Starting with sweeping shot of Seoul’s Joseon-era Gyeongbokgung Palace, the live-stream eventually revealed the seven men of BTS standing in front of the palace. “Hello, Seoul,” the group’s leader, RM, told the crowd. “We’re back.”

The show kicked into the new album’s opening track, “Body to Body,” which ended with performers in Korean hanbok, playing the Korean folk song “Arirang.”

BTS then jumped into new songs “Hooligan” and “2.0,” before introducing themselves to the thousands of fans gathered in Seoul’s central square.

BTS continued through the show playing non-Arirang hits like “Butter” and “MIC Drop,” before returning to new tracks “Aliens,” “FYA,” their new single “Swim,” “Like Animals,” and “Normal.”

The K-pop superstars closed out the night with their smash hit “Dynamite” and fan favorite “Mikrokosmos.” The closer had the huge crowd energized, as the 50-foot stage, adorned in LED lights, beamed imagery in neon blue.

While all 7 members of BTS were back together for the historic show, RM, was forced to limit his participation due to ankle injury during rehearsals two days before, the band’s label BigHit Music announced Friday. The rapper, however, was mobile throughout the show despite his injury, which required him to wear an ankle boot and use a stool at the front of the stage.

“Although there will be limitations to his performance, RM will participate to the extent possible and hopes to connect with ARMY and the audience,” a statement released read.

The live stream let viewers at home hear the men of Bangtan Sonyeondan in high-quality audio. But the sound in central Seoul was impressive, with the band’s voices echoing through Gwanghwamun Square.

A historic trailblazer in globalization, BTS took over their home city of Seoul to celebrate their return. The choice to stage comeback performance in front of Gwanghwamun, the main gate and historic entryway to Seoul’s Gyeongbokgung Palace, was no coincidence — the new album is meditation on the group’s  identity. The palace was lit up with video projection, integrating it into the concert.

The album’s name, Arirang, pays tribute to Korean folk ballad of the same name, which was famously the country’s first song, sung by Korean men, ever recorded (it was preserved for posterity by American ethnologist Alice Fletcher in 1896). Motifs from the original “Arirang” feature prominently in the closing minutes of the new album’s opening track, “Body to Body.”

Before Saturday night, no pop concert had ever been held in Seoul’s Gwanghwamun Square, owing to the site’s political significance. Netflix and Hybe raffled off 22,000 tickets for cordoned seating, but the streamer and label were expecting at least 260,000 people in the square and  surrounding streets. After the show ended, the production was extremely cautious about getting the crowd out safely, releasing attendees in stages to avoid dangerous overcrowding or chaos. It still took nearly two hours for concertgoers to fully empty the plaza.

BTS The Comeback Live | Arirang marked the first live stream of standalone concert for Netflix.

The production used a 23-camera setup to capture the live experience. “It was clear from the start that this opportunity was one we could not pass up,” said Netflix’s vice president of nonfiction sports and series, Brandon Riegg.

“We view these live events as opportunity to reach fans and members around the world in a way that is becoming increasingly tough to find: singular events that really pull people together,” Reigg continued, noting it “just doesn’t get any bigger than BTS” when speaking about the live stream. “I would venture to guess this might be the biggest thing this year that we see on Netflix in terms of our live ambition.”

“BTS is the greatest band in the world, so it’s a huge honor to be asked to direct this live show in such an iconic location,” Hamilton told the press.

Netflix and Hybe employed over 1,000 local production pros — not including security — to pull off Saturday night’s spectacle