‘My heart is palpitating,’ I heard one BTS fan clamour outside Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Monday. ‘Same, I can’t control myself,’ her friend replied, bedecked in glitter.
After seven years away, the boyband that put K-pop on the map returned to London for two gigs this week. The fan frenzy outside the stadium isn’t the only proof that this is a big deal.
The London pitstop is part of a sold-out 88-date world tour for their album Arirang, which sold a mesmerising 3.98million copies on the first day of its release.
It was their first music in nearly four years, during which the septet had to abandon their fan ARMY for the real thing, completing South Korea’s mandatory military service.
Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook burst into the baking summertime heat for what was a two-and-a-half-hour, three-act extravaganza before a packed crowd, waving a sea of BTS-branded glowsticks that go for £65 a pop.
The screams, from start to finish, were unlike anything I’ve ever heard. Imagine the high-pitched shrieks on the Victoria line and then multiply them by ten. That’s a fraction of what it sounded like.
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‘Let’s make London the loudest stop of this tour,’ said V. It definitely felt like it. The stadium rumbled beneath my feet.
When each group member was given their moment on the wraparound screens, a fresh wave of shrieks ripped out. I did wonder whether they ever compare one scream’s decibels to another’s, but by my calculations they were all equally deafening.
There were no bad seats in the Hotspur house, as the band opted for an in-the-round set-up in the pitch centre, with four prongs out into the crowd so everyone could get close.
During Idol, BTS led their dance troupe in a flag-touting parade around the touchline, so that the fans at the back suddenly had front row seats.
The set list was largely Arirang tracks. I had been tepid on the album after its March release, but heard with the bass and energy of a live performance, it was phenomenal.
The septet were less reliant on the slick, synchronised choreography they are probably best known for among casual fans. Instead, they had a 50-strong dance horde, lasers, popping fireworks and liberal use of pyrotechnics.
From the seats, each flame felt a bit like an oven being opened in my face. I can only imagine how the ARMY battalions up close to the stage fared. But it was a blaze of glory to watch.
When BTS did revert to their V-formation and transition-heavy ripples, the effect was occasionally schmaltzy.
Most of the group is in their thirties now. They might no longer feel they relate to bubbly tracks like Butter and Dynamite. They seemed the least excitable while performing them.
Their stage presence and the 360 set-up felt far better suited to the hip-hop-focused new stuff, with its clattering beats and swaggering lyrics.
A gorgeous example of the less-is-more approach came with the album’s lead single SWIM. Dancers bounced around underneath a gossamer fabric tent to create waves around them. Sounds strange; it worked.
The concert was filled with homages to their Korean identity, as well as interludes for each to take turns speaking to fans, sometimes via translator.
Their comments ranged from pedestrian observations and Jimin praising how ‘hot’ the ARMY looked (cue wild screams) to moving reflections on what they have been through since their last London gig. ‘There was Covid and there was military and now we’re here in 2026,’ said band leader RM.
The phenomenon of the ARMY equals that of the band itself. I sometimes couldn’t hear tracks over the scream-singing of lyrics. When BTS asked who had attended their 2019 Wembley gig, there were innumerable shrieks and waved hands. Likewise when asked who would be back for tonight’s repeat performance.
BTS’s gentler end to the night might have justified an early exit to beat the tube rush. They performed in a seated row on the rotating central stage, closing out with Please and Into The Sun.
But RM urged fans to stay to the very end. To their credit, very few didn’t.