BTS puts on a free concert at New York's Central Park

The walls of New York City's Central Park were lined up with barricades and a long queue of people on early Wednesday morning. It was local fans of the Bangtan Boys in the city waiting for their free concert scheduled at 7 a.m. in Rumsey Playfield.

It was an unusual weather for May in New York, with the mercury dropping below 10 degrees Celsius, but the fans camped out in the rain to take a glimpse at the South Korean boyband.

American media outlets reported their concert as main news. In fact, the Wednesday concert was an opener of “Good Morning America (GMA),” a popular morning show of ABC. The kick-off show of GMA will host famous American pop stars each week, such as Chance the Rapper, Pitbull, and Ellie Goulding, until August. And the Bangtan Boys were the first to be invited for the opening show.

BTS captivated some 4,000 fans with their latest single “Boy With Luv” and “Fire.” It was their debut performance in GMA as well. “Thank you for waiting days (in the rain, cold, and everything),” said RM, the leader of the Korean band.

Michael Strahan, the MC of the show, mentioned their album “Map of the Soul: Persona,” which topped the Billboard 200 chart last month, comparing them to the Beatles, the legendary British rock band, as BTS are the first singer to have three Billboard No. 1 albums in a single year since the Beatles. “We're all fanboys of (The) Beatles, of course, who is not," RM said. "We feel so honored to be with the greatest names in the music industry.”

The South Korean boy band are putting on a concert at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on May 18 and 19. New Jersey Transit, the rail and transportation corporation of the state, announced that there could be train delays for two hours after the concert owing to the massive influx of traffic by BTS fans.


Yong Park parky@donga.com