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Thousands of audience members fill the stands at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, on Saturday for “BTS Permission to Dance on Stage – LA,” BTS’ first in-person concert in two years. The group will play a total of four concerts in this tour, including one on Nov. 28, one on Dec. 1 and one on Dec. 2. (Yonhap News)

The K-pop group BTS held its first in-person performance in two years, after previously being unable to do so due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

At 7:30 pm Saturday, BTS kicked off the first day of its performances of “BTS Permission to Dance on Stage – LA” at SoFi Stadium near Los Angeles. This came two years after the group’s last offline concert, the October 2019 event “2019 BTS World Tour Love Yourself: Speak Yourself [The Final]” in Seoul.

As its title suggests, Saturday’s performance was billed as a festive expression of joy over people having finally been granted “permission to dance” together. The stage sets and structure were at an even higher level than in past tour reasons, combining with a dazzling performance — the kind only BTS can bring — to provide a rich spectacle for fans.

Fans of BTS arrive in purple masks, a color symbolic of the group. (Jung Hyuk-june/The Hankyoreh)

During the show, BTS shared a range of performances that had not been seen in its online concerts.

Members of BTS’ “Army” of fans showed up early Saturday morning to enjoy the festivities at SoFi Stadium. Attendees were required to wear masks to enter the venue and take in the performance, and many Army members could be seen boasting masks in the group’s signature purple. Like the day before, long lines of fans stood waiting to purchase merchandise.

“I’ve been waiting for four hours,” said one fan who was in line.

SoFi Stadium resembled a microcosm of the global village. Different languages could be heard all around: English, Spanish, Korean, Japanese, Chinese and more. Army members had flocked from around the world to enjoy the show.

Leona, who traveled from Osaka, Japan, for the concert, said that “BTS is huge in Japan too.” (Jung Hyuk-june/The Hankyoreh)

“It was a rocky road — there were about four days where my husband and I weren’t speaking [because he was against the trip] — but I’m here because I wanted to see the performance so much,” laughed Bang Seon-hee, a Seoul resident who was there with friends to see the performance.

A visitor from Osaka named Leona said, “I just love BTS so much that I bought a ticket as soon as I heard they were doing an offline performance.”

“BTS is huge in Japan too,” she explained.

A BTS fan who traveled from Montana said, “A lot of people are saying ‘I purple you.'” (Jung Hyuk-june/The Hankyoreh)

Another woman visiting from Montana had dyed her hair BTS purple.

“A lot of people are saying ‘I purple you,’” she said, referring to a term used by BTS and fans to mean cherishing, trusting, depending on, loving, and liking one another.

For a performance by a pop group, the audience didn’t consist exclusively of people from any one particular age group. Among the visitors were fathers and daughters, mothers and sons. Joanne Lee, a Korean American in her 50s who was visiting from Houston with her 21-year-old son, said, “I came to the offline performance because I love BTS so much for the comfort they’ve provided when things have been tough.”

A BTS fan holds up an “Army bomb” — the name of the light stick used by fans at BTS concerts — while posing for a photo. (Jung Hyuk-june/The Hankyoreh)

Army members at the concert had prepared everything they needed for the performance. Army bombs — what BTS fans call their light sticks — were everywhere, and tissues were also a must-have — to prepare for moments when viewers were moved to tears at the sight of BTS.

Also available was a “Live Play in LA” event, where viewers could take in the performance in real-time on a screen in a separate area from the venue. With the purchase of separate tickets, viewers enjoyed the concert on a large screen at YouTube Theater, a specialized venue nearby in Inglewood.

BTS plans to follow the show up with three more performances at the same venue on Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday.

By Jung Hyuk-june, staff reporter

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