'30th Anniversary' 2024 Dream Concert to be Held on October 19 at Goyang Sports Complex

Jointly Hosted by the Entertainment Producers Association, Korea Tourism Organization, and Goyang City

‘2024 Dream Concert,’ the longest-running K-pop concert in Korea, will illuminate the autumn night this year.

The Dream Concert held at Seoul Sangam World Cup Stadium.
[Photo by Korea Entertainment Producers Association]

On the 12th, the Korea Entertainment Producers Association (Chairman Lim Baek-woon, hereafter KEPA) announced that the historic and traditional ‘2024 Dream Concert’ will be held on October 19 at Goyang Sports Complex.

Marking its 30th anniversary this year, the ‘Dream Concert’ is the longest-running K-pop concert in Korea, held annually without interruption since its first event in 1995. In 2019, it was officially certified by the Korea Record Institute (KRI) as the longest-running and largest-scale concert.

Over the past 30 years, approximately 1.98 million domestic and international spectators have attended the ‘Dream Concert,’ and 622 K-pop artist groups have participated. Top stars of their times such as H.O.T., Sechs Kies, S.E.S., Fin.K.L, Shinhwa, god, BoA, TVXQ, Super Junior, Girls’ Generation, EXO, BTS, NCT, Seventeen, aespa, and IVE have graced the ‘Dream Concert’ stage. The ‘Dream Concert’ has been a historic partner witnessing K-pop’s growth from a Hallyu content to a global genre.

This year’s ‘Dream Concert’ is jointly hosted by the Korea Entertainment Producers Association, Korea Tourism Organization, and Goyang Special City. The Korea Tourism Organization has been involved since the 26th Dream Concert in 2020. Despite the difficulties in international travel due to COVID-19 at that time, the organization proactively conducted tourism marketing through the ‘Dream Concert’ to expand the attraction of Hallyu tourists post-pandemic.

In 2022, when in-person concerts were permitted, about 2,500 global Hallyu fans from 23 countries were gathered in collaboration with the inbound travel industry. In 2023, in line with the bid for the 2030 Busan World Expo and the ‘2023-2024 Visit Korea Year,’ K-pop concert travel packages were developed with domestic inbound travel agencies, attracting 5,550 Hallyu tourists. Goyang Special City is leading the effort to attract excellent performances by promoting the creation of a ‘global Hallyu content and performance hub city,’ one of the top 10 core pledges of its 8th mayoral term.

The KEPA, which hosts the ‘Dream Concert,’ is a corporation with 441 domestic entertainment companies (representing about 5,000 affiliated artists) as members. It has contributed to the development of the popular culture industry by fostering infrastructure for the popular music industry and enhancing the rights and interests of producers. What makes the ‘Dream Concert’ even more meaningful is that it is a social contribution activity created through the talent donations of association member companies and their affiliated singers.

Thanks to the active cooperation of member companies and their artists, the ‘Dream Concert’ has carried out public social donation activities. It has also achieved remarkable success and popularity in national commemorative events such as the ‘2010-2012 Visit Korea Year,’ the ‘2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics G-100 Commemoration Event,’ and the ‘2023 Climate Industry International Expo Official Closing Performance.’

Following last year, the ‘Dream Concert’ will hold the ‘Dream Rookie’ voting again this year. ‘Dream Rookie’ is an event aimed at discovering new K-pop artists and providing a stepping stone for their overseas advancement. The teams selected as the final ‘Dream Rookie’ will be offered overseas stages and promotions. Voting for ‘Dream Rookie’ will be conducted through the ‘Kpop Seoul’ app from June 17 to September 26.

Alongside ‘Dream Rookie,’ to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the ‘Dream Concert,’ voting will be held for the ‘Best Star Who Shined at Dream Concert’ and the ‘Hall of Fame.’ Artists who have appeared from the first concert to the present are nominated, and those selected through voting will perform on a special stage. Voting for the best star who shined at the ‘Dream Concert’ will be held via the ‘Duckking’ app from June 10 to August 29.

Lim Baek-woon, chairman of KEPA, explained, “‘Dream Concert’ is not only Korea’s longest-running K-pop concert but also a cultural symbol that embodies the history of K-pop from its inception in the 1990s to its current status as a global mainstream content, making its value and significance immense.”