BTS Santiago Concert Review: Setlist, Crowd & 8/10 Rating
My overall assessment is that BTS's Oct. 14 opener at Santiago's Estadio Nacional was a strong show, because it paired a near-complete run of the new "ARIRANG" album with a hits set the crowd could sing back, even though the setlist is the same one the group has played across the tour. I rate it 8/10.
A note on method: I did not attend. This review rests on Chilean press accounts from Cooperativa, La Tercera, DSN, Radio La Señal, El Maipo and Enstarz, plus Korean and English coverage of the run-up. I cannot judge sound quality, sightlines or the feel of the room, so I have not scored them.
The conditions. Thunderstorms and hail hit Santiago on Tuesday, and photos of a flooded sports hall at the stadium circulated. Ñuñoa Mayor Sebastián Sichel said the show would go on and that the venue was working "perfectly." Doors opened after 4:30 p.m., per La Tercera, and the group came out around 8:15 p.m., opening with "Hooligan."
What worked. The set had weight at the front. "Hooligan" led into "Aliens" and "Run BTS," then "They Don't Know 'Bout Us," "Like Animals" and "Fake Love," according to DSN's 23-song list. Later came "SWIM," "Merry Go Round," "2.0," "Body to Body," "MIC Drop," "Not Today," "Fire" and "IDOL," and the night closed on "Butter" and "Dynamite." Enstarz says the group played "ARIRANG" almost in full.
Staging carried the Korean theme. Roughly 30 dancers joined in a tribute to Korean culture in the second block, and the members later walked the stadium's running track in an Olympic-ceremony-style parade with the South Korean flag, per Enstarz. La Tercera describes lightsticks switched on at once and a stadium roaring "with one voice." The surprise slots went to "Run" and "Save Me," per Radio La Señal, which are older songs and the only part of the night that differed from the rest of the tour.
The crowd had its own story. In July, Chile's sports institute refused the stadium for these dates. Fans marched to La Moneda, the presidential palace, and the government approved the venue about three weeks later after the promoter agreed to keep heavy equipment off the grass. La Tercera reports fans dedicated a chant to former Sports Minister Natalia Ducó and President Kast. A concert crowd cheering a peaceful public campaign that changed an official decision is unusual, and the reports present it without irony.
What did not. The weakness is repetition. Cooperativa notes the group has kept the same setlist throughout the tour, with changes only in the two surprise slots. For a fan on the second or third Santiago night, or anyone who has seen an earlier stop, the structure is known in advance, and none of the reports I read describes a moment that broke from it. The press coverage is also uniformly warm, which tells me little about pacing or weak stretches.
Numbers. About 69,000 people attended the opener, per El Maipo and Enstarz. That is far above the roughly 48,000 per night cited in pre-show coverage. Enstarz also cites Big Hit Music for about 151,500 attendees across the three dates. These figures do not match, and I have not been able to reconcile them.
Verdict. The reports describe a well-built show in bad weather, in a country that waited nine years since the March 2017 Movistar Arena concert. Strong material, strong turnout, a crowd that earned its night. It loses points for a script the tour has already shown. The remaining dates, Oct. 16 and 17, will show whether Santiago gets anything the opener did not. Until reports from those nights arrive, the open question is whether the two surprise slots are enough variety for a fan who buys all three tickets.
