THE world being under a lockdown because of Covid-19 has resulted in our entertainment all being online. There are no more concerts, plays and musicals. Instead, what we have are events on Instagram, Facebook and other platforms.
K-pop group SuperM live streamed a concert on April 26 via a new concert streaming service, Beyond LIVE, in partnership with SM Entertainment, which was hosted on the V LIVE app. V LIVE is a popular app owned by Naver Corp., which is considered the Google of Korea. V LIVE is used by K-pop stars to interact with their fans.
Thanks to technology, SuperM, WayV, NCT Dream and NCT 127 have been able to communicate one-on-one with fans from all over the world by answering some questions.
There were awesome AR graphics and enhanced 3D graphics. The technology also connected to lights sticks that fans have at home so they change in color and pattern according to the song. However, there were also lags, which I attribute to my poor Internet connection, so there were things I didn’t fully enjoy.
The concerts were not free. There was a charge for each, which I found fair enough. It was P1,500 for the SuperM show. I didn’t watch the others so I didn’t know how much they were. I wish Beyond LIVE had introduced a package where, for a higher amount, you could watch three concerts.
It has been announced that TVXQ and Super Junior would be the next artists to be featured by SM Entertainment and Beyond LIVE. TVXQ’s performance will be on May 24 at 3 pm KST, and Super Junior’s will be on May 31 at 3 pm KST.
On the local front, Sharon Cuneta helped raise over P2 million through her online Mother’s Day concert, and the proceeds will be used for Covid-19 relief.
Regine Velasquez also had an online show to benefit Bantay Bata 163, a social welfare program for disadvantaged children.
Last month, Gary Valenciano held a two-day online concert to entertain his fans.
In March, GMA Artist Center had a Healing Hearts concert series to help raise funds for GMA Kapuso Foundation’s Covid-19 relief operations. The featured artists, included Julie Anne San Jose, Gabbi Garcia, Ruru Madrid, Aicelle Santos, Sanya Lopez, Maricris Garcia, Betong Sumaya, Garrett Bolden, Golden Cañedo, Ken Chan and Rita Daniela.
Online concerts will be here for a while, I think. The safest time we can go to physical concerts again is probably in late 2021 or early 2022.
The last concert I attended physically was the NCT Dream Tour “The Dream Show” in Manila on February 29. After that, I went to SM City North Edsa for another fan event. That was just less than three months ago but it already seems like ages.
Online concerts will be part of our new normal, along with Zoom meetings and working and studying from home. It’s not what we signed up for when we welcomed 2020 but it is what it is.
Image credits: SM Entertainment
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