Hannah Sung (second from left) and her friends at the BTS show in Paris.HANNAH SUNG/Supplied
Last Friday at the iconic Stade de France just north of Paris, a pilgrimage of fans began singing the European soccer chant that riffs on Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes. We weren’t there for sports, but we got the Army part right.
Fans of the K-pop boy band BTS, or Army, as we’re known, had come to greet their kings. And while the French are known to be K-pop stans, it was clear this crowd was global – you’ve never seen so many flags from all over the world.
On the first night of two sold-out shows in Paris, BTS greeted their biggest single concert audience ever, at a reported 92,000. The stands only hold about 80,000 (bigger than any stadium in Canada), but the stage was built in the centre of what would usually be the soccer field, opening up thousands of standing-room floor seats.
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That exact spot on the pelouse, or lawn, was the destination I had in mind last winter as I planned a trip to Paris with friends. “I’m not going to Paris, I’m going to see BTS,” my friend Ann said. Accurate. This trip was about being together for a few precious days out of our tightly scheduled lives. There were meals, drinks and shopping, but our priority by far was to witness, for the first time, our top most-favourite band.
Our group, three Canadians and a New Yorker, was taking part in a steady rise of concert tourism. In 2025, the global trend was worth over US$100-billion, driven by several postpandemic factors, including pent-up demand, skyrocketing ticket prices (which have surged roughly 50 per cent, making a concert as much of a luxury good as a flight) and an emphasis on experience-driven travel.
BTS fans outside the Stade de France in Saint-Denis on Friday.NICOLAS RONGIER/Getty Images
And what an experience. Before a BTS show starts, fans mingle for hours, handing out freebies such as homemade bracelets, keychains, photocards and more. It doesn’t feel like a crowd of strangers so much as a reunion.
As the sun set into golden hour, the show started in the way we knew it would (thanks to our close monitoring of social media). A single, masked dancer in black ran onto the in-the-round style stage, holding a torch high, leaving a trail of coloured smoke.
As the sampled swell of strings from Hooligan filled the arena, the sheer anticipation of the crowd could have blown the roof off the place. But the pyro team was intent on vying for that honour, shooting firecrackers into the sky all night, captured by Parisians on their phones from Montmartre to the Eiffel Tower.
BTS jumped from opener Hooligan right into Aliens, a sharp track that yields one of my favourite lyrics on this Arirang album. “If you wanna hit my house, take your shoes off.” It switches between English and Korean, mid-sentence, adding layers to a simple message and the fluidity that makes them a global phenomenon.
“We’re finally back at the Stade de France after seven long years,” Jungkook said, greeting the crowd. “Vous nous avez manqués!” Speaking mostly in English and Korean, the band’s rehearsed phrases in French were rewarded with stadium-wide screams.
BTS fans show off the freebies they received before the show.DANIEL PERRON/Getty Images
Highlights of the show included FYA, a deep bass-driven cut for the clubs. In a May livestream to fans, band leader RM said, “I just wanted to make a song that would help people turn off their brains and play.” Mission accomplished. This song is where I lost my mind, especially as it transitioned to Fire, a track of 2016 vintage.
The climax of the show was Body to Body, during which the entire stadium sings Arirang, an ancient Korean folk melody of longing, after which the album is named. The crowd in Paris sang the Korean lyrics, about distance and heartbreak, with abandon before RM brought us back: “I need the whole stadium to jump!” We complied and the melancholic spell was broken.
This took us straight into Idol, their anthemic 2018 singalong, sparking what fans know as the parade. The band leaves the stage with their dancers, who wave lit-up flags, to run a lap between the floor and the stands, looking unimaginably cool while essentially running track. At a past show, V pulled up to a concession stand to grab a corn dog and keep pace. Global fans live for these clips.
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BTS fans know every viral moment from Mexico City to Busan and beyond. We watch the show with our phones in hand. This is why nobody claps. Our hands are full. You’re either holding a phone or an Army bomb, the BTS-specific light stick that blinks and changes colours, creating patterns across the crowd using Bluetooth. French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte were holding Army bombs when they were flashed onto the large screens. World leaders, they’re just like us.
Any sitting president interested in soft power should pull up a seat to learn. BTS are at the fore of a powerful Korean cultural phenomenon that was unfathomable 20 years ago, or even 10. The French are no slouches in soft power themselves. One wardrobe change had BTS strolling out casually decked in French regalia – custom-made Celine, Dior, Louis Vuitton and Givenchy – a scarf slung sideways across V’s torso, a hoodie, half-on half-off, popped over Jimin’s shoulder.
I didn’t expect to ugly cry on this pilgrimage, but I should have known. I couldn’t predict which song would trigger it (Swim, Into the Sun) or why (I love my family and friends so much, and these songs remind me of what we’ve been through). The gratitude I felt, being in person with the music running through me, was irrepressible.
Toward the end of the show, my friends and I all turned inward for a four-person hug and swayed that way to the music for some time. I may have travelled by plane, but it was a journey of friendship that delivered me to this place.
We laughed until we cried before and after the show. And the show itself, well, we will talk about it forever.
The international travel was surprisingly a breeze. It was the Paris Metro system that was unprepared to handle 92,000 people leaving a show simultaneously.
Let that be fair warning to Toronto, which will play host to BTS’s only two Canadian dates this August. Overpreparedness is the bar. It’s how we reach new heights, as BTS seems to do with every outing.
BTS plays Toronto’s Rogers Stadium on Aug. 22 and 23.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article incorrectly reported that French President Emmanuel Macron was holding up his phone when he appeared on large screens at the concert. This version has been corrected.