![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1_IMG-20260220-WA0009.jpg\")
<\/p>\n“They offered us a chance to win merchandise if we left positive reviews”<\/p>\n
21:00, 20 Feb 2026Updated 21:11, 20 Feb 2026<\/p>\n
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The K-Pop Forever Tribute show(Image: Supplied)<\/p>\n
A mother who went to the K-Pop Forever Tribute show<\/a> at SSE Arena Belfast on Thursday night has described the event as a \u201ccash grab\u201d after attending with her six-year-old daughter.<\/p>\n The woman, from Newtownards<\/a>, said she tickets to the show were Christmas<\/a> present for her child. She said the event was billed as \u201cno other K-pop act show will come close to this\u201d.<\/p>\n The pair arrived expecting a family-friendly tribute performance, but said the experience fell far short of expectations.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Rain continues to hang around in Met Office NI weekend forecast<\/a>READ MORE: Gallery: Mike Skinner and The Streets performed at the Belfast Telegraph building<\/a><\/p>\n She told Belfast Live that she believed the show would be a tribute to the animated K-Pop Demon Hunters franchise.<\/p>\n \u201cThousands of children were dressed up like the characters,\u201d she said. \u201cThere was K-Pop merchandise flying out the door, even though it was expensive. We knew we weren\u2019t going to see the characters themselves, but we expected the performers to sing the songs and dress like them. We thought it would be a proper tribute show \u2014 but it wasn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n She said merchandise on sale included bags, glow sticks, hoodies, hats and clothing.<\/p>\n According to the mother, her daughter became upset shortly after the main act took to the stage.<\/p>\n \u201cMy six-year-old said straight away, \u2018You\u2019ve brought me to the wrong concert,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n “She started crying and said she wanted to leave. Within 10 minutes, a lot of other children were crying too.\u201d<\/p>\n She also raised concerns about the performers\u2019 outfits and choreography.<\/p>\n \u201cThe clothing they were wearing was not appropriate for children of that age \u2014 they were half-naked,\u201d she said. \u201cSome of the dance moves were sexualised. There was no attempt to look like a K-pop tribute act aimed at kids.\u201d<\/p>\n The mother also claimed that before the interval, the performers encouraged audience members to leave positive reviews in exchange for the chance to win free merchandise.<\/p>\n \u201cThey said if you leave a good review, they\u2019d pick a winner for free merch,\u201d she said. \u201cPeople were actively encouraged to leave positive feedback.\u201d<\/p>\n She added that when the performers \u2014 numbering around half a dozen \u2014 spoke into the microphones, they were difficult to hear, leading her to question whether parts of the performance were mimed.<\/p>\n The mother said she spent \u00a3105 on two tickets for herself and her daughter.<\/p>\n A poster of the event(Image: Supplied)<\/p>\n \u201cIt was absolutely a cash grab,\u201d she said. \u201cThe venue was sold out \u2014 there wasn\u2019t an empty seat \u2014 but people were leaving early. Some were sitting watching YouTube on their phones. It\u2019s a big deal to sell out an arena, and they\u2019re holding several shows.\u201d<\/p>\n She claimed parents were advised by other attendees to contact Ticketmaster about refunds, but were told they were not eligible.<\/p>\n \u201cThis show was advertised as suitable for all ages,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was not age-appropriate for a six-year-old. If I had known how they\u2019d be dressed or how they\u2019d be dancing, I would never have taken her.\u201d<\/p>\n She added that while the show featured a number of Korean-language songs, the audience appeared disengaged.<\/p>\n \u201cThey sang songs nobody had heard of. If they had mixed in more familiar tracks, people might have stayed interested,\u201d she said. \u201cThey finally sang one of the Demon Hunters songs after the interval, but by then people had lost interest.\u201d<\/p>\n She described the atmosphere as upsetting for families.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was bad enough for parents to sit through, but seeing children crying was devastating,\u201d she said. \u201cSome people asked, \u2018What did you expect?\u2019 We expected a K-pop tribute act. It wasn\u2019t what was advertised.\u201d<\/p>\n Following the event, SSE Arena<\/a> Belfast issued a statement on social media acknowledging feedback while defending the production.<\/p>\n It said the show formed part of a world tour and was designed to represent the wider K-pop genre, featuring music from BTS, Blackpink and Katseye, alongside eight songs from the Demon Hunters franchise.<\/p>\n \u201cWhilst the majority of customers enjoyed the show, we understand this was not what some expected,\u201d the statement said. \u201cHowever, we are content that the show delivered was an arena-standard tribute to the entire K-pop genre.\u201d<\/p>\n The mother remains unconvinced. She added: \u201cI think refunds are warranted. The venue says the majority of parents were happy \u2014 I\u2019d like to know where that information comes from, because social media and the reaction around me showed the opposite.\u201d<\/p>\n She added: \u201cThere was a queue of people trying to lodge complaints. I had to go home and put K-pop on the TV so my daughter could dance and calm down. She told me it was the worst night she\u2019s ever had \u2014 and this was her Christmas present.\u201d<\/p>\n Want to see more of the stories you love from Belfast Live? <\/strong>Making us your preferred source on Google<\/a><\/strong> means you\u2019ll get more of our exclusives, top stories and must-read content straight away. To add Belfast Live as a preferred source, simply <\/strong>click here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"“They offered us a chance to win merchandise if we left positive reviews” 21:00, 20 Feb 2026Updated 21:11,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":778813,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[9],"tags":[77,46344,113809,16,15],"class_list":["post-778812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-sse-arena","tag-things-to-do-belfast","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116107299317840295","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=778812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/778813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=778812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=778812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=778812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0_IMG-20260220-WA0008.jpg\")
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