I Went To My First BTS Concert And Learned What ARMY Is Really About

If I'm being truthful, BTS's fandom intimidates me. I'm a casual, occasional listener of the group's music, although there generally seems to be nothing casual about being their fan. Anyone with a Twitter account can visualize how massive, vocal, and fervent ARMY is, and I assumed that to be a piece of it meant being all in or not in at all. As much as I'd flirted with the idea of immersing myself in the BTS world — one that the order has been building across numerous albums by means of the decorative storylines and hidden messages — it seemed overwhelming, so I became content with watching from the periphery.


Then came Saturday (March 4) — the first night of BTS's Love Yourself: Speak Yourself world tour, and my first K-pop concert — and I realized that even stepping foot onto the grounds of the Rose Bowl meant you were in that world, whether you fancied it or not. The categorize members' airbrushed faces adorned banners lining the streets and covering the walls of the stadium itself. The merch line snaked around a gigantic green field with seemingly no end in sight. I briefly chatted with a mom who was bringing her tutu-wearing four-year-old to her first concert. Any time As soon as I asked the little girl if she was excited, she might only jump up and down and scream "BTS!"


There were a lot of things I saw that went over my head, though, so I noticed some gracious fans to school me on all things BTS. I met Myrene and Monette, who taught me about ARMY Bombs, the globe-shaped lightsticks that are Bluetooth-activated and color-coordinated with each efficiency. I learned about BT21 headbands from Jiaying, Kristine, and Ruby, who showed me theirs and explained how each member of the musical group had created his own character for this exclusive line of merchandise. Then there was Rubie, who flew in from Fort Worth, Texas, for both the Saturday and Sunday shows and offered to live-tweet them for fans who couldn't be there in person. She was there with Shelby, a Internet-turned-IRL friend lose met on a K-pop forum. This was their first time meeting in person, nevertheless you'd never know it; they practically finished each other's sentences.


Finally, Margo and Elizabeth shared maybe the hugest lesson I required to know: the meaning of BTS's "love yourself" message. "It's about understanding yourself," they notified me. "Finding the little pieces of yourself, understanding what you're made of, and putting them with each other to love yourself. It's helped a lot of people."

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BTS has felt pretty inescapable these past few weeks. They scored their third No. 1 album, played SNL, released their biggest single to date with "Boy With Luv," and picked up a pair of Billboard Music Awards — all notable feats for any act, especially a Korean one. Yet hearing about them making history and breaking records can feel like a damaged record, so it was satisfying to witness firsthand why they're as big as they are. From the second RM, Jin, Suga, J-hope, Jimin, V, and Jungkook kicked off with "Dionysus," it was nonstop kinetic energy. Each efficiency of the 24-song set felt like an encore, and was bolstered by confetti, fireworks, trapezes, AR tech, or some other decorative flourish. (Or, in the event of "Fake Love," a hilariously zoomed-in shot of Jungkook flashing his abs.)


All pageantry aside, the show also managed to highlight the members' strengths, quirks, and personalities. Each guy got his own solo, which resulted in some of the ideal performances of the night — from Jungkook's high-flying voyage with "Euphoria" to Jimin's calming, sexy "Serendipity." The four singers harmonized on the ballad "The Truth Countless while the three rappers joined forces for the hyped-up "Outro: Tear." All of the while, the guys proved themselves pro pop stars — they knew which cameras to prepare eye contact with, and knew as soon as to turn up the silliness, the sensitivity, or the swagger. Each had all three in spades.

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There was a moment on Saturday as soon as it occurred to me that this show was only partly about BTS. It was right before the four-song encore, several minutes immediately following the sort had disappeared into the bowels of the Rose Bowl, leaving 60,000 rapturous fans to their own devices. The correct side of the stadium abruptly launched into the wave, plus it circulated around the venue a few times, getting brighter with each turn as more cell phone lights turned on. Simultaneously, the audiences chants of "ARMY," the name for BTS's fanbase — for themselves — grew more deafening, and BTS had no choice nevertheless to answer the call.


I later learned that the pre-encore wave is a staple of the group's live shows, nevertheless experiencing it for the opening time was stunning scene, along with a lesson in how ARMY operates — they were there for BTS as much as they were there for themselves. To celebrate themselves, to love themselves, to speak themselves. Whenever they returned to the stage, BTS, also, were prepared to catch their breaths and speak. One by one, they reflected — some of those, by means of the a translator — on what the night meant to them. "ARMY, you and I are one," Jin mentioned. "This place is something else. It's so surreal," J-hope gushed. The group's leader, RM, admitted he was nervous earlier that day, especially right after some hiccups while in rehearsal. Nevertheless, he mentioned, several years later, I'll certainly think about this night." Eyes twinkling, he added, "You're the stars of our night, and the lighthouse to lead us." It was a fitting segue into the final song, "Mikrokosmos," which they sang under a large, glimmering disco ball before a fireworks display ushered them offstage.


My ears are still ringing, and I'm OK with that. I did not have a ARMY Bomb to raise into the air, I did not have a "bias" picked out, and I didn't know all of the sporadic fan chants during the show, however none of that really mattered. I left with a big, silly smile on my face plus a reassurance that BTS fans have a "the more, the merrier" mentality. Which is good, because a pair of sold-out nights at the Rose Bowl definitely means ARMY is growing in wild, unprecedented style, whether you're in or not.