Associated album MADE Dates 25 Apr 2015 – 6 Mar 2016 | Legs 4 Leg 4 | |
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Start date April 25, 2015 (2015-04-25) End date March 6, 2016 (2016-03-06) No. of shows 56 in Asia
7 in North America
3 in Oceania
66 in total | ||
Big Bang MADE 2015-16 World Tour is the second world tour by South Korean boy band Big Bang, in support of their third full-length Korean studio album MADE. The first Asian leg was announced in April 2015. The tour visited 15 countries including China, Japan, Australia, and the United States. The tour kicked off with two shows in Seoul on April 25 and 26. The tour gathered 1.5 million fans around the world, making it the largest tour by any Korean act.
Contents
Background
The tour was first announced via YG Entertainment's Twitter on April 1 with the reveal of the first two concerts in Seoul on April 25 and 26. On April 16, the first trailer of the tour was released on BIGBANG's YouTube channel. On April 27, the remainder of the Asian leg was revealed with a total of 30 shows. It was also revealed a highly acclaimed crew would be joining the tour, including LeRoy Bennett, Ed Burke, Gil Smith II, and Jonathan Lia. They previously worked with Beyoncé and Jay-Z on their On The Run Tour as well as with Big Bang during their Alive Galaxy Tour.
In July, a total of 9 new dates were confirmed in Mexico, Australia, China, Taiwan and Macau. It's the first time for the group to visit Mexico, Toronto, Australia and Macau.
Commercial performance
For the Seoul dates, all 26,000 tickets sold out in a matter of minutes, resulting in server crashes due to high traffic. In Mainland China, Big Bang gathered a record-breaking 280,000 fans on 13 tour dates, with sold-out shows in Guangzhou, Beijing, Shanghai, Dalian and Wuhan. Further sold out shows include all three shows in Hong Kong, two nights in Macau leading to a third show being added and Toronto.
In Singapore, demand was so high that so-called "audio seats" were put on sale after initial tickets quickly sold out. In Malaysia, hundreds of fans lined up in advance to purchase tickets for the July 25 concert, which eventually sold out in a matter of hours. Due to high demand, a second show was added on July 24. In Australia, a second show was added in Sydney after high demand.
The tour listed on Pollstar's year end list, on the Top 200 North American Tours, Big Bang ranked 126 and earned 7.8 million from four shows. In Macau the band earned 5.3 million, and become one of the highest International Boxoffice Grosses.
Live Stream
On December 2, 2014 YG Entertainment held a press conference in Hong Kong to announce a collaboration between YG Entertainment and Tencent’s QQ Music. Tencent QQ is the largest online platform in the country. On June 21, 2015, during a joint press conference, YG Entertainment and Tencent QQ announced Tencent QQ would exclusively live stream Big Bang's last concert in Shanghai on June 21. The live stream attracted 18.8 million viewers, becoming the most viewed online concert in history.
On October 25, a second live stream was held for the Macau concert. The live stream attracted over 975,000 viewers through QQ Music.
On the last show on South Korea, the concerts was aired live on Chinese portal site Tencent and Naver's V App in Korea the live broadcaste, with total six camera angles to follow the individual artist and one that shows all the members. In V app, the concert was streamed by 3.62 million fans, making it the highest streamed video in V App.
Records
With the MADE Tour, Big Bang once again proved their worldwide popularity by breaking many records. Some of which are listed below.
Critical reception
The tour was highly acclaimed by music critics. The New York Times called Big Bang the "Smooth K-Pop Criminals" and described the concert as an "extreme, intense, overwhelming Korean pop carnival", It was listed as one of the best tours in 2015. The Guardian gave the Newark concert four out of five stars and described it as "K-pop heroes delivering candyfloss hooks with a sharp edge" while praising all five members' individual talents. The Los Angeles Times described Big Bang as "One of the most inventive, aesthetically visionary acts in its genre" and called their Anaheim concert an "incredibly significant moment for K-Pop", praising the diversity of their songs and performances. Billboard gave the concert a 4.5/5, calling Big Bang "five individuals that are separately complex, but together an undeniable supergroup". Vibe called Big Bang the "Kings of K-Pop" and praised their solo performances as the most interesting moments of the night. The Michigan Daily called Big Bang a rare group that "both innovates and defines the direction a genre takes" and described the concert as an "electric, out-of-body experience". The Village Voice described the show as unique and "unlike anything in the western pop schema" saying that the concert "served to reflect the rainbow spectrum of human emotion". The AU Review called the show "A fantastic concert by a fantastic group of talented individuals" while praising the production of the concert as well as the group's musical direction.