Arashi Are You Happy Tour report - November 11, 2016 Sapporo
Edit: I've updated this entry on the 12the after seeing the second show to add details I didn't notice before or mistakes I made in my report. For new or different things from the second concert please check the separate entry.
This was the first day of the first venue. I went to the concert with some friends (not yarukizero, for those curious she is into another group right now and not really up to date with Arashi). Our seats were 3-4 rows back towards the side of the stands (near 1st base). We had a great view when the carts came by and could see the stages fairly well.
The concert started a few minutes late. They showed the ads for their regular shows as usual every half hour before it started. I was surprised with how simple the stages were compared to their past concerts. The main stage just had square screens and there were no obvious back stage.
The lights dimmed and a vtr came on of the Arashi character with a mustache (like the goods). The vtr was about five minutes, like a documentary of preparing for the concert. They showed them practicing dancing, checking a miniature of the stage, eating food in the back room and things like that. There was one scene near the end where Sho was running Jun's shoulders as he sat in a chair and the audience screamed. They both looked at the camera like they though we would be and were amused by it. Nino had a sweat band across his forehead and his hair was sticking out each which way. There was a scene of Ohno in a massage chair and Nino said all he had to say was "Are you happy?" To please us. Sho wasn't around to practice with the other members so the four of them left a cute note for him on the mirror. When Sho found it he walked up to pull it off while smiling and reading it. At the end was finally a short clip of Nino in one costume, then Ohno practicing his solo, then Aiba outside practicing and Nino playing a guitar. They did an up close shot of their faces and then the lights went out again.
On the screen it showed "11.11 Sapporo". The first song was Ups and Downs but the intro was really long. The live band came up first and was playing for several minutes before a bunch of fireworks went off on the main stage and Arashi came up. They were wearing shiny jackets in various colors and patterns. Aiba was wearing a red shirt with a large black bow tied around his neck so I remembered it because it was cute.
Next was Supersonic (which I was excited to hear) and then I Seek. They got onto a moving stage that went all the way to the back of the arena. On the sides of the stage there were four spot lights that came up and down and shone the lights on the crowd as well as the members.
At the end of Oh Yeah they yelled out to the crowd.
Aiba: Everyone are you having fun? Are you happy?
Sho: Sapporo let's have fun! Say oh yeah~
Us: Oh yeah!
After doing the call they went into Love So Sweet. They were riding the tall carts and Aiba, Sho, and Ohno came in front of us. They were all waving generally but didn't seem to be pointing or noticing anyone particular. But I guess the girl in front of me got enough Sho fan service because she started crying when they finally left the front of our section.
When they made it to the front stage Nino and Jun came on the screens as they left their cart. They were stopped and both motioning for the other to go first. But Nino eventually put his arm around Jun's shoulder and they walked down to the front stage together that way. During Jun's solo Nino stared at him with his arm still over his shoulder so their faces were really close together. At the end of the song the five of them were waving at the audience and bowed together. The lights dimmed for a second and the Arashi character came on the screen to ask us "are you happy?"
The opening greetings were pretty typical so I'll keep it short. By the way, the pen light colors changed to match the member color for who was talking.
Jun: Hey~ It's been a while! Were you good? Welcome to Arashi's concert! Are you ready to have fun? Great! Are you ready to be happy? Are you ready to follow us? Let's have fun!!
We'll make you all "happy"! Let's have fun together.
Nino: Irrashaimasei!
The concert is here! Let's have fun! Your voices are so loud! He has something to say!
Aiba: oh uhh... more! (Nino suddenly passed on the speech to Aiba so there was no transition or timing for Aiba but he jumped right in to making us call to him)
Are you getting hot? Do you want to get hotter?
Ohno: Hai~
It's been a while! Can you do well on the first day? Shall we do the usual?
Sapporo Are you Happy matsuri...
Us: Day!!
When Sho came out he hand changed into a grey pinstriped suit.
Sho: Sapporo~
(He raised his finger to his nose in one of his weird imitation motions)
How are the men doing? (Choshi wa dou da; he suddenly started so it wasn't very loud, he asked again but there probably weren't many men, although one was sitting behind me and tried the best he could to yell out)
How are the women doing?
How is Sapporo doing?
How are the upper stands?
How is the arena?
How's the bottom?
How's Sapporo??
We are ready. Let us hear your voices! Say Arashi!
After the call Sho did his normal introduction in English to the concert, including the title and Sapporo. "Let's get the party started."
Next was Sho's solo. The main large screen turned into a house (so it looked like Sho was standing in the second level and there was a blue sky outside). He walked down to the main stage and the back dancers slowly came out one at a time. The dancing was simple and cute. As he walked down the main walkway they did an overhead view for us so we could see the floor looked like a road with a dotted yellow line down the middle. Flowers started blooming across the floor screen until we couldn't see the road anymore. When they got to the middle Sho turned around to call to his back dancers to come closer like they were his close friends.
After it was over the dome went completely dark again. When the lights came back on Sho was holding a smart phone up to his ear to start To My Homies. On the main screen they showed a vtr of him sitting in what looked like a living room looking through old photos of the members.
Ohno came up for his rap and old photos of him appeared on the main stream. The same happened for all the members solos and some group pictures in the middle. Their costumes were jackets that looked like they had been made from various patches and fabric. Sho's was my favorite costume of the night I think. He was wearing tight pants with a jacket. He white shirt was covered in some English writing I couldn't see well, but poking out from the short hem on the bottom was a blue dress shirt. He had a ton of pins on his jacket collar.
On the main stage during the Aiba and Sho duet of the song Aiba leaned over and smacked Sho's butt several times as they were walking together. Ohno, Jun, and Nino swayed together on the other side of the stage when it was their turn.
During the last part of the song the main screen showed a vtr of the five of them playing the game of life together in the living room. It was funny because Jun kept fanning himself with the money and apparently Ohno was losing. They were all smiling a lot and looked like they were having a ton of fun.
After the lights dimmed again we suddenly saw a bright light to the right of the main stage and heard an engine roaring nose. When the lights came on, a cart type thing came out with all the memebers. Actually it was a blue chevy car float on a stand so it was the same height as the big carts. Jun was driving, Sho was in the passenger seat with a hand camera that had a live feed to the main screen. In the back Nino was behind Sho and Ohno behind Jun with Aiba sitting up in the seat between them. The license plate said ARS 0915
For Drive, they went around the perimeter of the arena (right in front of us!!) Sho kept filming each member during their solos of the song so that was fun to watch. They were too busy messing around to really look at the audience on our side but that was fine. As they got to the back the car turned into rainbow (it looked like an electrical parade float) and Sho passed the camera to Nino. At the back fireworks went off and they stopped as if to watch them.
For Step and Go, Jun stood up for his solo at the start. Nino recorded his butt and even did a closeup as Jun swayed back and forth, then turned the camera to Ohno who was obviously watching Jun's butt. Nino switched back and forth several times between Jun's butt and Ohno's face before Jun finally sat down. Ohno turned and gave a big cheesy smile to the camera, and Nino passed the camera to him. As they went around the other side of the dome, Ohno filmed some of the fans in the stands with the hand camera.
Last it was Jun's turn to take the camera. He filmed Sho during his rap part and for a second another camera took a video of the scene and everyone screamed. Jun was jamming to Sho's rapping was staring at the screen of the camera he was holding.
For Don't You Get It the lights went off again and when it came back on they were all wearing sunglasses. We screamed of course but they threw them off after a few seconds and walked a little closer to the main stage. They stopped and a strong wind came on to blow their hair out of their faces. They did a sexy hip thrusting move and then started towards the middle of the stage again. Nino had really unruly hair after that that made me laugh. In the background the pv was playing along with the live videos of them dancing.
They were in the center stage when the song finished. There wasn't any music and the lights came on all the way so I almost thought it was the MC except for how early it was.
Jun: Sapporo~ Are you happy?
Us: yay~
Sho: are you having fun? In the first half we really danced!
They noted that Aiba's voice cracked and he sounded funny during his opening greeting.
Sho: Uhm... maybe some people think this is the time to rest but it's not
Jun: I mean, if you want to rest please do.
Sho: yes, but I'm not going to tell you to sit down now.
They started walking back to the main stage.
Sho: So today is the first day of the concert. But it seems everyone listened to the album because there was a good reaction when we started the first song.
If you didn't listen I'd be pretty sad.
Jun: Great solo, Sunshine.
Sho: Thank you!
Nino made a comment that Aiba was overly excited too, then they started talked in an over exaggerated voice. But we all got excited since they were using each other's first names without anything like san or chan.
Nino: What's the matter, Sho?
Sho: what do you think Kaz?
Jun: S.H.O.W. Sho what's up?
Sho: Maybe you noticed but Ohno is gone.
Nino: Ohno?
Jun: Ohno?
Sho: Oh no!!
Of course that led into Ohno's solo. It started with a vtr of him taking a shower and drying off. They didn't actually show his face at first, just close ups of his arms and chest. When he dried off his hair they finally showed his whole torso while he got dressed. He tried on a few pairs of glasses before choosing some.
He came up on the main stage dressed in a sparkly blue suit with red and silver accents. He threw off his glasses after the opening of his solo song. And did some cool dancing. He did a pantomime like he was stuck in box and I was impressed by the high quality of his movements (I shouldn't have been haha).
After the opening verse and leading to the chorus, Ohno's face came on the main screen but he made a stupid expression and then all the brightly colored lights came on. At one point the screen showed a vtr of his face being blown by a high speed fan with his mouth open awkwardly.
He came down from the upper stage to the main stage and on the screens behind him there were replicas of himself as the back dancers. At first there were only eight or so evenly spaced but as the song went on there were more and more. The funniest part was that one of the copies on the back screen kept messing up, either being behind on the beat or going the opposite direction. There was even one part that it fell over! Towards the end of the song there were more than a hundred all the way to the top doing the same dance. The weird choreography and dorky background made me think of Disco Star.
They went into Two to Tango next. The other members were also wearing blue suits with red and silver accents. There was a strange choreography with them holding their arms out and shaking their hands. Sho's rap in this was really cool too. The other four members fell to the floor in a cross and were reaching out to Sho as he stood in the middle as if they were fighting to stand up or move at all. At the end of the rap they had lunged at it and it looked like he pushed them off together. Of course some of the choreography was tango moves but not much of it.
Fukatsu Love was nice. Although they were sweaty the members all looked really pretty and they got some good close ups of them as they danced. They moved to the middle stage and then got on the small carts for Aozora no Shita. They moved to the back stage to do Power of the Paradise which Jun introduced. But on the word "Paradise" his voice rose into a girly tone like he was doing an impression.
During the start Aiba jumped over Sho as he bent over. A lot of people in the audience seemed to know the dance to it.
For the MC they went back to the center stage. They said stuff like "we're Arashi" and "it's been a while!"
Sho: So it's been a year since our last concert.
Did you enjoy the first half?
Us: Yay!
Sho: Ok, now is the time you can sit down.
I heard it's minus 4 outside. Is everyone cold?
I was watching the news earlier and they were showing the dome and interviewing people.
I was excited because when I looked at the information for the tv program it said "a digest on Arashi's concert in Sapporo"
So some people in this audience were interviewed, right?
Nino: They definitely were or else we'd have a problem.
Sho: They also interviewed some people they couldn't get a ticket either.
Aiba: I saw that, for people that have done 3 day concerts in Sapporo it was only Arashi. No other group does 3 days here.
Nino: Us and the Nippon Ham Fighters (its the local baseball team)
Aiba: when I heard that I suddenly felt nervous.
Nino: that's a lot to live up to.
Sho asked the audience who had seen a baseball game there. A lot of people called out or cheered. They talked quickly about the Japan baseball series and that the Ham Fighters had won at their home dome.
Sho: Even if you support a different team you can be moved during a game like that.
Jun: Yeah.
Nino: everyone can enjoy it.
Sho: like if I was watching a soccer match between Brazil and Portugal (I'm pretty sure I mistook the two famous teams he said but I can't remember now)
Ohno: So even if you don't care about either team...?
Nino: you have so sense for what we're talking about.
Sho: Everyone saw his solo right? That was something.
Nino: it's art right?
Ohno: Yes. I wasn't messing around. I did my best.
Sho and Jun asked the audience a few questions so we clapped in reply. Did we think it was cool? Was he messing around?
Sho: Who thought, when they listened to the album for the first time, that it was a joke?
Actually we all practice our solos separately so we didn't know what it would look like right up until the last minute. All 4 of us were watching like this. *pretends to look at a screen with wide eyes*
Nino: There's a message to your song right?
Ohno: yes.
Sho: Is it something you can talk about?
Ohno: Sure.
Nino: I don't think it's something they'll understand otherwise...
Sho: Seems like it's important for kids to listen to right?
Ohno: "Bad Boy" in Japanese is like useless (dame), but there's no such things as a perfect life. You'll always run into a wall, so it's about overcoming those walls. When I overcame my walls and broke free I did a happy dance!
He showed us his dance from his solo which was like kicking his legs out to either side. So the message was to overcome your walls and not give up.
Sho also mentioned Jun's high pitched Power of the Paradise intro as Jun left the stage. Then he went into their promotions. First he talked about his wheelchair basketball drama (that it had been two years since he's done a drama and couldn't remember how to do it well). He told us to take a nap in the afternoon before it starts because since it's over the new year holiday people will be sleep during it since it runs late at night.
Ohno and Nino both talked about their movies coming out next year. When they were finished Sho tried to say he was in a movie too and began describing it, but Jun cut in from back stage "that's my movie!"
Nino: It is quite possible that he might have exactly the same role as you
Sho: It's in my private life
Aiba: me too?
Nino: No.
Aiba: A story about my private life is ok right?
Yesterday I got locked out of my room again at 3 am.
I was in a t-shirt and underwear, but luckily I wore a mask to bed. So I walked out into the hallway and got locked out. (He was talking about sleep walking.)
Nino: why don't you lock the door or something so you can't leave?
Aiba: I usually don't sleep walk.
Nino: Only in Hokkaido?
Sho: you don't at home?
Aiba: No. I think it's because it was before the first concert and I was nervous.
Sho introduced the band and then Aiba yelled out to us to get us pumped for the second half.
Of course they went right into Jun's solo: he was wearing a trench coat that was orange/brown and white. He was wearing white pants with a blue shirt under his jacket. It was obvious he was singing live into the mike because of his slightly nasally tone. During his solo on he main screen they showed a bunch of his private photos of friends and him with babies too (not sure who they were).
For Miles Away they came up on the towers. We weren't really close to any but we watched Sho in the section over. During Hatenai Sora he finally started waving to some people before going back down to return to the stage.
During Wonder Love I had fun watching Sho's flowing shirt as he twirled around during the choreography. Hanging lights (they looked like thin polls hat had one end lit up) came down in white and eventually changed to a rainbow).
I was very impressed by Ninos solo since I thought he'd just play the guitar or something again. He was wearing the same white outfit from the previous song and had some great hip hop style dancing moves.
Aiba came out on the middle stage for his solo. At first I thought he was wearing the tour shirt but it said "Amore" instead of "Are you happy?" He sang the first part normally but when it got upbeat him and his dancers lifted their shirts in time with the music. Their choreography also included running in a circle with their arms out like an airplane. Halfway through Aiba put on a white helmet. The back dancers laid down or bent over and Aiba climbed on top of them like he was riding a bike. On the main screen it added to the effect by showing trees and the road passing by. They the dancers all got down and he "surfed" across them with an ocean in the back.
Then the dancers made a circle around him and Aiba did a headstand using his helmet while twirly really slowly in a circle like a break dancer (but so slow haha!) when he laid back down on the ground two dancers wearing light emergency helmets brought a stretcher forward and loaded him onto it. They started back to the front stage but after a few steps they suddenly turned and threw Aiba back. He landed on his feet and then went back to the middle stage to dance out the rest of the song. By the way the crowd was all singing lousy to the yeahs and la la las.
At the end Aiba did a backflip and then made a heart with his hands across his chest.
That led into Seigshun Boogie. They prepared some set up about a school that you can only graduate from after you experience failed love "shitsuren". They did an introduction of the five students that have never graduated. I wish I could have taken note of the full intro but they went by way too fast.
First was Nino, a hikikomori that always plays games. On stage Nino was holding a game controller pretending to play while sitting down. He did his roll move and then laid on his side while still playing.
Ohno's intro said he was able to catch fish but not women. He had a pole he was fishing off the stage with and he "caught" a fish so held it up to show us.
Sho's had something to do with writting 4000 letters to the same girl and not being able to give up on her. On stage he was playing an ocarina sadly while a dancer behind him showered Sakura blossoms on him. He stopped playing for a few seconds but the music kept going so we knew he wasn't actually playing it.
Jun's intro was do-MJ. "I want to feel all of the pain of everything in the world". He was doing some stretching with a giant rubber band and asked for some pain from someone. The sounds he was making while exercising was a sexy "ah" sound.
Aiba was a stalker who liked a girl too much. so he peeped up his over the main stage from back stage a few times and made some lewd faces.
The start of the song had some lead in about them coming to Sapporo to eat Jingusukan and motivate people (like an oendan) before they started the proper music. Their outfits were a form of gakuran with a long skirt. They had a set of buttons across the chest and were wearing the hats too. The dancing choreography made a lot of use of hear gestures (shaping yours hands like a c or something and putting them together) and some oendan moves like from guts. They also had some that looked like martial arts moves. Under them were some drummers, not taiko but similar.
Then a vtr of the Arashi character came on and he announced their Happy Medley and asked if we were ready for it. When Arashi came back they'd done a costume change again. During Happiness we could see the penlights spelling out HAPPY and ARASHI. During Kitto Daijyobu Nino came in front of us in a small cart but he was a little hard to see from how high we were.
We all danced to Arashi and when Troublemaker followed we got worked up and a lot of girls yelled out. Each song was only a chorus or few lines so the medley went by fast. Before Love Rainbow started Nino was waving really big towards our section. At the end of kotoba yori taisetsu na mono they did the juniors introduction. The large cart came in front of us but since Sho had gotten off at a tower it was empty.
When Wild at Heart started some large balloons were pulled out of the back. There were some bow ties and top hats in member colors, a word bubble with the smiley icon from the foods, and two large word balloons, one that said HAPPY and one they said ARASHI. I could tell there was something inside when I saw underneath them.
They all went to the back for Kansha Kangeki Ame Arashi. Everyone danced to Ai wo Sakebe with them and the moving stage took them back to the front. During the close up at the end Jun blew a kiss and Sho, right after him, did his kissing his fingers and pointing at the sky impression. On the last few notes the stuff fell from the bottom of the balloons. At first I thought they were smaller balloons but I guess they were actually flowers.
As they left the stage they were all saying things like thank you and good bye. Jun called out "you're happy right?" As they left.
We cheered for an encore for about five minutes I think (it felt long but I was excited.)
For the encore they didn't even say anything before the music for a day in our life started to play. They did the call and response opening part like eight times before they actually started into the song. The members were in white jackets but they had the same English words of their favorite things like in the goods pamphlet (i.e. Sho had "rap" highlighted in red on his chest).
When Jun and Ohno sang their duet at the start they were standing together with arms over each other's shoulders. Jun started rubbing the side of Ohno's face. After they stopped singing the camera was still on them staring at each other: Jun leaned in a little and Ohno closed his eyes like he was waiting for a kiss but Jun left him before they fit any closer.
It seemed like Nino had a problem walking through all the leftover flowers (they had dropped on the front of the arena and the main stages).
They got on the big carts again for Gori Muchu. Jun and Nino came by us first. At the end of the song they this this silly dance while staring at each other. Nino gave up and collapsed after a minute but Jun kept dancing himself. Finally he collapsed next to Nino though so the camera was showing them lying on the ground.
When Ohno did the opening for Energy Song I got really excited and jumped around most of the song. Towards the end at the front stage Jun was standing behind Nino and slipped his arm around his chest their he was singing.
When it was time for finally speeches Jun started talking but he was so out of breath that we gave me a few seconds to collect himself. It was weird because they didn't so individual final greetings, it was more like listening to them have a conversation about how grateful they were they could have the concert.
Jun: I got energy (genki), courage, and power today.
Sho: I got love, courage, and cherry pie (ai to yuki to cherry pie)
Everyone seemed to have fun. They said that fun times are over really quickly!
Ohno said something awkward about the flowers representing their happiness.
Ohno: I can't believe it was he first day. The feeling of completion is so strong.
Jun: Amore, nice Amore!
Aiba: it was my first time to try doing some of those things
Sho: it was great. A 33 year old challenged doing a head spin. Usually you start that when you're younger.
Humans have such a wide potential.
Jun: It's all about overcoming walls.
Ohno: that's life.
They said they wanted us to enjoy the concert and thanked us for coming. Jun announced the last song and we all said "eeeh" really loudly. He cut us off like a conductor and said it again but the same thing happened. So he cut us off like a conductor again.
Nino: that's not how we're supposed to end this.
Jun: We're Happy if you got happy.
The last song is Daylight.
Sho was waving a lot at he audience from the main stage during the start of the song. They said goodbye at the end again and introduced the juniors and band. They thanked us for coming. Jun was going to do the "What's our name" call but his voice cracked so he had to do it again.
The streamers shot out with the same timing. Unfortunately we missed them by a lot. The section a few over near home for some and the arena right in front of us did but we didn't. The show ended at about 8:45.
I'm attending again tomorrow so I'll update this report with new details I notice. The report I post tomorrow will be about changes I find and the MC and things.
This was the first day of the first venue. I went to the concert with some friends (not yarukizero, for those curious she is into another group right now and not really up to date with Arashi). Our seats were 3-4 rows back towards the side of the stands (near 1st base). We had a great view when the carts came by and could see the stages fairly well.
The concert started a few minutes late. They showed the ads for their regular shows as usual every half hour before it started. I was surprised with how simple the stages were compared to their past concerts. The main stage just had square screens and there were no obvious back stage.
The lights dimmed and a vtr came on of the Arashi character with a mustache (like the goods). The vtr was about five minutes, like a documentary of preparing for the concert. They showed them practicing dancing, checking a miniature of the stage, eating food in the back room and things like that. There was one scene near the end where Sho was running Jun's shoulders as he sat in a chair and the audience screamed. They both looked at the camera like they though we would be and were amused by it. Nino had a sweat band across his forehead and his hair was sticking out each which way. There was a scene of Ohno in a massage chair and Nino said all he had to say was "Are you happy?" To please us. Sho wasn't around to practice with the other members so the four of them left a cute note for him on the mirror. When Sho found it he walked up to pull it off while smiling and reading it. At the end was finally a short clip of Nino in one costume, then Ohno practicing his solo, then Aiba outside practicing and Nino playing a guitar. They did an up close shot of their faces and then the lights went out again.
On the screen it showed "11.11 Sapporo". The first song was Ups and Downs but the intro was really long. The live band came up first and was playing for several minutes before a bunch of fireworks went off on the main stage and Arashi came up. They were wearing shiny jackets in various colors and patterns. Aiba was wearing a red shirt with a large black bow tied around his neck so I remembered it because it was cute.
Next was Supersonic (which I was excited to hear) and then I Seek. They got onto a moving stage that went all the way to the back of the arena. On the sides of the stage there were four spot lights that came up and down and shone the lights on the crowd as well as the members.
At the end of Oh Yeah they yelled out to the crowd.
Aiba: Everyone are you having fun? Are you happy?
Sho: Sapporo let's have fun! Say oh yeah~
Us: Oh yeah!
After doing the call they went into Love So Sweet. They were riding the tall carts and Aiba, Sho, and Ohno came in front of us. They were all waving generally but didn't seem to be pointing or noticing anyone particular. But I guess the girl in front of me got enough Sho fan service because she started crying when they finally left the front of our section.
When they made it to the front stage Nino and Jun came on the screens as they left their cart. They were stopped and both motioning for the other to go first. But Nino eventually put his arm around Jun's shoulder and they walked down to the front stage together that way. During Jun's solo Nino stared at him with his arm still over his shoulder so their faces were really close together. At the end of the song the five of them were waving at the audience and bowed together. The lights dimmed for a second and the Arashi character came on the screen to ask us "are you happy?"
The opening greetings were pretty typical so I'll keep it short. By the way, the pen light colors changed to match the member color for who was talking.
Jun: Hey~ It's been a while! Were you good? Welcome to Arashi's concert! Are you ready to have fun? Great! Are you ready to be happy? Are you ready to follow us? Let's have fun!!
We'll make you all "happy"! Let's have fun together.
Nino: Irrashaimasei!
The concert is here! Let's have fun! Your voices are so loud! He has something to say!
Aiba: oh uhh... more! (Nino suddenly passed on the speech to Aiba so there was no transition or timing for Aiba but he jumped right in to making us call to him)
Are you getting hot? Do you want to get hotter?
Ohno: Hai~
It's been a while! Can you do well on the first day? Shall we do the usual?
Sapporo Are you Happy matsuri...
Us: Day!!
When Sho came out he hand changed into a grey pinstriped suit.
Sho: Sapporo~
(He raised his finger to his nose in one of his weird imitation motions)
How are the men doing? (Choshi wa dou da; he suddenly started so it wasn't very loud, he asked again but there probably weren't many men, although one was sitting behind me and tried the best he could to yell out)
How are the women doing?
How is Sapporo doing?
How are the upper stands?
How is the arena?
How's the bottom?
How's Sapporo??
We are ready. Let us hear your voices! Say Arashi!
After the call Sho did his normal introduction in English to the concert, including the title and Sapporo. "Let's get the party started."
Next was Sho's solo. The main large screen turned into a house (so it looked like Sho was standing in the second level and there was a blue sky outside). He walked down to the main stage and the back dancers slowly came out one at a time. The dancing was simple and cute. As he walked down the main walkway they did an overhead view for us so we could see the floor looked like a road with a dotted yellow line down the middle. Flowers started blooming across the floor screen until we couldn't see the road anymore. When they got to the middle Sho turned around to call to his back dancers to come closer like they were his close friends.
After it was over the dome went completely dark again. When the lights came back on Sho was holding a smart phone up to his ear to start To My Homies. On the main screen they showed a vtr of him sitting in what looked like a living room looking through old photos of the members.
Ohno came up for his rap and old photos of him appeared on the main stream. The same happened for all the members solos and some group pictures in the middle. Their costumes were jackets that looked like they had been made from various patches and fabric. Sho's was my favorite costume of the night I think. He was wearing tight pants with a jacket. He white shirt was covered in some English writing I couldn't see well, but poking out from the short hem on the bottom was a blue dress shirt. He had a ton of pins on his jacket collar.
On the main stage during the Aiba and Sho duet of the song Aiba leaned over and smacked Sho's butt several times as they were walking together. Ohno, Jun, and Nino swayed together on the other side of the stage when it was their turn.
During the last part of the song the main screen showed a vtr of the five of them playing the game of life together in the living room. It was funny because Jun kept fanning himself with the money and apparently Ohno was losing. They were all smiling a lot and looked like they were having a ton of fun.
After the lights dimmed again we suddenly saw a bright light to the right of the main stage and heard an engine roaring nose. When the lights came on, a cart type thing came out with all the memebers. Actually it was a blue chevy car float on a stand so it was the same height as the big carts. Jun was driving, Sho was in the passenger seat with a hand camera that had a live feed to the main screen. In the back Nino was behind Sho and Ohno behind Jun with Aiba sitting up in the seat between them. The license plate said ARS 0915
For Drive, they went around the perimeter of the arena (right in front of us!!) Sho kept filming each member during their solos of the song so that was fun to watch. They were too busy messing around to really look at the audience on our side but that was fine. As they got to the back the car turned into rainbow (it looked like an electrical parade float) and Sho passed the camera to Nino. At the back fireworks went off and they stopped as if to watch them.
For Step and Go, Jun stood up for his solo at the start. Nino recorded his butt and even did a closeup as Jun swayed back and forth, then turned the camera to Ohno who was obviously watching Jun's butt. Nino switched back and forth several times between Jun's butt and Ohno's face before Jun finally sat down. Ohno turned and gave a big cheesy smile to the camera, and Nino passed the camera to him. As they went around the other side of the dome, Ohno filmed some of the fans in the stands with the hand camera.
Last it was Jun's turn to take the camera. He filmed Sho during his rap part and for a second another camera took a video of the scene and everyone screamed. Jun was jamming to Sho's rapping was staring at the screen of the camera he was holding.
For Don't You Get It the lights went off again and when it came back on they were all wearing sunglasses. We screamed of course but they threw them off after a few seconds and walked a little closer to the main stage. They stopped and a strong wind came on to blow their hair out of their faces. They did a sexy hip thrusting move and then started towards the middle of the stage again. Nino had really unruly hair after that that made me laugh. In the background the pv was playing along with the live videos of them dancing.
They were in the center stage when the song finished. There wasn't any music and the lights came on all the way so I almost thought it was the MC except for how early it was.
Jun: Sapporo~ Are you happy?
Us: yay~
Sho: are you having fun? In the first half we really danced!
They noted that Aiba's voice cracked and he sounded funny during his opening greeting.
Sho: Uhm... maybe some people think this is the time to rest but it's not
Jun: I mean, if you want to rest please do.
Sho: yes, but I'm not going to tell you to sit down now.
They started walking back to the main stage.
Sho: So today is the first day of the concert. But it seems everyone listened to the album because there was a good reaction when we started the first song.
If you didn't listen I'd be pretty sad.
Jun: Great solo, Sunshine.
Sho: Thank you!
Nino made a comment that Aiba was overly excited too, then they started talked in an over exaggerated voice. But we all got excited since they were using each other's first names without anything like san or chan.
Nino: What's the matter, Sho?
Sho: what do you think Kaz?
Jun: S.H.O.W. Sho what's up?
Sho: Maybe you noticed but Ohno is gone.
Nino: Ohno?
Jun: Ohno?
Sho: Oh no!!
Of course that led into Ohno's solo. It started with a vtr of him taking a shower and drying off. They didn't actually show his face at first, just close ups of his arms and chest. When he dried off his hair they finally showed his whole torso while he got dressed. He tried on a few pairs of glasses before choosing some.
He came up on the main stage dressed in a sparkly blue suit with red and silver accents. He threw off his glasses after the opening of his solo song. And did some cool dancing. He did a pantomime like he was stuck in box and I was impressed by the high quality of his movements (I shouldn't have been haha).
After the opening verse and leading to the chorus, Ohno's face came on the main screen but he made a stupid expression and then all the brightly colored lights came on. At one point the screen showed a vtr of his face being blown by a high speed fan with his mouth open awkwardly.
He came down from the upper stage to the main stage and on the screens behind him there were replicas of himself as the back dancers. At first there were only eight or so evenly spaced but as the song went on there were more and more. The funniest part was that one of the copies on the back screen kept messing up, either being behind on the beat or going the opposite direction. There was even one part that it fell over! Towards the end of the song there were more than a hundred all the way to the top doing the same dance. The weird choreography and dorky background made me think of Disco Star.
They went into Two to Tango next. The other members were also wearing blue suits with red and silver accents. There was a strange choreography with them holding their arms out and shaking their hands. Sho's rap in this was really cool too. The other four members fell to the floor in a cross and were reaching out to Sho as he stood in the middle as if they were fighting to stand up or move at all. At the end of the rap they had lunged at it and it looked like he pushed them off together. Of course some of the choreography was tango moves but not much of it.
Fukatsu Love was nice. Although they were sweaty the members all looked really pretty and they got some good close ups of them as they danced. They moved to the middle stage and then got on the small carts for Aozora no Shita. They moved to the back stage to do Power of the Paradise which Jun introduced. But on the word "Paradise" his voice rose into a girly tone like he was doing an impression.
During the start Aiba jumped over Sho as he bent over. A lot of people in the audience seemed to know the dance to it.
For the MC they went back to the center stage. They said stuff like "we're Arashi" and "it's been a while!"
Sho: So it's been a year since our last concert.
Did you enjoy the first half?
Us: Yay!
Sho: Ok, now is the time you can sit down.
I heard it's minus 4 outside. Is everyone cold?
I was watching the news earlier and they were showing the dome and interviewing people.
I was excited because when I looked at the information for the tv program it said "a digest on Arashi's concert in Sapporo"
So some people in this audience were interviewed, right?
Nino: They definitely were or else we'd have a problem.
Sho: They also interviewed some people they couldn't get a ticket either.
Aiba: I saw that, for people that have done 3 day concerts in Sapporo it was only Arashi. No other group does 3 days here.
Nino: Us and the Nippon Ham Fighters (its the local baseball team)
Aiba: when I heard that I suddenly felt nervous.
Nino: that's a lot to live up to.
Sho asked the audience who had seen a baseball game there. A lot of people called out or cheered. They talked quickly about the Japan baseball series and that the Ham Fighters had won at their home dome.
Sho: Even if you support a different team you can be moved during a game like that.
Jun: Yeah.
Nino: everyone can enjoy it.
Sho: like if I was watching a soccer match between Brazil and Portugal (I'm pretty sure I mistook the two famous teams he said but I can't remember now)
Ohno: So even if you don't care about either team...?
Nino: you have so sense for what we're talking about.
Sho: Everyone saw his solo right? That was something.
Nino: it's art right?
Ohno: Yes. I wasn't messing around. I did my best.
Sho and Jun asked the audience a few questions so we clapped in reply. Did we think it was cool? Was he messing around?
Sho: Who thought, when they listened to the album for the first time, that it was a joke?
Actually we all practice our solos separately so we didn't know what it would look like right up until the last minute. All 4 of us were watching like this. *pretends to look at a screen with wide eyes*
Nino: There's a message to your song right?
Ohno: yes.
Sho: Is it something you can talk about?
Ohno: Sure.
Nino: I don't think it's something they'll understand otherwise...
Sho: Seems like it's important for kids to listen to right?
Ohno: "Bad Boy" in Japanese is like useless (dame), but there's no such things as a perfect life. You'll always run into a wall, so it's about overcoming those walls. When I overcame my walls and broke free I did a happy dance!
He showed us his dance from his solo which was like kicking his legs out to either side. So the message was to overcome your walls and not give up.
Sho also mentioned Jun's high pitched Power of the Paradise intro as Jun left the stage. Then he went into their promotions. First he talked about his wheelchair basketball drama (that it had been two years since he's done a drama and couldn't remember how to do it well). He told us to take a nap in the afternoon before it starts because since it's over the new year holiday people will be sleep during it since it runs late at night.
Ohno and Nino both talked about their movies coming out next year. When they were finished Sho tried to say he was in a movie too and began describing it, but Jun cut in from back stage "that's my movie!"
Nino: It is quite possible that he might have exactly the same role as you
Sho: It's in my private life
Aiba: me too?
Nino: No.
Aiba: A story about my private life is ok right?
Yesterday I got locked out of my room again at 3 am.
I was in a t-shirt and underwear, but luckily I wore a mask to bed. So I walked out into the hallway and got locked out. (He was talking about sleep walking.)
Nino: why don't you lock the door or something so you can't leave?
Aiba: I usually don't sleep walk.
Nino: Only in Hokkaido?
Sho: you don't at home?
Aiba: No. I think it's because it was before the first concert and I was nervous.
Sho introduced the band and then Aiba yelled out to us to get us pumped for the second half.
Of course they went right into Jun's solo: he was wearing a trench coat that was orange/brown and white. He was wearing white pants with a blue shirt under his jacket. It was obvious he was singing live into the mike because of his slightly nasally tone. During his solo on he main screen they showed a bunch of his private photos of friends and him with babies too (not sure who they were).
For Miles Away they came up on the towers. We weren't really close to any but we watched Sho in the section over. During Hatenai Sora he finally started waving to some people before going back down to return to the stage.
During Wonder Love I had fun watching Sho's flowing shirt as he twirled around during the choreography. Hanging lights (they looked like thin polls hat had one end lit up) came down in white and eventually changed to a rainbow).
I was very impressed by Ninos solo since I thought he'd just play the guitar or something again. He was wearing the same white outfit from the previous song and had some great hip hop style dancing moves.
Aiba came out on the middle stage for his solo. At first I thought he was wearing the tour shirt but it said "Amore" instead of "Are you happy?" He sang the first part normally but when it got upbeat him and his dancers lifted their shirts in time with the music. Their choreography also included running in a circle with their arms out like an airplane. Halfway through Aiba put on a white helmet. The back dancers laid down or bent over and Aiba climbed on top of them like he was riding a bike. On the main screen it added to the effect by showing trees and the road passing by. They the dancers all got down and he "surfed" across them with an ocean in the back.
Then the dancers made a circle around him and Aiba did a headstand using his helmet while twirly really slowly in a circle like a break dancer (but so slow haha!) when he laid back down on the ground two dancers wearing light emergency helmets brought a stretcher forward and loaded him onto it. They started back to the front stage but after a few steps they suddenly turned and threw Aiba back. He landed on his feet and then went back to the middle stage to dance out the rest of the song. By the way the crowd was all singing lousy to the yeahs and la la las.
At the end Aiba did a backflip and then made a heart with his hands across his chest.
That led into Seigshun Boogie. They prepared some set up about a school that you can only graduate from after you experience failed love "shitsuren". They did an introduction of the five students that have never graduated. I wish I could have taken note of the full intro but they went by way too fast.
First was Nino, a hikikomori that always plays games. On stage Nino was holding a game controller pretending to play while sitting down. He did his roll move and then laid on his side while still playing.
Ohno's intro said he was able to catch fish but not women. He had a pole he was fishing off the stage with and he "caught" a fish so held it up to show us.
Sho's had something to do with writting 4000 letters to the same girl and not being able to give up on her. On stage he was playing an ocarina sadly while a dancer behind him showered Sakura blossoms on him. He stopped playing for a few seconds but the music kept going so we knew he wasn't actually playing it.
Jun's intro was do-MJ. "I want to feel all of the pain of everything in the world". He was doing some stretching with a giant rubber band and asked for some pain from someone. The sounds he was making while exercising was a sexy "ah" sound.
Aiba was a stalker who liked a girl too much. so he peeped up his over the main stage from back stage a few times and made some lewd faces.
The start of the song had some lead in about them coming to Sapporo to eat Jingusukan and motivate people (like an oendan) before they started the proper music. Their outfits were a form of gakuran with a long skirt. They had a set of buttons across the chest and were wearing the hats too. The dancing choreography made a lot of use of hear gestures (shaping yours hands like a c or something and putting them together) and some oendan moves like from guts. They also had some that looked like martial arts moves. Under them were some drummers, not taiko but similar.
Then a vtr of the Arashi character came on and he announced their Happy Medley and asked if we were ready for it. When Arashi came back they'd done a costume change again. During Happiness we could see the penlights spelling out HAPPY and ARASHI. During Kitto Daijyobu Nino came in front of us in a small cart but he was a little hard to see from how high we were.
We all danced to Arashi and when Troublemaker followed we got worked up and a lot of girls yelled out. Each song was only a chorus or few lines so the medley went by fast. Before Love Rainbow started Nino was waving really big towards our section. At the end of kotoba yori taisetsu na mono they did the juniors introduction. The large cart came in front of us but since Sho had gotten off at a tower it was empty.
When Wild at Heart started some large balloons were pulled out of the back. There were some bow ties and top hats in member colors, a word bubble with the smiley icon from the foods, and two large word balloons, one that said HAPPY and one they said ARASHI. I could tell there was something inside when I saw underneath them.
They all went to the back for Kansha Kangeki Ame Arashi. Everyone danced to Ai wo Sakebe with them and the moving stage took them back to the front. During the close up at the end Jun blew a kiss and Sho, right after him, did his kissing his fingers and pointing at the sky impression. On the last few notes the stuff fell from the bottom of the balloons. At first I thought they were smaller balloons but I guess they were actually flowers.
As they left the stage they were all saying things like thank you and good bye. Jun called out "you're happy right?" As they left.
We cheered for an encore for about five minutes I think (it felt long but I was excited.)
For the encore they didn't even say anything before the music for a day in our life started to play. They did the call and response opening part like eight times before they actually started into the song. The members were in white jackets but they had the same English words of their favorite things like in the goods pamphlet (i.e. Sho had "rap" highlighted in red on his chest).
When Jun and Ohno sang their duet at the start they were standing together with arms over each other's shoulders. Jun started rubbing the side of Ohno's face. After they stopped singing the camera was still on them staring at each other: Jun leaned in a little and Ohno closed his eyes like he was waiting for a kiss but Jun left him before they fit any closer.
It seemed like Nino had a problem walking through all the leftover flowers (they had dropped on the front of the arena and the main stages).
They got on the big carts again for Gori Muchu. Jun and Nino came by us first. At the end of the song they this this silly dance while staring at each other. Nino gave up and collapsed after a minute but Jun kept dancing himself. Finally he collapsed next to Nino though so the camera was showing them lying on the ground.
When Ohno did the opening for Energy Song I got really excited and jumped around most of the song. Towards the end at the front stage Jun was standing behind Nino and slipped his arm around his chest their he was singing.
When it was time for finally speeches Jun started talking but he was so out of breath that we gave me a few seconds to collect himself. It was weird because they didn't so individual final greetings, it was more like listening to them have a conversation about how grateful they were they could have the concert.
Jun: I got energy (genki), courage, and power today.
Sho: I got love, courage, and cherry pie (ai to yuki to cherry pie)
Everyone seemed to have fun. They said that fun times are over really quickly!
Ohno said something awkward about the flowers representing their happiness.
Ohno: I can't believe it was he first day. The feeling of completion is so strong.
Jun: Amore, nice Amore!
Aiba: it was my first time to try doing some of those things
Sho: it was great. A 33 year old challenged doing a head spin. Usually you start that when you're younger.
Humans have such a wide potential.
Jun: It's all about overcoming walls.
Ohno: that's life.
They said they wanted us to enjoy the concert and thanked us for coming. Jun announced the last song and we all said "eeeh" really loudly. He cut us off like a conductor and said it again but the same thing happened. So he cut us off like a conductor again.
Nino: that's not how we're supposed to end this.
Jun: We're Happy if you got happy.
The last song is Daylight.
Sho was waving a lot at he audience from the main stage during the start of the song. They said goodbye at the end again and introduced the juniors and band. They thanked us for coming. Jun was going to do the "What's our name" call but his voice cracked so he had to do it again.
The streamers shot out with the same timing. Unfortunately we missed them by a lot. The section a few over near home for some and the arena right in front of us did but we didn't. The show ended at about 8:45.
I'm attending again tomorrow so I'll update this report with new details I notice. The report I post tomorrow will be about changes I find and the MC and things.