[CON] Yellow Gold Tour 3011 @ Kobe World Memorial Hall, 15/02/2011 19:00
I'm not crossposting this one to comms (or likely the next two, either) since it's going to be short and of little interest to anyone who isn't on my f-list.
But just in case anyone else is reading this, a word to the person who linked Aubree to my 11/02/2011 report on her formspring without my knowledge:
I'm sure your intentions were good but please don't do that again. If Aubree wants to know what's going on at the cons, I'm sure she's got better ways to find out than reading through some random fangirl's ramblings peppered with fandom in-jokes and gentle mocking of Jin's masculinity. Thank you.
First show in Kobe! Today I went with the fabulous pithetaphish, who very kindly organised tickets for us and managed to land up with arena seats! Whether or not being in the arena is any good depends on where you are and who you're going to see - they're not very good for seeing KAT-TUN in the Tokyo Dome, for example, because you miss out on a lot of the action. On the other hand, if you're in the arena at the Kobe World Memorial Hall and happen to be watching a Jin concert, it's awesome because for some songs, you actually feel like you're at a rock concert.
We took the Port Liner across from Sannomiya, following the fangirls onto the train with yellow gold and murasaki seats. :-) Still a number of You & Jin bags and some fedoras, but the purple bobble hats don't seem to have caught on over here. Did see a number of people wearing the KTF jumper, though!
The DJ surprised me by playing Pink Floyd, in addition to the usual dance-type music.
Our seats turned out to be block D2, so opposite the stage but off to the left a bit, not so far from the door that we couldn't have made a quick getaway (had we not stopped to talk to the Japanese girls on the left), and able to see all the screens, the towers, and the giant transparent globes. What we couldn't see that well - or rather, what I, at my height, couldn't see that well - was the rear stage once we were all standing up. So I watched the screens a lot, and the front stage when they came around, and mostly threw myself into dancing with Lauren rather than taking notes. But hey, it's not like there's a lot to take notes on by this point and when you're down there with the music washing over you and stirring your blood, you just want to dance, not worry about whether or not you're about to stab yourself with your pen.
Which is probably why my scribbles are even messier than usual. I'll take a photo one day of bits that I can't read and send a shop photo to anyone who can decipher them for me.
Anyway, one of the bits I think I've written is that RoboJin had a mini-meltdown before "I could make you beautiful" in the Yellow Gold remix, like he sometimes does in Christmas Morning. And speaking of Christmas Morning, I would just like to say how amazing it is when you're sitting under the massive network of green, red and purple lasers crisscrossing the arena. It felt like I was in a video game or something.
I got a much better view for Magnitude because the moving platform stayed over on our side for a while, and this was when I noticed a welcome return to the Yellow Gold shows - Joey, twirling a glowing red rod, dancing in front of us while Jin was in the air! I wonder what he was doing when the Tokyo shows were on?
During INP the first mic battle was right in our corner, Paul and Juice vs. Jin and Joey, and they moved over to the opposite corner for the one with Lizzy. Jin pulled some marvellously indignant faces.
The guys had great fun during Oowah - while Jin walked round the edge of the stage with Joey in tow, the others grabbed hold of the giant transparent spheres (which were suspended in the air) and started swinging them out over the arena. They didn't go low enough for us to touch, of course, but it got everyone excited anyway.
Body Talk, yeah, yeah, off with the jacket and then with the sunglasses. The screens showed enough detail you could actually see the sweat dripping off the end of his chin, which was really more than I needed to see.
With Joey back on the scene, the next bit was slightly different to what I saw in Tokyo - I guess people who saw the show in Saitama or Osaka would've seen it, though? Paul and Juice in their blue jumpsuits appeared at the top of the towers, which were on either side of the stage, and started hitting the metal railings in time with the movement of the fluorescent ghosties, as I like to think of them. While Kazumi did a dance routine at this point in Tokyo, it was Joey in Kobe, and I am still impressed by the way he manages to throw himself around in the air like that.
Care and Murasaki from the arena? Phenomenal. I couldn't tell you what the actual performance was like - I was too busy soaking up the atmosphere and feeling the guitar reverberate through my bones.
The dance after Jin threw the guitar down the trap door was with Joey this time, so they ended up with all four guys in the cage. After breaking out with the power of dance, Jin and Joey joined Kazumi for their "Pop Dance" routine while Juice and Paul locked up the fluorescent ghosties before joining them in the dance.
Coffin time! This was probably the best opportunity I've had so far to see Miss Sullivan juggling the flaming torches and I have to say, I'm blown away. She passed them under her legs and everything.
I watched Paparats long enough to note that I could actually see the musicians this time - in the two towers, as it turned out, though normally they were hidden - and then I gave myself up to rocking out with Lauren. I love it when there's an actual band playing for this song because it always sounds better then, and being right down there with such primal, raw, angry sound slamming into you with the force of a freight train until all you can see is dripping red fire and flashes of lightning is probably one of the most powerful experiences I've ever had at a concert. Paparats is an assault on your senses: if it had a scent, it would be the scorched flesh of paparazzi; if it had a taste, it would be alcohol strong enough to sear your soul; if you could feel it, it would be like sticking your hand in a fire, or perhaps touching a live wire. It's got the other two covered.
Hey Girl requires me to be able to see everything in order to comment on it, I'm afraid. Josh was there again, and he and Jin came round by us during the "She's a bartender on the second floor" bit. When they returned to the rear stage, they did some dorky marching dance steps in unison. Uh...don't give up your day job, Josh - whatever it is.
When they did the crew intros, Joey was after Paul. The crowd didn't get worked up enough to chant the names at this point, sadly.
Pin Dom had all four guys doing the awkward crotch-thrusting walk to the front stage. There's just something wrong about that from a guy Joey's age... The line about wanting to see what's under that dress was girlishly high, which was fine because all of Jin's accompanying actions were...uh...you know how Kame basically feels himself up all over when he's trying to look especially slutty? Kind of like that.
Wonder's a great one for getting the audience dancing. The woman on my right, who spoke a little to us afterwards and shook our hands, had been alternating between clapping and swaying for most of the show but at this point she gave in and went for it. The girls next to Lauren were dancing just as much as we were, and I know there was a section in front of us doing it too.
During Yellow Gold, Jin changed "this new life in Tokyo" to "this new life in Kobe".
He sounded a little scratchy at the start of Tipsy Love, changed the tune for the last "ye-oh" in the opening, and gave us a beautiful smile afterwards. Josh was back - sorry, becquinho and ayuzak, nothing interesting to report today. When they were doing the intros Juice got us to yell out "Go Jin!", so Jin did a rather self-satisfied little dance. :-)
We stayed for the end credits and at least I've now solved the mystery of the other person credited as part of the LA #jincrew - DeShon Hamilton, who, when I looked him up, turned out to be Juice. (Which would explain why he wasn't on the list with Lizzy, Paul, Aubree and Dom, anyway!) This still doesn't tell me who bowler hat!guy was, but I guess now I'll never know. (And looking for Juice led me to Hiroko Ichikawa Sullivan = Miss Sullivan.)
I had a lot of fun! Trying to get back on the Port Liner after the show was not so enjoyable, but at least it's not that far to go for me to get back to the hotel. It was really nice being at a concert with someone else who was singing and dancing energetically beside me, and cringing at the English (like how the Body Talk lyrics on the screen actually say "My body's taking to you" when Jin's singing "My body's talking to you"), and generally flailing over all the cute things.
But just in case anyone else is reading this, a word to the person who linked Aubree to my 11/02/2011 report on her formspring without my knowledge:
I'm sure your intentions were good but please don't do that again. If Aubree wants to know what's going on at the cons, I'm sure she's got better ways to find out than reading through some random fangirl's ramblings peppered with fandom in-jokes and gentle mocking of Jin's masculinity. Thank you.
First show in Kobe! Today I went with the fabulous pithetaphish, who very kindly organised tickets for us and managed to land up with arena seats! Whether or not being in the arena is any good depends on where you are and who you're going to see - they're not very good for seeing KAT-TUN in the Tokyo Dome, for example, because you miss out on a lot of the action. On the other hand, if you're in the arena at the Kobe World Memorial Hall and happen to be watching a Jin concert, it's awesome because for some songs, you actually feel like you're at a rock concert.
We took the Port Liner across from Sannomiya, following the fangirls onto the train with yellow gold and murasaki seats. :-) Still a number of You & Jin bags and some fedoras, but the purple bobble hats don't seem to have caught on over here. Did see a number of people wearing the KTF jumper, though!
The DJ surprised me by playing Pink Floyd, in addition to the usual dance-type music.
Our seats turned out to be block D2, so opposite the stage but off to the left a bit, not so far from the door that we couldn't have made a quick getaway (had we not stopped to talk to the Japanese girls on the left), and able to see all the screens, the towers, and the giant transparent globes. What we couldn't see that well - or rather, what I, at my height, couldn't see that well - was the rear stage once we were all standing up. So I watched the screens a lot, and the front stage when they came around, and mostly threw myself into dancing with Lauren rather than taking notes. But hey, it's not like there's a lot to take notes on by this point and when you're down there with the music washing over you and stirring your blood, you just want to dance, not worry about whether or not you're about to stab yourself with your pen.
Which is probably why my scribbles are even messier than usual. I'll take a photo one day of bits that I can't read and send a shop photo to anyone who can decipher them for me.
Anyway, one of the bits I think I've written is that RoboJin had a mini-meltdown before "I could make you beautiful" in the Yellow Gold remix, like he sometimes does in Christmas Morning. And speaking of Christmas Morning, I would just like to say how amazing it is when you're sitting under the massive network of green, red and purple lasers crisscrossing the arena. It felt like I was in a video game or something.
I got a much better view for Magnitude because the moving platform stayed over on our side for a while, and this was when I noticed a welcome return to the Yellow Gold shows - Joey, twirling a glowing red rod, dancing in front of us while Jin was in the air! I wonder what he was doing when the Tokyo shows were on?
During INP the first mic battle was right in our corner, Paul and Juice vs. Jin and Joey, and they moved over to the opposite corner for the one with Lizzy. Jin pulled some marvellously indignant faces.
The guys had great fun during Oowah - while Jin walked round the edge of the stage with Joey in tow, the others grabbed hold of the giant transparent spheres (which were suspended in the air) and started swinging them out over the arena. They didn't go low enough for us to touch, of course, but it got everyone excited anyway.
Body Talk, yeah, yeah, off with the jacket and then with the sunglasses. The screens showed enough detail you could actually see the sweat dripping off the end of his chin, which was really more than I needed to see.
With Joey back on the scene, the next bit was slightly different to what I saw in Tokyo - I guess people who saw the show in Saitama or Osaka would've seen it, though? Paul and Juice in their blue jumpsuits appeared at the top of the towers, which were on either side of the stage, and started hitting the metal railings in time with the movement of the fluorescent ghosties, as I like to think of them. While Kazumi did a dance routine at this point in Tokyo, it was Joey in Kobe, and I am still impressed by the way he manages to throw himself around in the air like that.
Care and Murasaki from the arena? Phenomenal. I couldn't tell you what the actual performance was like - I was too busy soaking up the atmosphere and feeling the guitar reverberate through my bones.
The dance after Jin threw the guitar down the trap door was with Joey this time, so they ended up with all four guys in the cage. After breaking out with the power of dance, Jin and Joey joined Kazumi for their "Pop Dance" routine while Juice and Paul locked up the fluorescent ghosties before joining them in the dance.
Coffin time! This was probably the best opportunity I've had so far to see Miss Sullivan juggling the flaming torches and I have to say, I'm blown away. She passed them under her legs and everything.
I watched Paparats long enough to note that I could actually see the musicians this time - in the two towers, as it turned out, though normally they were hidden - and then I gave myself up to rocking out with Lauren. I love it when there's an actual band playing for this song because it always sounds better then, and being right down there with such primal, raw, angry sound slamming into you with the force of a freight train until all you can see is dripping red fire and flashes of lightning is probably one of the most powerful experiences I've ever had at a concert. Paparats is an assault on your senses: if it had a scent, it would be the scorched flesh of paparazzi; if it had a taste, it would be alcohol strong enough to sear your soul; if you could feel it, it would be like sticking your hand in a fire, or perhaps touching a live wire. It's got the other two covered.
Hey Girl requires me to be able to see everything in order to comment on it, I'm afraid. Josh was there again, and he and Jin came round by us during the "She's a bartender on the second floor" bit. When they returned to the rear stage, they did some dorky marching dance steps in unison. Uh...don't give up your day job, Josh - whatever it is.
When they did the crew intros, Joey was after Paul. The crowd didn't get worked up enough to chant the names at this point, sadly.
Pin Dom had all four guys doing the awkward crotch-thrusting walk to the front stage. There's just something wrong about that from a guy Joey's age... The line about wanting to see what's under that dress was girlishly high, which was fine because all of Jin's accompanying actions were...uh...you know how Kame basically feels himself up all over when he's trying to look especially slutty? Kind of like that.
Wonder's a great one for getting the audience dancing. The woman on my right, who spoke a little to us afterwards and shook our hands, had been alternating between clapping and swaying for most of the show but at this point she gave in and went for it. The girls next to Lauren were dancing just as much as we were, and I know there was a section in front of us doing it too.
During Yellow Gold, Jin changed "this new life in Tokyo" to "this new life in Kobe".
He sounded a little scratchy at the start of Tipsy Love, changed the tune for the last "ye-oh" in the opening, and gave us a beautiful smile afterwards. Josh was back - sorry, becquinho and ayuzak, nothing interesting to report today. When they were doing the intros Juice got us to yell out "Go Jin!", so Jin did a rather self-satisfied little dance. :-)
We stayed for the end credits and at least I've now solved the mystery of the other person credited as part of the LA #jincrew - DeShon Hamilton, who, when I looked him up, turned out to be Juice. (Which would explain why he wasn't on the list with Lizzy, Paul, Aubree and Dom, anyway!) This still doesn't tell me who bowler hat!guy was, but I guess now I'll never know. (And looking for Juice led me to Hiroko Ichikawa Sullivan = Miss Sullivan.)
I had a lot of fun! Trying to get back on the Port Liner after the show was not so enjoyable, but at least it's not that far to go for me to get back to the hotel. It was really nice being at a concert with someone else who was singing and dancing energetically beside me, and cringing at the English (like how the Body Talk lyrics on the screen actually say "My body's taking to you" when Jin's singing "My body's talking to you"), and generally flailing over all the cute things.