After four years apart for mandatory military service, the world’s biggest K-pop act BTS made their long-awaited return to the global concert circuit on Thursday, launching their Arirang World Tour at Goyang Stadium outside Seoul against a torrential downpour that failed to stop 40,000 in-person fans and millions more online from celebrating their iconic comeback.
The open-air venue turned into a waterlogged performance space as nonstop heavy rain drenched every member of the septet and their audience from the first note to the last. Band member V joked about the extreme conditions as he splashed across the stage’s 360-degree rotating platform, noting “It’s raining like crazy,” while Suga quipped that the stadium felt more like a water park than a concert venue. Jimin admitted the messy, wet conditions left him “frustrated and stressed” early on, but quickly reframed the moment for the crowd: “But that’s not what’s important. What’s important is that you’re here with us.”
Even with the weather throwing off plans, the seven members delivered a relentless, high-energy 23-song set that leaned into their new artistic direction and highlighted the unshakable chemistry they’ve built over more than a decade together. When the rain dragged into the second hour, Jimin even paused to towel dry V’s soaked hair mid-performance, a small, warm moment that went viral with fans watching online. V leaned into the chaos, turning the persistent rain into a spontaneous bit of performance: he laid flat on the waterlogged stage to mimic doing the breast stroke while delivering an impromptu rendition of their new comeback single, *Swim*.
The show also marked a triumphant return to full performance for band leader RM, who tore a ligament in his ankle during rehearsal three weeks prior to the opening night. Though he performed from a stool during a promotional concert in Seoul last month, RM was back on his feet for the opening of the tour, which took place in his hometown. Still, to avoid straining his injury, he was carried around the stadium’s extended catwalks on a makeshift throne during a fan meet segment. Addressing the crowd’s concerns, he downplayed the injury: “It’s been three weeks [since the injury] so the doctor said I can perform. It’s not that big of a deal. We just wanted to give it our all today.”
The extreme weather didn’t dim fan enthusiasm in the slightest. Eager attendees began lining up outside the stadium as early as 6:30 a.m. to claim the best viewing spots, huddling under umbrellas and sharing snacks and stories as lines snaked for blocks around the venue. Hundreds of fans without tickets even braved the downpour to gather outside the stadium gates just to listen to the performance and feel part of the moment.
Musically, the opening night centered heavily on BTS’s new studio album *Arirang*, which weaves traditional Korean folk melody and mythology into the group’s signature experimental, high-energy pop sound. Almost every new track from the record made the setlist, opening with a dramatic entrance: a lone hooded figure ran onto the stage holding a red flare as 40,000 fans chanted “BTS” in unison, before the full band strode out to launch into *Hooligan*, an incendiary rap track that includes an ironic on-the-nose line from RM calling for “a bigger mop.”
The night leaned into the grittier, rap-focused side of BTS’s discography, prioritizing hard-hitting tracks like *Mic Drop*, *Run BTS* and *FYA* over the softer melodic pop hits that first catapulted them to global fame. This shift gave the show an unrelenting, propulsive energy, with the septet running up and down the four compass-point catwalks extending from the central stage, backed by explosive pyrotechnics, flame walls and thousands of coordinated LED lights. After an opening sequence of rap-forward tracks, *Swim* brought a moody, sultrier energy, with choreography that underscored its core message of pushing through adversity in uncertain, choppy waters.
A standout moment of the night was an unexpected performance of *Not Today*, the band’s anthemic track dedicated to “all the underdogs in the world.” As the group sang about fighting injustice and corruption, they were surrounded by dancers in hockey masks holding glowing fluorescent lights, creating an urgent, powerful tone that marked a clear shift from the carefree, high-production fun of their last world tour. Another noticeable change from previous tours was a reduction in tightly scripted, large-scale group choreography, with the band focusing more on interacting and energizing the crowd. While the wet stage likely played a role in this shift, it also gave the concert an raw, immediate intimacy that over-rehearsed, scripted shows often lack. The unplanned vibe culminated in an spontaneous moment toward the end of the night, when V and Jimin broke into an impromptu performance of the dance routine for their early hit *I Need U*, surprising and delighting their bandmates and capturing the easy, longstanding chemistry the group shares after all their years together.
The main set closed with an extended version of *Idol*, the 2018 hit from *Love Yourself: Answer*, which saw the band walk along the edge of the stadium to interact with fans in the upper tiers as the entire crowd chanted the chorus in unison. The encore leaned into joy and nostalgia, pairing the upbeat English-language hits *Dynamite* and *Butter* with the fan-favorite 2019 track *Mikrokosmos*. Each member took a moment to share their reflections on the long-awaited comeback, with Jin calling the night an “unforgettable moment” and Jungkook saying he’d “made a good memory today.” Jimin laughed as he told the crowd, “I’m soaked down to my underwear, but the most important thing was getting to see you all. For four years, I couldn’t see you and it was tough, but it’s an honour that I got to see again.” RM summed up the night’s core feeling: “More than anything, having all seven of us together is what matters most.”
The show wrapped with *Into The Sun*, a new track whose lyrical mantra “I’ll follow you into the sun” was written as a dedication to the band’s loyal global fanbase. The love between the group and their fans was fully mutual, with viewers of the official live stream sharing glowing reactions online. One viewer wrote, “Their voices are so strong now and they looked amazing, wet hair and all,” while others joked they should have bought a three-day pass to the stream, with one quipping “My wallet is crying” in reference to the pay-per-view fee.
BTS is scheduled to play two more sold-out nights at Goyang Stadium, with 40,000 in-person tickets sold for each show. All tour dates are being streamed live on WeVerse, the social media platform owned by the group’s label Hybe (formerly Big Hit). Opening night alone drew more than four million paying live stream viewers worldwide, generating an estimated $168 million in stream revenue on just the first night.
Industry analysts predict the Arirang World Tour will go down as one of the highest-grossing concert tours of all time, with some projections suggesting it could even surpass the $2 billion haul of Taylor Swift’s record-breaking Eras Tour. Even before that milestone, it is already set to be the largest world tour ever mounted by a South Korean band, with 85 shows scheduled across 34 cities worldwide. The tour will hit London in July for two shows at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, marking BTS’s first UK concerts since 2019, when they made history as the first K-pop act to headline Wembley Stadium.