Dreamcatcher’s 2023 Tour Moves Westward, Delighting Fans With Energy And Unforgettable Memories
K-Pop — Dreamcatcher Recall
One of K-Pop’s most well-traveled and tour-heavy groups continues their trek through the US, bringing love and appreciation through their fan-centric setlist and stage presence.
Dreamcatcher has always had wide-ranging tours no matter which region they’re in or how many stops they’ve managed to put into one. That means that over the course of the tour, we can see them in many different places as well as experience a ton when they’re in various cities. This has certainly been the case for the group’s latest trek through the US, and this past week they moved their travels west in order to continue performing what has essentially become their love letter to fans in the 2023 REASON: MAKES setlist of both classic and modern Dreamcatcher songs.
Regardless of where they’ve been, however, the thing that’s always been consistent is their energy and ability to provide both a unique look, feeling, and set of memorable tidbits for fans in every stop, and that’s exactly what they did. Let’s take a quick peek back at what Dreamcatcher accomplished this week, both on the touring and home fronts.
[embed]https://weverse.io/dreamcatcher/live/2-115792658[/embed][embed]https://weverse.io/dreamcatcher/live/2-115792658[/embed]
As we’ve seen from previous travels, just because the group is on tour doesn’t mean that they don’t have a chance to check-in with fans, and last week we had both Yoohyeon and Handong drop in to do some late night chatting with the global fanbase. After a minor false start due to bad wi-fi, Yoohyeon greeted everyone after their Denver show, dropping in snippets of English in between some references to tour happenings (including a reassurance that the minor spill she took in Chicago while running around on the stage during their encore set wasn’t serious). Handong heard from fans about their desire to see them in Asia, and Dreamcatcher’s foreign-born member agreed, hoping that in the near future that those from the Asia region would get to have their chance to see Dreamcatcher live for the first time since the pandemic. Either way, it was nice to hear from both of them, especially late at night when they’d already been through either travel or a live show — just another sign of their dedication to the fandom.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hekk7Q7DlHY[/embed]
Speaking of Handong, she had an additional surprise in store for fans — a Special Clip of her covering Taeyeon’s “Nights Into Days” that dropped with pretty much no warning or inkling that it was going to happen. Out-of-nowhere Special Clips have been a thing for a while for Dreamcatcher, but this one in particular seems to continue a recent focus by the company to highlight individual members and their talents. Handong-biased fans have always been taken in by her lower-toned vocals and ability to deliver ballads in the Dreamcatcher discography with her own brand of dramatic singing, but I feel like this elevated her game to another level.
Taeyeon’s ballads are among some of the most well-regarded and iconic in the industry, and even though “Nights Into Days” is a recent release it possesses no less of that gravitas. In her own way, Handong has become one of Dreamcatcher’s best vocalists when it comes to conveying emotion, especially through a wistful and sad song such as this one. The video is just the cherry on top and once again, shows just how much she’s improved in so many areas in the last couple of years. Well worth a listen in the midst of so much high-energy content from the group’s tour.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twkR6S-8rZU[/embed]
The tour, which we’ll really dig into in a bit, isn’t going to be the only place we’re slated to see that energy. Fans that were in the know already were aware that Leader JiU and Main Dancer SuA did recording for one of MNet’s most well-known and long-lived variety shows, I Can See Your Voice. The show kicks off its tenth season on March 22nd, and JiU and SuA are set to sit on the panel and help determine if the slate of presented mystery singers are able to sing or not based purely on their presentation. This has always been an entertaining show for me, but Dreamcatcher hasn’t had a chance to play a part on it til now. We’ll have to see if in the future MNet decides to bring back Dreamcatcher as the featured artist, but I’ll take a panel appearance for now, especially considering JiU’s kind consideration and insight and SuA’s boisterous, seemingly endless energy. I like to see more variety feathers being added to Dreamcatcher’s cap, so we’ll see just how entertaining their appearance turns out to be when the episode (and season) starts in a few days.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pj9tpQiORI[/embed]
Dreamcatcher’s tour, however, was the main entertainment attraction of this past week, and the group handled most of the back half of their tour with the same kind of energy and happiness that they started with almost 20 days ago. I’ve probably mentioned this before, but one of the best parts of this tour has been Dreamcatcher’s slight variance on thematic things during their ment speaking parts, and this set of shows was no different. For Denver, one of the most fun portions of the show was their variation on the “cute” challenges of prior stops, deciding to opt for an “Oops” challenge instead surrounding the theme of song “Oops” by Little Mix/Charlie Puth. There were certainly a lot of “accidents” that deviated from the cute challenge goal during dance covers of the song, but nobody seemed to mind too much, laughing and cheering as much as Dreamcatcher did.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yw0wi9PGplA[/embed]
In Irving, Texas, just outside of Dallas, where the group last performed in 2019, the energy saw no signs of abating, especially through songs like “Silent Night” that were essentially made for these kinds of live settings. Perhaps the one of the best parts of this particular performance of the tour was Dreamcatcher amping up the crowd for the song’s traditional drop. Fans who’ve been following the tour know that Dreamcatcher has always put in an additional repeat of that drop just for the rave-like crowd energy it always brings, but what people may not have been prepared for was youngest member Gahyeon putting all of her energy into leading the crowd back into it.
It was pretty clear that Gahyeon was well and truly over the cold that she said plagued her during the Reading show one week prior, as she proved that there’s a reason she and SuA have, at times, been known colloquially as “Loudcatcher”. Maintaining a high level of engagement and hype through a two-hour set is sometimes challenging, even as an audience member, but for those who were feeling a bit of the tiredness associated with a long day of concert lines and standing, moments like this made people forget all about the day’s long wait and live in the moment of a great Dreamcatcher show.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqgeMMSefnQ[/embed]
As I’ve been watching (and in the case of Chicago, experiencing myself) the content from this tour, the fact that Dreamcatcher has chosen to do older songs this time around since they heard that fans missed them has been one of the best decisions. Older fans get to re-live the nostalgia of watching the iconic moments like Dami’s magic stick in “YOU AND I”, and newer fans get to see for the first time the songs from an older, more rock-heavy portion of Dreamcatcher history that built the foundation for their core fanbase. It’s the best of both worlds and has delivered consistently throughout the whole tour. And much of that decision is validated even further through their various “song teasers” they’ve conducted throughout the tour, with 2017’s “Fly High” snippet drawing cheers and shouts from fans in Oakland. It’s definitely an advantage of the group’s six-year extensive discography.
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Still, some of the best moments remain the fun nuggets from even simple speaking parts, like JiU being absolutely trolled in a good-natured way by her fellow members by planning not to participate in the “group scream” challenge and leaving her to do it alone. Like any good leader or victim of fellow members having a bit of fun with her, JiU took it in stride, but it’s these little tidbits that make memories on tour. Many fans are going to remember all of the amazing performances and always know Dreamcatcher is wonderful when in their singing and dancing element, but these other clips really make for some fun nostalgia when the inevitable “post-concert depression” sinks in for folks who have the privilege of attending.
Dreamcatcher only has one more show to go to cap off the tour in Los Angeles before they head home for what will likely be some well-deserved rest and relaxation before their next activities. As always, I’ll be here to put a bow on the group’s early 2023 tour and perhaps provide my own thoughts on how it went, so be sure to check in next week for all the news and opinions from their latest journey through the US, and for their potential future plans!
