Dreamcatcher Rolls Through North America On Late Summer 2023 Tour, Delighting And Entertaining Fans

Touring has been no stranger to Dreamcatcher ever since their debut year when they decided to hit up a small but cozy venue in Brazil to kick off 2017 and 2018’s Fly High-themed set of shows. But even with the large number of destinations that Dreamcatcher has experienced in their six-year career so far, there are a few places that Dreamcatcher hasn’t been, and perhaps have wanted to go to.

At least two of those places (and one country) have now been checked off that list of untraveled destinations given this past week’s shows, and with each performance, they’ve brought their boundless energy and thankfulness to their fans for helping support their travels and music. Still, as in many weeks, last week had a bunch of other news not related to their current activities, making it one of Dreamcatcher’s most active. Let’s take a look at what happened!

Special Clips and covers from Dreamcatcher continue to be fun content for the group, especially when they drop seemingly out of nowhere. This is exactly what happened this past week during Dreamcatcher’s tour when Gahyeon’s cover of Taeyeon’s “The Blue Night of Jeju Island” was uploaded in the midst of all of Dreamcatcher’s tour news and concerts. This is the second Taeyeon cover in a Special Clip this year (the other one being Handong’s rendition of “Nights Into Days”) and it carried the same sense of wonder and happiness that the original brought with it. The release capped off a bunch of Jeju Island trip-related content for Dreamcatcher’s youngest member and was a nice bonus to all the vlog-style stuff that Gahyeon put out into the wild that talked about her foray there. I’d certainly like to see more of this content if at all possible, as it really did highlight Gahyeon and one of what seemed to be her favorite destinations in the country.

This past week was also a glimpse into Dreamcatcher’s future plans. One unfortunate bit of news was that Dreamcatcher would no longer be able to attend MyMusicTaste’s first Korea on Stage event in London due to artist circumstances. What those were appeared to be unknown, though there is plenty of theorizing and speculation that can come of it, from being offered a more lucrative or better front-facing opportunity to perhaps a conflict with a move of their comeback schedule or other work, and more. We may not know until November 8th, if we ever do, so it will be interesting to see why this may have happened.

Londoners, however, need not be too sad, as Dreamcatcher is still coming to them, and much sooner. KPOP LUX, a multi-location event organized by last year’s KPOP FLEX organizers and South Korean network SBS, announced Dreamcatcher as their final “mystery girl group guest” for their event in the UK on September 22nd. Dreamcatcher joins a lineup that includes Tomorrow X Together, Billlie, newer groups Zerobaseone and xikers, and more. KPOP LUX’s earlier Madrid event appeared to be around three hours, so the hope is that London’s will be just as long and allow Dreamcatcher a decent amount of time.

European fans also got another bit of good news from MNet, as October 15th’s special MCountdown in France event confirmed through their 1st lineup reveal that Dreamcatcher would be among the artists in attendance. The secret behind the guessing game of dates that MNet’s prior teaser showed seemed to match debut date on MCountdown, which is what 170119 (January 19th, 2017) had for Dreamcatcher. Looking back at the debut performance and to see how far they’ve come in six years is a pretty surreal thing, and it’s great that MNet invited them in as respected artists. Between London and France, it sure seems that Dreamcatcher’s schedule will be even more traveled in the coming months.

Travel, of course, was the news of the week for Dreamcatcher, as they began their five-city tour in earnest, departing Montreal and heading to Toronto in Canada and Cincinnati, Ohio in the US. One of the nice things that we found in Toronto was that the ment that is essentially their “random play dance” section will be a bit different for each stop. Toronto saw Handong bring back memories of her Halloween concert cover of Chungha’s “Snapping”, JiU/SuA/Yoohyeon throwback to one of their most famous subunit covers with DJ Snake’s “Taki Taki” (with a pretty funny reaction from Siyeon for one of the more intense portions of it) Gahyeon drop in a cute choreography of J-Pop song “Idol” by YOASOBI, and more.

As entertaining as last year’s solo dance ment was (the highlight being everyone covering SuA’s “No Dot”), the confirmed differences between shows ensure that everyone gets a bit of variety in and that each location gets a unique experience. An all-around good decision by the producers and by Dreamcatcher.

There was also a bit of a closer look at the fact that 2021’s “Can’t Get You Out Of My Mind”, as performed on this tour, seems to be a remixed version. The most obvious sign of this appears to be backing vocals for Handong, who was away in China during the time of the song’s release. Speculation has popped up about whether or not this version is the one that will be on the English remake album, but until we get more definitive news on that front, we don’t know. For now, I was happy to enjoy this revised version of the song, as the mix seemed more suited to a concert setting and for more wide airplay. Also, it’s still a banger two years later. Not that I’m biased, of course.

Cincinnati brought with it its own brand of cover dances, including Dami showing off her dance skills to BTS Jungkook’s hugely popular “Seven”, SuA and Yoohyeon hitting up Blackpink’s “Shutdown” and my personal favorite, a 2018 throwback to JiU and Handong’s “Troublemaker”. We hadn’t seen that last one since Dreamcatcher’s Latin America tour, and it still remains one of the group’s most viewed subunit covers. Five years of refinement in dancing talent makes a huge difference, and it was apparent even in the brief portion that JiU and Handong did.

Lastly, one of the emerging trends we’re seeing on this tour is the stage performance of 2020’s “Jazz Bar”, or as I like to refer it “Jazz Bar: Fanservice Remix Edition”. SuA messing around with the other Dreamcatcher members in Montreal seemed to pop the crowd a bit, so subsequent performances in Toronto and Cincinnati now involved the whole group clowning around with the same kind of energy. I mentioned “No Dot” covers from last year’s “Apocalypse: Save Us” tour before, and with “Jazz Bar”, the same kind of funny, fanservice-y escalation seems to be happening. From Gahyeon, Handong, and Yoohyeon engaging in a mini reenactment of the theme of their “Poison Love” Special Clip (theme: everyone loves Handong) to SuA doing an elaborate motion with JiU’s hair just to blow on her back and more, Dreamcatcher has turned a normally standard “sitting and singing” song into a stage performance that is entertaining to the audience. We have two more stops to go, so we’ll see how that particular performance evolves as we move on.

The tour hasn’t been without a few hiccups - according to the group on messaging platform Fromm, they lost (and subsequently recovered) luggage containing production material, makeup, costumes, and personal checked baggage,  a brief stumble in the Toronto performance of “DEMIAN” prompted JiU to address concerned fans by saying she just lost her balance and she was not feeling sick, and fans had to remind each other not to get so excited that they end up screaming over other members or the translator communicating with the audience. Yet these, to me, are all things that don’t worry me too much - the group are years-long tour veterans, know their limits, and are backed by a company and long-time booking partner that is watching out for them (the last tour confirmed that a health and conditioning trainer is now being sent with them on staff to ensure they’re in good shape). While improvement is always a good thing, I think they’ll be just fine finishing up obligations in September.

The group has two more stops to go on their latest tour through North America, so you can be sure that I’ll be covering that and everything going on with Dreamcatcher next week at the same time. Be sure to drop a like and a subscribe if you appreciate what you’re reading, and for all the tour news and more, I’ll see you here next Sunday!