Kcon

I did not go to the concert, so this review is limited to the 2015 Convention at the L.A. Convention Center.
I’ve always wanted to delve more into the Korean culture, and what better way than to experience Korea’s popular Hallyu. I was hesitant to get the $ 100 ++ tickets because of the reviews I’ve seen for 2014, but I really wanted to go. Plus there was a wide array of performers in the line-​up, and all I wanted to watch was Shinhwa. With the wide line-​up, I figured Shinhwa would only perform at a limited time, 24 minutes max, and I wouldn’t want to pay a lot for that. So I just went for the convention tickets– if all goes well this year, I’d definitely pay more next year.
And all went well than expected! I went there on the last day (August 2, Sunday). Unlike last year, the venue is cooler, cleaner and more convenient for everyone. The first thing I got was a Convention Guide where I saw the schedule of activities. I went around the place, seeing all sorts of booths — Kpop posters, k-​drama booths, Korean beauty shops, Korean food and bakeshop products, etc. etc. Most booths came up with interesting gimmicks to lure guests to visit them — you’d see people lining up for raffle draws, games and freebies. It would be impossible to go around the place without ending up having at least one bag of interesting souvenirs from the booths, unless you really don’t want to receive any of those. My favorite, and so thankful for, was Verizon’s phone charging booth.
One tour around the place, just 15 minutes after I arrived at the place, and I heard girls screaming «Shinhwa!!» I simply can’t believe my luck (wide grin :) !! I saw them at an arm’s length at the M-​Net booth, I could touch their faces if I want to (wide grin again: D).
Food was overpriced — a bottle of water costs $ 4.00 and the tacos I got from the Mexican stall is so overpriced at $ 12, but that did not deter me from enjoying the experience that I wanted to have. My decision to go was definite a good one.

Ok 5 stars for the artist line up!
1 star for the 4 lines you have to get through before you stat enjoying the event.
Dear Kcon sponsors and producers: please do something about the long lines to get in or the fact that events start and more than half the people are still outside waiting to get in.

My review is for KCON2014:
Do you scream your lungs bloody at the mere thought that a kpop idol is within 500 feet of your general area? Are you willing to stand (for hours) next to someone who repeatedly screams their lungs bloody at the thought of nearby kpop idols? Are you willing to stand in the hot hot heat for hours for no real reason? Then KCON is for you.
The Nitty Gritty:
My 2 day $ 70 ticket (presale price) covered the concert and the convention. Some ticket packages were $ 300+? Feel bad for those who paid that. I thought I was in for the fun experience I had in 2012, but it was a sore disappointment. Concert was fun, convention was not.
Inexcusable disorganization, lack of variety in the panels/​events, and uninformed staff sucked the energy out of the day. If you go, plan to go later in the day and enjoy the food and the concerts. Unless you’re a die hard kpop idol worshipper. Then camp out at 1am, like some «totally sane» people did.
* * * * * *
A detailed breakdown for those of you who like kpop/​korean culture and are thinking of attending next year, but neither scream or faint when the prospect of a kpop idol in your presence is presented to you:
VENUE: LA Memorial Sports Arena — 2.5 Stars
We arrived at 10am. It took two hours to find parking. The KCON site stated there was only one lot open to KCON attendees. Thing is, there was no clear direction how to get to the lot. Parking attendants were clueless. We kept being told we couldn’t park, when clearly, we could see open spots. We ended up parking a 15 minute walk away from the venue at USC event parking. $ 20 for parking. Found out a lot of people just parked where you could get into (or where you lied
to get into, museum parking staff was MAD).
THE CONVENTION — 2 Stars
NO ORGANIZATION WHATSOEVER. Registration was at 8am, yet at 10 am, the line was still wrapped around the arena. When we finally got into line at 12:30, I realized why the lines had been crazy. No one knew what line they were supposed to be in, and worse, NO ONE WAS TELLING THEM.
Also, the ticket grouping that KCON had created for registration was confusing and created several issues in the line-​up. Theres no point in detailing it here — just know that where confusion could be had, it was had, and it caused mile long lines. Luckily, I asked a wandering staff member and found out that my ticket allowed me to check in right away, no line — PHEW!
BOOTHS/​VENDORS
All the little sponsor booths were fun and had idol meet ups and trip giveaways. Lots of Korean Make up and tech to purchase. Official concert/​con merch was typical, $ 15 to $ 60 dollars for souvenirs.

THE PANELS — Meh. 2 stars.
There was more going on in the first year. The focus has changed in a way that I can’t pinpoint. There were some new things — Gaming Exhibition, Cooking Classes, but everything was overtly focused on the kpop/​kdrama fandom, which is fine, but it left little to stretch out over the day.
Non-​fanatics will get bored fast. A lot of people were just hanging out waiting for the concert. There was something called the fan/​idol experience that you could win, but if you didn’t win that — you’re still left with little to do but walk around or eat.
There’s also dead time from 4 – 6. It was a hassle to leave and have to line up again at the convention entrance. Oh, did I mention? Theres two entrances. One for registration and one right after it for the convention, where you have to line up again and have your bags checked. Every time. So practical, right?
FOOD (Best Part) 5 stars
A great collection of food trucks and vendors with korean/​k-​fusion dishes. I loved the ahjumma vendors, yelling out their wares and luring you with free samples. It reminded me of when I used to live in Asia, heading out to street markets on the weekends. Will be visiting these trucks/​vendors again for sure, since I live in LA.
Only minus side — 4 DOLLAR DRINKS ALMOST EVERYWHERE?! Security staff made you throw out any outside drinks or bottles you may have brought once
you left the food area and entered the convention. So you HAD to buy it there. Went home poor, basically.
CONCERTS:
DOPE. 70 dollars to see 8+ Kpop artists over 2 days? Yes please. Wish I had skipped everything just to see the concerts. Stage was in the center, Not a bad seat in the house.
NOTE: We had to leave the convention area and line up for the concert. There were two lines, but many did not know that there were two lines. BIG SURPRISE. I got lucky that I was in the right ticket line that got to go in first.
Overall (congrats you made it this far in the review!) Not worth the hassle earlier in the day, go after noon. Totally worth the concerts (depending on the price) $ 70-​$ 100 for 2 concerts seems reasonable to me.

To be honest, not sure how to rate this event. 3 stars because i leaned it so heavily towards the concert, it helped negate some of the other things
Organization? Maybe a 2
Communication? Maybe a 2
Concert? 9.
As you can tell, I dont live in the same city as this event. I actually had to drive 4 hours to do so. I’ve been wanting to see Girl’s Generation live for years. So of course i got the most expensive available. P1 VIP tickets.
People had been planning to go early to line up. Information released was 6am, parking opens. 8am, check-​in opens. I arrived at 5:35. Entrance to parking was closed. Later we were told that it will not open until 8am. WHAT?! Yea… also there was already 200 – 300 people in line waiting. earliest i heard was that they’ve been there since 2am. thats crazy ! Reason was info was released saying P1 and P2 holders will get queue wristbands for «ordered» entry to the concerts. Let’s just say, parking didnt open till 7:45ish, check in didn’t start till like 10… I got lucky and was able to meet some nice people who had some parking issues as well and i was able to stick with them who had their nieces in line. Still… … also heard first night, they didnt even use the queuing system. luckily 2^nd night, for me, was the night i was attending the concert, and they did follow it. i had #192, so was 2^nd group to enter (in terms of p1, separated in groups of 125)
Market. Reminded me of 626 + Ktown night market. but much bigger food wise. Though it was kind of stupid, if you were to enter the market area from outside or the convention, you’d have to have your bag re-​checked. kind of annoying going back and forth from convention to market.
Communication. To be honest, id actually give them negative, if not that 2 i had mentioned. What we were told by the organizers of KCON through live chat and FAQs, were so off from what had happened. Various parking lots not available due to another event happening at the swim meet, times were completely off… Fan engagements were not all available. As i had mentioned before, i had ONLY went to this BECAUSE of Girl’s Generation. Yeah, they didn’t guarantee there WAS going to be any, but they didnt say they absolutely wont either. Before check in, a flyer was passed out showing the engagement times. SNSD, CNBlue, and GDragon was not on there. It was kind of known GD wont do it due to a previous year incident though…
Convention. Mmmm… panels (nothin that interesting). If anything, i mostly stayed around the DFLA stage to see the artists appear (BTS, Vixx…)… definitely got sunburned though… twice !! the dance tent was entertaining. Lots of enthusiastic individuals showing their skills. lots of beginners learning. Too bad mr Mr was delayed almost an hour (or more…) … that was the only one i had interest in XD The bag booth was a mess day 1. It essentially created a traffic jam in that area of the convention. Need more shaded areas (like market) for people to rest
Concert. Overall, organization, not too bad. Setup was good except the stage is a big high for P1 holders. Stage is estimated to be 7 feet high. P1 area is essentially 2′ to about 10′ away from the stage. anyone standing 2′ close would not see the far end of the stage. Performances were a definite 10. But thats all the artists expertise.

Came to KCON with P2 GA tickets on Saturday with the SO. Parking at nearby lots were impossible, but I found a bar owner charging $ 20 to park in his lot nearby.
We arrived at 8 am. which was late considering people were lining up all night to get M-​Countdown wristbands. Our understanding was that check-​in was supposed to begin at 8 am, but the line moved until 9 am and stopped moving until about 10 for reasons unknown. Finally entered the gate at 11:30 and was redirected to another line… to pick up M-​Countdown wristbands. Then, we were directed to another short line for ticket scan and scratchers. The only winning scratcher I got, audience engagement with VIXX already past by the time I checked in… wtf. All in all, just under 5 hours waiting in line.
The Market, open to public, reminded me of the 626 night market. Food trucks, food vendors, and booths. To enter the convention, you had to wait in line for «security check» primarily for food and drinks that had to be surrendered. Ladies had their bags searched, and empty handed guys were waved pass. Apparently there is an exit only walkway between the convention and the market with no signs marked as exit only. The clown security staff were useless in preventing people from entering the convention through the market…
If you wanted to use the restroom and you were in the convention area, looks like you have to exit the convention area and return to the market where there are nasty porta-​loos. Then you re-​enter through «security check.»
My understanding of the purpose behind people lining up early in the morning is to get a low number on their M-​Countdown (concert) wristband, which determines when you queue up for the concert. The system was a complete failure as the queue formed on it’s own and staff had no method of shuffling the line in order of wristband number. So, some who lined up early in the morning to get a low number wrist band was not guaranteed early entrance to M-​Countdown, and vice versa…
Inside the concert venue, thousands of screaming teenaged fans, echo-​y environment, and lack of ventilation made for poor air and sound quality LA Memorial Sports Arena is tired and in need of renovation.
Overall, organization and logistics of the overpriced event was very poorly executed. Staff were not knowledgeable and/​or were not properly trained.

I never heard of KCON until a week ago.
This was a blast of Korean Pop Culture.
Admission was $ 20(for the convention without concert) & parking was $ 20. The entire convention area was littered with Bibigo Ads. I didn’t expect the convention to be as small as it was. It was actually one of the smallest conventions i’ve been too (total area). Even though the size of the convention was small, it wasn’t lacking attendees, mostly for the concerts. Cheapest concert tickets provided was $ 65 on site or 75 online but were soldout quickly enough.
The concert lineup consisted of various artists usually showing for 40minutes each. G-​Dragon, Exo, F (x) were some of the bigger names attending. My review is however about the venue and overall experience and not about the performances.
There were several stands that stood out. Nongshim, Bibigo, Asiana Airlinnes, K-​Shot and the Cinema stand at the entrance. These provided little games that gave free things. Notice that none of them are even related to K-​pop. The amount of K-​pop activities were limited to crowded panels (seating is tough) and the dance competitions littered throughout. I was able to leave with a bunch of little free tidbits and I won a tshirt.
Overall a small scale convention and concert and it will probably grow throughout the years. Security was absolutely rude. When my group approached the ticket window, they did not allow us to go to the window together, stating that only 1 person is needed to buy the tickets. WTF that is the first time I’ve heard that one.
This event is geared more towards the younger asian female crowd. I probably would not attend again unless they were more organized and got larger or if someone personally asked me to go. $ 20 for this convention is a little overkill.