[Review] Chicago shows its love for BTS during “Love Yourself” tour

Posted on : 2018-10-07 13:59 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Culturally diverse audience shows intensity and universality of BTS phenomenon
BTS performs at the 2018 Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas on May 20. (AFP)
BTS performs at the 2018 Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas on May 20. (AFP)

The “Love Yourself” world tour by the group BTS (Bangtan Boys) is different from other pop concerts. Not only does it confirm the musical stature and capacities of a group that has been called a “global pop phenomenon,” but it also comes across as a kind of exhibition for the love and pride of the army of fans responsible for that phenomenon.

Tickets for the two weeks of performances in the crucial North American leg of the tour – held at Staples Center in Los Angeles and other large-scale arena venues – sold out immediately, and the tour has received unusually strong attention with local news reports on the passionate response.

On Oct. 2, the area around Chicago’s United Center – which includes a statue of NBA star Michael Jordan – was surrounded by the camping tents of fans who had arrived ahead of time for goods and front-row standing section spots. Fans showed a passion reminiscent of tours by famous American and British rock bands, with some even taking extended vacations to follow all the tour’s stops.

The large number of families attending a performance in a pop genre with mostly youthful fans was a testament to American concert culture. As if to reflect Chicago’s cultural diversity as a city, audience members represented a wide spectrum of ethnicities, including Caucasian, African-American, Hispanic, and Asian. This also seemed a distinctive sight rarely seen with concerts in other musical genres, where most audience members tend to represent a specific demographic.

A commemorative statue of former NBA superstar Michael Jordan at the Chicago’s United Center
A commemorative statue of former NBA superstar Michael Jordan at the Chicago’s United Center

Held over two days on Oct. 2–3, the “Love Yourself” shows in Chicago were successful events with no real faults to be found. In musical terms, the strongest point was the way all the strengths of a boy band performance – with its emphasis on dazzling group displays – also came through fully in solo and unit performances. The artistry of solo numbers like “Serendipity,” with its finely crafted display of the group’s trademark moves despite the slow tempo, and “Singularity,” an experience made more immersive with a performance incorporating video images with stage movements, was as thrilling as the performances of the group’s big hits.

The response was especially strong for the aforementioned R&B songs and hip hop-oriented songs like “Outro: Tear” – perhaps a reflection of the American audience in a city like Chicago with a large African-American population.

Representing a diverse range of ethnicities, audience members had learned most of the words and sang along with the performers – a sight that seemed to offer proof of how intense and universal the BTS phenomenon has become. Passion for pop stars is nothing new, but the screaming that filled the venue throughout the long duration generated a memorably robust sense of excitement, continuing so strongly as to render any additional staging almost unnecessary.

Even the solo songs – less well-known to members of the general public – were key moments to fans for different reasons, giving a special sense both from the way they came together to form a performance with a single meaning and from the fact that it was music by South Korean artists for an American audience.

Central that was a sense of pride from the US fans who discovered BTS and transformed them into Billboard chart-toppers. One sign drawn up by a fan club and passed out to supporters included a Korean message reading, “It’s okay if you fall over. Your army is always beside you.” BTS leader RM made sure to thank the fans in a message comparing the performance that day to the aquarium he had visited in Chicago.

 where BTS performed on Oct. 2-3 as part of the “Love Yourself” world tour. (provided by Kim Young-dae)
where BTS performed on Oct. 2-3 as part of the “Love Yourself” world tour. (provided by Kim Young-dae)

“We’re each very different, but it’s like we’re all fish in an aquarium filled with love,” he said.

The finale of the US tour will be taking place on Oct. 6 at New York’s Citi Field with an audience of 40,000.

It will be the realization of a historic event – the kind of stadium performance typically reserved for the US’s pop superstars. But what I note is less the outward achievements than the essence of the BTS phenomenon as seen in the “Love Yourself” shows. Taking place in the US – the birthplace of pop – the “Love Yourself” tour confirms the recipe that beats any marketing strategy in pop music: organic creation that emphasizes individual identity as much as choreographic teamwork, a candid message and distinctive attitude expressed in trendy music, and the strong sense of connection realized by the passionate fans who support them.

By Kim Young-dae, a music critic reporting from Chicago

Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]

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