Concert or kopitiam? Even VIP ticketholders at Westlife's KL concerts get cheap plastic chairs

Fans are willing to fork out the big bucks to see their faves live in concert but, when it came to Irish boy band Westlife, some Malaysians were left disappointed with the quality of their seats.

The band held the Kuala Lumpur leg of The Wild Dreams tour on Feb 23 and 24, and concertgoers were seated on plastic chairs akin to the ones that can be found at a kopitiam (coffee shop) or kenduri (banquet or event).

Some morbid fans even compared the chairs to those found at a funeral.

One TikTok user suggested that the chairs weren't worthy of VIP tickets — which cost RM884 (S$267) — but a wedding banquet instead.

[embed]https://www.tiktok.com/@razzmann12/video/7203321284736994587[/embed]

"At least wedding banquet chairs have a white cover and ribbon," one response disagreed about the bare black chairs.

Another read: "Is this a concert or are you waiting to pay your parking summons?"

Yet others suggested that the chairs made it seem like the concert was being held at a police station or vaccine centre.

A TikTok user joked: "They even cable-tied them together, afraid you'd bring the chairs back with you."

Another fan shared a video of the concert, writing: "The venue and organiser's method of running the concert did not do Westlife justice. Malaysia needs to buck up on their event management skills."

He added: "Westlife live in Malaysia was great but the organiser was [poop emoji]."

[embed]https://www.tiktok.com/@eldermillenniial/video/7203402804856098075[/embed]

In another TikTok post, he joked: "Welcome to (band member) Shane Filan's expensive wedding banquet" and alternatively suggested the chairs looked like those found at an "elderly care centre".

Fans of other groups could commiserate too: "Same organiser as the Mamamoo concert in Shah Alam. We also had the same feeling."

However, not everyone was bummed out by the seating arrangements.

One tweet read: "My colleague went to the Westlife concert and suddenly other colleagues commented, 'Too bad you had to sit on plastic chairs,' and I was like, 'Eh, the concertgoer didn't say anything about it but you're upset instead?'"

ikr. one of my colleagues went to westlife concert, suddenly other colleagues menganjing 'kesian ek duduk ats kerusi plastik' aku macam???? EHH orang tu tak cakap apa pun kau yg kesah https://t.co/PXZAHrXGdc

— amirah⁷ (@hotseok0613) February 25, 2023

Other tweets pointed out that the chairs were not an issue exclusive to Malaysia, as similar plastic chairs were used in venues all over the world, from Seoul to Bangkok.

"The US has the same chair, it's a bit better but more or less the same," read a tweet.

did they know even Korea and Thailand use chair like this 😭😭😭 US punya kerusi tu jelah mcm better sikit but lebih kurang 😭

pic 1. Westlife Concert in Malaysia
pic 2. Seventeen Caratland in Korea
pic 3. Golden Disc Award in Thailand
pic 4. Permission to Dance in Las Vegas, US pic.twitter.com/Wo7buwQ4E4

— bee on the street ❤️‍🩹 (@nabihahashim) February 24, 2023

ALSO READ: Fan throws red underwear at Westlife during Singapore concert for them to sign - do they?

drimac@asiaone.com

No part of this story can be reproduced without permission from AsiaOne.