I feel like I have just earned some right of passage in the world of K-Pop by attending KCON LA for the first time. As the final day was coming to a close, I was struck by just how freaking fun the weekend was, so I’m going to sum it all up for you here!
Let me just say that the journey to LA was one of the most obnoxious one’s I have endured, but the inconvenience was quickly forgotten once I made it to the LA convention center. The lines weren’t managed the best for express pass holders like myself, but I still got through in a decent amount of time. I then followed the lead of some wonderful women who adopted me into their friend group who have had previous KCON experience, and we all queued outside the crypto.com arena to secure a good spot on the floor for the M Countdown concert later that night. Given that I had one of the VIP tickets for the day, I took advantage of my spot in the Artist Stage area, though I wish my spot would have been a little better. I was a few rows deep, but I had decent views of the artists making their way across the stage throughout the day. Treasure was a really fun surprise of a group to start off my day there, and KickFlip followed them up with an equally fun and energetic stage. I was mainly there to watch my beloved &TEAM, and they were everything I could have dreamed of and more. Seeing them in person was surreal, and I got to enjoy the likes of “Go In Blind,” “Deer Hunter,” “Back to Life,” “Mismatch,” and “Run Wild,” as well as fun little photo bits and crowd work along the way. After all of the artist stage performances were complete I did stick around for the rather lame red carpet, but it was another opportunity to lay eyes on &TEAM, so I wasn’t going to miss it.
When the convention activities were done, I hustled over to the arena to get to my spot in line to the soundcheck. Once again I was treated to the effervescent Treasure, where Japanese member Haruto kept catching my eye. In my opinion, no spot on the floor was a bad spot because of how high the stage was. My new friends and I were actually quite close despite not battling people for the barricade. How the actual show went down was a fun experience! There was a short pre-show, where a few of the smaller artists got to perform a song and talk briefly to the audience. KEYVITUP is definitely an artist I am going to keep tabs on in the future. As far as the “real” show goes, H//PE Princess was a group that put on a really impressive performance, and I was also really impressed with Santos Bravos’ dancing. Tragically, &TEAM only got to perform two songs, which was one repeat and “Rush,” but I do think they made some new fans with the performance regardless. They did get to come back out on stage later with Santos Bravos, as they did a BTS cover medley – fun! NCT127 were the headliners for the night, and as something new this year, they get to perform almost an hour long set. I think they came up a bit short, but what a treat for fans of the headliners! I thought they were good, though I really wasn’t familiar with any of their songs. All in all, the first night exceeded my expectations!
Day two saw a drastically improved express pass line to get into the convention. And similar to Friday, I did spend most of my time at the Artist Stage again. While I was further back in the general admission area, I did get decent spots to see ILLIT, Yeonjun, P1harmony, and IZNA. The crowd for the first two were wild and enthusiatic, and P1harmony has an amazing relationship with their fans. The fact that their fan game was a staring contest really didn’t surprise me at all. And we basically got the whole run through of their “Ex” EP from last year, along with “DUH!,” “Unique,” and “Triple 7” – so fun! For whatever reason there was virtually no one in attendance for IZNA’s set, which was a shame, because they were so good! Once all of the artist stage activities were done, I decided to make my way to the downstairs hall for a short bit to see what booths were there. They also had a bit of a “night market” set up that mainly involved food stands, though they could have used more if you ask me. The lines were so insane that I only snagged some bungeoppang! I did also check out Modyssey performing on the Music Den stage out in the main convention area, and that stage was neat because again, no spot was a bad spot!
The concert that evening was a seated experience for me, albeit in the lower bowl, so the view was still incredible. A fun presenter for the night was Eric Nam! Anderson. Paak had been listed to perform, though he never ended up making an appearance. It’s a shame, as it could have been a good way to drum up more support for his movie KPOPS!. Yeonjun performed “Coma” to open the show and I could not have been more pumped for that! He came out again later to do two songs from his new EP, which were also a really fun time. Another solo performer for the evening was NCT127 member, Taeyong, and that really got the crowd worked up. The cheers were LOUD. Somehow even louder was the crowd for P1harmony. They luckily got to perform three songs, including “ICE (VVS),” which was so awesome, along with “Unique” and in a surprise turn “Heartbeat Drum.” People freaked for that song. As the show neared the end, I question why the heck they weren’t the headliner for the evening. I, of course, love them, but it seemed to me that they had the most enthusiatic fan reaction, not to mention the most fans I encountered the whole day. ZEROBASEONE in its new five-member iteration was good, but they pulled out solo and cover songs, and I just don’t totally understand the hype around them. For an almost rookie group it felt weird to me that they were headliners again. It felt almost like a default choice, especially since the headlined last year, apparently.
For the final day of KCON, I mapped out my day pretty meticulously. I somehow got in even earlier to the convention. I walked away with no merch, instead opting to order some online when I got home. In the same way, I walked through the much-hyped Olive Young Festa space and only came out with a few things stuffed into my fanny pack. If I felt compelled to lug that stuff around and check a bag on the way home, I think I could have walked away with hundreds of dollars in free beauty products, but realistically, I was there for the music. But a future visit might yield different results. The Olive Young Festa area was also a bit overwhelming, so I feel for those workers trying to manage the crowds. I do think people slept on the opportunity to get even more free stuff in the downstairs vendor area, but again, that wasn’t my aim either. Then for the first time I queued in a good spot for the watch party featuring XO, Kitty and the star who plays Minho, Lee Sangheon. I was front row for this event, which involved a montage of clips followed by some interview and audience questions. Bless that man having to endure those clips. But it was a fun experience! After that I headed to the Artist Stage to see MEOVV, and I fell in love with them. Their songs are good, I think that goes without saying, but they were so fun. I feel like they are P1harmony’s counterpart in terms of realness and silliness. They, too, did the staring contest, and it was a hoot! I also learned that one of the members was born near where I live – how cool! I caught the cover dance stage in the basement, where I then also got up close and personal with One Pact, who I had been excited to see all weekend – that was certainly an unexpected surprise! I headed back to the K-drama area to participate in another XO, Kitty behind the screen event, where there were some more interview questions and various games with Sangheon. I caught the tail end of JO1’s artist stage before securing a good spot for One Pact at the music den stage. They performed a lot of songs and were so good! It was a great end to music at the convention. I spent the final hours scouring the night market, and felt really satisfied with the whole convention experience.
The final day of the M Countdown concert blessed with a slighty worse seat only because a camera arm swung in my way here and there throughout the night. Plus, the girl in front of me didn’t really know how to sit properly. I made it work. The pre-show only included one act for the night, Modyssey, but they were fabulous. One Pact killed, even though they only got to do two songs. Likewise, MEOVV, JO1, NEXZ, and Alpha Drive One did incredible. I wasn’t super looking forward to the controversial Allday Project, but their songs were catchy. I don’t really understand the hype around ex-Enhyphen member who now goes by Evan, but he was fine. The screams tell me I might be in the minority, but that’s just my opinion. But to me it was obvious that the crowd that evening was there for Tomorrow x Together and the screams were ear-piercing. I failed to really familiarize myself with them and their music before KCON, but I was at least aware enough. Their set was energetic and well done – I was really impressed by their vocals! And for as cool as Yeonjun comes across on his own, it was neat to see him perform as a part of this group. It’s clear that he still likes to be with them. All in all, it was a fun evening!
Overall, my KCON experience felt pretty exceptional! I would definitely like to go again, but honestly what I’m hoping comes out of this the most is a freaking US tour for &TEAM! Keeping my fingers crossed. Below are some shots of the weekend, but just know my camera roll is so full of photos and videos.
