Psy to repeat ‘All Night Stand’ concert series

The mirthful, gentlemanly Psy will ring in the holiday season in true party fashion with the return of his four-day “All Night Stand” holiday concert series, according to an announcement by YG Entertainment on Monday.

Just as he did last year, Psy will be going all-out from Dec. 19 to 24 at Seoul Olympic Park’s Gymnastics Stadium in his upcoming five-show series ― hosting two separate performances on Christmas Eve.

Inarguably the world’s most famous K-pop star to date, Psy has held some form of a holiday concert annually for the past decade, with last year’s four-day event attracting a combined 60,000 fans.

While the 36-year-old Psy may no longer be the picture of youth, the young-at-heart singer is widely known in Korea for his hallmark concerts that are full of pizzazz, rousing energy and multiple encores in shows that are naturally expected to go on for hours on end.

According to YG officials, the goal for the upcoming series is to create an atmosphere that will appeal not only to Psy fans, but to nonfanatics as well. “We hope that even those who are not fans of Psy will still be able to enjoy watching a Psy show,” said the statement.

The announcement also stated that concertgoers can expect a number of big-name guest performers to participate in the holiday bash. Last year, Psy’s shows featured a wide range of A-list vocal guests including fellow YG stars G-Dragon and Taeyang of Big Bang, as well as ballad star and TV personality Lee Seung-gi.

After seemingly endless drawn-out delays, the global star finally unveiled his latest single “Hangover,” featuring American hip-hop icon Snoop Dogg, in June. The single came more than a year after the “Gangnam Style” follow-up, “Gentleman,” was released last April. Despite having superstar Snoop by his side and surpassing the 14 million-viewer mark on YouTube in less than a day, the track made a lackluster impact on the charts, leaving fans contemplating what was next for the K-pop megastar who was once the talk of the world. 

Although the rap star concluded his “Hangover” music video with the announcement that his newest single “Daddy” would be released sometime in the summer, he has yet to make good on that promise.

However, continuous delays are nothing new and hardly unexpected from Psy. The singer has long since stopped talking about his first U.S. album, which was initially supposed to drop last year, as well his collaborative single with Aerosmith front man Steven Tyler last year. No new updates have been revealed regarding Psy’s next full-length album or the release of his next single.

According to reports, Psy has already completed shooting the music video for “Daddy,” which was said to be directed by Cho Soo-hyun, the man behind both “Gangnam Style” and “Gentleman.” The music video is also said to feature a number of popular local faces including Hwang Min-woo, who is now better known as Little Psy.

As for the song that transformed Psy into a global household name, “Gangnam Style” still stands strong as the most-watched video in YouTube history, topping more than 2.1 billion views as of Monday.

Tickets for Psy’s upcoming “All Night Stand” concert series will go on sale starting Thursday and can be purchased online at interpark.com. The singer will also be performing a GS&POINT K-pop concert on Nov. 22 along with popular acts Winner, Sistar, Girl’s Day and Ailee.

By Julie Jackson (juliejackson@heraldcorp.com)