“Welcome, first time to Bang Bang Con?” On June 14, BTS’ Bang Bang Con: The Live starts with opening the closed doors. The “ARMY room” that was featured in the opening video first greets the viewers. Members act the part of ARMY waiting for the concert to start. Then the second door opens, and members on the stage and ARMY who are watching on their devices are ushered to the “BTS room.” Starting with “Dope”, members each step out of their room, walk down the hallway, and stand on the stage. Bang Bang Con: The Live connects ARMY and BTS by summoning ARMY to BTS’ room and each member from their room onto the stage of BTS. Bang Bang Con: The Live is a virtual concert that made its debut in the COVID-19 era, when people cannot go to venues. It has been quite a while since the meaning of concert going turned into experiencing online concerts. But today when we have to stay home with our doors closed and stay distant from one another, Bang Bang Con: The Live connects the artists and their fans.

“There was no need for a large-scale venue when there is no audience. So, we decided to do what we couldn’t in concerts, instead of taking to a large venue.” Team Leader Ha Jung-jae of the Big Hit Three Sixty Concert Production Team explained how they came up with the concept “from room to room.” They decided to build multiple stage sets in a studio instead of renting one huge venue which made people wonder where the venue was and how they could change between that many sets. This was how BTS was able to create multiple rooms and move from one space to another during the concert. Team Leader Jang Hye-sun of the Big Hit Three Sixty Content Business Planning Team remarked that, “People said that the concert production process was sensational but to producers who have been building stage sets for different music shows and creating their own programs, this was nothing new. In fact, building multiple sets in a studio is what we have been doing all along.” Bang Bang Con: The Live intuitively shows the unique features of online concerts which differ from the traditional concerts. The stage inside a concert venue stretches out into the audience seats, whereas Bang Bang Con: The Live envelops the audience with walls, like a “room.” This enhances the sense of immersion by bringing the audience onto the stage from the seats offstage. For instance, after finishing “Boyz With Fun”, members walk into another room, stand side by side, and greet ARMY in real-time. Behind them, there are instruments, albums they have released so far, calendars, clocks, and a sign that reads, “night rather than day”. By taking advantage of the ability to change sets in an instant, Bang Bang Con: The Live shows a room that is different from the performance set, evoking the sensation of looking inside the “room” of BTS. This builds an understanding that members are continuously working on songs and performances.

The advantages of using multiple sets as separate spaces are heightened during unit performances which gives the audience a deeper look into BTS. Each set which resulted from BTS members coming up with ideas from the outfits down to every prop, and meticulously planning to create an emotional portrait--deeper, and more intricate than the offline concerts. Jin, j-hope, and Jung Kook’s “Jamais Vu” shows the trio trapped in a grayscale paradox in which they keep returning to the same spot, no matter how many steps they climb, and how far they walk. They are enveloped in blue light, but sing, “Although I repeat countless times, I’m gonna continue running.” BTS’ view that cannot move forward now faces inward with RM and SUGA’s “Respect.” The "Newtro" concept stage effectively visualizes the lyrics which is about looking back on the past and applying lessons to the present with their own style. For V and Jimin’s “Friends”, the stage was set up as a bus stop, where the two actually went often. This space connects their past memories with their present and also with their future when “the cheer dies down”. It is a huge disadvantage not being able to see the audience face-to-face, but the members were able to convey their feelings in a more delicate manner, finding new ways to express concerts. When members recorded themselves with smartphones while singing “Like” in their most comfortable position, the screen changes as if BTS is communicating through video chat. This shows how smartphones, the main way we access the media, can be used in design. BTS and the audience are in the same room but are suddenly separated by smartphones. This reflects the heartbreaking reality of being unable to communicate face-to-face and having to share our daily lives via social media, just like in the lyrics. In the next song “Just One Day”, members sit in chairs, apart from each other, and the camera goes back and forth between full shots and bust shots. This quickly turns the stage into a “music show they once were in” that members reminisce about. The messages BTS sporadically sent through non-face-to-face channels during times when they cannot meet the fans is compressed and translated into Bang Bang Con: The Live and is delivered intuitively to the viewers.

A concert but with different sets for each song, just like TV music shows, and members making comments that perfectly suit each set when they move from one set to another. Bang Bang Con: The Live shows the potential of live stream concerts by combining the merit of concerts, music shows, and fan meetings. Online concerts are not simply a substitute for the canceled offline concerts but have their own significance. It also links to the fact that the audience can have a new experience through Bang Bang Con: The Live. With six different camera angles, people are able to see all parts of the stage as they like. And on the split-screens, a world map is on display, showing the number ARMY live-streaming and from where ARMY Bombs are connected. In the past, the audience cheered together in a concert venue. Bang Bang Con: The Live allowed the online audience to see every corner of the stage and connected the global fans, as if they were watching TV and chatting with their friends through social media. The production team thought it was pointless to have a virtual concert that is just like an offline one since there will be no lights or cheers made by a large body of audience and sought out something new. This is how a new format that is uniquely tailored for the online concert came to be. Based on the video uploaded on Weverse, the run time for Bang Bang Con: The Live is 01:33:45. “Since people will be seeing the concert with their smartphones, we wondered whether they will be able to sit still and watch the performance for three to four hours.” Team Leader Kang Min-yi of the Big Hit Three Sixty Cultural Content Planning Team explained that the run time was decided after considering the amount of time a person is able to entirely focus on one video. During the two intermissions, during which different VCRs were being loaded, BTS ASMR and staring contest content were showcased allowing the audience to make eye contact with the members. Like YouTubers, members filled the screen and made eye contact with the viewers, and at times gave them warm greetings. Advertisements featuring BTS were aired between members’ videos. “I wanted the viewers to keep their eyes glued to the screen.” Team Leader Ha Jung-jae said, “Although advertisements are important in terms of production funding, we thought it would be careless to just throw in ads that are not related to BTS.” He added, “That is why we prepared BTS’ ads with content such as BTS staying close to the camera like YouTubers and making eye contact so that the audience could stay immersed.” We can see that online culture has been added to the offline-based-concerts.

The moment 2,000 ARMY Bombs sparkled at Bang Bang Con: The Live was a symbolic moment that symbolized the significance of this new type of concert. To lighten up the studio with ARMY Bombs which always gave great support to BTS in venues, the Production Team manually installed more than 2,000 real ARMY Bombs, not lightings that look similar to ARMY Bombs. Team leader Ha explained, “Since it’s not an offline concert where fans bring their own ARMY Bomb, the staff had to bring all of them , which was a huge task,” And added that they purchased 6,000 sets of batteries and put them in the ARMY Bombs, one by one. “Normally, ARMY Bombs are automatically paired with the seats, but this time we had to manually pair them one by one--no. 1, no. 2, no. 3 so on and so forth. If batteries died during rehearsals, we had to replace them. This would have been unnecessary for an offline concert. Even the Business Planning Team leader who was just passing by came and helped us. But seeing how great it turned out, I thought nothing can beat handwork.” Team leader Han described it as “the essence of performance.” Although it’s an online concert, the artists and audience are emotionally connected, at least through the manually installed light sticks. The organic connection created through the ARMY Bombs can also be seen in “Anpanman,” with a huge Anpanman that protects the members, and on the empty stage where ARMY Bombs make up the phrase “BTS❤ARMY”. The connection continues as BTS sings ARMY’s fanchant, recalling memories of past concerts, and also when they say, “I miss you” and sing “Spring Day.” Whether it’s an offline or an online concert, the fact that concerts connect the artists and audience doesn’t change.

Just like BTS mentioning that it was unusually tough to perform without hearing ARMY’s cheers or like playing “ganggangsullae,” making a huge circle with space between them for ARMY, the underlying premise throughout their epic narrative from “Dope” to “Spring Day” is the belief that “we will come meet you” no matter what. Slowly walking down the hallway, BTS is not going back to their own rooms from where they first stepped out but are heading to a single room. This means that even if the widely open door closes, it isn’t goodbye but a promise to “see you again.” We constantly see through Bang Bang Con: The Live that virtual concerts will never take over offline ones, easing the fear that someday offline concerts might disappear. But at the same time, virtual concerts remove the limit of existing concerts and hint at the possibility of a high-demand business. Team leader Kang predicted that, “As we have witnessed the potential of the online market, we will probably move forth with a two tier plan. Even if concerts are held in venues again, there will be limitations in space and time. So virtual concerts could provide a broader option.” Team leader Ha added that, “The improving technology will not suddenly disappear, so we could use these technologies to hold other non-face-to-face encounters or to develop content, if not having another virtual concert.” To sum up, Bang Bang Con: The Live opened a new door for concerts.

BTS is preparing for another concert. The Production Team agreed that they can’t be complacent, considering the high expectations people have of BTS concerts. Bang Bang Con: The Live recorded 756,000 concurrent viewers. Team leader Jang Hye-sun said, “The tickets were expected to sell twice as much as BTS’ best-selling live stream content, but it actually ended up selling four times as much.” The music industry was surprised to find out that many people were watching the online concert, but she said, “We already have experience in streaming tours like we did in Wembley and Saudi Arabia so this wasn’t new for us. To prepare thoroughly, our visual team and Kiswe Mobile worked together as a single team.” Bang Bang Con: The Live shows us that a virtual concert is not simply a substitute for an offline concert but can forge its own path. This will require artists and staff to put more effort than they did in offline concerts. BTS held a live stream concert with hundreds of thousands of people watching, and on top of that, they had to move from one set to another. It was a new endeavor for the members who would say, “live broadcasting is always hard.” But at the same time, it was a way of welcoming the audience, who should otherwise have been at the venue. They did their best in what they could do, like RM said: “We really must give hope and happiness to you all. That is the only way for us to survive. As long as we’re able to do that, we’re able to continue. So, starting with things like this Bang Bang Con, we’ll do our best in what we can do. And I’m not sure when we can meet face-to-face again but we’ll give our best efforts in what we can.” And they opened a new door to a path leading them to their fans. Though they still can’t meet face-to-face.