South Korean R&B and pop star Rain arrives in Singapore on Thursday ahead of his highly anticipated concert at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on January 21.
The "Rain’s Coming" World Tour is the largest concert ever given by a Korean artists and is expected to be on par with Madonna’s latest, in terms of scale.
The production crew includes famous names in the business including Jamie King, who has choreographed for Madonna, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera; lighting specialist Roy Bennett; and visual director Dago Gonzalez.
It is not surprising then that tickets to the state-of-the-art concert are not cheap, ranging between $188 and $488 - though ticket sellers SISTIC say seats are still available despite the fact the concert is only three days away.
Rain (Jung Ji-Hoon), who is also known in Korea as Bi, has had a meteoric rise to fame since he first broke into the music scene five years ago with a self-titled debut album.
Dubbed "the Asian Usher" or "the Asian Justin Timberlake", 24-year-old Rain is known now as much for his dance moves as his singing talent and charisma as a performer.
He has acted in various Korean television dramas, the most successful being "Full House" which catapulted him to mega-star status particularly in South East Asia where the series has aired.
But his reach extends beyond the region, with the singing sensation taking the United States by storm with sold-out concerts last year in Madison Square Garden, New York City and Caesars Palace Hotel, Las Vegas.
Since his performance at the 2005 American MTV Video Music Awards, Rain has drawn a lot of media attention, leading to Time Magazine voting Rain as the second most influential artist of 2006.
He is also an ambassador for World Vision HIV/Aids and will be highlighting the plight of orphans and children affected by AIDS throughout his tour in the region.
"I agreed to take up this challenge as I heard about the HIV/AIDS reality that 8,000 children are orphaned by AIDS everyday and over 14 million children have lost parents to AIDS every year. Devastation caused by HIV epidemic in Africa during 1990’s could be revived here in Asia soon unless we intervene swiftly," he said.
Rain is also taking the opportunity to promote his debut movie "I'm a Cyborg but that's OK" during his tour which is expected to come to an end in May 2007.
Singapore is the fourth stop on the world tour after Korea (last October), USA and Hong Kong, and will be followed by concerts in Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, Japan, China, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines. - CNA/yy
Source: Channelnewsasia.com
Credit: coffeebean @ Asianfanatic.net & kpopkingdom.com
