Is This Chaotic K-Pop Festival the New Fyre Fest? Fans Slam KAMP LA 2022 as ‘Flop’
KAMP LA was supposed to be "the biggest K-pop event in U.S. history," as EXO and SuperM member Kai said in a statement to Billboard. Instead, the inaugural K-pop festival, which took place Oct. 15 through Oct. 16, devolved into chaos thanks to visa issues and other disasters, resulting in an eerily sparse arena.
Things began to go downhill the day before the festival. On Oct. 14, Billboard reported that K-pop stars Monsta X would not be able to perform at the two-day festival as planned due to visa issues. Not long after, it was revealed that many other artists on the lineup would not be able to make the event due to similar visa-related issues.
"Please understand that many other artists scheduled to appear at KAMP LA 2022 have also not received visa approval. We were unable to inform you earlier about the situation due to delays from the organizers," a statement read.
In a statement regarding K-pop idol Kai, SM Entertainment also cited the disorganization of the festival's handling of visas, saying, "The organizer was in charge of visa approvals related to the performance, and we cooperated in advance."
When fans noticed that many of their favorite artists scheduled to perform were not seen leaving the airport in South Korea, KAMP LA began retweeting artists who were seen leaving to counteract the online chatter.
"We are doing our best to ensure that your KAMP LA 2022 experience remains an enjoyable and memorable one. We apologize for this very difficult and unforeseen circumstance. Please contact us for further inquiries," KAMP LA announced in a statement Saturday (Oct. 15).
To make matters worse, during the event many acts were plagued with technical difficulties, as documented by fans on Twitter.
Boy group T1419 experienced delays when the wrong song was played not once, but twice. Later, girl group Momoland experienced microphone issues during their set while the audience sat in the rain.
Meanwhile, other artists were forced to fill in with longer sets and extra performances to make up for the artists unable to make it.
Warning: Some tweets below contain strong language.
Over the weekend, photos posted to social media by fans also showed a shockingly empty Rose Bowl arena, a testament to the failure of the festival.
The festival even trended with the hashtag #KAMPFyre, in reference to the infamously disastrous Fyre Festival of 2017.
Epik High member Tablo even joked about the disastrous festival while on stage, noting he'd be game to appear in any future documentaries about KAMP LA, much like how Fyre Festival received Netflix and Hulu documentaries.
Tablo wasn't the only artist to joke about the event.
"This is something special that K-pop fans will remember and talk about for years to come," Super Junior leader Leeteuk reportedly said.
As of publishing, @kampfestivals has not posted online since recapping Day 1 of the festival on Oct. 16 via Twitter.
See more chaotic moments and reactions from fans online, below: