotion in China. The concert was attended by Wang Sicong, son of businessman Wang Jianlin.[5] NetEase News reported that more than 3,000 people attended the concert.[5]
The "T-ara Great China Tour 2015–16" kicked off in Hefei and concluded in Shanghai in September 2016.[6] It marked T-ara's first concerts in Hefei and Nanjing.[7] On 20 May, several music officials announced that T-ara would embark on their first official tour in China in June 2015.[8] On 20 June, T-ara attended the press conference for the tour in Nanjing at Nanjing's Sofitel Galaxy Hotel.[9]
On 10 July 2015, T-ara held a press conference to promote their Beijing concert. T-ara announced that they didn't invite any guests to the event to enjoy a personal time with their fans.[10] Pre-sale for the last stop on the tour in Shanghai was opened on 17 August.[11]MBK Entertainment announced that new songs will be performed in the final concert. According to China Daily, the concert had a high production cost, several production teams from Hong Kong and Taiwan were invited to create the stage effects, and made a special trip to help out with professional directors from Korea. The concert also would be held on an extended stage allowing fans to get in close contact with their idols.[12] Originally T-ara were planned to perform in 13 cities, however, due to schedule conflicts, the tour was reduced to 6 shows only.[11]
Concert synopsis
The shows on the "T-ara Great China Tour" featured a nearly identical set list with the concert beginning mainly by T-ara's hit songs for the first act, followed by 3 solo stages and then a group stage again. The rest of the members would have their solo stages afterward followed by a last group performance and an encore. The first concert in Shanghai had a different setlist. T-ara continued with their standard formula for setlists of tour concerts, each member had her own solo stage, members who didn't officially debut as solo performed covers of other artists' songs. No new songs were performed on the final stop in Shanghai like it was previously announced by MBK Entertainment, however, some songs were performed for the first time including For You (Acoustic version with 6 members) and Hurt.[13]
Commercial performance
On June 21, 2015, Jiangsu News reported that T-ara broke box office records for their first Nanjing concert. According to Ideal Celestial Pictures, the event organizer, tickets priced at 380 Yuan (~US $62) and 580 (~US $94) Yuan were the most popular among fans and were sold-out the day of ticket sales began, along with the VIP tickets priced at 1,380 Yuan (~US $223).[14] All 4,000 tickets for the Nanjing concert on June 17. All 5,000 tickets for the Guangzhou concert were announced to be sold-out on December 23 .[15][16] The Shanghai show attracted about 12,000 people, making it the largest in the country for a Korean girl group.[3]
Setlists
This set list is from the concert on 17 September 2016, in Shanghai, It is not intended to represent all shows from the tour.
Rights to all the tour shows (except the 25 November 2014 show) were sold to Chinese online streaming services Douyan and Panda TV. The last two stop on the tour in Guangzhou and Shanghai respectively were edited into DVDs by BANANA Project and were sold in China and Malaysia.
References
^"T-ara進軍中國 翻唱《小蘋果》". www.bastillepost.com. 20 October 2014. Retrieved 2 March 2023.
^"티아라, 한국 가수 최초 중국 허페이 콘서트 열어" [T-ara, the first Korean singer to hold a concert in Hefei, China]. The Daily Post (in Korean). 22 October 2015. Retrieved 2 June 2023.
^"티아라, 중국 허페이서 콘서트 개최 '특별한 시간 선사'" [T-ara to hold a concert in Hefei, China 'Present a special time']. www.asiae.co.kr (in Korean). 21 October 2015. Retrieved 2 March 2023.
^"T-ARA中国巡演上海站来袭 全新制作亮点多多 - 中国日报网" [T-ARA's China Tour Shanghai concert has a lot of new production highlights.]. ent.chinadaily.com.cn. Retrieved 2 March 2023.
^"皇冠团T-ARA南京重磅开唱 人气火爆票房飘红" [Crown group T-ARA held a grand concert in Nanjing, which was very popular and the box office was booming]. www.sohu.com. Retrieved 6 December 2024.
^ ab"티아라, 中 광저우 콘서트 5000팬 '환호'" [T-ara, 5,000 fans 'cheers' at Guangzhou concert in China]. Osen (in Korean). Naver. 23 December 2015. Retrieved 29 June 2022.