BTS in London - Concert report
I’m back from London and two amazing concert days! I also bought a lot of merchandise, both from the BT21 and BTS pop-up stores as well as concert merch. The lines were of course really long. The one for the BTS pop-up store went around the whole block, and for the concert it was also in direct sunlight so it got extremely hot. But in the end I got a lot of nice things (mainly clothes and a Van pillow) so I can’t really complain.
I wanted to write a concert report, mostly for my own sake. But I will share it here, in case someone would like to read about my thoughts regarding the Wembley concerts.
DAY 1
For the concert itself the first day we were there around 10 am to stand in line for the merch, so then we had a lot of time to pass before the actual concert. But it was great to not have to stress, especially compared to O2 last year when the floor tickets were open so we had to stand in line all day to ensure we got good spots.
This year on the first day we also had floor seats but like I said, this time all of them were numbered (we had C3 seats), so again really nice to not have to stress. We didn’t get as close as last year, but we saw them pretty well when they went out to the podium stage and the energy there was great.
I must say, Dionysus as opening was just incredible. Even though it was hard to see the main stage from where we were the energy of the song just caught the whole stadium and the set and music just fills you up with excitement.
Then they kept going with Not today and Wings, which were incredible to hear live. Wings was added from last year and I loved it. It was a perfect concert song that actually got me a bit emotional. Wings was my first BTS album, so in a way those songs hold a special place in my heart.
Also, for their introductions you could tell all the boys have all practiced so hard on their English. And JK of course seemed really eager to give back for last year (even though it obviously wasn’t his fault). He was bouncing around like crazy with so much energy pretty much the whole concert.
Just dance is such a bop and the audience was amazing for the song, chanting J-hope’s name and it was just really fun. For Euphoria I didn’t expect Kookie to get up in the air, but again, just amazing to get to see him do it the way he would have wanted to last year.
Then followed Best of me! Which is also a personal favorite song of mine so I jumped a lot to it. It’s a good thing we had chairs and could sit down for the intermissions.
Then it was Namjoon and Jimin’s solos, and they did well even though Jimin’s bubble didn’t want to burst. Jimin also sang some parts live, which he didn’t really do last year so that was really nice.
I filmed some for Trivia: Love, but my camera is not that good so mostly I just decided to not use my phone at all and rather just enjoy being so close to the boys. I feel some people were filming pretty much the whole time, and personally I wouldn’t recommend that as you won’t be able to take in the experience the same way when you film. (My sister took some more videos and photos though, so I might share them if I get them from her.)
Namjoon was really up close during his solo, and man does he have a stage presence. Then the walk back on the runway before Boy with luv, and Vmin’s hug! The stadium went pretty wild. Boy with Luv was fun as well, especially since we all sang along to it. Then followed the medley of Dope/Babsae and Fire which were super fun to dance and sing along to.
Then came IDOL and the hype got real! I mean, I think IDOL was probably the song that had the audience pumped the most. Last year it was the starting song, but I personally think it worked even better and got more hype this way a bit further into the concert. The intro was enough to just have us all jumping.
For Singularity I mostly watched the screen since he was pretty far away (and I also had a pretty tall girl in front of me). But just listening to Tae, who actually sang big parts of the song live this time was great.
Fake Love of course got us all waiving our Army Bombs with the chant! Also, people really screamed for JK’s abs… Haha.
Now, I must say, the background for Seesaw was amazing. It looked so good and created the perfect atmosphere for the song. For me, together with Just dance and Euphoria, I felt Seesaw really stood out amongst the solo songs this time and I was pretty much just mesmerized by Yoongi.
Epiphany was also great, and Jin really is an incredible singer, but personally as it was pretty much one of the highlights for me last year I thought the arrangement, sound and the stage was better last time. Still great, and leading up to the emotional The truth untold. I had a hard time looking away from Jimin, he kept turning around as if to cough, and you could tell that again he was really emotional during the performance. I just hope he didn’t have a hard time.
For Tear, man…. I don’t know what to say except the auras of rapline for this song are unreal. And their outfits look amazing. I couldn’t have looked away even if I wanted to. And then followed by Mic Drop it’s just such a high on adrenaline, jumping up and down and singing along.
Then it was time for the boys to speak, and again, you can just tell they have practiced so hard on their English. Everyone but Yoongi was almost entirely in English. I felt so proud and happy to hear them try so hard to be able to communicate with ARMY. They were all so happy and it was easy to tell that coming to Wembley meant a lot to them. Jin with his Bohemian Rhapsody chant and Jimin’s ARMY~! shouts were both really cute and funny. I felt a bit bad for Taehyung though, because it felt like people had some trouble hearing him. They all seemed pretty emotional, and for JK when he started apologizing for last year it was just so good to hear that he could feel happy about the concerts this time. Hobi seemed really moved by the audience, which I can understand because honestly for both days I would say the reactions he got were some of the best. It must have been overwhelming. For Namjoon it was also cute how he got this strange almost British accent when speaking. His speech about UK being a wall was also really impactful and made me feel proud to be an ARMY.
The sea of purple and then rainbow ARMY bombs was also really touching and beautiful. The concert then ended with Mikrokosmos, which of course gave us all some cute Vmin interactions. Though I must admit that Love Myself as an ending song last year was much more emotional for me personally, even though I really love Mikrokosmos as a song. The fireworks were also pretty impressive together with the music.
Then when the music and end credits ended it was time to head home, and it was really fun because even outside people were waving their ARMY bombs around. The amount of people was truly crazy. I went to the G-Dragon concert at the arena next to Wembley two years ago, and the difference in people is just staggering. It took a full hour to walk from the stadium to the train station. And that was the end of the first concert day!
DAY 2
Now the second day we got there much later since we already had merch, and it was nice to feel so rested despite us having been drained on energy the previous day thanks to the concert. This time we had stands but still pretty good spots. Of course it was a lot easier to see and follow everything going on from further away, and with less people in front of you, so that was nice. I also had a chance to film and take more photos on the second day. I won’t go through the songs here, because most of what I thought and felt was really similar to day 1.
It was nice that the bubble worked for Jimin in Serendipity and I also didn’t expect to see Vmin in So What, so that was a nice surprise. The hug between Jimin and Hobi was also really cute.
After Boy with luv on the second day the boys were having fun joking about Harry Potter and making different “spells”. Seeing Jin stupefy JK was really funny. And Namjoon’s “Shut up Malfoy!” had us all cracking up. I love it when they bring up old memes of themselves.
Now, the really huge difference between the first and second day, besides our seats, was of course the end ment and also the surprise ARMY had for BTS. I must also say that at least to me, the audience seemed to be more on and more hyper on day two. We kept doing the wave even during the waits, and the screams were louder and the chants more clear. So I am really glad I got to experience both days.
The ending ment started with us doing the wave, and the rainbow sea at the end is so pretty. Taehyung said it was beautiful and that it would always be in his heart, and I don’t know why but that really struck a chord with me. Jimin also patted his shoulder at that moment. I don’t know, I was just more emotional in general the second day. Then Namjoon told him he was in the wrong place so he moved away to his usual side on the stage.
The audience was really good and chanted every members name as they spoke. They all also seemed pretty emotional already, and knowing we were about to sing Young Forever (a song I know is special to them) I expected to see tears. They were so confused at first, and some ARMY also started to sing the song a bit early, but the effect it had on them was clear. The shock and emotion from the members as they realized what was happening was just amazing to see. I got really emotional too of course, especially seeing JK, Jimin and Hobi getting pretty overwhelmed and crying. It was a beautiful moment and I don’t think BTS or the ARMY there will ever forget it.
As the song ended they all thanked us again, this time most of them were unable to do so in Korean, probably too overwhelmed to even form sentences properly. You could really feel their love and how much they appreciated the song. As mikrokosmos came on their singing was very unstable and notes all over the place. They were clearly still very shaken after Young Forever. Jimin didn’t seem to be able to focus on much except ARMY and Tae walked over to comfort him during their part in the song. It was a really sweet moment. Then the fireworks went of and the members started saying goodbye and it was all over for real. A really really emotional ending and a memory I will never forget.
So, in total it was two amazing concerts and I am so happy I was lucky enough to get tickets for both days. I haven’t watched the vlive version of day 1 yet, but I am so happy it exists so that I can relieve that day again.
For me the songs that really stood out this time was hype songs like Dionysus, Fire, Bapsae, Idol, So what and Mic Drop. As well as Wings, Just Dance, Euphoria, Seesaw and the whole ending with Make it right and Mikrokosmos.
The sound of the huge stadium and reverb made it a little difficult for me to hear well at times (especially on the floor), but over all it was two really great concert days!
BONUS
Also, every time I go to London I try to stay close to China Town since I love the food. I basically only eat Japanese and Korean when I am in London. And there is this one Korean BBQ restaurant we always go to, and so we went there to book a table for our last day. Imagine my surprise when we I checked and saw that JK and Jimin had went to that restaurant to eat on the same day we went there to book our table. So close and yet so far! When we went there I also managed to get a picture of their autographs. Seems like Jin had also been there since they had his autograph as well. When we ate there they also played a lot of BTS, so it was pretty much the perfect end to our BTS weekend in London. <3
Not sure if anyone found this interesting, but I wanted to write it all down, at least for my own sake. Thank you so much if you enjoyed this. :)
