Back at iHeartRadio: Four Songs in Front of a Packed Arena

BTS returned to the iHeartRadio Music Festival after six years. In Las Vegas they closed the first night of the festival, performing four songs in about sixteen minutes: SWIM, 2.0, MIC Drop, and FYA.

It was one of the most anticipated performances of the night. T-Mobile Arena was full, and the group brought the energy and precision their shows are known for. But it's hard to overlook the problems that followed their short set.

After the show, most of the talk was about the sound and the broadcast itself. Some microphones were too loud, others too quiet, a few vocals occasionally got lost in the mix, and the atmosphere of the arena didn't always come through on the stream. Similar complaints came up during other artists' sets that night.

On the members' faces and in some of their reactions, you could see that the performance wasn't going entirely smoothly. Many read it as frustration over the technical problems. The group hasn't commented, so we can't know what the members were thinking in those moments or who their reactions were directed at.

The length of the set was also a question mark. They were announced as one of the festival's headliners and closed the first night, yet they got only four songs and about 16 minutes on stage. According to fans, other artists got noticeably longer slots, often up to half an hour. That's exactly why it's puzzling that they weren't given more time, especially as the last act on the bill.

Still, we don't know what was agreed between the organizers and the group. It's possible that the format was known in advance and suited the members, even if their reactions on stage suggested otherwise. There's no confirmation that the set was meant to be longer or that it was cut short afterward.

The ending was odd too. For those watching the broadcast, FYA wrapped up rather abruptly, while footage from the crowd later showed that they did say goodbye to the audience. The experience in the arena and the one on the broadcast clearly weren't the same.

There's no point in sugarcoating what we watched. The sound had problems, the differences between microphones were noticeable, and the set was very short.

But it wasn't a bad performance. SWIM and 2.0 got a big American festival stage, MIC Drop showed once again how well it works live, and FYA delivered a strong finish to the night.

This may not be a performance remembered for flawless production. It could, however, be remembered for how well the group holds up when things don't go to plan. They kept going despite the problems and saw the performance through to the end.

Next time, we just want to be able to hear them as well as we see them.