Ateez, Cravity, (G)-Idle to Headline KCON LA Convention and Concert Series
Leading K-pop acts including Ateez, Cravity and (G)-Idle are set to perform at this year’s K-CON convention and concert series in Los Angeles.
The convention returned as a live event in 2022 and attracted some 90,000 attendees to the Los Angeles Convention Center with two nights of concerts held at the adjacent Crypto.com Arena.
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The convention will again run for three days (Aug. 18-20), but the concert series will be expanded to run multi-act performances on all three nights.
The performer full line-up will include: Ateez, Cravity, Everglow, (G) Idle, INI, Itzy, Ive, J01, Kep1er, Lapillus, Nmixx, Shownu x Hyungwon (Monsta X), Stray Kids, Taemin, Taemin, Taeyong, The Boyz, WayV, xikers, and Zerobaseone.
They are also joined by Rain, the singer-actor (Park Chan-wook’s “I’m A Cyborg, But That’s OK,” James McTeigue’s“Ninja Assassin”), who was one of K-pop’s first acts to break through in North America and played multiple concerts at Madison Square Garden as far back as 2006.
Organizer, CJ ENM said that the 2023 convention will see the return of its Dream Stage centerpiece, have more fan-engaging programs and upgraded panels and workshops involving more artists. Panels and workshops, including ‘Dance All Day’ will return with additional space for fans to film short-form videos of choreography learned in the workshops.
‘Showcase: Nice to Meet U,’ another variant of fan outreach, but focused on new artists and performers, will also be adopted in Los Angeles after being trialed at KCON Japan earlier this year.
K-Pop reached global status by harnessing early 2000s digital technology and it continues to have a major online presence. KCON LA, which was partially streamed in 176 countries, said that the industry boasts 200 million fans and that there were 7.8 billion K-pop-related tweets in 2021. Organizers said that the K-pop events market was a $8.1 billion industry as of 2021 and is estimated to reach $20 billion by 2031.
Listen to Variety’s Strictly Business podcast from KCON LA 2022 here: https://omny.fm/shows/strictly-business/voices-of-kcon-how-k-pop-fans-are-fueling-the-busi
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