K-CON All things Hallyu

Events 2012-2014

2012

KCON ‘12 was held on October 13 at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre in Irvine, California. Music artists invited to perform include 4Minute, B.A.P, Exo-M, Nu'est, VIXX, and G.NA. Jeff Yang of The Wall Street Journal reported that KCON ‘12 attracted over 10,000 people.

2013

KCON ‘13 was held from August 24 to 25 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. The lineup included K-Pop artists EXO (K & M), 2AM, Teen Top, f(x), G-Dragon, Crayon Pop, Dynamic Duo, Yu Seung Woo and DJ Koo. It also included rapper Missy Elliott, who is featured on one of G-Dragon's singles.Super Junior-M's Henry Lau performed and spoke at a panel.

2014

KCON '14 was held on August 9–10, returning for a second year to Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. The artist lineup included B1A4, BTS, CNBLUE, G-Dragon, Girls' Generation, IU, Jung Joon-young, Spica, Teen Top, and VIXX. NBC News interviewed the artists on the red carpet. The two nightly concerts were shown on the weekly K-pop cable television show, M! Countdown, "2 Nights in LA" broadcast on Mnet America in the U.S., and in multiple countries. For this year's event, Mnet America started a new web-series, "KCON EXPERIENCE 2014", with multiple episodes, including footage of the stars' arrival at the airport in Los Angeles, backstage activities, and the weekend’s panels, fan meetings, food stands. The convention included an outdoor marketplace, food truck alley, a mini 4DX theatre, and open stage area; with panels and workshops about music, k-dramas, e-sports, choreography styles, makeup, hair trends; and as billed, "all things Hallyu”. Korean gaming channel OnGameNet (OGN) also organized a "League of Legends Champion Festival", an event involving Korean team CJ Entus Frost and American team Cloud 9. The convention doubled attendance from the previous year, with 42,000 attending. Of those 42,000, nearly 40 percent come from outside California, most were girls, and less than 10 percent were Korean.

Events 2015

Saitama, Japan - April 22

KCON '15 expanded outside the United States for the first time and was held in Japan at the Saitama Super Arena. The convention/outdoor stage featured Korean artists CODE-V, High4, Shu-I, Tahiti, and 5tion. Performances on the main stage included Got7, Super Junior, Kangnam, My Name, Lovelyz, Block B, Sistar, Infinite, B1A4, 2PM's Jun. K, and Supernova. Freelance journalist complimented the eagerness of the enthusiastic fans (15,000 at the concert), and KCON 15's successful sell as a means to help smooth over a long and complicated relationship between Japan and South Korea.

Los Angeles - July 31 - August 2

On April 17, 2015, KCON said the California convention would expand to a three-day event, and would move from the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena to L.A. Live and the Staples Center in Downtown Los Angeles. The convention was preceded with U.S. news reports about the drama and film stars to attend. "People "interviewed "Korean heartthrob" Kim Soo-hyun, Korean American Ki Hong Lee (The Maze Runner, one of People’s "Sexiest Men Alive"), Daniel Henney (Criminal Minds) and Son Ho-jun. Pess called the musical line-up "some of the hottest K-pop artists."It included AOA, Block B, Crush, Got7, Monsta X, Red Velvet, Roy Kim, Shinhwa, Sistar, Super Junior and Zion.T. Billboard noted new group Monsta X after their performance, as a "hot item on the KCON lineup" a group that continued to do a sold-out tour in the U.S. a year later. Billboard gave detailed positive reviews for both night's concerts, and interviewed artists. The Los Angeles Times wrote "the year's most significant concert for one of the world's most fascinating music and cultural scene". "Mega-group" Super Junior's fan base, the "ELFs", were noticed by US media, wearing their blue devil horns. As in previous years, the convention attempted to satisfy attendees, with one South Korea language based institute helping fans write messages of love and support to their favorite stars in Korean.

New York - August 8

KCON '15 made plans to expand to New York City for the first time, with an April 24 announcement they would become bi-coastal with date a week apart from the LA convention. A day before opening, Vogue discussed fashion with AOA and VIXX who were busy with a first time "showcase" in Orlando, Florida. Vogue told East Coast K-pop fans to "rejoice...Keep your eyes and ears out for snappy songs and slick dance moves, but above all, for the fashion trends." Organisators said that fans are eager to learn as much as possible about their idols, so the convention tries to provide this, through Q&A sessions with artists by MCs, and "hi-touches" or high fives between fans and band members. Teen Top's appearance made them the first band to perform for three consecutive years;along with Girls' Generation, AOA and VIXX. The New York Times said, "The tears began as soon as Teen Top waved hello," and interviewed passionate fans, some who lined up for the concert at 2:00 a.m.,and attended both the West and East Coast shows. And according to DramaFever, fans watch over 53.9 hours per month streaming videos, compared with about 10.7 hours for Netflix users, are 85 percent non-Asian, and mostly women ages 18 to 24. Fuse TV said the convention attendees were represented by all racial demographics, "women didn't outnumber men the way you'd normally see at a pop music convention", and "teens were out in full force, but not the majority."

Jeju, South Korea - November 6–7

In November, KCON held its first 2-day domestic convention and concerts on the South Korean island of Jeju. Daily solo performances were held at the convention hall stage, and a main stadium concert on the second night, with a line-up including Shinhwa, Roy Kim, Block B, SG Wannabe, SPICA, M.I.B's Kangnam, Poten, Park Boram, Oh My Girl, Shin Seung-hun, Teen Top, Day6, Paloalto, Mamamoo, Sonamoo and Chen Zi Tong.

2015 total attendance

By the end of August, KCON '15's total attendance for the U.S. and Japan was 90,000; L.A.'s three days had 58,000 attendance and the two concerts in Staples Center with a sold-out crowd of 28,000 fans and Gross Sales $2,055,800, Newark's total was 17,000, and Saitama had 15,000. In November, the yearly attendance totals grew to 107,000, with the addition of the Jeju dates, which approximately 17,000 attended.