BTS achieved a successful concert at Wembley Stadium in London on Saturday (local time). Instead of soccor fans’ chants, Korean songs resonated the venue, or the Tottenham Hotspur home stadium, which held the final match of the 2012 LondonFIFA World Cup. With around 60,000 ARMY – the BTS official fandom – in the stand, the concert was filled with their songs in Korean over 2 hours and 30 minutes.
BTS members looked excited about having a concert at Wembley in a press conference before they came on stage. SUGA said it was an unbelievable experience to perform at a stadium that he has only seen on TV, where Tottenham Hotspurs players play games, adding he found it amazing even during a rehearsal.
BTS has been nicknamed by overseas media outlets the Beatles of the 21th century thanks to its enormous fandom across the world.
The Korean boy band has recently paid tribute to the Beatles who appeared on CBS TV’s The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in 1964. Finally, the Korean band arrived in the country of the Beatles and performed on the stage of Britain’s historical stadium.
RM commented that it is a great honor to be compared to such global artists who have had great impact on many people by leading musical innovations, promising that he will do his best onward. SUGA also said that working harder will only be the way to living up to that comparison, adding that the nickname of the Beatles of the 21st century makes him feel burdened but he aspires to be called BTS of the 21st century. The members hoped to collaborate with British artists such as Coldplay and Paul McCartney if they were given any chance.
The concert at Wembley was streamed live on Naver V Live Plus. At a point, the number of viewers reached 140,000 although it was a paid service that costs 33,000 won, according to the content channel. Even early in the morning of the concert, a large mass of BTS fans gathered to sing BTS songs and danced to them around the stadium. In addition, BTS goods soared in sales.
BTS is scheduled to have another concert at Stade de France in Paris on June 7 and 8, followed by a series of stadium concerts in Japan in July.
imi@donga.com