The group last performed in the U.K. in 2019 at the iconic Wembley Stadium.
BTS perform in in London
BigHit/HYBE
It’s been seven years since global K-pop titans BTS performed in the U.K. The septet last looked out over the iconic red seats of Wembley Stadium back in 2019, but on Monday (July 6) — with a whole pandemic and a septet of staggered mandatory military enlistments behind us — they traversed the capital to arrive at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, where they’re performing two dates as part of their massive Arirang World Tour.
The tour is the group’s first outing as a full group since 2023’s Permission to Dance on Stage tour (which only hit up native Seoul and a few cities in the U.S.) and commemorates the release of Arirang in March. The album is named after the “unofficial anthem” of South Korea, a traditional folk song etched into the country’s emotionally tumultuous history. Though described as a celebration of the group’s Korean heritage, it was also a decidedly international affair, with production credits from Western juggernauts like Mike WiLL Made-It, Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker and Ryan Tedder. The album reintroduces BTS to the world in a flurry of propulsive bangers which, as evidenced at this show, were simply made to be heard in a stadium.
As the seven members of BTS – RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V and Jungkook – took to the stage, it would have been easy to forget just how much of their record-breaking career occurred away from the eyes of their U.K. fans. “Dynamite,” arguably the group’s biggest hit, was released in the summer of 2020 and catapulted the phenoms to undeniable mainstream ubiquity. BTS then went on to additional Billboard Hot 100 chart-toppers and Grammy nominations, official solo ventures and tours, and a military service-necessitated hiatus.
With a lot of catching up to do, from old classics to new hits to everything in between, these were the best moments from BTS’ triumphant return to the U.K.
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Stadium-ready songs
Though Arirang as a motif harkens back to an age-old folk song, the LP itself is bursting with songs that were made to boom out of massive speakers. “I need the whole stadium to jump”, rapper Namjoon said as “Body to Body” kicked into gear. It’s less a request and more a knowing command: There’s simply no way to experience a BTS beat drop without having two feet firmly off the floor.
The menacing “Hooligan” opens the show like a battle cry, while Jersey club-inspired “FYA” could have blown the roof straight off the stadium were it not already open for some much-needed breeze. Old crowd-pleasers like “Mic Drop” and “Not Today” were expertly dipped into as well, leaving a crowd full of pent-up energy gasping for a sneaky sit-down.
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Sublime storytelling
From the jump, Arirang was built on a mythology: a song that carries the weight of centuries of Korean identity and resilience, packaged into the metaphor of this group, launched onto the global stage as representatives of its native land. It’s understandable, then, that unlike previous BTS tours, this one leans heavier on narrative than choreography, performing at times almost like black-box theatre in the cavernous architecture of a stadium. Silk sheets that harken back to traditional performance art stand in for flowing water in the lead single “Swim”, battle flags in “Body to Body” and an ever-contorting maze for the introspective anthem “Merry Go Round.”
The members themselves adopt a more theatrical approach to their songs, using ascending and descending platforms and circular treadmills to portray some of the more existential numbers. For a group made up of men on the other side of 30, it’s a smart shift from the exhaustive live choreo they’re used to.
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Killer choreography
Having said that, this is a BTS show, so you won’t ever feel short-changed when it comes to killer, synchronized moves. Sure, the septet has trimmed down some of the choreo compared to previous tours — so now, instead of giving 150% every second of every song, the members stick to a chorus or two to give the crowd their fix. In a way, it provides a bigger rush: The whole time you’re watching “Mic Drop” or “Run BTS,” you’re on the edge of your metaphorical seat (no one is sitting at a BTS show), waiting for them to hit that formation and blow your mind.
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Love for the old hits
Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour may have done irreparable damage to the expectations of concert-going fans who now assume artists will do a greatest-hits rundown at every tour date. Indeed, there was some backlash to the first few shows of BTS’ Arirang World Tour, with the setlist being so front-loaded with songs from the latest album, especially in comparison to previous tours.
Though only about a third of the songs in this set hark back to the the group’s decade-long pre-hiatus career, some real gems still get a moment to shine. Songs like “Fake Love”, the moody, sexy anthem that was one of the first songs to put them in the Western spotlight, get a big spot in the setlist, along with “secret songs” that have been plucked anywhere from the group’s more recent singles to fan favorites and deep cuts.
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Fan chants
Fan chants are an integral element of K-pop infrastructure. They’re usually created by the label and distributed to fans, with the group’s names and perhaps a notable lyric or motif nestled in the line breaks of a song. In Korea, where fans usually reserve their cheering for these pre-ordained moments, they’re a neat moment of outlined praise. But in a stadium in London, where they’re screamed with the force of a thousand last-minute World Cup goals, it’s like a mass purging of emotion. Before “Mic Drop,” 60,000 fans bellow out “Kim Namjoon! Kim Seokjin! Min Yoongi! Jung Hoseok! Park Jimin! Kim Taehyung! Jeon Jungkook! BTS!” like a war cry.
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Jimin’s hair
A mane so powerful it deserves its own blurb. Upon the release of Arirang, Jimin came out sporting a strong look: a mass of blonde locks somewhere between a Farrah Fawcett shag and David Bowie’s Labyrinth mullet. In London, the locks were at peak strength, and Samson-esque in their power, as he whipped them with every headbang.
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Secret songs with sentiment
At each stop on the Arirang World Tour, BTS have dropped two “secret songs.” These are tracks from their back catalogue that didn’t make the setlist cut, but are hand-picked for each new date. So far, there have been undeniable, fan-fave big hitters like “Pied Piper”, “Magic Shop” and “Mikrokosmos”, so London came with a bit of pressure: What do you give the audience who’ve waited seven years and four albums to see you?
The first choice was a soppy one: “Life Goes On”, the COVID-not-COVID anthem dropped at the peak of 2020’s bleakest lockdown moments. For the group, the track was a big one as it marked their Hot 100 No. 1 not in the English language. For fans, it also packed a punch, as it was the first release of the group’s lengthy hiatus. In many ways, they came back with it to make up for lost time.
Once everyone was done crying, it was time to rage. The second surprise song was “Dionysus,” the group’s head-thrashing maximalist banger from 2019’s Map of the Soul: Persona. “We last played this seven years ago at Wembley,” Namjoon bellowed to the crowd — and for many, that was the last time they screamed along to it too.
