Tens of thousands gathered in Seoul to show that, after a four-year hiatus, they had still kept a place for the band in a very changed world
The Zubillaga family had come from Veracruz, Mexico. Julio and Miryam had brought their daughters, Renata, 15, and Fernanda, 11, as a gift, across 15 hours of flights to a city none of them had visited before.
They had tried for world tour tickets to see BTS in Mexico but they had been snapped up already, so they came to Seoul instead, joining the tens of thousands outside the gates, waiting for the music to reach them. “It’s beautiful,” Renata says of the new album, Arirang. Her favourite member, like her mother and father, is Jung Kook.
The Zubillaga family, (L-R) Julio (44), Renata (15), Miryam (43) and Fernanda (11), flew to South Korea from Mexico as a birthday gift for Renata.
K-pop band to start tour in April after nearly four-year hiatus due to all seven members needing to complete South Korea’s mandatory military service
The BTS comeback is upon us: the K-pop septet has announced a 2026-2027 world tour, kicking off in South Korea in April and running through to March 2027 with more than 70 dates across Asia, North America, South America, Australia and Europe.
The tour marks the group’s first headline performances since their 2021–22 Permission to Dance on Stage tour.
A presale will take place on 22 and 23 January for official fanclub members (ARMY Membership holders) who register on Weverse, an online fan platform owned by BTS management company Hybe. A general sale for all regions will follow on 24 January.
The news arrives a few weeks after the entertainment company BigHit Music revealed that BTS will make their return to music on 20 March after a nearly four-year hiatus resulting from the requirement that all seven members of BTS – RM, Jin, Jimin, V, Suga, Jung Kook and j-hope – complete South Korea’s mandatory military service.
Rapper Suga was the last group member to be released from his duties as a social service agent in June 2025, an alternative to serving in the military that he reportedly chose due to a shoulder injury. The six other members all served in the army.
Source: theguardian.com