Dreamcatcher Caps Off July With Recognition, Return To Taiwan

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Usually when a K-Pop group ends their music show promotions, there's a bit of a respite as they recover a bit from an intense, almost-daily schedule before moving on to the next bit of work that they're busy with behind the scenes. But for Dreamcatcher, who have been prolific in their content creation and their scheduling since debut, there's sometimes a feel that they're hopping straight from promotions for an album into what's next. Granted, these bursts of continuous activity have been punctuated with decent breaks and vacations (as what took place earlier in the year after the group wrapped up the EU and (brief) SEA region portions of their 2024 World Tour, but generally, Dreamcatcher keeps busy.

This was the case this past week as the end of "JUSTICE" era music show appearances rolled straight into preparation for their encore concert in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, a second trip that was justified by a well-attended bunch of dedicated fans. Let's take a look at this past week's activities!

Part of the reason why we may not have been seeing as many Dreamcatcher collaborative dance challenges for "JUSTICE" era is perhaps because of the fact that the footwork is pretty complex and perhaps not well-suited to quick learning during music show filming days. But those we did get have been entertaining in and of themselves. Handong's challenges have been filled with funny shifts away from normal dance execution to have fun with the vocals, as she and nSSign's Laurence did. And SuA dropped in a challenge with friend and ex-CLC member Seung Yeon, who proved that not only did she have the dancing skill to do the full chorus choreography but also hilariously threw it back at the end with her "Tadow" partner. We'll see if we get more as we head into August.

Other official content related to "JUSTICE" era continued to roll out this past week as well, with part 2 of the MV making film and the beginning of Dreamcatcher's Note behind-the-scenes videos dropping. I'm not sure if it's the circumstances of Main Vocal Siyeon's hiatus, or the fact that most of the moments are worth filming, but there was quite a bit more sentimental feeling to the interactions this time around. Whether it was JiU talking about missing Siyeon during prep for the showcase or producer Ollounder being nice enough to get the group and company a coffee truck during their hard work filming the music video, there were a lot of wholesome and nice moments.

But we also got some of the usual funny stuff, like Yoohyeon and Handong commenting about swapping hair colors or JiU and SuA messing around complimenting each other while waiting for filming to start up again. As always, I look forward to more of these, and while there's a Siyeon-sized hole that is noticeably missing from the upcoming Notes about promotions I'm sure we'll see everyone else try to pick up the slack as much as possible.

Speaking of Siyeon, a brief update on her break came in the form of an announcement about her not participating in the Kaohsiung Taiwan encore concert. This was partially expected, as no announcement of Siyeon's return to activities was made, but it still needed to be said. I know there are fans out there who are a bit sad at not seeing Siyeon with the members as a complete group, but I believe the company, members, and Siyeon herself are taking their time (and should) when it comes to getting healthy both mentally and physically. For now, I'd advise not worrying too much about when she might come back or how long she might be out and just sending as much support as possible for her and for the group as they move forward.

In that promotions vein we saw a few pictures surface from the MBC M website from Show Champion two weeks ago. I've always loved pictures coming from the official music show or broadcast channel sites because they are always high quality images, and Dreamcatcher's "Officecatcher" look turned heads for sure.

Dreamcatcher also acknowledged their Best Performance Musician win at KBS's Music Bank, toting their new trophy and thanking fans. This is a relatively new, 100% fan voted award, and like SBS Inkigayo's Hotstage award, allows global fans to have a bit more impact on music shows as a secondary accolade. Dreamcatcher fans around the world put in the work for this one, submitting nearly 600,000 votes (the most for the award in its brief 1-month history) to secure the win. After coming up short in MBC's Show Champion despite valiant effort by the fandom, this was a nice follow-up campaign to see end up in the hands of the group.

Yet the main attraction of this week occurred at the end of the week, as Dreamcatcher returned to Kaohsiung, Taiwan for an encore concert. The show appeared to be a success with a near sell-out once again, and Dreamcatcher didn't disappoint with a setlist that now included their just-released 10th Mini Album's tracks. There's something about seeing that new music being performed live for the first time in front of concert audiences that's exciting, and Taiwan was no exception. The swagger of "2 Rings", for example, seemed to hit different in front of thousands of fans. The setlist was as follows:

• OOTD (VersuS: VillainS, 2023)
• Black or White (Dystopia: The Tree of Language, 2020)
• 2 Rings (VersuS: VirtuouS, 2024)
• BOCA (Dystopia: Lose Myself, 2020)
• Propose (Apocalypse: From Us, 2023)
• Rising (VersuS: VillainS, 2023)
• Alldaylong (Summer Holiday, 2021)
• Fairytale (Apocalypse: Follow Us, 2022)
• Wake Up (Prequel, 2017)
• Curse of the Spider (Metal Ver.) (Luck Inside 7 Doors, 2024)
• Scream (Dystopia: The Tree of Language, 2020)
• Shatter (VersuS: VillainS, 2023)
• Deja Vu (Acapella ver.) (Raid of Dream, 2019)
• Lullaby (Rock ver.) (Luck Inside 7 Doors, 2024)
• Fireflies (VersuS: VirtuouS, 2024)
• Silent Night (Raid of Dream, 2019)
• StΦmp! (VersuS: VirtuouS, 2024)
• JUSTICE (VersuS: VirtuouS, 2024)
• BONVOYAGE (Apocalypse: From Us, 2023)
• New Days (Dystopia: Road to Utopia, 2021)
• Airplane (Summer Holiday, 2021)
• REASON (REASON, 2023)

There was also another fun bonus during the concert as everyone got together to celebrate SuA's August birthday super-early, complete with stage graphics, a cake, and party favors for Dreamcatcher's Main Dancer. For her part, SuA was extremely thankful and of course showed off her energy with some fun "Silent Night" drop moments with the heart balloon. Given that we're still almost two weeks out from SuA's birthday having this segment was a nice surprise and pretty fun to watch.

And while it was a treat to see "JUSTICE" performed for the first time live outside of South Korea, the other tracks from VirtuouS getting the live treatment for the very first time was great as well. From the duo-vocalization of "Fireflies" to the hype generated by "StΦmp!", these performances made me look forward a ton to more of Dreamcatcher's tour plans in September and November, and it showed that of all the K-pop groups I follow, Dreamcatcher has always created and performed songs made for concert and touring settings.

And of course the cherry on top was a fan bringing a life-sized cutout of Siyeon which the group was more than happy to bring on stage and interact with as a means of appreciating their fellow group member who is still recovering and couldn't be with them for the concert. Cutouts aren't a new thing - after all, there were plenty of Handong cutouts used during the 2019 US tour - but this one has perhaps some significance due to the context. It's pretty clear everyone misses Siyeon, so this was as close to a substitute as can be gotten, for now.

Dreamcatcher heads into August with a seemingly lighter (yet still somewhat busy) schedule of "JUSTICE" era fansigns, but is sure to keep dropping in the content for fans. As always you can count on this space here on The Low Key Geek to report all the latest in Dreamcatcher news and activities, so for all that, and more, I'll see you here next Sunday!

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