South Korean boy group Stray Kids headlined the GovBall festival, delivering high-energy performances. Photo credits to Mary Allison.
Thousands of fans packed Flushing Meadows–Corona Park’s Verizon stage– as South Korean boy group Stray Kids headlined Governors Ball, delivering one of the festival’s most highly anticipated sets.
Stray Kids is an eight member K-pop group under JYP Entertainment. The group consists of members Bang Chan, Lee Know, Changbin, Hyunjin, Han, Felix, Seungmin and I.N. Due to health related issues, member Seungmin— who makes up half of Vocal Racha—could not attend the festival. Despite Seungmin not attending, STAYS—fans of Stray Kids—began lining up for the festival early in the morning, some at 6AM. Before the festival began, fans held a freebie trading meet-up at Unisphere in the park where they all traded different freebies that they brought such as photocards of the members, keychains, bracelets and more.
Once the festival gates opened, fans rushed toward the stage to try their chance at getting barricade. The anticipation and excitement for Stray Kids grew throughout the day, as fans waited though many artists’ performances in order to see the group, who would perform later in the evening. Right before their set, the screens showed a message stating that due to severe weather, their set would be pushed forward by almost three hours, and that the festival would end right after their performance. Following this announcement, many fans scrambled around in order to make their way to the correct stage. Those who were sitting and waiting on the ground at the barricade quickly stood up and gathered their belongings as they waited for the boys to hit the stage.
As the clock got closer to the new set time, fans were anxiously awaiting and the energy began to shift. As soon as the clock struck 6:15pm, the crowd began chanting and cheering as the Stray Kids introduction theme song cut through the air.
At last, seven of the eight members of Stray Kids walked onto the stage to begin the show. The group began their set with a crowd favorite, “Topline”, which was a fan predicted song as it is the perfect festival song with its high energy and intense rapping. For those who lined up early and heard the soundcheck happening from inside the festival earlier that morning, it came to no surprise that “Side Effects” was performed. Unlike the original version of the song, the group added their own unique festival twist on it, and remixed it into a rave version. The atmosphere was electric as the crowd jumped and danced to the song.
Throughout the entire set, the members were dousing the crowd with water and having fun interactions with fans. At one point during the set, the members stopped their commentary in between songs to check on the well being of the crowd. There were several people who needed the medics working on the clock. Stray Kids are known for caring about their fans and audience members’ well-being.
While Seungmin could not attend the festival, the members brought Seungmin’s SKZOO (a representative animal plushie) PuppyM on stage with them through the set, and the crowd chanted Seungmin’s name. There were speculations on whether or not they would perform their song “Divine” and who would sing the intro, as member Seungmin’s voice opened the song. They did perform it and left Seungmin’s backing vocals in so as to not leave him out of the fun. Thousands of voices came together, filling the venue with an overwhelming sense of unity and love and support for Stray Kids’ missing member.
Closing the set out with their song “Miroh”, Stray Kids said their goodbye to the crowd. As soon as they left the stage, it began pouring rain and everyone started to rush out of the venue. Similar to their hit song, “Walkin On Water“, in which the lyrics state “thrashing rain, I’ma bring the storm,” it did become a storm.
Stray Kids’ set at the Governors Ball was an unforgettable experience for many. Their energy on stage was contagious, and the performances were filled with high-energy, despite the set time being pushed around.
Now, Stray Kids are preparing to embark on their next world tour, RUN IT, which is set to begin in Seoul in July.