After getting to see Stray Kids from pretty far away last year as a headliner at Lollapalooza, I don’t think I even hesitated buying a ticket to their headlining North American tour the second they went on sale.
Actually, I had to wait at least a little bit. I was out of the country when they went on sale and couldn’t get a stupid Ticketmaster code texted to my phone. Blessedly, there were still plenty of good seats left when I finally went to get one a week after the fact. To say I was surprised was an understatement. Especially since I landed in the lower bowl of the T Mobile Park Stadium, just to the right of the main stage. That’s some good viewing! This was only the second time I’d ever been to a concert at a baseball stadium, and just like that time, I was shocked at how vast the crowd was. Almost every single seat was filled, and the shrieks definitely matched it. I’d forgotten how shrill about forty thousand girls can be in one space.
I made sure to give myself plenty of time to get there in case there were long queues, but instead I just had a lot of time to walk around and get something to eat. I also had the opportunity to pass out some stickers I had made of my drawings. They were by no means that nice, but people still seemed to like them anyway. I walked away with a really pretty Hyunjin bracelet, so I was happy. For all of the K-pop concerts that I’ve been to, I find it really easy to strike up conversations with strangers, and it’s probably because we’re all so passionate about these people. My two seat mates were great conversationalists who seemed positively geeked to be there. And just when I think I’m a super fan, the sheer volume of the screams reminds me that I am not as bad as I could be. But I appreciate these people nonetheless.
I will admit, compared to the festival performance, the start of this concert was a bit…lacking. Something about the dancing was just really sad. It just didn’t look like they had any energy doing it. I do know that some of the performances may have been tweaked to accommodate some severe pain Felix has been dealing with for quite some time, but if you’re going to cool it on the dancing at least be passionate in your delivery! It took about three songs for them to warm up, but that means I got meh versions of “Thunderous” and “Back Door.” Thankfully they turned it around by the time “Chk Chk Boom” entered the set list early on, followed by “Domino” and “God’s Menu.” I think fans would have been pissed if the latter was lackluster.
The unit songs from the latest mixtape made it onto the set, so “Truman” and “Burnin’ Tires” were fun to see. That also gave the boys a chance to breath a little bit. Then they hit us with “S-Class,” “Topline,” and “Walking on Water” all in row. We then reached a chunk of songs that I never particularly got into, so that was the only real lull in the show for me. Still beyond bummed that “Case 143” isn’t in the set – I would sure like to know why! By the end of the three hour mark, the guys were slinging water into the crowd, getting close up to some fans, and even rode some machinery around the perimeter of the stadium! That was pretty neat! Overall, I had a great time, and it just gets me more excited for the other K-Pop shows I have lined up for the rest of the summer.
