K-pop entertainment giant SM Entertainment, in collaboration with FRONTROW, is bringing SMTOWN LIVE 2025 to the UK for the very first time as part of its 30th anniversary celebrations.
The summer’s biggest K-pop event in Europe is taking place at London’s Allianz Stadium Twickenham on 28 June. The first wave of multi-million-selling stars announced for the line-up today are EXO’s SUHO and CHANYEOL, NCT DREAM, WayV, RIIZE and NCT WISH. Full line-up to be revealed soon!
SMTOWN LIVE 2025 is set to be the first K-pop concert held at the Allianz Stadium, Twickenham, which has hosted concerts for U2, Beyoncé and Lady Gaga.
This is the first time SM’s label-wide concert, SMTOWN LIVE, has been to Europe since 2010’s show in Paris. The trailblazing label is home to some of the planet’s biggest and most influential K-pop stars, including BoA, TVXQ!, SUPER JUNIOR, Girls’ Generation, SHINee, EXO, Red Velvet, NCT 127, NCT DREAM, WayV, aespa and RIIZE.
Tickets go on sale at the end of this month – more details to come.
Leading this first line-up announcement are SUHO and CHANYEOL of EXO, one of the most decorated K-pop groups in history. Over their monumental career, they became the first Korean act to surpass 10 million albums in the 21st Century and the first K-pop group in history to achieve five consecutive million-selling albums. As of January this year, their total equivalent album sales officially exceeded 35 million worldwide. Their most recent group release, 2023’s “Exist”, continued to break their own records, selling over 1 million copies on release day – a first for EXO and a notable feat for a group over a decade into their career.
NCT DREAM, a subgroup of SM Entertainment’s NCT behemoth, returns to London with SMTOWN LIVE just seven months after their headline show at OVO Arena Wembley as part of their massive 2024 world tour ‘THE DREAM SHOW 3: DREAM( )SCAPE’, which spanned 36 shows across Asia, South America, North America, and Europe. In between sold-out tour dates, they released their EP “DREAM( )SCAPE” and full-length album “DREAMSCAPE” in March and November last year respectively, with the former becoming Korea’s best-selling album of the year.
WayV, a six-member Chinese subgroup of NCT, also returns to London for the first time since their UK live debut in June 2023. Since then, they’ve released multiple critically acclaimed albums, including last year’s “FREQUENCY”, which broke their own week one sales records and earned them the historic title of the first non-Korean group to win a first-place award on a Korean music show.
RIIZE is a rising powerhouse among new K-pop boy groups, known for their fresh sound and captivating performances. They hit the scene in 2023 and immediately sold over 1 million copies of their debut album “RIIZING”; a year and a half on, they’ve surpassed 3 million monthly listeners on Spotify and show no signs of slowing. SMTOWN LIVE in London marks their first performance in Europe, heightening anticipation even more for this historic moment.
The newest boy group on SM Entertainment’s roster, NCT WISH – the final sub-group of NCT – similarly make their European debut at the London concert. Already named ‘Rookie of the Year’ at Korea’s Golden Disc Awards, they continue to make a name for themselves globally just a year after their debut, even earning a nomination in the iHeartRadio Music Awards’ ‘Best New Artist (K-pop)’ category.
