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So, one week ago today I saw my all time favourite kpop group. I've been wanting a way to encapsulate the memory forever, so i thought writing about my feelings would be best. I really can't believe it's already been a week. It still feels like only an hour ago. I'm finding it so hard to move on. The hardest it's ever been to move on from something like this. I wish to paint a picture. The journey really started with Underoath. Underoath are who I would call my "current favourite band." I have been listening to them since may of last year (2024) and have grown a very intense love for them very quickly. Back in November of last year, I stated that one of the only artists I think I would like to follow around for a tour would be Underoath. I'd also been predicting since pretty much right when I started listening to them that they'd announce an Australian tour for 2025, it just made a lot of sense since they hadn't been here in quite some time, and were already touring all over the rest of the world. Plus they'd seemed to consistently like coming to Australia. So here I was, prepared that if they announced a tour, that I would want to follow it around the country. the 12th of November. I was in line for the ARTMS concert with my best friend Orange. We'd been there since 4am lolXP. Underoath post a tour announcement for Australia with Alexisonfire! I was so happy! Sure I'd thought this was going to happen, but the fact it actually was was so amazing for me! Brisbane on the 8th of March 2025. (i'm from Brisbane heheh) Starting in Perth and ending in Melbourne. I would travel to Perth, Sydney and Melbourne with my dear friend Frank and it would be Beautiful. I started planning immediately. Now, on the subject of Dreamcatcher. I love them so much. I have loved them for almost 5 years now. 5 years in May, funnily enough. It's hard to put into words just how much I love them. I feel tears welling in my eyes at the very thought. They mean so much to me. They've been the group for me since the very beginning of my time liking kpop. They are such a Beautiful group of women that I feel I've experienced so much with in my life, that they feel like my family. I honestly never thought they'd come back here. They came to Australia the year before I started listening to them. They went to Sydney and Melbourne only, but there was a fire at the Melbourne venue so they only got to play Sydney. I had always hoped they'd come back, but never thought it would be all that possible. But of course, in my heart I knew that if they'd announced it I'd do everything I could to see them. So, there's this kpop concert organiser for Australia called boxlive. All but one of the kpop concerts I've been to have been organised by them. I actually had their post notifications on, since they organised the ARTMS concert i mentioned lining up for earlier. I'd wanted updates on stuff to do with ARTMS and had just never turned the notifications off afterwards. One day they posted an image saying "QUESS WHO". At first I was looking just out of curiosity, what if it was an artist I liked? I went to the comments to see what people were speculating. Almost every single comment said "DREAMCATCHER!!!!!". I started to panic. I saw someone mention how it had the InSomnia(fandom name) logo in the corners. They were right. It was blatantly Dreamcatcher. I hadn't realised it right away because, to be honest I'd been ignoring a lot of their world tour stuff. I get like that with kpop people at times, I can't handle the fact that I'm not seeing them so I just ignore the whole tour and all promo around it for my sanity lol. But the image was exactly in the style of all of their tour promo pictures. They may as well have just said it was Dreamcatcher then and there. So, that GUESS WHO post was made on the 26th of November. Two weeks after Underoath announced their tour. I had already decided and started putting plans in motion for Underoath. But because of this close annoucement timing, I started to talk to friends and family about the possibility of the tour dates also being close together for Underoath and Dreamcatcher. I remember saying stuff like "If Dreamcatcher is in early March I will actually lose my mind" lol..... Dreamcatcher was announced for the Melbourne on the 14th and Sydney on the 16th of March. Underoath's final date was the 14th of March in Melbourne. Immediately, there's issues. To be honest it got very convoluted and it's a lot to think about even now, after it's all happened. But you can imagine how this threw me off. For literal..... months. So let's fast forward all the way to the week of Underoath/the week before Dreamcatcher. At this point, I'd decided not to go to Underoath in Perth or Melbourne, almost entirely because of affordability issues. I was still set on making it to their Brisbane and Sydney dates, and travelling back down to Sydney to see Dreamcatcher only a couple days later.(if you're losing track of dates and things dw it's not that important HAHA) I was truly set on this plan! But on Monday the week of, I got a message in my work group chat from my manager, talking about a cyclone coming? I hadn't heard of a cyclone! So yeah, it turns out a Cyclone was predicted to hit my city for two days before Underoath in Brisbane. You might think, okay maybe it'll be okay? As long as it's not the day of! But no, I was instantly scared because the venue they were booked to play was an Outdoors venue. Surrounded by trees. If the cyclone was as bad as the news was making it out to be, they'd still be cleaning up the mess by the day Underoath were supposed to be there. And then the cyclone got delayed by almost a full day, pushing it even closer into the date Underoath were supposed to be here. All flights to and from Brisbane started getting cancelled in the surrounding days. Then finally, it came. Underoath were POSTPONING. I had been preparing myself for a cancellation, as every other major concert coming up had been cancelled. But they specifically said they were postponing it. So hooray! Underoath will still play Brisbane! But then, that was actually still a concern for me. I actually also planned to see Black Veil Brides on the 18th of March, after Dreamcatcher, in Brisbane. So all I could think of was if Underoath were postponing, they'll probably add it onto the end of the tour, which means it'll be around the time of BVB?! I was still so hopeful for my Sydney Underoath adventure, but I still hadn't booked it. And the cyclone was making me nervous. Skipping over some details, I didn't make it to Sydney Underoath either. Now I was only going to Sydney to see Dreamcatcher. Underoath announced the new Brisbane dates. The 15th AND 16th of March. With a new venue, one of my favourites, a SMALLER venue than before. Two Underoath dates in my home. On the day I left for Dreamcatcher, and on the day of Dreamcatcher in Sydney. I had no idea what to do. This was insane. Even thinking about it now is making me dizzy. Again skipping some details, I settled on seeing Underoath in Brisbane on the 15th, and flying to Sydney the very next morning to see Dreamcatcher. I do want to mention, in this process I had to rebook my flights and accomodation, and I'd realised my original flights for Dreamcatcher, which I'd booked months in advance were set to the 15th/17th of FEBRUARY and not MARCH. So I'd already missed my flights. $200(nice and cheap bc I'd booked them far in advance, but still, $200) just gone like that! It's okay, I was going to have to rebook them anyways. $400 for new flights. All was exciting. I was going to get to see both Dreamcatcher and Underoath still! And meet all my friends! Now, I have to mention the emotional aspect. So, the Monday OF Dreamcatcher (and now, Underoath in Brisbane) there was an annoucement. One I had honestly never thought I'd see the day for. Dreamcatcher announced that Three of their members didn't renew their contracts with the company. Gahmidong. Gahyun, Dami and Handong. My favourite group. Of all time. Were being torn apart. My heart felt like it was being torn to pieces. It still does to be honest. It hurts me so much. My family are being separated from each other. They wrote such heart wrenching letters to the fans following the news. It seems Handong will return to China, Gahyun will persue acting and Dami will pursue a solo career in music. Yoohyeon and Gahyun. The two girls I've dedicated years of my life to loving. My 2hyeon. It will become a rarity to see them together. It will become a rarity to hear Gahyun sing. When will they ever get to see Handong? My 2hyeondong. My line. Suddenly, these concerts held such a weight. They only had Melbourne, Sydney and then Taipei planned as a group. Full stop. These could be the last times we ever see them all together. Sydney will be the last time they're ever all in Australia together. I couldn't believe it. I cried. I wailed every single day. All of the days leading up to it started to feel like a blur. Melbourne, the first time they'd appeared together since the announcement, was particularly intense. That's some of the hardest I've ever cried in my lifetime. I've never had something like this happen with someone I've loved at this level. No band, no group. Not of this level of love. I thought they'd be together forever. Forever. They all cried on that day in Melbourne. More than I've seen any of them cry as well. So yeah, Dreamcatcher in Melbourne, crying over that content, was the day before Underoath. I honestly felt quite exhausted emotionally already, but I got myself so excited for Underoath nonetheless. This is supposed to be a compilation of my experience at Dreamcatcher, so I'm not going to go into grave detail on Underoath, only what I feel impacted my Dreamcatcher experience. It was absolutely mind blowing seeing them. I met an amazing girl who was a big fan of them and she encouraged me to wait outside to try to meet them. So I did. One and a half songs into Alexisonfire after Underoath's set, I went around the back of the venue to see if I could catch Underoath leaving. Now, I will tell you, I went absolutely insane for Underoath. I wanted to really feel it, and to really show them my love for them, since I managed to get barricade. I headbanged to an extreme extent, complete disregard for my neck. Normally I care way more about my neck than I did there lol. I was shaking profusely, barely able to hold my phone, and barely able to lower my head to look at it in my shaking hands either. Plus, I hadn't exactly had a sufficient amount of water for how much I was thrashing around. I had gone pretty much as hard as I could physically. So then, I waited out back. For an hour and 50 minutes total. I knew this wasn't the best idea, but worth it if I could meet Underoath! They never came out, me and other fans suspected they left immediately after their set, So I'd been only Just too late. So I went home at 1am, when I had to leave for my flight at around 4am. I knew this, so I decided it was best to just stay awake until leaving, which also gave me more time to shower and finish packing before my flight. But I was so exhausted, I decided to sleep. I said I would only sleep for half an hour. A power nap! I'd done it before! I set multiple alarms on my phone, and slept in an uncomfortable position to make it easy for me to wake up. But I didn't wake up. I woke up 20 minutes before my flight left. Those moments of me waking up partially refreshed, checking my phone and looking at the time, seeing a missed call from the Uber I'd booked to the airport, then Really looking at the time, and it sinking in were horrifying. Honenstly, terrifying. I'd missed my flight. Dreamcatcher. I got up in a panic, getting dressed thinking there might be some glimmer of hope. Trying to hold my sanity together. I instantly called my mum. She knew just how terrifying it was. There's nothing in this world that could make me miss seeing Dreamcatcher. Nothing. It took everything in me not to just scream out in pain. In talking to my mum, we both agreed I should just buy new flights for later in the day. It went against my plans there, but it was too late for those now, and I booked the new flights. $600. On top of the $600 I'd already lost on the other missed flights. I had some time then, I got myself together and went to the airport. I still never had time to shower though. T_T So, finally we make it to the portion of the story where I actually make it to Sydney! I got to the airport early, which was good because I had to take a sizeable anxiety break in the bathroom when I got there. And then I got a little lost because I hadn't been to the airport in a while as well heh. Through it all, I got there, I got on the plane and I was off to Sydney! The entire duration of the flight I listened to Airplane by Dreamcatcher! It was so beautiful! I couldn't believe I was actually on my way! Photos incoming now..... I took quite a few on my journey :3 photo of plane window It was a really pleasant flight! Honestly, I normally get quite anxious on planes and prefer to sleep through them. I was a lot more relaxed than I expected for this one! I was very lucky to have pleasant people sitting all around me as well! I spent time listening to Airplane, looking out at the awesome AWESOME views (I saw some crazy mountains?! I wonder where they were, I want to go find them wherever they were!) and I even watched a little bit of the Jesse Eisenberg show "Fleishman is in Trouble" which I'd downloaded three episodes of prior. I've been in a Jesse Eisenberg phase because I watched A Real Pain at the start of the month heheh. It really all made for such a pleasant Journey(heart) to Sydney! I got to Sydney and I was FRANTIC! to say the least. I was arriving an entire four hours later than I'd originally intended, which was a big deal to me because I had wanted to spend a lot of time lining up, hoping to get a good spot in the crowd. I was in quite the hurry upon arrival. So honestly I don't remember much about the airport in Sydney, I just remember thinking it was just incredible that I'd actually made it. I was actually there! I'd like to take this moment to point out the detail that at this point, at 1pm in Sydney (12pm Brisbane time, daylight savings) I had not eaten since the afternoon prior. Hours before Underoath. Plus, all I had eaten that day was Bread. Bread and Bread sticks. And not much at that. So yeah, I was quite hungry, but then there's also the fact that it was 35 degrees celcius in Sydney that day. Which rose to 37 in the time I was there. So here I was, in Sydney, not having eaten anything for almost a full day, running on about 4 hours sleep, in a city I'd never been to before, straight after an extreme metalcore concert, in 35 degree weather. I WAS PUMPED! This place was absolutely Beautiful. photo at airport bus stop

I started taking photos on my small digital camera my Mum had gotten me! There were weekend train track closures in Sydney, it was a Sunday. I had to get a bus into the city. I missed one bus trying to find the bus stop itself, during that time I had someone come up to me and ask where the bus stop I was also looking for was. I told him I'd never been there before and I was trying to find out the same thing. I guess I looked like a local..... heheh. I missed another bus just because I was confused on what bus to catch. But once I finally did get on a bus, it was incredibly crowded. Honestly, it was all so exciting for me. I couldn't believe i was actually travelling through the streets of Sydney. That I was actually there. But at this time I was in such a hurry to get to the concert venue to start lining up, that I didn't fully take it in. I don't feel sad about this though, I can go another time! But I was here to see my Deukae. photos of central station Central station was just amazing. I keep thinking of it, even now. I am still in awe of the enormity of it. To think that the most platforms that I've ever seen at a train station was 11, and this place had 25! I was in ssuch disbelief. And the way it's designed, I was just wowed. I went up an incredibly long escalator up to the platform. escalator photo There was already a train waiting with it's doors open, so I raced in. Oh my god. It had two levels. An upstairs and downstairs. Inside of a train! I really couldn't believe it. I was just so excited and overwhelmed, I sat down in the first seat I saw and rode the train, gobsmacked for one stop. I arrived at Towl Hall station! and Oh my God! This station was just as exciting! I was honestly confused on how to leave at first, extremely overwhelmed and in a hurry, also in a daze from the extreme heat. I saw such wonderful sights in that train station, but had to race out to find the Town Hall itself. I was almost there. There were protestors outside, the doors times boxlive had released for the concert did mention a gathering happening outside of the venue, and I realised that's what it was. I was again a little confused on where the actual entrance was for a moment, and then I saw it. The Sydney Town Hall. I made it! I found my awesome friend Plum in the line, and we were able to talk for a moment! I also talked to my other friend who had been there earlier, it was all so lovely! But wow, it was so hot! It was so hard to focus on anything in the heat. At this point, I want to skip ahead. Like, way ahead. I'm thinking so much of the concert. I keep remembering it, every day. All of these issues faced before the concert meant absolutely nothing to me once we were in there. Everything went splendidly. I finally got inside. Not as close as I would've liked, but in the window before the concert started, I did manage to move up closer by a few people. Only about 5-6 people backc from the front. It was so exciting. Before the show, they were playing instrumental versions of Dreamcatcher's songs. I was singing and dancing along in my spot. I was starting to feel it. They were in this building with me, and they would be coming onto the stage soon. How insane. When the time did finally come and the lights dimmed, the whole world stopped. They're here. They're about to walk out. I instantly started bawlling. Possibly the hardest I've ever cried. I keep remembering this feeling, of how my lungs felt like they were the size of a fist. I cried with everything in me, all of the air in my lungs completely gone with each sob. It hurt so immersurably. They were there. They were actually there. Right in front of me. They were there. They were singing. They were performing Full Moon, a song that I've loved, a song that I've seen them perform on a screen countless times, so many times I knew parts of the choreography. I was absolutely inconsollable from start to finish of the song, wailing as it ended. And the same for the next. Wonderland carol version. Just losing my mind, it felt like my mind would break with this knowledge. How could these Beautiful women that I've loved all this time, actually be here right now in front of me, after all of this? Under this circumstance? I love them so much. I love them so much. I love these songs so much. I love their voices so much. It's hard to believe they're real. All of this and more just screaming in my mind. I can't even recall it fully, nothing in this world can live up to the actual moment of standing there, in front of them, at that exact time. I had wished for this day since the very beginning of my love for them, but I honestly hadn't thought I'd ever get this chance. And for it to have been one of the last performances they'll ever has a full group..... Oh my God. It was truly Beautiful. \