SEOUL \u2013 Brazilian Aespa fans are demanding refunds and threatening legal action over an unsatisfactory VIP package offered at the K-pop group\u2019s recent Sao Paulo concert, saying the post-show send-off was significantly shorter than that held at their concert in Chile just two days later.<\/p>\n
Info Aespa Brasil, a Brazilian fan page dedicated to the girl group, said on Sept 5 that it was organising affected VIP ticket purchasers to gather information and assess possible action through Procon, Brazil\u2019s consumer protection agency. On Sept 8, it threatened potential legal measures against concert promoter Live Nation Brazil and SM Entertainment over the handling of VIP benefits at Aespa\u2019s concert in Sao Paulo.<\/p>\n
At the centre of the dispute is the VIP package offered for the Sept 4 concert, which cost 2,689 Brazilian reais (S$665). According to Ticketmaster Brazil, the price consisted of a concert ticket worth 990 reais along with VIP benefits, which included a post-show send-off with Aespa, priority entry to the venue, exclusive merchandise, an official photo card set, a VIP lanyard and priority access to merchandise sales.<\/p>\n
Fans began raising complaints shortly after the concert, saying the send-off offered far less interaction than they had expected for the price.<\/p>\n
Videos circulating online showed Karina, Winter, Giselle and Ningning walking past fans gathered along a passageway while greeting them, with some attendees describing the interaction as lasting only a few seconds. Some VIP purchasers claimed that they did not receive all the exclusive merchandise included in the package.<\/p>\n
The backlash intensified after Aespa performed in Chile two days later.<\/p>\n
Footage from the Sept 6 concert showed the bandmates stopping in front of fans during the send-off to pose for photos, sign autographs and spend more time interacting with them than in Sao Paulo.<\/p>\n
Info Aespa Brasil shared videos comparing the two events while calling on Live Nation Brazil and SM Entertainment to refund affected fans.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the videos in hand, we are going after our money back,\u201d the fan page wrote. \u201cWe\u2019re not asking for special treatment. We\u2019re asking for what we paid to receive.\u201d<\/p>\n
The circumstances surrounding the Sao Paulo concert, however, differed from those of the subsequent Chile show, according to fans.<\/p>\n
The concert in Brazil took place amid heavy rain and cold weather, with the storm continuing through much of the performance. Billboard Brasil reported on that the weather affected the flow of the production, including delays between sections as stage and set changes took longer than planned.<\/p>\n
Aespa\u2019s Sao Paulo concert was part of the group\u2019s ongoing Synk: Complaexity world tour and drew 21,652 fans, according to Brazilian media reports. The turnout was about 2.7 times the roughly 8,000 who attended the group\u2019s first solo concert in Brazil in 2023 and was reportedly the second-largest audience for a K-pop girl group concert held in the country, behind only Twice. THE KOREA HERALD\/ASIA NEWS NETWORK<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SEOUL \u2013 Brazilian Aespa fans are demanding refunds and threatening legal action over an unsatisfactory VIP package offered…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":622342,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[93,61,60,278],"class_list":["post-622341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=622341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/622342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=622341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=622341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=622341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}