Friday, September 11 stretched into the early hours of September 12, 2026, and that's when Stray Kids wrapped up Palco Mundo just after midnight, becoming the first act from Korea's pop scene to top the bill on the festival's main stage in 41 years of Rock in Rio history. The set followed performances from fellow JYP act NEXZ and Mamamoo soloist Hwasa, both making their festival debuts, plus a drone-heavy interlude from Brazilian DJ Alok, a lineup organizers had billed for months as Rock in Rio's first full evening built around Korean pop.
A stage rebuilt for the occasion
Rock in Rio's production team spent the lead-up to the festival covering Palco Mundo in roughly 2,400 square meters of LED paneling, the largest visual overhaul in the stage's history. Rock World executive vice president Roberta Medina told that outlet the giant screen would function differently for every act on the bill, saying each artist is going to use it "their own way." The rebuilt stage, plus a newly extended T-shaped runway pushing performers deeper into the crowd, gave the September 11 lineup room to stage something the festival hadn't attempted before.
NEXZ opens the night in Portuguese
The seven-member Japanese-Korean act NEXZ, formed through JYP Entertainment and Sony Music's talent search and fronted by Yuki, So Geon, Tomoya, Hyui, Yu, Seita and Haru, opened Palco Mundo's K-pop bill at 4:40 p.m. Rather than relying only on a translator, the group peppered its set with rehearsed Portuguese phrases and used simultaneous interpretation to talk directly to the crowd, drawing what one outlet described as the day's largest audience for that time slot. Group member Haru had captured the anticipation months earlier during a livestream, calling the booking "unbelievable."
A security alert before Hwasa, not during Stray Kids
As the crowd built through the afternoon, so did the crush near the barricade. According to an on-the-ground report from Rolling Stone Brasil, festival organizers issued an official safety alert once Hwasa's set was set to begin, asking the audience to step back to relieve pressure at the front of the stage; other outlets reported fans near the rail feeling faint in the crowd. Staff repeated the request over the sound system, telling the crowd the show wouldn't start until everyone took a step back. The alert preceded Hwasa's performance rather than Stray Kids', a detail worth noting given how the sequence has circulated elsewhere.
Hwasa becomes the festival's first K-pop soloist
Once the crowd settled, Hwasa took the stage at 7 p.m. as the first South Korean solo artist to headline any set on Palco Mundo. A member of Mamamoo since 2014 and a solo act since 2019, she has built her catalog under her current label, a company run by the producer Psy. Brazilian outlets covering the show have widely credited her 2019 debut single "Twit" with a Song of the Year win at the Asian Pop Music Awards; more detailed award records attribute that specific prize to her single "María" instead, with "Twit" earning nominations rather than wins elsewhere — a discrepancy in how the accolade is being reported that's worth flagging.
Alok's drone show, then Stray Kids after midnight
Brazilian DJ Alok followed at 9:20 p.m. with a version of his audiovisual project, reportedly built around roughly 1,500 synchronized drones. Then, just five minutes past midnight, technically Saturday, September 12, though still counted as part of Friday's program, Stray Kids took over. The octet entered near the barricade rather than walking out center stage, working the extended runway through a roughly 100-minute set that leaned on their newest EP alongside catalog staples. It was also the first Rock in Rio edition to allow battery-powered lightsticks inside the grounds, part of a push organizers had promoted for weeks as building the biggest lightstick ocean the festival had ever seen.
Stray Kids arrived in Rio riding a run that included nine consecutive number-one albums on a major chart, the most of any act debuting this century, and a prior Brazilian tour that had already drawn roughly 175,000 fans across three sold-out arena shows.
A 41-year wait, closed out
However the attendance and ticket figures ultimately get finalized, the shape of the night is clear: three Korean-pop acts, on one bill, on a stage the festival had never handed over to the genre before. For a festival that opened in 1985 with Brazilian rock bands, closing its 41st year with Stray Kids headlining marks a turn its own organizers have spent months describing as overdue.
