Big Hit Entertainment Cancels BTS’s Seoul Concerts Due to Coronavirus
BTS’s Map of the Soul Tour was set to kick off in Seoul in April 2020. On Feb. 28, Big Hit Entertainment announced that the opening concerts in Seoul on April 11, April 12, April 18, and April 19 are cancelled. The cancellation is due to concerns surrounding the spread of coronavirus.
Big Hit Entertainment released an announcement about BTS’s Seoul concerts
On Feb. 28, Big Hit Entertainment released an announcement for ARMY on Weverse, a communication platform used by fans and BTS. The company also posted the link to the Weverse announcement on one of BTS’s Twitter accounts.
“Hello. This is Big Hit Entertainment. We regret to announce that the BTS MAP OF THE SOUL TOUR – SEOUL Concert, originally scheduled to be held on April 11 (Sat), 12 (Sun), 18 (Sat) and 19 (Sun) at OLYMPIC STADIUM, has been cancelled,” read the announcement.
The announcement continued, “The Plans for ‘MAP OF THE SOUL TOUR – SEOUL’ included the involvement of a number of global production companies and a large group of expert international crew, with over 200,000 concertgoers expected to attend. However, the current global coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has made it impossible at this time to predict the scale of the outbreak during the dates of the concert in April, alongside increasing uncertainty about the cross-border movement of concert staff and equipment.”
The concerts were cancelled a month before the tour is set to begin
Around the world, there are over 82,000 cases of coronavirus. The director of the World Health Organization, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, says the virus “has pandemic potential.” Canceling the concerts in Seoul is obviously a decision Big Hit Entertainment did not make lightly.
“While we hope that the situation will improve, we must take into consideration the health and safety of hundreds of thousands of guests as well as our artists and the dire impact a last-minute cancellation may have on guests from overseas, production companies and staff. We have thus determined that with approximately one month left before the Seoul concert is set to begin, it is unavoidable that the concert must be cancelled without further delay,” Big Hit Entertainment said.
“Please understand that this decision was made after extensive and careful consideration in order to cooperate with the government’s measures on restricting public events as well as municipal advisories on the use of cultural and sports facilities,” said the company in the announcement.
Tickets for BTS’s Seoul concerts will be refunded
Big Hit Entertainment also alerted fans that refunds will be available to those who already purchased tickets.
“Tickets already reserved will be refunded in full through INTERPARK, the official ticket agent. Please refer to the ‘Refund Notice’ below as well as the INTERPARK ticket Webpage (reservation page), or contact the INTERPARK ticket customer service center (1544-1555) for more information,” read the announcement. “We would like to sincerely apologize for issuing this notice of cancellation to all of our fans who had been eagerly looking forward to the BTS MAP OF THE SOUL TOUR – SEOUL Concert, and we ask for your understanding.”
With these cancellations, BTS’s Map of the Soul Tour is now set to begin in Santa Clara, Calif. on April 25 and April 26 at Levi’s Stadium.
