"We're coming back no matter what": Bogotá turned purple for the historic first visit of BTS
For the first time in their 13-year career, BTS included Colombia among the destinations of their ARIRANG Tour. With this new series of performances, the South Korean group has totaled six major international tours since their debut. The first was The Red Bullet Tour (2014 - 2015), which spanned 13 countries and brought BTS to Latin America for the first time, with shows in Brazil, Mexico, and Chile. In 2015 came The Most Beautiful Moment in Life On Stage Tour, which focused on various cities in Asia. In 2017, The Wings Tour once again expanded their international reach by stopping in 17 cities across 10 countries, with Brazil and Chile among their Latin American destinations. Afterward, the Love Yourself World Tour took the group to various international stages and featured Brazil as its sole Latin American stop, while its extension, Love Yourself: Speak Yourself, turned the tour into a stadium-sized run. After two years of mandatory military service, BTS announced their return on February 3, 2026, and released ARIRANG on March 20, kicking off a new musical chapter accompanied by their sixth world tour.
The ARIRANG tour kicked off on April 9, 2026, in Goyang, South Korea, and its first leg already demonstrated the scale of their return: according to Billboard Boxscore, in April alone BTS grossed 76.2 million dollars and sold 417,000 tickets across eight concerts. With the early May dates, leading up to their May 10 concert in Mexico City, the tour had accumulated 124 million dollars and 660.000 tickets, and was on track to surpass the 213.9 million grossed by the Love Yourself World Tour in 2018 and 2019. At the time the BTS WORLD TOUR ‘ARIRANG’, was officially announced, the initial calendar included 86 shows across 34 cities in Asia, North America, Europe, Latin America, and Oceania. The announcement was made by BIGHIT MUSIC, BTS's agency, along with the schedule of tour dates.
The ARMY MEMBERSHIP presale began on April 7 at 10:00 a.m., and in just three hours Ticketmaster confirmed the sell-out of both dates, with over 70,000 tickets sold. Purchases were restricted to those who had registered on Weverse between March 27 and April 2 and had obtained the fan membership. The Alcaldía de Bogotá, through the District Tourism Institute, revealed that 18.4% of ticket purchases were made from outside Colombia, primarily from Ecuador, Venezuela, and Mexico, and it is estimated that nearly 25% of attendees traveled from other cities within the country.
BTS landed in Bogotá on September 30, and from that day on, the city shifted its rhythm. Colombian fanbases requested respect for the members' privacy and asked people not to share their real-time locations to avoid gathering crowds. On Thursday, the day before the first concert, the band held a rehearsal at the Nemesio Camacho El Campín Stadium, and by Friday some fans were already lining up from midnight to secure entry. Doors opened at 4:00 p.m. and the show started at 8:00 p.m.
In total, attendance during the two days at El Campín exceeded 100,000 people, with more than 53,000 per date, making it the most-attended concert in the stadium's history. With that figure, BTS surpassed the per-date records of Karol G (44,286 in 2024) and Coldplay (44,157 in 2022) according to the MUSICTRENDS Colombia ranking. According to the Bogotá Tourism Office, the city reached the dates with almost zero vacancies: only 15% availability remained across hotels and short-term stays. Additionally, flight bookings to Bogotá between September 30 and October 4 grew by 46.6% compared to the same period in 2025. The District Tourism Institute projected an economic impact exceeding 99,000 million pesos, distributed mainly among food, lodging, transportation, and shopping.
More than 4,000 personnel from entities such as the National Police, Fire Department, TransMilenio, and Health, among others, supported the two days. To welcome over 50,000 attendees per night, the Mobility Secretariat deployed 150 street staff, road closures and detours around the stadium, and controlled access for local neighborhood residents. TransMilenio, for its part, activated a special operation with eight routes to facilitate the public's departure. On Friday the 2nd, the city's mobility faced another test, as the concert by Romeo Santos and Prince Royce at Vive Claro coincided with BTS's first night.
On September 30, through Decree 413, the Greater Mayor's Office of Bogotá declared the seven members as guests of honor of the Colombian capital. It had been approximately a decade since this recognition was last granted to anyone. Beyond being a symbolic title, it is provided for by district regulations and recognizes prominent visitors in artistic, sports, political, scientific, or cultural fields.
As part of the welcome, several iconic landmarks across the city were illuminated in purple (the representative color of BTS and ARMY). Among them was Monserrate, which from October 1 to 5 offered a special fare of 29,500 Colombian pesos on the funicular or cable car for those who proved they were fans of the band—whether by wearing a piece of purple clothing, official merchandise, or showing the Weverse app. The Colpatria Tower and the Liévano Palace, seat of the Greater Mayor's Office of Bogotá located on the western side of Plaza de Bolívar, were also illuminated. MAMBO, the Museum of Modern Art of Bogotá, joined in with a 15% discount and an exclusive commemorative stamp for ARMY, available from September 30 to October 4, 2026, for those who presented the Weverse app.
Colombia kicked off the South American leg of the tour, and all the members made their intention to return to the country clear with phrases like "we are going to come back no matter what," "I promise you we will return," and "the next time I come back I'm going to speak much better Spanish, I promise you," spoken by Jungkook, SUGA, and V, respectively, during the second night of the concert, surprised by the reception from their fans.
The official setlist included 23 songs, 10 of them belonging to ARIRANG.
The show began with "Hooligan", followed by "Aliens", "Run BTS", "They Don't Know 'Bout Us", "Like Animals", "FAKE LOVE", "SWIM", "Merry Go Round", "2.0", "NORMAL", "Not Today", "MIC DROP", "FYA", "Fire", "Body to Body", "IDOL", "Come Over", "Butter" and "Dynamite". Next came two surprise songs: on October 2 they were "I'm Fine" and "So What", and on October 3, "We Are Bulletproof Pt.2" and "Mikrokosmos". Then "Please" played, and the concert ended with "Into the Sun", accompanied by a fireworks display that, according to the band, they use to make their exit more bearable while the audience gazes at the sky.
During some songs, the Colombian fanbase (an organized community of ARMYs that informs, shares content, supports and promotes events, and coordinates fans in a country or city) and Bogotá's, fanbase, with the support of those from other cities, organized various projects to be carried out on both dates and during the band's visit. Among them were billboards, the formation of the Colombian flag during "Come Over" and the Happy Birthday song for Jimin, who was going to celebrate his birthday on October 13 and expressed deep gratitude for the gesture.
During the concerts, people of all ages and from various parts of the world were seen, attending alone or accompanied. The sell-out of both days, the people who listened to the concert from the outside, those who watched it via social media streams, and those who, without being frequent listeners, were astounded by the impact of ARMY and the BTS show demonstrate that the effect the band had in Colombia is undeniable.
After the two nights at El Campín, BTS continued their journey through South America with dates in Lima, Santiago, Buenos Aires, and São Paulo, but the first visit to Colombia made it clear that waiting so many years was worth it.
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