I know it has been a minute since the Update but life get busy y'all. However as promised this RAVE will be about K-pop group Dreamcatcher and me and wife getting to see them live in our home town of all places.
So for the people who do not know me and just stumbled onto this blog via the labels/ tags then first, welcome!! As an introduction me, the author of this blog and my wife of 15+ years are massive Korean Pop fans or K-pop. We became K-pop fans way before it was mainstream with acts like Blackpink and BTS now tearing up the US Billboards monthly. We have been fans of the genre for as long as we have been together which is a pretty long time as I mentioned above. We started in mostly in the second generation going all the way to this new 'fifth generation' as some labels are calling it. We are fans of multiple groups like the aforementioned Blackpink and BTS but we also follow groups who are not as mainstream like Fromis_9, VIXX, Purple Kiss, KARD and UNVS. Funny enough, one of our favorite girl groups did not even start as one of our favorites.
First a history lesson, we started seeing Dreamcatcher videos in the middle of our K-pop journey. By now we have listened to artists like EXO, Red Velvet, GFriend and other very popular groups at the time. Both me and my wife were kind of thrown by how 'dark' Dreamcatcher's concept was and even more than that, their sound was a bit much for us. We have never experience a 'rock' sounding K-pop group in our journeys so far, so songs like their debut 'Chase Me' and follow up 'Good Night' were a bit strange to us. However they keep putting out releases and people kept talking about them and how unique they were. Fast forward a couple releases and I finally found a Dreamcatcher song I enjoyed and I played it for my wife. For me, it gave me an almost anime soundtrack opening vibe and since I enjoy some anime it appealed to me. The song was called 'You and I'. However my wife not being the biggest anime fan and whilst she did not mind it, she did not love it like I did. I nodded and kept it moving, maybe Dreamcatcher was not going to be for her I thought. However to my surprise with Dreamcatcher's subsequent releases the very rocky 'What' and the hypnotic 'Piri' my wife came around and she actually started to like Dreamcatcher as much as I did. From there on in, we were all in and Dreamcatcher became another group for us to stan. Eventually we picked our bias, me settling for the all-rounder beast Yoohyeon and my wife feel for Dami's tomboy charms. We even settled on secondary and third bias'. We became part of the fandom which is called InSomnia and just like our fellow InSomnia's cheered and celebrated when they finally got their first music show win (which is a very important event for a K-pop group). We listened to all their A-sides and even their B-sides and just became big fans of the girls in general. So when we found that Dreamcatcher was coming to not only the United States but our hometown we HAD to go.
THE CONCERT
As the day got closer, me and wife kept telling each other how excited we were to see a legit K-pop concert again. The last K-pop concert we saw was CL (from 2NE1 fame) in Chicago but that was some years ago. Me and the wife are introverts by nature but we simply could not turn down seeing Dreamcatcher in our town of all places. The mere fact a well known K-pop group was willing to come to Cincinnati was amazing event in itself. We made it to the venue just in time and we settled into our seats, not knowing we would not be sitting in them for long. The location, the Taft Theater is a nice location, it was able to seat all of us and we have a very good crowd. We, however were not crowded which we both appreciated. As you can see from the above picture we were not that far from the stage too. The sound system played some Dreamcatcher songs as we waited in anticipation. Then the light dimmed and we were transported to Dreamcatcher's dream world.
The girls came out with a bang with a bombastic performance of one of our fave songs 'Scream' and me and my wife sang a long with all the lines that we knew by heart. If I could capture a moment in a bottle, this would have been it. Simple seeing these energetic girls in person as opposed to a screen was something else, the girls sang with a backing track but we could also hear they were singing live too and it just added to the experience. Hearing main vocal Siyeon live and hitting the notes we know she can hit was transcendent. On stage, they all looked amazing, almost glowing, trust me when I say, JiU and Handong look pretty in the MVs but in person, they look angelic. Gahyeon, their youngest member whom K-pop fans called the magnae, had all the sass we have come to know from her (especially in 'Scream' where she even turns up the sass), SuA moves just as fluid as a main dancer would and of course our respective bias' brought it as well. Dami's verse in Scream is one of our favorites from here and Yoohyeon is just so damn good at everything it hard to just pinpoint what she excels at. All in all, we were definitely getting our monies worth.
Each song they sang if we knew it we sang along with them and some of the more obscure B-sides, we just jammed to and still loved it, some of those B-sides have even become new favorite songs of ours. They did some of their newer songs but they also mixed in some classics like 'Good Night', 'Fly High' and 'Boca' from their earlier albums. Mixed in with the energetic performances was a mixture of chatting and playing up to the crowd (with a well thought of off stage Korean translator so we knew what they were saying) and some playful banter between the members. We could clearly see all of them were very comfortable with each other, some even been almost playful with each other and entertaining the crowd too but they also truly showed how much of a senior group they are with their professionalism as well. When the sound cut off during one of their stand out new hits 'Demian', SuA laughing played it off and called it a spoiler and when it finally did come back they did not miss a beat at all. You can tell even through this was a smaller venue and Cincinnati is not a big priority for K-pop companies, Dreamcatcher did not treat us like we were lesser, if anything they brought us up to their level.
When they eventually stopped for breath, we were treated to some fan service with some cover dances of popular songs. From Jisoo's 'Flower' to Jungkook's 'Seven' to going much more older and for us senior fans, 'Trouble Maker' by Trouble Maker aka HyunA and Hyunseung. It was cute and definitely showcased their personalities very well. When they were ready they went back in for some more hits and we loved them all but nothing and I mean nothing could prepare us for the biggest moment of the night.
'Silent Night' is a popular B-side from their 'Raid of Dream' mini album. It is a super energetic EDM track filled with amazing vocals (of course) and also one of the most pumping instrumental outros. Well, this outro was a showcase for Dreamcatcher to really let loose. All the girls were fist pumping and just feeling it and then they did it again... and again and again LOL. It was at this point we realize how much of a energizer bunny JiU is because she was rocking out non stop to every reprisal without fail. SuA even hyped us to keep asking for more and who are we to deny her? Now if you are think 5 reprisals is a bit much you would be partial right but if you were there, in that moment, every time the beat drop again Dreamcatcher and InSomnias were one and we were just living our best lives. You HAD to be there. Going back to my previous request to bottle a moment, this was the other one.
Speaking of InSomnias, our first real interaction with the Dreamcatcher fandom was amazing and as a fandom in general, they are super nice and friendly, there was no drama and a fan in front of us gave me and the wife bracelets for free with Dreamcatcher song names on it. Not one fan was rude or obnoxious and everyone was respectful when various Dreamcatcher members was speaking on the mic. Its moments like this that I realize whilst they are some toxic fandoms out there, Dreamcatchers fans are not among them, at least in the Cincinnati area that is.
The staff at Taft treat us well as well, no issues getting in or out, we did not have to deal with sticky chairs or any type of clutter. The sound team was also on it, there were some glitches but nothing that ruined the experience and backing vocals never overpowered the girls despite the booming sound.
The whole concert was an amazing experience and very well paced and that is why I had to write this RAVE which is one of the biggest kudos I can give to something (hence the name of my blog) and despite it being almost 2 weeks ago, it still sticks in my memory. We saw Dreamcatcher LIVE and I can honestly say all it did was make us even bigger fans of them. I must also take some time out to thank my wife, for encouraging us to go and getting us there. It was an experience like no other and one that will stick with us forever.
AV
No comments:
Post a Comment