BTS, the group that kicked off their world tour at the Goyang Sports Complex last month, has now begun the North αмєяι¢αn leg of the tour after wrapping up performances in נαραи. They are currently holding “BTS WORLD TOUR ‘ARIRANG’” in мєχι¢σ City with three concerts running from May 7 to May 11 (local time). All three nights sold out during presale, while thousands of fans and local residents without tickets still gathered around the stadium just to soak in the atmosphere from afar.
The stadium has been completely packed with around 60,000 au∂ιєnce members each night, surrounding an open 360-degree stage. The extended sub-stage was designed based on the four trigrams (Geon, Gon, Gam, and Ri) from the кσяєαn national flag, the Taegukgi, helping shorten the distance between BTS and the au∂ιєnce.
Meanwhile, performances from the album ARIRANG — an album deeply rooted in BTS’s heritage and identity — were staged alongside various elements of traditional кσяєαn art. “Aliens” featured crowds wearing traditional masks, “SWIM” used giant flowing fabric that moved like ocean waves, while “Merry Go Round” drew attention with graceful movements inspired by Seungmu, the traditional кσяєαn monk dance. During “NORMAL,” the members’ silhouettes spread across the LED screens like an ink wash painting.
Beyond all of these details, there is one particularly interesting detail that fans have noticed throughout many concerts since early April: the opening of Phase 2 of the concert, right before BTS begins performing “2.0,” where the members and dancers wear scarves inspired by traditional кσяєαn flag colors.
Specifically, during the transition before “2.0” begins, BTS and the dancers split into two groups wearing either blue or red scarves — symbolizing the yin-yang emblem on the Taegukgi. Because of the constantly changing stage lighting and the members moving rapidly within a large formation, fans had been unable for weeks to clearly determine which member belonged to which team.
However, by compiling countless fancams, zoomed-in videos, and photos from multiple concerts, ARMYs have finally discovered the “official answer.” According to fans’ findings, RM, j-hope, and V belong to the red team, while Jin, SUGA, Jungkook, and Jimin are part of the blue team.
An especially funny coincidence is that fans immediately connected these results to BTS’s own “team split” during their time in мєχι¢σ. The blue team members were also the exact four members who went together to watch a Lucha Libre match at Arena México on May 8. Jin, SUGA, Jungkook, and Jimin even received wrestling masks from Soberano Jr., Máscara Dorada, and the Calavera brothers. Later, Jimin was spotted posing with the mask of the “Prince of Silver and Gold,” while Jin proudly showed off the jacket he received from legendary wrestler Místico during the second concert.
Although BTS has never officially explained the exact meaning behind this team division, the coincidence has only made fans even more entertained and excited:
- The cloaks are giving cool dramatic vibe. Will you color me red? Will you color me blue? Purple would do! (Blue & red mixed)
- So after weeks of detective work, we finally got the official red vs blue lineup. ARMYs really never rest
- The fact that the entire blue team also went to wrestling together in мєχι¢σ is taking me OUT
- Red team, blue team… sorry but my soul belongs to both sides equally. Purple вℓσσ∂ only
- Red team: RM, Hobi, Taehyung. Blue team: Jin, Yoongi, Jimin, Jungkook. Somehow this makes perfect sense and I can’t explain why
- The amount of fancams, zooms, screenshots and investigations ARMY collected for this… we deserve detective licenses at this point
- Blue team look like cute kid while red team look fierce to me. Anyway, Jungkook is having way to much fun being a burrito
- How am I supposed to choose when my heart is literally split into red and blue while my вℓσσ∂ stays purple forever
