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BTS Announces Stadiums: ‘Love Yourself: Speak Yourself’
Big Hit Entertainment – BTS Staples
One of the year’s biggest stories from Asia was also one of its biggest exports, as boy band BTS embarked on its first major North American (and European) tour, with four sold-out shows at Staples Center in Los Angeles (pictured here Sept. 5) among the stops.
After selling out multiple major markets on the Love Yourself arena tour, K-Pop phenomenon BTS has announced eight stadium dates spanning North America, South America, Europe and Asia.
The announcement comes on the heels of the boy band’s first-ever stadium show, at New York’s City Field, which the band announced sold out in minutes.
The tour comes fresh on the heels of their first-ever stadium show in New York at Citi Field Stadium last October, which sold-out in minutes.
“Love Yourself: Speak Yourself” kicks off May 4 at the Rose Bowl Stadium in Los Angeles before taking in Soldier Field in Chicago, MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, before heading to South America for Allianz Parque in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Wembley Stadium in London, and Stade de France in Paris.
The tour will also hit Yanmar Stadium Nagai in Osaka,Japan, and Shizuoka Stadium Ecopa in Shizuoka/Japan.
The Love Yourself arena tour of 2018 included two sold-out dates at AccorHotels Arena in Paris, Oct. 19-20, which sold 28,149 and grossed $4.58 million, and Oct. 13 at the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam which sold 13,893 and $2.25 million.
The run kicked off with four sold-out nights at Staples Center.
The septet has arguably become the biggest pop music act in the world. BTS’s global appeal may even be irresistible to China, which still has chilly relations with South Korea due to security issues. Though K-pop is very popular in China, according to Bloomberg News no “major” South Korean act has performed in China since 2016, when South Korea installed an American missile defense system on its soil.
South Korean entertainment companies and Chinese promoters continue to ask for permission from China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism for K-pop artists to play in China and are still being turned down, but Bloomberg says “China’s wrath is waning.”
Last year, the embargo on South Korean TV dramas was lifted and K-pop songs are now being played again on Chinese streaming services. Chinese companies are eager to tap the K-pop boom for their own sake, and BTS is just too big to ignore. They may end up being the tip of the spear when it comes to K-pop breaking back into the Chinese live music scene.
BTS WORLD TOUR ‘LOVE YOURSELF: SPEAK YOURSELF’ DATES
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DATE |
CITY |
VENUE |
TICKET OPEN |
|
|
May 4, 2019 |
Los Angeles, CA |
Rose Bowl Stadium |
March 1, 2019 |
|
|
May 11, 2019 |
Chicago, IL |
Soldier Field |
March 1, 2019 |
|
|
May 18, 2019 |
E. Rutherford, NJ |
MetLife Stadium |
March 1, 2019 |
|
|
May 25, 2019 |
Sao Paulo, Brazil |
Allianz Parque |
March 11, 2019 |
|
|
June 1, 2019 |
London, UK |
Wembley Stadium connected by EE |
March 1, 2019 |
|
|
June 7, 2019 |
Paris, France |
Stade de France |
March 1, 2019 |
|
|
July 6-7, 2019 |
Osaka, Japan |
Yanmar Stadium Nagai |
TBA |
|
|
July 13-14, 2019 |
Shizuoka, Japan |
Shizuoka Stadium Ecopa |
TBA |
|