Stray Kids Live at Lollapalooza Chicago 2024 (part 1 of 3) Reaction

Well…sorry I’m a bit behind and just now catching up. I’ve only watched this until about 30 seconds into the performance…and I had to pause it to comment. I was there that night—not at the barricade, but close enough to be even with the tech tent. My friends were at barricade, close enough to get hit by the water the guys were spraying into the audience…but at the age of 68 at the time, my days of running to the barricade and waiting in the hot sun for 10 hours are behind me. And now…just 30 seconds into the performance in your video, I could feel the adrenaline rush as if it were yesterday—the blistering heat and humidity, the energy pulsing through the crowd, the vibrations of the music. But…let me back up a bit. My daughter (41 years old) is a pre-debut STAY, and I (almost 70) have been a STAY since 2020. We live just outside Chicago. In February 2020, we saw Stray Kids in concert for the first time in a venue of about 4,000 seats—just a month before the world shut down. By the time concerts were in full swing again, Stray Kids were exploding in popularity. Our next Stray Kids concert was in the summer of 2022 at a venue holding about 20,000 people. Two years later, they headlined Lolla, drawing an estimated 40,000–50,000. This past summer we once again saw them in a sold-out stadium filled with about 40,000 STAYs. Each time we are a little further from the stage, but that doesn’t make it any less exhilarating. My daughter and I went to 20 concerts in 2025…mostly K-pop…and we agree there’s no other group we’ve seen that is as powerful, versatile, and impressive as Stray Kids. Moments like this remind me why we’ve followed them through every step of the way. ❤️ Now, about the “barking” that you mentioned at the beginning—it’s not a Stray Kids thing, or even a K-pop thing. But you’re more likely to hear it at a Chicago concert or sporting event than in some other cities. In some cities you might hear whistling, hooting, screaming, or cheering…but in Chicago, it’s barking. Think of it as our city’s way of cheering wildly and burning off excessive adrenaline! 😂 I can’t wait to see what you notice as you watch the rest—it really was an unforgettable night.

"WHOA WHAT'S A FELIX?!" ROFL I love this so much, I pretty much expect this reaction now! Truly though one of the best things about Stray Kids is they are each incredibly unique and they really all bring their individual flavors to their music as a whole which gives it consistent interest and surprises. One of the things they do uncommonly well I think is how they bring FUN and play to their music and choreography, in the sense of that experimentation you talked about. In college, my dance professors often talked about the importance of play as human beings: to attempt and explore and manipulate things just because it's fun, interesting, feels good, or we want to see what happens, to do things for the pure enjoyment of it. It's such an integral part of how we grow and learn and create. Stray Kids members seem to understand this on a really deep level and it seems like a major part of their creative process- they even have a line in their new song DIVINE that goes "played around and created a masterpiece"! They're not afraid to play around, have fun, try something wacky, and see what sticks, and that sense of fun and play really comes through for the audience too. Anyway this concert has been incredibly fun to watch so far- the first concert I've watched all the way through as opposed to little clips here and there. I'm finally getting caught up after the last 6 weeks of crazy with my hubby (brain cancer diagnosis, resection surgery and recovery, starting chemo/radiation) now that things have settled into something approximating a routine...and I have extra time this 3 day weekend with MLK Jr day and the kids and I being off school/work! Looking forward to watching at least one more tomorrow!

Okay big comment coming in for a big reaction! I'll try not to be too rambly: I haven't been a physical concert but I was really fortunate to hear about their DominATE: CelebrATE concert in time to get a VIRTUAL ticket. The last performance of THIS tour I believe. There's a company BeyondLive who does really great concert livestreams. It was incredible, even on video. One of the best experiences I've ever had, even though I had to stay up until 2am just to START and it was over 4 hours long. They just have such great energy, I don't know how they keep it up throughout the entire performance, especially with all the RUNNING they do. The live instruments are really powerful for me. Some of the songs were so TRANSFORMED by the live guitar/drums. And in the encore concert I saw, it was really endearing to see Bang Chan personally thank each of the members of their live band and the dance crew. It seems like they really made friends with these men traveling and performing together. 😭 About choreography: they definitely work with choreographers and don't do all of it themselves, but I believe that Hyunjin and Lee Know both contribute. I want to say that I.N. also works on choreo, but I'm not sure. Hyunjin has several solo dance performances that he choreographed and is recognized for, including his "artist of the month" feature which was actually used as inspiration for the Saja Boys' Your Idol performance according to one of the animators. It's funny you're singling out Han because I've heard from at least 3 different people that seeing Han perform live was on another level, and he really stood out. Yes! Bang Chan is Australian and is also the leader of the group so he often "leads" the little chats with the crowd and handles any administrative stuff on stage. Fun fact about Topline: it doesn't actually have choreography, but Felix frequently makes up simple choreography at the end and they all follow his lead so it's different in every show. It's kind of RIGHT that you heard Thunderous for the first time in a live performance. It's one of their biggest performances with incredible choreography, and has a lot of meaning for them as a band (from the album NOEASY, a response to a lot of criticism they were getting). They are the thunderous ones and they're here to stay. You're noticing patterns in who they feature and for which parts and I think this is where they really benefit from the intense kpop group training / continued team bonding through their variety content. They are extremely close. They know each other so well, and 3Racha often speak about how they write songs and produce songs that their members are going to enjoy performing. They don't stick to roles as much as they stick to what they want to try, both individually and as a group. Imagine seeing them live for real, no pause and reflection time for you 😂 you just have to hang on for dear life. Excellent video Tim I had a lot of fun. Changbin IS jacked, takes exercise very seriously, as well as Bang Chan. Them (and sometimes Han or Lee Know I believe) are GYM-RACHA 😉

I’m really enjoying your reaction to this performance so far! I love hearing your thoughts on the music production and band arrangement and it’s interesting seeing how diferent members stand out to you as someone less familiar with their roles in the group. I was actually at this performance!! It was my first time going to Chicago, my first music festival, and my first time seeing Stray Kids live. I was pretty close to the stage too as my brother and I got there right when the gates opened. Not gonna lie, standing in the same spot for almost 10 hours until they came on was a lot, especially earlier in the day when the sun was out, but not as bad as I expected. I also enjoyed some of other acts at that stage (I just wasn’t too familiar with their music). Point being— when Stray Kids came on I suddenly had an insane amount of energy (and so did they!). They are really electrifying performers and I love a live band, so it was an unforgettable experience. I’m excited to see the other parts of your reaction because there are so many moments that I love and remember from this day. My favorite moment from this first part is maybe Felix and Han’s rap in the 2nd verse of ‘Freeze’ or the entirety of Super Bowl. I would try answering all of your questions about their roles in the group, but I genuinely don’t know how to be brief, so instead of writing an essay, I’ll (try to) just talk about Lee Know’s role as dance leader because it’s not readily apparent unless you watch behind the scenes stuff. The main thing Lee Know does as a dance leader is manage their dance practices! He started as a professional dancer and was scouted by JYP at a dance competition. He became a dancer for the group BTS and toured with them before signing with JYP. Bang Chan chose the members he wanted for the group and he picked Lee Know because he wanted someone else to be responsible for dance in the group. To waaaaay oversimplify it, when they step into the dance studio, Lee Know is the leader instead of Bang Chan. Some examples of him being the dance leader outside of the studio is answering member’s questions about choreography details while they’re shooting MVs or, if one member can’t perform last minute, he can direct the rest of the members in any necessary changes to formations or pair choreography. The 3 danceracha members Lee Know, Hyunjin, and Felix are definitely featured more in the choreography than the other members, but it is less noticeable in a performance like this where they are focused on live vocals/rapping (as opposed to a dance practice which is strictly choreography). Stray Kids use hand mics when they perform live, so what they are able to show with their dance is automatically limited compared to what they show in music videos and dance practices (but they make that sacrifice in order to make sure their voices are delivered to the audience; 3RACHA actually used hand mics since debut and the other members adopted them one by one once they started touring in 2022). They also have to more strictly manage energy in a performance like this one (festival performances are shorter than their actual concerts, but there are also less breaks and shorter breaks). However, the dancers really shine during award season (Dec-Jan) where there are a lot of dance breaks and dance solos. During their MAMA performance 2 weeks ago Felix was center for a dance break, Hyunjin had a dance solo and was center for a dance break, and Lee Know was center for 2 dance breaks. Unfortunately Lee Know got injured in the middle of the performance (before either of his featured moments), but he still completed the performance (while limping) and went full out for the 2 dance breaks he was center for. I think I've digressed from my main point enough... looking forward to the next part!

Hyunjin is one of the two Main Dancers. He is the center and is often the one who gets the dance breaks. Danceracha have a lot of input into choreography but they don’t choreograph all their own dances, they just wouldn’t have time. Hyunjin and Lee Know have self choreographed videos on their official SKZ YouTube. Hyunjin also has his Artist of the Month dance video from Studio Choom with 51 million views. He also has a beautiful singing voice. I recommend his SKZ Records called Quill Pen or Long for You if you want a better idea of his vocals.

Ahhh I love everything about this. Topline is one of my favorite Skz songs its just so good🔥 Changbin definatly is jacked😂 but hes also a absolute sweetheart and secretly wants to be in a girl group😂😂 Little throwback to him danceing Love me like this😂 https://youtube.com/shorts/nivzuP5Jds0?si=nSj7cJYD4uCV6NhY I cant wait for you to continue this🤭🫶🏻

Also, gonna add this since you seemed in need of a reminder of the units I talked about before and add some information that feels relevant after hearing your reflections: 3Racha (rap/production): Bang Chan (and you’re correct, he’s the leader, and a brilliant vocalist too), Changbin (he can also sing beautifully, actually, we just very rarely get to hear it) and Han (and you’ve started to discover how good of a singer he is) Danceracha (self-explanatory): Lee Know (also does a quite a bit of vocal parts and is able to match Seungmin and I.N a lot of times, at least to my untrained ears), Hyunjin (he’s stray kids’ center, meaning he’s usually front and center in dance formations if there’s a dance break. I’m assuming this is because of his charisma and very sharp dance moves that makes it so that even those not knowable in dancing notices that he’s good right away) and Felix Vocalracha (also self-explanatory): Seungmin (and yes, he does pop up like you said a lot) and I.N (he’s just as brilliant as Seungmin in my opinion, but he’s got quite the unique tone a lot of the time so in group songs he usually doesn’t really get the same prominent moments as Seungmin does. He usually does harmonies and bridges because it suits him so well)

YESSS

Im not even done watching yet but since you talked about wanting to know more about Hyunjin, Sava put Escape into the recs thats a duo song of Bang Chan and Hyunjin so that would be a good one to get to know im some more🤗. Another song that has a great Hyunjin moment is Hollow, I wanted to recommand that for a while actually bc its a lot more vocal focused then their usual stuff and has a first take performace.

I haven’t even watched it all yet but I’m gonna start answering questions before I forget them lol. They don’t really have the positions, no, the ”units” (dancing, vocals, rap/production) are like specialisations, I guess you could call it. So with Hyunjin for example, he’s an excellent singer and rapper, but he’s gonna be more focused on perfecting the dance than Seungmin for example, even though they all work hard to perfect everything. As for Lee Know, he’s the dance leader, yes. He’s had the most professional dancing experience and is an excellent teacher so it makes sense. As for choreography, as I understand it they do bring in choreographers that bring suggestions, and then Danceracha with Lee Know in the lead selects the parts they like and work with the choreographers to put it all together. But of course the other members are welcome to leave their opinions and suggestions too. Again, that’s how I understand it from how they’re speaking, but if any of my fellow stays has a clearer picture and wants to correct me - feel free. Edit: Lol I love watching people discover how great of a singer Han is