BTS hit for the cycle in Las Vegas. The baseball term is intentional.
The K-pop legends sold out four shows at Allegiant Stadium. They activated the city with its BTS City pop-ups. And they embraced Las Vegas’s pro-sports franchises, current and future.
BTS band member Suga wore an Athletics jersey during Thursday’s finale, which makes sense as he’s also reportedly an investor.
As originally reported in July by the Korean Economic Daily of Seoul, Suga and ex-Major League pitching star Chan Ho Park are teaming as investors in the Athletics. The two are contributing to a $70 million fund to support the team’s move to Las Vegas.
The investment would go toward the construction of the Athletics stadium. Team officials and owner John Fisher reiterated this week the franchise does not comment on investors. But the team has not disputed the reports.
In Thursday’s performance, Suga sported a white Athletics home jersey, No. 9 (originally worn by Reggie Jackson; Suga’s birthday is March 9), with his name stitched on the back. This seemed to be an officially licensed MLB jersey.
As the band took a break to chat with the crowd, Suga called out through an interpreter, “You know I love Vegas!” He then turned his left shoulder to the camera to show off his official LVCVA promotional Las Vegas logo.
“Green and gold looks good on you Suga!” crowed the Athletics’ official Instagram account, which posted the video and photo of Suga in the A’s gear. The official Vegas account responded, “Green, gold and certified platinum.” If Suga can transfer some of BTS’s boundless passion to the A’s, they’ll sell every seat.
The band also nodded to the Raiders, with J-Hope wearing a No. 7 home jersey on Sunday night. No BTS member is an investor in the Raiders. That we know of, anyway.
Special guests
DJs Steve Aoki and Diplo (separately) were among the recording stars to catch BTS at Allegiant. Aoki was ahead of the BTS phenomenon when he teamed on 2017’s “Mic Drop,” with the video igniting worldwide acclaim. The song was BTS’s first entry into the Billboard Hot 100.
Diplo was the primary producer on several tracks off “Arirang.” As the headlining DJ posted, “ARMY please be nice … I made 5 of these.” The crowd went crazy (crazier, actually) when Diplo was shown on the big screen in Sunday’s show.
Cool Hang Alert
Luis “Lue” Elizondo is an ex-senior intelligence official and Counterintelligence Special Agent enlisted to investigate unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP in acronym). He’s also a Las Vegas headliner, bringing his “Persona Non Grata” tour to Wiseguys Comedy Club at Town Square at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
Elizondo led the government’s investigation into UAP incursions into sensitive military installations and airspace. He drew on decades of experience from working on some of the country’s most sensitive and classified programs.
A self-styled whistle-blower, Elizondo reports that he found the government went to great lengths to keep these events a secret.
Elizondo’s latest book, “Imminent: Inside the Pentagon’s Hunt for UFOs,” was a New York Times best seller. He’s been a guest on many high-profile media reports and podcasts (Joe Rogan leading the way). Elizondo is joined by Timothy Alberino, described as a “real-life Indiana Jones.” The event is being recorded on Elizondo’s “Persona Non Grata Podcast.”
Have we mentioned this isn’t traditional stand-up, or even live entertainment, in Las Vegas? It’s not. But it is something different, something out there, no question.
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow @johnnykatson X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.