K-pop icons BigBang announce world tour with Southeast Asian stops

Korean boy band, Big Bang, (from left) T.O.P, Seungri, G-Dragon, Taeyang and Daesung. -- PHOTO: ST FILE
Korean boy band, Big Bang, (from left) T.O.P, Seungri, G-Dragon, Taeyang and Daesung. -- PHOTO: ST FILE
The upcoming tour kicks off with two concerts in Seoul on April 25 and 26 and then moves to at least 15 countries including China, Japan and the United States, the band's agency YG Entertainment said in a statement. -- PHOTO: YG ENTERTAINMENT/ FACEBOOK

SEOUL (AFP, THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK)- One of K-pop's biggest boy bands, BigBang, announced on Thursday their first world tour in three years, spanning Asia and the Americas to promote a much-anticipated new album.

The five-members of the South Korean group are among the best-known faces of the K-pop phenomenon, whose popularity has swept Asia and beyond over the last 10 years.

The upcoming tour kicks off with two concerts in Seoul on April 25 and 26 and then moves to at least 15 countries including China, Japan and the United States, the band's agency YG Entertainment said in a statement.

A total of 70 concerts have been scheduled, with the agency promising new venues and well trodden K-pop stages in Southeast Asia.

YG Entertainment had on Wednesday said on Facebook that BigBang will release a new album on May 1, more than three years after putting out its mega-hit album Still Alive in 2012.

The announcement was made with a poster titled BigBang, with the dates from May 1 to Sept 1 listed, suggesting that the group will unveil a new song on the first day of every month from May.

Yang Hyun Suk, head of YG Entertainment, said in an interview that the album will include the group's "best song ever".

The group's album Alive was the first Korean-language entrant in the US Billboard 200 album chart.

Since then, the five members have largely concentrated on individual projects.

Taeyang put out the mega-hit track Eyes, Nose, Lips, while he and his bandmate G-Dragon stormed the local music charts last December with their musical collaboration Good Boy.

Daesung successfully ended his solo concert tour in Japan and T.O.P appeared in several TV ads and fashion magazines last year.

BigBang is the latest addition to a handful of K-pop artists who plan to release an album in the coming months.

Miss A and EXO made a much-anticipated return in March. Girls' Generation and singer Lee Seung Gi are also set to release new albums this month.

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