Okay ARMY — Mexico City went full-on BTS fever and it was wild. After more than a million fans tried (and failed) to buy tickets for BTS’s three-night run at Estadio GNP Seguros, the frenzy reached diplomatic levels: Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum wrote to South Korea’s president asking for more dates. The Korean president replied that BTS couldn’t add shows on this tour, but the story didn’t end there.
With just five hours’ notice, the seven members of BTS accepted an invite to the National Palace and waved from a balcony to an estimated 50,000 fans who packed the Zócalo. RM (Kim Nam-joon) even spoke in Spanish: “I love you, I adore you. Thank you very much!” — cue the screams. Sheinbaum also teased they’d be invited back to play Mexico again in 2027, which sent the crowd into even louder cheers.
Outside the stadium thousands of fans turned up even without tickets. Photographer Alejandra Rajal captured the scenes of people dancing in the streets, a father and daughter singing together, and fans who managed to catch glimpses of the stage or hear the music from nearby. One fan, Rosa Gabriela Hernández Flores, traveled from Sinaloa hoping to get in; when scalpers were selling seats for roughly $3,500, she found a spot outside where she could see a corner of the massive screen and sing along to hits like “MIC Drop” and “Swim.” “I cried, I laughed, I screamed — I did it all,” she said. “Those minutes with them felt magical.”
Why this matters: Mexico City is a huge market for BTS — it ranks as the No. 1 city for BTS streams on Spotify — and the scale of the fandom there made the visit feel like a cultural moment, not just a concert run.
- BTS is a seven-member group: RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V and Jungkook.
- They debuted in 2013 under Big Hit Entertainment (now HYBE).
- Their fandom is officially called ARMY.
Short version: ticket demand exploded, a presidential letter-back-and-forth couldn’t add more shows, but the band still made a high-profile National Palace appearance and treated tens of thousands of fans in the streets to an unforgettable moment. For many who couldn’t get into the stadium, those few minutes outside were everything.
Source: Los Angeles Times