Introduction to Kpop Monthly BTS Special Edition

Welcome to the first ever BTS Edition of K-Pop Monthly! You’re probably wondering: “Why is it only BTS?” Well, there are a few reasons. First of all, BTS is my ult group. I’ve stanned them since 2018 and and they are the reason I got into K-Pop in the first place. I’m sure a lot of you can say the same. Truthfully, this isn’t the real reason. As you may have read in the February Edition of K-Pop Monthly, BTS announced a set of their Permission To Dance concerts in Las Vegas.

Now, I know this doesn’t seem relevant at all, but stay with me. I don’t want to spoil the story ahead, but I’ll just say–I may or may not have attended. So, this special edition of K-Pop Monthly is the full story of my first ever BTS concert and how I got there! Also included is the release of BTS’s anthology album, Proof, various little articles about concert tips and some BTS playlists for different occasions!

In conclusion, I hope you enjoy this special edition of K-Pop Monthly. And if you haven’t seen BTS yet, have hope because anything is possible!

As I mentioned earlier, I’ve liked BTS since 2018. After seeing their Billboard performance of Fake Love, I was in love. Following two crazy years of being in the fandom, in 2020, I got tickets to see BTS perform in Toronto for their Map of the Soul Tour. I was beyond excited and I was the happiest I had ever been. However–we all know what happened in March of 2020…

After over a year of postponements, BTS cancelled the tour in August of 2021. I was hurt, but I knew it was coming. If they had cancelled it as soon as the pandemic hit, I don’t think I would have been able to handle it. But the way it was all spread out made the pain bearable. I cried for a day and picked myself up again, hoping that they would announce another tour. Things were getting better and the world was getting back to some form of normal. But instead, they announced Permission to Dance in LA–and concert number 3 was on my birthday. Yeah, I was devastated, but I was happy they were getting the chance to perform in front of ARMY again as I knew that meant the world to them. Over time, I had gotten over it and my birthday had come quickly.

BTS Map of the Soul Tour Official Schedule

HYBE Entertainment

Before my birthday, I had thrown some hints that I wanted to see MONSTA X in concert. After their Fatal Love album, I started to like them a lot and I really wanted to see them. For my birthday, in my box of presents, was a small envelope with MONSTA X’s logo on the front. I opened it to see MONSTA X tickets for February of 2022 in Toronto. I almost cried–finally, my first K-Pop concert. Once again, I was over the moon. I also got some money for my birthday and decided to buy the live streaming of the December 2nd Permission to Dance show in LA. As I watched the concert that night, I could feel their passion through the screen. It was honestly an amazing performance. In December of 2021, I was hopeful and happy. I was seeing a MONSTA X concert and BTS were starting their own concerts again–hopefully a tour would be coming soon.

January came and COVID cases started to rise in Canada. After winter break, I made the switch to online learning and things got bad. Restrictions returned and concert sizes were capped. I didn’t know what would happen. The complete restriction was only valid until the end of January, but would they completely reopen everything by February 1st? I decided to have hope. Maybe things would work out. However, before I knew it, MONSTA X rescheduled their whole tour and dropped the Toronto date. At this rate, I was completely drained. My hope had disintegrated right in front of my eyes. Somehow, I was even more upset at the cancellation of MONSTA X’s tour. This was perhaps because I wasn’t expecting it and it happened so suddenly. Maybe it was also because I made the mistake of having hope… February was an especially hard month as the concert was supposed to be on the 1st. Suddenly all the things I had missed started to hurt. My 8th grade graduation was cancelled, I had lost my whole first year of high school, I lost the opportunity to see BTS and MONSTA X and my best friends that liked BTS no longer liked them and were barely my friends anymore. At the end of January, with the MONSTA X concert money, I purchased BTS’s ARMY Membership. I was hopeless and upset, so I thought buying one of BTS’s Membership Merch packs would cheer me up. Little did I know, this Membership would change my life…