What to know about Goyang Stadium — and why K-pop acts love it

A banner welcoming BTS' world tour hangs at Goyang Stadium, Gyeonggi Province, Sunday. Goyang, the first stop on BTS' 34-city world tour, is preparing a series of welcome events ahead of the group's concerts on April 9, 11 and 12. Yonhap

As BTS prepares to kick off its world tour with a three-day concert run from Thursday, Saturday and Sunday at Goyang Stadium, the choice of venue may prompt a certain question among some — why not Seoul?

For an act long associated with landmark stages in the Korean capital, performing outside city limits can seem unexpected. The decision, however, points to a broader shift in Korea's concert landscape, where the stadium in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, has emerged as one of the few venues capable of meeting the scale of K-pop today.

Goyang Stadium, located in the mid sized city 20 kilometers northwest of Seoul, has become the default home of large-scale live music in the Seoul metropolitan area, a transformation that has unfolded quickly and largely out of necessity.

In 2025 alone, the stadium hosted 18 major concerts, drawing 700,000 attendees and generating roughly 10.9 billion won ($8.2 million) in revenue. The roster includes G-Dragon, who launched his first solo tour in eight years there in March, followed by British rock band Coldplay in April.

K-pop girl group BLACKPINK opened its world tour at the venue in July, while boy band SEVENTEEN also drew 58,000 fans across two nights in October 2024. Oasis and Travis Scott previously performed there as well.

A drone show lights up the sky above Goyang Stadium during SEVENTEEN's "Right Here" world tour concert on Oct. 13, 2024, in Goyang, west of Seoul. Courtesy of Pledis Entertainment

The reasons are more structural than scenic. The Jamsil Sports Complex's main stadium in southeastern Seoul, the largest in the country with nearly 70,000 seats, has been under renovation since August 2023 and is not expected to reopen until December 2026. Seoul World Cup Stadium holds 60,000 but rarely issues permits for concerts, citing the risk of damage to its football field.

For promoters trying to seat 40,000 or more fans in a single night, the options have effectively narrowed to one.

Nearly 40,000 fans gather inside Goyang Stadium in Goyang, west of Seoul, just hours before BLACKPINK's "DEADLINE" world tour show in July 2025. Korea Times photo by Pyo Kyung-min

But the stadium's appeal goes beyond a lack of alternatives.

Goyang Stadium opened in 2003 as a football and athletics facility, holding around 41,000 in fixed seating, with concert configurations pushing capacity closer to 50,000.

KSPO Dome, the busiest of the currently operating indoor alternatives, tops out at around 15,000. Inspire Arena, which opened in late 2023 on Yeongjong Island in Incheon, also holds 15,000.

The open-air design adds another dimension. With no roof to limit what can be staged above the crowd, productions at Goyang Stadium have incorporated fireworks, air balloons and drone shows alongside LED arrays and extended runway stages.

Accessibility reinforces the popularity of Goyang Stadium, which is reachable from Incheon International Airport in under an hour. The opening of the GTX-A line's KINTEX station has also cut the journey to Seoul Station to less than half an hour.

The surrounding area has developed to match — KINTEX, one of Korea's largest convention centers, sits nearby, alongside hotels, retail and dining facilities that see a direct surge in business on concert weekends.

Going back to the upcoming BTS concert, the K-pop juggernaut's decision to open a global tour here is proof of how far the venue has come. Concert promoters now consider it alongside Wembley Stadium, Tokyo Dome and SoFi Stadium when routing world tours.

Choosing Goyang Stadium as the launch point of a global tour is a statement of a different kind. It is not a compromise. It's the nation's biggest, most dynamic stage available.

An official poster for K-pop boy band BTS’ upcoming world tour “ARIRANG,” set to kick off in Goyang, west of Seoul, Thursday / Courtesy of BigHit Music