Concert review
Stray Kids elicit the kind of reactions that require a seismograph to measure, and their fans proved that at T-Mobile Park on a gorgeous Saturday night. For nearly three solid hours, the superstar Korean boy band delighted with an overwhelming parade of hits that sent the diverse, young crowd into a sustained frenzy.
The show kicked off Stray Kids' North American leg of their Dominate world tour and represents a big step up from their last outing in Seattle, a two-day stay at Climate Pledge Arena in 2022.
K-pop might not be quite as ubiquitous as American pop music, but it's growing fast and is incredibly popular with Gen Zers. Stray Kids in particular were practically grown in a lab to appeal to Generation Tik Tok's anemic attention spans. With eight members, the pace of each song performed on Saturday was frenetic, as the performers traded the spotlight constantly, each getting their literal 15 seconds of fame at a time -- often not even that long.
Led by 27-year-old Bang Chan, the other members, all in their mid-20s, are Lee Know, Changbin, Hyunjin, Han, Felix, Seungmin and I.N. They performed in a mix of English and Korean but seemed to lean toward Korean most of the time.
There was no opener, nor was there any need for one. The crowd was rabid from the beginning but kicked into another gear once the beat dropped for "District 9," a piece of aggressive pop rap from Stray Kids' 2018 EP "I Am Not."
"Back Door" sparked a fun call and response, but it was "Chk Chk Boom," which had a music video tie-in with Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman's "Deadpool & Wolverine" last summer, that got everyone in the stadium singing along.
After a quick costume change from white to red outfits, the group paired off. "Truman" showed off Han and Felix's rapping skills over an earworm beat, while "Burnin' Tires" gave Changbin and I.N. a chance to get into their own flow. Bang Chan and Hyunjin teamed up for "Escape," leaving Lee Know and Seungmin with the power ballad "Cinema," which once again had the stadium singing every word.
Although it's understandable why they don't do this as much, it was a shame there wasn't a bit more pairing off. Giving each singer or rapper more time to shine helped that set of four songs feel notably more coherent than the rest of Stray Kids' set.
Despite their popularity, talent and undeniable aura, eight members really is a lot to balance, and the end result was that a lot of Stray Kids' songs felt like an all-out assault on the senses. At times, it also begged the question: If an entire song is a hook, does it even have one?
For the vast majority in attendance, those considerations were far from mind and body. That was especially true on "S-Class," which inspired another big sing-along, and the sensitive pop of "Lonely St." that left fans screaming with joy.
More than two hours deep into their set, Stray Kids gave the crowd a bit of a false finish with "Lalalala," ending the song with a climactic display of fireworks. It would have been completely understandable if there was anyone who decided at that point that they had gotten their money's worth and wanted to leave to get an early start home. Some did, but most stayed right where they were.
Stray Kids closed things out with "Maniac" but weren't done by a longshot, putting together a generous six-song encore followed by two more songs, including a remixed version of "Chk Chk Boom."
It was a euphoric ending, and as the sold-out crowd filed out into the night, it seemed as if the world was getting just a bit smaller. Don't be surprised if someday soon, there's no need to distinguish groups like Stray Kids with the K-pop moniker.