SEOUL — BTS is back, and the K-pop boy band’s fans have taken over the city.
Seoul’s landmarks were lit red, the signature color of the band’s new album. Restaurants and shops decorated their storefronts purple, the color associated with its fandom. Coffee shops and cocktail bars emblazoned their drinks with the logo of the band’s new album. Fans cheered as a drone show displaying the seven band members’ faces lit up the sky over the Han River.
The band reunited on Saturday for a free concert for the first time in nearly four years, at an outdoor event that drew fans from around the world. The K-pop sensation went on hiatus while its members joined the South Korean military for their mandatory service and pursued solo careers.
The event was expected to be so huge that the national government raised its terrorism level alert near the venue. The city of Seoul dispatched thousands of law enforcement officers to the concert area. In the end, the event drew about 42,000 attendees, according to local media, less than one-fifth of the 260,000 that government officials had estimated.
The concert opened with the seven members reintroducing themselves from Gyeongbokgung, the main palace of the Joseon dynasty that began in the late 14th century. They walked down the “King’s Road,” a ceremonial path for kings, to the makeshift stage just outside of the palace. They performed new songs and familiar hits as fans cheered, cried and waved their light sticks.
“We are back,” said RM, one of the members, kicking off the show.
For the legion of BTS fans — known as ARMY — who descended on Seoul this week, the comeback concert was about more than just the hour-long performance. It was a chance to be a part of the commotion and celebrate the band that put K-pop on the map, even if they didn’t have one of the 22,000 tickets for the show.
“I just love it. Therefore, I wanted to be a part of it. I didn’t have a ticket, but I thought, why am I going to watch this online?” said Iklim Viol, 51, a pharmacist from Switzerland. “I’ve been posting on Instagram. I’ve been bombarding my family with videos and films and photos.”
Viol attended fan events held citywide this weekend, which included a light show synchronized to the band’s music, a lounge area at a park where they can listen to BTS music, and pop-up events.
“We’re here for the ambiance. It’s BTS comeback,” said Wahyu Iwe, 50, wearing a purple BTS sweatshirt. She was visiting from Jakarta, Indonesia, with her niece and sister. They couldn’t score tickets for the concert but were happy to be in its vicinity.
The group’s reunion comes as K-pop grows ever more popular around the world, dominating global album sales charts.
The K-pop industry’s overseas revenue reached $722 million in 2023, according to government figures, and in the past year the explosive success of projects like the Oscar-winning animated movie “KPop Demon Hunters” and the Grammy-nominated song “APT” by Rosé and Bruno Mars has further boosted one of South Korea’s most successful cultural exports.
BTS paved the way for the industry to expand overseas and become a global cultural phenomenon.
The band debuted in 2013 to moderate domestic popularity, but it became the first K-pop band to find success outside of Asia — landing on Billboard charts with hit after hit, like “Dynamite” and “Permission to Dance,” which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 list.
“They’re the face of K-pop to everyone outside of Korea,” said Grace Kao, a Yale University sociology professor and BTS fan who now researches the genre. “They’re always the first group that people think of [when it comes to K-pop]. If they name one group, it’s BTS.”
Unlike most K-pop bands, BTS has stayed together with its original members for more than a decade, amassing a huge catalogue of songs and a loyal fandom along the way, Kao said.
“They’ve been together longer than the Beatles, and they’ve had more songs than the Beatles have had,” Kao said.
Most K-pop bands nowadays have at least one Korean diasporic member or foreigner to appeal to the growing international fan base, but BTS is made up of all South Korean men, most of whom don’t speak fluent English. That makes their lasting popularity even more rare, Kao said.
As an homage to their roots, their comeback album is named “Arirang,” after a Korean folk song that is so representative of Korean identity and heritage that it’s often considered an unofficial national anthem. The concert was held at Gwanghwamun Square, which has been the political and cultural center of Seoul dating to the Joseon dynasty.
Their South Korean nationality also meant all seven had to serve in the military. Under a conscription system meant to counter threats from North Korea, South Korea requires all able-bodied men to serve at least 18 months in the military before they turn 28.
The 2022 announcement of their hiatus ahead of their pending conscription shocked their global fan base, raising existential questions about what would happen to one of the most successful music groups of all time. But during their last concert together later that year, the seven members promised ARMY that they plan to remain active for “decades.”
On Saturday, they kept that promise.
“I’m just so excited,” said Park Si-on, 22, a college student who became a BTS fan just before its members went to the military. “Their songs have comforted me whenever I went through a difficult time. … There’s something about their performance that is very uniquely BTS. I think that speaks to their passion.”
Park, who has attended solo performances by the band’s members, scored one of the ticketed spots for Saturday’s concert. Over the years, she has gotten so used to the foreign fans in love with K-pop and BTS that she said it almost feels rare to see South Korean fans at events.
“When I go to a concert in South Korea, it’s hard to find South Korean people. So at first, we talk in English, and then we ask, ‘Are you Korean?’” If not, Park said, “We communicate in body language.”
Among those overseas superfans of K-pop are Shala Davis from Vancouver and Tomika Clements from Florida. They met at a K-pop fan festival in Los Angeles last year and quickly became friends. They visited Seoul for the second time together this week and wanted to be a part of the celebratory events during their trip.
During this trip, Davis, 32, got a tattoo on her wrist representing BTS’s song “Zero O’Clock.” It sits next to another BTS tattoo that wraps around her forearm.
“To see this many ARMYs, all in one place, it’s kind of crazy,” Davis said. “It’s about the community. It’s where you can be a fan and feel safe to be a fan.”
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