The hotel worker was unaware that I had spent much of the night before waving a plastic, Bluetooth-controlled light stick in time with 50,000 other people, singing and dancing along to seven artists whose performances and lyrics viscerally resonated with us all.

Music is typically something we feel more on an emotional level rather than a physical one, but it was impossible to deny the power reverberating across Sin City as the South Korean septet and their loyal fans, collectively known as “Army”, turned Las Vegas into their own personal playground for the first of two back-to-back weekends of concerts.

This was my first time in Las Vegas, a vacation planned solely so that I could see BTS with some friends. Like the build-up of electrical charge before a storm, you couldn’t walk around the strip without feeling excitement ahead of the first concert on Friday night (April 8), which was followed by another on Saturday, then two more the following weekend (April 15 and 16).

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That energy was one of connectivity, and unlike usual events where an artist and crowd blend their passion together, it wasn’t limited to a single venue, but across one of the most famous cities in the world.

Billboards usually advertising nightlife shows, restaurants and casinos shone bright orange and purple as they promoted the concert, tie-in pop-up events and special offers for concertgoers.

The city itself temporarily declared itself “Borahaegas” – coined from “Las Vegas” and “Borahae”, BTS’s “I purple you” declaration of love – changing the title of its social media accounts and plastering the name across some of the biggest ad spots on the strip. Even the Bellagio casino’s famous musical fountain played the band’s music. (One can’t help but wonder what non-Army visitors thought about the whole experience.)

Las Vegas is no stranger to high-profile artists or sporting events, but BTS being in town was different. This coordinated effort between the city and Hybe, the company behind BTS, turned Las Vegas into not just a place where the concerts would be held, but a wholly encompassing destination dubbed “BTS City” and simply “The City” in marketing materials, where BTS merch, and that of their character line TinyTan, was everywhere you looked.

It was also, and maybe more so, a display of the passion the band and its fans had as they transformed the city and made it their own. Every few feet, someone was strolling with a telltale security-approved clear concert backpack or purse, going about their day while reliving the high of the concert they had already attended, or burning with anticipation for the show they would be going to.

A festive feeling spread across the area as fans made a pilgrimage to the Allegiant Stadium and various pop-up events surrounding the strip, including BTS-themed restaurant experiences and special behind-the-scenes art exhibits.

Anyone not lucky enough to have concert tickets could even go and watch a live-stream at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. How many pop stars can host both stadium concerts and arena live-stream events simultaneously in the same city?

At a time when humans seem increasingly disconnected, BTS brought hundreds of thousands of people together (the Allegiant shows were reported to have had over 200,000 people attend in total), physically and emotionally, in a way rarely felt since the pandemic began.

The immense scale of it all, and the sheer intensity of celebrant fans who were lucky enough to partake, is something that is almost unimaginable in the third year of the world-changing Covid-19 pandemic.

With fans having been separated from one another for so long, often only with BTS’s music to comfort them in an unsettled world, these days in Las Vegas felt like a little break from reality, a sense of freedom from the world beyond the strip, where the only thing that mattered was the connection between Army and BTS, and between Army and Army.

Even if you were attending alone, you were together with BTS, and with the tens of thousands of Army there that night. It felt like a purple thread of connectivity rippled through the city, bonding together all who were brought there by the emotions that BTS and their music make them feel.

It was as if Vegas had become the calm, yet vibrant, eye of a storm building for years, the excitement bubbling, reflecting the love of millions of fans across the globe towards a band that has shared their art and stories and struggles.

These seven history-makers have spent the best part of the last decade transcending boundaries and borders to become a rare entity that can have dominion over a place like Las Vegas, creating an environment of pure joy and excitement. And if that’s not special, I don’t know what is.