▲ A promotional poster for the "BTS The City Arirang Seoul" project is seen in this image provided by BigHit Music. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

BTS-The City project

BTS to light up Seoul landmarks to celebrate comeback

SEOUL, March 16 (Yonhap) -- K-pop supergroup BTS will launch a monthlong cultural festival across Seoul, featuring a riverside drone show, media art displays and musical fountains, to celebrate its highly anticipated comeback this week after a nearly four-year hiatus.

The septet announced on Monday details of its "BTS The City Arirang Seoul" project on Hybe's fan community platform Weverse.

BigHit Music, the group's agency, has said the festival, set to run from Friday through April 19, was prepared in partnership with the Seoul metropolitan government to allow tourists and locals to "experience culture and art in a new way, and enjoy BTS' comeback." Related events will occur across the food, beverage and mobility sectors.

The group previously staged similar "The City" festivals in Las Vegas in April 2022 and in Busan that October to mark its concerts in those cities, drawing massive crowds.

To mark the Friday release of the group's fifth studio album, "Arirang," media facade shows will begin at 7 p.m. at Sungnyemun gate and Namsan Seoul Tower. A 15-minute drone show over Ttukseom Han River Park will follow at 8:30 p.m.

Pre-events will precede a free BTS concert at Gwanghwamun Square the following night, which is expected to draw approximately 260,000 people to the area, including 22,000 ticket holders. A large outdoor screen at the square will stream exclusive BTS footage from 7 p.m. Friday until midnight Saturday for fans coming to see the group.

Additional venues will participate, with Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) and Banpo Bridge's Moonlight Rainbow Fountain staging music-and-light shows from March 20 to April 12 and March 21-22, respectively.

The project includes an interactive "stamp rally" for visitors to collect digital badges at major festival venues. These include the financial district of Yeouido, the DDP and Shinsegae Square, a massive outdoor digital media facade on the main Shinsegae Department Store building in central Seoul.

From Friday through Sunday, Yeouido Han River Park will host the "Love Song Lounge," an open-air music zone where fans can listen to BTS tracks together.

The DDP's Exhibition Hall 1 will transform into an "ARMY Square" from April 6-12 for the group's fandom, known as ARMY. Meanwhile, the "Love Quarter" program will take place along Cheonggye Stream and at Yongsan Station from April 6-19. Media art installations using light and video will project messages from its new album onto stone walls, stairways and tree-lined streets.

Following the Seoul leg, the "BTS The City Arirang Seoul" project will expand to other major cities worldwide later this year, according to BigHit.

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