The tour kicked off in Seoul, South Korea, in Aug. 2024 and is now on its third leg in North America. The theme of this tour, DOMINATE, references their album “ATE,” which was released in July 2024.

Stray Kids is an eight-member musical group from South Korea that formed through a survival show of the same name in 2017 and officially debuted in 2018 under JYP Entertainment. The members consist of Bang Chan, the leader and creator of the group, Lee Know, Changbin, Hyunjin, Han, Felix, Seungmin and I.N. 

When I approached the venue, I was met with a sea of red and black, which reflected the theme, DOMINATE. Not only that, but fellow Stays, the fandom, were handing out freebies; handmade items such as keychains and stickers.

The closer it got to 7:30 p.m., the more my mind could not process that I was there. That thought, rather than vanishing, increased when the instrumentals to “Mountains” shook the stadium and the figures of each member became visible. 

The opening songs immediately had everyone on their feet and lightsticks igniting the stadium with shades of green and red. However, as soon as “Chk Chk Boom” and “Domino” played, the energy was at its peak.

It was as if there had been a chain reaction: as the energy of the group members rose, so did the audience.

In addition to their recent releases, they also featured some of their older songs like “Thunderous” and their debut song “District 9”. I liked that they incorporated older releases because I got to experience what I wasn’t able to before.

Besides the music, the show was also visually entertaining. There was a dance crew, live band and even a giant futuristic alien figure that resembled a titan from the anime “Attack on Titan” as a prop during the song “Giant”.

My favorite part was the mixture of genres. It started off with a rock and roll vibe, then Han and Felix walked us into a hip-hop rap scene with “Truman.” In the midst of that, I got to “escape” into an EDM rave with “MIROH” and sing along to ballads that had the whole room swaying their arms from side to side. 

Towards the end of the concert, the members got on these moving trains that went around the stadium and sang “SuperBoard”, “I Like It” and “My Pace”. When they came to my section, my mind could not comprehend how close they were to me. 

Despite some of the lyrics being in a different language, that did not prevent me from having an amazing experience. There was not one moment when I or the people in my section were sitting down.

If you’re a Stay, it’s not a Stray Kids concert without the famous fan chant, “Stray Kids everywhere all around the world, you make Stray Kids stay.”

At the end, Stray Kids came out a final time and started spraying us with water bottles and water guns as they sang the last songs. They were running everywhere, greeting fans, shouting and the audience copied that energy.

My only complaint was that the leader, Bang Chan, kept teasing that the concert was nearing the end. Unfortunately, it did come to an end, and I developed what I refer to as post-concert depression. 

The Arlington show may be over, but the North American leg is wrapping up in Toronto and will officially end in Rome, Italy, on July 30.