If your autumn travel plans include Vietnam, there's a new reason to be in Hanoi on the last weekend of October. A free two-day music festival, K-Live, runs October 24-25 with live sets from South Korean and Vietnamese artists on an outdoor stage near the rear gate of the Republic of Korea's embassy — no ticket needed, with performances starting at 5pm each evening.
The theme this year is "The Era of Bands", and the lineup leans heavily into that. Flying the flag for Korea are QWER, a visual band with a devoted international following; Silica Gel, known for their psychedelic sound and high-voltage live shows; and TOUCHED, who pair bold stage presence with emotional songwriting. Also on the bill: The Shepherd Bois with their fearless lyrics, singer-songwriter MIJINEE and her commanding vocals, and DJEMBE COLA, whose sound draws on African Manding traditions — a reminder this isn't a strictly K-pop affair.
The Vietnamese side is well represented too. One of the festival's most anticipated moments is a collaboration between Hoàng Dũng, one of the country's leading singer-songwriters with a sincere, understated style, and Màu Nước Band, a top-tier live session band. Their joint set is pitched as the centrepiece of the cultural exchange between the two countries.
The festival is part of a bigger picture: Korea Season 2026, an annual cultural exchange programme run by Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and organised by KOFICE with the Korean Cultural Centre in Vietnam. It launched in Hanoi back in May with the Korean original ballet GAT at the Hồ Gươm Opera, and the rest of the year promises classical concerts, more music festivals and exhibitions mixing media art with painting. The K-Live weekend also ties into the 2026 Korean Cultural Road Festival, which adds extra cultural experiences around the main stage. South Korean Ambassador Lee Miyon has framed the whole programme as a sign of how deep people-to-people ties between the two countries have become.
For travellers, this is a genuinely good deal: world-class live music, entirely free, in one of Asia's most atmospheric capitals in late October — a month when Hanoi's weather is cooling off and the city is at its most pleasant. Come early for the music, stay for the street food and the Old Quarter's evening buzz.
