Super Tuna: a fun Run Seokjin diversion

I have an intense and introspective post on the boil but I’ve been distracted by the most chaotic 72 hours of BTS content since I joined the fandom, so I’m going to talk about that first. Because I make the rules here.

Kim Seokjin, everyone’s favourite hyung (older brother) of BTS, did two encore concerts in Incheon over the weekend. His tour is called Run Seokjin and is conceptually based on a variety show. He made a YouTube version of said show before he went on tour, which involved him getting up to all sorts of shenanigans, including kidnapping J-Hope and taking him to an abandoned hospital that ended up being full of zombies, being viciously catapulted backwards into an indoor pool while wearing a suit, and interviewing Tom Cruise before being sent on his very own mission impossible. Truly exceptional content from start to finish. Jin is probably the funniest member of the team and also one of my bias-wreckers.

Given the concept, his live tour has a lot of fan engagement built in—like SING ARMY, when the fans have to sing a BTS song and Jin must guess it (if he fails a metal tray falls on his head) and CONNECT ARMY, which is many-to-1 charades. The crowd prize for correct guesses is the chance to decide what costume Jin wears next. He also has a spinning wheel to pick his songs, and he walks through the crowd and makes them sing the Moon intro with him to end the concert. It is maybe the silliest and most joyful tour I’ve witnessed from afar. Up there with the time BTS had an inflatable playground on stage.

There was early expectation that Jin’s encore shows would include surprise appearances from the other BTS members, after all, J-Hope’s encore featured a surprise performance from Jin himself (and Jungkook), which caused ARMY to absolutely lose their shit after the 3 year break. Anticipation was already running high and reached a fever pitch when the unmistakable sound of Jungkook’s Standing Next to You was heard during sound check.

So the surprise wasn’t deeply surprising, but Jin made it so by introducing his special guests in the most chaotic fashion possible. He has a silly song called Super Tuna about his love for fishing. During the tour he tends to perform it while dressed in a ridiculous fan-chosen costume (my fave was the alien/astronaut in London). On Friday night, ARMY made him dress as a Jack in the Box (which is also the title of J-Hope’s excellent second solo album), and then watched him struggle to keep a straight face while preparing to perform the song. The reason became apparent a few seconds later, when J-Hope and Jungkook jumped out from behind him, disguised as back-up dancers. I’ve watched this unfold from every angle I can find and it makes me grin from ear-to-ear every time. I love the sound of the crowd’s growing roar as the penny drops. I’m obsessed with the silly choreography. There’s something about the sight of these global superstars having the time of their lives together on stage that feels like the definition of infectious joy. They are ridiculous. I love them. And this was only the beginning of the chaos, the trio were reunited on stage later in the show for a water fight.

Saturday’s show included a surprise performance from V, and a Jimin cameo that even Jin wasn’t expecting. Night 2 was equally adorable but a little more earnest because V hadn’t performed in front of an ARMY of that size in 3 years. He was quite overwhelmed. Jin had to bring him back on stage and make him laugh and serenade him. I honestly can’t believe they’re for real.

There were many more moments, including V and Jimin being shoved on stage by the staff with no warning (V literally had his backpack on like he was about to leave the building) for the most loose BTS medley imaginable, and Jin—who is notoriously scared of heights—agreeing to perform his final song in a giant Wootteo balloon suspended above the crowd.

 The two concerts heralded the beginning of a weekend of almost endless content. In short, Jungkook got really serious about becoming a game streamer and at one point had 9 million people watching him freak out in a virtual haunted house. He’s also caused a Kancho cookie shortage in Korea because he’s trying to find one with his name on it. Jimin let slip on his own livestream that they’d finished recording the new BTS album, and J-Hope alluded to ‘exciting’ things happening in November and December.

I’m discovering that being a BTS fan is a time commitment to rival that of Formula 1, which is saying a lot. I’m lucky there are much more dedicated fans out there who are busily translating, summarising and stitching all this content together, or I’d be completely lost. Happily lost.

The fact that the duo of deeply unserious men who pranced around a stage vibing to Super Tuna are the same pair who delivered these two performances straight afterward almost gives you whiplash.