At a recent BTS concert in Seoul, the crowd sounded a bit different than usual.
On Thursday, BTS returned to the Jamsil Olympic Stadium, where they last performed in 2019, for their “Permission to Dance on Stage” tour. However, the show faced several alterations in order to comply with COVID protocols. Attendance was limited to 15,000 attendees per night, as opposed to the 70,000 person capacity of the stadium.
More unusually, BTS’ management company released a statement prior to the show informing fans that attendees of the show were prohibited from clapping, shouting, cheering or standing up, as a preventative measure against COVID-19. Instead, fans were provided with physical clappers that could emulate crowd noise.
“Seating for the in-person performance will comply with spacing guidelines mandated by local government performance venue Covid-19 control measures. The event may be changed or canceled depending on the social distancing level,” Big Hit said in their statement.
The unusual circumstances certainly didn’t dampen the show’s celebratory mood, members cheerfully entreating the audience at various points to “make some hands.” Toward night’s end, the boys also took a moment to sing happy birthday to SUGA–who turned 29 the day previous.
In a video taken at the concert and shared shared with TMZ, the large crowd of concert-goers are seen sitting in chairs spread out across the large stadium. While BTS is performing their final song of the night, the crowd use their red and black clappers to stimulate crowd sounds and clap along with the beat.
BTS will perform Jamsil Olympic Stadium two more times, on March 12 and 13. Their March 10 and 13 show are both live streamed online, while the March 12 show will broadcast live in movie theaters across the globe. These three concerts are the first in-person concerts BTS have performed in South Korea in over two years, since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
