Concertgoers Slam 'Grand Wave K-Pop Music Festival 2023' Organisers

Although it clashed with the date for GE15, the organisers initially said they would not postpone the concert before finally announcing that it would be delayed to a later date:

3. Weird seating plan??? VIP at the side (without benefit)

Before the concert (19/11) 1. Told us they will not postponed/ cancelled the concert despite most of us complained about safety/time because of PRU 2. Suddenly announced last minute postponement and promise to refund— ?? PENANAM ANGGUR ?? (@urjoblessfan) January 15, 2023

When 14 January rolled around, ardent K-pop fans were excited to finally have a memorable night and see their idols up close –– but unfortunately due to what seemed to be bad planning on the organiser’s part, the night quickly turned sour for many attendees. One fan summed up the whole experience by saying, “Grandwave is a mess.”

Many others shared their less-than-satisfactory experiences on Twitter, with one post, in particular, asking others to comment receiving a string of complaints in the replies about everything from the audio system to the unequal distribution of performing time for the respective artists:

1. the queueing to enter venue is so bad. i dont know what happened infront of us tapi our line x gerak langsung for almost 30 mins and masa TU DAH PUKUL 7PM YE. masuk2 je setlist bom dah habis. 2. How can other artist perform 6 songs only but DJ Soda got to perform for 1 hour?— eca ⤮ (@bewkinpp_) January 15, 2023

Despite the fact that Park Bom had already opened the show and started performing, some people were still stuck in the queue:

agak dahh event start lambat mesti sbb waterpark tuh still beroperasi~ tapi lol cara dia replyyyy omg~ kalau awak tk whatsapp, memang dia tak keluar any apologize statement ke cneeeee https://t.co/IKrzAPdcyo— 겸리더 is back? (@kyeomranghae) January 16, 2023

From DM pic.twitter.com/9kwNzAJGQX

— ?? PENANAM ANGGUR ?? (@urjoblessfan) January 15, 2023

Another said that it was the “WORST queue management I've ever experienced in my entire life” and a “whole line of people trying to cut our queue but thanks to the fierce fans, they were put back in their place.”

my grandwave experience (also my first time going concert alone ☠️):

-it was the longest, smelliest, and most tired concert I've been to

-in addition, this was the WORST queue management I've ever experienced in my entire life pic.twitter.com/3O4rxzFmDX— sailin over saturn? (@iwillqyou) January 14, 2023

The same fan shared that Kim Han Bin, or B.I’s microphone was malfunctioning even after it was changed:

-hanbins mic was half working and half not for some reason even after he changed his mic?‍? cmon la organiser penat lah

-in conclusion all the artists slayed ? jongdaes time felt so short tho?— sailin over saturn? (@iwillqyou) January 14, 2023

Another shared images of a lot of power banks being confiscated by the despite it not being listed as a prohibited item by the organisers and some reported that their items were stolen at the end of the night:

shitty organiser. powerbank semua lesap #GrandwaveinKL #GrandwaveinMY @grandwavemy pic.twitter.com/xyCGWHBX7j— sarah ? loey (@chany0lk) January 14, 2023

A serious complaint that one attendee had was that they were subjected to body checks, and they felt that they were being sexually harassed as apparently even their private parts were being checked:

For body check tu macam unnecessary laa .. even same gender pun, but still dah macam sexual harassment.... Sampai ada yg kena raba kat area boobs and butt... Just check pocket seluar dah lah. Ni raba private parts, it's sexual harassment! ?— HaeraSya (@haerasya2601) January 15, 2023

A diabetic fan shared that the staff even tried to stop her from bringing her insulin injection in:

im a diabetic so i brought in my insulin injection however, the staffs did not allow it when they check my bag so i told them “i might have low/high blood sugar and i need this” two staffs brought me to the manager only allow wtf what if i die, are you gonna be responsible for it https://t.co/QCgvvzBHGN— jinnie ? met khb! (@markierawrr) January 15, 2023

After going through all the tweets, it seemed like the artists gave their all, but the fans weren’t able to enjoy their night due to mismanagement by the organisers. This also reminds us of how disappointed fans were by Billie Eilish’s concert last year. Let’s hope that the Malaysian concert organisers will work on improving the experience for fans next time!