The crowd recognized “Ai Se Eu Te Pego” before Bang Chan had finished the first line. But that singalong was only one piece of September 11: from NEXZ’s first greeting to Hwasa’s “Maria” and Stray Kids’ midnight finale, K-pop artists and Brazilian fans spent the day showing that they remembered each other.
NEXZ opened Palco Mundo while daylight still hung over Rio. Hwasa came down toward the audience in the evening. After midnight, Stray Kids closed the night with a live band and songs rebuilt for a festival crowd.
The three acts did not look or sound alike. That was what made the day work. This was not one K-pop show repeated three times. It was one stage discovering three very different sides of K-pop.
Official Globoplay broadcast clip — Stray Kids performs “Hall of Fame” at Rock in Rio 2026
4:40 p.m. — Saying hello to people who came for someone else
NEXZ received one of a festival’s hardest assignments: the first main-stage slot, when the crowd is still filling in and many people are waiting for later names.
So they did more than dance through Beat-Boxer, O-RLY?, HARD, LOCO, APPETITE, Mmchk and SAUCIN’. Between songs, the members kept reaching for Portuguese, trying to make a very large stage feel a little less distant.
Their young catalogue meant repeating a few songs during the encore. That could have felt awkward. Instead, it created a sweet little before-and-after: some people hearing SAUCIN’ for the first time already knew where its hook landed when it came around again.
Strangers felt slightly less like strangers by the end of a song. For an opening act, that is a lovely kind of win.
Confirmed NEXZ songs Beat-Boxer · O-RLY? · Simmer · HARD · I’m Him · Want More? One More! · LOCO · APPETITE · Mmchk · SAUCIN’ · Next Zeneration
Official Globoplay broadcast clip — NEXZ performs “SAUCIN’” at Rock in Rio 2026
7 p.m. — When “Maria” sounded like the audience’s name
Before Hwasa appeared, the screens asked people near the front to step back for safety. It was the part of the evening when hours of waiting had begun to tighten the crowd.
Then Hwasa arrived with a live band and moved through I Love My Body, TWIT, Maria, Good Goodbye and a MAMAMOO medley. She filled the giant stage on her own, yet her most memorable connection did not depend on a giant piece of production.
Hwasa mentioned how many people in Brazil are named Maria, then sang Maria. A song originally shaped around her own public identity and private hurt suddenly sounded as if it were calling to people throughout the audience.
She spoke in Portuguese, came down to touch fans’ hands and finished Good Goodbye with Portuguese words across the screen and a Brazilian flag in hand.
Plenty of touring artists learn a local greeting. What made this feel warmer was the way Hwasa connected the language to her song—and the song back to the people standing in front of her.
Hwasa songs and sections confirmed in on-site reports Chili · I Love My Body · TWIT · Kidding · NA · EGO · Don’t · I’m a B · MAMAMOO medley (Décalcomanie·Starry Night·Dingga·HIP) · Maria · So Cute · Good Goodbye
*No complete official running order was available at verification time. This is a cross-checked confirmed-song list, not a claimed full setlist.*
12:05 a.m. — Like meeting someone who remembered last time
Stray Kids opened with TOPLINE, then drove through S-Class, MANIAC, DOMINO, Thunderous and God’s Menu. They did not keep the night locked inside television-perfect choreography. They ran down the stage, talked to fans and reshaped familiar songs for the messy freedom of a festival.
The live band gave LALALALA’s rock version a rougher edge. During DIVINE, outfits recalling hanbok and gat hats appeared alongside imagery reminiscent of the royal Korean irworobongdo screen. Their Korean visual language did not disappear just because the stage was in Brazil.
Then Bang Chan sang Michel Teló’s Ai Se Eu Te Pego.
It lasted only a few seconds, but the audience understood from the first note. Bang Chan had sung the same song during Stray Kids’ 2025 visit to Brazil. This time, it felt less like “We prepared something local” and more like “Do you remember what we shared last time?”
For fans who love an artist from far away, being remembered can land harder than being impressed. The song mattered not simply because it was Brazilian, but because bringing it back said the previous meeting had stayed with him too.
The evening was not effortless for everyone. Heat and crowd density caused discomfort near the front, and Bang Chan asked fans to look after one another. A truthful picture of the excitement needs to keep that moment in view: if you want to enjoy the person onstage, the person beside you needs to be safe too.
If you are looking for the songs from that night
TOPLINE→S-Class→Bounce Back→MANIACDOMINO→Thunderous→ band section →DIVINEGod’s Menu→Walkin on Water→Chk Chk Boom→LALALALA(Rock ver.)Social Path(Korean ver.) →This & That(Remix) →Side Effects(Remix)Do It(Festival ver.) →CEREMONY→Stray Kids→After YouRUN IT→MIROH→This & That(Festival ver.)Ai Se Eu Te Pegosnippet →Chk Chk Boom(Festival ver.) →Hall of Fame
This is not an artist-issued setlist. It is a post-show reconstruction cross-checked against the updated setlist.fm entry and on-site reports. Any later official release should take priority.
What stayed with us was a collection of moments
Rock in Rio has always been a meeting place for different genres. The change on September 11 was not simply that several K-pop artists had been booked. NEXZ and Hwasa carried the afternoon and evening, Brazilian DJ Alok took the stage, and Stray Kids closed as headliner. K-pop gave Palco Mundo’s day its central shape.
Fans brought more than songs with them. Lightsticks, photocards, member-name outfits and the patient choreography of waiting together all entered a general music festival. Folha described a noticeably young audience, including families and people attending a major festival for the first time.
Even the phones told part of the story. Carrier TIM said data use during Stray Kids was the highest recorded for a single performance at that point in the 2026 edition. Fans were watching the night and sending it to friends far away at the same time.
That is why “K-pop was popular” feels too small a conclusion. Brazilian fans were not simply waiting to be entertained; their way of loving music changed the atmosphere of a global festival. The artists answered through Portuguese words, a Brazilian song and gestures that said they knew where they were.
Someone met NEXZ and knew the hook by its second appearance. Someone heard Maria as if Hwasa were singing their own name. Thousands of voices completed Bang Chan’s brief Portuguese line. Those moments may last longer than any disputed attendance number.
No one knows yet what K-pop’s next Rock in Rio chapter will look like. But the question has already changed. It is no longer only, “Can K-pop belong on this stage?” It is closer to: “What kind of night can we make together next?”