u/Future_Stranger_663

I attended D1 & D2 in Tampa. I wanted to share my thoughts and make a post were others can share theirs as the tour progresses.

Personally I really liked the concert a lot. My general thoughts are:

D1: There were terrible issues with entrance. There was not a lot of direction, signage or staff. That was frustrating but army handled it well. The good thing is they delayed the concert to give more people time to enter. There were also small issues with the screens being out of sync and the mics being a little low. I think the microphones sounded low because they didn’t expect us to be that loud. Overall the show was still great.

D2: The stadium corrected the entrance issues. It was smooth entry and there was noticeably more staff around answering questions. The concert started on time and it seemed like they turned their mics up to account for fan screams. I was happy they made corrections and it made the experience even better.

I was a bit worried about their outfits on D1 because it was so hot outside. D2 was cooler and it looked like they wore thinner material but I’m still concerned about overheating as they go further in the tour. The leather will be rough in Texas, Vegas, etc. It also will be tough in August. Hopefully they continue to adjust the fits for the weather and hydrate well.

Okay now the good stuff.

Songs: They performed almost all the songs on Arirang and also many of their old songs. On D1 I was so happy when not today came on. I had been avoiding as many spoilers as possible and I didn’t see one for this. I don’t understand how in the beginning of the tour people were upset because they didn’t perform enough of their old music. They performed 8-9 old songs, I thought that was a lot. So I don’t understand what people expect especially given the tour is named after the album.

Performance: They all sounded great on both days. Yes on D1 some of the members were a tiny bit pitchy during magic song due to sound issues (JK posted on instagram apologizing for the sound issues) but in person I didn’t think it was that bad or that noticeable. Otherwise their vocals were really good. I think D2 had stronger vocals just because they felt bad about magic shop D1. Jungkook also did a lot more ad libs on D2. Which I loved. Jin hit some amazing notes on D2 and the non army I went with was really impressed with Taehyung during animals.

I also loved all the dancers/performers. The women with the flame throwers were badass the dancers in the white during the vcr were angelic and the way they used the fabric during swim was super cool.

I love the fan song performance. Magic shop was magical and pied piper was just amazing. I will say I think it would also be cool if they choose 1 old song and then 1 song was random. That way they could practice and sing the old song they choose fully. I completely understand that they probably forgot a lot of the words/dances to their old music which is why at times they aren’t signing just doing crowd participation. But it would be cool to see which songs they would choose to perform.

Dancing: Again, I don’t understand what people expect (early tour discourse). I felt like they danced quite a bit. No they didn’t dance to fire but it was mixed in with FYA so I felt like it didn’t need the dance. They danced to about 6 songs. Then Jungkook did the FYA dance which up until the concert I didn’t know he’s doing the dance the dancers are doing. Then Tae, Jimin, and Hobi (w/Jk sprinkled in) danced to pied piper. Even when they weren’t dancing they were moving a lot, running down the ramps, jumping etc. I feel like if they added more dance it would have prevented them from interacting with the crowd. They would have been stuck only in the center of the stage and we wouldn’t have gotten JK sitting on the ramp by my section, D1 or Jimin jumping on the barricade fence in D2. Also, given the heat and the length of the their tour I feel like dancing more would have been a lot. They have to pace themselves and stay healthy.

VCRs/Screens/special effects: I was in the 200s both nights and I thought the screens were great. From my seat they were great sizes and I could see everything without a problem. Like I said D1 had some screen syncing issues but D2 had none. I also love the special effects on the screen it is very cool. I personally think it adds to the show in a unique way. To layer special effects over live video isn’t something I’ve seen done. The live video rewind in Run was very cool. There wasn’t any strobe lighting so I think there would be a low chance of triggering someone who has seizures. I also think the combo of the special effects on the vcr with the stage effects were pretty. The RM section with rocks moving and the stage lighting effects was cool. So was hobi’s section as the sun, Jin’s section as light/prism/angel/magic (lol idk what to call it) and Jungkook’s fire. I also enjoyed the red and blue (when the members came out in the blue hood). It looked like they created the blue/red from the S. Korean flag.

Also the incorporation of the stage movements was also great. They utilized the 360 stage well. Performing to all the sides of the crowd. I was also shocked that they all at some point ran down the ramps. I didn’t think they would have time and that it would be mostly the dancers at the end of the ramps but it wasn’t. The members also came down! Also, when they show the fans the long side of floor seats are arranged into the BTS symbol.

All in all it was a great experience the crowd was amazing and I sat next to high energy army. I want to encourage future shows to find ways to do the member chant. Since there’s not many songs on this album that call for it, I felt like it was challenging. We did it and managed to do the army bomb wave which was good but I wish there were opportunities to do it more. What did yall think?