BTS Army members had already been sleeping outside for days, turning an elite stretch of Fifth Avenue into a campground — no thunderstorm was about to dampen their “Euphoria” for Jung Kook’s solo debut in New York’s Central Park Friday morning.
And to the squealing delight of his young female fans, the K-pop star was able to tape his three-song set — including a brand-new bop, “Seven” — before looming lightning forced an evacuation that nixed his scheduled live performance as part of the “Good Morning America” Summer Concert Series.
At 25, Jung Kook is the youngest member of BTS — and the latest to go solo while the boy band is on hiatus.
And despite ominous skies that had dawn looking more like dusk at Rumsey Playfield, the masses behind the mania were still weathering the “hostage situation” — as warm-up comedian Tom Kelly put it — with sunny smiles on their faces.
With his shy, modest manner, Jung Kook — despite being one of the main singers in BTS — almost seemed embarrassed by the attention when he entered from the side-stage bleachers to sing “Euphoria.”
Although the song is from the 2018 BTS compilation “Love Yourself: Answer,” the singer recorded it as a solo — and seemed to hardly miss his six bandmates.
And when the heartthrob crooned to the crowd, “You are the source of my euphoria,” it was clearly more like the other way around.
Then Jung Kook launched into his new single “Seven” — which features rapper Latto — riding the guitar-inflected garage groove with his smooth moves and easy charm.
As the rain began to fall, Jung Kook closed the abbreviated festivities with “Dynamite,” BTS’ first No. 1 hit in the US. By the end, he had proven that he could create plenty of sparks all on his own.