It has never been a better time to be an international K-pop fan.
Earlier this week, Korea's CJ E&M announced the line-ups for two upcoming international KCON music festivals held in the United Arab Emirates and Japan. The two concerts will bring top K-pop acts like Girls' Generation's Taeyeon, Kyuhyun of Super Junior, 2PM, and BTS together with international fans later this year.
KCON Abu Dhabi, held in March, will feature Taeyeon, Kyuhyun, BTS, SS301, Spica, and Monsta X, while KCON Japan, held in April, will feature performances by 2PM, TWICE, Monsta X, and Boyfriend.
Monster X will be the only K-pop act performing in both Abu Dhabi and Japan. The group also performed at last year's KCON LA, position the rookie boy band as the K-pop act that has performed at the most KCON events.
KCON Abu Dhabi is the first time the K-pop festival will head to the Middle East. Fans will be able to meet their favorite acts in person on March 25 at the Du Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Middle Eastern fans of K-pop have long since expressed their desire to meet K-pop stars, but KCON Abu Dhabi will be the first major K-pop event in the region aside from some smaller concert.
Meanwhile, the April 9-10 festival in Japan is the second time Japan will host a KCON festival, this time at the Makuhari Messes convention center outside of Tokyo. Japan has been a hotbed of K-pop fans for years, with acts like Girls' Generation, TVXQ, BoA, and Kara focusing much of their music careers on developing their music in the country.
KCON was first held in California in 2012. Since then, the K-pop event has been introduced to the East Coast, Japan, Korea and now Abu Dhabi. CJ E&M, the entertainment branch of South Korean conglomerate CJ, is the official KCON organizer.
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Tamar Herman is a multi-media journalist and the co-founder of KultScene. She is a freelance writer and copy editor, and has written for MTV Iggy, Noisey and Paste Magazine.
