Sawt Falasteen - BTS kick off world tour after landmark Seoul comeback

The seven-member group -- widely regarded as the world's biggest boy band -- took to the stage together for the first time last month following a years-long hiatus prompted by mandatory military service, and after releasing their latest studio album "ARIRANG".

The performance, on the doorstep of the historic Gyeongbokgung Palace, drew more than 100,000 fans to central Seoul, the group's label said, while its Netflix livestream attracted an estimated 18.4 million viewers worldwide, according to the streaming giant.

Spanning 85 shows in 34 cities worldwide, the highly anticipated tour -- starting in BTS leader RM's hometown, Goyang -- is set to be a major money-spinner for BTS, potentially outdoing Taylor Swift's recent Eras Tour, according to analysts.

The first show of the tour "has started!", an official from HYBE, the group's label, told AFP on Thursday.

Fans converged on Goyang, about 16 kilometres (10 miles) northwest of Seoul, where landmarks were lit up nightly in purple, the colour symbolising BTS's global fanbase, known as ARMY.

Concert-goers -- many dressed in purple themselves -- queued outside the venue in the rain.

The crowd reflected the group's global reach, with English, Spanish, Chinese and Japanese heard throughout.

"I think it was the hardest ticket I ever got. Even in Korea with fast Internet, I was 80,000th in line," Evelyn Soto Villarreal, 27, a Mexican fan living in the city of Busan, told AFP.

"The rain is not going to stop us," said Czarina Marushka Geronimo, 33.

"We flew all the way from the Philippines just to see the concert. We're very excited."

- Growing maturity -

BTS will travel to cities including Tokyo, Manila, Toronto and Buenos Aires as part of the highest number of shows for a single tour by any South Korean artist, according to their label.

"We all agreed that the most important thing for a singer is a concert," member Jin said in a statement released hours ahead of the show.

"We want to meet audiences all over the world as soon as possible, and since this is our first world tour in a long time, we want to experience the culture and concert atmosphere of each region firsthand."

Their latest album "ARIRANG" -- also the name of the tour -- is billed as reflecting the maturing boy band's Korean identity.

It is named after the traditional Korean folk song about longing and separation, often dubbed South Korea's unofficial national anthem.

Ahead of the tour, the group has moved beyond themes of adolescent pain and internal conflict, entering "a realm of looking more deeply" into themselves, Kim Jeong-seob, the author of "The Universe of BTS", told AFP.

- Future of K-culture -

BTS recently became the first K-pop act to top the US Billboard 200 for two consecutive weeks with the latest album, while its tracks also secured top spots across multiple Spotify charts.

Many K-pop boy bands have faced career downturns after completing mandatory military service, in a fiercely competitive industry where momentum is hard to regain.

But BTS are proving that is not going to be the case for them, said American sociologist Sam Richards, a professor at Pennsylvania State University.

"This is extremely significant for the future of K-culture and the nation of Korea because it means that unprecedented growth in soft power will continue," he told AFP.

The group's official community on Weverse has over 34 million members, while their Instagram following is over 80 million.

"The guys built their following through social media and direct fan engagement before the industry fully understood how to do that," Jeff Benjamin, Billboard's K-pop columnist, told AFP.

"ARMY were never made to feel like consumers, but like they were friends and participants in BTS' story, making the group's rise feel personal to millions of people in a way that superstardom doesn't typically resonate."

L.AbuTayeh--SF-PST