Is it an earthquake? No, just K-pop phenomenon BTS, as boy band takes to the stage at sold-out Rose Bowl
- The huge global popularity of seven-member group, now on an extended world tour, shows no sign of slowing down after Saturday’s biggest show yet at iconic venue
The first thing you saw were the queues. As queues for pop-star stadium shows go, they were orderly and patient.
Yet from the moment the trees parted on the way into Pasadena’s Rose Bowl on Saturday night, and the building-sized banners for K-pop conquerors BTS emerged, the crowds waiting outside were staggering.
An estimated 52,000 fans (collectively known as ARMY) – from preteen fans to bemused dads – many Asian-American but also Latino, black, and white – wound along the Rose Bowl grass. Some had camped out for days to save their places.
In a few hours, the South Korean seven-member boy band BTS would play the first of its two largest shows in America to date – a crowning achievement for a band that sings primarily in its native language, Korean. For the genre, it’s a commercial peak that’s been a decade in the making. God forbid you let the occasion pass without a souvenir.
A US$60 Bluetooth-synced light stick that linked to your Rose Bowl seat and flickered in time with the music onstage? Of course.
What kind of BTS ARMY soldier are you? A high-fashion hoodie with the edifying message of this “Love Yourself: Speak Yourself” tour? How could you prove you were there otherwise?
“It’s become huge, there’s now so many K-pop artists coming to the US in the next few months,” says Amy Davis, 31, who flew in from Detroit for the show.
While she waited in one of those queues, she cited acts such as BLACKPINK, the talk of last month’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, as signs that K-pop – a futuristic, upbeat blend of dance music, spitfire hip-hop and balladry – is thriving in America.