BTS Pay Tribute to The Beatles for Their Debut on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
The comparison of BTS to The Beatles is being taken to the next level.
The Korean pop boy-band — consisting of members Jungkook, Jimin, V, Suga, Jin, RM and J-Hope — rocked looks synonymous to the Fab Four (aka John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison) as they made their debut on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Wednesday night, and PEOPLE has an exclusive first look at their cold open with the host.
While introducing BTS, Colbert said, “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.”
“These boys are from across the pond, the big one, the one with Hawaii in the middle,” he continued. “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.”
On #LSSC tonight: History repeats itself with @bts_twt!#BTSonLSSC pic.twitter.com/IJQgyLDX2q
— The Late Show (@colbertlateshow) May 16, 2019
Colbert then had the band members introduce themselves before letting the audience in on the fact that they each go by the same nickname — “the cute one.”
For their appearance, BTS and The Late Show worked together to transform the Ed Sullivan Theater — where the show tapes — to look reminiscent of how it did in February 1964 when The Beatles made their U.S. television debut on The Ed Sullivan Show. Adding to the nostalgia factor was Colbert dressed up as late show host Ed Sullivan.
On Wednesday night’s episode, BTS will also sit down for an interview with Colbert and perform their hit “
,” which they released in April with a feature from Halsey.
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The idea for the segment came about because of the performance location, as well as the frequent comparisons BTS draw to The Beatles as the new kings of pop. This year, BTS had three No. 1 albums in 11 months — a feat that hasn’t been accomplished since The Beatles released their anthologies 1, 2 and 3 in 1995.
