BTS at the Rose Bowl

Thuy Pham, Journalist

This past weekend, South Korean pop sensation BTS kicked off their sold out stadium tour ‘Love Yourself: Speak Yourself’ for a crowd of over 70,000 people on each night. The tour was announced and tickets for each of the concerts went on sale in March as well.

According to BTS member Jungkook, this tour is an encore tour for their recently ended world tour, ‘Love Yourself’ which began in August of 2018 and recently ended this year. The tour featured a variety of new performances as well as new and improved versions of stages that were witnessed by audiences of last year’s tour. For instance, BTS opened with their brand new song ‘Dionysus’ from their most recently released album ‘Map of the Soul: Persona’ instead of ‘IDOL,’ like last tour. BTS surprised their fans with performances of some of the most well-loved songs of BTS’ discography, including ‘Not Today,’’Outro: Wings,’and ‘Best of Me.’ What also made this concert especially special its audience was the presentation and special effects of this tour.

According to junior Estella Pryor, “I went to BTS’ Love Yourself Tour last year, but nothing can compare to the production of this year’s tour. You could tell it was a high-budget show- the special effects and the pyrotechnics were amazing. Not only did they have a spectacular firework show at the end of the concert, but throughout the show they shot fireworks to the beat of the music to get the crowd hyped up. I thought that was so cool.”

From pyrotechnics production to plenty of confetti and water jets, the members showcased aspects of their artistry that were never-before-seen on stage. During each of the solos, special effects and props were used to enhance the quality of the performance. For instance, during BTS member Jungkook’s performance of his solo ‘Euphoria,’ he flew across the crowd for half of the song, Jimin appeared in a bubble, RM rapped and sang about love while drawing hearts in the air, and Suga performed while on a moving conveyor belt. All in addition to the special effects of the tour, the group also invested plenty of time and funds into the production of their stage outfits. For their performances of ‘Tear’ and ‘Mic Drop,’ the group and their company, Big Hit Entertainment, collaborated exclusively with Dior for a custom set of costumes for the stage. Being the first time that Dior has ever designed clothing pieces for a pop group, this collaboration garnered extensive attention from those of the fashion world and fans of BTS.

From the high production value of the concert to the massive audience that it garnered this past weekend, the group was humbled by both their ability to sell out a stadium of 70,000 and the fact that they were able to spend time with their fans. At the end of both of the concerts on Saturday and Sunday, BTS thanked their fans for being their light, cosmos, and more. As a stadium of thousands cried to the words of BTS, BTS promised that they would come back – proving that the group’s influence in the United States would only be growing more from here on out.