TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — British rock band Coldplay held the first of two scheduled concerts at the Kaohsiung National Stadium on Saturday (Nov. 11), attracting a crowd of 84,858 people both inside and outside the venue, according to the Kaohsiung City Government.
City officials used an AI real-time data collecting system to estimate the number of people in the audience. The crowd exceeded that of South Korean girl group BLACKPINK in March, per Liberty Times.
The Coldplay concert ended at 10:50 p.m. Considering crowd congestion, the last concertgoer could leave the venue after 82 minutes.
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) visited the Kaohsiung National Stadium’s Emergency Response Center on Saturday evening to ensure adequate transportation preparations. Chen thanked the public for cooperating with traffic control measures and using public transportation.
Chen said that Southeast Asian tourists also came to Kaohsiung to attend the concert and estimated that 40,000 of them stayed overnight. He reminded those attending the Sunday (Nov. 12) concert to plan ahead and depart early for the stadium.
According to Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corporation (KRTC), more than 30,000 passengers traveled to the Coldplay concert via the R17 World Games Station. A special shuttle bus also carried 8,340 passengers to and from the Taiwan High-Speed Rail Zuoying Station.
KRCT said the interval between MRT trains was around three minutes. There were also 40 shuttle buses operating between the Taiwan High-Speed Rail Zuoying Station and MRT Kaohsiung Station.
A similar transportation plan will be in place on Sunday. KRCT encouraged the public to use public transportation, walk, and avoid driving.