The issue I've had with the tour has never really been about the choreography, it's just that the set pieces and all the production elements could have been so much better. If they had utilized the backup dancers better and thought out staging more people wouldn't even notice the lack of choreography quite as much. That's what I don't understand about all of this, if you know that you were going to be cutting back on an element that is core to your group and performance, why aren't you replacing it with anything substantial?
I don't mind a segment that's them just running around high energy and free styling, but there's so much more they could have done throughout the show, idk. Even just the cheap props like the iPads and the sheets, I get what they were going for and it's not a bad idea, but there really wasn't a better way to show that narrative? It's annoying to me too that the discourse is only ever about choreography when I feel like their team just did a bad and rushed job not to the caliber of what the BTS standard should be. There's not a strong narrative in the show either, and there should be, it wouldn't be hard to have one with Arirang.
I haven't gone yet though so I could be overly harsh, one thing I'll say is that the pyrotechnics throughout the show look really cool. Other issue is that not one cares about Swim and the choreography is boring so that whole segment falls flat even though it's supposed to be a big part of the show (I don't dislike the song, but it's not an impactful performance at all). Hooligan too... so many better and more exciting ways they could have started the show. Everything you said about Ariana really drives home to me how they could have made the tour better and it has nothing to do with the choreography, their team is just not good.
Iâm gonna be honest. The freestyling segment is probably the worst segment of the tour. It just looks a mess. 2 members actually trying to give anything 3 half assing and the other 2 just standing there. Itâs unappealing.
And while I do think their team hasnât been good in years, theyâre still at the mercy of what BTS wants. And BTS (well some of them) thought this was acceptable enough and went along with what Bang envisioned for them. Some of the practically took it as invitation to barely put in any effort at all.