"Map of the Soul: 7" World Tour of the world's biggest boyband, BTS, is now officially off the calendar. BigHit Entertainment announced on Tuesday, April 28.
The current global pandemic has been hitting hard almost every industry, and the music scene is very much affected. BTS, through its social media pages, posted the official announcement that the entire world tour has to be rescheduled amid the worldwide crisis.
The statement details that "The decision has been made to completely reschedule BTS MAP OF THE SOUL TOUR." The tour was set to start on April 11 in their home base in Seoul, South Korea. A cancellation of the Seoul concerts was announced by end of February; the shows cancelled then were the April 11,12, 18, and 19 set at Seoul's Olympic Stadium.
Next was the March 27 announcement to postpone the North American leg tour. The concert series was supposed to start on April 25 in Santa Clara, Calif. with a total of 14 tour dates in the U.S. and Canada and to end on June 6.
Finally, yesterday, the European run that was set to begin in London on July 3 had been moved, including the Japan tour, which has 12 performance dates. The entire tour has been officially shelved.
Big Hit understood the situation to be still precarious saying that the tour "involves the participation of staff and crew from around the world as well as global logistics systems." The entertainment group acknowledged that the situation in certain locations has improved; the primary concern is on the safety of the thousands of international fans. It is known that the ARMY, BTS loyal fans, travel with cross-border movement to attend the concerts. The statement added that at this time, it is not yet possible to "predict when the first performance marking the start of the tour will be able to begin." Hence, the "difficult decision" to hold the entire world tour and "develop a new schedule."
The announcement emphasized "the health and safety of our artists and fans in foremost consideration." Big Hit will be rearranging the schedule; however, there is no clear indication when it will be set. BTS promised to continue interacting with their fans through different forms of engagements. In this light, to keep the Bangtan boys and the ARMY in touch with one another, BTS will be showing a documentary series titled "Break the Silence." The trailer of the new concert docu-series was unveiled earlier. Watch it here - "Break the Silence" will be featuring BTS' recent world tours - 2018 Love Yourself World Tour in Seoul's Olympic Stadium that had two sold-out nights of performances and Love Yourself: Speak Yourself World Tour in 2019. The 2019 world tour was held across Asia, North America, and Europe. The docu-series will be available for viewing on May 12 and will be exclusively broadcasted on the official platform WeVerse App. The pre-sale is currently in progress.
