Kai Of EXO Was Unable To Attend K-Pop Idol Group’s First Concert In North America Due To Visa Issues
In the K-pop industry today, one of the most popular K-pop idol boy groups is EXO. Initiating back in 2011, the 12-member group consisting of Xiumin, Luhan, Kris, Suho, Lay, Baekhyun, Chen, Chanyeol, D.O., Tao, Kai, and Sehun found an international appeal transcending past acts. This is probably due to the fact that EXO is technically two subgroups in one where half of its members (EXO-K) perform its songs in Korean and the other half (EXO-M) perform those same songs in Mandarin. Technically, that is a smart move by SM Entertainment given that the Chinese market is one of the most popular markets for K-pop.
Just because EXO was aimed towards Chinese and Korean markets in general does not mean they aren’t appealing internationally. Many K-pop fans in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, and the Philippines consider themselves a part of EXO-L, the official fan club of EXO. To appease them, EXO is currently on an international tour called EXO Planet #2 – The EXO’luxion, and they have scheduled shows in the aforementioned countries. However, the biggest hype about the tour are shows scheduled in North America, the first EXO will have in their career. Unfortunately for those who attended EXO’s very first show in Dallas, Texas, in the United States, the K-pop idol boy group was one less active member. Sadly, Kai could not attend due to Visa problems.
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The news broke of Kai’s absence on the official Facebook page of MyMusicTaste, a crowdsourcing platform known for setting up fan-initiated concerts. They released a statement on the matter, citing the reason as a Visa issue.
“We regret to tell you that EXO member Kai will not be able to attend the Dallas show due to visa delay. MMT is solely responsible for the misconduct while applying for the visas, and has tried everyday to resolve the problem at hand. The visa has not been issued, and therefore, Kai will not be able to go to the Dallas show. At any rate, we will try our best to have Kai participate in the rest of the tour starting from Vancouver.”
MyMusicTaste understood their failures would leave a bad taste among EXO fans. Ergo, they were more than willing to give a full refund to those who wanted it. Fortunately, MyMusicTaste was able to fix the issues pertaining to Kai’s Visa and he’ll be performing at the remaining North American shows of the tour.
To be frank, North American fans in EXO-L will most likely take the loss given the fact that this is EXO’s first tour in their neck of the woods. To put things in perspective, they already knew of other members of EXO not attending the tour, yet they still bought tickets to attend their shows. According to KpopStarz, Lay wasn’t joining too because of an injury while filming in China. Let’s not forget that EXO is now just nine members. Luhan, Kris, and Tao have all left EXO and are in current lawsuits with SM Entertainment.
EXO has four more shows left in North America. Their next show is in Vancouver, Canada, on February 12, 2016 at the Thunderbird Arena. Their following shows will be in Los Angeles, California, on February 14, 2016, at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena; Chicago, Illinois, on February 19, 2016, at the Rosemont Theatre; and New York City, New York, on February 21, 2016, at the Prudential Center.
[Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images]
