BTS makes live iHeartRadio Festival debut with four-song set

BTS finally takes the iHeartRadio festival stage in Las Vegas six years after the septet first appeared through a remote performance filmed in South Korea.

On Friday, September 18, the K-pop boy band headlined the opening night of the 2026 iHeartRadio Music Festival at T-Mobile Arena.

The two-day festival, hosted by Ryan Seacrest, ran September 18–19 in Las Vegas. Friday night’s lineup also featured Cardi B, Goo Goo Dolls, Kenny Chesney, Weezer and Zara Larsson.

However, when BTS finally appeared onstage, the attention was firmly on RM, Jimin, Jin, Jungkook, J Hope, Suga and V.

They delivered a short but high-energy four-song set, opening with SWIM, followed by 2.0 before launching into the fan-favourite MIC Drop and closing with FYA.

Despite the brevity of the performance, the group packed the set with energy, giving the Las Vegas crowd its first opportunity to see all seven members perform together on the iHeartRadio Music Festival stage in person.

For BTS, however, the significance of the appearance went beyond the songs themselves.

The group had already performed at the iHeartRadio Music Festival once before but not in the way fans experienced them on Friday night.

In September 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, BTS participated in the festival remotely from South Korea.

Their prerecorded performance featured songs including Dynamite, Spring Day and Boy With Luv, with the group performing from a stage in Korea rather than appearing before the festival crowd in the United States.