MELBOURNE — Australia’s K-pop fans can let it all out next year at a dedicated day-long music festival.
The first edition of 안녕, MELBOURNE (“Hello Melbourne”) will be presented March 14, 2026 at Melbourne’s Flemington Racecourse, a new show that will sit alongside the market’s rock, indie, dance, country and multi-genre events.
Announced Wednesday, Dec. 10, the new event is made possible by a partnership struck by APPLEWOOD, a leading live player in K-pop and Asian entertainment, and Australian independents concerts and festivals specialist Untitled Group.
Details of the lineup will be announced this Friday.
Established in 2013, APPLEWOOD has produced major tours for the likes of SEVENTEEN, ENHYPEN, BAEKHYUN, LE SSERAFIM, GFRIEND and G-DRAGON, and orchestrated BLACKPINK’s 2019 world tour, which smashed records with six sold-out arena shows in Bangkok, Thailand.
In those years since launch, the business has produced more than 120 shows and attracting over 750,000 attendees across 20-plus cities in 18 markets, including Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines and, next year, Australia.
Meanwhile, Untitled Group is celebrating its 10th anniversary, during which time the business has produced a slate of popular festivals, including Beyond The Valley and Wildlands.
In 2024, Untitled Group shifted over 630,000 tickets across its events and tours, including Dom Dolla’s Australian tour, which set a new record for a homegrown DJ with 170,000 tickets sold. Untitled’s festivals portfolio includes Pitch Music & Arts, Ability Fest, and the team produced the domestic leg of RÜFÜS DU SOL’s recent, record-setting world tour.
Australia has a deeper connection with some of the biggest names in K-pop, with the likes of Danielle and Hanni from NewJeans, Rose from BLACKPINK, and Stray Kids pair BangChan and Felix all boasting roots from these parts.
K-pop is a big, and growing business in these parts — both on the national charts and live stages. TWICE’s recent This Is For tour of Australia sold more than 50,000 tickets sold across Sydney and Melbourne, according to Live Nation, which produced those dates, while the K-Pop Demon Hunters soundtrack dominated both the ARIA Singles and Albums Charts at stages this year.
Data presented last year by Live Nation found that the genre is hot in Australasia, with a 600% increase in the number of Asia Pop live shows reported from 2015, and, at the same time, a 275% spike in the number of touring artists passing through.
The inaugural Soundcheck report, published last year by Creative Australia, found that Australia hosts more than 500 festivals. Electronic dance music was the boss, accounting for almost one in four music festivals in Australia (23% of festivals), ahead of rock (21%), country (19%) and indie (17%).
