AAA 2026 Kaohsiung: Sold Out in 10 Minutes, What's Left to Do

AAA 2026 Kaohsiung, the Asia Artist Awards 2026, runs for two days, Saturday December 5 and Sunday December 6, at Kaohsiung National Stadium (高雄國家體育場) in Taiwan. It is the second year in a row at the same stadium.

No stadium ticket? Disney+ will stream AAA 2026 live worldwide, organizer Star News announced on November 6. The main show starts at 17:00 Taiwan time (09:00 UTC) on both days; Taiwan’s SETTV broadcast runs one hour behind the live event.

AAA 2026 Kaohsiung dates and start times

Both days the red carpet starts at 3 pm Taiwan time and the main ceremony at 5 pm. Taiwan is one hour behind Korea (UTC+8 versus UTC+9), so that is 4 pm and 6 pm in Seoul.

The times come from the organizers’ notice as reported by Business Today, which says they may change on site. The hosts are from the Top Star News report.

Clear the whole day. Plan on more than five hours for the main ceremony alone; a Korea Herald preview of last year’s show put it at “roughly 300 minutes” of performances, collaboration stages and awards. A thread on the Taiwanese forum PTT said last year’s ceremony ran from the 2 pm red carpet until about 10:30 pm, and one audience member replied “我在觀眾席都超累了”, which means they were worn out just from sitting in the stands. If this year goes the same way, you could be in the stadium for close to eight hours counting from the red carpet, so wear comfortable shoes.

A CNA report from the venue says fans were gathering from the afternoon last year, and people without tickets sat on the lawn outside just to listen.

Last year a second event, the ACON concert, ran at the same stadium the day after the ceremony. This year ACON was staged in Taipei on July 25, with December programming focused exclusively on the two consecutive ceremony days in Kaohsiung.

AAA is unusual in giving awards to actors and singers on the same stage. It started in Seoul in 2016 and began traveling abroad in 2019.

AAA 2026 tickets: how they sold and what they cost

There was one seller, the Taiwanese ticketing site tixcraft. Early-bird sales began on May 31, card-issuer presales ran on September 17 and 18, and the general sale opened at 1 pm Taiwan time on September 19.

Each ticket carried a 200 TWD fee. One account could buy two tickets per show and four across both days, and only credit cards were accepted (Business Today report). Refunds were not available for reasons such as the program or the view.

The stage is a square in the middle of the stadium again this year, and the sales notice says some seats have a blocked view. Those restricted-view seats were left out of this sale entirely. A Korea Herald reporter described last year’s show the same way, as a 360-degree setup, which is worth keeping in mind when you pick a seat.

Sightlines and screens drew complaints last year too. Under this year’s sales notice, another fan who went last year wrote “規劃的不好，螢幕又小”, roughly that the planning was poor and the screens were small. If you end up in the back, it’s one more reason to bring binoculars. I looked on Reddit, travel blogs and news comment sections for an English first-hand account of AAA 2025 and only turned up news coverage. That’s why the audience voices in this post come from Taiwanese fans, quoted in Chinese as they wrote it, with my own English gloss.

The only official route to a ticket now is an extra release. Last year leftover seats went on sale on November 16 (Business Weekly), but as of October 18 nothing has been announced for this year. I wouldn’t pay a reseller’s markup in the meantime. If that changes, I’ll update this post.

If you already have a ticket, you collect it from an ibon machine at a Taiwanese 7-Eleven starting five days before the show. There is no pickup at the venue (Business Today). So the first stop after you land in Kaohsiung is a convenience store.

AAA 2026 lineup: who performs on which day?

Actors and singers are split by day. Announcements came in several batches from late July, and the day-by-day list landed on September 15. Below is part of the list compiled by Top Star News.

The lists differ a little between outlets, so I used the Top Star News article, the one that splits the names by day. If you’re going for one artist in particular, double-check their day on the official social accounts.

The popularity awards have six categories: male and female actors, male and female groups, and male and female solo artists. The preliminary round ran from September 4 to 11 in the STARPOLL app, and the final round ran from 10 am on October 8 to 11:59 pm on November 4 and is now closed. The preliminary result counts 30% and the final round 70% (Star News announcement).

Getting to Kaohsiung National Stadium

Take the Kaohsiung MRT Red Line to World Games station (世運, R17) and leave by Exit 1. The walk is about 10 minutes. The stadium holds around 55,000 people (Wikipedia).

If you are flying in from abroad, KHH is the easiest landing because the Red Line runs straight from the terminal to the stadium. If you land at Taipei instead, the high-speed rail ends at Zuoying, the same building as the MRT. I didn’t look up train times, so check the rail operator’s timetable.

Zuoying is also where you can leave your bags. When the Kaohsiung MRT switched on English and Chinese train announcements for a TWICE concert at this stadium in November 2025, a TVBS English news item mentioned a paid luggage storage service inside the fare gates at Zuoying Station, 100 TWD per item, with pickup by 11 pm. That was for a different event, so check it’s running again before your trip. The same report added a rule that applies to any big night here: “Travelers must follow instructions to enter stations.”

There is no parking at the stadium, and the road in front was closed last year. A free shuttle to and from Zuoying ran then, and this year’s shuttle hasn’t been announced yet.

Leaving the stadium after the show

About 100,000 people split over two days, and most of them funnel through World Games station. Last year the metro cut train intervals to 3 minutes and extended the last train to midnight (NOWnews). Even if you rush to the station right after the show, you will queue, so a hotel within a few stops makes life easier.

For a sense of how long the exit takes, a Taiwan News report on an Ed Sheeran show at the same stadium in February 2024 is useful. The city did all the usual things, with extra staff at the station and trains every 3 minutes, and the report still says: “According to Chen, after the concert ended at 10:19 p.m., the crowd was successfully dispersed 90 minutes later by 11:49 p.m.” Chen is Kaohsiung’s mayor. An awards night will be a different crowd, but I’d still plan on a long wait.

December weather in Kaohsiung

Kaohsiung in December is a lot warmer than Korea. The average December high is just above 25 degrees C and the low is close to 18 (Mapple guide citing Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration). A T-shirt works for the 3 pm red carpet, and a thin jacket covers the end of the night show. A puffer coat is just extra luggage.

What you can’t bring in

According to visitor guidance from earlier events (Trip.com guide), there is no bag storage inside, and cameras, selfie sticks, large LED signs, balloons, folding chairs and outside food are not allowed in. Rules can change from show to show, so check this year’s notice before you go. Bring a small bag, and definitely your light stick.

We keep other K-pop award dates on the K-Culture page. Two weeks earlier, on November 20 and 21, the 2026 MAMA AWARDS take place in Osaka, and the weekend before that, the Melon Music Awards 2026 are in Seoul. If you’re thinking about Osaka as well, here’s how MAMA 2026 tickets are sold, from the Qoo10 lottery to seat prices.