BTS makes North American finale of ‘Arirang’ world tour in LA

Los Angeles (LA), USA, is a special city for BTS.

BTS, a group that had just debuted a year ago in 2014, moved to LA. The purpose was to ‘study hip hop abroad’ in the homeland of hip hop.

We promoted the performance by handing out free flyers on the streets, and our first showcase in the United States was also held in LA.

12 years later, today's LA welcomes BTS in a different way than it did back then. 'BTS Week' was declared at the city council, and even City Hall was lit up in red to commemorate the occasion.

This is all to commemorate the BTS world tour, which will be held in LA the first week of this month.

BTS World Tour 'Arirang in LA' was held at LA Sopa Stadium on the night of the 1st (local time).

Approximately 70,000 Army (BTS fans) gathered with great anticipation at the BTS performance held in LA for the first time in 4 years and 9 months since 'Permission to Dance on Stage' in 2021.

AB and Lovey, who live in LA, made their own costumes to commemorate the birthday of their favorite member, Jungkook.

I wrote 'Happy Birthday' in large letters on a cute cupcake design and even wore a happy birthday headband.

AB said, “I also came to the ‘Permission to Dance’ concert in LA before BTS went to the military,” and said that this concert held in LA for the first time in a long time was meaningful.

He continued, “This time I got the date wrong so I lost my ticket and had to buy a new one. But it was worth it.”

Christina, who has been an ARMY since 2015, said, "More than anything, I love the music," and added, "I went to see the Las Vegas concert, but I couldn't miss the LA concert."

As there were quite a few ARMYs who had already seen the world tour held in other cities, skillful 'singing in unison' continued within the concert hall on this day.

In particular, during the long section of the folk song 'Arirang' in 'Body to Body', the sound of people singing along softly echoed throughout the concert hall.

Cameras showing the audience during the performance showed ARMYs of various ages cheering passionately.

A fan who introduced herself as a 65-year-old Army included BTS's 2016 song 'Young Forever' and announced, 'Bangtan Keeps Us Forever Young.'

Another white-haired ARMY attracted attention with a witty phrase that changed the sentence ‘This Granny Loves BTS’ to GRAMMY. This is a light criticism of the recent disagreement between the American music awards ceremony, the Grammy Awards, over the creation of a new Asian pop group with BTS.

In addition, when the phrase ‘LA missed BTS’ was caught on camera, other ARMYs who seemed to sympathize with it continued to cheer.

The 'Arirang' world tour has been held in 12 cities in the Americas, including Tampa, USA, Las Vegas, Chicago, New York, Toronto, Canada, and Mexico City, Mexico, and the LA performance marks the finale of the North American tour.

This sequence also means that 'Arirang' ends where it began.

After being discharged from the military last year, BTS members gathered in LA and held a huge 'Song Camp'. This is a method of gathering in one place, renting a studio, and focusing on making songs without any other activities.

At this time, about 300 songs were collected, and 14 of them became included in BTS' 5th album 'Arirang'. In other words, the hometown of the album ‘Arirang’ is LA.

Hive also met with Mayor Karen Bass after the 'BTS Week' declaration ceremony the previous day and explained, "This city has a very special meaning for BTS," and added, "Last year, all BTS members completed their military service and immediately came to LA to work on their comeback album 'Arirang.'"

Mayor Bass said, “I’m proud to celebrate Los Angeles’ special relationship with (BTS) with people around the world.”

The LA performance will be held over four days, the 1st to 2nd and 5th to 6th of this month.