NCT DREAM finally hit London, and it was worth the wait

NCT, as a whole, have never really played by the rules. A mammoth 23-member boy group with a ‘limitless’ concept that could keep expanding and morphing over time (ironically, this idea has been sacked off now), delivering everything from polarising industrial electronic bangers to sultry 90s R&B to classic Korean ballads via it’s endless combinations of members, it is it’s own multiverse of madness.

Its junior unit, NCT DREAM, worked initially as a group of the youngest members, each one ‘graduating’ when they left teenhood and making way for the next. Somewhere along the line, a stopper was wedged in this revolving door of teen boy idols, and DREAM were left in limbo, stuck as a six-piece in 2020, with leader Mark having already outgrown the concept.

Three years after his re-addition and they’re finally performing together as a seven in the capital (there was a pandemic in between, you know). It’s immediately obvious what a victory this is for both the group and the fans, as thousands line up outside the OVO Arena Wembley, clad in neon green (the group’s official colour) and clutching banners that say “7dream is our missing puzzle piece”, a nod to a track recorded without Mark that became especially poignant when he rejoined.

When the show kicks off a little later than scheduled, it’s with ‘Glitch Mode’, the hyperpop-adjacent, sound-effect-laden chantathon completed with delicate vocals runs and a rock breakdown, it’s a perfect illustration of everything this group can - and will - do over the next two and a half hours. Racing through ‘Countdown (3, 2, 1)’ and ‘Stronger’, they’ve earned the break they take to introduce themselves, while Chenle mentions how jetlagged they are after flying in from Hong Kong just a couple of days prior. It doesn’t stop them giving their all, as they bolt back into ‘Dreaming’ and ‘Deja Vu’ at a second’s notice.