Boy bands will never go out of style because they just change with the times. What was once Osmonds, Jacksons and Monkees evolved into New Kids, Backstreet and One D. The current rage is a barrage of South Korean boy bands aiming for K-pop world domination.
While bands like BTS and Seventeen lead the charge, they’re seeing some intense competition, especially from the octet known as Stray Kids.
Formed in 2017 for a reality TV show, SKZ, as they’re known, have seen their first six albums hit No. 1 on the Billboard charts — an unprecedented achievement. They’re now on a new world tour, dominATE, which made its second U.S. stop Wednesday (May 28) at San Francisco’s Oracle Park.
The appeal of a boy band in top form is the same as it ever was: they dance, they sing, they charm. Stray Kids are definitely in top form. They come across as buddies goofing around but clearly have the talent and discipline to deliver a show that, at its best, is almost militaristic in its precision. There’s the sweet boy persona to make the girls swoon and the bad boy persona to try and keep things edgier rather than corny (K-popcorny?).
Stray Kids rely heavily on boom-booming hip-hop for their edge, and right from the start of their three-hour set, they were hitting it hard in “Mountains,” Thunderous” and “JJam” to rile up the already screaming crowd.
Though it was totally unnecessary, they stopped singing long enough to introduce themselves, but every shrieking fan already knew Bang Chan, Lee Know, Changbin, Hyunjin, Han, Felix, Seungmin and I.N. Each intro, accompanied by a flirtatious video close-up on the enormous screens stretched across the stage, only made the shrieking louder (if such a thing is possible).
Diving back into the set list, the Kids (all of whom are in the 23 to 26 range, so not actually kids) headed into “District 9,” a variation on the hip-hop theme with a playful melody and a host of pyrotechnics filling the skies above McCovey Cove and fire spouts along the front of the stage.
If spectacle is what Stray Kids fans want, that’s what they get.
Along with an elaborate video design filling the stage, they get catwalks extending out into the floor seats to bring the Kids up close and personal with the adoring throng. There are rising and falling platforms center stage and an all-male dance team of more than two dozen.
Related Articles
Mumford & Sons return for 2 big shows in Berkeley Free summer music guide: See 100-plus shows without dropping a dime Review: Classic rock hero closes 2025 BottleRock in brilliant fashion All kinds of fun Bay Area events coming out in June Major hip-hop star cancels set at BottleRock Napa ValleySome bands wait for the finale to unleash the fireworks, but SKZ never met a song that couldn’t be improved by explosions of some kind – sometimes a fiery burst, sometimes smoke, sometimes glittery streamers dancing in the chilly breeze.
Vocally speaking, the most interesting section of the show divides the band into four couples and gives them each a duet. Han and Felix’s “Truman,” Changbin and I.N.’s “Burnin’ Tires” and Bang Chan and Hyunjin’s “Escape” are fairly interchangeable rap-pop excursions performed with gusto. But it’s Lee Know and Seungmin’s “Cinema,” a sturdy power ballad, that gives the show its first moment to breathe.
But that lull is short lived. After a lengthy video introduction that gives the Kids time to change into glam-denim outfits, they charge out with “Giant,” as close as they get to a New Kids-meets-*NSYNC sound. This crowd favorite was especially enjoyable as performed in an actual Giants stadium.
After “Walkin’ on Water” (which used aerial camera shots to capture the performers’ dance formations like a 1930s movie musical) and a revved-up “S-Class,” this enjoyably energetic show began to wobble. For some reason, the singers decided to recap the entire concert up to that point, song by song, and any momentum the show had built came to a screeching halt.
An up-tempo song (“Lonely Street”) followed by a ballad (“Cover Me” – featuring the show’s best harmonies) got sidelined by band intros, and then another trio of tunes got lost in a too-long screaming contest that challenged different sections of the stadium to scream as loudly as possible.
For the first encore set, the band rode atop vehicles that were pulled from left field around home base and out to right field — sort of a boy band on parade moment. Then there was more talking on stage and a final encore of “Chk Chk Boom,” the song that Stray Kids will likely be remembered for in years to come.
In the pantheon of boy bands, Stray Kids may or may not find a place, but if they’re not forever, they’re for now. And they seem to like and have fun with each other and, most importantly, respect their fans.
While they could stand to tighten up the second half of their show, these eight performers have a particular charm and passion that should see them through — at least until the boy band landscape changes once again.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Review: Stray Kids bring fiery dominATE World Tour to Bay Area )
Also on site :
- 'Top Chef' Season 22 Episode 12 Elimination Results: Who Was Sent Home This Week?
- Drowning’s the No. 1 killer of young children — from Orange to Pasadena, experts are trying to change that
- NYT Mini Crossword Answers, Hints for Friday, May 30, 2025