The silhouette of eight imposing figures emerged in a flash of light and fog as the members of Stray Kids surveyed a sold out BMO Stadium in California this past weekend. After over a year on the road, their massive Maniac World Tour came to its conclusion with two encore concerts that drove home the reality of how wildly popular the group has become and the levels of success they have yet to achieve.
Atlas attended both encore shows to lock in the full experience and the group gave Los Angeles everything they had left- which is to say that we were blown away every night. Opening with the heart-pounding choreography of “Maniac” and “Venom”, these songs were only a taste of the madness that awaited the crowd. Legions of fans filled the stadium from floor to roof, armed with lightsticks and an unwavering love for Bang Chan, Lee Know, Changbin, Hyunjin, Han, Seungmin, Felix and I.N. The members had stars in their eyes to match those reflected back at them from the audience as attendees raised cheeky signs and screamed when prompted (and plenty of times unprompted- it is a KPOP show after all).
After a sensual performance of “Red Lights”, Stray Kids took their first moment to address the crowd, recap the tour so far and get everyone hyped for the rest of the show. It’s a marathon, not a sprint so we locked in for the triple whammy of “All In”, “District 9” and “Back Door”.
SKZ was determined to not let us catch our breath for a moment and we stayed on our feet even through the mid-set video interludes which mostly included a vague storyline and plenty of beautiful slow motion shots of the members for the fans’ enjoyment with one question at the end…
Do you want to be ODDINARY?
The answer was a resounding scream of assent that would have blown the roof off the venue had it had one. Stray Kids played every song from their Oddinary album over the course of the night and the transition from “Freeze” to NOEASY’s “Thunderous” was monumental. The group went through several outfit changes, ending up in gold hanbok for “God’s Menu”, where Hyunjin and Felix stole the show with their deep growls on the last chorus.
We’ve seen Stray Kids before- and so had much of the venue- but these encore shows brought a new kind of energy to their live experience. Far from being tired, the members seemed invigorated by the end of this touring journey and that may have had to do with the addition of last year’s Maxident album to the setlist. The goofy yet endearing “Superboard” took on a new life in a live setting while “Case 143” put a sharper edge on what could have been a traditional love song.
As is tradition, the group branched into two units and treated their California fans to impromptu covers- such as Bang Chan’s autotuned “All I Do Is Win”, Changbin’s “Cypher” and Han’s “Wish You Back”. The units also performed “Waiting for Us” and “Muddy Water” to showcase every member’s unique talents in a more intimate way.
While it’s assumed that the night is winding down when Bang Chan sighs and says “unfortunately…”, we still had nearly an hour of music in front of us. The group reaches back in their discography for this portion of the set to include pre-debut song “Hellevator”, their Kingdom anthem “Victory Song” and “FAM” where we see each member shouted out by the people who know each other better than anyone.
Prior to the final song of night two, Stays (Stray Kids’ fandom) presented the group with a stunning video of highlights from the tour along with heartfelt messages from dozens of fans collected over the course of the year. When the group turned around to proffer their final thank you messages and reflections, more than a few of them held back tears onstage- Seungmin paces during his last ment, finally saying, “I don’t want to go!”
Just when we thought we couldn’t scream any more, the boys kicked into “Haven” and were rewarded with fireworks over the stadium, a shower of confetti and an unshakeable outpouring of love from their Stays. With Bang Chan’s promise to return ringing in their ears, thousands of fans left the venue with croaking voices and waning lightstick batteries already missing a source of such happiness and light. We can’t wait until next time.
Check out all the photos from the Maniac World Tour encore shows!
Story by Olivia Khiel
Photos courtesy of JYP Entertainment and Olivia Khiel
