An hour before BTS started Saturday’s sold-out show at Soldier Field, the stadium was already ringing with fanchants, shrieks, and sing-alongs, even though at that point the crowd had little to respond to besides the music videos playing on the giant screens flanking the stage. The BTS ARMY, as the fandom of the seven-member South Korean pop band is known, has a reputation for the intensity of its devotion, and it was on full display all night. At the start of the show, I was a very casual fan of BTS (at least by the standards of K-pop), but it was so intoxicating to be surrounded by that much emotion that I found it impossible not to get swept away. I left with a whole new appreciation for the group.
One of the many joys of K-pop is the fashion, and BTS brought it from the start. Rapper J-Hope opened the show in a chest-harness/suit-coat number that left me breathless, and RM went through a wardrobe of trench coats to die for.
The group ended their set with “The Truth Untold” (a showcase for their vocal line), “Outro: Tear” (a showcase for their rappers), and the smash hit “Mic Drop.” They’d assured us that “Mic Drop” was their last song, but of course there was an encore: it featured an inflatable bouncy castle during “Anpanman,” a tremendous amount of fireworks during Eurodance bop “So What,” and joyous performances of “Make It Right” and “Mikrokosmos,” both off Map of the Soul: Persona.
