BTS Lights Up iHeart Night One With New 'ARIRANG' Songs

iHeart reports BTS closed the festival's first night in Las Vegas with a fiery set showcasing songs from their latest album, 'ARIRANG'.

According to iHeart, BTS — RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V and Jungkook — brought the house down at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Friday, September 18, in a fiery set that closed the first night of the 2026 iHeartRadio Music Festival Presented by Capital One. The outlet's photo coverage frames the performance as a takeover of the evening, with Kevin Winter shooting the group on stage for iHeartRadio. The festival, hosted by Ryan Seacrest, ran Friday and Saturday at the arena, with doors at 6:30 p.m. and the main stage show beginning at 7:30 p.m. PT each night, as Primetimer details.

The notable development beyond the booking itself is what the group chose to play: iHeart reports the adoring crowd was treated to performances of some of their newest songs from the latest album, 'ARIRANG', making the festival stage a showcase for fresh material rather than a hits-only victory lap. For a group whose seven members have largely spent recent years on solo pursuits, iHeart's framing of the full septum — all seven named members — closing night one together is the detail fans will seize on. The set came as part of a star-studded two-night bill spanning pop, K-pop, hip-hop, country and rock.

The same night produced another headline-grabbing set that the iHeart network's stations are covering heavily. According to The Steve Harvey Morning Show's coverage, Cardi B, dazzling in a sparkling zebra bodysuit with red fringe, ran through nearly a dozen songs — 'WAP', 'Bodak Yellow', 'Up', her latest single 'AH HA', and collabs like 'Finesse', 'I Like It' and 'Taki Taki'. The outlet also reports she teased new music and a 'humongous tour' in 2027 during an X Spaces session the day before, saying she has 'so many ideas and so many things are being written.'

Both Billboard and Primetimer list the full 2026 bill: BTS, Benson Boone, Cardi B, Ciara, Goo Goo Dolls, Kenny Chesney, Lainey Wilson, LE SSERAFIM, Major Lazer, Muse, Snoop Dogg, The Smashing Pumpkins, Weezer, Zara Larsson, plus a special performance by Stella Lefty. Billboard notes the Saturday, September 19 bill made festival history with the first K-pop girl group ever to play the event, while Primetimer adds this 15th edition of a festival that began in 2011 follows a 2025 lineup that included Ed Sheeran, Mariah Carey and Jelly Roll.

Multiple outlets agree on the broadcast picture: the festival aired live on Disney+ and Hulu — the Official Streaming Destination — at 7:30 p.m. PT/10:30 p.m. ET both nights, and was broadcast via iHeartMedia radio stations across more than 150 U.S. markets. Billboard details pricing at $12.99 per month for the Disney+ and Hulu bundle with ads or $19.99 ad-free, while Primetimer separately lists promotional six-month rates and a DirecTV five-day free trial for new customers, with DirecTV plans starting at $59.99 per month and carrying no annual contract.

With night one in the books, attention turns to what the performances signal next. If The Steve Harvey Morning Show's account of Cardi B's X Spaces remarks holds, 2027 could bring a large-scale tour she hopes rivals her recent Little Miss Drama Tour, alongside newly written material.