Some fans who paid 176,000 won for VIP seats at AKMU’s concert in Gangneung say they could not see the stage or the LED screen, prompting calls for refunds online, Money Today reported on November 9.
AKMU performed the show, titled “2026 AKMU Concert: Paradise of Rumors,” on November 7 at the Gangneung Speed Skating Stadium in Gangwon Province. After the concert, reviews posted online criticised sightlines from some seats and the live sound, according to the report.
One attendee who watched from the floor section questioned whether the seat was really a VIP seat at all. “I couldn’t see the stage at all, and the moment people stood up, the screen disappeared too,” the fan wrote, according to Money Today.
The same fan praised the staging but said the sound was disappointing, comparing the flat, un-tiered seating to riding a subway. Another attendee said the view from a 176,000-won VIP seat was “at the level of a restricted-view seat,” adding that they could not see the stage, “let alone the LED screen.”
As the reviews spread, some online users argued that refunds were warranted for the affected seats, the report said.
The concert was directed in full by AKMU member Lee Chan-hyuk. MBC’s “Omniscient Interfering View” previously showed him leading production meetings and checking rehearsals for the show, floating ideas as unexpected as tents and lions as he worked through the stage design.
At a rehearsal two days before the concert, he personally checked details ranging from the placement of rocks on stage to the dancers’ costumes and small props, aiming to immerse the audience from any seat — a goal the complaints suggest was not met for everyone.
The criticism lands directly on Lee Chan-hyuk because he recently took full creative control of AKMU’s work after leaving YG Entertainment, saying he wanted to take responsibility for every decision himself. He has described the toll of that independence: preparing AKMU’s first concert after the split left him about 5 kilograms lighter in a month, with overwork causing cramps that kept him from sleeping in the final week.
No official statement from the organisers addressing the complaints or the refund calls had been reported at the time of writing. Whether refunds follow will show whether this fades as a one-night seating problem or becomes a wider test of Lee Chan-hyuk’s hands-on era.
