Before BTS and Blackpink, there was Big Bang: Now the Kings of K-pop are back

ByJiji Ahn BBC News.

Key points

• South Korea's Supreme Court afterwards upheld an 18-month prison sentence for Seungri in 2022 on charges including prostitution mediation, overseas gambling, and embezzlement.
• Years before BTS were selling out Wembley Stadium and Blackpink were headlining Hyde Park, Major Bang were already proving Korean pop could succeed far beyond Asia.
• Having attended their European debut at Wembley Arena in 2012, the shift in atmosphere on Saturday was striking.
• When they created their European debut at Wembley Arena in December 2012, a second show was went on after the first sold out in under two hours.
• Then in 2019, the group's youngest member, Seungri, permanently retired from entertainment against the backdrop of the "Burning Sun" scandal.

Meanwhile, a sea of glowing yellow crowns. Thousands of voices chanting in Korean.

For context, an explosive surge of energy as the opening synth riffs of Fantastic Baby shatter the stadium air. Major Bang is back.

Fourteen years after their first major European demonstrates, and after a decade marked by military service, member departures and legal scandals, the South Korean group played at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on Saturday as part of their 20th anniversary world tour.

Inside the near-capacity venue, the crowd did not just watch a concert; they stepped into a significant moment in K-pop history.

As the band emerged in their trademark high-fashion, glittering outfits, the crowd danced freely, setting the tone for an evening that felt less like a routine tour stop and more like a homecoming.

For fans, it is a long-awaited reunion. But the significance of Major Bang's return extends beyond nostalgia.

For context, the group filled arenas throughout the West, collaborated with major American artists, experimented with hip-hop and electronic music, and turned their own fashion and creative identities into part of their appeal.

Where their original UK demonstrates were driven by a hunger to prove themselves and promote a new album, this return as a trio, comprising G-Dragon, Taeyang, and Daesung, felt entirely crafted for their dedicated community.

By reworking classic tracks and cleverly remixing songs to accommodate absent members, the group relied on pyrotechnics, their signature live band and sheer stage presence rather than elaborate staging. The result was a reunion that felt celebratory, grounded and playful.

In 2011, Major Bang became the first K-pop group to win a major Western music award when they took home the newly created Worldwide Act prize at the MTV Europe Music Awards.

They were leading a pioneering generation that proved global crossover was genuinely feasible.

Then in 2016, Forbes estimated Major Bang had earned $44m (£33.2m) over the previous year, making them the first K-pop act to appear on its Celebrity 100 List.

"When it comes to the global market for K-pop, there is no doubt Big Bang made a huge contribution, " notes Dr Haekyung Um, senior lecturer in music at the University of Liverpool.

"Earlier acts were popular within Asian markets, but Major Bang were true international stars. I would call them the Kings of K-pop, just as we call Michael Jackson the King of Pop, " Um adds.

"Big Bang's success really was an early signal of how successful a K-pop stadium tour in the West could truly be."

Before Major Bang, K-pop groups were often viewed as heavily manufactured by entertainment agencies.

But music critics say Major Bang broke the mould. They wrote and produced their own songs, shaped their own streetwear image and blended genres ranging from hip-hop and R&B to trot, a traditional South Korean folk genre.

For plenty of attending on Saturday, the show served as a direct lesson in K-pop's lineage – a chance to see "the idols' idols" perform live.

"They were different because they didn't follow the uniform K-pop cookie-cutter pretty boy phase, " explains Sharon, who was visiting London from Singapore.

"They went harder on their music, a bit more hip-hop. They did what they had to do, and they are the absolute OGs for me."

Notably, the shift set them apart throughout Asia and assisted establish the blueprint for modern self-produced acts such as BTS.

And then there is the yellow crown. At Major Bang concerts, it is impossible to miss the group's crown-shaped lightstick, known as the Bang Bong.

In early K-pop, fans backed artists by waving coloured balloons or generic glow sticks.

But seeking a distinct, permanent identity for their fandom, dubbed "VIPs", band leader G-Dragon proposed a handheld yellow crown, setting the template for custom concert merchandise.

"Fan engagement and coordinated chants have deep roots in Korean music history, " explains Um. "But Big Bang helped modernise the physical technology."

In practice, the Bang Bong established a model for custom-designed fandom lightsticks and merchandise that modern K-pop groups now follow.

Outside the venue, that same fan-led energy spilled into the streets, with attendees trading handmade gifts and photo cards – a ritual that has spread to Western arena tours over recent years.

Volunteer fan groups distributed roughly 35, 000 custom-printed banners throughout the stadium, coordinating a massive crowd-wide salute to be raised in unison during select performances.

Major Bang's story, even so, is far from a straightforward tale of success.

South Korea requires able-bodied men to complete mandatory military service, and Major Bang's members served at different points during the group's hiatus. Then came the scandals.

In 2017, former band member T.O.P was convicted of marijuana employ, an offence heavily criminalised and socially taboo in South Korea, and received a suspended prison sentence while serving his mandatory military duty. He afterwards formally departed from the group.

It was a high-profile police investigation into a Seoul nightclub of the same name which exposed a network of sex trafficking, bribery, and illicit filming involving a number of male K-pop stars.

Although the band didn't openly acknowledge the departure of two of their former members from the stage, their absence was obvious to long-time fans in the audience.

Though it did not matter to fans like Annie. This person flew from New York to see the show with friends. She remarked Sizeable Bang's perseverance through hardship created their music mean even more.

In short, before BTS and Blackpink, there was Big Bang: Now the Kings of is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.