The international K-pop convention KCON makes it’s fifth appearance in New York this year with two days of festivities. For those who don’t know, KCON is a convention at day, and concert at night. The second night of music is at the Javits Center, with tonight taking place at Madison Square Garden.

While the daytime festivities have already begun, that’s not the focus for most people. The KCON concerts have long been the main attraction for those live in attendance and the many who aren’t even in the area. The evening not only sees performances from some of the industries top artists, but sometimes has suprises like last year’s debut of Red Velvet’s English version of “Bad Boy.” KCON will stream the evening’s events, making it an event that attracts those who can’t even make it to “The World’s Most Famous Arena.”

A Preview of KCON NY 2019 Day One Concert

In Comparison To Last Year

In 2018, New York saw Heize, Pentagon, Red Velvet, Super Junior and Stray Kids on the first day. The second day saw EXID, fromis_9, Wanna One, NCT 127 and Golden Child. While this year is still a good lineup, it is clearly not as big as the year before, which artists from top three labels.

The first night sees NU’EST, TXT, ATEEZ, IZ*ONE and The Boyz take the stage. IZ*ONE is the lone girl group on the first night, although this wasn’t initially the plan. Rookie group EVERGLOW was scheduled to perform at KCON but pulled out earlier this week due to visa issues.

The Lineup

IZ*ONE are a 12 member girl group which came from survival show “PRODUCE 48.” They have released four singles, with the two biggest ones being their debut track “La Vie en Rose” and “Violeta.” Their most recent release is “Buenos Aires.”

TXT is easily the biggest group to perform on the first night of KCON. Signed to BigHit Entertainment, TXT are the brother group of BTS. More cute and lighthearted than BTS, the group has put out hits like “CROWN” and “Cat & Dog.” I predict that we’ll see “Cat & Dog” being performed on the big stage at MSG, as it’s a pretty catchy song. Also, there’s an English version.

NU’EST are the oldest group performing on the first night by a longshot. While most groups performing on the first night didn’t exist more than 18 months ago, NU’EST has been established since 2012. While the group has 14 singles, their most recent one “Bet Bet” has gotten quite some traction. Whether they will pull out an older song will be seen.

The Boyz have had a somewhat relaxed 2019 releasing three mini-albums and four singles in 2018. The group released “Bloom Bloom” in 2019 with their new mini-album in April. The group won the “Best New Male Artist Award” at the Melon Music Awards, but their biggest award so far is winning the “lwos.life Male Rookie Group of the Year” (just kidding).

ATEEZ is a frontrunner for rookie boy group of the year. Dating back to October the group has put out three mini-albums, with five singles from them. While not being a top group in Korea the eight members have seen consistent success on the Billboard US World chart. The group will most likely perform “WAVE,” the song which was released just under a month ago.

The Convention and Other Details

There are tons of talks and meetups at KCON throughout the day, ending at around 5PM. The full schedule can be seen on their website. As someone who is not attending, the most anticipated part of KCON besides the music will be a random dance challenge recording. For reference, here’s last year’s. Door open at Madison Square Garden at 7PM, with the concert fully starting an hour afterwards. Head to the KCON website around that time to watch live.