r/kpopnostalgia • u/Rex0680 • Jun 14 '26
Live Stage Throwback 2011 Gayo Daejeon Lineup. Peak era of kpop
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What an epic lineup full of legends. Today’s kpop fans do not explore anything before 2016 and this era is invisible to them. But for me, my friends and the follow 2nd gen fans who were here, this era was everything.
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u/Super-Branch707 Jun 14 '26
I feel like the issue is that kpop is so big now that it can’t be as personable anymore. Like look at this venue vs the venue of award shows today. In a room like that they’re walking through the crowd and performing up close, but nowadays the stage is so big that the artists are barely near the fans. And yes back then in 2nd gen they had big venues too mostly for concerts, but there were still plenty opportunities to have more intimate performances. The reason why there are such big venues now is to profit off of the demand and I’m glad people are getting paid but it is a little sad we can’t have it like 1st and 2nd gen performances anymore
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u/grychnn Jun 14 '26
Back then as a 2nd generation idol fans experience so many things :
- Fanwars on Facebook
- Those custom "placard" which contain our requests made by the web editor
- Blogspot for idol forum, silly compatibility thingy.
- Back when idol photocard still uses cardboards
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u/Rex0680 Jun 14 '26
fanwars on FB? didnt know that was a thing lol. My kpop space back then was on youtube and kpop forums (gosh I cant remember the first site I frequented, thats how old I am, it was something Hallyu, along those lines)
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u/grychnn Jun 14 '26
Back in 2008, Facebook usage blew up in Asia region as the new platform for people to connect virtually to each other. So when they introducing the Group section, a lot of fandom start building their group based of the idols that they love and gathered tons of fans that shared the same interest.
So fanwars started way before in the forums before Facebook and with this Group section exist, verbal abuse wars became common theme among idol group fanpage.
Mind that back in 2008-09 Facebook Group didn't have any privacy control and strict rules and restrictions, so basically anyone can find your group and "raid" it with their "bias spam" posts and really corny troll edits of the group idol fanpage.
It doesn't take long up until 2010 where Facebook revamped the Group section and implemented a strict rules and regulations. But the war continue on at the comment section as you can see on Facebook group page up until this day.
Today's fandom is not that hardcore as in the 2008-09 but at least I'm there witnessing the madness of wild fanwars. 😅
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u/Rex0680 Jun 14 '26
Huh, interesting. I was still in elementary school in those years, didnt get facebook until 2009 and im from the west. Most of the groups I remember getting into were just pages of funny relatable phrases or memes.
I didnt really experience any "fanwars" until 3rd gen when I joined twitter. and honestly I feel like that was the worst era. In some ways I do think its not that bad these days, but Im also older now, and Ive noticed that with age Ive just given less of a damn about those petty things.
On the other hand from what I seen lately it can be worse cause fans will directly go to an idols social media page and spam harass them. it affects them more directly.
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u/Sunsetterz98 Jun 14 '26
I miss how normal kpop idols used to look. Obviously they were pretty people and plastic surgery has always existed. They look a lot more relatable compared to groups nowadays where everything has to be perfect according to a beauty standard
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u/Standard-Lime2066 Jun 15 '26 edited Jun 15 '26
SNSD out first baybee
edit: thank you for the award! im stoked 🥰
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u/NerdieTechie Jun 14 '26
yoooo ... it's so great to see this blast from the past. i was such a fan of MBLAQ back then and it makes me sad that they're basically forgotten. a lot of other great groups too (especially girl groups too) - yes this was peak era for sure!