Dreamcatcher Dazzles At KCON Saudi Arabia As Booked October Begins

October is here, and with it the last quarter is upon us. In the world of K-Pop, it looks like it’s going to be an absolutely stacked part of the year, as over 30 artists and groups are set to make comebacks over the next two months. And while Dreamcatcher is not confirmed to be part of that wave of music (at least not yet) that doesn’t mean the group isn’t busy. For October, several performance bookings have been set for the group, all of them first-time opportunities, and they began to take full advantage this past week with their travel to Saudi Arabia for KCON’s event in that country. Combined with a small bit of current work and some news for the future, Dreamcatcher seeks to continue to keep on being just as busy as everyone else in the industry currently making preparations. Let’s take a look at what they’ve been up to.

Though delayed due to a rainout, Gahyeon got another chance this past week to throw out a first pitch at a Doosan Bears game, this time officially involving fellow Dreamcatcher member Handong as well. The weather held up this time around, allowing Gahyeon to throw a well-practiced pitch that went a bit high for a Handong swing that clearly was done to hold back her wild strength - at least that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Regardless, between the first pitch, cheering on the Bears to a big victory, and presenting an award to the players, Handong and Gahyeon had a great time.

And Gahyeon wasn’t even done with having just baseball be a part of her content for the week. People noticed the brand new pink hair color that Gahyeon was sporting at the game, a throwback to 2020’s “BOCA” era look, and it’s possible her recent visit to a place that consults on “personal color” for people may have factored into that. You’d think that picking personal colors that work might not be too hard, but there is a bit of nuance to it, especially for someone like Gahyeon whose visual presentation is critical to her job. In the end, the sequence of seeing that same pink color set for her might have been the thing that got her to head back to 3 years ago, and a hair color that had previously drawn a lot of eyes.

Those eyes are certainly going to be drawn to Gahyeon and the rest of Dreamcatcher as they attend the Changwon K-Pop World Festival for the first time as a guest artist. The festival is meant to be the culmination of a cover group competition that brings together teams from all around the world for the finals. At least one of these groups, MIDNYT, has covered a Dreamcatcher song before, so it’ll be interesting if some homage to the group is paid during the final round. The late October date serves as Dreamcatcher’s third engagement of the month (and also its third brand-new appearance for an event) and ensures that the group is set as far as booking until at least November.

Dreamcatcher’s main engagement this week was the first of these three appearances, a first-time gig at KCON Saudi Arabia. It’s been a minute since we saw Dreamcatcher at a KCON event, so having to go to a place they’d never been before was, of course, an achievement. Their departure early in the morning on the 6th of October in South Korea gave them ample opportunity to travel and also to rest up before their obligations on day 2 of the event.\

Dreamcatcher’s day started with a meet & greet and convention stage appearance, where they were interviewed, did dance challenge, and generally had a great time with fans. Clad in the “suitcatcher” look that they’ve occasionally pulled out for sharp visual presentation, there were a number of fun and informative tidbits, including the most interesting teaser from JiU - the next album is now 80% done, which potentially means a comeback is on the horizon. With the all-English album of remakes still not released, there’s a bit of speculation about how the last couple of months of the year are going to go for Dreamcatcher, but if I had to guess, I would say that we’ll likely see the English album be released digitally, as “REASON” and “BONVOYAGE” (Farewell ver.) were, followed swiftly by a formal comeback with their latest album, perhaps a special mini album in the vein of “Summer Holiday”. We’ll have to see how it pans out, but with November and most of December currently empty of publicly known dates, there’s some space for more to happen.

The group then set off for the performance stage, where they ended up towards the end of the 7-artist lineup for the day and performed three of their best songs. The crowd in Saudi Arabia was appropriately hyped, with plenty of loud cheers and small chants for the group. It’s clear that attendees were definitely familiar with Dreamcatcher and their extensive discography, and it showed. Walking to the front of the stage partway through their performances was a nice touch as well, allowing the group to get in some time greeting fans and get closer to them while still singing. All in all, the group got their due and showed off their unique brand of stage presence - the result of performing frequently live in front of tour and concert-type crowds in a musical sub-genre well suited for it. I’m definitely biased, but Dreamcatcher being built as a touring and traveling group and doing rock/pop does seem to mean that their live performances in front of fans in events such as this are clearly their element.

New groups of fans always seem to energize Dreamcatcher somewhat, so it was nice to see that those locals and folks who traveled to the area to come see them were rewarded with lots of energy from all the members. I’ll be especially excited to see some of the fancams come out over the next few days, as they’ll bring some pretty candid and informal filming moments. Understandably, many peoples’ feelings about events in Saudi Arabia, given the geopolitical and sociological climate, are complicated and even conflicted, including my own. But independent of this, it was still nice to see Dreamcatcher bring joy and excitement to a new group of fans, who may have wanted but have otherwise found it difficult to get to experience a K-Pop group like Dreamcatcher live and close to them on their home soil until the last year or so. That kind of experience is one I hope every Dreamcatcher fan, no matter where they’re from, gets an opportunity to have at least once during their appreciation of the group, and in this vein, Dreamcatcher is more than happy to accommodate, if they can.

With “20%” of a new album to go, an English remake album to still be released, and Dreamcatcher heading over to Paris next week for M Countdown in France, it’s going to be another eventful week for them. As always you can expect me to report on that and all the latest news from the group, so for all that, and more, I’ll see you here next Sunday!