First Win Memories And More Propel Dreamcatcher’s Return To Travel At KPOP.Flex

K-Pop — Dreamcatcher Recall

One of K-Pop’s most-traveled groups returns to the touring road in Frankfurt, Germany for KPOP.Flex as Dreamcatcher continues post-promotion content.

It’s been two years in the making, but Dreamcatcher finally packed up their suitcases, put on their touring shoes, and returned to the international stage with an appearance at Germany’s KPOP.Flex, a new K-Pop festival intended on celebrating the culture and the music. Along with artists such as MONSTA X, MAMAMOO, (G)-IDLE, IVE, and more, Dreamcatcher was able to perform once again for their international fanbase in an offline setting, and not surprisingly, they did wonderfully. But getting to Frankfurt wasn’t the only thing that happened this week in Dreamcatcher-land, so let’s get right into all the news and updates!

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SuA, now also newly black-haired after promotions along with Handong, dropped into SBS Wendy’s Young Street for her usual weekly guest spot. Along with Wendy and Taehyun, the group discussed the worst way to confess feelings to someone — through group chat, suddenly, through another person, or in public. The audience got behind Taehyun, and he spun the penalty wheel for SuA, giving her, appropriately, a “2x dance” penalty to be performed at a future date. This is definitely funny, and likely not a challenge, considering SuA is Dreamcatcher’s Main Dancer, so I’ll look forward to seeing her cut loose in a future ep.

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The variety content continued to trickle out from “MAISON” promotions, which ended with the last fansign the previous Sunday. For the latter, Dreamcatcher had a special treat — coming out in their solo stage outfits and performing a version of “MAISON” that integrated gestures from each solo choreography. This was a nice reminder that this album was very much Dreamcatcher as far as their identity, each member contributing in a unique way, so it was nice to see that one last time in the last performance of the title track for promotions.

TongTongCulture also didn’t disappoint giving us their third video with Dreamcatcher (the first two being a live “MAISON” performance and “Thrilling Interview” lie detector video). This time around Dreamcatcher took on the “Copy to Save” challenge, where they did quick challenges for the camera to win a stuffed rabbit representing their fandom. It’s always great to see new content types for promotions and there were plenty of great moments for this (I especially linked Handong’s emoji challenge and Dami swagging it out imitating her baby pictures).

Wonderwall also dropped in a video from their collaboration with Dreamcatcher, asking each member to contribute songs that they listen to for inspiration. The resulting playlist is just as varied and insightful as the members’ own musical composition and inspiration, and is worth checking out.

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The official channel dropped in a nice bit of content as well, with JiU celebrating her birthday early this year with a nice conversational chat time with fans surrounded by several birthday cakes and a Dreamcatcher’s Note covering Arirang K-Pop and The Show week 1 promotions. As always, Dreamcatcher makes these bits of content memorable, so between JiU’s impromptu beatboxing and her punny sense of humor in the Note, Dreamcatcher’s eldest member helped carry the content this week.

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But of course, people were looking forward to the Note that would take fans behind-the-scenes of Show Champion on April 20th, 2022, the day that Dreamcatcher would secure their first music show win after 1,924 days. Everyone wanted to see the moment captured when Dreamcatcher would get their first win, and the company didn’t disappoint, providing a once-in-a-career reaction that you had to watched repeatedly just to see every member’s response to the news, along with the outpouring of emotion afterwards.

Aside from the fact that everyone, from this day to today, has been treating this as a long-awaited milestone, it was clear that Dreamcatcher had managed their expectations regarding wins, perhaps having made peace with the fact that it was not as critically important for them to do so to gain clout so late in their careers. They were laughing and joking around (with the exception of JiU, who appeared to know something was up when the group was asked to record “something on stage” and were called back out to the studio), and generally didn’t think they’d win against such difficult competition. That they did is a testament to fan dedication/growth, as well as the kinds of circumstances with comeback timing that lead to wins over more famous groups, but most of all to Dreamcatcher’s resilience. It’s a story and an achievement that everyone, even outside of Dreamcatcher’s immediate fandom and company circle, have enjoyed congratulating them for. The long-term impact of such a story has yet to be realized, if it is at all — but it’s clear the group commands a ton of respect in the industry as a whole for grinding as they have.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzskEnZ3B7w[/embed][embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1lWI9EIOTw[/embed][embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrwcCWHUrio[/embed][embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ih8NdOE-hg[/embed]

But as much as Dreamcatcher has enjoyed the limelight of their peers and fellow idols for their achievements this comeback, nothing beats the love, respect, and enthusiasm that they get from their fans, and that’s exactly what they got at Germany’s KPOP.Flex this weekend. The group initially came out to perform a trio of their best title tracks, including most recent hit “MAISON”, Summer Holiday’s “BECause”, and iconic Dystopia trilogy hit “Scream”, all while being able to talk briefly with and introduce themselves to the audience at Deutsche Bank Park Stadium. And if that wasn’t enough, a surprise special stage of them covering Blackpink’s “Kill This Love”, re-arranged in Dreamcatcher’s signature rock/pop style, delighted everyone attending.

Everyone, not the least of which included Dreamcatcher themselves, missed seeing them on an international offline event stage, and it showed. While other artists certainly commanded their own levels of respect and attention, Dreamcatcher’s hard-charging songs and aggressive choreography amped up the energy of the audience as a whole, and there were several moments where the group definitely made the crowd pop with excitement with their music. Though there were some scheduling foibles that weren’t their fault at all, Dreamcatcher nevertheless made the best of the time they were given, and they hopefully converted a few general K-Pop fans who weren’t aware of their kind of music into InSomnia.

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With that, it seems Dreamcatcher will be heading home for a few weeks after their first successful international offline concert in a while, before they hit the road again for Primavera Sound in Barcelona and the US leg of their World Tour in July. It’s safe to say we haven’t seen the last of Dreamcatcher being on the touring train, but nice to see that they kicked it off with a bang. Regardless, you know I’ll be here recapping the latest Dreamcatcher touring (and other) news and events, though next week you’ll likely be seeing a comeback retrospective on “Apocalypse: Save Us” where I’ll definitely have a lot to talk about. Be sure to subscribe, clap, and signal boost if you like what you’re seeing, and I’ll be sure to see you here in seven days!felt li