KCON Just Keeps Getting Bigger and Better!

During the weekend of the 31st of July – the 2nd of August, in the city of angels, Los Angeles, a convention took place in the LA Convention Center, and a concert followed at the Staples Center. You may have heard of the event… It was called KCON, which is the largest North American convention dedicated to ‘All Things Hallyu’ and includes celebrity panels, autograph sessions, contests, fan workshops, amazing food and two star-studded K-Pop concerts.

hellokpop had the pleasure of attending it, and we were glad that we did not miss out on this epic event. This year was the 4th year in a row that KCON had held their annual event in Southern California, and just like Shinhwa, they just keep getting better with old age. The convention ran for three days, and there were two glorious nights of k-pop fangirling. Over 55,000 people from all over the world attended the 3-day convention, and were able to learn much more about everything k-pop; from the music to the dramas, and much more.

There were so many awesome panels to attend, such as ‘Asian Americans on YouTube’, hosted by JefferyFever and OffTheGreatWall, how to do your own k-drama/k-idol make-up, how to make traditional Korean food (such as bibimbap) and KCON even got a writer and a director of popular k-dramas to come and talk about the dramas that they wrote! There were so many more which I don’t have room for to list (100+ programs, and 200+ special guests).

KCON also had a specific room for k-pop dances, which was called ‘Dance ALL day’, run by Aimee Lee Lucas and her MVPs. KCON also invited k-pop dance cover groups, such as NYX, and Koreaos. On Friday night, KCON held a dance party, called KLUB KCON, where k-pop fans could dance the night away.  KCON had a plethora of vendor groups, such as IOPE, Naver’s new app called V (where you can see some of your bias groups broadcast live), KakaoTalk, DramaFever, Talk to Me in Korean, and many more.

Fans also had a chance to either attend or even better, high-five and get items signed by the artists that attended KCON. And that was only the convention part. There was also the star-studded concert, who featured idols such as Monsta X, SISTAR, Super Junior, AOA, Block B, Shinhwa, Zion T., Crush, GOT7, Red Velvet, and Roy Kim. But the star-studded event didn’t stop there: they invited some well-known actors, such as Daniel Henney (aka the voice of Tadashi, from Big Hero 6), Son Ho Jun (from Reply 1997), Eric Nam, and… everybody’s favorite man/alien from the stars, Kim Soo Hyun. (I think that the screams for him were the loudest.) KCON also counted danAKAdan, Ki Hong Lee, and David Choi as attendees, who did a wonderful Meet & Greet with their fans.

The 2-night concert part of KCON was held at the Staples Center, which was right across the street from the LA Convention Center.  All of the idols and artists that attended did their best to perform for their USA fans. There were even some special collaboration stages: GOT7 and Monsta X did a dance battle, Roy Kim sang a duet of Lucky with Soyu, and on the 2nd night of the concert, Jimin from AOA did a bit of her rap song Puss, and Zion T. collaborated with Red Velvet’s Wendy. Over 55,000 kpop fans were able to see their favorite groups in concert, and all the ‘feelz’ that could be felt were felt.

KCON keeps amazing us with their expansion! Earlier this year, a KCON was held in Japan, and there was a KCON this past weekend, in New York City.

Take a look at some of the pictures hellokpop took:

We here at hellokpop would like to thank KCON for having us. We had an awesome weekend!

Editing by MaliVai Tjong Ayong