LOS ANGELES — Santos Bravos, HYBE's first Latin pop group, delivered one of the standout performances of KCON LA 2026's opening weekend, joining fellow HYBE act &TEAM for a joint tribute to BTS that organizers billed as "two worlds connected by K-Soul," while also earning individual praise for a vocally demanding solo set on the festival's Artist Stage.

This year's KCON festival officially opened Friday, Aug. 14, at the Los Angeles Convention Center and Crypto.com Arena, running under the overarching theme "K-Soul City," a play on the South Korean capital. Festival producer CJ ENM expanded this year's convention across K-pop, K-beauty, K-food and K-story programming, including the debut of the Olive Young Festa K-Beauty Playground, featuring 55 different Korean cosmetics brands, alongside the festival's traditional music-focused lineup.

The standout collaborative moment of the weekend came during KCON's evening M Countdown concert, held Aug. 14 at Crypto.com Arena, where Santos Bravos and &TEAM joined forces for a three-song tribute to BTS. Santos Bravos opened the special stage with a performance of "Hooligan," a high-energy track from BTS' 2026 album "Arirang," before &TEAM took over with its own performance of "2.0," another cut from the same record, which spent three consecutive weeks atop the Billboard 200 chart. The two groups then reunited on stage for an energetic joint rendition of "Permission to Dance," bringing together all 14 members of both acts for the collaboration's finale.

The pairing marked the latest chapter in an ongoing creative relationship between the two HYBE-affiliated groups. Santos Bravos, formed by HYBE Latin America and based in Mexico City, and &TEAM, managed by Japan's YX Labels, had previously collaborated earlier this year on a remix of Santos Bravos' track "Kawasaki," which incorporated........

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