Saturday night was filled with firsts for BTS fans.
The sold-out show at Raymond James Stadium marked the first stop on the K-pop group’s long-awaited North American tour of their new album, “Arirang.”
It was the group’s first appearance in Tampa. And it was their first U.S. concert after a 4-year hiatus that began in 2022.
Even some of the most diehard fans — the ones passing out homemade stickers and pins, or dressed in black-and-white jerseys with their favorite member — had never seen their favorite K-pop group perform live before.
The boy band’s global popularity soared after the release of two chart-topping English singles: “Dynamite” in 2020 and “Butter” in 2021. But their 2022 tour was hampered by the lingering effects of the pandemic.
Some members acknowledged the high stakes of their return to North America as they addressed fans on Saturday.
“Tonight’s show is really important to us,” rapper J-Hope said. “Honestly, I was a little worried before coming here. But tonight, Tampa, you guys were crazy.”
He paused to consider his words.
“You made all my worries disappear.”
The crowd erupted into deafening screams.
Here’s what else stood out to us at last night’s show. BTS will perform in Tampa again Sunday and Tuesday.
BTS shows are known for their vibrant slate of colors. Fans carried light sticks — which went for as much as $119 a pop online — that turned different shades of blue, red, yellow, green, purple and white in sync with the stage.
More fans than not had one of these sticks in hand, and they set the tone for the whole show. The sticks glowed bright red for the opening song, “Hooligan,” then flashed turquoise and green for “Aliens.”
But even more impressive were the lights, pyrotechnics and screens on stage, which immersed fans in the elements.
Undulating blue lines crisscrossed the stage during “Swim,” creating the illusion of water. The lights formed droplets that appeared to splash on the group.
On screen, the filters became an essential part of the story. The boys were made blurry, flickering and overexposed. During a performance of “FYA” and “Fire,” golden, gooey flames radiated off them as they danced.
You know when the encore is wrapping up, and fans start filing out of the stadium in a desperate rush to bypass post-show traffic?
That barely happened during this show. Most of the roughly 60,000 fans in attendance on Saturday stayed standing, cheering, through the final notes of “Into the Sun.” Their screams as BTS took the stage were so loud that I scrambled to put ear plugs in.
We watched a 15-minute interlude spotlighting homemade signs fans had brought into the show.
Some of my favorites:
“Celebrating my 54th birthday with BTS”
“4,701 days as Army” (That equates to almost 13 years, close to when the group debuted in 2013).
And finally, the young boy wearing a t-shirt reading, “My name is Jimin too!”
BTS fans are obsessed in part because the group has always gone to great lengths to shine love upon their fanbase.
“We are not seven with you,” they sing in “We are Bulletproof : The Eternal.”
That care for the fans was on display as each of the seven delivered a monologue on how happy they are to be in Tampa.
As the members tell it, Jin, who came to Tampa as part of a solo tour in 2025, convinced the group that they should debut their North American tour here.
Naturally, Jin got the biggest cheers of the night.
I counted almost 50 background dancers on stage at one point during the show. They manned flamethrowers, twirled batons, heaved translucent sheets to create the appearance of waves, and sprinted across the stage during “Run BTS.”
During “Swim,” as the boys stood on an elevated center stage, the silhouettes of the background dancers appeared to be lifting them up — a fitting tribute to the unsung heroes of the night.
BTS sings two surprise songs during each show on the Arirang tour.
For fans of BTS’ older music like myself, they’re the most anticipated part of the night. But they’re not a core part of the show, so the visuals are limited. The songs have not necessarily been extensively rehearsed.
That being said, the surprise songs last night — “Permission to Dance” and “Magic Shop” — felt like group karaoke time. The background track blared while the members’ live voices faded in and out.
Maybe I’m just disappointed we didn’t get “Pied Piper.”