BTS in Mexico City

BIGHIT MUSIC

Global superstars BTS wrapped up their three sold-out concerts in Mexico as part of their BTS World Tour ARIRANG. The septet performed on May 7 and 9-10, drawing massive crowds inside and outside the GNP Seguros Stadium in Mexico City. In the span of three nights, there were over 150,000 attendees inside the venue, with an estimated 35,000 singing along to the music – several carrying their BTS lightstick – as they surrounded outside the stadium.

It had been nine years since the group – RM, Jin, SUGA, j-hope, Jimin, V, and Jung Kook – performed in the country. Their last performance in Mexico City was in 2017 at KCON Mexico. Member j-hope held a sold-out two-night concert last year as part of his HOPE ON THE STAGE World Tour at Palacio de los Deportes in Mexico City. He told his fellow members during a post-Tampa concert on Weverse Live to be ready for the Mexico concert, “You’ll be surprised – truly.”

He was not wrong.

BTS were given the presidential treatment as they were invited to meet with Mexico’s President, Claudia Sheinbaum, at the National Palace. They were given a tour of the palace grounds, conversing with the president for several minutes before appearing on the balcony to greet the 50,000 fans, known as ARMY, that gathered outside the Constitution Plaza in Zócalo Square.

Throughout the concerts, BTS delivered an immersive, high-energy set featuring songs from their fifth studio album, ARIRANG, alongside their fan-favorite tracks “Dynamite,” “Butter,” and “IDOL.” The members themselves really embraced their fans – some even spoke to the fans in Spanish. While several fans were dressed in their BTS-inspired outfits and some even in traditional Korean clothes (hanbok), BTS equally embraced Mexico’s culture of dress – lucha libre masks, hats, and Jin wearing a jacket gifted to him by Mexican wrestler Mistico. V went viral for enjoying a traditional banderilla during their “IDOL” performance (the next day, he got cotton candy).

SUGA, who revealed that he was a fan of wrestling, and fellow members Jin, Jimin, and Jung Kook attended a lucha libre match at Arena México, the country’s legendary professional wrestling venue. Sitting in the front row of the ring, they excitedly interacted with the wrestlers who appeared in the ring – cheering for the hero and booing the villain. Mistico entered the ring wearing a custom white jacket with the names of the BTS members alongside their logo on the back. The group wore lucha libre masks on and off during the match.

More than 1.1 million fans were in virtual queues from over 1,300 cities worldwide competing for BTS concert tickets in Mexico City, according to data shared by Ticketmaster and promoter OCESA. There were several controversies over ticket prices and scalping during the ARMY presale and general ticket sales, prompting Sheinbaum to ask South Korean President Lee Jae-myung for more BTS shows in Mexico City. (President Lee politely declined as BTS did not have room in their schedule.)

Tickets didn’t seem to stop fans from hearing the group from outside the venue, as the lightstick Bluetooth radius seemed to reach outside, with purple, BTS’s official color, radiating from the orbs.

Mexico has the fifth-largest K-pop market, with more than 14 million K-pop fans on Spotify, and is the only Spanish-speaking country in the Global Top 10. Since the early 2000s, the Korean wave has swept the country with K-dramas and music, especially with the arrival of BTS, BLACKPINK, Stray Kids, and more in the 2010s. Since then, Spotify’s K-pop streams in Mexico have grown by more than 500% in the last five years alone.

BTS heads back to the U.S. to play for three nights – May 16, 17, and 19 in Northern California at Stanford Stadium. After that, they will perform in Las Vegas for four nights – May 23, 24, 27, and 28 before leaving for two nights in Busan and then the UK/European leg of the ARIRANG World Tour.