K-Pop's Dreamcatcher Dazzles With Holiday Concert Series

As a Dreamcatcher fan, and more generally a fan of a K-Pop group whose popularity didn't reach that of those in the "Big 4" companies (HYBE, JYPE, SM, and YG), I always got a bit envious of fans who got to enjoy their groups having concert plans for the end of the year. While Dreamcatcher has flirted with such commitments with comebacks timed late in the year and some touring and mild performance scheduling, actual concerts as put on by the major South Korean TV networks have typically been out of reach for what I've often called K-Pop's "something different" girl group.

After almost eight years, Dreamcatcher and Dreamcatcher Company decided to take matters into their own hands with a holiday concert series of their own. This has been in the works since seemingly the beginning of the year, as JiU expressed a desire to have a Christmas concert, holiday song and red, holiday-themed outfits. These past couple of days on Christmas Eve and Day, we saw the fruits of their labor, as fans both in South Korea and around the world got to experience Dreamcatcher's take on Christmas cheer. Let's check out some of my highlights and notes from this special concert series!

(A thank you to VIRUSAlexx from the Dreamcatcher Discord, who attended the concert and contributed the fan media in this post).

Dreamcatcher brought the holiday theme and then some to fans.

Sure, this seemed obvious given when and for what purpose the concert was conceptualized, but we could have easily gotten a few Christmas song covers and nice holiday themed visualization and been mostly satisfied. Instead, I felt that Dreamcatcher went all-out on the Christmas and Holidays theme, to the pleasant surprise of many fans.

As expected, the most obvious performances were all the songs on the recent My Christmas Sweet Love Special Digital Single release, with "My Christmas Sweet Love" getting its first live solo concert performance. But both "Wonderland" and "Jazz Bar" were reimagined with a holiday theme respectably well. I've felt that "Jazz Bar" in particular has become Dreamcatcher's versatile "vibes" song, able to be worked up as a chill lounge song by default but also turned into a fun and chaotic performance or mature concept on a dime. In this case, it had a little bit of all three, and if all the constant media I've been seeing on my social media timelines is any indication, it was quite successful.

Yet those songs were not the only way in which Dreamcatcher put a holiday spin on things. Older songs got a spin through the "Carol" theme remixer, with 2017's "Fly High", 2018's "Full Moon", and 2019's "I Miss You" all getting a touch of the holiday spirit. These were awesome surprises, because even though I and many other fans have heard these songs a bunch of times previously, hearing and seeing a holiday coat of paint on them was refreshing and also thematic. I'll be watching these fancams for a quite a while as a result.

Dreamcatcher throwbacks to their charming self-made media content.

Part of the draw of Dreamcatcher has always been for me that their smaller operation means they've tended towards self-made or low-to-middle budget content for some of their secondary video making. Much of this content has come in the form of informal MVs like the Handong-focused "Poison Love" special clip or "Sahara" self-made MV. VCR-like skit videos like the one aired during 2019's 1st generation fanmeeting, depicting CEO Gahyun and Dreamcatcher members as her employees were less common but no less entertaining.

The group's recent travels and slightly more relaxed schedules have kept the self-made/VCR content off the table for a while now, but with the 2-part "Detflix" sponsored Dreamcatcher x Culinary Class Wars crossover, the charm of Dreamcatcher's parody acting came roaring back during the Holiday concert. With SuA and Siyeon being impeccably-coiffed expert judges and the rest of Dreamcatcher being contestants all meeting hilarious reality show stereotypes (Gahyun with the extensive "chef standard" tattoos and Yoohyeon playing the casual improvisational oddball being the standouts), fans were treated to skits the group clearly had a blast making.

Callbacks and easter eggs such as Handong's mistaken Korean word usage for "facelift" when she meant to describe a cream pastry during a live provided some nice bonuses, and the hammed-up acting reminded me of Dreamcatcher's "World of the Married" k-drama parody series. In the end, Dreamcatcher relieved the cliffhanger from the series by revealing that Gahyun came out as the winner and best chef, proving that the "maknae on top" K-Pop trope is alive and well.

Emotions emerged as Dreamcatcher reached another milestone.

The two-day series and especially last comments from Dreamcatcher revealed a bit of feeling from the group as they ended another year of activity, their 7th. Multiple members, including Handong, Gahyun, Yoohyeon and JiU, talked about how important this was to have fans willing to see them and to be able to meet yet another milestone of being able to do a holiday concert for the first time. There were tears, and I think as I've said many times we should be wary of reading into what those tears mean about the group's future. Instead, for however long we have them (as that is distinctly out of our control for the most part), we should enjoy Dreamcatcher and be glad they find appreciation for their fans, staff, and management.

Speaking of, that's exactly what they did using the now-standard "Silent Night" beatdrop to highlight specific people. Night 1 on the 24th showcased more of the Dreamcatcher member's individual dancing talent but night 2, with cameraperson SuA at the helm, took a tour of all the supportive folks who've been behind Dreamcatcher over the years, from the backup dancers to performance director Hwang Sooyeon and choreographer Kim Keeyeoun, to Dreamcatcher's CEO Lee Joowon, to Dreamcatcher's family and friends (such as CLC's Seungyeon and even Dami's brother) and of course, the fans. There was a lot of chaos and laughter, but also appreciation and feeling about the humbly-sized, yet wide-ranging support structure that Dreamcatcher has enjoyed that has made them sustainable and as successful as they have been, and it was wonderful to see them spotlighted.

All of this capped off two days of memorable holiday performances and a setlist full of surprises and solidly Dreamcatcher-style songs that ended up being the group's gift to their fans. My upcoming annual year-end review will highlight this a bit more, but their activities this year had an air of appreciation and gratefulness for who propped them up to be this long-lived career-wise, and that selfless attitude is why I continue to be a Dreamcatcher fan. For all that and more, I'll see you here on Sunday for the last Dreamcatcher article of 2024!

7 Doors of Christmas: A Lucky Encore Setlist:

• Full Moon (Carol ver.) (Full Moon, 2018)
• Wonderland (Carol ver.) (My Christmas Sweet Love, 2024)
• Ment 1 (Intro)
• 2 Rings (Versus: VirtuouS, 2024)
• BOCA (Dystopia: Lose Myself, 2020)
• Ment 2 (2 Rings dance, pola giveaway)
• Propose (Apocalypse: From Us, 2023)
• Rising (Versus: VillainS, 2023)
• VCR 1 (Detflix 1)
• Fly High (Carol ver.) (Prequel, 2017)
• I Miss You (Carol ver.) (The Beginning of the End, 2019)
• My Christmas Sweet Love (My Christmas Sweet Love, 2024)
• Ment 3
• Deja Vu (Acapella ver.) (Raid of Dream, 2019)
• Scream (Dystopia: The Tree of Language, 2020)
• VCR 2 (Detflix 2)
• Jazz Bar (Carol ver.) (My Christmas Sweet Love, 2024)
• Fireflies (Versus: VirtuouS, 2024)
• Ment 4
• The Curse of the spider (Metal ver.) (Luck Inside 7 Doors, 2024)
• STΦMP! (Versus: VirtuouS, 2024)
• Ment 5 (Final thoughts)
• JUSTICE (Versus: VirtuouS, 2024)
• BONVOYAGE (Apocalypse: From Us, 2023)
• Silent Night (Raid of Dream, 2019)
• REASON (REASON, 2023)

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