Los Angeles officially belongs to K-pop this weekend with KCON LA 2026, but the city has been deep in K-pop all week.
This year’s KCON festival officially opened Friday (Aug. 14) at the Los Angeles Convention Center and Crypto.com Arena. Under the theme “Walk in SOUL CITY,” a play on the South Korean capital, festival producer CJ ENM is stretching 2026’s convention across K-pop, K-beauty, K-food and K-story programming, including the first-ever Olive Young Festa K-Beauty Playground, which boasts 55 different Korean brands. But by the time doors opened on day one, the city had already been running on K-pop culture for days.
HYBE America started things Wednesday with an industry party under the theme of “K-Pop’s Biggest Weekend.” The U.S. branch of the Korean-entertainment giant had a red carpet, photo booths, cotton candy machines and members of its global roster — boy bands &TEAM and Santos Bravos, as well as their pre-debut girl group SAINT SATINE — alongside Eric Nam, Ji-young Yoo and other cast members from K-Pop: The Debut, the Paramount and HYBE America film due in theaters in February 2027. The same night, YEONJUN of TOMORROW X TOGETHER played a special showcase for Billboard Live while &TEAM held a session at the GRAMMY Museum, where EVAN also appeared this week.
Running underneath it all has been the retail circuit, which has quietly become a parallel festival of its own. Retailers like hello82, KPop Nara, Makestar and Araise have staged near-daily signings and fan events with artists like Wonho, ZEROBASEONE, izna, MEOVV, KickFlip, KiiiKiii and more, allowing them to meet local fans directly.
The KCON festival grounds opened at 10 a.m. P.T., with the Artist Stage, Dance Stage and Toyota Music Den Stage all featuring multiple artists throughout the day before the night’s M Countdown concert next door at the Crypto.com Arena. And KCON’s centerpiece concert arrives with a structural change this year. For the first time in its history, the daily headliners are performing full hour-long sets rather than the abbreviated, TV-ready festival runs the event has always utilized.
Since launching as a one-day event in Irvine, Calif., in 2012, KCON has served as an important American proving ground for acts including BTS, TWICE, SEVENTEEN and ATEEZ well before they were selling out stadiums and arenas on their own. Last year, the city officially designated Aug. 1, 2025 as “KCON Day.”
Billboard is on the ground for KCON LA 2026. Here are the best moments from day one — and check back for more highlights throughout the weekend.
For YEONJUN, breaking free from expectations has become more than a theme. It’s the core of his latest solo albums.
The K-pop star brought that spirit to an exclusive Billboard Live event at West Hollywood’s Troubadour, where he sat down for an intimate Q&A with Billboard News’ Tetris Kelly before taking the stage for an electrifying performance featuring songs from his solo work. Amidst the conversation, YEONJUN shared the creative process behind NO LABELS Pt. 1 and NO LABELS Pt. 2, the pressure he’s learned to let go of, and how he continues to discover new sides of himself as an artist.
“NO LABELS is all about showing the different sides of me,” YEONJUN explained during the conversation, describing the second project as more “natural and unfiltered” than its predecessor. While NO LABELS Pt. 1 introduced fans to a new dimension of YEONJUN outside of TOMORROW X TOGETHER, he said the two albums represent different sounds and visuals while remaining equally true to who he is.
This meant challenging his perfectionism, however. YEONJUN admitted that he puts pressure on himself to do everything perfectly, but is now trying to approach his music with a lighter mind-set, which is a perspective that carried into the making of NO LABELS Pt. 2. The shift seems to be paying off: After the first album’s top 10 debut on the Billboard 200, Yeonjun said he actually felt more comfortable preparing his follow-up because he had learned to enjoy the creative process.
The event also offered a select group of fans the chance to experience YEONJUN’s solo work in an intimate setting. Chosen through a lottery to attend the exclusive Billboard gathering, fans filled the room with cheers throughout the Q&A, showing their support as YEONJUN talked about everything from his music and fashion to his creative transformation. Their energy only amplified once he took the stage, turning the room into a celebration of his solo achievements.
During the Q&A, YEONJUN also discussed the inspiration behind “Ice Cream,” the deeply personal “Long Way Long Ride,” his work with fellow creative Petra Collins for Vogue, and his TXT groupmates’ reactions to his solo album. He also hinted that the NO LABELS journey may not be fully over just yet, telling the ecstatic crowd that he was “excited for what’s ahead” while keeping details about a potential next installment under wraps.
He brought the conversation’s themes of self-expression to the stage, performing “Vanilla,” “Ice Cream,” “Baby Wassup?,” “Long Way Long Ride,” “Fxxking Star” and “GGUM.”
Scroll through the gallery to relive highlights from YEONJUN’s Billboard-exclusive event, from the fan-filled room to his special performance.
Limp Bizkit will headline the 2026 edition of Good Things Festival, the Australian travelling heavy-music event announced Tuesday (Aug. 11), atop a bill of more than 30 acts across nu-metal, pop-punk, metalcore and hardcore.
The lineup also features Simple Plan, Spiritbox, Polaris, The All-American Rejects, Bad Religion, Alexisonfire, Grinspoon, Millencolin, Ministry, MxPx, Neck Deep, P.O.D. and The Devil Wears Prada. The festival runs Dec. 4 at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Dec. 5 at Sydney Showground and Dec. 6 at Brisbane Showgrounds, with all dates 16-and-over. Presale tickets go on sale Aug. 18.
Limp Bizkit headline after appearing at the 2023 festival and playing sold-out sideshows. Formed in Jacksonville, Florida in 1994 and fronted by Fred Durst, the band’s 1999 album Significant Other debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, earned two Grammy nominations and was certified seven-times platinum on the strength of “Nookie” and “Break Stuff.”
Its 2000 follow-up Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water also debuted at No. 1, opening with more than one million U.S. copies — at the time a record for the fastest-selling rock album of the SoundScan era. The band has sold more than 40 million records worldwide.
Elsewhere on the bill, Spiritbox’s 2021 debut Eternal Blue reached No. 13 on the Billboard 200, and its 2025 follow-up Tsunami Sea hit No. 26 while topping the U.K. Independent Albums chart; the Canadian band has earned three Grammy nominations for Best Metal Performance. Simple Plan return for the first time since the 2019 festival, while Australian metalcore band Polaris topped the ARIA Albums Chart with 2023’s Fatalism.
Several acts are marking milestones. Alexisonfire will play their 2006 album Crisis in full for its 20th anniversary, Millencolin will perform 2000’s Pennybridge Pioneers in full, and Bad Religion mark their 45th year. Ministry’s dates have been billed as the industrial band’s final Australian shows. Grinspoon also feature, weeks after frontman Phil Jamieson cancelled a solo tour following a fractured vertebra, alongside a card that includes Speed, Slowly Slowly, Neck Deep, MxPx, Bilmuri and Voice of Baceprot.
Good Things Festival 2026
Dec. 4 — Melbourne — Flemington Racecourse (16+)
Dec. 5 — Sydney — Sydney Showground (16+)
Dec. 6 — Brisbane — Brisbane Showgrounds (16+)
Nearly four years after the death of Aaron Carter, Hilary Duff found a way to bring a piece of their shared childhood back into the limelight.
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During her Lucky Me Tour stop in Philadelphia on Sunday night, Duff wore a vintage white T-shirt featuring a young Carter, whose image appeared alongside his name on the front of the tee. The understated tribute came as Duff continues her first major tour in years, giving the moment an added significance to the pair’s roots as two young rising stars who came of age in the early 2000s pop culture world.
Duff and Carter were romantically linked from around 2000 to 2003, during a period when both were on Disney Channel and in the pop music space. Carter was making his mark by releasing hit songs like “Aaron’s Party (Come Get It),” which peaked at No. 35 on the Billboard Hot 100 back in 2000. He also made a memorable appearance on Duff’s Lizzie McGuire in 2001.
In the episode “Aaron Carter’s Coming to Town,” Carter plays himself as Lizzie and her friends attempt to get backstage at his concert. The episode concludes with Carter and Duff’s character sharing a kiss, which was an explosive moment that blurred the line between the teen stars’ real-life relationship and their onscreen personas.
More than two decades later, Duff’s Philadelphia tribute was a reminder of just how important Carter was to that period of her life and her career. Following Carter’s death in November 2022, Duff reflected on their relationship in an emotional social media post via Instagram, remembering the “charm” he had and acknowledging how difficult his life had become in the public eye. “Boy, did my teenage self love you deeply,” Duff wrote at the time.
Duff also spoke this year about an unexpected experience that brought Carter back into her life. During an April appearance on the Las Culturistas podcast, she recalled speaking with a psychic who told her that someone named Aaron had emerged during a reading. The psychic eventually identified that Duff and Carter, whom Duff described as her “childhood boyfriend,” were connected.
“It really was a wild experience,” Duff said when speaking about the interaction.
Australia’s Laneway Festival will not visit Adelaide or Perth in 2027, organizers announced Monday (Aug. 10), scaling back the long-running touring festival’s footprint for its next edition.
In a message shared on social media, organizers told fans in South Australia and Western Australia that “in 2027, Laneway will be taking a break in your cities,” acknowledging the news as “disappointing” while framing it as a strategic decision rather than a permanent exit.
“For over two decades, we’ve had the pleasure of bringing Laneway to Australia and New Zealand, with stints in Singapore and Detroit too,” the statement read. “Running so many shows, so close together, across so much ground is a logistical feat we are proud of, but it also asks a lot of our lineup and crew.” The organizers added that a pause would allow them “to focus on making the festival the best it can be, while freeing up time for more artists to bring headline shows to cities beyond our festival stops,” before signing off: “Adelaide and Perth, we love you! This isn’t goodbye, just see you soon.”
There was better news for Queensland fans. After a one-off 2026 edition on the Gold Coast — held at Southport Sharks, the festival’s first time in the region — Laneway’s northern leg will return to the Brisbane Showgrounds in 2027.
“Thank you to Southport Sharks for welcoming us in 2026 and giving us the opportunity to share Laneway with the Gold Coast’s incredible music community,” organizers said. The Brisbane edition first launched in Fortitude Valley in 2007 and was a fixture there before relocating to the Showgrounds in 2013.
Laneway has grown from modest beginnings into one of the most significant touring festivals in the region. It began in 2005 as a Melbourne-exclusive event — an offshoot associated with The Avalanches — held in the city’s laneways, from which it takes its name. It expanded to Sydney in 2006, Brisbane in 2007, Adelaide in 2008 and Perth in 2009, before going international with an Auckland edition in 2010. A seven-year run in Singapore launched in 2011, and a one-off Detroit event in 2013 remains the festival’s only North American date.
In 2027, the festival will run across four cities: Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland, with venues, dates and lineup details promised soon.
The decision to trim two cities comes at a precarious moment for Australia’s festival sector, which has seen a wave of cancellations and collapses in recent years. Splendour in the Grass, one of the country’s largest festivals, cancelled its 2024 edition, while Falls Festival, Groovin the Moo and others have scrapped events amid rising costs, softening ticket sales and mounting logistical pressures. Against that backdrop, Laneway’s framing of the move as a deliberate “pause” rather than a retreat is notable — the festival remains one of the more resilient players in a strained market, having just come off a milestone edition.
That 2026 edition marked Laneway’s 21st year and was headlined by Chappell Roan, whose debut album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess became a global breakout, alongside a bill that included Wet Leg, Wolf Alice, PinkPantheress, Geese and Lucy Dacus.
In under a year since hitting the scene, CORTIS has earned a No. 3 debut on the Billboard 200, a place on Billboard‘s 21 Under 21, a Lollapalooza set, a soundtrack single for the Stephen Curry–produced animated film GOAT, a halftime performance at the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game, collaborations with Juicy J and Teezo Touchdown, and are now hitting the U.S. on their first tour.
On Thursday (Aug. 6), the quintet consisting of Martin, Juhoon, James, Seonghyeon and Keonho came to the Infosys Theater at Madison Square Garden for its first-ever solo concert in the States. The show proved CORTIS could live up to that already-stacked résumé while pointing to greater promise of what’s to come next for such promising artists.
After kicking off the Put Your Phone Down Tour in July at the Inspire Arena in Incheon, South Korea, CORTIS’ sold-out New York concert split the night in two. The first half ran through nearly all of the group’s discography, with most songs staged with choreography and impactful visuals across tall LED screens in the background. The second half revisited most of the same tracks a second (and sometimes a third) time, looser and with the camerawork more focused on the guys themselves. The New York date is one of seven North American shows across six cities, all of which are also sold out.
From a clear comfort level on stage to shouting out New York’s NBA Finals win just feet away from the Knicks’ home arena — as well as what made us truly want to put down our phones — here are the seven best moments from CORTIS’ first-ever U.S. solo concert in New York.
It’s been a thrilling year for rap at the stadium and arena level between Cardi B, JAY-Z and Don Toliver — but J. Cole just might be delivering the strongest hip-hop live show of the year.
On Tuesday (Aug. 4), the Fayetteville MC, who spent his college years in New York, lit up Madison Square Garden for the second night this week, marking his fourth of five NYC-area arena headlining shows. With Cole’s New York residency comprised of two MSG shows, two nights at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center and a stop at Long Island’s UBS Arena, the two-time Grammy Award winner could have probably booked one stadium show and called it a day. Nonetheless, his decision to remain in arenas allowed him to pour into the unique fan connection that’s underscored his entire, nearly two-decade career.
Before Cole took the stage, Dreamville’s Bas — who proudly shouted out the fact that he grew up in Jamaica, Queens — played a quick opening set that traded on posse cuts like “Down Bad” and his signature hit “Tribe.” Around 9:15 p.m., a hooded J. Cole knelt in the middle of a temporarily vacated section 106, ready to intimately begin the night with The Fall-Off‘s “39 Intro.” Talk about aura farming!
Across a nearly two-hour set, Cole ripped through a setlist largely anchored by The Fall-Off, his eighth studio album. Featuring appearances by Tems, Burna Boy, Petey Pablo and more, The Fall-Off opened atop the Billboard 200, with 21 of the album’s 24 tracks charting on the Billboard Hot 100 in its debut week. A denser, less radio-focused set than most of his catalog’s full-length entries, The Fall-Off finds Cole trying his hand at the double-album structure, splitting his eighth record into “Disc 29” and “Disc 39,” on which he recounts different homecomings at those respective ages, as well as the emotional journey between those two timestamps.
His production design reflected that homegrown, Fayetteville-set narrative with the backdrop consisting of a practical-meets-projected rendering of the city’s historic Market House (under which the band was annoyingly secluded) and his storied Honda Civic — which he revisited with this spring’s Trunk Sale Tour in support of The Fall-Off. Unlike many recent major arena shows, Cole shied away from elaborate stage design, let alone a B-stage. Instead, he opted for a more traditional, proscenium stage, with the curvature of his Fall-Off era typography service as the theater’s red curtains.
From the dazzling lighting design to his enviable stamina (you could count the number of times he stopped for water on one hand), Cole performed like this was his final tour. And, well, it kind of is. Cole’s current 73-day trek — which will bring him to North America, Europe, Australia, and South Africa — is widely expected to be his last of such scale, at least for a long time. Amazingly, that implication didn’t hang in the air like a cloud; Cole harnessed those feelings to further ground fan-centric moments like one concertgoer losing his mind for the chance to go bar-for-bar on “Johnny P’s Caddy.”
And beyond the show’s creative merits and Cole’s expert breath control and diction, The Fall-Off World Tour reminds the world that despite its namesake album’s headier feel — and the jokes that spawned from his decision to exit the 2024 Drake-Kendrick Lamar battle — Cole has an incredible catalog across mixtapes (“In the Morning”), deep cuts (“2Face”), hit singles (“Middle Child,” “Wet Dreamz”) and collaborations (“The London,” “Planez”).
When we talk about era-defining MCs with catalogs that hold up, Cole’s gotta be in the first round of conversation. And he didn’t even touch KOD or 4 Your Eyez Only; Cole’s setlist prioritized his day-ones as much as his navigation of the arena. The fans themselves are a vital element for Cole’s live show, and the world-class talent and real-world humility and good old-fashioned crowd control that drew fans to him were on full display on Tuesday night — look no further than his towering dual closer of 2014’s “No Role Modelz” and 2026’s “Quik Stop.”
Check out Billboard’s five best moments from J. Cole’s The Fall-Off World Tour below.
Daniel Caesar has expanded his Son of Spergy Tour with Australian and Latin American dates, extending what is both his biggest global run to date and his first-ever headline arena tour.
The Australian leg opens Thursday, Nov. 5 at Afterpay Arena in Sydney — the venue formerly known as Qudos Bank Arena — followed by Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena on Sunday, Nov. 8 and Brisbane Entertainment Centre on Thursday, Nov. 12. Caesar then heads to Latin America for shows in Bogotá, São Paulo, Buenos Aires and Lima, closing the global run Thursday, Dec. 10 at Movistar Arena in Santiago, Chile.
Australian tickets go on general sale Friday, Aug. 7 at 2 p.m. local time via livenation.com.au, with Mastercard, Vodafone and Live Nation presales starting Wednesday, Aug. 5. VIP packages including premium tickets, pre-show soundcheck access and early entry will also be available.
The tour launched in May with a run across Asia and is currently working through North America, where Caesar played a second sold-out hometown show at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena. Remaining North American dates — with support from 070 Shake — include Ottawa, Montreal, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver, Portland, San Francisco and Anaheim, before the tour moves to the U.K. and Europe with stops at London’s All Points East and The O2, Manchester’s Co-op Live, Amsterdam’s Ziggo Dome, Brussels, Paris and Cologne.
The run supports Caesar’s fourth studio album, Son of Spergy, which arrived Oct. 24, 2025 and became his commercial high-water mark. The album debuted at No. 1 on both Top R&B Albums and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums — his first leader on each — while launching at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 for his first top 10 on the all-genre chart. It opened with 43,000 equivalent album units, including 34.1 million official streams, and also reached No. 4 on Top Album Sales and No. 11 on Top Streaming Albums.
The album marked a steady escalation across Caesar’s catalog. His 2017 breakthrough Freudian peaked at No. 16 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, followed by 2019’s Case Study 01 at No. 10 and 2023’s Never Enough at No. 6. Son of Spergy also sent 10 tracks onto Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, led by “Who Knows” at No. 23 — his best showing as a lead artist. He has twice topped the Hot 100 in featured roles, on Justin Bieber‘s “Peaches” and Tyler, The Creator‘s “St. Chroma.”
Recorded largely in Jamaica and built around themes of reconciliation with his father, the album features Sampha, Bon Iver, Blood Orange, Yebba and Caesar’s father, gospel singer Norwill Simmonds.
“I have a lot of respect for my dad, and I hold him in high regard. The album is about me realizing that I am exactly like him,” Caesar said of the record. “In that sense, it’s about having patience, respect, and admiration for myself.”
Caesar also took the International Achievement Award at the 2026 JUNOs, along with wins for contemporary R&B recording of the year and songwriter of the year.
Daniel Caesar’s Son of Spergy Tour Australian and Latin American dates:
Thursday, Nov. 5 — Afterpay Arena, Sydney
Sunday, Nov. 8 — Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne
Thursday, Nov. 12 — Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Brisbane
Sunday, Nov. 29 — Vive Claro Music Hall, Bogotá, Colombia
Wednesday, Dec. 2 — Suhai Music Hall, São Paulo, Brazil
Saturday, Dec. 5 — Estadio Obras, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Tuesday, Dec. 8 — Costa 21 Duomo, Lima, Peru
Thursday, Dec. 10 — Movistar Arena, Santiago, Chile
All eyes in the music world are on Chicago this weekend, as Grant Park plays host to another year of Lollapalooza. With the weather looking uncertain for the festival’s later days, thousands flocked to the Chicago Riverwalk on a sun-kissed Thursday afternoon (July 30) to kick off Lolla.
Performances began around noon CT across nine different stages and wrapped up with Lorde making her return to the Lolla stage for the first time since 2017 with Chicago’s own John Summit co-headlining on opposite ends of the park.
The rest of the day saw performances from Filipino boy band SB19, who made history as the first P-pop group to perform at Lolla, as well as Bella Kay, Blood Orange, Little Simz, Boys Noize, Audrey Hobert, Sombr, 5 Seconds of Summer and Wet Leg.
A jam-packed weekend remains on tap, with anticipated headlining sets from Charli xcx, who made a guest appearance during Lorde’s performance, as well as Olivia Dean, Tate McRae, The xx, Smashing Pumpkins and Jennie.
There was chatter on the festival grounds from fans speculating that A-listers Olivia Rodrigo, who was allegedly spotted at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, and Ariana Grande could be popping up. Ari’s Eternal Sunshine Tour comes to Chi-Town on Aug. 3.
Lollapalooza has remained one of the premier U.S. festivals by mixing a range of superstars with upstarts and legacy acts spanning different generations. 2025’s Lolla saw headlining performances from Olivia Rodrigo, Tyler, the Creator, Sabrina Carpenter, A$AP Rocky and Doechii.
Thanks to the good folks at Dunkin’, Billboard is on the ground for Lollapalooza 2026. Here are the best moments from the festival.
All eyes in the music world are on Chicago this weekend, as Grant Park plays host to another year of Lollapalooza. With the weather looking uncertain for the festival’s later days, thousands flocked to the Chicago Riverwalk on a sun-kissed Thursday afternoon (July 30) to kick off Lolla.
Performances began around noon CT across nine different stages and wrapped up with Lorde making her return to the Lolla stage for the first time since 2017 with Chicago’s own John Summit co-headlining on opposite ends of the park.
The rest of the day saw performances from Filipino boy band SB19, who made history as the first P-pop group to perform at Lolla, as well as Bella Kay, Blood Orange, Little Simz, Boys Noize, Audrey Hobert, Sombr, 5 Seconds of Summer and Wet Leg.
A jam-packed weekend remains on tap, with anticipated headlining sets from Charli xcx, who made a guest appearance during Lorde’s performance, as well as Olivia Dean, Tate McRae, The xx, Smashing Pumpkins and Jennie.
There was chatter on the festival grounds from fans speculating that A-listers Olivia Rodrigo, who was allegedly spotted at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, and Ariana Grande could be popping up. Ari’s Eternal Sunshine Tour comes to Chi-Town on Aug. 3.
Lollapalooza has remained one of the premier U.S. festivals by mixing a range of superstars with upstarts and legacy acts spanning different generations. 2025’s Lolla saw headlining performances from Olivia Rodrigo, Tyler, the Creator, Sabrina Carpenter, A$AP Rocky and Doechii.
Thanks to the good folks at Dunkin’, Billboard is on the ground for Lollapalooza 2026. Here are the best moments from the festival so far. (This list will be updated daily.)