Promoter announces Justin Bieber's concert in November, criticised by fans
Justin Bieber’s “Justice World Tour” will be held in Indonesia on 3 November 2022. This news was confirmed on 24 March by Sound Rhythm as the promoter, which is also working with AEG Presents and PK Entertainment.
Despite having been waiting for the star's concert for 11 years, fans criticised the concert plan. Why?
Concert venue
The “Justice World Tour” concert will be held at the Gelora Bung Karno (GBK) Madya Stadium. The GBK Madya Stadium only has a capacity of 20,000 spectators, hence deemed too small to accommodate the large number of Indonesian beliebers.
Not to mention the fact that “Justice World Tour” concerts are known for their high-level production along with sophisticated and complex concert props, such as planes, drones and moving stages.
According to CNN Indonesia, PK Entertainment founder and CEO Peter Harjadi said, "The concert venue itself is actually a decision and the result of discussions between us and the artist management."
He also explained why they did not use the much larger GBK Main Stadium (SUGBK). The reason is because SUGBK is currently under maintenance, so it is not available for rent.
"The explanation for the main stadium that we got from Pak Adi [President Director of GBK Utama] is that next year, Indonesia will host an international level football competition," he said.
"So the main stadium will be maintained. We also support the government's programs for next year, so that's why we chose the Madya Stadium,” he added.
Response from media
Fans and netizens expressed their disappointment through social media. However, fans said that one of the community media responded to their opinions and suggestions in an unprofessional manner.
"The promoter and related parties have made efforts so that Justin Bieber can hold the ‘Justice World Tour’ in Indonesia," said the media through the Twitter account @CreativeDisc. They said that the audience did not need to protest about the choice of venue.
"So please don't complain about the venue, etc., focus on buying tickets and pray that the concert will be smooth and safe. AMEN," wrote the media.
Price and ticketing system
In addition to the issue of the concert venue, fans also criticised the ticketing system which was quite complicated. Buyers will receive the tickets through email a day before the concert.
Citing www.justinbieberinjakarta.com, there are five categories of tickets. The lowest price is Rp1,500,000, while the highest price is Rp6,000,000 (excluding 15% tax and 5% admin fee).
In addition, with a fairly high price with adequate concert venue, the span between the concert announcement and the ticket sales can be said to be quite narrow. Ticket sale was announced on 25 March, four days before the sale began.
Refund policy
Given the uncertainty of being able to attend a concert that will only be held months later due to the pandemic, prospective ticket buyers also asked what will happen if they can't attend the concert, whether due to COVID-19 infection or other reasons.
Peter said the tickets are non-refundable. Cancellations can only be made by the promoter and artist management.
He explained that if the worst happened, all potential concert goers could do is to pass the ticket to another party. "It can't be refunded, but it can be passed when filling out the form on D-7," said Peter.
Latest update:
On 29 March or the first day of the ticket sale, Blibli’s website crashed. The sale was moved to Loket. Due to the high demand, the promoter decided to add another day of concert.