BTS set to dominate global spotlight with live comeback and documentary

Nine years of posts, wiped overnight. BTS's official Instagram account had been sitting empty for weeks — a deliberate blank slate that kept fans on edge. Then, on the morning of February 3, the group dropped a carousel on the stripped grid: a stark black background bearing just the Netflix logo and the letters "BTS." The message was clear. The comeback is going to be huge.

The streaming platform confirmed it will broadcast BTS THE COMEBACK LIVE | ARIRANG live from Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul on March 21, streaming to audiences in more than 190 countries. The concert will celebrate the release of the group's fifth studio album, Arirang, which drops the day before on March 20. All seven members — RM, Jin, SUGA, j-hope, Jimin, V, and Jung Kook — will perform together on stage for the first time in nearly four years, after each completed South Korea's mandatory military service. The last member to be discharged was in June 2025.

Gwanghwamun Square is no ordinary venue. Situated directly in front of Gyeongbokgung Palace, it is one of the most historically significant public spaces in Seoul, and the choice of location signals that this is not just a concert — it is an event. British director Hamish Hamilton, who has directed the majority of Super Bowl halftime shows since 2010 and multiple Academy Awards ceremonies, will be directing the performance.

A week after the concert, on March 27, the platform will release BTS: The Return, a feature-length documentary following the group through the making of Arirang. Directed by Bao Nguyen, who previously made The Greatest Night in Pop and The Stringer, the film chronicles the seven members reuniting in Los Angeles to write and record together — the first time they have shared a creative space in years. Neither HYBE nor the streaming platform has given away much about what the documentary will reveal, but early descriptions frame it as an intimate look at how the group navigated the process of starting again.

Meanwhile, the group made quiet headlines on February 2 when all seven members were spotted together at Incheon International Airport, departing for Dubai. It marked the first time since reuniting that the full group had been seen travelling abroad as a unit. Reports circulating on social media suggest the group transited through Dubai and continued onward to Portugal, though neither HYBE nor BigHit Music has confirmed the destination or the reason for the trip. Speculation ranges from a music video shoot to early preparations for the upcoming tour, but nothing has been officially stated.

The concert and documentary are the opening acts for something considerably larger. BTS are set to begin the Arirang World Tour on April 9, kicking off with three nights in Goyang before moving to Tokyo and then North America. The tour will span 34 regions and 82 shows across Asia, the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Australia, running through to 2027. Several dates in the United States and Europe sold out within minutes of tickets going live. The tour will also feature a 360-degree, in-the-round stage design — a production scale that matches the anticipation.

The album's title carries its own weight. Arirang is the name of a traditional Korean folk song about longing and parting, often regarded as an unofficial national anthem. For a group that spent the better part of four years apart, the choice is hard to read as anything other than deliberate.