♥ Ayabie
On Wednesday I went to the Ayabie concert! It was the best! Here's my concert report. Excuse the fangirling.
Meghan (
suissecheeze) and I took the train downtown a bit before 10 AM. We were so excited because a j-rock band was finally coming to Chicago! The concert wasn't until 6 PM, but we wanted to get in line early because the concert was general admission, and we wanted a good spot in the audience. Once we got downtown, we had to take the L to Logan Square. When we arrived there we wandered down the street and found a McDonalds, where we grabbed some food for lunch. We then made our way to Logan Square Auditorium, where the concert was being held.
By the time we actually got in line it was probably close to 12. There were probably a few dozen people ahead of us in line. And so began the waiting. It was hot and sunny. Meghan and I passed time by listening to her iPod and texting people. All the sudden, when we completely weren't expecting it, a couple taxis pulled up and the band arrived! I noticed Takehito getting out of his taxi and he waved to everyone in line. Out of all the band members, I got the best view of him because he was closest to us. The rest of the band was a little farther down, and I was able to get small glimpses of them as they went into the building. I had been excited before, but I think that was when the excitement really started setting in at full force. :D
A little later, security made the line move back into the alley beside the building because we were starting to block the sidewalk. We moved to the other side of the alley, the one that actually had some shade and was away from the garbage cans. That's when we met
deadlyspring and her friends Sara and Liz. They were really fun! We spent the rest of the time in line talking with them about things like ACen, anime, and (of course) j-rock. We ended up hanging out with our new friends throughout the whole concert. Eventually someone noticed a head poking out of the window, looking into the alley. I know it was one of the band members, pretty sure that it was Yumehito. Of course, everyone started squealing and waving to him. For quite sometime after that people kept looking up at the windows to see if anyone else would poke their heads out. Later on we could hear the band's muffled rehearsal. At some point, it was announced that we weren't going to be allowed inside if we had cameras with us. I didn't bring mine with me, but this led to Meghan and some of the other girls stuffing their cameras in their clothes to hide them. At another point, a bunch of us signed a really cute poster one of the fans drew for Ayabie. It had really cute chibi drawings of all the band members on it. She was going to give it to the band later, at the autograph session.
Doors were supposed to open at 6, but didn't actually open until 6:30. By this time we were super excited and anxious to get in. We decided to buy our merchandise first, so we wouldn't have to buy it after the show and would be able to get in line for the autograph session after the show right away. If you spent at least $30 you could get a ticket to the autograph session. I bought a tour shirt and a photoset to have the band sign. I stuffed my merchandise into my purse for safekeeping during the concert. Then we made our way over to the stage. We got a spot a little to the left of the center, with maybe four or five rows of people standing in front of us. It was a pretty good view because the venue was small. I would estimate that there were only a couple hundred fans at the concert. There was a staircase and a balcony at the back of the venue, and you could see where the dressing rooms were. Occasionally we would see a band member try to sneak by on the balcony, and the crowd would start cheering. Right before the concert started, we saw Takehito standing upstairs in the doorway. We cheered and he quickly scooted back behind the door. XD
I think it was around 7 when the band finally hit the stage. Kenzo, Yumehito, Intetsu, Takehito, and Aoi came down the stairway in the back and around to the stage. It was so exciting to see them~! All of them were gorgeous and so adorable! I had a pretty good view of all the members, except for when Aoi would sometimes block my view of Kenzo and his drums. Seriously, Aoi was the most adorable thing ever. I made sure to watch all the band members during the concert, but Aoi was the one I ended up watching the most. He was so happy and bouncy while he was singing! And I laughed when he puffed his cheeks out and made his cute little faces at us. He had us jumping around and following along with his furitsuke hand motions from the very beginning. Some of the crowd was boring and didn't even attempt to do the furitsuke, but I tried my best. There were only a couple really complicated ones that I couldn't keep track of. Our little group had a joke that if the hand motions got too complicated we were going to switch over to "cat batting at shiny objects" hand motions. At one point during the concert, we lost track and did the cat hand motion. Meghan swears she saw Takehito look over at us and smirk while we were doing it. XD I'm also pretty sure that I made eye contact with Takehito at least once during the concert. He was the band member that was closest to us from our position in the audience, so I had a good view of him playing his guitar. He caught me looking at him~. He was so cool! Intetsu was such a cutie, playing his bass. I loved his smile. Kenzo was looking very bad ass in the back. Kenzo really needs some more love. Yumehito was a cutie too. Occasionally he would give the crowd joking looks like "You guys are crazy". Lol. I loved it during "Cubic' [L/R]ock" when he walked close to Aoi with a little smirk on his face and Aoi just grinned and pushed him back.
I kept smiling throughout the whole concert. It was hard not to! I was so hot and sweaty, but I just didn't care. The music was great and I was having so much fun. I was surprised at how well behaved the crowd was too. I was expecting there to be more pushing, but there really wasn't, except for the times when the band would come up to the edge of the stage.
Aoi did a few MCs during the concert. Most of what he said was in Japanese. I tried to make out some of it, but it was hard to hear sometimes. I think at one point he said something about how we couldn't understand what he was saying, of course the crowd cheered anyways. And the band then proceeded to giggle at us. XD They introduced themselves to us in English. It was really cute. Aoi introduced himself and thanked us. When it was Yumehito's turn he sang "Hello Chicago!~" at us. Takehito said hello to us and introduced himself. He seemed a little flustered. Intetsu introduced himself to us in a really cute high pitched voice. When it was Kenzo's turn Aoi had us chant his name. Kenzo pretended he couldn't hear us until we chanted louder. Kenzo didn't actually talk to us. I'm not sure why, but that's okay.
At the end of the show the band threw their picks and drumsticks into the crowd. Aoi splashed the crowd with his water bottle. Takehito looked like he was jokingly trying to push Intetsu into the crowd. The band members came to the front of the stage and were grabbing people's hands. The crowd surged forward, so I went with it. I got near the front and Yumehito touched my hand! *squeal* As soon as the band was off the stage and back upstairs, people hurried to make a line for the autograph session.
We quickly got in line. I was so hot and my throat was so dry from all my cheering, so I gave Meghan my money and she went to the back of the room and bought water for us. We waited for a bit in line, super excited and nervous, while we chatted with the people around us. It wasn't a real long time before the band came back down. We we only allowed to get one item signed, and no handshakes or hugs. The line moved at a fairly good pace because of that. It wasn't long before it was my turn. I had each band member sign their picture from the photoset. The order for autographs was Yumehito, Kenzo, Aoi, Intetsu, then Takehito. They were all so gorgeous and nice! I was going to try to say something to them, with my new Japanese knowledge, but I was so excited and nervous that I couldn't get out much more than a "hello" and a "thank you" to each band member. I can't believe I got to meet them! *flails around in happiness* As soon as I got out of the room with everyone else we squealed and had total fangirl moments.
Then it was time to go home. Meghan and I said goodbye to our new friends, gave them hugs, and made promises to look them up on myspace, lj, etc. We went to wait for the L again. On our way to the L, Meghan and I decided that our lives were just that much closer to being complete after seeing Ayabie. Lol. (Yeah, we're goofy.) While waiting for the L to arrive, Meghan and I ended up talking with some other girls who had also been at the concert. We found out that they had come all the way from Ohio to see Ayabie. So, we chatted with them on the L ride about how awesome the concert was. When Meghan and I got off the L we found that we had just missed our train back home and that we would have to wait another hour for the next one. :P So, we sat around and did what else, but talk more about the concert. We were so achy and tired (my feet really hurt from my boots), but so very happy. When we finally did get on our train, Meghan fell asleep and I just sat there grinning to myself as I remembered the night's events.
I still can't get over how awesome the concert was~. Before the concert I liked Ayabie, but now I consider them one of my favorite bands. They put on such a fun show. It was the best concert that I've been to. Ever since then, I've been listening to their music all the time.
So, um, if you made it through all that you get a gold star. It's totally tl;dr. ^_^;
Meghan (
suissecheeze) and I took the train downtown a bit before 10 AM. We were so excited because a j-rock band was finally coming to Chicago! The concert wasn't until 6 PM, but we wanted to get in line early because the concert was general admission, and we wanted a good spot in the audience. Once we got downtown, we had to take the L to Logan Square. When we arrived there we wandered down the street and found a McDonalds, where we grabbed some food for lunch. We then made our way to Logan Square Auditorium, where the concert was being held.
By the time we actually got in line it was probably close to 12. There were probably a few dozen people ahead of us in line. And so began the waiting. It was hot and sunny. Meghan and I passed time by listening to her iPod and texting people. All the sudden, when we completely weren't expecting it, a couple taxis pulled up and the band arrived! I noticed Takehito getting out of his taxi and he waved to everyone in line. Out of all the band members, I got the best view of him because he was closest to us. The rest of the band was a little farther down, and I was able to get small glimpses of them as they went into the building. I had been excited before, but I think that was when the excitement really started setting in at full force. :D
A little later, security made the line move back into the alley beside the building because we were starting to block the sidewalk. We moved to the other side of the alley, the one that actually had some shade and was away from the garbage cans. That's when we met
deadlyspring and her friends Sara and Liz. They were really fun! We spent the rest of the time in line talking with them about things like ACen, anime, and (of course) j-rock. We ended up hanging out with our new friends throughout the whole concert. Eventually someone noticed a head poking out of the window, looking into the alley. I know it was one of the band members, pretty sure that it was Yumehito. Of course, everyone started squealing and waving to him. For quite sometime after that people kept looking up at the windows to see if anyone else would poke their heads out. Later on we could hear the band's muffled rehearsal. At some point, it was announced that we weren't going to be allowed inside if we had cameras with us. I didn't bring mine with me, but this led to Meghan and some of the other girls stuffing their cameras in their clothes to hide them. At another point, a bunch of us signed a really cute poster one of the fans drew for Ayabie. It had really cute chibi drawings of all the band members on it. She was going to give it to the band later, at the autograph session.
Doors were supposed to open at 6, but didn't actually open until 6:30. By this time we were super excited and anxious to get in. We decided to buy our merchandise first, so we wouldn't have to buy it after the show and would be able to get in line for the autograph session after the show right away. If you spent at least $30 you could get a ticket to the autograph session. I bought a tour shirt and a photoset to have the band sign. I stuffed my merchandise into my purse for safekeeping during the concert. Then we made our way over to the stage. We got a spot a little to the left of the center, with maybe four or five rows of people standing in front of us. It was a pretty good view because the venue was small. I would estimate that there were only a couple hundred fans at the concert. There was a staircase and a balcony at the back of the venue, and you could see where the dressing rooms were. Occasionally we would see a band member try to sneak by on the balcony, and the crowd would start cheering. Right before the concert started, we saw Takehito standing upstairs in the doorway. We cheered and he quickly scooted back behind the door. XD
I think it was around 7 when the band finally hit the stage. Kenzo, Yumehito, Intetsu, Takehito, and Aoi came down the stairway in the back and around to the stage. It was so exciting to see them~! All of them were gorgeous and so adorable! I had a pretty good view of all the members, except for when Aoi would sometimes block my view of Kenzo and his drums. Seriously, Aoi was the most adorable thing ever. I made sure to watch all the band members during the concert, but Aoi was the one I ended up watching the most. He was so happy and bouncy while he was singing! And I laughed when he puffed his cheeks out and made his cute little faces at us. He had us jumping around and following along with his furitsuke hand motions from the very beginning. Some of the crowd was boring and didn't even attempt to do the furitsuke, but I tried my best. There were only a couple really complicated ones that I couldn't keep track of. Our little group had a joke that if the hand motions got too complicated we were going to switch over to "cat batting at shiny objects" hand motions. At one point during the concert, we lost track and did the cat hand motion. Meghan swears she saw Takehito look over at us and smirk while we were doing it. XD I'm also pretty sure that I made eye contact with Takehito at least once during the concert. He was the band member that was closest to us from our position in the audience, so I had a good view of him playing his guitar. He caught me looking at him~. He was so cool! Intetsu was such a cutie, playing his bass. I loved his smile. Kenzo was looking very bad ass in the back. Kenzo really needs some more love. Yumehito was a cutie too. Occasionally he would give the crowd joking looks like "You guys are crazy". Lol. I loved it during "Cubic' [L/R]ock" when he walked close to Aoi with a little smirk on his face and Aoi just grinned and pushed him back.
I kept smiling throughout the whole concert. It was hard not to! I was so hot and sweaty, but I just didn't care. The music was great and I was having so much fun. I was surprised at how well behaved the crowd was too. I was expecting there to be more pushing, but there really wasn't, except for the times when the band would come up to the edge of the stage.
Aoi did a few MCs during the concert. Most of what he said was in Japanese. I tried to make out some of it, but it was hard to hear sometimes. I think at one point he said something about how we couldn't understand what he was saying, of course the crowd cheered anyways. And the band then proceeded to giggle at us. XD They introduced themselves to us in English. It was really cute. Aoi introduced himself and thanked us. When it was Yumehito's turn he sang "Hello Chicago!~" at us. Takehito said hello to us and introduced himself. He seemed a little flustered. Intetsu introduced himself to us in a really cute high pitched voice. When it was Kenzo's turn Aoi had us chant his name. Kenzo pretended he couldn't hear us until we chanted louder. Kenzo didn't actually talk to us. I'm not sure why, but that's okay.
At the end of the show the band threw their picks and drumsticks into the crowd. Aoi splashed the crowd with his water bottle. Takehito looked like he was jokingly trying to push Intetsu into the crowd. The band members came to the front of the stage and were grabbing people's hands. The crowd surged forward, so I went with it. I got near the front and Yumehito touched my hand! *squeal* As soon as the band was off the stage and back upstairs, people hurried to make a line for the autograph session.
We quickly got in line. I was so hot and my throat was so dry from all my cheering, so I gave Meghan my money and she went to the back of the room and bought water for us. We waited for a bit in line, super excited and nervous, while we chatted with the people around us. It wasn't a real long time before the band came back down. We we only allowed to get one item signed, and no handshakes or hugs. The line moved at a fairly good pace because of that. It wasn't long before it was my turn. I had each band member sign their picture from the photoset. The order for autographs was Yumehito, Kenzo, Aoi, Intetsu, then Takehito. They were all so gorgeous and nice! I was going to try to say something to them, with my new Japanese knowledge, but I was so excited and nervous that I couldn't get out much more than a "hello" and a "thank you" to each band member. I can't believe I got to meet them! *flails around in happiness* As soon as I got out of the room with everyone else we squealed and had total fangirl moments.
Then it was time to go home. Meghan and I said goodbye to our new friends, gave them hugs, and made promises to look them up on myspace, lj, etc. We went to wait for the L again. On our way to the L, Meghan and I decided that our lives were just that much closer to being complete after seeing Ayabie. Lol. (Yeah, we're goofy.) While waiting for the L to arrive, Meghan and I ended up talking with some other girls who had also been at the concert. We found out that they had come all the way from Ohio to see Ayabie. So, we chatted with them on the L ride about how awesome the concert was. When Meghan and I got off the L we found that we had just missed our train back home and that we would have to wait another hour for the next one. :P So, we sat around and did what else, but talk more about the concert. We were so achy and tired (my feet really hurt from my boots), but so very happy. When we finally did get on our train, Meghan fell asleep and I just sat there grinning to myself as I remembered the night's events.
I still can't get over how awesome the concert was~. Before the concert I liked Ayabie, but now I consider them one of my favorite bands. They put on such a fun show. It was the best concert that I've been to. Ever since then, I've been listening to their music all the time.
So, um, if you made it through all that you get a gold star. It's totally tl;dr. ^_^;