BTS La Plata Review: Argentine Jerseys, 23 Songs
Five of the seven members came back out in Argentina's national football jersey, number 10 on the back and their own names above it, during "Come Over." Infobae reported that the gesture had not appeared at any earlier stop on the tour. The crowd in La Plata, in cold weather and on-and-off rain, had waited 13 years for the full group.
This review is based on press accounts of the first of BTS's three nights at Estadio Único Diego Armando Maradona on Oct. 21, not on attendance. The sources are the Argentine outlets Infobae, Ámbito, 0221 and Perfil. None of them times the set to the minute, so the pacing judgments below are inferences from their reporting.
"Hooligan" opened the show on the 360-degree stage, with dancers in black, ninja-style, and others in red hoods, and screens arranged around the stage like a boxing ring. "Aliens," "Run BTS," "They Don't Know 'Bout Us," "Like Animals," "Fake Love" and "Swim" followed before "Merry Go Round" brought the first break. The opening run mixes new material with an older hit, so the "Arirang" album doesn't have to carry the night alone. "Not Today," "MIC Drop," "FYA," "Burning Up (FIRE)" and "Body to Body" then pushed the tempo, with "Normal" as the one slow song in that stretch.
"Idol" is where the stage earns its cost. The members came down and walked the perimeter of the field, greeting each section, and the layout let people on the far side get as close as the front. The "ARMY Time" segment that followed put fan banners on the screens: references to Lionel Messi, mate, gauchos, Boca Juniors and River Plate. Then came "Come Over" and the jerseys, with V in the casaca and Jimin and Jin in looks built from the flag's colors. The jersey moment works because it is specific: printed names, the 10, a country's most recognizable shirt. A touring show with a fixed template needs a few details like that, and La Plata got them.
The soft spot is how little of the night can change. The tour's variable is two surprise songs, picked by the DJ from signs fans hold up during the soundcheck, which requires a higher-priced ticket. La Plata got "Hold Me Tight" and "Dionysus." Fans had also asked for "21st Century Girl," "Ma City" and "Cypher Pt. 3." Perfil calls the rest of the set typical of the tour. For anyone without the soundcheck package, customization stops at the banners and the jerseys.
The talk takes real time, too. Around 9 p.m., an hour in, Jungkook told the crowd BTS wasn't halfway done, and 23 songs ran nearly three hours, which leaves a lot of the night for speeches. RM said in Spanish that it took 13 years to get there ("tardamos 13 años en llegar"). Jin recalled his 2022 guest spot with Coldplay at River Plate, speaking through an interpreter. Jungkook pulled out one earphone to hear the crowd. V told the stadium "fuera de joda, son el mejor público," roughly "seriously, you're the best audience," per Ámbito. These are the moments the reports remember, and they come at a cost to momentum that I can't measure but can see in the arithmetic.
The numbers explain the noise. Argentina is now BTS's eighth-largest listening market on Spotify, six places higher than in 2024, and local plays rose 193 percent to 250.6 million between October 2025 and September 2026, according to Ámbito. "Please" and "Into the Sun" closed the night, and 0221 reported that fans stayed in their seats after the members left.
An 8, because the stage design and the local touches do real work, even though two fan-picked songs and a talk-heavy run leave the structure more fixed than the crowd's energy suggests.
BTS plays La Plata again on Friday and Saturday. Saturday's show goes out live to cinemas, on Oct. 24 in the Americas and Oct. 25 elsewhere, in a two-concert broadcast plan that Latin Times puts at about 3,800 theaters in more than 80 countries. São Paulo follows on Oct. 28, 30 and 31, and the Oct. 30 show is the tour's fifth live-viewing event.
"Arirang" is out now on Big Hit Music. The Arirang World Tour continues in La Plata on Oct. 23 and 24 and in São Paulo on Oct. 28, 30 and 31.
