K-pop titans BTS — aka, the world’s biggest band — has canceled its massive Map of the Soul tour, which originally included dates in both the U.S. and Canada.
The announcement was made on the BTS-affiliated fan platform Weverse and reported by multiple outlets.
“Our company has worked hard to resume preparations for the BTS Map of the Soul Tour, knowing that all fans have been waiting eagerly and long for the tour,” the tour statement read, according to CNN. “Due to changing circumstances beyond our control, it has become difficult to resume performances at the same scale and timeline as previously planned.”
The tour — supporting the group’s fourth Korean language album, “Map of the Soul: 7” — was originally set to kick off in April 2020 with four shows at Olympic Stadium in Seoul before crossing the Pacific to kick-start a North American run with a two-night stand at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.
From the home of the San Francisco 49ers, the trek was to move south for an incredibly rare and utterly impressive three night stay at the legendary Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. (The only act to ever play a three-night run at the Rose Bowl is One Direction, according to the Pasadena Star News.)
But about a month before the group was supposed to take the stage at Levi’s, BTS postponed the tour amid raising case counts and hospitalization numbers for COVID-19. It was one of the big dominoes to fall, as the touring industry quickly ground to a halt and remained that way for some 15 months.
The dates were never officially rescheduled. And now it appears that they won’t be.
The seven-member South Korean boy band — featuring Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V and Jungkook — was also originally set to perform at the Cotton Bowl Stadium in Dallas; Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta; Met Life Stadium in New Jersey; FedEx Field in Washington, D.C.; Rogers Centre in Toronto; and Soldier Field in Chicago.
