JUMF 2023 Caps Off Early August Content Pace For Dreamcatcher

In six years of following them, I’ve never known Dreamcatcher to slow their content pace for any significant amount of time. Dreamcatcher’s work this past week was just a bit more freed up, as the unfortunate postponement of the US-dates for 1st-year KPOPWeStand festival allowed the group to continue practicing, working, and preparing behind-the-scenes. None of that, however, slowed the content drip that fans have seen happen at a regular pace for the group’s lifetime. So it was that we got to see a few vlogs as well as the celebration of one member’s birthday, culminating in Dreamcatcher’s return to the Jeonju Ultimate Music Festival. Let’s take a look at what went on with the group this past week!

I know I’ve talked quite a bit about individual Dreamcatcher member activities this past couple of Recalls, but the evidence shows that one person in particular has basically been on a content tear lately. Youngest member Gahyeon has produced five videos over the past month that featured her seemingly doing anything and everything, and she added to that pace with three more over the past week or so.

Whether it was taking a hotel-sponsored food and vacation tour in Jeju, to recounting another portion of her Japan trip last December with friends, or stopping by a YouTube content creator’s work with the KBO baseball league, it seems Gahyeon has been plenty present in Dreamcatcher fans’ eyes lately. It’s great to see this as Gahyeon had earlier expressed/explained that she hadn’t been vlogging as much because everything felt like the same kind of content, so to have her do such varied things that she’s been happy to share has been nice to see. And it seems that insofar as one of those bits of content, there’s going to be some payoff, as Gahyeon’s frequent baseball game visits have warranted her being announced as throwing out the first pitch for the Doosan Bears game on August 18th. Truly a successful baseball fan.

Perhaps Gahyeon can get baseball pitching tips from SuA, since she most recently took part in a first pitch herself at a Kiwoom Heroes game. It’s possible Gahyeon asked SuA for tips during her birthday live stream, which took place on the 10th this past week. As with most Dreamcatcher member birthday livestreams these days, the event was very much a chill live chat featuring some cake and some decorations, and SuA was her usual energetic self.

Aside from the usual responses to turning one year older, there were other fun tidbits, such as SuA acknowledging Dreamcatcher friend Kwon Eunbi’s very first music show win and also that she’d finished choreography for Apocalypse: From Us B-side “DEMIAN”. There were even a couple spoilers for the “killing point” portions of the dance, and a thought that the song was fast-paced to dance to, comparable to high BPM debut song “Chase Me”. A final tease for what might be a “DEMIAN” special clip, perhaps in the vein of “Red Sun”, was the last of the future content hints, as the majority of the rest of the stream was very much dedicated to SuA being thankful to Dreamcatcher fans for wishing her another happy birthday.

Finally, we found out that Gahyeon wasn’t the only one to take a trip to Japan in recent months. Lead Vocalist Yoohyeon dropped in the first part of a new vlog about her trip to the Land of the Rising Sun, one that she took with family. We saw plenty of interactions between Yoohyeon and at least one of her brothers, who seemed to have the same sibling back-and-forth energy and closeness that you’d expect, and even a bit of dialogue between her and her mother as well. Yoohyeon’s family visited Disneyland, where they ate some cool Disney treats, checked out the Beauty and the Beast attraction, did some shopping, and more - and this was only part 1.

Even though vlogs like Gahyeon and Yoohyeon’s Japan trip are partially work for them as they’re producing content for official channels, it’s still nice to see these sorts of more personal vlogs with family. There’s certainly a great deal that happens when the cameras are off, and that’s a good thing. Given how busy and sometimes frenetic a K-Pop artist’s schedules can get, being abloe to take some much-needed time off, especially with family, is nice to see, and it’s generous of the group to be able to provide even a small peek into that. Regardless, I’ll be looking forward to part 2 of Yoohyeon’s family trip and for all the fun that she no doubt documented.

For all the recent content that we’ve had lately from individual members having a good time, it does seem that Dreamcatcher truly has the most fun when they’re together and performing live in front of fans, and that’s exactly what they did on day one of the annual Jeonju Ultimate Music Festival. I’ve always liked this event not just because they took a chance on Dreamcatcher when they were less than a year into debut, but also because there’s always an act or two that I tend to be watching when waiting for Dreamcatcher that I get intrigued by. Dreamcatcher fans who are reading this might want to check out rock band Synsnake, for example, or if they want to stay more in the realm of K-Pop, try out Billlie, who’ve weaved rock and other non-traditional K-Pop sound into their work.

Dreamcatcher was one of the later acts in the day, and I was glad the weather held up for their time on the schedule (the threat of tropical storm Khanun was definitely real). Given thirty minutes on the schedule, we got a nice selection of songs, from most recent title track “BONVOYAGE” to a throwback rock b-side in “Mayday”. Six songs were performed in all, and clad simply and comfortably in their custom basketball jerseys they brought the same rocker vibe that they had during their debut year performance. You could tell the group was enjoying themselves, even when JiU lost a shoe during the first performance due to an accidental action by Siyeon and Dami ended up picking it up and dancing with it to end the song.

Given what was selected (“BONVOYAGE”, “BOCA”, “Scream”, “Silent Night”, “Mayday”, and “REASON”), it was a really nice reminder that after six years, Dreamcatcher has their choice of essentially “concert-ready” songs that are well-suited to live performance, across pretty much all their eras. While there’s certainly feedback that some songs could use a little more love on the stage (especially B-side “Scar”, which remains the only Dreamcatcher song not shown live), I feel like this is a good problem to have. The 2017 JUMF set had to be filled a bit with covers, which while awesome in their own right, are ultimately not original songs. That Dreamcatcher is able to pick and choose what they want to play, and that they have a ton that is designed to get audiences headbanging and rocking, is a great boon to a group made for touring and performing with such a long history.

The best part was that this was a taste of what is to come live for fans attending the Manila “Under the Moonlight” concert, to take place in just a couple short weeks, followed by the North American leg of their “Apocalypse: From Us” tour. It’ll be the first set of appearances featuring Dreamcatcher’s new music from May, and also has the potential to have a bunch more in store insofar as picking from the existing discography. Hopefully, fans are looking forward to checking out (if not attending) these performances, and had their appetites whetted just a bit by watching JUMF this year. You can, of course, always count on me reporting the latest from the group as they continue into August, so for all that, and more, be sure to keep reading!