One of the world’s largest K-Pop music festival is taking place in downtown Los Angeles this weekend. Anastassia Olmos reports for the NBC4 News at 5 p.m. on Friday, July 26, 2024.
KCON, the world’s largest K-pop music festival, is taking place in downtown Los Angeles this weekend.
Organizers are anticipating 160,000 people to travel to Southern California from around the world for the three-day festival, featuring all things Korean culture including K-beauty, K-food and K-pop music artists.
“I’m here to see Enhypen and NMIXX,” said Olivia Chang.
“I’m here to see Enhypen and P1Harmony,” her friend Kira Ishida added, while giggling and explaining how's excited to see her favorite boy band members. Both girls traveled from San Francisco with their parents.
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As the cute boys that make up most K-pop bands are a big hit, screams filled the expo during meet-and-greet introductions Friday afternoon.
The expo inside the Los Angeles Convention Center also had free items and products for purchase. Some fans expressed concern that the number of vendors had shrunk in recent years, but the organizers said the change to a 3-day long festival also spread out the attractions.
Outside of the Convention Center, artists and DJs will host dance parties throughout the day at the Gilbert Lindsay Plaza.
Each day will end with performances inside the Crypto.com Arena.
For K-pop fans who do not live in metropolitan cities, KCON is an opportunity to connect with people who share their interests.
“We came all the way from Montana," Ivan Wells, who came to Los Angeles with his mother and friend. "We’ve been KCON-ers for a long time. This is our third KCON."
"Not a lot of people from Arkansas really know about K-pop,” said Phoebe Hintz, who came with her parents and two sisters. “Our town is really small, so there is no like concerts out there."
Organizers say it’s a community unlike any other genre of music.
“It’s a real feeling of involvement and engagement that’s really hard to find in pop music these days,” said Joen Choe, VP of Marketing for CJ ENM America, which puts on the event.
“These are basically Korean pop artists that are being trained over many, many years to perform at the level that you see today, so these kids can be trained for upwards for four or five years before they even debut. That system is really what K-pop is known for,” Choe explained.
This year, celebrities from popular Korean dramas will MC some of the events.
Tickets range anywhere from $130 dollars for a day to about a thousand dollars for three days.
