Suho, B.I, Bambam, Hyolyn and more: Indian K-pop fans gear up for multiple concerts

This weekend, Kounain Fathima (Kushi) and her friends are all set to head to Bengaluru, for her first ever K-pop concert experience at the K-Wave Festival. “I am really excited to see my favourite musicians perform,” says the 20-year-old Chennai resident. 

For fans of all things Hallyu with a special inclination towards music from South Korea, 2024 has been an unprecedented year. While South Korean Indie-rock band The Rose, and Korean-American singer Eric Nam opened this year with performances at Lollapalooza in Mumbai, there are several other exciting performances lined up. This weekend, at the K-Wave festival in Mumbai and Bengaluru on October 18 and 20 respectively, K-pop group EXO’s Suho, and singer Hyolyn are scheduled to perform; an announcement that delighted many in September. The K-Town festival on December 14 in Mumbai meanwhile, has four big names – EXO members Chen and Xiumin, B.I (Kim Hanbin), and GOT7’s Bambam. The Cherry Blossom festival in Shillong this year will host SuperM’s Lucas.

For long time K-pop fans in India, this upcoming lineup of acts comprising many A-list artistes is nothing short of a dream. Nikita Engheepi, co-founder, Pink Box Entertainment, who is working on artiste coordination for the K-Wave festival recalls how when they began working in this space nearly a decade ago, things were a lot different. “Our goal when we started was to make sure there was a lot more chatter about K-pop, highlight more artistes, get more people and event organisers interested, and to show them that India has a market for K-pop. Seeing how 2024 is turning out to be, our vision seems to have come to fruition,” she says. 

The earliest to delve into the K-pop concert culture in India, Nikita was instrumental in bringing singer Dabit to India as early as 2015, and brought down K-pop groups M.O.N.T and K.A.R.D to the Hornbill Festival in Nagaland in 2018 and 2019. 

“When you are trying to create a market, you can’t immediately bring the biggest musicians. Things are getting easier now, with agencies and artistes recognising that there is a market here. For instance, we are working with SM Entertainment now to bring Suho, and it is evident that big companies are looking at India now, given how K-pop is becoming a major force here,” she says. 

The space is definitely an exciting one, says Anmol Kukreja, founder and CEO of Skillbox, which is organising the K-Wave festival across two cities. “The K-Wave festival’s focus is not just on the music, but authentic experiences based on Korea – with food, desserts, mocktail stations, workshops and more,” he says.

While the festival saw a footfall of around 2,000 attendees last year in Bengaluru, Anmol says they expect double the number of attendees this year. 

Changing trends

In 2023, when Jackson Wang, a member of the K-pop group GOT7 came with his ‘Magic Man’ concert to perform at Lollapalooza India, he was met with hordes of fans at the Mumbai airport. Hours before his performance, fans queued up near the barricades for the best view, and exchanged photocards and posters. “It is one thing to say India has immense streaming power on music platforms, but will you show up at concerts in large numbers too? We did not have much evidence for this until Jackson Wang came to India, for us to take note of the post-pandemic K-pop boom,” says Riddhi Chakraborty, founder and CEO of Bridge Asia, a creative media agency that currently, primarily works with K-pop stars to expand their presence in India. 

Attending K-pop concerts, Riddhi says, has always felt like a community activity. “There is a lot that is unique to the K-pop fandom, and people have made friends through their shared love for these artistes. Through the years, for K-pop fans here, it has not mattered how big or small the performers are. They have traditionally shown up to support them since they are grateful to see these artistes coming to India,” she explains. 

A journalist who has extensively covered K-pop, Riddhi says that while artistes have come to India in the past, there have not been as many A-listers. The stacked lineup of for the upcoming months, she says, has not come as a surprise to her.  “There has been a steady growth in the size of the audience. While the audience in the past was a lot younger, there is now an older audience ready to spend money on concert experiences, and parents of younger fans as well who are a lot more aware of K-pop,” she says. 

While Indian fans have traditionally flown to nearby countries to see their favourite K-popacts perform, this upcoming lineup of artistes might mean the reverse, going forward. For K-Town 2.0, the Korean cultural and music festival in Mumbai during December, tickets have been booked by fans from Bangladesh, Thailand, Dubai, and even the US. “For our first edition in February this year, we had attendees from Japan. We expected an overall footfall of around 1,000 people and saw nearly 2,500 people attend,” says Shital Sikarwar, founder and CEO, TANI events. 

Having initially worked on bootcamps, workshops and mentorship camps in this space, Shital says they organised the first edition of the festival while being a bit sceptical whether the K-community would show up. “We were blown away by the response, and for the upcoming edition, we are expecting a three-time increase in attendees,” she says. Apart from the big names for the music, Shital says they have experience zones that include photo booths, and Korean food as part of the festival. 

Given the upcoming promising lineup of Korean acts , things can only get bigger next year, and Shital too echoes this. “Big artistes, and multiple cities are being planned. We are excited for what is coming up,” she says.