A surprise drone show also took place in New York City on the night of Mar 18, which was livestreamed on the BangtanTV YouTube channel, in the lead-up to the album release.
With the album dropping on Mar 20 and Seoul city coming alive with events and festivities in celebration of the group’s return, along with BTS The Comeback Live Arirang taking place on Mar 21 at the historic Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul, there has been a large influx of fans from around the world flying into South Korea.
According to social media posts and a report by Korean entertainment site AllKpop, Seoul’s Incheon International Airport arrival hall is seeing overcrowding, long queues and delays with reports of one to two hours of waiting time at immigration.
After the 14-track album drops, the group will perform the BTS The Comeback Live Arirang on Mar 21, which will also be livestreamed on Netflix. After that, they will head to New York on Mar 23 for an exclusive fan event with Spotify, marking the group’s first performance in the US in nearly four years, before heading on to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
The group is also set to release the documentary, BTS: The Return, on Netflix on Mar 27.