K-pop at festivals

A festival slot is a different beast from a tour date. The set is shorter, the staging is borrowed, the crowd has largely come for someone else — and that is exactly why these appearances matter: they are where a group plays to people who did not buy a ticket for them. Lollapalooza, Mad Cool and Head in the Clouds have all become routes into markets a headline tour would not reach yet, and Waterbomb and KCON are the reverse case, festivals built around this audience from the start.

The programme for a past edition records the announced bill; it is not a review of every set. Dates, stages and artist appearances are kept with their sources so that an old announcement can be read in its original context.

For a future edition, the organizer remains the reference for cancellations, timetable changes and ticket availability. An old festival programme does not confirm a booking for the following year.