[RECAP] KCON 2015 Los Angeles At It's Best!

KCON Los Angeles beats the heat this year with it’s indoor convention for the first time ever!

After starting in 2012, KCON only continued to grow bigger and better for fans around the USA. This is HypnoticAsia’s 4th year attending the “All Things Hallyu” convention and we have seen it grow with more fans and bigger venues and of course, to more booths and sponsors. In 2012, KCON was held at the Irvine Verizon Amphitheatre, then in 2013-2014 it was held at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena which was great because the concert went indoors.

Now, in 2015, KCON LA held their convention at the Los Angeles Convention Center and their concert at the Staples Center (widely known as the home of the LA Lakers)! The event went on for three days starting on Friday, July 31st to Sunday, August 2nd. The convention and concert were both indoors for the first time ever and you can hear fans, sponsors, as well as, staff comment about how relieved they are that there was air conditioning this year!

The largest K-POP convention in America had booths by Bibigo, SM International, MBC America, Asiana, IOPE, Verizon, LG, Toyota, Kakao Talk, CJ Shopping, McDonald’s, CGV, Nongshim, and many many more. Fan club booths of course also took part in the event this year, including 2OneDay, Soshified, SJ-World, Red Velvet Global & For Velvet, EXOLUSA, Block B International, Kpop Aholic, Kpop Battles, USA Elf, IGOT7_USA, Running Fan and more.

Fans who attended all three days of the event participated in contests and fan engagements, picked up free items from different booths and attended panels and workshops around the convention. From K-Dramas to make up to your favorite celebrity and YouTube stars. Many went home with free samples of make up, packs of noodles from Nongshim, selfie sticks from Verizon, free 2AM and 2PM CDS from 2OneDay and were refreshed from their long walk around the convention center with Coca Cola samples from the Coca-cola booth itself .

For the fan engagements, K-POP fans had scratch cards which either cotained a hi-touch pass with a certain artist or an audience pass. Fans stood in line for an hour or two prior to each event to enable their spot in the front.

At the convention, Roy Kim made many appearances all three days at different booths. Also, Shinhwa, Eric Nam (of Shinhwa), Got7 and SoYou(of Sistar). Actors Kim Soo Hyun, Daniel Henney and Son Ho Jun were also present during the event. While Daniel Henney and Son Ho Jun actually held a fan engagement with fans, Kim Soo Hyun only opened the concert on the second day with Daniel Henney opening the concert on the first day.

Eric Nam was also a special guest who held a special fan engagement for his fans, went to different booths at the convention and stood on the concert stage to announce the next artist.

The concerts were held on Saturday and Sunday at the Staples Center. Starting at approximately 7PM, the event began with opening acts such as K Tigers Taekwondo team and Jun Sung Ahn who performed “Loser” by Big Bang on the violin and then danced to “Shake It” by SISTAR. After the opening, it was time for the hosts to start the show and move on to the groups everyone paid to see. On Saturday, GOT7, Monsta X, Sistar, Roy Kim, and Super Junior performed at the famous venue. With a center stage that enables everyone to see well any where they’re seated, the groups performed some of their most popular songs. Monsta X and Got7 even battled it out and collaborated for a special stage.

Monsta X started the first night with their songs “Trespass,” “No Exit,” and “Honestly.” Next to perform was GOT7, who performed songs like “A,” “Just Right,” “Girls Girls Girls” and more. Sistar, the only girl group of the night, performed their latest track “Shake It” as well as, “Ma Boy”, “Lead Me” and “Loving You.” Roy Kim was 2nd to last to perform and while he sang some of his fantastic tracks including “Love Love Love,” he collaborated with SoYou of Sistar and covered Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat’s song “Lucky.” When it was finally Super Junior’s time to perform and end the first night, the stadium turned into the sapphire blue ocean that Super Junior is known for. They performed their hit songs and more including “Oppa Oppa,” “Twins,” and their latest song “Devil.” The staples center was filled with shouts and chants for the group.

The second night started with Red Velvet who performed “Happiness,” “Ice Cream Cake” as well as covering the song “Stickwitu.” Next to go up on stage was Block B! Zico opened with “Tough Cookie” and then Bastarz with “Conduct Zero” which had the crowd on their feet! Finally the full group was out to sing their track “Her” and more! Soon after Block B left the stage, Zion T & Crush were up to perform as a duo. They performed “Just,” “Two Melodies” and Zion T performed “Yanghwa Bridge” with Wendy of Red Velvet. Crush then came out to perform “Oasis” with Crush and of course, Zico of Block B. Last to perform on the second night is Legendary group Shinhwa who opened their set with “T.O.P.” They then went to perform their latest songs “Sniper” and “This Love”, and more. They had fans screaming loudly with their great stage. Truly legends.

Check out pictures from KCON 2015 through the links below and make sure not to miss out on KCON 2016!