Being held at the Crypto.com Arena and Los Angeles Convention Center, the no. 1 K-Culture festival has wrapped up its scene after the third 2023 event in LA (after Thailand and Japan earlier this year), and the KCON LA 2023 Day 3 reactions are replete with excitement for all that the finale had in store for the fans of K-pop music. Along with the main show performances and the meet and greet lineups, this year also introduced a new segment called SHOWCASE: NICE TO MEET U, which allowed rookie additions to the Korean pop music sphere to interact with their future fans and establish their names ahead of a solid career to come.
The first and second main shows included performances by many big names like CRAVITY, IVE, NMIXX, MONSTA X’s sub-unit SHOWNU X HYUNGWON, Taemin, NCT Taeyong, WayV, ATEEZ, INI, Kep1er, RAIN, XG, xikers and ZEROBASEONE, along with some surprise collaboration stages that took the audience’s breath away. Concluding the three-day festivities, August 20, 2023 (PDT) brought the show to a close after a glorious lineup took to the stage. Helmed by Day 3’s host Stray Kids’ leader Bang Chan, the third and last day had a lot to win the attendees over with. Here’s what the conclusion looked like.
KCON LA 2023 Day 3 Lineup
The main show lineup for KCON LA 2023 final event (August 20, Sunday) included EVERGLOW, (G)I-DLE, ITZY, JO1, Lapillus, Stray Kids and THE BOYZ. Special stages by JO1 and THE BOYZ’s subunit premier performance, and a surprise collab stage between EVERGLOW and Lapillus members easily took the lead as one of the favourite feats of the night. On the other hand, the Showcase event lineup included JUST B, RIIZE and XG.
KCON LA 2023 Day 3 Reactions
Many members of the audience turned up for a particular day of the show (out of all three) to support their favourite artists, but even if they were essentially present there to root for their faves, they also ended up enjoying the performances of other artists listed for the same day. Expressing how it was all worth it in the end, K-pop fans congratulated and wished the various groups well for all the hard work they’d put in for their stage presentations.
Other than the performance schedule, the music festival setting also made room for many cross group interactions and hilarious episodes that caught the attention of the fans more than expected. The J-pop boy group JO1 presented their cover performance of SEVENTEEN’s Super, and fans couldn’t hold back their cheers for the same while also exclaiming it to be “super good”. Stray Kids turned up with their S-Class showdown, while THE BOYZ made the stage their own by putting out a performance unlike any other.
The girl group performances had the fans calling their loved artists “QUEENS” and the special stage collaboration became one of the most memorable instances of the night. Moreover, although RIIZE members from SM Entertainment are set to debut in September with their first musical release, their pre-debut stage showcase not only had the fans cheering on the ex-NCT members Shotaro and Sungchan, but also the other new members of the yet to debut group, as they thoroughly enjoyed their surprising stage appearance.
JO1 Super KCON LA Performance
Stray Kids THE BOYZ KCON LA Interaction
THE BOYZ
EVERGLOW Lapillus Collab Stage
ITZY
GIDLE KCON LA 2023 Reactions
RIIZE Predebut Showcase
All day 3 performances will be later available on KCON official YouTube channel for you to stream.
Which of these stage presentations did you enjoy the most? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below.
What about XG’s iconic rendition of I am the best by 2NE1?