Year-end concert race
Looking at the schedule of events announced from now until the end of 2026, it can be seen that the Vietnamese performing arts market is not waiting until November or December to enter the peak season. The "Concert Season" actually started in August.
In just the past August 1st, there were 4 music nights of HIEUTHUHAI, Huong Tram and Prime's Night, Radio - Tu tinh que huong music nights taking place, attracting tens of thousands of viewers. From September, the density continued to increase. Many artists such as Hoang Dung, Chillies, Trang, HIEUTHUHAI, Phung Khanh Linh, announced year-end schedules and many large-scale performances such as Sao Concert, Tram yeu, Tinh ha say hi, Anh trai vuot ngan chong gai... making viewers "headache" choosing.
Notably, Brother Overcoming Thousands of Obstacles 2026. After a series of 9 concerts in the first season, the program continues to exploit television attraction into an independent performance brand. The first two nights of the 2026 season will be a test of the program's ability to maintain its heat.
Say Hi Galactic is another case. This is a new program but directly inherits the "Say Hi" ecosystem, with 24 young artists participating in the program.
This shows that a reality TV show no longer ends in the final episode but is designed as an entertainment ecosystem, in which concerts are the most important commercial product after broadcasting.
In that vibrant picture, Big Bang is the name that creates a different effect. G-Dragon, Taeyang and Daesung will bring their 20th anniversary show to My Dinh Stadium on two nights, October 24 and 25.
Traveloka data shows that domestic travel searches related to the BigBang concert in October increased more than 4 times compared to normal; hotel search demand in Hanoi also increased by nearly 50%.
Besides the "media fever" related to the keyword BigBang, this concert can also create demand outside of ticket sales. Fans from other provinces, cities or countries must buy air tickets, book hotels, eat, travel and spend on side activities.
Golden Season" concert stimulates cultural industry development
Observing from Korea, China and Thailand, it can be seen that concerts concentrated at the end of the year have become a driving force for the development of the performing arts field.
In Korea, year-end concerts have almost become a fixed format. Korea Times once built a year-end concert schedule for readers to follow, because the end of the year is associated with major holidays. According to Korea Times, this is the time when consumers tend to look for entertainment activities, meet friends, family and enjoy the Christmas - New Year atmosphere. Therefore, concerts are not only sold as a performance but also as an experience to "close a year".
China shows another driving force: Concerts associated with tourism and stimulating consumption. Global Times noted that large concerts have become a reason for fans to travel between cities, in which young audiences are also important tourist groups. According to Chinese media, since 2023 after the COVID-19 pandemic, up to 68% of the audience of large concerts in China came from other cities and more than a quarter of them extended their trips into short vacations.
Thailand - a familiar stopover for international shows - is also going in the same direction. The end of the year is closely associated with countdown events, where music becomes part of the tourism strategy. Accordingly, the last season of the year can be viewed through 3 main drivers: Entertainment demand during the festival season, the habit of organizing annual concerts of artists and the ability to turn concerts into consumer tourism products.
The concert explosion at the end of 2026 is both a sign of market maturity and poses a harsh screening. As the supply increases, audiences will no longer buy tickets just for a famous name. Stage quality, experience, art story, community creation ability and even tourism factors will determine the vitality of each program.
If in previous years, Vietnamese concerts were considered a "plus point" for an artist, then by 2026, concerts are becoming an independent business. And with a series of large stages concentrated in the last months of the year, this autumn and winter may be the clearest test for whether the Vietnamese market has truly entered a period of competition with the scale, experience and strength of the fandom or not.
