Dreamcatcher Wraps Up 2023 US Tour, Looking Forward To New Activities
K-Pop — Dreamcatcher Recall
After a month-long traveling the road, Dreamcatcher returns home to rest, with more work on the horizon awaiting them back in South Korea.
It’s been a hard-worked, month-long bunch of concert performances for one of K-Pop’s most well-traveled groups, with the most recent 2023 REASON: MAKES World Tour (US leg) encompassing nine stops with almost half of them being new cities. As much as Dreamcatcher has loved to meet their fans and perform a setlist mixed with both old and new favorites, I’m sure they were happy to head home for what hopefully will be some well-deserved rest. As we’ve seen from the group, however, they’re in their element when they’re working to achieve even more success for themselves and for their fans. Veteran fans of Dreamcatcher know that there seems to always be something new or upcoming, and this past week was no exception. So without further ado, let’s check out what Dreamcatcher was up to this past week in the closing portion of their latest tour and more!
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Los Angeles was Dreamcatcher’s last stop on their latest tour through the US. The group didn’t disappoint, whether that was on point with styling (with perhaps some of the most varied looks yet between the members on the tour), fun moments, and of course, that setlist of nostalgia mixed with modern Dreamcatcher sound. While the group had likely been on a long road of travel (and only 2 nights removed from their last show in Oakland), none of that showed as they maintained the energy level they had from the first show almost a month ago and onward.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foBj-mkpJzA[/embed]
The tour started with a bit of “Love Shake” from the group’s MINX days and appropriately enough, ended with it as well, as Dreamcatcher used their “snippet of a song not on the setlist” segment to perform part of it. In a tour filled with, among other things, fan-centric songs and requests to do older music, it seemed only right that they go all the way back to before the beginning of Dreamcatcher to cap off the last stop of the tour.
[embed]https://twitter.com/hf_dreamcatcher/status/1638097532265070593[/embed]
Sales-wise, we will have to see how the tour performed, as a move from the larger Reading venue to a smaller one along with half the sales time, plus no absolute sell-out shows with bigger capacity meant the group didn’t sell as many tickets as they may have wanted. But that said, every venue and every audience seemed appreciably packed and filled, and with new and innovative merchandise selling extremely well (for example, all 7 jerseys, in all sizes were sold out completely in Chicago) and hundreds of people purchasing premium VVIP/VIP bonuses, I’m personally not too concerned that the tour didn’t turn a good profit for Dreamcatcher and Dreamcatcher Company. There were some good lessons learned I think based on this latest nine-stop jaunt, but one of the most important ones was that “REASON”, the song from which the tour got its name, was made to be performed in front of fans with fan participation. It’s a microcosm of how Dreamcatcher feels about their decently-sized, faithful fandom and about how much they appreciate their support moving forward into the latter part of the group’s history.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdJImu2bhHQ[/embed]
As always, just because the group is back home in South Korea and likely resting doesn’t mean the content stops. We’re still seeing EU tour vlog content, and Dami’s latest posting is a reminder that we’re highly likely to see some vlogs and Notes from this latest tour in due course. After not seeing Dami vlog content for a while, I’ve come to appreciate the chill nature of what she tends to post. Sleepy Dami tired from a long day of performing, for example, wouldn’t seem to be on its face interesting vlog content, but she makes it so with her calming presence and thoughts about the day.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLWFoXJOuIE[/embed]
As much as the past is nice, however, looking to the future appears to be in Dreamcatcher’s mind, and the content that they’ve produced lately is pretty much brand new as far as opportunities go. JiU and Yoohyeon, for example, did a photoshoot in Thailand as part of an upcoming subunit photobook through CeCi Korea, and with it comes a bunch of media content that’ll help hype up the eventual release and ordering. The news that this was happening came out this past week, and the two Dreamcatcher members answered a bunch of different questions in a Q&A video as part of the first salvo of stuff coming out alongside the photobook. I really liked this, as I learned a lot of specific things that even I, with having followed the group since 2017, didn’t really know. JiU with a -6 prescription that makes her extremely near-sighted? Yoohyeon only wanting to live a shorter but meaningful life? These were fun insights and something different than the usual idol questions.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtYDVCJbNVo[/embed]
Continuing in the trend of doing new and different things, the season premiere of long-time classic variety show I Can See Your Voice, where guests and panelists try to predict whether or not a showcase of potential singers can carry a tune, featured both Dreamcatcher’s JiU and SuA as members of the panel. The panel typically assists the guest artists in making what are hopefully good choices as far as singers’ abilities, and JiU and SuA had their own fair share of reactions and insights to share throughout the episode. While these were only flashes and little clips, it’s nice to see that once again, the group appears to be climbing/picking up more popular variety gigs. I’ve caught parts of I Can See Your Voice since season 4, and it’s always fun to see K-Pop artists on the show. Will we see Dreamcatcher as the featured guest artists next time? Time will tell, but for now it was nice to see both of the group’s older members get a bit of screen time.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSDg1UDvdNM[/embed]
It sure seems like a trend with the content I’ve posted so far, but Dreamcatcher’s leader has truly been busy behind-the-scenes — and we’re just now seeing that happen. The official YouTube channel dropped a surprise this week — a brand new mini-series of content featuring JiU as a foodie, trying and tasting all kinds of dishes in restaurants of her choosing (or at fans’ suggestions).
Fans who’ve been into Dreamcatcher know that most of what JiU’s vlog content contains is typically what she eats and drinks, and it’s clear she takes joy in trying and having different foods and sharing that with people. The first episode of the series, titled “What-JJYU”, short for “What should I eat JiU”, has JiU and guest youngest member Gahyeon hitting up a Japanese omakase restaurant, where you pair sake with various appetizer-sized dishes to get a varied sense of the cuisine. This was thirty minutes of foodie presentation, enjoyment, and, essentially, serotonin-boosting content due to all the enjoyment both Dreamcatcher members had at eating and drinking so much. It’ll be nice to see more — if for nothing else, to see which interesting restaurant JiU picks and enjoys next.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bCJP6KXob4[/embed]
As for the whole group, fans have known for a while that they recorded for new variety show Webtoon singer, where webtoon artists are paired with musical talent to produce soundtrack content. Appropriately enough, Dreamcatcher is apparently to be paired with webtoon Unholy Blood, a story about one woman’s vampire-driven quest for revenge and justice. WE saw a small snippet of a special stage for 2020 “The Tree of Language” B-side “Red Sun”, with a curious bunch of additional instrumental backing that may make it a performance to remember. We’ll have to see when clips surface this coming week, but it sounds like another fun opportunity for Dreamcatcher to showcase themselves on a show by another well-known network, TVING.
[embed]https://weverse.io/dreamcatcher/live/4-115709080[/embed][embed]https://weverse.io/dreamcatcher/live/4-115709080[/embed]
With Dreamcatcher back home, we also got the group wasting no time in checking in with fans over Weverse, with both Siyeon and Dami spending over an hour each chatting idly with fans, talking about the recent tour and all they did with it, and sharing some fun moments with international fans surrounding language (whether English or Korean). It seems that after a few days to get over the inevitable jet lag and re-adjusting to South Korean time, the group is back at it, and will likely be doing work to prepare for their late April appearance back in the US for Las Vegas’s inaugural WeBridgeExpo.
[embed]https://weverse.io/dreamcatcher/live/4-115709080[/embed][embed]https://weverse.io/dreamcatcher/live/4-115709080[/embed]
Last but certainly not least, Dreamcatcher came home just in time for Handong to celebrate her late March birthday on live stream, doing double duty for both Korean and Chinese fanbases as well as for global fans. There were some really funny moments during these livestreams, from Handong playing a “imitate the meme faces” game, to accidentally blowing out her birthday candles due to laughter, to talking about what fandom name she had come up with for her viewers, and more. I know the company has always been supportive of the group’s fanbase in China, but it does feel like, between the livestreams and the sometimes-Chinese-language speeches and thank yous Handong has been giving, it’s become a bit more prominent lately. Dreamcatcher and Dreamcatcher Company do seem cognizant of the fact that their global fanbase outside of South Korea has helped support them — this has always been the case, but actions speak louder than words, and the tours and things like an additional live stream help quite a bit.
[embed]https://twitter.com/hf_dreamcatcher/status/1637337166060847104[/embed]
Dreamcatcher has a lot ahead of them, this year — and along with everything else, they’re due for a comeback pretty soon with brand new music and the last part of the Apocalypse trilogy. We’re sure to have plenty of content to tide us over til then between what’s expected and what’s brand new, and as always, I’ll be here to report on it for folks. See you next week!
