Another year of KCON NY has gone by, and 2019 brought the biggest and most exciting KCON we've seen yet! KCON 2019 NY Presented by Toyota took place from July 6th to July 7th, with over 55,000 attendees passing through the doors of the Javits Center and Madison Square Garden. With five years under KCON NY's belt, it's grown exponentially in excitement, programming, fanservice, and fun - let's take a look at what KCON brought to the table in 2019!
1. KCON On the Move → To the Javits Center and Madison Square Garden!
The biggest change to this year's KCON NY was the new venue, moving from its four-year home of New Jersey's Prudential Center to New York's Javits Center for the convention and Madison Square Garden for the concert. With the venue change, KCON NY was held for the first time in New York, true to its name, rather than the New York Metropolitan area that encompassed its former home in Newark, New Jersey.
Besides escaping the misnomer that was idols greeting fans with a happy "Hello, New York!" to an audience located in New Jersey, Madison Square Garden also presents a step up in capacity and prestige! Madison Square Garden is a legendary stage, and being able to perform there fulfilled the dreams of many of the idols in attendance - including (G)I-DLE's Soyeon.
The Javits Center was also a significant upgrade from last year's convention venue, being the lots and tents set up outside of Prudential Center. Gone are the days of melting in the summer heat and scrambling to purchase a KCON hand fan from the merch booth - the Javits Center's air conditioning was a sweet escape out of the humid July weather and into a K-Pop paradise.
The Javits Center gave KCON NY's convention more space to fill with programs, booths, and photo-taking opportunities than ever. Last year's convention was limited by the tents and fans set up outside to keep attendees cool, and skincare and food booths alike were squished tightly into the shade. However, the Javits Center is so large that there were even vast swaths of space just to lay down and relax, like this #KCONBEAUTY Flamingo Garden.
2. More Instagrammable Than Ever - Photo Ops Everywhere!
Adjacent to the Flamingo Zone was a brightly-colored photo-taking zone with lots of backdrops and props! This year's KCON was set to be Instagrammable, with every booth offering a photo opportunity - the KpopStarz team made heavy usage of MNet's Produce X 101 booth.
Many vendors, including Tous Les Jours and McDonald's, ran giveaways during KCON to win concert tickets and artist engagement packs through posting photos of their booth on social media. Whether it was to win free tickets or show off the fact that they went to the 5th birthday of KCON NY, attendees flocked to the many photo ops at KCON NY.
3. Starting It Off with a Bang - Opening Ceremony!
This year's KCON started off with a brand new program, the Opening Ceremony! The convention kicked off with the Opening Ceremony at the KCON Stage, with singer-songwriter Sobae as a host. The ceremony featured a revolving set of influencers that greeted the fans and plugged their upcoming panels for the day and provided an easy way for congoers to either see their favs or find something new to do.
(No one could resist the charms of Aoora's aegyo).
4. KCON Studio - Bringing it to Us Live!
An entirely new program to the KCON USA suite was the KCON Studio, a live content creation zone that featured KCON's special guests and idols in all kinds of entertaining situations - ATEEZ and (G)I-DLE both played a session of Dance Jenga, Ellen and Brian performed dance compilations of many beloved girl and boy groups, and Sunny Channel was the star of a hilarious 'Hip Hop Artists Do My Makeup" with Balming Tiger, an alternative K-Pop rap duo. The real star of the KCON Studio, however, was the fans - attendees lined up to take part in many content sessions and even got the chance to be in official KCON 2019 'Fan-Make' music videos.
The KCON Studio was just one of the many opportunities to see idols out on the show floor - if at any point during the convention you heard some indefinite screaming and saw people running, it was probably an idol appearance. Between Super Rookie Showcases, Star Live Talks, and the KCON Studio, KCON NY gave congoers so many opportunities to see idols without shelling out dollars for hi-touch or audience engagements.
5. New York, New Groups! - The Hottest Rookies
The new festivities of KCON NY also came in the form of the new groups in this year's line-up: with TXT, (G)I-DLE, IZ*ONE, fromis_9, VERIVERY, AB6IX, The Boyz, SF9 and ATEEZ, KCON NY had the hottest rookies in Korea come to burn up the Madison Square Garden stage.
KCON NY made sure to highlight the talents of these rookies through special stages at the concert, like a 'Passion in NYC' special stage, where ATEEZ danced to Travis Scott's 'Sicko Mode' and The Boyz danced to Billie Eilish's 'Bad Guy.' Fan favorites of Day 1 also included TXT's 'Cat & Dog' (Woof and bark fanchants filled up MSG!) and IZ*ONE's 'Rumor.'
The Rookies Special Stage had The Boyz perform BTS' iconic 'Fire' for the first day, while the second day saw fromis_9 perform Red Velvet's 'Red Flavor' and SF9 perform EXO's 'Love Shot'. Day 2 of KCON also gifted fans with AB6IX's performance of Charlie Puth's 'Attention' and VERIVERY's performance of Bruno Mars' '24K Magic' - we loved every single rookie's take on hit songs from both Korea and the U.S.
From KCON 2019 NY's new venue to its new programming to its completely stacked line-up, KCON NY keeps getting better every single year. We can't wait to see what KCON USA has in store for us next - KCON LA will be held August 15-18 at the Los Angeles Convention Center and Staples Center, with tickets available now https://www.kconusa.com/
Until next year, KCON NY!
