BTW: Banksy, BTS, and Bachelorettes

Catch up on all the headlines with 'BTW'. Lisa Mateo, Christina Ruffini and David Gura dive into the headlines you may have missed on Bloomberg This Weekend. Netflix Inc. has turned the heart of Seoul into a global stage as K-pop megastars BTS returned to the stage with a livestream comeback show that was expected to draw millions of viewers worldwide as part of a new drive by the US entertainment powerhouse to show live events that can “pull people together”.

“Hello, Seoul! We’re back,” BTS’ leader RM said, opening the show with the new track Body to Body, which draws on the traditional Korean folk song Arirang. The group performed a total of 12 songs during the hour-long show, ranging from new tracks on their album Arirang to hits such as Butter and Dynamite.

Fans chanted along with the group and cheered throughout the performance, creating a sea of sparkling glow sticks in Gwanghwamun Square. More than a hundred thousand fans gathered to watch the show in person, according to Hybe Co., the management agency for the group.

Led by the director behind Super Bowl halftime shows, Hamish Hamilton, the production — BTS’ first show in nearly four years — centered on a symbolic arch and digital wall. It was designed to frame the 14th century Gyeongbok Palace, the seven band members and tens of thousands of fans — creating and capturing a major K-cultural moment in real time. “The members of BTS are deeply rooted in where they come from, and this venue is at the heart of that,” Hamilton told Bloomberg News. “It is an arch, a picture frame, the beginning of a story, the closing of a chapter and the opening of a new one.”

Read More: BTS Discuss Return With New Album ‘Arirang’, Largest-Ever Tour

The world’s largest streaming service has become the most influential platform for Korean content from Squid Game to KPop Demon Hunters. Teaming up with BTS for the group’s first live event since the seven members completed their South Korean military service is part of Netflix’s effort to broaden viewer engagement with a focus on live events, beyond the scripted shows they’re known for.

Workers set up the stage for the BTS comeback show at Gwanghwamun Square.

“This might be the biggest thing this year that we’ve seen on Netflix in terms of our live vision,” said Brandon Riegg, VP of Nonfiction Series and Sports, at a briefing on the eve of the show. Netflix has been expanding live shows in Asia with a skyscraper live climbing in Taipei and exclusive broadcast of World Baseball Classic games in Japan.

“We view these live events as an opportunity to reach fans and members around the world in a way that is becoming increasingly tough to find: singular events that really pull people together.” During the show, fans were a core element of the livestream. Hamilton said ahead of the event that the goal was to feature “spectacular choreographed numbers alongside moments of real intimacy.”

“When hundreds of thousands of people are on the ground losing themselves in the music, our job is to capture every bit of that joy,” he said.

Central Seoul was effectively paralyzed by the show. As Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said the city government expected 300,000 people to come and took various safety and traffic-control measures in anticipation: roads were closed off, subway cars were ordered to skip stops to ease overcrowding in the area, and police and other emergency services mobilized in the area.

Read More: Seoul Ramps Up BTS Crowd Control in Shadow of Itaewon Stampede

Officials said the goal was to prevent the kinds of dangerous bottlenecks that can form when tens of thousands of fans arrive simultaneously. Fan gatherings and merchandise events have been spread across the surrounding districts.

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