Screaming Along to DPR at the Roadrunner
Graphic by Lily Hartenstein
By Lily Suckow Ziemer
September 23, 2022 was unusually cold. But as I waited in line wearing a short, sleeveless dress I was filled with anticipation that helped me tolerate the pain. Even after arriving an hour early I was significantly far back in the line, which wrapped around multiple nondescript buildings surrounding the Roadrunner.
Dream Perfect Regime (DPR) is a South Korean company which focuses on promoting visual and musical artists of all genres. Their 2022 North American tour features DPR Cream (he/him), Live (he/him), and Ian (he/him), each performing their own set. Ian is known for his catchy R&B, and Live for hip hop, while Cream does a mixture of both.
As doors opened and the crowd quickly swarmed the stage, colorful lights, and a giant rainbow illuminated the venue, and background music began to play. Almost like an overture, sounds reminiscent of each artist's music played with recordings of them talking about their lives and inspirations laid over it. Their musings were hard to hear because of all the talking amongst the audience, but they created an intimate feeling between the artists and listeners.
DPR Cream started off the show, walking out on stage to his keyboard and laptop. He played music and tried to warm up the crowd, but people were mostly still. Aside from a few dynamic concert-goers dancing to the music, most were simply watching, occasionally holding up their phones. Although mostly just DJ-ing, his music was lively and set a good tone for the show that followed, but it felt unappreciated by the crowd.
DPR Live was next, quickly jumping into his song “LEGACY.” Although this concert wasn’t much of a moshing event, he quickly had everyone jumping, singing, or screaming along. He worked back and forth across the stage, keeping the crowd enraptured. As he rapped and sang upbeat songs he threw roses, used black stage risers to sit, and was even joined on stage by a giant inflatable astronaut for “Neon.” His announcement that the set was coming to an end was met with noises of objection, but he turned it around, asking the audience which songs they wanted to hear most. He conversed with the crowd as people shouted for “Yellow Cab” and “Jam & Butterfly.” Screams accompanied the intro music to each of these songs before Live thanked the crowd and went off-stage. Out of the lineup, Live was my favorite heading in. “Laputa” was one of my favorites performed live, at multiple points in the song Live stopped rapping for all of us to scream the lyrics in unison. When I told people I was going to see DPR I was met with a lot of confused looks, but being around so many people just as enthusiastic about an artist I love was an incredible experience.
Last up was DPR Ian who made a dramatic entrance, emerging from behind the stage curtains with black wings as tall as the ceiling. The black and red lighting was reminiscent of the visuals of his most recent album, Moodswings In To Order. He began with “So Beautiful,” while dancing, and for one song, bringing out his bass guitar to play along. About halfway through his performance, Ian stopped to talk to the crowd. Opening up about his past struggles to keep pursuing music, he gave advice to those wanting to follow creative pursuits. “For people who are now just pursuing their dreams… don’t be afraid to fall into slumps. There’s always a reason for everything.” For Ian’s last song, Live joined him on stage for their popular collaboration “No Blueberries” garnering the loudest cheers from the crowd I heard all night.
With the end of Ian’s set, the concert was over, but the entirety of DPR came out to perform an encore. Not only the performers, but writers, photographers, and producers came onto stage as Live rapped the final song, “To Myself.” The influx of energy took over the crowd as everyone sang, mirroring the excitement of those onstage. After someone handed Live a lobster stuffed animal and the artists said their goodbyes, the concert ended. While I’m sure everyone felt a bit of the post-concert blues, the energy DPR put into the show was radiating from the audience even as we left.