Kcon is all about the Korean pop boys and girls group bands, yummy food and fun activities, exciting meet and greet with kpop celebrities and of course singing and dancing to their live stage performances. If you're into kpop, this is totally the venue for you. If you're not sure like I was few years ago whether to attend, go and experience it all for yourself. I attended the past few years kcon event and let me say that each year, the performances gets better and more number of fans have increased. I would recommend purchasing the tickets in advance online for better seatings and view of the stage. There are other activities during the day for extra fee. This event can be a full day event if you do the day's activities. Also, each year, there's two days of live stage performances by different groups. Don't worry if you don't speak Korean. Guess what? More than 50% of attendees aren't Koreans and don't understand a single word! However, lucky for us, there are English subtitles at the bottom of each large monitor screens near by the stage to understand what is being said from the idols. I love the excitement of the fans and this year one of my all time fav kpop boy group, Super Junior, was performing and I love it! read more

KCON New York - Kcon 2018! Day 1 - Festivals Near Me - Newark, New Jersey

Kcon NY has the potential to be great, and with some small changes, could be. Let me warn you, this review's gonna be pretty negative, but don't get me wrong, I enjoyed Kcon, but that was because of the idols and my friends who I went with. The management itself has issues. First, the convention aspect. Standing in the hot sun all day was quite uncomfortable. I understand that the convention is outside, but with the amount of money people are paying for tickets, Kcon's organizers should be able to afford some more fans and tents. Maybe even move the convention into a real convention center, like LA. The fan engagements are very uncomfortable, as the audience is all packed into a standing crowd, and my shorter friends can't even see the artists. In the future, having seating would vastly improve fan engagements. The hi-touch isn't much better, as you barely have time to high-five the artists and say a word to them before being hustled along by aggressive security guards. The concert itself is very enjoyable, but the artists' sets are generally far too short, only 3-5 songs each. With the number of artists present, you only get around 15-20 songs performed per night. For comparison, the Exo and BTS concerts at the Prudential Center were around the same price and for your money you got a much longer concert (around 30 songs) with much higher production value. The Kcon organizers seem fairly unresponsive to their customers, and keep raising ticket prices EVERY YEAR despite inconsistent lineup quality. This seems like a blatant cash grab, and at this rate, tickets will cost minimum $150 by Kcon 2019, which is more than even the top American pop musicians. Kcon seems to know how desperate American Kpop fans are to see their idols, and are squeezing out all the money they can get. However, their plan seems to be backfiring, since this year, many popular Kpop artists (BTS, Exo, B.A.P, Dean, Shinee, KARD, Monsta X, G-Dragon) had their own US tours rather than attending Kcon, meaning Kcon had to go with a lackluster lineup made mostly of rookie groups. In addition, the Platinum/Diamond packages are absurdly overpriced. I haven't bought them, but I've seen many testimonials of people who did saying the experience wasn't worth the price, and considering the young demographic Kcon targets, it seems unethical to ask children to fork over hundreds, even thousands of dollars for the chance to meet their idols. read more

Starting the day at K-Con 2016, I had to wait in a line down blocks just to check in. After going through the line, I realized it was because they only had one tent for check in. Later in the day, as I was baking in the sun like a sunny side up egg, I realized that was one of the only tents they had. I had P-1 tickets for this event, a little above $300 because of Ticketmaster fees. For this amount of money, I expected a decent experience. Kcon does have many experiences and fun booths, but they are all extremely busy, many unorganized, and many expensive. Not to mention you are outside the entire time. This fact I couldn't be super mad about because I only paid for the concert, the convention was free. So I sucked it up and carried on with my day. After checking in, I received a pack of scratch off cards to see my fan engagements. Yes. You pay ridiculous amounts of money for a /chance/ at meeting your fav. I ended up not getting the group I had come for. I had to spend about an hour standing around check in amongst about 30 other people who were trying to trade. People were /selling/ hi touch and audience passes. Expenses at KCon add up quickly. Eventually, I traded all of my passes for an audience pass for the group I wanted. At the allotted time, I went to line up for the fan engagement. When I got in, I was most grateful for the air conditioning and lack of sunshine. Going into things, I was a bit confused on what an audience pass was. If you are also confused, an audience pass gives you access to watch the hi touch. You are considerably farther from the group, still able to see their faces, but not in detail. They answer interview questions beforehand, but most of your time is spent standing and watching them hi-touch the other fans. After this disappointing event, I decided to hop in the P-1 line to wait for the concert since I had no other fan engagements. Big mistake. I felt like I was frying in a hot pan. Me and my friend took turn getting us too-expensive drinks to try and help us cool down. I know it was my choice to sit on the sidewalk in direct sunlight for a closer look at the performances, but holy hell it was HOT. Once they began letting people in, it became unorganized. They had multiple entrances, and with a first come first serve seating, this is a mistake. People ran and cut and I felt the 6 hours I had spent in line go to waste. When in line, I was about 5-8 people back. When I ended up getting to my GA section, there was about 40 people already there. I quickly secured my spot in the second row and prepared for the concert with my friend. The people at KCon were generally nice. There are many Koreaboos and wannabe-asians, but you can find some nice people. The girls around me were relatively nice, if not a little awkward. KCon just seemed to be disappointment after disappointment. The only genuinely enjoyable part was my favorite group performing. And that did not last long. Artists performed 3-4 songs and the concert was over by about 9:30pm. I've been to about 30 concerts in my life and they have all had longer setlists than this. Even bands I saw as a child that were marketed towards children. And they were single performers. It was incredibly upsetting. All that money went to a concert that was not even a full concert. The best part of KCon was my interactions with my favs. I held up a politely sized sign with my favs name on it, and he gave me a thumbs up and smile. The only enjoyable part of my night was not even done directly by KCon. Now the question remains: would you attend again. And my answer is: it depends on the lineup. I will be attending this year to see GFriend. I know that just like last year, this could be my only time to see them in person. And the shittiest part about that is KCon use that as a way to scam you out of your money. If you love just one artist on their lineup, it is tempting to buy tickets just at the chance of meeting them. And its kinda fucked up in my opinion. KCon entirely take advantage of this. They steadily increase prices (this year they are CHARGING for the convention and its still outside. I'm paying money on top of my expensive ticket to stand in the sun). Most of the attendees were teens. Many of which had to go home and lie to their parents saying they met their fav and their parents didn't waste money (or at least thats what my friend had to do). Overall, KCon is a money grabber. They are money driven, not experience driven. They have the ability to make this a great convention. With the amount they are charging for tickets, they have the ability to move it into a convention center. A great idea would be for them to allow higher tiers of tickets to choose their hi-touch, and give random to the tiers below. But once again, they are money driven, not experience driven, so I doubt they'll ever do that. read more

Great interactions, cool panels, and good food. But it's too damn hot outside. Also lines are horrible. Scratch off tickets are a nightmare. And it would be nice if we could get numbered wristbands for the concert if we have GA tickets, so we don't miss out on the events of the convention. Other than that I love it! read more

BEST CONVENTION EVER! If you are a fan of kpop, kdramas, Korean food, or even just experience different aspects of a culture then this event is the one for you. I am a regular kcon attendee and every year or just keeps getting better and better. I love interacting with other people and meeting new friends. KCON has many activities to do throughout the day, giveaways, and panels with some famous YouTubers and others who are known in the Korean entertainment industry. And the concert at the end with some of our favorite groups and artists is the best way to end the day. Can't wait to attend this year! :) read more

Last year was my first time at KCON and I really enjoyed it! It's a huge convention which means there's a little something for everyone - bomb food, beauty workshops, panels, many many booths (with tons of freebies!) and of course the highlight, the concert! Last year had a great artist lineup, with BTS, Seventeen, Dynamic Duo, Mamamoo, Crush, and more. Just make sure to wear comfy clothes and shoes because you'll be standing/walking around all day. Highly recommend to those who are into K-culture (kpop, dramas, k-beauty, food, etc.) or are looking for a diverse and unique convention experience. Looking forward to this year's KCON NY! So excited to see Twice! :-) read more

The idea behind KCON is amazing. A convention that has all things Korean culture: beauty, fashion, food, and music most especially ..seems like a great idea right? It is, and I'm grateful for that, however, i have some issues with the KCON organization themselves and how well they organized the event (I'll be specifically talking about my experience at 2016 KCON NY) Pricing: Its pretty pricey for what you get.. for p5-p3 all you get is ONE opportunity pass for wrist panel..and most of them say "sorry" (I paid 180 for p4 tickets) Convention: It was free for 2016..and I'm kinda glad it was because there really wasn't much to do...unless you got convention passes, and a lot to spend, then theres not much you can do. The food trucks were expensive, and you do get a lot of freebies, but i wish that we can get more activities and games and a better variety like they have at KCON LA because a lot of fans were sitting down bored as hell. The event is in the middle of summer, and here in NY (well its technically NJ) the weather is sweltering hot and humid..and that day was like that. since it is an open convention, they really need to put cooling centers or SOMETHING so that their paying costumers not faint or get sick because of the heat. Concert: The artist line up was AMAZING and they were all good! (i went to the saturday concert with BTS, MAMAMOO, DAY 6 and Eric Nam) However, we were supposed to be let in at 6:30 at the prudential center..but the lines were disorganized, staff did not help as much, we were all mushed together and didn't get let in until 7:15-7:20 or so. And now for KCON 2017, they raised prices, Made the more or less mediocre convention TWENTY DOLLARS..and are charging people 1500 dollars for a diamond ticket where its not even worth it?? ARE YOU SERIOUS?? since you asked for this KCON, if your going to charge people a lot of money to go to the event (the line up is pretty bad too this year) at least try and make the event itself worth the price. read more