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To access this presale on January 22, fans needed to have bought an ARMY membership and have verified their identity on the ticket-selling website in advance.

This, however, was not much of a hurdle for fans who were willing to jump through hoops to get their hands on a ticket to see their favourite band after years.

Setting alarms for 2.30pm, 2.45pm and 2.59pm the night before, this reporter thought she'd prepared enough to grab a coveted soundcheck ticket for Dh660 to see the band live. To her surprise, on entering the queue at 3pm, over 141,000 people were already ahead of her in just a couple of seconds, competing for tickets at a stadium that had a capacity of about 40,000.

Screengrab of the moment before entering the ticket sales

Sadly, despite her high hopes and patience through a 1.5-hour long wait, she was unable to snag the ticket of her dreams.

Although this reporter failed to secure a ticket, UAE-based influencer Deema Abu Naser had far better luck than most could hope for, snagging three tickets in all. First, Deema managed to get a ticket for the Goyang show in South Korea (despite accidentally selecting one with an obstructed view).

Coming in far more prepared for the "stressful" event, she recalled, "I was in different country queues for hours at a time — it started at 3pm for Goyang, 5pm for London, 6pm for Paris, and 7pm for New York.

"I was 100,000th in line but managed to get a ticket for April 12. I was really nervous and I accidentally got one that had obstructed view, so I’m hoping for the best."

After waiting for three hours in queue for a ticket in London, she discovered they were all sold out. In Paris, however, she managed to get two tickets despite her system experiencing 'extreme lags'. "By the time I got the Paris tickets, I joined the queue for New York and I was 85,000th in queue so I gave up and called it a successful day."

From giving up on sleep to creating an "ARMY command centre" and staying glued to the screen for hours, getting one's hands on those tickets was no easy feat for other ARMY as well.

Describing her experience, Emirati Sara Albalooshi said, "My alarms [were] going off like a countdown to a rocket launch".

She coordinated with her sister and their friends to be able to get tickets. "My sister is a doctor and she literally went on-call two shifts early to get a day off. I begged my manager to let me leave work, and we were all coordinating across countries," she added.

Recalling the "totally terrifying, but also ridiculously thrilling" experience, she said that "the US sale was brutal". She got through only to find out that all tickets had been sold out. However, she did manage to grab two tickets each for Paris and Belgium.

Yan Hinolan, who runs one of the largest local fan clubs, Bangtan UAE, said that "this wasn't her first rodeo" and that there would've been "no ticket" if she hadn't had "no sleep".

She even reached out to her bank well in advance to inform them that she would be buying these tickets, to ensure that her payments don't fail to go through.

Luckily, she managed to secure tickets for the BTS show in Los Angeles. Yan said she was willing to shell out around USD1,000, but didn't have to "thanks to BigHit controlling dynamic pricing in the US".

Many fans are pinning their hopes on the Middle East dates, which are set to be announced. The band said it would be coming to the region in 2027, with many fans expecting them to announce a stop in the UAE as well.

The speculation is particularly strong in the UAE, with many fans hoping that BTS returns to the Emirates, especially considering their KCON performance in Abu Dhabi in 2016 marked one of their earliest global stops.

Last year, Yu Ri Park, Deputy Consul General of the Republic of Korea in Dubai, told Khaleej Times in a personal capacity that there is a "possibility that BTS will perform in the UAE in the future".

With such hopes running high, Yan has already mapped out a plan along with other admins of the fanbase. "I'm thinking of having a fan project during the concert. It's just a special moment between ARMY and BTS in every concert that ARMY does something to make the boys feel much more special than they already are."

Sara, meanwhile, said that seeing BTS perform in her home country — the UAE — would be a "dream come true". "Alarms set, devices ready, strategies on repeat. And yes… my abaya is ready for them."

"Personally, I'm going to have to fight everyone so I can get the soundcheck VIP ticket to see all my boys up close," Yan added. "But first, please come to the UAE!"