BTS’s First Lightstick Looked Nothing Like The ARMY Bomb
When most people think of BTS‘s lightstick, this is what comes to mind, but the ARMY Bomb wasn’t there in the beginning.
In fact, the ARMY Bomb we know today didn’t exist until April 2015, nearly two years after BTS’s debut. The second ARMY Bomb version came out in 2017, followed by ARMY Bomb Version 3 in 2018.
In 2014, BTS embarked on The Red Bullet Tour, their first headlining tour. From October 17, 2014 to March 8, 2015, and from June 6 to August 29, 2015, BTS performed songs from 2 Cool 4 Skool, O!RUL8,2?, Skool Luv Affair, and Dark & Wild in a total of 13 countries.
Since the ARMY Bomb wasn’t released until the second leg of the tour, ARMYs at the Seoul, Kobe, Tokyo, Manila, Singapore, Bangkok, and Taipei shows used the Red Bullet Light Stick instead.
This temporary lightstick featured a grenade-like design on one end and a yellow light on the other. Unlike today’s ARMY Bomb, it couldn’t change colors, and it didn’t have high tech capabilities like Bluetooth syncing. Not to mention, it was much smaller.
Fans who attended The Red Bullet tour will remember small venues lit up in yellow. In total, The Red Bullet tour brought in 80,000 concertgoers. In 2019, BTS sold out The Rose Bowl, a stadium with a capacity of more than 90,000, in one night alone.
Like their lightsticks, BTS have become more elaborate and recognizable over the years, but they’ve never forgotten their humble beginnings, nor the fans who supported them every step of the way.
