BTS thrill Colombian ARMY at sold-out Bogotá debut concerts during ‘ARIRANG world tour – gig report

For BTS and their Colombian ARMY, two sold-out nights at Estadio El Campín marked the end of a long wait. The group’s first-ever concerts in Colombia drew nearly 100,000 fans, opening the Latin American leg of BTS WORLD TOUR ‘ARIRANG’ with a meeting that had been years in the making.

At the centre of the shows was ARIRANG, the septet’s fifth studio album. Its themes of identity, belonging, and connection shaped a production that paired new material with songs from across the group’s career, bringing Korean cultural references into the stadium setting.

Flowing fabrics inspired by the fluid, rhythmic movements of seungmu, a traditional Korean dance, offered a more intimate visual counterpoint to the scale of the venue. The members also introduced new stage outfits for the Latin American dates.

One of the production’s most striking sequences accompanied ‘they don’t know ’bout us’, a song about defining yourself on your own terms. Handheld screens modelled after tal, traditional Korean masks, surrounded the members before revealing them. Alongside a black-and-white video sequence, the staging gave physical form to the song’s questions of identity, concealment, and how others see us.

Some of the most personal moments, however, came when BTS addressed the crowd directly.

V spoke to fans in Spanish, admitting that he was still learning the language before asking the audience to help him out. His message mixed affection with Colombian slang, including “parce” and “¡Bogotá, qué chimba!”, as he described how happy he was to finally be there.

“Next time I come back, I’m gonna speak much better Spanish,” he promised, according to the supplied translation. “I love you so much, Bogotá. See you all soon.”

Jimin was similarly taken by the response from the stands. “This is our first time coming here, and I think your voices were one of the biggest of all the tours we’ve had,” he told the audience. Fans answered with shouts of “papacito”, followed by an even louder round of cheers.

The concerts also made space for a local relief effort. A message from Colombian non-profit Fundación Ábaco appeared on the stadium screens, encouraging fans to donate to food banks supporting earthquake-affected communities through an accompanying QR code. The appeal followed HYBE’s donation of 1 billion Colombian pesos to the organisation in August.

Bogotá opened a 14-show run across Colombia, Peru, Chile, Argentina, and Brazil, with Lima, Santiago, Buenos Aires, and São Paulo next on the itinerary. In Argentina, La Plata’s City Council has already named BTS “Huéspedes de Honor”, or Guests of Honour, ahead of their three October performances.