Thousands of revellers have gathered at Hong Kong’s AsiaWorld-Expo for the final day of pop culture festival ComplexCon, with many eagerly awaiting the comeback performance of headliner NJZ amid legal complications surrounding the K-pop group.
Organisers said the second edition of the three-day festival was expected to draw about 36,000 attendees, while fans on Sunday night voiced excitement about seeing the group formerly known as NewJeans.
“This is NJZ’s first large-scale performance since they left [their former agency Ador], it’s of great significance,” Hongkonger Bon Tsang, 35, said. “Their former employer’s testimony might greatly affect their careers, but we’ll support them no matter what.”
On Friday, a Seoul court ruled in favour of the five-strong girl band’s former agency Ador, which had requested a provisional injunction against the group, stipulating it must not pursue further independent activities until a contract dispute had been resolved.
The legal complications initially cast doubt on whether the group would go ahead with the performance on Sunday.
NJZ halted activities starting last April as it had entered into the legal dispute with its former agency over allegations of mistreatment.