BTS encore show in Manila a rousing success

MANILA, Philippines – Imagine this: Fans camping out for hours at the NAIA airport, waiting for the arrival of their favorite K-Pop boy band or shelling out P12,000 to be in the mosh pit, never mind if they have to stand for two and a half hours, just to see the boys up close.

Talk about Filipino fan devotion to BTS (Bangtan Boys), one of the top boy bands in Korea and Asia right now.

The seven-piece member blew into town for a one-night-only concert at the Mall of Asia Arena dubbed Epilogue on Saturday night. It was the group’s second time in the Philippines, having performed in 2014 for its Red Bullet concert.

That day, BTS fans, collectively known as The Army, took to Twitter to express its love for the group. BTS, which has nearly 2.8 million followers worldwide, used its official Twitter account to thank Filipino fans and show gratitude for the warm welcome.

Jung Kook, Suga, Jimin, J-Hope, Jin, V and Rap Monster performed their K-pop hits Fire, Young Forever, I Need U, We are Bulletproof, to hundreds of swooning Filipino fans at the arena. Hundreds more waited outside the venue because the tickets were sold out.

The crowd yelled at the top of their lungs as the boys sang, rapped and did their expert and synchronized dance moves on stage.

What was noteworthy was the reception of the Filipino fans to the heartthrobs at the concert. BTS songs are mostly hip-hop and electronic rap-metal, and for the audience, which includes young girls, to sing their songs in Korean was simply remarkable.

And as the ritual in any K-Pop concert, the fans were armed with cameras, fanboards and glowsticks, which they waved as the handsome boys of BTS performed.

The boys got the fans dancing the moment they launched into their first song Run. Song after song followed and boys performed a total of 24 numbers, which includes Danger, Autumn Leaves, Tomorrow, Butterfly, Outro: Home of Cards, Intro: What Am I to You, Boy in Luv, Save Me, If I Ruled the World, Baepsae, Dope, Boyz with Fun, Attack on Bangtan and No More Dream. For their encore, they sang four songs, Epilogue: Young Forever, Miss Right, Whalien 52, For You and I Need U.

The highlight of the concert was their performance of Fire, which got the crowd excitedly dancing to the catchy song.

From time to time, the group would break into short intermissions to talk to the crowd.

“Mahal ko kayo, sana masaya kayo,” said the band’s youngest member Jung Kook, eliciting deafening screams from the crowd.

It was also noteworthy how BTS members spoke in English to communicate with their fans.

Rap monster lauded the audience for singing their songs.

“I just realized in our concert here that language or race is never a barrier for us, and we are grateful to you for embracing our music,” he said to wild shrieks from the fans.

The production was simple and had a simple T-shaped stage. The concert producers used sparingly special effects like fireworks and laser lights, and it worked for the boys because their talents were highlighted.

One thing that made the fans happy was the warmth and congeniality of the members towards them. The members lingered at the stage to blow kisses and wave, long after they’ve finished their encore songs.

The boys thanked their Filipino fans and promised to come back to Manila. They will have another show in September.

BTS or Bangtan Boys was formed in 2013 by Big Hit Entertainment and debuted with the song No More Dream from their first album, 2 Cool 4 Skool. The album won for them several awards at the 2013 Melon Music Awards, the Golden Disk Awards and the 2014 Seoul Music Awards.

BTS’ popularity continued to soar with the release of its sophomore album Most Beautiful Moment in Life trilogy, with The Most Beautiful Moment in Life Part 2 and The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: Young Forever, both debuting at the US Billboard 200. The Most Beautiful Moment in Life Part 2 also charted at No. 1 on the Billboard World Albums Chart and remained there for multiple weeks, making BTS the first K-Pop act to achieve that feat.

Known for its large international fanbase, having performed in Asia, Europe, Australia, North America and South America, BTS’ outstanding performances won for the group the Best World Performer award in the 2015 Mnet Asian Music Awards.

BTS is known for its large social media presence and named by Forbes magazine as the most retweeted artist on Twitter in March 2016. Because of that, Twitter launched its first ever K-Pop Twitter emoji featuring BTS.