After seven years away from the French stage, BTS returned to the Stade de France for two sold-out nights as part of their ARIRANG World Tour. For French ARMY Alizée, the July 18 show was the culmination of a journey that began in 2020.
BTS’ return to France was never going to be an ordinary concert. The group had spent the previous years balancing individual projects and mandatory military service before coming back together for the ARIRANG era. Their return to the stage turned the Stade de France into one of the major stops of a long-awaited reunion with ARMY. The scale of the event was reflected on the first night, when French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron attended the July 17 show, briefly appearing on the stadium’s giant screens.
An Unexpected Beginning
For Alizée, that July night was the culmination of a journey that had started almost by accident.
Back in high school, a friend would occasionally talk about BTS and play their music during car rides. Alizée was completely uninterested. Even seeing Jimin, her friend’s bias, on her phone wallpaper seemed almost absurd to her at the time.
Then came “Stay Gold.” When the music video appeared on television, she watched it, initially looking for Jimin simply because he was the member she already knew through her friend. Instead, it was Taehyung who caught her attention. She looked him up, did some quick research, and left it there.
A few months later, in August 2020, boredom during the summer holidays brought her back to the group. She decided to learn the members’ names and started watching more of their videos. What began as curiosity gradually became a fandom that would accompany her into the years that followed.
One song, in particular, would remain at the centre of that journey: We Are Bulletproof: The Eternal.
Its appearance in Paris could hardly have been more fitting. The surprise songs changed from one concert to another, and on July 18, So What was followed by We Are Bulletproof: The Eternal.
“I started with We Are Bulletproof: The Eternal, and I ended with it. The circle is complete.”
The song had marked the beginning of her connection with BTS; hearing it live in Paris gave that journey an unexpected sense of closure.
The Moment It Became Real
The significance of BTS’ return was not lost on the audience. ARIRANG marked the group’s first full-group studio album in nearly four years, turning the tour into more than a promotional cycle: it was a reunion between BTS and the audience that had been waiting for them.
For Alizée, that anticipation became tangible as soon as she reached the Stade de France.
She had spent hours in the general admission pit under the summer sun, with the excitement of finally seeing BTS tempered by the fear that something might go wrong before the concert even began. But once inside the stadium, her attention shifted to what was waiting beyond the barriers.
“I remember thinking, ‘I'm standing right in front of the stage.’”
When BTS finally took the stage, the anticipation caught up with her.
“I cried as soon as they came on stage. I was completely overwhelmed.”
It remains her favourite moment of the evening. After years of watching BTS through a screen, seeing the group perform in front of her transformed something she had imagined countless times into something tangible.
The concert itself was built around a large 360-degree stage, placing the members at the centre of the stadium rather than separating them from the audience. The setlist combined tracks from ARIRANG with songs spanning BTS’ catalogue, moving between the group’s present and its history.
Yet for Alizée, the production was never the main point. What mattered was finally experiencing BTS live, surrounded by thousands of other ARMYs who had come together for the same long-awaited reunion.
After the Final Encore
Twenty days have passed since BTS’ second night at Stade de France, yet the concert remains firmly present in Alizée’s everyday life
"I still think about this concert every single day."
Photos of BTS have become the wallpaper on both her phone and computer, while printed pictures now decorate her room. These small reminders bring together the memory of the concert and the years she has spent following the group.
After experiencing the show from the general admission pit, she already knows what her next goal is.