The global popularity of K-Pop has become a major issue at music festivals in the United States. Fans of the genre participate in a phenomenon known as “K-Pop camping,” which spoils the experience for festivalgoers who are there to see other artists and for the artists themselves.
The strategic behavior does not violate any rules, nor is it illegal, but it is frowned upon by the masses!
Lets first start by discussing K-Pop as a genre of music. Three distinct phases of growth got us to where we are today.
K-Pop, short for Korean Pop, blends pop, hip-hop, R&B and electronic music with traditional Korean elements. It originated in South Korea in the early 1990s.
The late 1990s and early 2000s marked the beginning of the “Korean Wave” known as Hallyu. The second generation of K-Pop groups propelled the genre’s expansion into East and Southeast Asia around that time in the early-to-mid 2000s. K-Pop hit the Western market and went fully international with the release of ‘Gangnam Style’ in 2012.
Korean Pop continues to rise in popularity.
Since then, groups like BTS, Blackpink, Stray Kids and TXT exploded the genre to where it is today. BTS became the first Korean act to top the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘Dynamite.’ Music from the new Netflix film ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ recently surged to No. 2 on the Billboard 200 charts.
As of this writing, Blackpink, Stray Kids, Twice, Itzy, Seventeen and Enhypen own the K-Pop market. Groups like i-dle, Babymonster, aespa and NewJeans are not far behind.
Fans of the genre are intense.
K-Pop culture is unlike anything I have ever seen. The only way I can explain it is to compare it to the early days of Justin Bieber or Britney Spears, where fans swarmed and stalked the artists’ every move. You could even make a case that it compares to the stardom of Michael Jackson. It’s insane.
However, K-Pop fans often go too far. Their obsessive behavior likely stems from the internet and how it creates a feedback loop that intensifies the personality cults that already exist in society. I digress.
Whatever the reason, K-Pop fans are just different. And they don’t really care about other artists.
Music festivals create a conundrum.
Lets use this year’s Coachella festival as an example. Fast-rising DJ Disco Lines played at the Sahara Tent on Saturday afternoon. He went on two acts before Enhypen.
The first few rows of the crowd were completely checked out for his set. They were not dancing. They were standing still with their heads staring down at their phones. Nobody talked. Nobody moved.
One girl even brought a book and sat down on the ground to read at the same stage earlier in the day.
kpop fans camping
byu/Major-Public-7462 inCoachella
She did not budge.
‘K-Pop Camping’ is a problem.
All of the girls featured in the video above were at Coachella to see Enhypen and only Enhypen. They got in line early to get in the gates as soon as possible and run to the Sahara Tent.
Once they were there, they did not move for the rest of the day— hence the term “camping.”
As the festivalgoers behind them shuffle in and out of different stages to see different acts throughout the day, the K-Pop campers stand their ground and will not give an inch. They show zero interest toward other artists.
And then, after the K-Pop act they are there to see performs, they all leave together as one in something of a mass exodus.
Fans of other artists are squeezed out.
Technically speaking, this is well within their rights as paying attendees of a music festival. Nobody is telling them they cannot be there. If they want to camp out for hours just to see one act, they can.
And yet, the K-Pop campers ruin the experience for others. They the block people who are there to see the band or musician currently on stage from reaching the front row during that set while they stare down at their screens.
“really hate the concert culture in kpop, it encourages this like territorial behavior that some fans have especially when they know they’re gonna see their favorite idols and the way it’s handled is just a breeding ground for toxicity and abusive behavior. there are plenty of kpop concert stories that talk about fans shoving each other, crowd waves practically suffocating people, fights but the one that grosses me out the most is…the camping,” said a Reddit user by the name of @Useful_Spell_7579.
Some people think a rule should be put in place
“You’ve got to put the blame for this on the venue for allowing it. It just shouldn’t be physically possible for people to do this, they should be moved on by security for their own safety. If they don’t listen to security then security gets police involved,” said @letrestoriginality.
I just don’t know how it would be enforced. There is no law against K-Pop camping.