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BTS Rock Saudi Fans with Stadium Concert in Riyadh

Boy band Bangtan Boys perform at a concert in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Friday. /Courtesy of Big Hit Entertainment

K-pop group BTS successfully staged a concert in Saudi Arabia, their first-ever solo gig in the Middle East.

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The concert, which was part of the group's "Love Yourself: Speak Yourself" world tour, was held at King Fahd International Stadium in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh on Friday. It was the first stadium concert in the country by a non-Arab artist.

The stadium can hold approximately 67,000 people but was arranged to admit an audience of 30,000 for the concert, whose tickets sold out the instant they went on sale.

BTS fans, known as "the Army", were as intense there as in any other country. The fans, clad in hijab head coverings and niqab veils, couldn't help but go wild to see their idols singing and dancing, while singing along in Korean to their hit songs.

Fans pose with placards before a Bangtan Boys concert in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Friday.

It was not until a year ago that women in the hardline Islamic state of Saudi Arabia were even allowed to enter the stadium, which is used mostly for football matches.

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