BTS perform during the "BTS World Tour Arirang in Paris" show at Stade de France in Saint-Denis, France.BIGHIT MUSIC
BTS drew 92,000 people to Stade de France on both Friday and Saturday, the largest crowd the group has played in front of in a single show, with French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte Macron, among them.
The concert in the stadium just north of Paris closed the European leg of the band's "Arirang" tour following the release of the album in March after the seven members finished their military service. The stadium seats 80,000, and floor tickets took the night past 92,000. It was the group's first Paris show since June 2019.
Fans filled the streets around the stadium hours before the doors opened, dressed in the group's colors down to their bags and accessories, singing along while they waited. The line at the official merchandise store ran long, and fans handed out bracelets and key rings they had made themselves.
The crowd cut across generations. Women in their 20s and 30s made up the bulk of it, but fans over 50 and whole families were scattered through the stands. A concertgoer named Romain, 46, came with his four daughters and his 70-year-old mother.
BTS opened with "Hooligan," where the members walked out through red smoke to a roar from the stands. The set ran through "Not Today" (2017), "IDOL" (2018), "Butter" (2021) and "Dynamite" (2020) alongside tracks from "Arirang." For the Paris crowd, the group added "Boy With Luv" (2019) and "Jump."
Messages from fans went up on the venue screens between songs. One of the messages said that Paris is romance and BTS is emotion, while another thanked the band for being beside the fans.
A third read: "You make me happy. My bank account isn't happy. I love you anyway," drawing laughs from the crowd.
The French president and his wife were caught on the broadcast cameras holding BTS's official light stick. Macron later posted a video he shot himself on Instagram, captioned "Bienvenue à Paris!" — "Welcome to Paris!" — with a finger heart emoji, the gesture Korean performers make for fans.
The crowd fills Stade de France in Saint-Denis, France, for the "BTS World Tour Arirang in Paris" show.BIGHIT MUSIC
The members thanked the crowd in Korean and French after the show.
"I had high hopes because there were more than 80,000 seats tonight, but it was so much more fun than I expected that I was really happy," Jungkook said. Jin told the crowd he was delighted to be there with them.
RM greeted the crowd in French, saying he was overjoyed to be back in Paris and that they were the best crowd. J-Hope, also speaking French, called Paris the city of the best ARMY.
Jimin put the night in the group's own record books.
"This is the concert that has drawn the biggest audience in our band's performing life," he said.
Suga reached back to their last visit, saying, "We played the same stadium seven years ago, before Covid, and back then it was about half of tonight's crowd," he said. "This looks like it will be the biggest and the hottest city on our tour."
BTS greets the crowd during the "BTS World Tour Arirang in Paris" show at Stade de France in Saint-Denis, France.BIGHIT MUSIC
Le Monde published a profile tracing the group's career from its 2013 debut. The hiatus could have broken BTS apart, the paper wrote, but its members seem instead never to have been so close, so strong or so sure of who they are.
BTS played a second Paris show on Saturday. The group now heads to the United States for the halftime show at the 2026 World Cup final.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
