A massive K-pop festival is coming to London this weekend
If you know your trainees from your idols, and your maknaes from your aegyos, you’re gonna want to pay attention to this, because HallyuPopFest, one of South East Asia’s biggest Korean music festivals, is coming to London for the first time this weekend.
The extravaganza is taking place at OVO Arena Wembley from July 9-10. It’s headlined by CHEN and KAI from the mega boy band EXO, who will be performing as solo artists on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. There are a dozen other artists on the lineup, including girl groups Weeekly, Kep1er and EVERGLOW and boy bands ASTRO, SF9, ONEUS, CRAVITY, CIX and P1Harmony. That’s a lot of capital letters!
Diehard fans will also get a chance to get up close and personal with some of the biggest names in K-pop, as there will also be a red carpet and a ‘hi-wave meet and greet’.
And if you’re not well versed in the world of Hallyu (literally translating as ‘Korean wave’), this is quite a big deal. In 2018 when the festival launched, #HallyuPopFest was the most tweeted hashtag in Singapore. And in 2019 the event was attended by 40,000 fans. Even more exciting for the K-pop stans among us, for some bands like 9-part girl group Kep1er, this is their first overseas performance.
CEO of HallyuPopFest Selena Ho said: ‘HallyuPopFest came about because we wanted to create a festival experience where K-pop fans from all over, from various fandoms, could come together and celebrate their fervent idol support, boundless energy and love for music and dance that are the cornerstones of K-pop.’
If you haven’t managed to secure a ticket but wouldn’t mind enjoying some K-culture, you can also check out the HallyuTown market that coincides with the festival and is open to the public. The market will feature 60 independent Korean businesses selling the best K-food, K-beauty and K-lifestyle.
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