Seoul was awash with the signs: BTS is back.
Landmarks were illuminated. Museums launched exhibitions. Stores rolled out offerings in purple, the fandom’s signature color: pastries, ice cream, drinks, pizza. A drone show projected the faces of the K-pop supergroup’s seven members over the city.
The return of BTS ends a three-year hiatus during which its members completed mandatory military service and focused on solo projects. The group was integral in catapulting K-pop into the global mainstream and its comeback, along with a new album, is an economic and soft-power boon for South Korea.
A concert on Saturday in Gwanghwamun, a square in Seoul’s historic center, is expected to draw over a quarter of a million people, and the city is going all out in its celebrations.
On Friday, massive electronic billboards beamed images of the group into the square as workers were erecting the makeshift stage where the group will perform. Seoul’s official mascot, a pink fuzzy monster called Hechi, was there in a BTS shirt, taking photos with passers-by. Businesses in the area, hoping to capitalize on the crowds, put up decorations and hawked purple products.
“This concert is such a big event that if you have a small business around here, it’s impossible not to market to it,” said Ben Chun, the owner of The Pizza Peel, a restaurant about a 15-minute walk from the venue. His offering? Pizza with purple base and a side of lilac aioli. (The color comes from food dye, he said.)
“We just hope it’ll have an effect,” he added.
The promotional activities extended far across the city. On Friday night, two of Seoul’s most recognizable landmarks, Seoul Tower and Sungnyemun Gate, hosted light shows celebrating the release that day of the group’s 10th studio album, “Arirang.” An hour later there was a drone show over the Han River which displayed the Korean flag, logos of the band and the faces of the seven members.
The scale of the promotional activities speaks to BTS’s outsized economic and cultural impact, experts said.
And it has awed fans, many of whom traveled from abroad for the show.
“I’m very amazed,” said Yna Salles, 30, from the Philippines. She was with two friends at a riverside park near South Korea’s National Assembly building, which had been turned into a fan space complete with a playground, beanbag chairs and giant speakers pumping out the new album. “This is BTS’s impact on the city and the country,” she added, gesturing around her.
Not everyone is as enthused. People who live near the impromptu concert venue are bracing for disruptions on Saturday, including subway station closures, bus diversions and the suspension of delivery services.
“For locals, it’s very inconvenient,” said Kim Jeongmin, 29, who lives in a nearby neighborhood.
He was at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, a few blocks away from the performance stage, which had launched a new installation for the comeback show. The giant, tassel-like cube structure rustled in the wind as “Swim,” the lead single from the new album, blasted from dozens of speakers.
Mr. Kim was in two minds about the show. Some residents had questioned why the city decided to hold it so centrally, increasing the severity of disruptions, he said. “At the same time, it’s promoting our city.”
Even though he was not a BTS fan, he said that as a Korean person, he was proud of the group.
“BTS has brought us so much economic benefit,” he added. “The world is looking at us. For Koreans, that’s something unbelievable.”
Yan Zhuang is a Times reporter in Seoul who covers breaking news.
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