Los Angeles — The smell of fair food hung over Los Angeles State Historic Park on a calm Saturday, Oct. 17.
A giant 82WORLD sign, named for South Korea’s country code, stood over the open grass, with the mountains on one side and the downtown skyline on the other.
The crowd for the event — dubbed 82World:LA — spanned every generation, from children on their parents’ shoulders to fans with salt-and-pepper hair. About 11,000 fans attended the festival over two days, according to Hello82 organizers.
This was the first festival for Hello82, a K-pop label and distributor founded in Los Angeles in 2018.
Co-founder and COO Sang Cho helped start KCON in 2012, and he said he wanted 82WORLD to feel like that first one, not as a replacement.
The outfits showed who fans were there for. Cowboy hats and idol outfits with a Western twist meant ATINY, fans of the K-pop boy group ATEEZ. Silver, neon and space-age looks meant P1ece, fans of P1Harmony. Both groups’ fans lined up in their own zones to get a picture with cardboard cutouts and in-festival perks.
At the entrance, the resale app Mercari ran a photo card trading booth. Albums fans buy include photo cards of the members at random. The line was long, but fans waited anyway with their binders open, trading for their ‘bias,’ or favorite member.
In one direction, an interactive ‘This or That’ game had players run across a small field while boy groups P1Harmony, Ampers&One and xikers asked them this or that at staggered times. In another, artists greeted fans at merch booths.
“The first KCON in 2012 was actually much like this,” Cho said. Asked about online criticism that hello82 events favor influencers, he said the festival was built for every fan.
“It’s not meant for just a few who have access to these things,” he said. “What we want to do is make sure these fans feel like they’re seen.”
Accessibility was an issue that drew attention. Kinzie Keller, who uses a service dog, said she did not feel seen.
Before the festival, she asked Hello82 how she could see the show from an accessible spot. She said she never got a real answer. A hello82 email she shared on social media said its disability accommodation team was still working on it.
On day two, Keller was escorted out and offered a refund for what a spokesperson for 82WORLD said was “general complaints,” as the festival “met ADA guideline,” according to them.
She made a social media post that gained over 13,000 likes in under 24 hours. Fans in the comments described similar seating and access problems, and said the issue went beyond one person.
“We are sorry that 82WORLD did not meet the expectations of fans with ADA related needs,” said Jae Yoon Choi, founder and CEO of Hello82, in a statement.
Choi said the event was ADA compliant, referring to the federal law that prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities.
“We need, and promise, to do better,” he said. “It is always our goal to not only be ADA compliant but to do our best to honor specific requests and concerns. We want all fans to have the best experience possible, and after looking into these issues. We apologize, and have asked for more feedback so that, hopefully, an open dialogue about mistakes made and how to improve things will lead to a better experience for all moving forward.”
While the issue stirred concern from festival goers, the event itself did not come to halt.
Back at the main stage, the girl groups took over.
Orange County-based group fiveALIVE covered aespa’s “Whiplash,” and the Japanese COSMOSY played after, their first performance since their debut in April 2026. GIRLSET performed the unreleased ‘Young and Dumb.’
Michelle Batres, an accountant from Calabasas, came by herself.
She got into K-pop about two years ago through a friend who has been an ATEEZ fan since they debuted in 2018. The first thing she did was go find ‘freebies,’ a common trait of K-pop events. She said everyone was welcoming and the vibe was “calm and chill.” Her only complaint was that there should be more water.
As the sun set, the boy groups took the stage. 8Turn performed their breakout “Stagefright,” while Ampers&One covered BTS’s “Boy in Luv” alongside a handful of their own tracks. BE:FIRST got the whole field singing the Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It That Way.”
But the 10-membered xikers stole the show with electric performances topped off with a cover of NCT 127’s “2 Baddies.” Twenty-plus songs later, the headliners showed.
P1Harmony came on around 9 p.m. and played until about 10:35, with 17 songs. Halfway through, Keeho, the group’s leader, talked about the first time they came to LA in 2022 and played the Ace Theatre. “We did start off really, really small,” he said. Getting to headline in the same city was “something so honoring.”
Then he stopped and pointed at the sky. “Look at the moon, guys!” Member Jiung put it simply: “I can tell that tonight will be one of the most special moments in my life.”
The group left the stage, but the crowd wasn’t done. Fans chanted until P1Harmony came back for “ICE (VVS),” and the whole park lost it.
Kids danced next to their parents, and fans of every age were on their feet. Before they left for good, Keeho asked for one last picture. Thousands of light sticks went up under the moon. “Every single one of you made tonight special,” he said. “We love you, LA.”
Aani Nagaiah is a correspondent with the Southern California News Group.