Tickets go on sale in December, but because black market operators have already tried to purchase tickets, the organizing Superdome venue has set up a system it hopes will lock out scalpers.
“In order to prevent black market profiteers from making huge purchases,” the Superdome said in a statement, “fans have to register first before getting a number, and they have to show their identification cards, too.”
Apparently, there have already been attempts by some black marketers to gain tickets. The Superdome has received calls for orders of up to 3,000 tickets at a time. Many of these callers say they represent companies that want to make block booking arrangements.
However, fans who live in southern and central Taiwan are complaining that the system will effectively make it more difficult for them to purchase tickets, forcing them to travel to Taipei in person to show their identification for the preorder sale.
Meanwhile, another hot Korean boy band, TVXQ, canceled its planned concerts in China this month amid an ongoing feud with its management agency.
Three members, Xiah, Micku and Hero, have brought a suit against SM Entertainment to share more of its profits with the group.
An interim decision reached by a Korean court found in favor of the three, saying they could appear in movies, dramas and TV commercials without the agency’s approval. However, SM has been defiant, saying that accusations brought up in the suit are all fraudulent.
A lawyer for the three rebelling members said it was SM who canceled the Chinese concerts, slated to begin Nov. 21.
SM said that the three members did not respond to the agency’s request to make a decision about the group’s domestic activities by a deadline it set in early November.
Consequently, according to SM, they “virtually rejected being TVXQ members,” and Asian Tour: Mirotic, which had been arranged with a Chinese company in June, was scrapped. The group has not performed in Korea at all since the dispute surfaced last summer.