BTS Cancels Korea Concerts Due to Coronavirus
By Kristine Kwak
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – BTS has canceled concerts planned for Korea, the group announced on Thursday, Feb. 27, due to concerns about the worldwide coronavirus pandemic.
According to a post on an official Twitter (@bts_bighit), “Map of the Soul” tour shows scheduled for April 11, 12, 18 and 19 at Seoul’s Jamsil Olympic Stadium have been called off, with ticket buyers being automatically refunded the price of their purchase.
“It is unavoidable that the concert must be canceled without further delay,” reads an announcement in Korean. “Please understand that this decision was made after extensive and careful consideration.”
Although as yet unconfirmed by the group’s official rep, a third Rose Bowl date appears to have been added to the group’s touring schedule. Two shows were already booked for May 2 and 3.
The Seoul shows were originally scheduled to be the opening shows of the world tour, but with the cancellation, their first date will likely be April 25 in Santa Clara, Calif. Fans have speculated that the Seoul shows may be cancelled with their recent addition of a third show in Los Angeles at the Rose Bowl.
Tickets for the Seoul show were available via a raffle system and fans are concerned that the show has been cancelled indefinitely and not postponed.
Many entertainers are canceling or postponing appearances in the Far East while others, like Facebook which today called off its F8 developers conference scheduled for May 5-6 at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, Calif. The social giant had held the conference every year since 2007, and last year’s F8 drew more than 5,000 attendees, according to the company.
In other BTS news, industry analysts are predicting first-week consumption of more than 340,000 project units (album sales plus equivalent values from song sales and streams) for the group’s new album, “Map of the Soul: 7,” marking the biggest bow of 2020 so far. BTS’ second official music video from the album, for the song “ON,” is now the biggest YouTube Premiere of all time , with 1.54 million concurrent viewers tuned in for the clip’s debut today.
Read the full statement from Big Hit below:
Hello. This is Big Hit Entertainment
We regret to announce that the BTS MAP OF THE SOUL TOUR – SEOUL Concert, originally scheduled to be held on April 11 (Sat), 12 (Sun), 18 (Sat) and 19 (Sun) at OLYMPIC STADIUM, has been canceled.
Plans for “MAP OF THE SOUL TOUR – SEOUL” included the involvement of a number of global production companies and a large group of expert international crew, with over 200,000 concertgoers expected to attend.
However, the current global coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has made it impossible at this time to predict the scale of the outbreak during the dates of the concert in April, alongside increasing uncertainty about the cross-border movement of concert staff and equipment.
While we hope that the situation will improve, we must take into consideration the health and safety of hundreds of thousands of guests as well as our artists and the dire impact a last-minute cancellation may have on guests from overseas, production companies and staff. We have thus determined that with approximately one month left before the Seoul concert is set to begin, it is unavoidable that the concert must be canceled without further delay.
Please understand that this decision was made after extensive and careful consideration in order to cooperate with the government’s measures on restricting public events as well as municipal advisories on the use of cultural and sports facilities.
Tickets already reserved will be refunded in full through INTERPARK, the official ticket agent. Please refer to the “Refund Notice” below as well as the INTERPARK ticket Webpage (reservation page), or contact the INTERPARK ticket customer service center (1544-1555) for more information.
We would like to sincerely apologize for issuing this notice of cancellation to all of our fans who had been eagerly looking forward to the BTS MAP OF THE SOUL TOUR – SEOUL Concert, and we ask for your understanding.
Thank you.
