BTS‘ mega popularity is very reminiscent of the pop group, The Beatles, and they embraced the comparison by reliving a memorable moment the British lads had at the start of their career in the 1960s with the help of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. The successful K-pop group, which includes Jungkook, Jimin, V, Suga, Jin, RM and J-Hope, not only dressed like Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, John Lennon, and George Harrison in black and white suit and ties for their May 15 appearance on the show, they also took the stage in the same exact location the iconic heartthrobs made their U.S. television debut in back in Feb. 1964.
The Ed Sullivan Theater, where the Late Show tapes, happens to be the same venue The Beatles performed in during their appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, and Stephen helped BTS (and their fans!) get a feel for what it was like when the fab four made their appearance by remodeling the stage to look like it did when they were on it and even aired the show in black and white. Stephen also channeled Ed Sullivan when he introduced the talented members.
“You may have heard there’s a new musical craze sweeping the globe, these fellas are really something. They’re called BTS and people are so excited you can only call it BTS Mania,” he said in a similar way Ed introduced The Beatles. “These boys are from across the pond, the big one, the one with Hawaii in the middle. They really are a fine group of youngsters, in fact, you can call them the fab seven. It’s got a nice ring to it.” Stephen then let each member of BTS introduce themselves before he joked that they all went by the same nickname, “the cute one”.
On #LSSC tonight: History repeats itself with @bts_twt!#BTSonLSSC pic.twitter.com/IJQgyLDX2q
— A Late Show (@colbertlateshow) May 16, 2019
In addition to performing their hit song “Boy With Luv” during their debut on The Late Show, BTS sat down for an interview with Stephen. The idea for The Beatles-like appearance most likely stemmed from the fact the the group has been compared to the legendary band because of their amazing international success and devoted fans (that’s you, ARMY!). BTS broke some serious music records when they had three number one albums in 11 months over the last year. That record hadn’t been reached since The Beatles released their anthologies in 1995.