(2nd LD) BTS holds free concert in Busan to promote 2030 World Expo bid
SEOUL, Oct. 15 (Yonhap) — Global pop group BTS held a free concert in the southeastern port city of Busan on Saturday night to support the city’s bid to host the 2030 World Expo.
Around 52,000 fans from around the world attended the concert titled “Yet To Come in Busan” at the Busan Asiad Main Stadium. Another 12,000 fans who failed to obtain tickets enjoyed the show live on large screens set up at Busan Port and Haeundae Beach. For international fans, the concert was also livestreamed on various online platforms.
The septet, which wrapped up the first chapter of its nine-year career with the anthology album “Proof” in June, shared traces of its journey with its fans during the 90-minute concert.
The show was the septet’s first performance in South Korea since March, when the group staged the “Permission to Dance on Stage” shows in Seoul. But it also was the first BTS concert at a fully packed stadium in three years.
Only 15,000 spectators were allowed to attend per night while all screaming, chanting and singing along were barred under strict COVID-19 rules during the latest concerts at Seoul’s Olympic Stadium.
On Saturday, BTS opened the show with “MIC Drop,” followed by “Run BTS” and “Run” without a pause.
Instead of hit singles such as “DNA, “Permission To Dance,” “On” and “Blood, Sweat And Tears,” the band picked its lesser known sub-unit tracks such as “Zero O’Clock,” “Butterfly,” “UGH” and “Cypher pt. 3: Killer.” It then heated up the atmosphere by performing its global smash-hits, including “Boy With Luv,” “Butter,” “Dope,” “Fire,” and “IDOL.”
After “Dynamite,” colorful fireworks lighted up the sky of Busan, like the lyrics of the song, “So watch me bring the fire and set the night alight.”
BTS later calmed down the excited fans, singing autobiographical songs depicting its pressure and burden as a global star, like “Young Forever” and “For Youth.” The concert wrapped up with encores of “Spring Day,” which has an impressive refrain that goes “I miss you,” and “Yet to Come,” the main track off the band’s anthology album “Proof.”
The show has drawn wide media attention as it could be the last chance to see all of the band’s seven members performing on the same stage for years.
In South Korea, all able-bodied men are required to serve in the military for about two years. The band’s oldest member Jin has to join the Army next year unless BTS members are given exemptions from active military service in recognition of their contribution to improving the country’s brand image.
The band said in June it will suspend performing as a group and focus instead on solo projects.
“It is time that faith is needed,” J-Hope said in his closing comment for the performance. “It is time for both BTS and ARMY to draw their future together with faith,” he said, referring to the name of the band’s global fandom.
Jimin asked fans to stay with the band in the future.
“These days, I had this thought a lot, ‘Why do I hate to get older?’ But today, I’m curious about our next 10 years. I’m looking forward to the future, and I think I’ll be happy without being afraid. I think it’s just a preview that we have come this far. Don’t you think we should go 30 to 40 years more together?” he said, smiling.
Jin made a surprise announcement that he will become the second BTS member to make a debut as a solo artist following J-Hope.
The rapper-dancer dropped his first solo album “Jack in the Box” in July, becoming the first member from the septet to go solo.
“I came to release a song with a person that I like,” Jin said. “I filmed a lot of things and there’s a lot left to show you in the future,” he added, without giving details of the individual project.
