SHINee, B2ST, U-KISS, SISTAR & more perform at ‘Invincible Baseball’ concert

KBS‘s ‘Invincible Baseball‘ recently opened up a concert to raise funds for their ‘Ballpark of Dreams’ project.

The ‘Ballpark of Dreams’ project began last December, but was never completed because of a lack of funds. To raise the rest of the funds and to ensure its construction, the members of the show got together for the first time in nine months. They invited every star they knew to perform at the event in an effort to attract more visitors.




In the end, idol stars like SHINee, Norazo, K-Will, Mario, Kim Joon, 45RPM, SISTAR, B2ST, U-KISS, and DJ DOC showed up to perform for their friends for free. Yes24.com had also participated in the event by selling tickets and shipping them out, as well as covering all related costs on their end.

PD Choi Jae Hyung revealed, “The singers all lent their support to the meaning of this project. Although only two to three songs were shown by each artist in the broadcast, they each performed at least five each. They truly did all they could. The profits made from the concert will go towards the construction of the baseball field.”

Check out some of the performances below!













source: allkpop

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Photos from 2011 Incheon Korean Music Wave

It’s August 13th, and if you didn’t know, top K-Pop stars will be rocking Incheon tonight for the 2011 Incheon Korean Music Wave.

The concert, which is being held at the Incheon Munhak Olympic Stadium, will see a list of top acts like Super Junior, SNSD, 2PM, 2NE1, B2ST, KARA, SHINee, 2AM, f(x), miss A, T-ara, MBLAQ, F.T. Island, 4minute, SECRET, SISTAR, INFINITE, TEEN TOP, and ZE:A.

The concert was hosted by MBC announcer Oh Sang Jin, plus Yuri and Tiffany from SNSD, and this marks their 3rd consecutive year hosting the concert together.

The concert marks another great influence to the rapidly growing K-pop wave, and will also be helpful in exposing the beauties of the city of Incheon, especially to international tourists.

Check out the photos (credit: as tagged) of those who walked the red carpet.

* More photos will be added later.













source: allkpop

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SNSD on global K-Pop flash mobs, their popularity, and their devoted fans

On July 24th, SNSD held a press conference before their “2011 Girls’ Generation Tour” in Songpagu, Seoul, where they revealed their thoughts on their tour, their popularity, and on hitting their 20’s.

The girls began, “During our concert, we sang a ballad track. The fans threw a surprise event for us where they all held up a placard that said, ‘We missed you.’ It was so moving, we all ended up crying. It was an event brought together with one heart. It was us who had to give our fans joy, but we were grateful to receive such a moving present from our fans instead. We were able to work extra hard on our performances after that, so we’re very thankful.”


When told about the K-Pop flash mobs being held all over the world, the girls said, “The biggest present of all is being able to visit each place in person. We hope that the SM Town’s seniors and juniors will be able to coordinate their schedules and go together.”

“We heard about these flash mobs through others, and realized that the only universal language is music. Thank you. We want to hurry and visit these places to sing songs and exchange emotions.”

When asked about their new mature look, they replied, “We’ve been hearing that we’ve matured a lot, but it’s not something that we were aiming to emphasize. During our earlier days, we were only high school students, but we’re all in our 20’s now. We think that we just naturally grew older and matured with time.”


Reflecting on their consistent popularity, the girls said, “We held 14 arena tours in Japan. It was a great opportunity to be able to communicate with fans from different places. Our fans continue to give us their love, and we’re both amazed and grateful for that.”

At their concert, the girls will be singing their many Korean hits, as well as the Korean versions of “Mr. Taxi” and “Let It Rain“. Fans can also look forward to the girls’ individual stages.

In the meantime, check out this latest official concert clip and photos below!















source: allkpop

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Cube Entertainment to find their next trainee through “K-Pop Star Hunt” audition program

A new music audition program has just been announced, and it’s set to make its way around Asia in the coming months to find the next idol trainee for Cube Entertainment!

It was recently announced that CJ E & M Asia and Fox International have joined forces with Cube Entertainment to produce a new show called, “K-Pop Star Hunt”, a survival audition program that will be carrying out auditions in popular cities around Asia to find the next potential Cube artist.

Promotions for the audition program will begin in Southeast Asia during the end of August, and starting from late September, the team will be selecting a total of 20 participants from each of five countries - Taiwan, Hong Kong, Philippines, Thailand and Singapore – to form the ‘Top 100′ of the show.

Only the top two contestants from each country will be selected for the ‘Top 10′, who will be personally training with Cube Entertainment for two months before going into the final elimination rounds in mid January-February of 2012.

A representative of Cube Entertainment stated, “We will be working to find potential talents for Cube Entertainment, starting with judging audition-hopefuls to training those who clear rounds.”

The final winner of this audition program will earn themselves an exclusive contract with Cube Entertainment, who boasts stars like G.NA, 4minute, and B2ST.

“K-Pop Star Hunt” will begin airing on cable channel tvN in January-Februrary of next year.


source: allkpop

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S/mileage to hold mini-event at Pony Canyon

It’s been announced that idol group S/mileage will be holding a mini-event on July 24th at Pony Canyon in Toranomon.

This mini-event will occur three times during the day: 3:00 PM, 5:00 PM, and 7:00 PM, at the event space on the first floor of the Pony Canyon building.

On the day of the event, a participation ticket will be distributed randomly to fans who pre-ordered S/mileage’s 6th single, “Uchouten LOVE“, at the entrance of the building. Fans will be guided in 30 minutes before the event, according to the reference number on the participation ticket. Once a fixed number of participation tickets run out, a participation ticket for a handshake event will be distributed.

As the release date of “Uchouten LOVE” draws near, this mini-event will be a great opportunity to promote the new single.

source: tokyohive

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T-ara, Rainbow, and Dal Shabet attend “2011 Seoul Character & Licensing Fair”

The 2011 Seoul Character & Licensing Fair is currently into its second day of exhibition, and was graced by the presence of idol girl group T-ara on the morning of July 21st.

As one of Asia’s largest licensing exhibitions, the fair celebrated its 9th year. It has been providing information about trends and issues to relevant industries, with over 200 companies and 3,000 buyers expected in attendance.

Girl groups Rainbow and Dal Shabet graced the opening ceremony yesterday with performances, while T-ara also appeared today to show their support. T-ara’s Hyomin was unable to make the trip due to another schedule.

The fair will run until the 24th.








source: allkpop

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SNSD’s Yuri and Tiffany to MC 2011 Incheon Korean Music Wave Concert

Incheon City and HH Company are teaming up to hold the “Incheon Korean Music Wave Concert” and have announced that Girls’ Generation’s Yuri and Tiffany will MC the event – a role that has been assumed by MBC’s announcer Oh Sang Jin for the last three years.

SNSD’s Yuri and Tiffany have been busy with their work over in Japan but will still MC the “Incheon Korean Music Wave Concert” and perform with the rest of the SNSD members.

Fans are very interested in the concert and have high expectations for the two MCs, since their MCing skills have been verified on MBC’s “Show! Music Core“.


The event’s sponsor, HH Company, states that “Korea’s top music artists and their overseas efforts will give way to make the Hallyu Wave even hotter and induce even more interest in the phenomena. With the Hallyu Wave as our focus, we strive to put our best efforts into this concert“.

Ticket sales for the concert which will be held on August 13th, 2011 will go up for sale on Friday, July 22nd, 2011 at 2:00 PM via GMarket.




source: allkpop

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2PM to kickstart ‘Hands Up Asia Tour’ in September

‘Beastly idols’ 2PM have just announced that their ‘2PM HANDS UP ASIA TOUR‘ will start in September. This concert will be their second solo concert, their first being last year’s ‘Don’t Stop Can’t Stop‘ tour.

The group made their comeback with “Hands Up” late last month, and have been dominating music charts ever since. For their album tour, the boys are promising spectacular performances that can be fully enjoyed from all areas of the venue, including those seated in the nosebleed sections.

JYP Entertainment stated, “2PM HANDS UP ASIA TOUR will be the place to see 2PM’s talents and charms, where everyone will truly be able to enjoy themselves. We hope to have a good turnout.”

Tickets will be available for purchase from July 19th through Mnet.com and Yes24.

source: allkpop

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SHINee holds a successful first concert in Taiwan

After concluding a successful first concert in Taiwan, the members of SHINee experienced just how popular they are not just at home, but overseas as well.

On July 16th, the boys carried out their first solo concert, ‘SHINee THE 1st CONCERT IN TAIPEI – SHINee WORLD“, at Taiwan’s Taipei Arena, where they met with enthusiastic acclaim from their fans.




SHINee performed “Noona Is So Pretty (Replay)“, “Love Like Oxygen“, “Ring Ding Dong” and many other hit tracks. Including the members’ individual stages, they sang about 30 songs. Their unique charismatic performances, mixed with their extravagant stages, captivated the audience.

Fans went particularly wild over Taemin’s “Boy Meets Girl“, Onew’s “Princesses Can’t Sleep“, Key and Taemin’s “My First Kiss“, and Minho’s “OMG” solos, which showcased each member’s individuality.


Talented R&B singer and fellow labelmate, Zhang Li Yin, also appeared as a special guest and performed a duet with Jonghyun called ”Wrongly Given Love“.

Since this concert was sponsored by Seoul Tourism Marketing, booths and photo zones were set up promoting the attractions found in the city of Seoul.

Meanwhile, after completing a successful first solo concert in Taiwan, SHINee will kick off their ‘SHINee JAPAN DEBUT PREMIUM RECEPTION TOUR’ in Fukuoka on July 22nd. Then they will head to Kobe for July 23rd, Tokyo for the 27-28th, Sapporo for August 8th, and Nagoya for August 11th.

source: allkpop

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Pledis Entertainment to hold ‘2011 Summer Vacation Happy Pledis Audition’

After School and Son Dambi’s agency, Pledis Entertainment, will be holding their ‘2011 Summer Vacation Happy Pledis Audition‘. This audition will be following their previous ‘2010 Finding After School’s 9th Member‘ and ‘2011 After School Boys‘ auditions.

Whoever gets selected in this audition will be given the opportunity to participate in the ‘Happy PLEDIS‘ album alongside Son Dambi, After School, Orange Caramel, and After School Boys.

‘Happy PLEDIS’ is a seasonal album where Pledis Entertainment artists contribute songs that give off warm feelings during the cold winter. A portion of the albums sales are then donated to charity.

Every Pledis Entertainment audition has drawn in about 7,000 applicants. Many are wondering exactly how many people will be auditioning for this upcoming audition.

A Pledis Entertainment representative revealed,

“This ‘Happy PLEDIS’ audition will begin accepting applications on July 18th through the Pledis email and Cyworld C-log. This is an opportunity to discover your talents in a variety of areas such as singing, dancing, acting, and modeling. We are looking for stars who have passion and talent.“

Meanwhile, Son Dambi is currently preparing for her next album and After School is gearing up for their comeback with their A.S. Red and A.S. Blue sub-unit teams.

source: allkpop

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Despite an earthquake in Japan, B2ST locks down a successful fan meeting

B2ST held a fan meeting in Tokyo the day after an earthquake, and managed to draw in an astounding 12,000 fans.

On July 18th, Cube Entertainment stated that there was an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.5 that struck the Tokyo-Ryogoku area, but despite initial concerns, a great mass of fans turned up for the event, which reportedly went very smoothly.

B2ST opened their fan meeting with a ’special’ strong performance. No different from a Korean concert, Japanese fans sang along to “Soom“, “Shock“, “Beautiful“, “Fiction“, and many other tracks in Korean and also shouted cheer slogans.


Aside from their live performances, B2ST also held a talk session with their fans. They even called some fans on stage and gave them hand-drawn portraits.

Cube also reported that stocks of B2ST-related merchandise sold out like wildfire, as fans queued up since the early morning to grab the best seats and items.

B2ST are currently traveling to six different Asian countries to hold fan meetings with an estimated 40,000 fans. Having wrapped up a successful stop in Japan, the boys will move onto China for July 20th and then Taiwan for the 22nd-23rd.










source: allkpop

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SKE48 attend opening event for Fuji-Q Highland’s new roller coaster

On July 16th, several members from idol group SKE48 attended an opening event for Fuji-Q Highland’s new roller coaster ride, ‘Takabisha‘.

The members who attended are Ono Haruka, Mukaida Manatsu, Ueno Kasumi, Kaneko Shiori, Kimoto Kanon, Nakamura Yuka, Matsui Jurina, and Ishida Anna.

When the event MC asked, “Is anybody afraid of roller coasters?,” Matsui and Kimoto raised their hands. “I hate when the roller coaster drops; it feels like my heart is going to jump out,” said Kimoto. Matsui also stated, “I hate when it climbs vigorously, and my legs float.”

Ono, who says she loves roller coasters, commented, “Jurina looked gloomy since yesterday, and I enjoyed watching her.” The other members also showed joyful expressions on being able to ride on the new roller coaster. Then the girls started a face-off, saying, “You try riding the ‘Takabisha’!” and showed the crowd each of their charms, by responding to each other with witty remarks.


When the time came for the members to ride ‘Takabisha’, the girls decided to hold a janken tournament. Kaneko, Ueno, Ishida, and Mukaida won, and were chosen to ride the roller coaster. Their smiles quickly turned into a nervous look as they got into the cart, and they screamed as they experienced the attraction for the first time.

After the thrilling ride, Mukaida commented, “It was fun, but I didn’t have time to breathe.” Ishida gave her honest impression, saying, “The drop at 121 degrees was scary, but climbing at 90 degrees was even scarier. Also, I was surprised because it was like bungee jumping when it came to a stop before the drop.”

At the end of the event, the girls shouted, “‘Takabisha open!“, and filled the place with smiles.





source: tokyohive

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