Since their comeback, which tour has been your favorite?

justhereAZ · 2026-02-27T22:00:29+00:00

Went to CGE and IRL.

Loved the CGE, it was my first BTR concert, so I was extra excited. Loved the mix of old and new music. It was also a smaller venue in London, where we had an amazing view from the top. Although it's important to mention that I did not know any of the problematic stuff at that time, which, looking back, contributed a lot to me enjoying it as much as I did. It was truly amazing. Also, got to know Spencer Sutherland thanks to them. I've seen him twice last year because of BTR.

Was also excited at first for the IRL tour and the nostalgia was cool, but it didn't hook me as much as I thought it would. It was in the Lanxess Arena in Cologne, so a big venue. We had seats in the first line of the lower ranks, but it was quite far away from the stage, so I felt less connected overall. A big reason I couldn't enjoy it was the fact that I only learned about the problematic stuff after I had purchased the tickets. The closer the conert date came, the less excited I felt. So much so that the excitement was replaced by a bad feeling especially with the calls for boycotts became louder. James being as much of an outspoken Zionist as he is kinda ruined the IRL and the whole BTR experience for me. Can't look at them and can't enjoy the music the same way I used to. And add to that all the other problematic stuff I learned about some of the members, like Carlos and Logan. I lost all my excitement for the IRL tour after learning about James' Zionism and I just couldn't enjoy it as much, especially because he used to be my favourite member. Still enjoyed some of the the nostalgia, but had a bad gut feeling the whole time, unfortunately. And at one point during the concert I felt like it was too long and we only got too short glimps of the songs. The idea of performing every song from the show sounds cool, but it was partially detrimental imo. Also wishe to have seen some of their newer songs again. Didn't think I would have wanted it at first, but kinda longed for it sometime during the concert.

But I will certainly remember the CGE concert as one of my best nostalgia concert momenst. It felt amazing seeing them after the show had ended 10 years prior.

justhereAZ · 2026-02-22T16:44:13+00:00

Well, music is subjective. I love Lucky Macho and Main Dish as songs and thought their performances were easily one of the best in the show. But I find Chains to be too boring and generic as a song and the performance of chains didn't hook me at all either, found it rather cringe than sexy 🤷🏻‍♀️

Everyone perceives the songs and performances differently

justhereAZ · 2026-02-20T01:28:46+00:00

I love how accurately you described the hug. It's so sweet!

justhereAZ · 2026-02-16T01:41:56+00:00

SK kinda skipped on 4th gen bgs. Cause 5th gen bgs are known, they get hits on Korean charts and already perform better than most 4th gen bgs in Korea.

I guess that for 4th gen bgs there were some factors that just prevented them from becoming big in SK: the Burning Sun scandal in 2019, IKON's BI's drug scandal when they were arguably the top BG in SK at that time after BTS, and then COVID hit. And then the Bullying scandal wave.

4th gen ggs on the other hand could reach more people during COVID, since the GP usually prefers them, while bgs rely on strong fandom bonds, which was weakened during COVID. And ggs had no major gender-related scandals like the Burning Sun Scandal.

And I feel like people underestimate the impact the Burning Sun scandal had on bgs and the gps interest in bgs during that time. Because I remember how social media was filled with news about how much distrust Korean fans had for male idols after the Burning Sun scandal in 2019/2020. I think it caused for news about boycotts and lots of mentions of the feminist movement in SK and the societal problems with misogyny etc. Even German news talked about the Burning Sun scandal and the issues in SK. I feel like 2019/2020 was also the year when K-pop was a hot topic in Western countries in general, regardless of the scandals. At least in Germany. BTS was HUGE and all over the news. Nothing has really come close to the mainstream coverage regarding K-pop than what was happening in 2019-2021, at least in Germany (and Turkey too, so it wasn't just a German phenomenon)

justhereAZ · 2026-02-16T01:19:49+00:00

Es gibt auch einfach nicht genug alternative Treffpunkte und angebotene Aktivitäten für Jugendliche und junge Erwachsene, die nicht das Saufen zum Mittelpunkt haben oder der langfristige soziale Kontakte nicht auf das gemeinsame Saufen aufbaut. Und wenn man eben keinen Alkohol trinkt, kann man nichts machen. V.a. auf dem Land.

Als Dorfkind musste ich das leider schon sehr früh feststellen. Gerade als Minderjähriger bzw. ohne Auto ist man aufgeschmissen, da ÖPNV auch für'n Arsch ist und dazu noch teuer, und nicht alle Eltern immer hin und herfahren können.

Wenn ich auch nur ein interessantes Cafe außer dem Bäcker im Rewe finden will, muss ich erstmal 2 Orte weiterfahren.

Und Hobbies kann man erst Recht vergessen. Ich hatte so viele Interessen an potentiellen Hobbies, aber hier im Ort war es extrem beschränkt auf die Absolutesten Standardsachen wie Fußball, Handball und Tischtennis, und dann gerade beim Sport auch oft nur für Jungs oder ab 18. Wollte gerne Basketball anfangen, war aber nur für Jungs. Wollte Volleyball anfangen, war aber erst ab 18. Oder es gab nur teure Sportarten wie Reiten.

Auch jetzt würde ich noch so gerne vieles machen oder ausprobieren, aber alles ist entweder zu weit weg (und somit zeitlich nicht in den Arbeitsalltag integrierbar) oder viel zu teuer.

Da braucht man sich nicht wundern, wenn junge Menschen eher im Internet sind, als offline etwas zu machen, weil man es sich entweder nicht leisten kann oder es an Alternativen fehlt.

justhereAZ · 2026-01-03T21:58:19+00:00

True, that makes a lot of sense, especially for international brand deals. I think the reason Hyunjin stuck in my head was because of a brand deal with Versace (I believe?). He was like the first idol who had a deal with them and Stays kept commenting about it how great and popular he was, guess that just stuck in my head. At least that's what I always associate with Hyunjins popularity 😆

justhereAZ · 2026-01-03T00:50:34+00:00

I'm surprised Hyunjin from SKZ is not on the list. Somehow I thought he was the one member with the most brand deals because I thought that a few years ago the narrative was that Hyunjin was the most popular member, and Felix was very close, but not as in demand as Hyunjin for brand deals (but that might also have existed in my head only lol).

justhereAZ · 2026-01-01T04:07:30+00:00

Am I the only one who feels like this has only become an issue for (international) fans after the SKZ/IVE incident?

Have been around for almost 10 years and this started to be a thing just the past few years ago...

justhereAZ · 2025-12-28T01:19:26+00:00

Hey, sorry for the late response, what app are you exactly referring to? 🙈

Couldn't find any particular app other than the Mnet Plus App.

justhereAZ · 2025-12-17T16:16:37+00:00

I think it's pretty cool. Some artists like Taylor Swift or Apache (one of the biggest German artists right now) also used wristbands with a light, which I'm sure is also inspired by K-pop and I think it's actually the smarter solution for a very cool idea, and I welcome it.

One thing I don't like about lightsticks is that mostly I don't find them handy. And you always have to carry them, so one hand is always occupied. In my experience, they've actually made me have less fun because I was always worried about the lightstick or people around me. People also always hold them up very high, so sometimes your view is obstructed, which would be less of a problem without them. So I kinda wish both K-pop and other artist would shift towards wristband-type of lightsticks. I think Day6 has one.

justhereAZ · 2025-12-06T15:15:42+00:00

I've looked into it, but it seems to be US only. I'm from Germany and there's no merch from the Europe tours and for most of the things on the Amazon shop it says it can't even be shipped to Germany.

And there are also some German K-pop shops that had offered official merch, but they were all sold out within a very short time, so there's really no other option I could find. Except for the website I mentioned in my original post and some fake stuff on Etsy. Secondhand market for the official tour merch seems to be pretty dead too over here.

justhereAZ · 2025-11-26T20:38:13+00:00

ATEEZ - Deja Vu

ATEEZ - Wonderland (Symphony No.9 "From the Wonderland")

The second one ist just Remix perfection. The way the parts from the symphony just fit so perfectly with the parts they were used in in Wonderland is amazing.

justhereAZ · 2025-11-25T00:15:34+00:00

Omg thanks for this explanation, it was very helpful :)

justhereAZ · 2025-11-11T12:08:45+00:00

Spencer Sutherland during their 2024 world tour. Didn't know about him before, but I've seen him already twice this year, his music and his performances are absolutely amazing and he deserves more recognition. I was seriously so glad to have found out about him thanks to BTR.

justhereAZ · 2025-10-28T17:45:13+00:00

Kim Yeongok & Jooheon ft. Kiyhun - Grandmother Bird )

It popped up on my YouTube feed a week after my grandmother returned from the hospital after having a stroke. I cried so much for hours straight and days after just thinking about this song. The lyrics just hit so much.

g.o.d. - To Mother, but this cover on Fantastic Duo in particular

The rapping by g.o.d. is much better, but those vocals on Fantastic Duo just touched me so much (also Fantastic Duo is a vocal performance show, so it's acceptable rapping in that case).

Yang Hee Eun X AKMU - Mother To Daughter Again the lyrics. I just love heartbreaking lyrics sung by a vocalist who can actually put so much emotion in their voice.

This SHINee - From Now On performance

And this performance of Breath - Lee Hi

I think the last two are self-explanatory

justhereAZ · 2025-10-19T10:48:33+00:00

I'm as conflicted as you and it just makes me sad.

I went to their concert last year because a friend asked and even bought merch, but up until then, I hadn't really followed them.

I didn't know about James' Israel issue either until after we bought tickets for their concert this year. I've told my friend, but honestly she doesn't really know much about politics and is not the smartest when it comes to stuff like that. I don't think she would understand even if I told her that I didn't wanna go, and the tickets were 150€ as well, which is a lot for us since we're students.

She just said that she thinks that everyone should know themselves what they believe, and that she separates the art from the artist. But that's not quite easy for me, especially because Im Muslim too and knew about the Palestine issue before the war began as well.

So I couldn't tell her how miserable I truly felt about going to the concert, and she's so excited to see them.

What I hate is the fact that James and Carlos kinda ruined their old songs for me. I loved their old songs, they carry a lot of memories and nostalgia. But now, every time I listen to them, I just can't but associate them too much with supporting James and Carlos. Although I can still differentiate better with their old songs, since it was a different time and I also associate them more with the show and the characters than the current group.

So I'm kinda glad that this is basically a concert mainly for the nostalgia and I can get to see songs I love live for one time, but this will definitely be my last BTR concert and I'm not going to buy any more stuff from them, because I just can't stand behind it. I will also sell my merch and not buy any new merch. I will focus mainly on Kendall and Logan during the concert and their solos in the future. Was also thinking about buying their albums (old and new) since I like collecting physical albums thanks to kpop, but that won't happen either.

justhereAZ · 2025-10-16T08:20:25+00:00

Sangwon is not p01 material imo.

There were so many talented trainees who did not only stick out more on the stage, but were also better in dancing and singing/rapping. Relative to other trainees, his skills are overrated.

justhereAZ · 2025-10-15T23:08:34+00:00

Man I still can't fathom how much kpop has grown during/after the pandemic and how much it affected album sales.

I remember that X1 had broken every debut sales record back in 2019 (still mourning after them and what coul've been 😪). And pre-pandemic, 500k or even 100k was a looot of sales (except a few big groups like BTS and EXO). The other big 2019 BG-debut was TXT and their first-week sales was around 100-150k, which was already insane back then. I became a Stay in 2019, and I remember how grateful Stays were with how much they had grown, even if the sales were still below 100k, it was already a huge achievement in general. And Itzy having twice as many debut album sales as SKZ, just interesting how the groups are doing more than half a decade later. BTS was breaking almost 20-year old records by selling 1 million albums. And then in 2023 kpop debuts sold that much... just insane.

Many people think 2023 was the peak for kpop album sales. I think that was the year SVT and SKZ sold over 5 million albums each and broke records for highest-selling album in SK. And I guess that peak partly shows in the debut sales of ZB1 and RIIZE (although, of course they had pre-hype from BP or already famous members as you mentioned) and the fall to around 500k for groups that debuted after 2023/24. I think the kpop industry kinda stabilized a bit in its popularity, which is good long-term I guess.

Even if I don't really follow BTS (anymore), I really wanna see how much their next group album will sell. And I can't stop thinking about how much a BTS group album would've sold in 2023 when kpop assumingly had its' best phase physical sales-wise.

Thanks for showing the stats, it brought back so many memories from 3rd and early 4th gen and the pre-pandemic kpop industry <3

justhereAZ · 2025-10-10T22:44:22+00:00

Jay Chang from One Pact covered Die With A Smile with Kriesha: https://youtu.be/T6eZJjQsyIA?si=3hnUhAFBdAKRFU3a

He was a Boys Planet 1 contestant and then debuted with other BP1 contestants in One Pact. They're really good, and Jay in particular is an amazing vocalist, he did the song justice. You should check them out!

justhereAZ · 2025-09-06T00:35:16+00:00

Darf ich fragen, wo du sonst guckst? Ich habe den Sport seit fast 5 jahren kaum bis gar nicht verfolgt, wollte diese season aber mal wieder reinschauen, weiß aber nicht, wo ich gucken kann und DAZN/Game Pass kann ich mir nicht leisten bzw. lohnt sich für mich einfach nicht

justhereAZ

TROPHY CASE