LA K-pop Festival - Photos & Videos

My Korean coworker was generous enough to give me her tickets that she got online so I did go to the concert Saturday night. I asked a few people to go but ended taking my mom with me, which turned out well.

The tickets I got were in section 18 row 77, which is way in the back corner of the Coliseum. Luckily, I texted an old church friend, who happened to be Lena Park's sister, and she told me she had 2 extra tickets up close so I met up with her and her in-laws before the concert. My mom ended up talking to her mother-in-law during our many waits in line.


LA Memorial Coliseum. This is where USC Trojans play football hence the colors.

When I found my friend, she was talking to her sister through a fence near the east end of the Coliseum. This is where they set up a red carpet and also the "backstage" area for performers. I was happy just to see a real pop star up close. There were lots of people crowding the fence and cheering when they thought they saw someone famous. Since Lena was in casual clothes, I don't think anyone recognized her. After waiting a bit, Lena's manager took us inside the VIP area.


I'm just passing through.

I wasn't sure where we were going but it was exciting! The manager led us to Lena's dressing "tent" and we stayed for about 5 minutes; it was mostly family time for her since my friend brought her kids. As we were leaving, my friend finally introduced me to Lena. I didn't feel it was appropriate to ask for a photo but I did get to shake hands and say a few words. :)

We then had to leave the VIP area and line up... first for the ladies' room, then a huge line to get inside the stadium. My friend got busted for their stroller (had to check it in) but we managed to get to our seats at around 7pm. The concert was supposed to start at 6:30pm but got delayed until 7:30pm, probably due to the incredibly lame parking ($25!) and traffic control. This was about 20 minutes before the concert:



There was a lot of talking before the actual concert, even the president/CEO of KBS showed up from Korea. Lena sang the US national anthem, and one of the 2PM guys sang the Korean anthem. They should have had Lena sing that as well, since the guy was not that good.



They kicked off with some weird Vegas showgirls intro then had all the groups come on stage. I only had my Sony RX-100 so the pictures aren't that great (max 3.6x zoom). The rest of the photos are from Koreaboo's Flickr feed. I also shot some blurry videos and uploaded them to YouTube.


Girl's Day. Finally got to see them live. They don't come out to the US too often. They sang their newer songs; I was actually hoping they would perform some of their older stuff, especially Don't Forget Me.


Something - Girl's Day


Expectation - Girl's Day


Dynamic Duo. I've heard of them but not their music/rap.


Baek Ji Young. Saw her at Hollywood Bowl several years ago. I really like her voice and songs even though I can't understand a word. Taecyeon from 2PM also came up on stage and they performed My Ear's Candy.


Don't Forget (IRIS OST) - Baek Ji Young


My Ear's Candy - Baek Ji Young + Taecyeon


I'm a little fuzzy on the performer order after this point. I think an old guy came up followed by this girl who sang very traditional songs (sounded like old Chinese/Japanese songs). Coworker told me today that she is only 16 years old.


I think at this point Girl's Day came up again...


... and soon followed by Sistar. Woohoo! I missed them at KMF 3 years ago since I was traveling in China. My Korean coworker wasn't familiar with them(!) and asked if they were the group that dressed kinda slutty. :)


Give It To Me - Sistar


Alone - Sistar. They also performed Loving U. I decided to relax and watch instead of shooting another shaky video.


Kim Tae Woo. He came up earlier to sing Love Rain and Hotel California. I've seen him twice at Hollywood Bowl before.


Lena Park. Third time I've seen her in concert as well. She sang two songs in Korean then collaborated with Kim Tae Woo on an English song.


Ain't No Mountain High Enough - Lena Park + Kim Tae Woo

At this point, it was after 9pm, cold, and only a few boy bands left. I'v seen SHINee and 2PM before so my mom and I left to beat the inevitable crazy traffic. I think my friend was going to meet her sister again after the concert but I didn't want to intrude on family time any further. I do have some minor nitpick about ridiculous parking and lame audio/video production, but overall it was pretty good due to the awesome artist lineup... definitely much better than any of the 3 KMFs I've been to and this concert was free.