260815 Billboard - The Best Moments From KCON LA 2026 (So Far)
&TEAM parts:
6. &TEAM Proved Why They’re Performance Monsters
While &TEAM had just slayed a performance of “Deer Hunter” days earlier in a room a tiny fraction of the Crypto.com Arena at the GRAMMY Museum, the global boy band clearly wanted to up the hype for the full festival experience. A turning point came when K flung off the glasses he’d been wearing and led the group into a run of choreography so tight it read as if they were moving as one single stage beast.
8. Santos Bravos and &TEAM’s BTS Covers Represented KCON’s Thesis Statement
Billing the performance as “two worlds connected by K-Soul,” Santos Bravos returned to the KCON stage a second time to perform BTS’ “Hooligan” with &TEAM following them to cover “2.0” — both off BTS’ three-week Billboard 200 No. 1 album ARIRANG — before all 14 converged for a joint take on “Permission to Dance.”
Two acts under HYBE’s larger “multi-home, multi-genre” umbrella, Santos Bravos (coming out of Mexico City–based HYBE Latin America) and &TEAM (under Japan’s YX Labels) came together to perform cuts from the Korean group whose success made building either of them possible in front of an American crowd. Centered around “K-Soul,” the collaboration speaks not only to how HYBE operates as a modern-day entertainment company, but also to what KCON represents for the K-pop industry today.
11. Nobody Wanted to Leave the Stage on Day 1
KCON’s closing ritual to bring the full lineup back out to wave goodbye at the end of the concert is a formality but fun highlight, and day one’s closing seemingly ran long because nobody wanted to leave the stage.
KO1KEYZ watched Wanna One in open awe, delivering 90-degree bows to a group that debuted when several of them were children. ZEROBASEONE’s Sung Hanbin, the night’s main MC, worked the stage with his friends in KickFlip, while Santos Bravos and H//PE Princess appeared to be competing alongside one another over who could hype the room harder.
The final artist to leave the stage on opening night was &TEAM’s K, still adorably waving and finding individual faces, as staff physically directed and moved him and the artists toward the wings.