BTS fans in Singapore queue up for tickets 5 days before they go on sale

Five days before tickets to K-pop boy band BTS' Jan 19 concert at the National Stadium go on sale, eager fans are gathering at the box-office booths outside Kallang Wave Mall, hoping not to miss out.

At the Kallang Wave Mall at 4.30pm yesterday, at least 10 fans were sitting near the booths in the heat, chatting.

One of them, who identified herself as Ms Toh Sohyee, said she had arrived at about 9am to start queueing and was planning to stay there until Saturday, when tickets go on sale from 10am.

Tickets will also be available online on the same day, via Sports Hub's ticketing hotline, as well as The Star Performing Arts Centre box office, Scotts Square and SingPost outlets.

Tickets will also be on sale at the Singapore Indoor Stadium's box office a day later on Sunday.

Arguably the world's biggest K-pop group, BTS have seen a meteoric rise in popularity in the last few years, even gracing the latest cover of Time magazine and giving a speech at the United Nations last month.

Their first stadium show at Citi Field in New York sold more than 40,000 tickets within 20 minutes.

The septet, known for hits such as Fake Love and Butterfly, will return to Singapore as part of their Love Yourself World Tour and will make history as the first K-pop act to play at the National Stadium, which has a capacity of 55,000.

The group performed here in 2014 at The Star Theatre.

The organiser for the upcoming gig, One Production, released ticketing details on Sunday.

Ms Toh, who said she is a 20-year-old university student, told The New Paper that a big reason she decided to start queuing so early was the fear that ticket scalpers could cause prices to skyrocket.

This was something she had experienced last year when she failed to snag tickets online to the Singapore leg of K-pop mega concert KBS Music Bank World Tour, which BTS was a part of.

Ms Toh told TNP that she saw scalped tickets for that concert going for more than $1,000, adding: "I saw the prices just going up, up, up."

In a Facebook post yesterday, One Production said the Sports Hub will not allow any queueing before 4pm on Oct 26. Fans who attempt to do so will be removed by security.

The concert organiser added that both online and physical bookings share the same ticketing system, and unofficial queues formed off-site will not be recognised at the time the queue starts.

It added: "Queueing at the box office or outlets does not guarantee you will secure a ticket."

Other BTS fans have also been prepping for the ticket sales.

Ms Jasmine Choong, 19, a student, said she planned to be on "standby" at home with two friends and at least four laptops and her parents' credit cards.

She added: "My parents are good sports, they are helping us to try for tickets also."

Another fan, student Amy Liew, 19, told TNP: "We are quite nervous about the tickets being sold out within minutes."

This article was first published in The New Paper. Permission required for reproduction.