Hip-Hop Festival In Korea Slammed For Mistreating The Headliner

Zico fans are furious after the recent event over the weekend at the 2023 IPK Festival.  This concert gained much attention as the lineup included hot artists from Meenoi, Big Naughty, Jessi, and more. Most importantly, Zico was included as the headliner of the show.

Anyone who has been to a festival with an artist lineup will know that the performances must begin and end at a certain time to avoid delays. However, due to the tight schedule and singers performing beyond the designated time frame, the timetable become useless.

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A post shared by 입크페스티벌 (@ibk_festival)

Fans are furious that the event organizers did not do anything even after seeing the delay in the schedule. Fans even waited 5+ hours in the rain to see ZICO only to have them be robbed of the headliner performance. By allowing other artists to perform and hold encores, Zico, the headliner, ended up going on stage at 9:50 PM, ten minutes before the show ended.

입크 IBK 페스티벌은
아티스트와 관객에게
공식적으로 정식으로 사과하시길 바랍니다

— ZICO ² (지코스퀘어) (@Zico_Square) September 16, 2023

IBK Festival needs to apologize to the artist and the audience. We demand an official apology.

우지호 이렇게 말 하는거 진짜 화났다는 뜻인데… 진짜 우지호한테 무대를 뺏냐..
앞 가수들 시간 조정하는게 뭐가 어렵다고 이런 상황을 만드는건지 이해가 안감..
또 우지호가 왜 사과하는지도 이해가 안감….
IBK는 두 번 다시 페스티벌 열지 말고
내 행복한 토요일, 우지호 시간 보상해주길 pic.twitter.com/nleABkHg1V

— 100ZI (@100zi_co) September 16, 2023

I know Zico is f*cking pissed because listen to what he says… I can’t believe he was ripped off of his time to perform. I don’t understand why IBK let things go this way, when distributing time among previous artists should’ve been easy. And I cannot understand why Zico is apologizing for it all… I hope IBK doesn’t get to host another festival ever again. And compensate Zico for his time. Compensate me for my Saturday.

In the video above, Zico apologizes to fans for the short performance.

I’m so sorry, everyone… This is frustrating to me, too. And I love being on stage. I’m all about keeping promises. But unfortunately, it seems there are… limitations with the venue contract. This outdoor space needs to be cleared. So… I worked really hard on putting this setlist together, but this next song is going to be my last, without an encore…

우지호 분명 본인 시간 맞춰 도착했을거임
근데 다른 아티스트는 부모님 어디 계신지 묻고, 사진찍고, 3곡 한번에 부르고, 앵콜까지하고, 디제이 소개에만 몇 분을 썼는데.. 우리 애는 10분밖에 공연을 못했다는게 진짜 화남.. 근데 우리 애가 사과를 한게 더 화남 진짜……….하… 욕도 이제 안나옴

— 100ZI (@100zi_co) September 16, 2023

I bet Zico arrived to perform on time. But because the other artists spent so much time, looking for their parents, taking pictures, singing three tracks in a row, doing encores, and even introducing their DJs, he only got 10 minutes to perform. That’s f*cked up… But what pisses me off the most is that ZICO was the one to apologize for it. Sigh. There are not enough swear words to express how I feel.

230916 입크페스티벌

자기 보려고 기다려준 팬들에게 미안하다며
10분동안 최선을 다해주고 가심 .. #ZICO #지코 #우지호 pic.twitter.com/2JuC0SOsNK

— HODADAK (@hodadak914) September 16, 2023

230916 IBK Festival
He apologized to the fans who waited to see him. And he tried his best for the 10 minutes he had…

오늘 입크 최악임
지코 마지막 순서였는데
앞에 가수들 다 앵콜하고 ㅈㄴ 딜레이가 됨
지코 시작할라하는데
갑자기 안내방송으로 뭐규정어쩌고하면서
9시 50분이었는데 공연이 10시까지 밖에 안된다 함
다른 가수들 다 30분 넘게 했는데 지코는 10분밖에 못하고 3곡하고 사과 ㅈㄴ함 개새끼들아

— 쩜 아커만 (@daysix112) September 16, 2023

IBK Festival was the worst. ZICO was supposed to headline. But all the previous artists got encores and delayed the hell out of the timeline. When it came ZICO’s turn to perform, an announcement said that because of policies or whatever, the festival had to wrap up at 10PM. He started performing at 9:50. Everyone else got 30+ minutes. ZICO got 10. He performed three songs. And he kept apologizing again and again. IBK, you sh*theads.

230916 입크페스티벌 #지코 퇴장

진짜 너무 속상해 pic.twitter.com/XUhTTYdhVp

— 량 (@ryang0914) September 16, 2023

I promise I’ll give you a lot more next time I see you all. I’m so sorry.

Netizens that saw the news couldn’t understand how a big event couldn’t handle a situation like this.

• “They couldn’t cut the other artists short but had to cut Zico’s due to the delay?”
• “Wow…they really cut the headliner’s performance…It’s unfortunate seeing how sad Zico is for being unable to perform.”
• “All the artists in the lineup are people with a lot of experience and should know they need to stop if there is a set time limit. I don’t understand why these professionals couldn’t handle something like this. And shouldn’t the staff say something to cut a performance if it’s going overtime?”
• “How can a headliner performance be ten minutes?”
• “What kind of concert has the headliner perform for ten minutes?”
• “That’s crazy..the timetable schedule is too tight.”

While IBK has posted performances of Zico on their Instagram stories, there are no updates on an official apology yet.