Despite the tropical storm (and little earthquake), KCON Los Angeles successfully wrapped up its 11th year at the Los Angeles Convention Center and Crypto.com Arena with over 140,000 fans in attendance.
KCON, one of the largest conventions celebrating all things Korean, had over 278 convention floor booths and 153 convention programs — there was always something to do, including the KCON STAGE, panels and workshops, Dance All Day, KCON Square, Meet and Greets, and many more. Audiences were also introduced to new rookie groups like 8TURN, CRAXY, JUST B, LIMELIGHT, RIIZE, VERIVERY, and XG.
Created by CJ ENM, KCONers (the fandom name for KCON) really embraced Korean culture with merchandise/vendors from Korea in K-Collection like Mixsoon, SKIN1004, and Olive Young. Freebies were also passed out to sample the highly-sought out products. K-drama vendors such as Rakuten Viki and Kocowa also had booths showcasing their programming — with Rakuten Viki working with bopomofo and WongFu Productions to offer free boba and K-Drama inspired goodies. Samsung Galaxy offered attendees to test out their latest products and also had some K-Pop idols show up at their booth. The CJ Live Studio also hosted several K-Idols.
Everyone’s current favorite reality television series Jinny’s Kitchen (on Prime Video) were also on hand, thanks to CJ ENM’s TvN. KCONers were given the opportunity to pretend they were part of the show and take selfies with cut outs of Lee Seojin, Jung Yu-mi, Park Seo-joon, Choi Woo-shik, and Kim Taehyung aka V of BTS.
The concert portion of the weekend brought 21 K-POP acts over three days. Night one featured performances from CRAVITY, IVE, NMIXX, SHOWNU & HYUNGWON (MONSTA X), TAEMIN, TAEYONG, and WayV. Night two showcased ATEEZ, INI, Kep1er, RAIN, XG, xikers, and ZEROBASEONE. Lastly, night three included EVERGLOW, (G)I-DLE, ITZY, JO1, Lapillus, Stray Kids, and THE BOYZ. KCON DREAM STAGE winners also got to perform with ITZY, IVE, and ZEROBASEONE at the show.
There was also a new and free section of the convention called the K-POP VILLAGE. Partnered with iHeartRadio’s KIIS FM, there were free performances (NOTD, Tkay, Benson Boone, and LEO) and special appearances by ATEEZ, Kep1er, XG, and xikers.
For more information on KCON and how to attend next year, check it out here.