BIGBANG Fans Queue Overnight in Hanoi, but Light Stick Delivery Remains Uncertain

Hours in line, with no light stick to take home

Hundreds of BIGBANG fans gathered near the Dao Tan entrance of Lotte Center Hanoi on October 16, some after waiting overnight, hoping to buy merchandise before the group's October 24 and 25 concerts at My Dinh Stadium. The anniversary light stick cost 1.7 million dong, but shoppers arriving for the scheduled 9:30 a.m. opening found that the sought after item was available only by preorder.

By about 8 a.m., the queue stretched outside the shopping centre. Some fans had arrived the previous evening, carrying folding chairs or settling on the pavement. By around 4 p.m., the long lines had disappeared and the shopping area had become quieter after complaints about unavailable products and uncertain delivery arrangements.

The immediate concern was whether fans could receive their light sticks in time for the concerts, just eight and nine days away. The Lotte location had given no confirmed collection date or clear commitment that orders would arrive before the performances.

The shopping arrangements also involved different operators. The Lotte pop-up operated independently of VPBank's official pop-ups, which were scheduled to open on October 17. Lotte said it provided the venue, while its retail partner managed sales and product information. For buyers, knowing which business handled an order mattered as much as knowing where to queue.

Why fans arrived before dawn

Thuy, 35, said she had been waiting since 9 p.m. the previous evening. Her shopping list included a light stick, a keyring and a Hanoi Edition T-shirt. Vu Quoc Bao, 21, said his group arrived at midnight and waited nine hours; receiving queue number 45 helped lift their spirits.

Kim Chi, 29, wanted the anniversary light stick to take to the concert. She also saw the queue as an opportunity to meet other fans. For people who usually share their enthusiasm online, the gathering offered a chance to spend time together before the stadium performances.

Photographs circulating on Threads showed people outside the building at around 5 a.m., sitting on folding chairs, steps and pavement edges. Posts tracking the queue became widely discussed among BIGBANG fans, known as V.I.P.

The crowd included people shopping for friends and customers. One attendee who had been unable to secure a concert ticket still came to buy merchandise for a friend and planned to purchase a hoodie as a personal souvenir. Merchandise demand therefore extended beyond those preparing to enter the stadium.

What was available at Lotte?

Light sticks and keyrings were unavailable for immediate purchase when the Lotte location opened. Customers could register to order them and collect them later. Some shoppers also said certain shirts were unavailable or marked as sold out during the first shopping turn.

Buyers described being asked to pay the full amount for preorders without a confirmed delivery date. Minh Hoang, 25, said he had queued overnight specifically to obtain an official light stick for the concert. He was disappointed by the lack of stock and uncertain whether to pay without knowing when he would receive it.

Hoang also said concerns about imitation products had drawn him to the pop-up. His experience showed why access to an official product and the timing of its delivery were closely connected for concertgoers: he wanted something he could use at My Dinh, rather than simply receive at a later date.

Shoppers continued browsing available shirts, hats and straps after the queues subsided. The Lotte pop-up was scheduled to remain open through November 8, giving it a longer operating period than the two VPBank locations. For fans buying a concert accessory, however, the crucial deadline was still October 24 or 25.

Separate shops, separate responsibilities

Lotte said its role was to manage and provide the space, with the partner operating the stall responsible for business activities and product information. That placed questions about stock, payment and collection with the retail operator.

VPBank's pop-ups had their own opening dates, purchase limits and queue arrangements. Those rules applied to its locations rather than automatically extending to the independently operated Lotte stall. The distinction helps explain why an overnight queue outside Lotte could appear alongside announcements prohibiting overnight queues at the VPBank outlets.

The VPBank Flagship location was listed at 89 Lang Ha Street. The other outlet was generally identified as the ground floor of The Garden Shopping Mall on Me Tri Street; one location notice described it as being at The Manor on Me Tri Street. The notices therefore used different names for the second destination, making the precise venue details worth checking before travelling.

Organisers also planned merchandise sales at My Dinh Stadium during concert check-in. That offered another shopping opportunity, although daily stock limits and different release times for individual products meant fans still had to follow product availability updates.

A 1.7 million dong light stick leads demand

Nearly 70 merchandise products were listed, ranging from sticker sets costing 150,000 dong to a jacket priced at 5.3 million dong. The range included shirts, hoodies, hats, scarves, slippers, keyrings and smaller accessories.

The 20th anniversary light stick was among the most anticipated items. A light stick is a handheld illuminated accessory that fans raise during performances. BIGBANG's crown design is associated with the yellow seas of light seen at the group's concerts.

YG Entertainment introduced the anniversary model on August 5 under the name The Light Returns. Its design retained the crown while adding a translucent white top, silver chrome edging and metallic details. Fans had wanted online sales to begin early enough for them to obtain it before the tour.

At 1.7 million dong, the listed pop-up price was at least 300,000 dong below the roughly 2 million dong or more charged through some intermediaries, before any further fees. Using 2 million dong as the comparison, the official price was 15% lower. That difference gave fans another reason to seek merchandise directly.

Hanoi Edition T-shirts were another popular choice. Selected bags, T-shirts and hoodies also carried designs specific to the Hanoi stop, giving buyers a souvenir tied to the city as well as to the anniversary tour.

How the purchase and queue limits work

VPShow's announced rules limited each customer to one light stick. Other merchandise generally carried a limit of two items of each type and six items in total per transaction. Some products could be subject to a separate limit of one per customer.

The limits spread available stock across more customers. A shopper could not buy six identical shirts under the general rules: the limit for that product type would remain two, even though the transaction could contain up to six items.

Daily quantities were limited, with sales handled in order of arrival. Product availability was to be updated at the stores or through the event's social media page. VPShow also said release times could vary between items, so the presence of a product in the catalogue did not mean every location would have it ready at opening.

Customers at the VPBank pop-ups were allowed to begin queueing no more than one hour before opening, and overnight queues were prohibited. Staff would distribute numbers and admit shoppers in groups. Organisers said arrangements could change according to conditions at the locations.

The dates and hours for shoppers

The merchandise schedule began more than a week before the concerts and extended beyond them at Lotte. The main announced dates were:

• August 5: YG Entertainment introduced the 20th anniversary light stick.
• October 5: An additional concert ticket release attracted nearly 70,000 people to the online queue and sold out in about an hour.
• October 16: The Lotte pop-up opened, with light sticks and keyrings offered through preorder.
• October 17–23: The Garden outlet was scheduled to operate from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.
• October 17–25: VPBank Flagship was scheduled to open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays and from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekends.
• October 24–25: BIGBANG's concerts and stadium merchandise sales were scheduled at My Dinh.
• November 8: The Lotte pop-up was scheduled to finish operating.

For the VPBank locations opening at 10 a.m., the announced queue rule meant customers could start lining up at 9 a.m. The evening and overnight arrivals at Lotte belonged to a different operation with separate arrangements.

Buying through someone else adds to the bill

Fan groups offered shopping services for people unable to visit the outlets themselves. Reported charges ranged from 50,000 to 500,000 dong above retail, depending on the product and the time spent queueing. Shop owners and hired buyers were among those seeking merchandise.

A proxy buyer is someone paid to make a purchase for another person. The service can save a fan a trip and hours of waiting, but it adds a fee to the product price. For an item costing 1.7 million dong, a 300,000 dong charge would bring the total to 2 million dong.

Purchase limits also affected these services. A buyer restricted to one light stick could obtain only one under that customer limit, while daily stock levels constrained how many orders could be filled. A fan paying someone to queue still depended on the outlet having the requested product available.

Ticket demand adds pressure before the shows

Nearly 70,000 people joined the online queue when additional tickets went on sale through CTicket.vn on October 5. The release sold out in about an hour. An earlier sale in August had attracted nearly 120,000 people waiting online.

Official concert prices ranged from 1 million to 10.5 million dong. Resale listings commonly sought an extra 500,000 to 3 million dong, while Diamond VIP tickets with a face value of 9.8 million dong had at one point been advertised for as much as 45 million dong. That asking price was about 4.6 times the original price.

Resale prices appeared to ease after more official tickets were released. Fans nevertheless continued posting offers to buy and sell, with some sellers citing changed plans or tickets obtained through promotions. The most expensive official category, Ultimate VIP at 10.5 million dong, appeared less frequently in those listings.

The Hanoi concerts formed part of the announced BIGBANG 2026–2027 World Tour XX : COSMOS, featuring G-Dragon, Taeyang and Daesung. The group debuted in August 2006, making the anniversary merchandise part of a wider programme marking 20 years.

That programme included a planned free event in Seoul on August 19, concerts at Goyang Stadium on August 21–23, and an anniversary media exhibition called Cosmos. For Hanoi fans, those celebrations had a practical focus: securing a ticket, choosing a souvenir and receiving any concert accessories before the stadium gates opened.

Key Points

• Hundreds of fans queued at Lotte Center Hanoi on October 16, with some arriving the previous evening.
• The anniversary light stick cost 1.7 million dong, but Lotte shoppers could only preorder it, without a confirmed delivery date before the concerts.
• Lotte's retail operation was independent of VPBank's pop-ups, which were scheduled to open on October 17.
• VPBank's rules limited light sticks to one per customer and prohibited overnight queues.
• Merchandise prices ranged from 150,000 dong for stickers to 5.3 million dong for a jacket.
• BIGBANG's Hanoi performances were scheduled for October 24 and 25 at My Dinh Stadium, with merchandise also planned for sale during check-in.