Coronavirus: K-Pop group BTS suspends world tour

Big Hit Entertainment has announced the decision to reschedule BTS’s “Map of the Soul” tour due to the COVID-19 global pandemic.

Team Newsable

Bengkulu, First Published Apr 28, 2020, 8:18 PM IST | Last Updated Apr 28, 2020, 8:18 PM IST

According to Reuters, South Korea's K-Pop boyband BTS will suspend their world tour over worries about the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The announcement was made on April 28 and it reads as follows:

Hello. This is Big Hit Entertainment.

The following is an announcement regarding BTS’s “Map of the Soul” tour concert schedule.

The decision has been made to completely reschedule the “Map of the Soul” tour, originally scheduled to begin in April 2020.

With the global proliferation of COVID-19, the tour’s Seoul performances were previously cancelled in February with the subsequent postponement of the North American leg of the tour in March. Ticket sales for the European and Japanese performances are imminent.

This tour involves the participation of staff and crew from around the world as well as global logistics systems. While there are certain countries, regions, and cities where conditions have improved, including Korea, it is difficult to make the decision to begin the tour based on these recent developments. Due to the nature of BTS concerts involving travel by thousands of international fans no matter where the performances are held, it is also difficult to resume the tour with the current strict restrictions on cross-border movement still in place. Moreover, it is impossible at this time to predict when the first performance marking the start of the tour will be able to begin.

Therefore, we have made the difficult decision to suspend the previously announced tour schedule and develop a new schedule.

Big Hit Entertainment will completely reschedule the tour and provide a new tour schedule to our fans as soon as it becomes clear when the tour can begin. This may require considerable time as the COVID-19 situation continues to evolve. However, we will work to ensure that BTS and their fans will be able to meet each other as soon as they can. We will also create new ways for our artists to engage with their fans and respond to the “New normal” while we wait to resume activities halted by COVID-19.

The decision to reschedule the tour was made with the health and safety of our artists and fans in foremost consideration. We have devoted considerable time to prepare the best performances possible, and we hope to express our appreciation of your patience by striving to deliver the best shows. With sincerity and commitment to transparency, we will inform you of any and all further changes and continue to provide updates.

We ask for your generous understanding of the circumstances behind this decision regarding the “Map of the Soul” tour. We will endeavour to bring you the best concert experiences possible.

Thank you.

BTS have become one of the biggest artists in the world and have outdone nearly all of their peers. Their constant desire to deliver to their fans have made them what they are - undoubtedly, one of the biggest sensations in the music world.

Map of the Soul:7:

This is the fourth studio album from the K-pop supergroup. It features a whopping 20 tracks. Map of the Soul features several singles from Persona, plus previously released tracks Black Swan, Interlude: Shadow and Outro: Ego.

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