This Sunday evening, K-Pop fans in Paris were treated to an exceptional show at the La Défense Arena. Thanks to an ocean of lights in the colors of the biggest K-pop groups, as well as Korean hits at full volume, we were able to travel to one of the biggest Korean music festivals.
Le Mcountdown is a Korean TV show that brings thousands of K-pop fans around the world together in front of their televisions every Thursday, to watch their favorite artists perform. This is the first time the festival has come to Europe, and we were lucky enough to discover it in France!
For the Mcountdown festival, fans don't hesitate to travel by train or plane, arriving from all over the continent, from the UK to Italy, Spain and Germany. They all want the chance to see all their favorite Korean artists in one and the same evening.
For the uninitiated, it's easy to spot which band each fan is supporting, thanks to the lightsticks and merch that each one wears in his or her own way. But as the evening gets underway, there's no differentiating between the fans.
The pre-show got off to a powerful start, with DJ Raiden setting the crowd alight. In fact, over 22,000 people were on hand to jump up and down and sing along to remixes of songs familiar to all the fans present.
Then, when the first artists took to the stage in a cloud of smoke, they all followed the dynamic tempo of the song "The Real (Heung Version)", with its traditional Korean sounds, by the group Ateez. The famous 8-piece band were back in France after having sold out the Accor Arena almost 3 times. But this time, they were not alone, but accompanied by their colleagues such as Taemin de Shinee and Nct Dream, who we saw in France on March 30 at Le Zénith de la Villette.
However, this was the first time French fans had met the internationally renowned boy groups Treasure, Zerobaseone, and the Shownu x Hyungwon subunit of the Monsta X group.
Fans of girl groups were not to be outdone, as Dream Catcher and EL7Z UP, a group freshly formed through the K-pop survival show " Queendom Puzzle ", produced by Mnet, the channel organizing Mcountdown, made their French debut.
Imagine thousands of fans singing along to the lyrics of the songs, most of them entirely in Korean. This Sunday evening, the language barrier was a thing of the past! The"Idols" didn't hesitate to interact through games and animations, even appearing in the audience among the fans. Most of these games were hosted by the evening's presenter, none other thanHanbin from the group Zerobaseone. Some of the group's fans even had the chance, after a few auditions, to dance alongside them in the "Dreamstage", a dream come true for all these dance fans.
Korean culture and music were at the heart of the evening, with its original style arousing the curiosity of more and more fans around the globe - but not only! Traditional martial arts such as taekwondo were also showcased, with a modern twist as the K-Tigers taekwondo performance group choreographed moves from this discipline to the music of K-pop groups such as Stray Kids, New Jeans and Aespa.
Finally, the evening closed with an explosive performance by the legendary PSY, 11 years after his first appearance on French television. The interpreter of the global hit " Oppa Gangnam Style ", who has thrilled the world with her catchy melody and dance moves that even non-K-pop fans can relate to, performed her single along with her hits " That That " and " Daddy " to round off the evening, which lasted almost 3 hours and 15 minutes.
Location
Paris La Défense Arena
99 Jardin de l'Arche
92000 Nanterre
