Seoul — Jubilant BTS fans gathered Thursday for the first live K-pop concert in South Korea in more than two years, an event that was expected to draw up to 15,000 people — despite Covid restrictions that prevented cheering, screaming or singing.
“It still feels like a dream,” said Park Hyunjun, 40, an independent video producer from Incheon, west of Seoul. Outside the Seoul Olympic Stadium on Thursday, I carried a poster with the party’s slogan: “Of course, nothing has changed between us.”
It was the first large-scale gathering of BTS fans in South Korea since the band’s last concert in their home country, in October 2019. The multi-billion dollar business Performed live in Los Angeles in Novemberbut for most of the pandemic, it has been on the air instead.
In 2020, the group appointed Guinness world record To attract the largest number of viewers to attend a live concert. The pandemic has not only halted the band’s live concerts temporarily: Five of the seven BTS members have contracted the coronavirus. They have since recovered from Covid-19.
Thursday’s concert, the largest approved by the South Korean government since the pandemic began, was held amid the Omicron wave that has pushed the number of cases in the country to unprecedented levels. On Thursday, health authorities reported 327,549 new daily cases. But the government, which says the country has to learn to live with the virus, has eased some restrictions.
In and around the stadium on Thursday, 750 safety personnel enforced virus protocols, silencing the festivities somewhat.
Fans who took group photos in front of the stadium entrance were told: “Please move once you have finished taking pictures.” “Please keep your distance to prevent the spread of Covid.”
Fans had their temperatures taken before they entered the stadium. The band’s agency, Hybe, said the…
