In its 5th year, Block Party wants to bring 'dank' back to Haebangchon

Jamie Finn models clown makeup in the main street of central Seoul's Haebangchon neighborhood, Sept. 21, 2025, during last year's Block Party. Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar

By Jon Dunbar

• Published Sep 1, 2026 4:41 AM KST

It's that time of year again, when live music and other performing arts take over spots throughout central Seoul's multicultural Haebangchon and Gyeongnidan neighborhoods.

This year marks Block Party's fifth run, lasting from Sept. 11-13, and returning at the helm is Jamie Finn, who exudes equal parts confidence and flop sweat every time he organizes the festival.

This year's festival will take place across over eight local venues, including Uplift, Boogie Woogie, Casa Amigo, Pet Sounds, Sub Riot, Togul, Dialogue and Dankyard. Every year, the list changes as new venues open and others close down, a sign of the area's changing character.

"It’s a bit weird, isn’t it?" Finn said as he described the state of Haebangchon. "Like it’s still Haebangchon, but it feels a bit uncanny. There’s loads of fun new fancy-pants restaurants, but where’s the dank? Block Party is a pro-dank festival, and we would like to see the dank return to Haebangchon."

The lineup for this year's Block Party combines a selection of favorites from past festivals, including Leenalchi, Cadejo and Drinking Boys and Girls Choir, while also bringing on many new acts, such as Lang Lee, Chacha and the Cousins, Snake Chicken Soup and Skasucks.

"Lang Lee is a genius folk artist, a wonderful live performer, a staunch activist and quite possibly the coolest human being on the planet," Finn said.

There are a handful of acts Finn dubbed the "Block Party house bands," the ones that have played every single Block Party: Pop Ents, 18Fevers, Pylat, Geoffrey Lewis and Yangbans. Finn pointed out that some individual musicians may also make this exclusive list, even while playing in different bands each year.

"Jihyang has played Block Party like 10 times through various projects such as Hyangni, Goonam and DJ Jihyang. She’ll be back this year with MiMi Sisters," he said. "I also think Kimin has played every year, either with Gorymurgy or PCR."

This year's festival also offers a high number of overseas acts, including legendary Australian punk band The Hard-Ons, Italian duo Little Boys, Taiwanese all-girl punk band BB Bomb, Portuguese garage band 800 Gondomar and DJ Lukey No-Wave from the U.K.

The festival also includes a variety of nonmusic performances, including drag, magic, pro wrestling and comedy, plus art on display courtesy of Hechyeomoyeo.

Finn attributed the excellently eclectic selection to the turnover in his team of volunteer organizers.

"We have a totally new team this year, and with that comes a bunch of new perspectives. They’re bringing their weird tastes to the festival, so I think the lineup this year is more diverse than any other year," he said.

"Every year the team behind Block Party changes — once is enough for most people. This year, we have four people planning the event — myself, Ethan Kim, Jia Seok and Glassgirl, who will also be performing at this year’s event. If anyone would like to help me plan Block Party 2027, please let me know. The pay is shit but on the plus side, the work is hard."

This year's Block Party crew will also team up with Haebang Week, which has other events planned. Also, Itaewon Film Festival, now in its second year, will officially link up.

Regarding the secrets to Block Party's success and sustainability over five years, Finn demurred.

"To be honest, we’re still working on the 'successful' and 'sustainable' thing. Every year is an absolute crapshoot, but we’re getting closer," he said.

"But in terms of being an event that people know about and want to go to year after year, then I guess you could say it is 'successful' and it’s a really great feeling. I think the reason people resonate with Block Party so much is that it is quite different to other festivals in Korea. We have more variety of performances, everything is a little messier and a little crazier, and we have a bigger focus on atmosphere and experience. Also, we go much later at night. We build our lineups around having a good time."

Every year, I ask Finn if there will be a Block Party next year. Each time, he has told me it would be the last year, until last year when he signaled his willingness to do this one. So will there be a sixth Block Party in 2027?

"No," said Finn. "This is the last one."

One-day tickets cost 65,000 won each, two-day tickets are 90,000 won and three-day tickets are 105,000 won. Visit debasermagazine.com or follow @blockpartykorea on Instagram for more information and to buy tickets.