By Malia Radcliff ’29 and Kenzie Kibler ’28
The dominATE World Tour was Stray Kids’ third world tour by the group. The Dominate Tour began August 24, 2024, and concluded on July 30, 2025. Their performances spanned from the Americas to Europe, Asia, and Australia. A few months after their tour ended, they released a movie version of the concert so fans could relive the experience or experience it for the first time without the heavy price tag. Both the tour and the movie were very successful among audiences and definitely boosted the groups’ popularity.
Stray Kids consists of 8 members from South Korea and Australia. Bangchan is from South Korea, but was raised in Australia, and is the leader, producer, and vocalist/rapper. Lee Know is from South Korea, and is known as the main dancer of the group. Changbin is the main rapper and producer from South Korea. Hyunjin, who is also from South Korea, is also a main dancer and a sub rapper. Han is a main rapper and lead vocalist, also from South Korea. Felix was born and raised in Australia, known for his deep voice when rapping and singing. Seungmin is from South Korea, being one of the lead vocalists with his strong and emotional tone on stage. Finally, the youngest member, I.N, who is also from South Korea, is another lead vocalist. These 8 boys make up the K-pop group known as Stray Kids
I took my friend, Olivia Warfel ‘28, with me to Washington D.C and stayed over a few nights. On the day of the concert, we headed down to the stadium early to hopefully get merchandise, which we got most of the things we wanted. An hour or two later, it was time to get in line to get into the outdoor stadium. At the time, it was probably about 85°, which wasn’t anything compared to what we had to endure later on. We navigated the arena, eventually getting to our seats, which were very close together so there wasn’t much room to move. They started off the concert with their song “MOUNTAINS,” which definitely helped set the mood.
Once the concert started, we were too distracted by finally seeing them in person to care about anything else. They sang some of the most energetic songs first, which was very exciting and fun. About an hour in, we both started sweating pretty badly since there was no air flow and it was muggy outside. By 9:30, it wasn’t even enjoyable anymore because of how hot it was. In the pit, it had reached almost 110°, so many people were passing out and being sent out in stretchers. It wasn’t much better in the stands. The members were very concerned for the fans close to the stage; their team even had to pay for the water bottles they were handing out with the staff. Shortly after, the entire venue had run out of water completely, so everything just became a disaster.
The members managed to sing two more songs, even when they were overheated, to try to distract the fans from what may be happening around them. Almost 20 minutes after they sang, the leader of the group came onto the stage and announced that they were ending the concert early since they had run out of water and didn’t want any more people passing out. He apologized. When he went back inside, the arena’s lights turned on and everyone was ushered out by the staff.
At this point, Olivia and I were in shock and confused, but we understood why this was the best choice of action. In the morning, we checked if anything was said about what happened, and were surprised to find it on the news. Many fans blamed the venue for not being prepared and honestly just not caring that much, since some of the staff were really rude.
Even though my experience was somewhat ruined, the band’s stage performances were great and full of energy despite the circumstances. They had a strong stage presence and interacted with the crowd a lot, which made it feel more connected. I would definitely recommend going to their concert if you like them, just be cautious and prepared for extreme weather.
The “Stray Kids: The dominATE Experience” movie was released in theaters February 6, 2026. My friend Allison Flory ‘29 took me to see the movie. We got to the theater a bit early, around 6:45pm since the movie started at 7. We got popcorn and some chocolate before we went to our seats. The movie didn’t end up starting until about 7:10. While we were waiting for it to start, many people came walking around handing out freebies, like photocards, stickers, candy, and other little handmade things. Finally, the movie started.
It began with their performance of “MOUNTAINS” to open the movie, same as the concert. The movie showed a few of their songs before going to an interview with the first member. Then it would show a few more songs and then an interview with the next member and so on.
The theater wasn’t very full, but the people who were there were loud. With almost every song I could hear screams and squeals with occasional barks from people in front of us. The movie was about 2 hours and 26 minutes long, but it felt way shorter.
The movie ended as their concert ended with, “Chk Chk Boom,” one of their most popular songs. Without seeing their concert live, the movie was a really cool and fun way to watch them perform. I definitely recommend buying it and watching it yourself if you like them.