Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
When fansite 7-Dreamers and company Happy Face Entertainment announced that Dreamcatcher would be conducting their own fan meeting outside of KCON LA, the collective screams of InSomnia could be heard across the internet. Tickets were affordable and included getting an album or poster signed by the group. They actually sold out in minutes and the anticipation to see K-pop’s currently most unique girl group in Los Angeles for the first time could be seen flooding across social media.
By the morning of August 10, fans had already started to camp out and line up for the event, which set to start around 11 AM at the A List, a fantastic open light art and music space at the base of Downtown LA. Asian Junkie was granted the opportunity to participate in the event, so of course I slapped on a coat of war paint, grabbed Empanada and headed over to the venue, ready to rock out with Dreamcatcher!
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Honestly, this had to be the coolest fan experience I’ve ever attended! It was held in a room with an open floor plan, exposed brick walls, and beautiful art, but no AC. So actual industrial fans were strategically placed around the entire venue to cool the human fans who piled in and sat graciously waiting to see their faves.
I’m just going to stop here and say how absolutely fantastic it was to see InSomnia be excited yet totally respectful of the space, staff, management, each other, and Dreamcatcher at this event. Miraculously, there was no mess. No pushing or shoving to get closer, no embarrassing behavior, and none of the nefarious incidents that tend to happen in these types of rare close-quarters fanmeets. Everyone was just so respectful, and that contributed to the experience as well since it lowered the stress level of having to dodge crazy fans doing crazy things.
After everything was ready, Dami, Gahyeon, JiU, Yoohyeon, Handong, Siyeon, and SuA stepped out onto the stage to the excited cheers of fans. They greeted everyone with bright smiles, waves, and finger hearts, as Amy Chung (the translator for the event) stepped up to the mic and got the ball rolling.
They immediately started with the fansigning. Each and every fan in the building took turns getting in line, greeting each member, and getting their album or poster signed by Dreamcatcher. The girls were engaging, kind, and patient as every fan went through the line. They even got a bit excited when a few InSomnia showed up in custom Dreamcatcher baseball jerseys with members names on the back. Meanwhile, stacks of post-it notes circled throughout the room as 7-Dreamers staff collected questions for the girls.
Once everyone went through the fansign, fans took their seats. We were gifted with two performances; “You And I” and “Full Moon“.
The crowd cheered and chanted as these women moved expertly around the stage. Dami’s magical baton popped out and everyone lost their minds. To be honest, there’s such a unique quality to Dreamcatcher, not only in their creative concept choice but also in their quirky personalities and beauty. Each member is different and yet they look and work so well together on stage and off. Even in this blistering LA summer heat, Dreamcatcher absolutely killed the stage.
Once the performance was over, they sat back down on white folding chairs and proceeded with the Q&A portion of the event.
SuA is a walking meme as they asked her to dance and she busted out “Dame Tu Cosita” (which had everyone dying), but only after Siyeon proved to everyone that she’s a terrible yet hilarious beatboxer. SuA was so extra, engaging with fans every chance she got, making us laugh with the highest quality of meme behavior and dad jokes.
Dami then showed everyone how her baton worked and proficiently whipped it around to the delight of everyone around her. They all talked about their favorite dance moves, being happy to be in LA, loving their international fans, and decided that Handong has the nicest legs in the group while Dami has those goddess shoulder angles!
When they were asked “Which member would you marry?” Siyeon stepped up her fantastic creeper game by admitting that she loved when JiU slept because she made soft sweet noises as she snoozed. Everyone, including Dreamcatcher, collectively died laughing as Siyeon asked JiU to marry her and JiU accepted. I’m hoping for a Halloween wedding.
The girls followed by covering their favorite songs, both Korean and International, talked about stars in Hollywood they’d like to meet — including Daniel Henney (me too, sweetie, me too) — SuA loving In-N-Out, and SuA wanting to go swimming in Santa Monica with Yoohyeon reminding her that she can’t even swim.
Dreamcatcher even talked about their life’s mottos. My personal favorite being Siyeon’s “We’re all just trying to survive.”
They finalized the event by celebrating SuA’s birthday with a pretty cake decorated in strawberries.
“Thank you!“, she screamed as she pretended to blow out the candles then stopped half way to scream again, “I love you!” She blew out the candles and proceeded to saucily shove a strawberry in her mouth as she grinned at fans.
The were determined to take group photos with everyone there, shot with an American flag signed by fans for them, and that was that!
It was one of the most organized, calm, fun and intimate fan events I’ve ever experienced and I cannot wait to see Dreamcatcher back in the US again!
Thank you to 7-Dreamers and Happy Face Entertainment for allowing Asian Junkie to witness this awesome event!
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(Video Credits: Arianna Alarcon/CDN_Datawraith/SpideyCyclist)
