Suga|Agust D Tour Electrifies Seoul
Suga by BIGHIT MUSIC
The South Korean rapper, producer, and songwriter who goes by two stage names, Suga and Agust D, went on his first-ever solo tour over the summer. He was also the first out of the members of BTS to do a tour all by himself, highlighting his solo discography that includes his 2016 debut self-titled mixtape, Agust D, followed by another mixtape that came out in 2020 titled D-2, and finally, his first full-length studio album that was released in the spring of 2023, D-Day. The album reached number two on the Billboard 200 and he became the second Korean solo artist (after his bandmate, Jimin) to surpass one million first-day sales on Korea’s music chart, Hanteo.
The tour’s first leg started at UBS Arena in New York City and ended in Oakland, followed by the leg in Asia, starting in Jakarta, Indonesia, and ending in his city of residence: Seoul, South Korea. The original tour announcement implied that it would end at the Jamsil Indoor Stadium, however on the last day, June 25, it was announced that he would do three more shows at the Olympic Gymnastics Arena (KSPO Dome) from August 4-6, titled, “‘D-Day’ The Final.” I had the pleasure of already having planned a trip to Seoul during this week, which proved to be an amazing coincidence!
“‘D-Day: The Final’” (Photo by Maddy Scavnicky)
At the venue, activities before the concert started as early as 10 a.m., with BTS fans gathering to obtain the exclusive, on-site-only merchandise. Doors officially opened eight hours later at 6 p.m., and as soon as you entered the arena, there was a division of red and blue lights partitioning the arena into two halves. The sound of a thunderstorm crackled over the sound system for the two hours in between the doors opening and Agust D taking the stage.
After being at the arena for a total of 10 hours, the rapper is finally carried by his backup dancers onto the stage, as if they were carrying a dead body in the middle of a thunderstorm. He is placed on the ground of the stage, and as if revived from the dead, gets up and starts off the show with the political and social commentary that is D-Day's main title track, “Haegeum.” It is followed by his previous release’s title track, “Daechwita,” where the backup dancers and the artist himself resemble a similar theme from the music video throughout the performance. Then, without taking a break, he performs the two main tracks from his debut mixtape, “Agust D” and “give it to me,” which both include extremely fast rap verses that make the audience wonder how he can still breathe after performing these back-to-back.
There is a short break that makes time for the artist’s outfit change and change in stage set-up, which consists of a pre-recorded video, called a VCR in K-pop concerts, that plays on the Jumbotrons to give the audience something to watch during this break. The theme of the VCR throughout the concert was the backstory of the character which he bases his music videos on, with some of his real personal experiences being intertwined in the story.
Suga comes back on the stage–I use his stage name of Suga for this part of the concert since this is the name that he uses as a member of BTS–and performs the acoustic version of one of his solo songs off the BTS album, Love Yourself: Answer, titled “Trivia: Seesaw.” He sits down in the middle of the stage with his guitar, which has been signed by all the members of BTS, and sings the heartbreaking song about a relationship that feels like being on a seesaw, with both people trying to put an end to it/get out of it, but they can’t.
Suga performs “Trivia: Seesaw”
Succeeding this is a string of the more mellow songs in Agust D’s repertoire, such as “SDL,” where he gets off the stage and goes to each side close to the audience as he sings “Somebody does love, But I’m thinking ‘bout you,” his fan favorite song, “People,” which is about the question of what kind of a person he is as well as how exactly the world classifies a person as either ordinary or extraordinary, “People Pt.2,” the follow-up track that addresses his childhood and how he has been shaped into the person he is today, and “Moonlight,” a song that outlines his internal battles with creating music and his chosen career path of being an artist.
Breaking the streak of mellow songs is “Burn It,” his original collaboration with the artist MAX. The entire arena is lit up in red, with the stage being surrounded by bursts of fire that are shot out every couple of seconds. There was much speculation about these three concerts that were announced on such short notice and were labeled as the real final concerts of his tour, with people theorizing about certain members of BTS coming on stage and singing some of the collaborations he has with them in his discography, such as that of “Strange (feat. RM).”
BTS’ Jungkook surprises fans on stage at KSPO dome
Since members often show up to each other’s solo music video recordings and music show performances, as well as artists that are featured on his songs actually showing up to this tour and singing the songs on stage with him, such as Halsey with “SUGA’s Interlude” when he performed in Inglewood, these theories were not out of question and the anticipation for a guest to appear on stage was extremely present. The speculation proved to be of good reason, since during “Burn It,” BTS member Jungkook, sure enough, appeared on stage with his rich and charismatic vocal tone singing over the chorus of the song that he is not originally featured on, surprising the entire crowd so much that you are almost unable to hear his voice over the screams of the audience in the videos that I recorded.
Agust D leaves the stage and hands it over completely to Jungkook, where he gives a short statement to the audience and then performs his new hit song, “Seven,” for the second time in front of an audience, as at that point it was only about three weeks after it was released.
After the excitement of seeing two members of BTS on the stage together, the arena gets a slight moment to catch their breath as another VCR is shown, and following the short break, the song from the BTS album, Map of the Soul: 7, “Interlude: Shadow,” is performed. This is a favorite of mine, with it starting slow at first but picking up during the last minute and turning into a polarizing beat with Suga’s distorted voice over it talking about the Jungian psychological concept of his confrontation with his shadow, a metaphor for the unconscious elements of the self, and how he has to accept that it is still a part of him and work to integrate his conscious and unconscious elements together in order to become whole.
The mood of the show quickly goes back to being filled with adrenaline as the medley of the extremely popular ‘rap line’ songs of BTS starts playing, with the choruses and his verses in “BTS Cypher Pt.3: Killer,” “BTS Cypher 4,” “UGH!,” and “땡 (Ddaeng)” being rapped back-to-back fill the arena, accompanied by a laser show and the sounds of the crowd going bar for bar with him. The medley ends with “HUH?!,” a song that features j-hope of BTS and is a powerful message to his haters and the people who try to discredit him.
Another change in sound happens after this exhilarating experience, with Agust D sitting at a piano (with a cup of iced coffee and a glass of bourbon decorating the top) in the middle of the stage, sing-rapping “Life Goes On,” (not to be confused with the BTS title track), which references and takes his verse from the BTS track of the same name and adds the message of life continuing despite hard moments in life that will eventually pass, as everything does. There is a moment of nostalgia and sadness in the air of the arena during this song, and during the instrumental before the last chorus, the crowd chants the names of the BTS members as a dedication of the song to them.
Suga performs “Life Goes On”
Do not take this the wrong way, by no means is the group ‘broken up,’ as they are simply one-by-one participating in their required military service and they are partaking in projects like solo albums and tours to show extremely personal sides of them that they are unable to in their group music. If anything, this song and the display of the fans dedicating the song to the group is a guarantee that they will be making group music again sooner rather than later and that it impacts them as much as it impacts the fans. To prove this dedication even further, there is a special VCR played between this and the next song, which shows the members and all the content they have done together and the times that they have supported each other since the initial announcement of their enlistments and intermission of group music.
“Snooze” is the next song, which combines some of the messages in “so far away” and “Dear my friend,” but is ultimately a message to the younger generation of artists and idols that look up to him or may have gotten into the industry because of him and BTS. It is meant to provide them with a sense of comfort through hard times that they might go through and could also be dedicated to anyone who is going through a hard time chasing their dream, regardless of what it is. The song that follows this, “Dear my friend,” was a surprise song as he performed “Polar Night” instead during the entire tour up to this point. This is one of the most heart-wrenching songs in his discography about a childhood friend that he lost due to the friend being imprisoned. During all three of the nights that he performed this song, he was extremely emotional with his guitar in hand, wiping both sweat and tears off his face as the audience finished singing the song for him. The last of the placement of his most emotional songs in his discography at the same time during the setlist is “Amygdala,” which is about his childhood and trying to erase the scars of his past that he still carries with him. He performs while standing with just his microphone stand on the stage, which has been reduced to just a square in the middle of the floor, surrounded by fire. He calls on his amygdala, the part of the brain that helps with processing fear and anger, to protect him from his memories and the times when it all becomes too much.
Suga performs “D-Day”
The encore starting with the lyrics, “Future’s gonna be okay,” is the message that everyone in the crowd needed after the emotionally tolling songs that were just performed, with “D-Day” shifting the vibe of the arena once again. The stage is completely dismantled at this point, with fragments of the platforms being scattered around the floor of the arena, and Agust D walking up to the barricade that usually separates the stage and the fans who are seated on the floor and interacting with fans. As he finds phones to take to record videos of himself for the fans, he raps the song titled the same as his album and goes to every side of the arena to get everyone’s voices heard into the microphone as we all sing the words to the chorus.
A moment was taken to acknowledge his band and backup vocals and to show off EL CAPITXN, his producer, by allowing him to control the audience for a few minutes while playing an EDM remix that he created for the concert that sounded like it should be played in the clubs in Seoul (with the strobe lights and lasers that filled the arena proving this).
The last two songs, “Intro: Never Mind” and “The Last” were combined to form the outro of the concert, with fireworks, smoke, and a light show accompanying the artist as he rapped about being a successful idol rapper and the repercussions he has faced because of it, but ends with the final lines stating that no matter what your opinion is of him, he will continue to sell out arenas and be one of the most impactful artists of our generation.
There are so many things that Agust D is as an artist and as a human, that it is hard to put into words how impressive and talented he is. With over 100 songs credited to his name under the Korea Music Copyright Association and at least 50 songs officially produced by him, while being a main rapper of BTS and a solo artist, it is safe to say that he has had a substantial impact on not only the Korean music industry but the industry as a whole. I am so grateful to have had the pleasure of attending his tour, especially in his home country of South Korea which made everything seem even more personal to him and like a dream come true as a BTS fan. I will remember it for the rest of my life, and I am eagerly waiting for the day that I can see all the members perform as a group again.