Curtis Murayama: Now aware of similarities with fans of BTS and sports teams after attending back-to-back concerts

I ventured out of my lane last week.

I was in Las Vegas for the first time in 10 years, joining legions who flocked there for more than gambling.

And by September, I will be able to say I attended not one … not two … not three … but four BTS concerts.

No, I’m not part of their “army.” In fact I would classify myself — a sports nut — as 4-F. Still, my better half — the actual drill sergeant of the household — made me enlist anyway.

I didn’t know their songs, their names or their lingo, such as “bias” or “bias wrecker.”

When gift-giving fans tried to hand me a freebie — I would say, “I’m not worthy.”

Their answer? “But you’re here!”

Yes, I was. For three of the four sold-out shows on Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday at Allegiant Stadium.

So were scores of Hawaii fans.

It’s almost as if everyone in Hawaii knew of someone who attended the concerts.

They were everywhere you turn, all revealing their “bias,” which I learned was asking, “who’s your favorite” of the seven hotties that comprise BTS.

I experienced the fans’ instant camaraderie at the airport when we were among four groups who just congregated, talked in excitement of seeing them live and handed each other freebies.

You’d meet them standing in a food line in hotels. Passing each other in the stadium.

During the concerts they all cheered wildly when BTS leader RM (Rap Monster) mentioned Hawaii when thanking the 60,000 fans for coming from all over the globe.

Some of fans shown on the big screens held signs like “Aloha” and “Shaka.”

Nocovervegas.com even reported that BTS drew 160,000 K-pop fans to Las Vegas.

I found out that my bud from Kaimuki High and best man, Jason Arakawa, was attending and so were Star-Advertiser sports staff colleague Billy Hull and his wife Kaylee.

Jason and his wife traveled with another couple, and we three men admittedly were more familiar with SGA, JSN and TBS than BTS and their BTS World Tour Arirang.

In fact, during my time, I think Arirang was a bar in Honolulu known for something totally different.

But I have to admit, the production, the sound, the show with lights and flames and the setup — with a reported nine 100-feet wide, 50-feet high screens providing a 360-degree viewing pleasure — were spectacular.

And the fans were amazing, dressed with shirts and jerseys of their favorite artist, standing almost throughout the two-hour shows, waving their well-coordinated light sticks and singing loudly and delivering deafening screams whenever there was a closeup of their favorite superstars — RM, J-Hope, Suga, Jimin, Jin, V and Jung Kook.

It was cool to see everyone all connected, to feel the magnetism and excitement. It’s so different than cheering on your favorite team, where you stress out the final two minutes of a game or the last points of a volleyball match.

“I would say that it is pretty amazing how one K-pop band has become I think the biggest musical group in the world, with the most loyal followers you can possibly find,” said Billy Hull, who recently covered Hawaii men’s volleyball all the way to an NCAA title.

“The one thing about it any time a new guy’s face was put on the screen, the place went absolutely wild. Just the sheer fandom I would say behind them, everyone getting dressed up. To me the coolest part of the whole thing was this idea of people making what they call freebies to give out to each other as like tokens of hey, we’re both BTS fans, here’s something for you, it’s like we’re all together in this.”

Kaylee Hull went 4-for-4 in attending the Vegas concerts, actually 5-for-5 if you count the American Music Awards she attended at the MGM Grand, where BTS won artist of the year and two other awards.

She was on the floor level for two of the concerts she attended, a sure sign that she’s part of the BTS army. Kaylee, who also will be attending two more shows at SoFi Stadium in September (I’ll be attending just one), was asked to compare sold-out sporting events vs. a sold-out BTS concert.

“It’s kind of similar in terms of fan loyalty and how people are loyal to their sports teams,” she said. “Obviously, most of their fans are female. I think for the males that attend these shows because their significant others are fans, I’d like to think they would be pleasantly surprised by the production or at least the performance factor, even if they may not be fans of the music itself.”

I’d second that statement, and so would Billy Hull.

“I’ve been listening to BTS since basically the pandemic, because if I drive (to work) with Kaylee that’s all we listen to,” said Billy Hull, who attended just the Wednesday show.

“So there’s been no avoiding it for me. So it’s been as longtime coming of just giving in and going to a concert. So I did my best to be as supportive as possible. Obviously, I wore a Jung Kook t-shirt to try to blend in as best I could, which was very hard to do.

“(But) just in terms of the production value, the choreography, the dances, the way it’s set up, the people going crazy 20 minutes before the thing started. The setup with the huge screens. You think it would be hard to see in a football stadium that big (65,000 capacity for football, more for concerts) but the way they shot them and all the big screens above them you didn’t really miss anything. It was pretty cool to see what’s it’s like to attend a show of that magnitude with a musical group that’s that popular in the world.”

So what would a sports guy like him choose?

“Kind of different viewing experiences,” Billy Hull said. “It’s different watching a sport than watching a musical act, in my opinion. It’s almost more enjoyable just sitting back and listening to music and watching them dance than watching your team play because you get all invested into it, whether they’re winning or losing. … But you know me, if I can go to a Seahawks game. I would do that 10 times out of 10. … Hopefully, Kaylee is not listening to me right now.”

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Reach Curtis Murayama at [email protected].