K-Pop BTS’ Map of the Soul World Tour officially cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic

K-Pop giants BTS’ delayed Map of the Soul World Tour has been officially cancelled, as indicated by a post made on Weverse and BTS’ official Twitter through their name Bighit on Thursday. A rep for the band affirmed to Rolling Stone that the dates that had been reported in January 2020 have been nixed.

BigHit Music has declared the cancellation of the ‘BTS MAP OF THE SOUL’ tour because of the pandemic emergency of COVID-19 across the globe. The tour should cover 38 nations through its concert and be before planned in January 2020. The music banner shared the news a few hours back with an official statement and said that they are attempting to set up a feasible schedule and will share an update soon.

BTS’s “Map of the Soul” tour was initially scheduled to start in April 2020, yet because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the group was eventually compelled to delay the whole tour. In April of last year, Big Hit Music reported that they intended to reschedule the tour, however because of the erratic nature of the circumstance, they were not yet ready to give new dates.

Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook of BTS were initially expected to set out on their Map of the Soul Tour in 2020 after the release of their album Map of the Soul: 7. Because of the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the tour was indefinitely postponed. On Aug. 19, Big Hit Music published a Weverse post and reported that BTS’ Map of the Soul Tour is officially cancelled.

On August 20, Big Hit Music reported that the tour has now been officially cancelled.

“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 label wrote. “However, due to changing circumstances beyond our control, it has become difficult to resume performances at the same scale and timeline as previously planned. Therefore we must announce the cancellation of the BTS Map of the Soul Tour.”

Coronavirus cases are on the ascent in South Korea, as they are in many places throughout the world. While the country at first figured out how to stay away from outbreaks because of testing and tracing, Korea’s fourth wave has seen continuous spikes in disease, somewhat because of vaccine shortages. Seoul, where BTS is based, is as of now until Level 4 social distancing rules, the highest conceivable level, which denies get-togethers of more than two people after 6 p.m.

The North American leg of the tour was at first delayed in March 2020 in the midst of the Covid pandemic. It had been initially planned to start a month after the fact. They had recently nixed a series of concerts planned in South Korea. Rescheduled dates were not reported before the tour’s official cancelation.

“We regret that we must now inform you of the formal cancellation of the tour. For fans who have reserved tickets for the North American shows, you will receive an email from your original point of purchase regarding refunds.”

It’s been a harsh eighteen months for the concert industry. The North American concert industry alone lost an expected $30 billion in 2020 because of the cancellation of basically all shows following the outbreak of COVID-19.

While many had trusted the improvement of numerous vaccinations may achieve 2021 in which live performance became the standard once more, the slow global vaccine rollout joined with the more infectious Delta variant has run such dreams. While a few artists have declared rescheduled dates for their recently deferred tours, Korean band BTS has officially declared the cancellation of their Map of the Soul Tour.

BTS’ huge Map of the Soul Tour was reported toward the start of 2020 and was initially planned as 38 concerts across Asia, North America, and Europe. The tour was set to start in Seoul in April 2020, yet every one of the four shows was cancelled. The rest of the tour’s schedule has been in “postponed” limbo since mid-2020… until today when Big Hit Music reported through Weverse that the rest of the tour has been officially cancelled.

“Once again, please allow us to offer our sincere apology to all fans who have waited for the BTS Map Of The Soul Tour to resume,” Bighit concluded. “We are working to prepare a viable schedule and performance format that can meet your expectations, and we will provide updated notices as soon as possible.”

BTS fans will be refunded for their tickets

Before the tour was delayed, fans in North America had the option to buy tickets for the 16 tour dates in the U.S. and Canada. In the interim, ARMY in Europe and Japan couldn’t able to purchase tickets.

Big Hit let ticket-holders realize that they would get an email concerning refunds, which is probably a little if naturally fundamental solace for fans who have been clutching their tickets for over a year, expecting an opportunity to see BTS perform in person again at some point.

“The tour’s concerts in Seoul were previously cancelled in February of last year, followed by the postponement of the North American leg in March; dates in Europe and Japan were postponed before the start of ticket sales in those regions,” Big Hit Music wrote on Weverse.

For fans in North America who decided to hold onto their tickets, refunds will be given.

“We regret that we must now inform you of the formal cancellation of the tour. For fans who have reserved tickets for the North American shows, you will receive an email from your original point of purchase regarding refunds,” the Weverse statement reads.

BTS will have upcoming performances

To finish the Map of the Soul era, BTS held a two-day online concert event called Map of the Soul ON:E in October 2020. In the Weverse post, Big Hit Music guaranteed fans that BTS will have performances at some point in the future.

“Once again, please allow us to offer our sincere apology to all fans who have waited for the BTS MAP OF THE SOUL TOUR to resume. We are working to prepare a viable schedule and performance format that can meet your expectations, and we will provide updated notices as soon as possible,” Big Hit Music wrote.

The cancellation comes amidst BTS’ expanding global popularity. The band’s new single, “Butter,” has stayed in the top ten of the Billboard main singles chart for 12 straight weeks, completing in the top slot for nine successive weeks. Their most recent single, “Permission to Dance,” likewise debuted in the chart’s top slot.

While unable to perform in person for more than a year, BTS has kept on sharing content to their fans, referred to collectively as ARMY. Notwithstanding web series like In the Soop and Run BTS!, BTS broke their own record for most watchers for a music concert live stream on a bespoke platform in June. Their Muster Soowoozoo concert, a two-day online event, brought over 1.3 million paid watchers from 195 nations. The record was previously held by BTS’ Map of the Soul ON:E concert in October 2020, and before that by BTS’ Bang Bang Con: The Live in June 2020.

Apparently, BTS will keep on fill the void left by their in-person concert experiences otherly.

As of the present moment, it is unclear if BTS will declare a new modified tour to match with a new era or then again if the band will put on more virtual concerts.