K-pop superstars Stray Kids successfully staged their dominATE concert tour at Philippine Arena in Bulacan on November 23, 2024. Strays Kids members: (standing, from left) Lee Know, Han, Changbin, and Bang Chang; (seated, from left) Hyunjin, I.N, Felix, and Seungmin.
PHOTO/S: Stray Kids Facebook

K-pop superstars Stray Kids successfully returned to the Philippines for their dominAte world tour.

The massive Philippine Arena in Bulacan was the venue of Stray Kids’ concert held on Saturday, November 23, 2024.

Stray Kids dominATE in Bulacan is made possible by Live Nation Philippines and powered by SMART.

As expected, Stray Kids — composed of Bang Chan, Lee Know, Changbin, Hyunjin, Han, Felix, Seungmin, and I.N — once again proved that they truly belong on the humongous stage by performing more than 30 songs for almost three hours.

When the eight kids finally appeared on stage, Filo Stays who filled the arena welcomed them with ear-splitting screams and shouts.

Stray Kids opened their concert with “Mountains” (B-side from their latest Korean album, ATE), followed by “Thunderous” (title track from their album No Easy) and “Jjam” (also from ATE).

Photo/s: Khym Manalo

STRAY KIDS MEMBERS GREET FILO STAYS

After this, while other members catch their breath and take a sip of water, leader Bang Chan shouted “Stay, Mabuhay!” to the Philippine Arena crowd.

The members then took their customary positions and greeted, “We are Stray Kids!”

When it’s time for the members to introduce themselves, they used Tagalog phrases — like “Kumusta po kayo?”, Ako po ay si…”, and “Mabuhay!” — much to the delight of Filipino Stays, although we also saw dozens of other nationalities in the crowd.

But Seungmin, known for being a troublemaker, was the only member who greeted the Filo Stays in English.

He first asked, “What’s my name?”

After the audience shouted his name, he finally introduced himself, “Hi! I’m you puppy, Seungmin.”

Bang Chan then formally welcomed everyone to their third world tour, dominATE.

He added, “I feel like it’s been quite a while since we met our Filipino Stays so we are really, really grateful, very, very homored to be back here with you guys.”

He then asked Felix how does he feel to be back in the Philippines.

Felix, who is known for his deep voice, said, “It’s been so long like you said. I can’t wait to see, you know, how everyone’s feeling. It’s just the beginning, right?”

THE “TOILET” INCIDENT AT THE AAA 2023

When Bang Chan said that it still feels like it’s their first time in the Philippines although it’s been their third, Seungmin reminded him that they were in the same venue on December 14, 2024 for the 8th Asia Artist Awards.

Bang Chan then recalled the incident when Han, who was on his way to the toilet with Seungmin, had to run back to the stage when 3RACHA was announced as winner of Best Creator award.

3RACHA — composed of Bang Chan, Changbin, and Han — are the producing team and rap unit of Stray Kids. They are responsible for almost all of the songs of the eight-member group from JYP Entertainment.

Han and Seungmin then pointed at each other while reminiscing the funny incident.

Han narrated, while re-enacting the scene, “He [Seugmin] said, ‘I’m going to the toilet, so who’s going with me?’ So I said, ‘Okay, let’s go.’ ‘3RCHA’ ‘Oh, that was me! Oh my God!”

Seungmin and Han even pointed to the spot where they were when 3RCHA was called during the AAA 2023.

STRAY KIDS SOLO PERFORMANCES

After introducing the band members, Stray Kids went back to business dishing out amazing performances one after another, including their debut song “District 9,” “Back Door,” “Chk Chk Boom,” “Topline” (where Stays didn’t hold back in shouting the “F” word), “Super Bowl,” Comflex,” “Lalala,” and “Social Path.”

Stray Kids then slowed it down with their chill songs “Twilight” and “Lonely St.”

Aside from their group performances, all eight members had solo stages featuring original compositions — all included in their upcoming mixtape album, HOP, to be released on December 13.

Han unleashed his rock side with “Hold My Hand,” where he also displayed his talent in playing the guitar.

Lee Know showed his youthful side with the song aptly titled “Youth.”

Hyunjin amped up the stage with his powerful performance of “So Good.”

Seungmin came out sitting on the edge of a tall staircase for his sentimental rendition of “As We Are,” where he also proudly showed his guitar skill.

Bang Chan drove the crowd crazy with the sensual “Railroad” especially when he took off his top to expose his well-sculpted physique.

Maknae I.N sent the audience into a frenzy with his body rolls in the ultra-sexy “Hallucination.”

Felix, meanwhile, showed his vulnerability and singing prowess via the heartfelt song “Unfair.”

Changbin, clad in a short-sleeved and tight-fitting T-shirt that showed his bulging ams, highlighted his power in rapping and dancing (and muscles) via “Ultra.”

Later on, while Stray Kids talked about their solo performances, the other members had a great time teasing and mimicking Changbin’s solo performance.

STRAY KIDS DANCE THE “EMERGECY” TIKTOK CHALLENGE

During the latter part of the concert, Stray Kids upped the ante with the songs “Get Lit,” “Item,” “Domino,” “God’s Menu,” S-Class” (VMA Version), “Venom,” and “Maniac” (MAMA version).

For their first encore, Stray Kids performed “I Like It,” “Case 143,” “My Pace,” “Stray Kids,” and “Miroh.”

Photo/s: Khym Manalo

It was also during at this point that members went down to the VIP section and interacted with the audience, most of whom got out of their seats to get a closer look at the members.

Strays Kids members, who were like kids running all over the place, also made sure to go to every side of the stage to greet their fans.

During their ending ment, Bang Chan couldn’t help but be amazed by the energy and vibe of the Filipino Stays throughout the concert.

“You guys are amazing!” he said with a broad smile on his face.

Hyunjin then shouted “Mahal ko kayo!” that once again brought loud cheers from the audience.

I.N and Seungmin added, “Salamat po.”

Changbin, Bang Chan, Felix, and Han exclaimed, “Mahal ko kayo.”

Lee Know, who was noticeably quiet most of the time, was just smiling while looking at his co-members and the audience.

Felix sent the crowd wild when he said, “Stay, mahal ko kayo,” with his very deep voice.

I.N, who was beside Felix, started to dance the trending TikTok challenge “Emergency,” which is very similar to Budots dance.

Felix then showed the choreography of the dance to the other members and asked the audience to sing while they are dancing.

STRAY KIDS FAN PROJECT

When Bang Chan instructed the members to take their positions for the group photo, the VCR of the fan project, titled “Beautiful Memory,” was played on the screen.

It conveyed the beautiful memories created by Stray Kids with all members and with Stays.

In the latter part of the video, Stays sang part of the Stray Kids song “Cover Me Now” and Bang Chan continued to sing it acapella right after video.

The people inside the Philippine Arena sang along with him, proving once again why Filipinos are the best audience and singers in the world.

In Korean, Bang Chan and Hyunjin expressed how touched they are by the special moment.

Bang Chan added, in English, “Genuinely very, very touched… If it weren’t for you guys, everything would be a nightmare. So, thank you guys for existing.

“Ang like you said, as you Eternally Stay, we are also will going to eternally love you guys back.”

Then all members, led by Bang Chan, promised to come back.

“I swear we will be back,” promised Bang Chan.

“The energy you give us is f… amazing!” he added, intentionally leaving out the “f” word.

The members agreed to Bang Chan when he said to the audience, “You guys are all crazy singers.”

Felix noted, “You know, Filipinos are genuinely, naturally talented.”

Bang Chan agreed, “I know, right.”

Hyunjin quipped, “Yes, yes, yes.”

After saying goodbye and thank yous, Stray Kids returned to the stage for their second and final encore with the Festival version of “Chk Chk Boom” and Megaverse.”

Bulacan is the seventh stop in Stray Kids’ more than 30-city world tour that kicked off in Seoul, South Korea, on August 24, 2024. It is expected to last until July 2025 with stops in Asia, North America, Latin America, and Europe.

Before coming to the Philippines, Stray Kids just wrapped up their three-night concert at Tokyo Dome in Japan.

Their next stop is in Macau on November 29 and 30 at Galaxy Arena.