BTS's "Arirang" world tour is not your garden variety world tour: the venues will feel like massive clubs, feature performative shows and is something the seven members are very proud to showcase to their fans.

"I'm most looking forward to the moment when all of us can run around freely on stage," RM said in a press release on Thursday. "I hope the entire venue feels like one huge club."


BTS will kick off its long-awaited world tour "Arirang" on Thursday with three shows at Goyang Stadium, Gyeonggi, in the northwest of Seoul. The band will go on to perform 82 more shows across 33 cities worldwide.

A few hours before the concert, the band's agency released a short transcript of a Q. and A. it had with the seven members in which they answered questions about the upcoming tour.

Other members mentioned the 360-degree stadium layout as the highlight for fans at the "Arirang" tour.

"We are using every direction as all sides are facing the audience," Jin said. "The stage will be rotating to face different directions and so will we, so I think you'll be able to enjoy a different kind of fun."

"I think each song will give off a completely different atmosphere because it's a 360-degree stage," J-Hope said. "In terms of the production, too, it will feel like watching a show and the Korean aesthetic we put in will also be interesting."

"I'm so excited for the moment where we get to encounter the audience for the first time in a concert," Suga said. "It's a performative concert with a lot of theatrical elements, so I think there will be plenty to enjoy."

Despite being one of the biggest bands of all time and a veteran K-pop band, the seven members of BTS were still very much anticipating their upcoming tour.

"I've been practicing several times harder as it's our first tour in a while and I was afraid that we might have lost our edge," V said.

"We've done countless performances so far, but we are trying to show a stage that is completely different from what we've done before," Jimin said.

With the band holding the concert at the Goyang Stadium starting at 7 p.m. on Thursday, the Goyang City Government sent out emergency alerts to nearby phones to be aware of noise from fireworks and congestion caused by the concert.

BY CHO YONG-JUN [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]