Prior to Sep 2022, no KPop female act did a stadium concert. Twice did a concert in the half-size Banc of California 'stadium', now known as BMO, with a capacity of about 23,000.
KPop companies tend to not have initiative - they always tend to be 'conservative', slower to react on newer trends, and not do something new until someone else had done it before. (Dome Tours in Japan are different animals and won't be discussed here.)
Both JYP and his executives, and Yang and his minions (YGE decisions are made by Yang's whims , with his younger brother providing some checks and no one being able to say 'no') felt that a stadium concert by a female act was doable.
Although they did lots of stadium concerts with boy groups, for them girl groups were always in the back burner.
Meanwhile, while JYPE and YGE had limited their top girl groups to Arena acts, a woman-owned company took initiative.
Edam Entertainment was a woman owned company, whose owner Lee Jieun owning 60% of it (30% under a proxy's name), owning only one singer, IU.
YGE was the first company to have a female act have a concert in an Arena, beating IU by a week, and the owner of Edam Entertainment never forgot it.
We don't know about the rumored concert in the Olympic Stadium in Sep 2020 since the pandemic was heavy and it was doubtful whether a concert was actually feasiable, but we do know that on March 2022, Edam Entertainment, then owned by the aforementioned Lee Jieun, withdrew a contract to have a concert, presumably to be held on May 2022 which is around IU's 29th birthday.
The decision of the Edam Owner to forego the Gochuck dome, about 19,000 capacity, and directly jump into the Olympic Stadium, the firt for any female act in Korean history, was revolutionary in my opinion.
I researched the tour history of Madonna, Mariah Carey and Taylor Swift, and Madonna did stadium tours once or twice, Mariah stayed in Arena tours, and only Taylor Swift did extensive stadium tours.
As far as I know, no Japanese female soloist, even those as well known as Hamasaki Ayumi or the now retired Amuro Namie did stadium tours. They stopped at Tokyo dome. Only large groups like AKB48 or Nogizaka did stadium tours.Stil
So arguably the then-owner of Edam Entertainment walked in an uncharted territory when she made a decision to make IU have a concert at the Olympic Stadium, which is probably the first stadium concert by a female soloist based in Asia, and the first Stadium Concert by a female act from Korea, ever.
Still the companies waited to see whether IU's concert would do well or not to decide whether their signature acts would do a stadium concert or not.
In other words, if the woman owned company Edam Entertainment did not attempt a stadium concert, it is quite possible that the companies would have limited Twice and BlackPink to do only Arena concerts since they would have judged that female acts should not do stadium concerts.
For making the decision to forego the Gochuck and deciding to jump in directly to the Stadium, then owner of Edam Entertainment Lee Jieun deserves to be recorded as a pioneer, since she became the first owner in Asian history to allow a female act a concert in a Stadium.
Unfortunately Lee Jieun sold her share to Kakao Entertainment and the first Stadium concert by a female based in Korea was conducted uncer Kakao's tutelage, but the decision of then-owner of Edam Entertainment to do a stadium concert was a huge decision which opened the door for Twice and BlackPink to have Stadium tours.
I have to criticized the companies' reluctance to gamble. Their acts are much internationally better known and could expect higher attendance and higher revenues , but they were so reluctant deciding to take the plunge - all of the stadium concerts of Twice and BlackPink were additional events, not announced initially.
Because of their reluctance they had to see someone else succeeding, and it took a female owner of a small company containing only one singer to demonstrate that it could be done to make sure the companies would do that.
