MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Arena crowd went into full revel mode as K-pop stars Stray Kids electrified the stage during their “dominATE World Tour” concert in Bulacan.
Last Nov. 23, fans from the Philippines and across the globe — also known as STAYs — packed the massive indoor arena to witness Stray Kids dominate their biggest concert stage yet in the country with their pounding music and high-energy performances.
Presented by Live Nation Philippines, the show boasted of a setlist featuring more than 30 songs and lasting three hours. Tracks came from three of their five Billboard 200’s chart-topping albums, namely ATE, Oddinary and Rock Star.
Red lights illuminated the arena as the crowd sang and swayed their lightsticks to the rhythm of Stray Kids and chanted the eight-piece band’s “anthem,” before erupting to cheers as the group appeared on an elevated stage and opened the show strong with Mountains.
Accompanied by a live band, Stray Kids continued to set the stage on fire with their opening performances, knocking their fans’ hearts with Thunderous, JJam, District 9 and Back Door where the group moved around the stage along with door props.
As Bang Chan, Lee Know, Changbin, Hyunjin, Han, Felix, Seungmin and I.N greeted the crowd in Filipino, the boys had the audience laughing as they reminisced about a funny moment from their first visit to the venue in December last year for the Asia Artist Awards (AAA).
Bang Chan particularly recalled the time when Han and Seungmin were heading to the toilet but had to rush back to the stage upon hearing that 3RACHA had won the Best Creator award.
3RACHA, Stray Kids’ sub-unit composed of Changbin, Bang Chan and Han, handles most of the group’s songwriting, composing and producing duties.
“(Seungmin) said, ‘I’m going to the toilet, who’s going with me?’ So I said, ‘Okay, let’s go,” Han narrated.
“Oh, that was me! Oh my God!” Han proceeded to reenact their funny experience while Seungmin pointed to their exact spot when 3RACHA was announced a winner at the AAA.
Stray Kids further drove the crowd wild with their solo performances that featured unreleased tracks, shining the spotlight on their individual charisma and stage presence.
Han rocked the crowd with his guitar skills with Hold My Hand, Lee Know showed his cutesy side with Youth, Seungmin with his soothing vocals in As We Are, and Hyunjin’s beat-driven dance moves with So Good.
Felix captivated the audience with his deep voice in his “Beauty and The Beast”- inspired song Unfair. When teased by the members on who his “Belle” is, Felix pointed at STAYs, much to the fanbase’s kilig.
Meanwhile, Bang Chan had fans screaming their hearts out when he went topless in his Railway performance, back-to-back with I.N’s sultry Hallucination performance and finally Changbin’s powerful delivery in Ultra.
Pyrotechnic effects exploding on stage and syncing to the beats amped up Stray Kids’ performances, including their hits Chk Chk Boom, LALALA, Domino, God’s Menu, S-Class and Maniac.
While the boys took a wardrobe change, some Filo STAYs got to showcase their grooves in mini-dance missions, including actress Dawn Zulueta’s 15-year-old daughter Ayisha.
As captured on the big screen, the proud celebrity mom who shares a love for K-pop music with her daughter swayed her lightstick in one hand and a phone camera in another to capture the moment when Ayisha was chosen to dance to Stray Kids’ God’s Menu.
The boys visibly enjoyed their encore, running around the platform, blasting handheld smoke machines and splashing water to the crowd, going up and down the stage to interact with their fans who were mostly in the VIP section.
Fans, as well, were hyped. They were jumping on their feet and left wanting more following the group’s series of older hits and fan-favorites performances such as Case 143, My Pace, MIROH Chk Chk Boom (Festival Ver.) and MEGAVERSE.
As the show drew to a close, Filo STAYs surprised the group with a fan video project highlighting Stray Kids as their “beautiful memory,” with the crowd singing along beautifully to the group’s Cover Me.
Speaking for the group, leader Bang Chan expressed that Stray Kids will reciprocate the love and support given by their fans.
“If it wasn’t for you guys then everything would have been a nightmare. So thank you for existing. And like you guys said, if you are going to eternally stay, we are also going to eternally love you back,” he added.
“I swear we’ll be back. The energy you give us is f***king amazing,” Bang Chan assured fans while playfully leaving out the profanity.
Bang Chan also mentioned the local dish kare-kare as one of his favorites and praised Filipino fans as “great singers,” which the rest of the group agreed with.
“Filipinos are genuinely, naturally talented singers,” shared Felix who would randomly dance the trending Emergency Paging Dr. Beat budots TikTok dance challenge on stage.
“I had to do it because the Philippines made it,” said the deep-toned Australian rapper.
Stray Kids’ “dominATE World Tour” will resume on Nov. 29 and 30 in Macau, and other neighboring countries such as Japan and Thailand in December. The tour also have Latin America, North America, and Europe stops in the coming months until July 2025.