You don't need Permission To Dance with BTS at Sofi Stadium!
A Review of BTS performing at Sofi Stadium in Los Angeles, California! Written By Isabella Young
Fans light sticks (Army Bombs) become the coolest light show when connected an app. Look at how their lights are spelling out BTS! Photo Credit: Jake
In January of 2020, fans of the kpop group BTS around the world gathered to their computers in the hopes of purchasing tickets to their upcoming Map of the Soul World Tour. The tour was set to span across 38 dates to 9 different countries. Unfortunately for ticket holders, a global pandemic would cause the tour to be postponed in March 2020, then cancelled and refunds issued in August 2021.
SURPRISE! In September of 2021, the boy group announced an online Permission to Dance concert as well as 4 live concert events set to take place in November and December at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. Presale tickets were released in 4 different waves before hitting the general public. The first wave gave former VIP ticket holders first dibs, the second wave to regular Map of the Soul Tour ticket holders access, the third wave given to paid BTS global fan club membership, and the fourth wave to Ticketmaster Verified Fans. With wishful thinking to get these tickets to fans rather than scalpers, the 4 stadium dates sold out before even hitting general public sales. Keep in mind, thats around 280,960 tickets total!
Being the first live concert BTS has done in 2 years, the event was full of love and excitement. The hype of it all was met with thousands of ARMYs creating fan lead surprises for the group, incredibly loud fan chants, and nothing but good vibes.
BTS On a lift being pushed by staff around Sofi Stadium. Photo Credit: Angelina
The group took the stage with ON, a title track released at the beginning of the pandemic and never performed for an audience. As the audience began to recover from the initial shock of BTS, the group went straight into doing 2 more songs before giving their greetings. The group proceeded to perform 24 songs for the night, only including songs with all 7 members instead of the expected solo tracks from each member. The group said it was important to highlight all 7 of them. The group closed every night with the highly anticipated headlining track Permission to Dance. The incredibly catchy song was accompanied by confetti, tons of backup dancers, and huge purple beach balls.
Each date had a few differing songs towards the end of the show, but these weren’t the only surprises. On Day 2, the group brought out Megan Thee Stallion to perform the remix to the hit song Butter. On Day 4, the group brought out Chris Martin of Coldplay to perform the newly released collab Universe from Coldplay’s latest album Music of the Spheres. Worth noting, on Day 3, after performing Boy with Luv, a collab with artist Halsey, the big screen revealed that Halsey was in the building, blowing kisses to the group and them poking fun at her vocals in the song.
Overall, these 4 days were filled with joy and celebration. It felt good to be celebrating rather than worrying about everything going on in the world. The group shared their anxieties about the past 2 years, talking about how they’ve never taken a break like that and were nervous about performing again. They shared how the first date felt awkward, and their anxieties about feeling out of practice. But ARMYs know exactly how to comfort BTS, as BTS knows exactly how to comfort ARMYs. The group ended the 4 dates with a concert announcement in Seoul in March 2022, with rumors of a world tour following that.
After feeling sad about the cancellation of the Map of the Soul tour, then stressing about getting tickets to the PTD concert dates, it felt good to dance with my best friends and listen to our favorite songs live. ARMY will always wait for BTS!