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Updated: 22 September 2026

The K-Fest Dubai concert is free, it is outdoors, and it is on two nights. ONEUS and Kwon Eunbi headline Friday 25 September at Festival Bay, Dubai Festival City Mall, from 8pm to 10pm, with the IMAGINE Show from 7:30pm and fireworks; choreographers AIKI and Youngjun Choi of 1MILLION Dance Studio take the same stage on Saturday 26 September from 7:30pm. The official Visit Dubai listing prints “Free event” and no ticket sales, so the plan is simple: arrive early, and book somewhere to eat afterwards — Mukbang Shows Deira is the nearest unlimited Korean BBQ.

TL;DR
– Fri 25 Sept: IMAGINE Show 7:30pm, ONEUS and Kwon Eunbi 8–10pm, fireworks. Festival Bay, Dubai Festival City Mall. Free.
– Sat 26 Sept: from 7:30pm, Korean-Arabic fusion act, taekwondo dance, then AIKI and Youngjun Choi. Same stage. Free.
– No tickets printed on the official listing; it is an open promenade show.
– Eat after: Mukbang Deira, Al Ittihad Road, unlimited halal Korean BBQ from AED 69, minimum two.

Who is playing the K-Fest Dubai concert?

Two headline acts on Friday and two dance headliners on Saturday. Friday 25 September is Kwon Eunbi, the solo artist and former member of IZ*ONE, and ONEUS, the boy band the organisers say are playing “their first global stage since the release of their new album” — their twelfth mini album, FIRST LIGHT. Saturday 26 September belongs to AIKI, the dancer-choreographer known from Street Woman Fighter and leader of the crew HOOK, and Choi Young-jun (billed as Youngjun Choi), a choreographer for leading K-pop artists; both are from 1MILLION Dance Studio.

The official Dubai K-Fest page on Visit Dubai puts it this way: “Sing, dance and cheer on as acts ONEUS and Kwon Eunbi headline on 25 September. The fun continues on 26 September, with renowned choreographers AIKI and Youngjun Choi from 1MILLION Dance Studio keeping up the energy.” The concerts are presented by Dubai Calendar and open Dubai K-Fest 2026, the ten-day citywide festival that runs to 4 October — our complete Dubai K-Fest 2026 guide covers everything beyond the stage.

When and where exactly is the K-Fest Dubai concert?

Festival Bay, the waterfront promenade of Dubai Festival City Mall, on Friday 25 and Saturday 26 September 2026. The official event listing for the opening night prints “FRI, 25 SEPTEMBER 2026, 20:00 – 22:00, Festival Bay, Dubai Festival City Mall, Free event”.

Khaleej Times on the free opening concerts sets out the running order for both nights. Friday: the IMAGINE Show at 7:30pm, then the live concert from 8pm with traditional Korean performances and a taekwondo dance act around the two headliners, and fireworks confirmed for opening night. Saturday: from 7:30pm, a Korean-Arabic fusion act, a taekwondo dance act, then AIKI and Youngjun Choi. Festival Bay sits on the Creek, so the fireworks go up over the water behind the stage.

Dubai Festival City is on the Deira side of the Creek, off Al Rebat Street by the Al Garhoud bridge. The mall is also home to Korea 360, the year-round K-pop, K-beauty and K-food centre that Time Out Dubai’s report on the festival names, so the venue is not an accident.

Is the K-Fest Dubai concert free, and do you need tickets?

Free, and no tickets are printed anywhere on the official listing. The Visit Dubai page describes “a series of free-to-attend concerts”, the event listing prints “Free event”, and Khaleej Times confirms free admission for both nights. The listing offers a “Remind me” email and an add-to-calendar button, not a booking.

That makes it a public promenade show rather than a ticketed arena. Treat it like one: arrive well before 7:30pm on the Friday if you want to be near the stage, expect a crowd on the waterfront, and expect the mall itself to be busy from late afternoon. Nothing on the official pages prints a capacity, an entry gate or an age policy, so this guide does not either.

What else is on stage at the K-Fest Dubai concert?

More than the headliners. Friday opens with the IMAGINE Show at 7:30pm — Festival Bay’s own light and water show — and folds traditional Korean performances and a taekwondo dance act into the evening before and around the K-pop sets, then fireworks. Saturday opens with a Korean-Arabic fusion act and a taekwondo dance act before the 1MILLION dancers.

Dubai has hosted K-pop before — Time Out notes G-Dragon’s Super Krazy Concert at Dubai Media City Amphitheatre in February, a one-day festival at Global Village last November, and a free Festival City concert during the last Dubai Shopping Festival. This is the first time a K-pop stage has opened a full Korean festival in the city. Our guide to K-pop concerts in Dubai has the background.

How do you get to Festival Bay for the K-Fest Dubai concert?

By car or taxi, on the Deira side of the Creek. Dubai Festival City Mall has no metro station of its own, so most people arrive by road — from Deira and Garhoud over the Al Garhoud Bridge side, from Business Bay and Downtown over the Creek crossings, and into the mall’s own car parks. Festival Bay is the open promenade on the water at the back of the mall, where the IMAGINE Show runs; follow the mall signs for Festival Bay or the waterfront.

Two practical points the official pages do not spell out, so treat them as common sense rather than rules. First, a free outdoor K-pop show on a Friday that is also Chuseok will draw a crowd, and the mall’s car parks fill on ordinary Friday evenings; leaving early is the only reliable trick. Second, late September in Dubai is still warm and humid after dark — water, a light layer for the mall’s air conditioning afterwards, and a charged phone for the light-stick moment are the whole kit.

If you are coming from the JBR or Marina end of the city, the drive is long enough that a table near the venue afterwards makes more sense than heading back; Mukbang Deira is the branch for that, and the JBR branch on The Walk is for the nights you stay on your own side.

What is Korea 360 at Dubai Festival City Mall?

Korea 360 is the year-round Korean culture centre inside Dubai Festival City Mall — Time Out describes it as “a dedicated year-round centre promoting the world of K-Pop, K-Beauty and K-Food” — and it is one of the festival’s named partners alongside the Korea Creative Content Agency’s UAE Business Center. That is why the opening concerts are at this mall rather than at a stadium: the K-culture hub was already here.

It is a showcase, not a restaurant or a shop you plan an evening around, but it is the natural place to spend the hour between arriving at the mall and the 7:30pm start. Time Out also notes that the UAE and Korean governments announced plans in 2025 for a “K-city” hub in the country bringing together K-culture, K-food and business; the festival is the first citywide event since that announcement.

Where can you eat before or after the concert near Dubai Festival City?

The nearest unlimited Korean BBQ to Festival Bay is Mukbang Shows Deira on Al Ittihad Road, Port Saeed, a short drive on the same side of the Creek. It is an official “Taste Korea in Dubai” listing on the K-Fest deals page — “100% halal all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ and seafood feast” — and its numbers are the same as the rest of the year: Gangnam AED 69 a person, Daegu 89, Jeju 99, Bukchon Hanok 129, each with seven kinds of beef and chicken BBQ, eight banchan, two gimbap, soup and steamed rice, unlimited, minimum two, AED 60 for meat left on the table. Two people after the Friday show are AED 138.

Phone +971-4-886-4494; the branch page is our Korean restaurant near Dubai Festival City.

The nearest official K-Fest food line in the district is Cupbop at Deira City Centre — Korean BBQ in a cup from AED 29, spice levels one to ten, dine-in, takeaway or delivery — for a quick bowl before the show rather than a table after it. Inside the mall itself, Korea 360 is a showcase centre rather than a restaurant.

For the rest of the festival’s food — HANU’s AED 259 Chuseok menu, Koreana’s four-for-three, Sui Mui’s AED 100 weekday seafood special, Jun’s AED 425 wagyu-bulgogi plate, a free Dalgona latte at Nespresso — the pillar guide has the full table, and our Korean BBQ price guide for Dubai sets the unlimited ladder against the rest of the city.

K-Fest Dubai concert: the two nights side by side

The Friday date is not random: 25 September 2026 is Chuseok, Korean Thanksgiving, and three of the festival’s official food deals are Chuseok menus. A Korean family in Dubai will treat the opening night as a holiday.

What happens after the K-Fest Dubai concert weekend?

Eight more days of Dubai K-Fest 2026, without a stage announced yet. The festival’s four pillars — Celebrate, Taste, Shop, Win — carry on to 4 October, and the official deals page is where the rest of it lives.

On the Taste side, eight offers are printed: a free Dalgona latte at Nespresso boutiques (Dubai Mall, Mall of the Emirates, Dubai Hills Mall, Mirdif City Centre); Cupbop’s Korean BBQ cups from AED 29 at Ibn Battuta, Deira City Centre and JBR The Walk; Mukbang Shows’ unlimited halal Korean BBQ from AED 69 at Deira, JBR and DWTC; Sui Mui’s AED 100 Haemul-Bokkeum at the Westin Mina Seyahi on weekday evenings; Koreana’s buy-three-get-one on mains in Al Barsha 1; a 1004 Gourmet Chuseok special; HANU’s AED 259 five-course Chuseok menu from 6pm daily; and Jun’s AED 425 Steak and Bulgogi in Downtown.

On the Shop side, Chemist Warehouse runs a Medicube pop-up at Al Ghurair Centre with device demonstrations and consultations, and festival discounts on more than 25 Korean skincare brands at Al Ghurair, BurJuman and B1 Mall. On the Win side, every AED 300 spent in one transaction at any of more than 2,500 participating stores, scanned through the K-Fest QR code, is an entry into the draw for a 2026 Genesis G80 Prestige, a Samsung smart-home package, an AED 10,000 Festival City Mall voucher or a K-beauty package. The organisers have said more programme details are still coming; the pillar guide will be updated as they are announced.

Mukbang Shows and the concert weekend: the honest line

Mukbang Shows is not at Dubai Festival City and is not part of the stage programme. What it is: the closest unlimited Korean BBQ to the concert, an official Taste Korea in Dubai participant, 100% halal — beef and chicken only, no pork, no alcohol — with a grill in the table for a group coming off the promenade, at AED 69 a head with everything inside. It also has two more Dubai branches on the official listing, JBR (Plaza Level, Bahar 7, The Walk; +971-54-523-1898) and DWTC / Love Mukbang (The Apartments Block A, Sheikh Zayed Road; +971-54-524-5904), for anyone staying on the other side of the city.

The limit is the same as always: minimum two for the unlimited tiers, no soju for anyone who wants the chimaek-and-soju version of a K-pop night, and no festival-only discount — the listing is the standard ladder. Our guide to the best Korean BBQ in Dubai compares it with the rest.

How to do the concert weekend well

Go on Friday if you want the K-pop sets and the fireworks; go on Saturday if you want the dancers and a slightly smaller crowd. Be at Festival Bay before 7:30pm either night. Eat a bowl at Cupbop Deira City Centre beforehand if you are coming from that side, and book a table for after — Mukbang Deira is the nearest Korean BBQ, minimum two, from AED 69. Keep every AED 300 receipt from the mall for the festival’s citywide raffle, which has a Genesis G80 as the grand prize.

Then use the other eight days. The concert is two nights; Dubai K-Fest 2026 runs to 4 October, and the food and shopping deals run the whole way.

FAQ

Is the K-Fest Dubai concert free?

Yes. The official Visit Dubai listing prints “Free event” for the ONEUS and Kwon Eunbi night, and both nights are described as free-to-attend. No ticket sales are printed.

What time does the K-Fest concert start?

Friday 25 September: the IMAGINE Show at 7:30pm, then the concert from 8pm to 10pm. Saturday 26 September: from 7:30pm.

Where is the K-Fest concert in Dubai?

Festival Bay, the waterfront promenade at Dubai Festival City Mall, on the Deira side of the Creek.

Who is performing at K-Fest Dubai?

Friday: ONEUS and Kwon Eunbi (ex-IZ*ONE), with traditional performances and a taekwondo dance act. Saturday: AIKI and Youngjun Choi of 1MILLION Dance Studio, with a Korean-Arabic fusion act and a taekwondo dance act.

Are there fireworks at the K-Fest Dubai concert?

Yes on Friday 25 September — Khaleej Times confirms fireworks for opening night. Saturday’s listing does not mention them.

Where is the nearest Korean BBQ to Dubai Festival City?

Mukbang Shows Deira on Al Ittihad Road, Port Saeed — unlimited halal Korean BBQ from AED 69 a person, minimum two, and an official Taste Korea in Dubai listing.

Is the concert on Chuseok?

Yes. Friday 25 September 2026 is Chuseok, Korean Thanksgiving, and the holiday runs 24 to 26 September — the whole opening weekend.