BTS returns to Busan for sold-out “Arirang” world tour concerts

BTS wrapped up a two-day concert in Busan on Saturday that felt less like another stop on its ongoing “Arirang” world tour and more like a homecoming years in the making. The second and final night, held at Busan Asiad Main Stadium on the group’s 13th debut anniversary, June 13, drew approximately 110,000 fans. The sold-out two-day run attracted a combined audience of about 220,000. READ: Lea Salonga ecstatic after attending BTS Busan concert: ‘What a day!’ The concerts marked BTS’ first return to Busan since 2022’s “Yet To Come in Busan,” a performance remembered as the group’s final concert […]...Keep on reading: BTS marks 13th anniversary with emotional Busan homecoming

BUSAN — K-pop sensation BTS is heading back to Busan. Three years and eight months have passed since the group last stood on a stage in Korea's second-largest city, and the place has not been forgotten. On June 5, about a week before the group's concert, the city was already restless with anticipation. The seven-piece K-pop juggernaut — composed of RM, Jin, Suga, J-hope, Jimin, V and Jung Kook — is set to hold the Busan leg of its ongoing "ARIRANG" world tour at Busan Asiad Main Stadium scheduled for Friday and Saturday. The shows come roughly three months after the group's comeback performance at Seoul's Gwanghwamun Square, held to mark the release of its fifth studio album, and about two months after the tour's opening run in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province. Both Busan dates have long since sold out. For BTS and its fans, Busan is not simply a tour stop. Few cities in the world carry the kind of weight for BTS that the port city does, and the group has chosen its concert dates here carefully. The finale of the two-night Busan show will fall on Friday, the exact date BTS debuted in 2013

K-pop supergroup BTS will begin the Busan leg of its "Arirang" world tour Friday, returning to the southern Korean port city, alongside its global fan base, known as ARMY. The group will perform at Busan Asiad Main Stadium on Friday and Saturday, with the shows expected to draw a combined audience of around 110,000. Tickets for both shows have sold out. The K-pop septet kicked off the tour in April at Goyang Stadium in Goyang, just northwest of Seoul, where it had three shows before heading overseas. The group has since performed in cities, including Tokyo, Tampa, El Paso, Mexico City, Stanford and Las Vegas, attracting roughly 840,000 fans across 15 shows during the first leg of its North American tour alone. It marks BTS' first performance in Busan in more than three years after staging the "Yet to Come in Busan" concert in October 2022 in support of the city's bid to host the 2030 World Expo. The upcoming shows also carry added significance as the group reunites with fans at the venue where it last performed before entering a hiatus for its members' mandatory military service. The seco

BUSAN — The large LED screen on the outer wall of the Grand Josun Busan hotel has been playing the music video of "SWIM," the title track of BTS' latest album, every 30 minutes since last Friday. Standing in front of it, fans from all around the globe were glued to the display, with phones raised and the Haeundae seafront glistening in front of them. It was a scene that would have been unimaginable years ago — but then, a lot has changed since BTS last performed in Busan. The group returns to Busan Asiad Main Stadium Friday and Saturday for two concerts as part of its "ARIRANG" world tour. Scheduled to span 34 cities and 85 dates, the tour is BTS' first as a group after the members' return from mandatory military service, a nearly four-year absence that only seemed to sharpen the appetite of the fandom. The June 13 show also will fall on the group's 13th debut anniversary, adding a layer of meaning that has not been lost on organizers. That performance will be broadcast live in cinemas worldwide. For the city itself, the concerts are the centerpiece of "BTS THE CITY ARIRANG BUSAN," a