Indonesian government to allow Blackpink to perform at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium

K-pop girl group Blackpink performs at London's The O2 on Dec. 2 as part of its second world tour. [YG ENTERTAINMENT]

The Indonesian government appears to have given the green light to K-pop girl group Blackpink to perform at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta as part of the girl group’s upcoming tour in March.

Ilgan Sports reported Wednesday that Blackpink will perform at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium on March 11 and 12. The Indonesian government had been against the concert, saying that the stadium needed to be renovated before the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup that begins in May 2023. Ilgan Sports reported that it is not sure why the Indonesian government has changed its mind, but that it gave the go ahead to Blackpink to perform at the stadium that has a seating capacity of about 80,000.

Blackpink will be the first K-pop act to hold a solo concert in the venue. Artists like One Direction, Guns N’ Roses, Bon Jovi, Metallica and Linkin Park have previously performed there. As for K-pop acts, Super Junior performed in the venue for the closing ceremony of the 18th Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games and SM Town Concert was also held there in 2012.

Blackpink kicked off its second world tour with a Seoul concert in October and is set to conclude the European portion in Amsterdam on Dec. 22. The group will proceed to perform in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Japan and Oceania until June 2023.

BY YIM SEUNG-HYE [yim.seunghye@joongang.co.kr]