BTS Lights Up the U.S. with Love Yourself: Speak Yourself

Less than eight months since their last U.S. stint, BTS returned stateside with their Love Yourself: Speak Yourself tour. Despite their more frequent visits to the U.S., the hype for this tour was as amped as ever—primarily due to the fact that this set of six shows spanning Los Angeles, Chicago, and New Jersey marked BTS’s first U.S. stadium tour. With only one mini-album released since last fall’s Love Yourself tour, it was unclear what to expect from the new concerts. I was lucky enough (though my bank account may disagree) to attend a show at each stop of the tour, and though each city had something different to offer BTS and ARMY, each concert delivered incredible stage production, unparalleled talent, and countless memories to last a lifetime.

The Next Step

Ever since the conclusion to the Love Yourself tour with the surprise addition of New York’s Citi Field, fans have known that BTS’s next escapade in the U.S. would involve a stadium tour. The boys of BTS made it no secret that this was their wish as well, and the dream came true with six sold-out performances between L.A.’s Rose Bowl, Chicago’s Soldier Field, and East Rutherford’s MetLife Stadium. Each venue held an enormous capacity, from Soldier Field’s 60,000 to the Rose Bowl’s 90,000. Having seen BTS in smaller venues, the sheer magnitude of the structures alone were staggering, not to mention the masses of ARMY themselves.

Although I had full trust in BTS’s ability to fill each stadium with their larger-than-life talent, I admittedly was unsure how they would pull off such a feat in terms of production. Past shows, including Citi Field, were more or less limited to pyrotechnics and streamers when it came to special effects. One must always take into account the extreme expenses incurred when transporting K-Pop acts across the world—never mind their equally expensive stages. So it’s safe to say I was downright speechless when the concert opened with BTS’s new track, “Dionysus” amidst fireworks, flamethrowers, Greek-inspired scenery, and even two giant silver panthers that rose out of the stage alongside the members of BTS.

“Dionysus” opening at 5/5 Rose Bowl show

With just the first song, I knew this tour was going to be an explosive one in every sense of the word. “Dionysus” was unexpectedly followed by “Not Today” and “Outro: Wings,” two songs BTS had not performed since their 2017 WINGS tour. After these three high-energy songs and equally high-energy introductions from each member, the concert shifted into more familiar territory with the first of seven solos from the Love Yourself tour, J-Hope’s “Trivia: Just Dance.”

While the solo VCRs and songs remained the same from last fall, each solo in the tour included something new to give the performance a new flavor. In J-Hope’s case, this involved water canons that shot out endless gallons of water to shower the crowd below. J-Hope is known for his explosive stage presence, so the effect was more than appropriate (though regrettably, the Chicago concerts missed out on this feature due to cold temperatures). Just like the last tour, Jungkook’s “Euphoria” followed J-Hope, and not to be outdone, he took performing to new heights—literally. The second chorus saw the young singer take to the skies via harness as he soared from corner to corner of each stadium, looking ARMYs at all seating levels in the eyes as he sang. Previous performances of “Euphoria” were already beyond captivating, but this special addition allowed Jungkook and ARMY to feel even closer to each other during such a special song.

RM’s salute to New Jersey at the 5/18 MetLife show

Once Jungkook was safely back on his feet, the other members joined him in singing a new addition to the setlist: “Best of Me,” off of 2017’s Love Yourself: Her. As a fan who found very personal meaning in the song, I’ve always wanted to see “Best of Me” performed live and I can say, with tens of thousands of ARMY set as BTS’s backdrop, I couldn’t think of a more memorable performance. After “Best of Me” came more solos, namely Jimin’s “Serendipity” and RM’s “Trivia: Love.” Though there wasn’t much difference between the old and new versions of “Serendipity” (give or take a lot more bubbles floating through the air), “Trivia: Love” featured RM writing in script via an effect on the big screens. This was particularly special in the New Jersey show I attended, as RM, whose real name is Namjoon, poked fun at the fact that he shared the same initials with the state.

The rest of the boys then joined RM on the stage for a performance of their newest single, “Boy With Luv.” While this song likely won’t go down in history as one of their hardest choreographies or best tracks, it’s undeniable that BTS has more fun with this song than any other; that spunk was particularly contagious in the Chicago show on May 11, where even winter-like temperatures and rain couldn’t dampen the boys’ spirits.

The remainder of the concert followed a similar setlist to their previous tour, including a medley of fan favorites, this time featuring a remixed version of “IDOL.” Once the hype died down a bit—as much as it can during a BTS concert—V was up next with his solo, “Singularity,” this time now complete with a bed. Barring perhaps Jungkook, V’s addition to his solo was the most striking, with the bed giving an entirely different tone to the song and allowing the singer to focus on his expressions while singing—something for which he is revered by many in the K-Pop industry. “Singularity” flowed effortlessly into a remix of “FAKE LOVE,” before toning things back down to SUGA’s “Trivia: Seesaw” in which the rapper utilized a fake door to simulate the feelings of emptiness evoked in the song. Jin followed suit with “Epiphany,” and to the delight of ARMY, not much changed between these new performances and the last, with Jin still playing the opening chords of the song on piano. The magic of “Epiphany,” however, lies in its ability to bring the crowd together, and while this is moving in any venue, it lends itself particularly well to stadiums; there are few things as touching as hearing 90,000 people singing “I’m the one I should love” in unison.

At the conclusion of “Epiphany,” Jungkook, Jimin, and V joined Jin on stage for the vocal unit’s “The Truth Untold” before transitioning into the rapline’s “Outro: Tear.” Having experienced the latter in both an arena and a stadium (courtesy of the Citi Field show), I was more than excited for this performance: while “Outro: Tear” is an objectively phenomenal song in any setting, it has a power that is too big for an arena. The BTS rap line was simply meant to perform this song in stadiums. Continuing the hype, the remaining members of BTS joined the rap line onstage for a final performance of “MIC Drop” to end the main portion of the concert.

“You Got Me, I Got You”

The much-anticipated encore started off with much the same production value as the opening with an astounding performance of “Anpanman” that included a giant bouncy house mid-stage. Instead of choreography, all seven members took turns running around the stage and sliding down the blow-up slides, allowing their personalities to shine in the fun song. The electric atmosphere continued, somehow even growing in intensity, with “So What,” this time amplified with its own fireworks show and the return of the water canons.

Things dialed back down with one of the new songs on the setlist, “Make It Right.” For this song, RM asked the audience to lower their ARMY bombs in favor of turning on their cell phone flashlights. Although the ARMY bomb lightsticks are already beautiful in their own right, the shining light from tens of thousands of cellphones lit up the stadiums like the night sky. After “Make It Right” came the closing comments from each member. In Los Angeles, RM stated that this was the best opening to a tour they’ve ever had; this was interesting given that the Speak Yourself tour is notably the only BTS tour to open somewhere other than Korea. In Chicago, all of the members expressed their gratitude towards fans for braving the cold, with Jimin even cutely scolding fans that they had better not get sick. Despite the near-freezing temperatures, this venue may have been the most memorable, with even RM declaring he will always remember “BTS’s first winter concert” when it gets cold in Korea. At MetLIfe Stadium in New Jersey, RM gave a nod to the infamously cut-short New York stop of their 2015 Red Bullet tour in which online threats were made against him that ultimately led to the cancelation of the show’s encore and hi-touch. In this emotionally-charged speech, he reflected on the group’s growth and how they overcame obstacles such as these to be able to perform in front of the 80,000-some crowd at MetLife.

The show concluded with a beautiful performance of “Mikrokosmos,” a track off the group’s new album that likens people to stars in the sky. For this song, BTS once again had fans hold up their phones in favor of their lightsticks, which infused the lyrics with even more meaning. Though the track is not necessarily a fan song, it was hard to take it as anything but as BTS and ARMY sang the chorus to each other: “You got me...I got you.” After saying their final goodbyes, BTS left the stage to an awe-inspiring fireworks display, complete with a large BTS logo in the center of the extended stage and a final shot on the big screens declaring the boys’ thanks to ARMY, “their biggest voice.”

Ending at 5/18 MetLife Stadium show

Ending at 5/11 Soldier Field show

Truth be told, as a fan, I was originally less excited for this tour than others. I had not been the biggest fan of their newest release and was disappointed to learn that new tracks would be replacing some of my favorites on the setlist. Furthermore, although BTS still remained my favorite group, I had also started dedicating my time to other artists and found myself listening to BTS less and less. Because of this, I went into the concert with less than great expectations; however, though I do prefer previous tours over this one, the Speak Yourself Tour was undoubtedly the most magical experience I’ve ever had with BTS. As I said, I’ve been blessed to have seen them numerous times in concert, but despite seeing the boys time and time again, this was the first time they felt real to me. Although my seats at each concert were much farther away than previous shows, I felt like the boys were closer to me than ever. Perhaps it was the music or perhaps it was the candidness of the cold Chicago concert which led the boys to go off script, but there was something about this tour that was particularly enchanting and organic compared to its predecessors. For the entirety of the tour, it felt as if they were telling me, an ARMY who felt like she’d lost her way, that, “It’s okay. We’re still here. We still see you.” More than just an unforgettable concert, the Love Yourself: Speak Yourself Tour reminded me that I’ll always be a star in BTS’s sky, just like they will be seven of the brightest stars in mine.