Army, get ready: BTS’ Gwanghwamun free concert tickets drop on Feb 23, open to Singapore fans
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
BTS will perform fan-favourite tracks, as well as new songs from their new album at BTS The Comeback Live: Arirang.
PHOTO: BIGHIT.MUSIC/INSTAGRAM
SEOUL – BTS have unveiled ticketing details for their highly anticipated comeback performance at Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul – the K-pop boy band’s first live appearance in more than three years.
On Feb 9, their agency BigHit Music announced through global fan platform Weverse ticketing details for BTS The Comeback Live: Arirang, which will take place on March 21 at 8pm South Korea time (7pm Singapore time).
The septet will perform fan-favourite tracks, as well as new songs from their upcoming fifth album Arirang, which will be released a day earlier on March 20.
The concert will be free and open to the public, with ticket sales divided into two main options: general tickets available for purchase online and a special fan lottery.
General admission ticket sales will open on online ticketing site Nol Ticket on Feb 23 at 8pm, with specific details expected to be announced on the platform on Feb 20 at noon.
Meanwhile, fan lottery tickets will be limited to members of the Army fan club on Weverse. Fans who purchase BTS-related merchandise selected by the platform through the Weverse Global shop will also be entered into the draw.
The lottery is expected to run for three days from Feb 10 at 11am until Feb 13 at 11.59pm. Details regarding the draw, including which items must be purchased for lottery entry, were announced on Feb 10 at 11am.
The Gwanghwamun show will be BTS’ first live performance since the members’ military enlistment.
But fan reactions to the lottery system were mixed. Some praised BTS for offering the show for free and for setting strict standards for the lottery system to ensure “only real fans” could watch the show.
Others criticised it as “a free show in disguise”, saying it was tricking fans into buying more merchandise to increase their chances of winning tickets.
“It’s unfair that regular people can attend for free, but actual fans have to buy a product just to enter a lottery,” said a BTS fan under the condition of anonymity. “We already paid (S$21) for the Army membership – asking us to pay more on top of that is the same as treating fans like an ATM.”
The upcoming concert will invite about 34,000 attendees. It will also be live-streamed worldwide on Netflix as the platform’s first live broadcast of a single artiste’s concert, and be available in over 190 countries and is expected to gather more than 50 million viewers.
BTS The City: Arirang Seoul will be launched from March 20 to April 12. The city-wide event will feature immersive media installations and pop-ups across Seoul, blending BTS’ music with the Seoul landscape. THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
