BTS Takes The Arirang Tour to El Paso, Texas
Written by Crystal Truong | May 12, 2026
Have you ever been to a concert with mountains towering above?
Photo courtesy of BigHit Music
On the first weekend of May, thousands of fans flocked to the Sun Bowl Stadium in El Paso, Texas, to attend the two-night BTS concert. The venue, located on the campus of the University of Texas at El Paso, is uniquely situated on the side of the Franklin Mountains and overlooks Juárez, Mexico. It was a sight to behold–lines stretched far into the distance and wrapped around the entirety of the stadium.
There was a palpable excitement in the air, even as ARMYs patiently waited for the concert to start. This was the group’s first Texas stop of their ARIRANG Tour, and their first time performing in El Paso, marking a historic moment for the city. The two-day concert is expected to generate approximately $75 million in economic revenue, demonstrating what industry analysts are calling the “BTSnomics effect.”
Photo by Kim Hong-Ji - Pool/Getty Images
As the lights dimmed and the familiar notes of “Hooligan” blasted through the speakers, the audience came to life. The cheers were deafening when the BTS members–RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V, and Jungkook–marched onto the stage, donning stylish all-black leather outfits. It was hard to hear the music over the deafening crowd that was either singing along or screaming every time their favorite member appeared on the screen.
One of the most impressive parts of the concert was the high-end stage production that referenced aspects of Korean culture. The 360-degree stage floors resembled South Korea’s national flag, the Taegeukgi, while the screen positioning was inspired by the Gyeonghoeru Pavilion. Combined with the Sun Bowl’s layout, this ensured that every fan, regardless of their seat, had a superb view of the performance. This is a departure from previous BTS tours that featured a traditional stage setup, allowing the members to connect with ARMYs more intimately than before.
Tracks from the ARIRANG album played all night, including their latest title track “Swim,” and fan favorite “Body to Body,” the latter of which contains a sample of the famous Korean folk song “Arirang.” As most of their setlist is in English, it was also refreshing to hear their older hits such as “Fake Love,” and “Idol.”
During the last act of their concert, BTS introduced a segment called “ARMY Karaoke,” where they randomly select two songs from their discography (not already in the setlist) as surprises for fans. Some held their breath in anticipation for what’s to come, while others were shouting different b-sides that they wanted to hear live. Day 1 goers got “On” and “Wings,” while Day 2 crowd got “Dionysus” and “Best of Me.”
BTS performed “Into the Sun” as their closer, which felt extremely fitting. The sentimentality of the lyrics (“You call, I run / Dark days, and find the sun / I don't care, how far / Just wait, dawn) was the perfect way to end the fun-filled night, almost as if they too didn’t want to leave the stage.
Photo courtesy of BigHit Music
BTS continues their world tour, hitting 34 cities and over 80 stops. You can check out their new album ARIRANG on Spotify, which already has over 2 billion streams (as of May 8, 2026).
