“Oh my god, BTS!”
BTS held their first face-to-face concert after the COVID-19 incident called “Permission to Dance on Stage-LA” at SoFi Stadium, Los Angeles, USA on Nov 27th (local time) and met ARMYs (BTS’s fandom) around the world.
“Permission to Dance on Stage-LA” is BTS’s first offline concert in 2 years since the performance at Jamsil Stadium, Seoul in Oct 2019. BTS is scheduled to meet 200,000 ARMYs within a total of 4 days, including Nov 28th as well as Dec 1st and 2nd.
During the performance, purple lights symbolizing BTS gently flowed out, and whenever the music video for a hit song came out on the stage’s electronic display, fans waved their lightsticks with shouts. At around 7:50 p.m., when BTS appeared in white costumes with their hit track “On”, 50,000 fans greeted the members with a series of “Oh My God”. BTS responded by sequentially presenting “Dynamite”, “Butter” and so on. Fans spread the situation of the concert hall minute by minute through SNS.
Outside the concert hall, fans who could not get tickets danced to the songs. It was also possible to enjoy the concert in real time through a large electronic display of the nearby 6,400-seat YouTube Theater. The last performance on Dec 2nd will be broadcast live online.
SoFi Stadium quickly delivered the news on its official Twitter account, including posting a video of 14-year-old Harrison Cancilla, a big fan of BTS suffering from Down syndrome. Cancilla saved pocket money by doing a part-time cleaning job for several months to get a ticket to BTS’s concert. However, concert tickets were sold out, and it was known that SoFi Stadium presented him with a VIP ticket.
Fans who visited the site cited friendly communication with fans in various ways even after becoming global superstars as BTS’s secret of popularity. Victoria Oria (27), who flew from New Jersey by plane, shared, “I had a difficult time with the COVID-19 infection, but BTS helped me overcome this.”
The SoFi Stadium area had been crowded with thousands of people since the previous day. Fans also flocked to MD stands and “Permission to Dance” sculptures to take “proof shots”.
Immediately after the performance, the members communicated with ARMYs through a live broadcast to express their gratitude. V said, “We had a concert with the audience for the first time in 2 years. I was so happy that I couldn’t put it into words.” Jimin confessed, “Thank you for waiting for us like this.” The live broadcast was watched by 4 million people.
