T-ara Great China Tour

T-ara Great China Tour was South Korean girl group T-ara's 5th tour and its first in China. The tour started in Shanghai on and ended in the same city on 25 November 2014.[1][2] The last stop on the tour in Shanghai was attended by 12,000 people.[3] In October 2015, T-ara became the first South Korean artist to hold a concert in Hefei.[4]

T-ara Great China Tour 2015–2016
Tour by T-ara
T-ara final tour concert in Shanghai poster
LocationChina
Associated albumSo Good
Start date20 June 2015 (2015-06-20)
End date17 September 2016 (2016-09-17)
No. of shows5
T-ara concert chronology

Background and development

On 29 December 2014, T-ara held their "T-ara China Tour - Shanghai Greeting Concert" initiating their tour promotion in China. The concert was attended by Wang Sicong, son of businessman Wang Jianlin.[5] NetEase News reported that more than 3,000 people attended the concert.[5]

The "T-ara Great China Tour 2015–16" kicked off in Hefei and concluded in Shanghai in September 2016.[6] It marked T-ara's first concerts in Hefei and Nanjing.[7] On 20 May, several music officials announced that T-ara would embark on their first official tour in China in June 2015.[8] On 20 June, T-ara attended the press conference for the tour in Nanjing at Nanjing's Sofitel Galaxy Hotel.[9]

On 10 July 2015, T-ara held a press conference to promote their Beijing concert. T-ara announced that they didn't invite any guests to the event to enjoy a personal time with their fans.[10] Pre-sale for the last stop on the tour in Shanghai was opened on 17 August.[11] MBK Entertainment announced that new songs will be performed in the final concert. According to China Daily, the concert had a high production cost, several production teams from Hong Kong and Taiwan were invited to create the stage effects, and made a special trip to help out with professional directors from Korea. The concert also would be held on an extended stage allowing fans to get in close contact with their idols.[12] Originally T-ara were planned to perform in 13 cities, however, due to schedule conflicts, the tour was reduced to 6 shows only.[11]

Concert synopsis

The shows on the "T-ara Great China Tour" featured a nearly identical set list with the concert beginning mainly by T-ara's hit songs for the first act, followed by 3 solo stages and then a group stage again. The rest of the members would have their solo stages afterward followed by a last group performance and an encore. The first concert in Shanghai had a different setlist. T-ara continued with their standard formula for setlists of tour concerts, each member had her own solo stage, members who didn't officially debut as solo performed covers of other artists' songs. No new songs were performed on the final stop in Shanghai like it was previously announced by MBK Entertainment, however, some songs were performed for the first time including For You (Acoustic version with 6 members) and Hurt.[13]

Commercial performance

All 4,000 tickets for the Nanjing concert and all 5,000 tickets for the Guangzhou concert were sold-out.[14][15] The Shanghai show attracted about 12,000 people, making it the largest in the country for a Korean girl group.[3]

Setlists

This set list is from the concert on 17 September 2016, in Shanghai, It is not intended to represent all shows from the tour.

Set list in Shanghai (2016)

Main Set
Act 1

  1. "Sugar Free"
  2. "Number Nine"
  3. "DAY BY DAY"
  4. "For You"
  5. "ORGR"
  6. "Cry Cry"

Act 2

  1. "Never Ever" (Jiyeon Solo)
  2. "I Can Fly" (Soyeon Solo / Jay Chou Cover)
  3. "Sweet Dream" (Boram Solo / Jang Nara Cover)

Act 3

  1. "Ya Ya Ya"
  2. "Sexy Love"
  3. "Hurt"
  4. "Why We Separated"
  5. "Roly Poly"
  6. "I Don't Want You"

Act 4

  1. "Sketch" (Hyomin Solo / Chinese Ver.)
  2. "GoodBye" (Eunjung Solo / Chinese Ver.)
  3. "Joolae" (Qri Solo / Lee Jung-Hyun)

Act 5

  1. "Why Are You Being Like This?"
  2. "You Drive Me Crazy"
  3. "Like The First Time"
  4. "Time To Love (TTL)"

Encore

  1. "So Crazy" (Chinese Ver.)
  2. "Bo Peep Bo Peep"

Tour dates

DateCityCountryVenueAttendance
25 November 2014ShanghaiChinaShanghai International Gymnastics Center3,000[16]
20 June 2015NanjingNanjing Sun Palace Theater4,000[14]
11 July 2015BeijingWorkers Indoor Arena
21 October 2015HefeiHefei Sports Center Gymnasium
19 December 2015GuangzhouGuangzhou Gymnasium5,000[15]
17 September 2016ShanghaiShanghai Mercedes Benz Arena12,000[17]
TotalN/A

Home media

Rights to all the tour shows (except the 25 November 2014 show) were sold to Chinese online streaming services Douyan and Panda TV. The last two stop on the tour in Guangzhou and Shanghai respectively were edited into DVDs by BANANA Project and were sold in China and Malaysia.

References