GOYANG, Gyeonggi Province — Eight years and eight months away, and two missing founding members, counted for little at Goyang Stadium on Sunday.

BIGBANG, one of K-pop's longest-standing and most iconic boy bands, packed more than 30 songs into two and a half hours. Roughly 40,000 fans answered with a roar loud enough to leave ears ringing.

The three-night run, titled "XX : COSMOS," was the group's first concert in Korea since "LAST DANCE" at Seoul's Gocheok Sky Dome in December 2017. It marked BIGBANG's 20th debut anniversary and served as the opening leg of its first full world tour as the trio of G-Dragon, Taeyang and Daesung — the lineup that remained after Seungri retired from the entertainment industry in 2019 amid the Burning Sun scandal, and T.O.P, convicted of marijuana use in 2017, left the group in 2023.

Since debuting under YG Entertainment in August 2006, BIGBANG became one of the acts most credited with carrying K-pop to global audiences in the 2010s, and its 2015–16 "MADE" world tour ranked among the largest ever mounted by a Korean group. In an industry where the standard seven-year idol contract makes careers of this length the exception, few acts mark a 20th anniversary still headlining stadiums on their own catalog.

Fans of all ages from around the globe filled the stadium complex well before Sunday's 7 p.m. start. Daehwa Station on Seoul Metro Line 3, the nearest station to the venue, was already crowded, with the late-summer heat matching the mood outside the gates.

Just minutes after 7 p.m., the three members appeared to the sounds of their 2012 song "Fantastic Baby." Following an intro video built around the latest album's cosmic motif, a screen washed in red split slowly down the middle and the members emerged in glistening white suits.

The greeting from the crowd was the kind of mass singalong rarely heard at any K-pop show in recent memory. Tens of thousands of BIGBANG's official lightsticks, the crown-topped "Bang Bong" widely regarded as the prototype for K-pop's lightstick culture, moved in unison beneath slogans reading, "We are still BIGBANG's V.I.P." — a reference to the band's fandom.

After an electrifying intro sequence comprising "Hands Up," "Tonight," "LOSER," "Blue" and "Bae Bae," G-Dragon paused to take in the room.

"I stopped because I wanted to soak in our last day here," he said. "This is our 20th anniversary world tour. We started in 2006 and we've made it to 2026. I sincerely welcome all of you who came."

"It's so good to meet you with a new look and a new stage for our 20th anniversary," Taeyang added, sporting spiky pink hair.

Daesung played on the tour's title. "Tonight I'm here to serve you 'course-MOS' as in a full course meal," he said, drawing laughter from the crowd.

What came next made sitting still difficult. K-pop anthems "Lies," "We Like 2 Party," "BANG BANG BANG" and "HOME SWEET HOME" arrived alongside solo material, including Daesung's ambitious trot song "Look at Me, Gwisun," Taeyang's recent release under The Black Label, "Live Fast Die Slow," and G-Dragon's "Crayon" and "Crooked." Anyone with a passing familiarity with K-pop would have recognized most of the setlist.

The anniversary single "BiiiG" — the group's first new music in four years and four months — was also performed.

The encore pushed the room to its peak. By the time "Sunset Glow" and "Last Farewell" came around, everyone in the audience was on their feet singing along. Some were even on the cusp of tears.

Reconfigured as a trio, the group's timing was intact. The three covered the wide, protruding stage without relying on tight synchronized choreography, and the cameras repeatedly caught them locking eyes and sharing smiles.

The live vocals held up. Powerhouse vocalists Daesung and Taeyang delivered immediately, while G-Dragon, whose live singing has recently drawn some criticism, was also in good condition. He previously opened his solo tour at the same venue in March last year, when complaints about his live skills followed him through the year.

The band and the production carried much of the night as well. A five-piece live group under music director Wow Jones, whose credits include work with pop stars Usher, Post Malone and Rihanna, filled every gap in the sound across the full setlist.

Staging shifted with each song through video and lighting cues developed with Mike Carson, creative director on last year's Super Bowl halftime show, and Es Devlin, the stage designer behind the 2012 London Olympics closing ceremony.

The closer was "Still Life," released four years and four months ago. Former member T.O.P's rap verse was left in.

From Goyang, the tour moves on to 33 shows in 19 cities across North America, Europe, Oceania and Asia through next year, all at stadium-scale venues, according to YG Entertainment. Additional cities are to be announced.

Source: The Korea Times