Why BTS’s happiness on the Arirang 2026 tour is so infectious—it heals even ticketless ARMYs miles away

“Oh no, Las Vegas got Danger. We lost Danger!”

I mutter furiously in the group chats, communicating with fellow ARMYs, all of us pretending to be seething while sharing the same reels and performance clips from BTS’s Arirang tour. “Well, no city has gotten Ddaeng yet,” I say in grim satisfaction. It means nothing; I know that, along with the rest of ARMY, I’ll still be contributing to the million videos of the same performances. We're all waiting for a performance of Ddaeng; we just don't want to admit it.

It’s the routine now: grit your teeth and glare at BTS performing all their classic favourites in different cities, share videos, cry about it on social media, while secretly watching every clip four times over. Tampa started the trend, where BTS performed the famed Pied Piper, and later Mexico got more of the old hits, and ARMYs morosely had to agree they deserved it, after all, 50,000 of them turned up to the National Palace to see BTS, even if it was for just five minutes.

For all the grumbling and pretend-sobbing most of us do, it’s all happening in the midst of cherishing every moment they’re on stage.

I am self-aware; I’m a little too snarky for someone who couldn’t even join the Asia presale on time and got confused with the dates. The concerts might be a dream, and as much as I roll up my sleeves and prepare for the 5 a.m. battles, the reality is I will still be watching Twitter fancams.

Yet, the atmosphere on ARMY feeds feels different. It’s like the old days, before 2022, but charged with a new electricity. Seasoned fans have lived through the painful years of 2016, 2018, and then 2022—the Festa, the hiatus, military service announcements, interspersed with solo eras. In December 2022, Jin left for service, and the timeline was filled with Astronaut edits. A few months later, J-Hope followed, then Suga, and by December 2023, the rest of the members had gone. There was an atmosphere of gloom over timelines for months, until Jin returned in 2024.

A little light came back, and Jin did his best to fill the void. Nothing a typical Jin live couldn’t fix, funny Weverse updates, a Super Tuna video where he proposed to a fish. J-Hope returned soon after, kicked off his tour, and by 2025 the timelines were brimming with hope again as BTS reunited in their anniversary month. A new era was beginning, and nobody quite knew what it would look like.

But it didn’t matter so much, because fans were eager just to see the members together again; laughing, cracking old inside jokes that have never really gone stale. The OT7 Weverse lives slowly returned, messy and chaotic as ever, exactly what the ARMY doctor ordered. Every detail was absorbed and replayed: RM holding on to Suga, V and Jimin’s banter, Jungkook simply enjoying being around his brothers again. One day they’re wreaking havoc on the beach, another day teasing Jimin from another room.

The journey from June 2025 to now has been painstaking, as the members keep revealing in fragments. The pressure to write an album worthy of a BTS comeback is crushing, mixed with the excitement and nervousness of returning to stage. All eyes are on them; they know every slight slip will be watched and dissected—and even when there isn’t one, people will find it.

And so there’s always a sense of worry on ARMY feeds. The rush to protect BTS from their own criticism, as well as from others. Are they too tired? Are they overworked? But the bond between BTS and ARMY remains enduring, with the members always moved by the love of fans, and reassuring them that, yes, they will be fine.

It’s easy to believe them after watching them on stage. Four years ago, we saw them tearing up at Busan, unsure of when they would perform again. But it’s 2026 now. We see them performing their biggest hits, choreographies that formed the core of BTS, including Boy With Luv, performed purely on muscle memory. We saw Jimin and V’s I Need U, we saw them joyful as ARMYs sang Pied Piper. We saw Suga’s smile, standing behind Jungkook during Attack on Bangtan.

They knew ARMY had waited and stayed.

Four years ago, fans, like the member, were weighed down by military service and just waited for the day they could see them happy and dancing together again.

So maybe it’s alright if Las Vegas got Danger. It’s fine if Tampa got Pied Piper. And ARMYs still won.
They got BTS back.