ミツル ０９： NEWS White Tour Concert Report: Fukuoka [2015.05.24, Second Show ]
I went to NEWS's White Tour in Marine Messe Fukuoka for the second show. I had originally planned to go to just Hiroshima and Tokyo, but I failed to hit the ballot for Hiroshima and luckily enough through a friend, I managed to snag a ticket to Fukuoka at the original price. Without hesitation I immediately jumped at the chance, because I was still sore about not hitting for the Fukuoka show at the last Arashi concert just that desperate to see them asap.
So I will warn you : there were a lot of factors that hindered me from remembering the minute details (which all boils down to physical fatigue and lots and LOTS of crying), so this is just a poor attempt at a concert report, so don't expect too much. ^^ I'll mostly write about the songs that stuck with me first, and then the random forgotten-where-in-the-sequence moments.
The tour was focused on the new album, so there weren't too many songs from the previous ones. Nevertheless, I had fun. I mean seriously - I've waited to see them for almost four years, sacrificed a lot (and I mean A LOT) just to be able to step on Japanese soil - everything I have achieved so far, I did it all for this day. I wasn't disappointed.
Except of course, I had done something insane prior to the tour. It was my first time in Fukuoka so I decided to do a bit of walking and sightseeing to three places (originally six, mind you). It was great, but by the time I arrived at Gofukumachi station I was already limping. So yeah, I am not doing any more walking / sightseeing before the next shows - or perhaps I'm going to stick to rubber shoes instead of flats. Dammit.
The ticket exchange with my friend was a bit complicated but I was too busy with my OHMIGOD IT'S HERE THIS IS IT I AM FINALLY HEREEEEEE feels so I didn't mind it. I sat with one of her friends in the G block and sat there with a lot of feels everywhere. And I had a short moment of stupidity - I got out my phone and shot two pictures of the venue. Almost immediately a staff came breathing down on our necks and told us to put the phones away.
The call started about ten to five minutes before the show and I joined in about three minutes prior, unable to contain the excitement. I was wincing at the horrible pain shooting up and down my legs, but I willed myself to endure it. Just another three hours more!
Stage blacked out, and everyone screamed.
The opening video was a continuation of the White PV and the narrator, to the incredulity of my seatmate and I, seemed to be talking in English. Of course, as everyone was screaming I had no sure way to find out, but I had no time to think - NEWS slowly came up on that elevator thing they used in the PV.
Right then and there, I burst out crying.
Mr. White
ONE ~ for the Win
I was still in the middle of my OHMYFUCKINGFEELSIT'STHEMIFINALLYSEETHEM feels and sobs that I messed up the furitsuke. I was laughing trying to do the quicker hand movements, I was surprised I didn't hit my seatmates on either sides with my penlight. I literally forgot everything.
The transition to One was so cool - quick costume changes, sharp moves, very nice execution - to which I couldn't help but sob all the more. I was SUGOIIIIIIII-ing everywhere. At one point of the song they jumped out from the trap floors on the floor (which reminded me of Arashi, but yeaaaaah lovely going, NEWS, you certainly did very well).
Nyaro
I LOVED the furitsuke! I had to admit I wasn't such a big fan of the song but the pointing motion everytime we shout "NYARO!" was so catchy that I got caught up with the song.
Koi no ABO
Weeeek
Such great NEWS classics, I love love LOVE them to bits.
Koi Matsuri
KOI MATSURI. KOI MATSURIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!! TOWELS ALL OVER THE PLACE. VERY LIVELY. I LOVE THIS SONG NOW MORE THAN EVER.
Butterfly
Full Swing
Romeo 2015
I swear, this was the only time I wanted to curse Koyama. Why? BECAUSE HE'S AN EVIL STRIPTEASE, THAT'S WHY. I might be imagining it, but at some point he left his shirt open in the middle (and I was expecting him to further open it). When he DID take off his shirt, he didn't turn to look back at us and instead disappeared through the door.
Lo and behold, the bellboy who held the door open for Koyama as he exited was no other than Shige!
Escort
I burst out laughing at Shige being the bellboy. So sweet, and hilarious. Oh my darling, never change, Shige. I laughed so much when the juniors pushed him up that ramp!
Junior dance interlude
Kaguya
This combo killed me. I actually thought it was going to be Byakuya instead of Kaguya (I was like, "Byakuya?? Is that Byakuya??" to my seatmate), until they whipped out the umbrellas and launched into the song. It was superb.
Chankapaana
World Quest Remix
Sakura Girl
By this point my legs have betrayed me 60% and I had to go sit more frequently. By the end of Sakura Girl, you know the moment where Massu writes something on his hand to show to everyone at the last "Sakura"? HE WROTE "TEI!" ON IT. TEI!
Everyone went wild mostly I think because of shippers lol.
Weather NEWS
FOREVER MY BEST SONG ON THE ALBUM. I like that we had to make the letter W with our fingers for "Weather NEWS~" line (forgot the rest of the furitsuke lmao). I exclaimed an "OI!" at Tegoshi's guilty face when he sang "Kao agete (Sky!) Kao agete (High!)"
And at the end? There on the screen was Koyama's face superimposed on a cartoon of his News Every caster image. XD
MC
Sorry to disappoint you, as I was busy trying to be kind to my legs and I couldn't understand a thing, I couldn't remember anything except NEWS trying to elicit the voices of the male members of the audience.
Wasurenagusa
Beautiful. Just plain beautiful.
Anata
Sky Beautiful
I liked how it transitioned from Tegoshi's last stanza in Wasurenagusa to his solo. AND PIANO TEGOSHI OMG.
Sky Beautiful, on the other hand, had Massu dancing as always. I got horribly distracted by the screen having a giant bird, though (falcon?). So many flappy things.
Black Jack - Inter -
Byakuya
Supersonic
Wasn't a big fan of Black Jack but was pretty okay with the juniors dancing. Byakuya would have been awesome, but like in Sky Beautiful, I was horribly distracted with the grim reaper image on the screen. (I liked those drapey things all over the stage althroughout - iirc lol) :/ good thing Supersonic made it up to me.
Snow Express
Winter Moon
Snow Express has to be one of my least-liked NEWS songs (and it heavily reminds me of Yamapi), so I got pretty surprised at them winging the rap part pretty well. And I'm horribly embarrassed to say this, but I couldn't and didn't recognize Winter Moon.
NEWS Nippon
The introductory video was funny! We had to fight some big black ugly blobs, it was like a video game. For Massu we had to clap our hands, for Shige we had to stomp (funnily enough, I could feel the stands trembling under my feet. No, I couldn't hurt my poor feet any further, sorry, Shige.), Koyama tried to defeat his blob with Chankapaana poses but he fails XDDDD Tegoshi, on the other hand, required fanning our uchiwas, which I wasn't able to do on time as I had put them away.
Kibou Yell
I couldn't remember this song at all. Why?
BECAUSE NEWS WENT UP TO THE HIGHER STANDS AND GOT ON MOVING CARTS.
In my horror and disbelief, I totally forgot about the excruciating pain in my legs and stood up like nothing happened.
My seatmate and I gaped at each other for like ten whole seconds and SCREAMED. Because, SERIOUSLY?!
I SWEAR, SINCE I WAS JUST TWO ROWS AWAY FROM THE CARTS, EVERYONE WAS JUST TWO METERS AWAY FROM ME, BUT IT WAS UNFORTUNATE THAT I WAS IN THE LOWER STANDS AND NEWS WERE MOSTLY GIVING THEIR ATTENTION TO THE FANS IN THE HIGHER STANDS.
I WAS SOBBING LIKE MAD. SHOUTING, SHAKING, TREMBLING - THE EPITOME OF FANDOM UGLINESS BUT HEY WHO CARES.
BUT OH HOLY SHIT I SAW THEM UP CLOSE (MORE LIKE THE BACK OF THEIR HEADS 75% OF THE TIME) BUT FUCK IT, THEY WERE SOOOOOOOOOOOOO HANDSOME. AND WITH THAT SAID, I AM BETRAYING MASUDA AND SWITCHING OVER TO KATO-KUN. WAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
Sayaendou
Pokoponpekorya
I was still trembling from the earlier encounter so I wasn't able to concentrate on Sayaendou, but Pokoponpekorya started without a sound. Koyama and Tegoshi tried to get us to do some clapping (which we all did confusedly, or maybe that was just me), until they started into the song. I love this cute song.
4+Fan
Seven Colors
At this point I had my body's entire supply of adrenaline pumping throughout me and forgetting everything, danced to 4+Fan like I had never danced before. THIS WAS THE BEST SONG OF THE CONCERT FOR ME IF I HAD TO BE HONEST. And coupled with Seven Colors.... pain? In my legs? What pain??? WTF are you talking about?!
At the end, they disappeared into the back stage...... only to reappear in front of a camera and wrote something on it. As it panned out, it showed the word "LOVE". Everyone disappeared after that, signaling the end of the main concert.
It stayed like that for a few minutes, with the entire venue chanting and calling for NEWS encore, until the words "White" and "Story" appeared on either side of the "LOVE" NEWS had written, signalling the start of the encore.
Encore
White Love Story
Nagisa no Oneesama
I LOVE White Love Story, and I admit I kind of laughed at the transition to Nagisa no Oneesama. Now I didn't quite like these bra songs, but just like with Nyaro, Nagisa was great sung live. It was brilliant.
Ai Kotoba
Now all the NEWS songs I have been singing so far were mostly mangled because, well, I suck at memorizing the Japanese, but this was one of those songs I have already known by heart, and sung over and over AND OVER again. I had quite forgotten it was on the album, so it came as a bit of a surprise, and me gently gasping, "Oh." And yup, I cried again, but not quite like before - just letting the tears cascade down my cheeks. I love them so. I just love all of them so. And I am very proud of them, as proud as I could be. I couldn't help but remember all the hardships I had felt in the last 4-5 years and the pain it took me just to get to this point, to this moment, with these four marvelous men in front of me and singing for us all the love in the world.
If I have a confession to make, it was this: I had been quite afraid, to be honest, of losing my affection for NEWS the moment I finally attended a concert. In a way, it seemed to be the ultimate test for me. If I lose my love for them after just one concert, then it could only mean that they were just a superficial goal for me - something that wasn't worth my time and my effort to make it this far. But I'm glad that they have, for now, proved that it wasn't the case. And through my ugly sobs and tears, I decided: I still love them and I would love to see them again as many times as I could!
I say it again: I LOVE NEWS. To infinity. Period.
Second Encore
Nyaro
At this point while NEWS were busy rattling off the juniors' names (Massu messed up the one named Matsumoto, not sure), there were a number of girls scrambling to run for the exit. I almost did so too (coz my last Shinkansen was at 9:30 something and I could NOT afford to be stranded in Fukuoka because of millions of fangirls), but my seatmate told me to stay as she thought it might not be really over yet. And true enough, after a bit of a break, NEWS came back on with Nyaro. So of course I had to stay and do the cutesy pointing furitsuke movement again. XDDDD
And well after that, I hurriedly hugged my seatmate goodbye, thanked her for everything and ran-limped for the Hakata bus to catch the last Shinkansen. XD
Random moments! (will edit if I remember anything else!)
1. I can't remember which song it was, but you saw how Massu attacked that comedian in Zeus right? So during this song, there was this one junior who kept bothering him, and the next thing I knew, Massu already had wrestled and tackled him XD
2. Somewhere in the middle of the concert, Shige had done something to his hair, and it reminded me of my favorite hairstyle of his - the one from Summertime. I immediately thought he looked VERY HOT and forgot about Massu. XD
3. Still a bit pretty pissed they weren't able to do Top of the World, though. But who cares, I FINALLY SAW THEM! XD
I sped back to Yamaguchi on the Shinkansen and found an undelivered notice on my door for my Tokyo Dome ticket, and forgetting about the pain I biked my way to the post office and retrieved the ticket. My seat, my friends say, is a decent seat, so yeah, life is good! Can't wait to see them again in Hiroshima and Tokyo! :D
So I will warn you : there were a lot of factors that hindered me from remembering the minute details (which all boils down to physical fatigue and lots and LOTS of crying), so this is just a poor attempt at a concert report, so don't expect too much. ^^ I'll mostly write about the songs that stuck with me first, and then the random forgotten-where-in-the-sequence moments.
The tour was focused on the new album, so there weren't too many songs from the previous ones. Nevertheless, I had fun. I mean seriously - I've waited to see them for almost four years, sacrificed a lot (and I mean A LOT) just to be able to step on Japanese soil - everything I have achieved so far, I did it all for this day. I wasn't disappointed.
Except of course, I had done something insane prior to the tour. It was my first time in Fukuoka so I decided to do a bit of walking and sightseeing to three places (originally six, mind you). It was great, but by the time I arrived at Gofukumachi station I was already limping. So yeah, I am not doing any more walking / sightseeing before the next shows - or perhaps I'm going to stick to rubber shoes instead of flats. Dammit.
The ticket exchange with my friend was a bit complicated but I was too busy with my OHMIGOD IT'S HERE THIS IS IT I AM FINALLY HEREEEEEE feels so I didn't mind it. I sat with one of her friends in the G block and sat there with a lot of feels everywhere. And I had a short moment of stupidity - I got out my phone and shot two pictures of the venue. Almost immediately a staff came breathing down on our necks and told us to put the phones away.
The call started about ten to five minutes before the show and I joined in about three minutes prior, unable to contain the excitement. I was wincing at the horrible pain shooting up and down my legs, but I willed myself to endure it. Just another three hours more!
Stage blacked out, and everyone screamed.
The opening video was a continuation of the White PV and the narrator, to the incredulity of my seatmate and I, seemed to be talking in English. Of course, as everyone was screaming I had no sure way to find out, but I had no time to think - NEWS slowly came up on that elevator thing they used in the PV.
Right then and there, I burst out crying.
Mr. White
ONE ~ for the Win
I was still in the middle of my OHMYFUCKINGFEELSIT'STHEMIFINALLYSEETHEM feels and sobs that I messed up the furitsuke. I was laughing trying to do the quicker hand movements, I was surprised I didn't hit my seatmates on either sides with my penlight. I literally forgot everything.
The transition to One was so cool - quick costume changes, sharp moves, very nice execution - to which I couldn't help but sob all the more. I was SUGOIIIIIIII-ing everywhere. At one point of the song they jumped out from the trap floors on the floor (which reminded me of Arashi, but yeaaaaah lovely going, NEWS, you certainly did very well).
Nyaro
I LOVED the furitsuke! I had to admit I wasn't such a big fan of the song but the pointing motion everytime we shout "NYARO!" was so catchy that I got caught up with the song.
Koi no ABO
Weeeek
Such great NEWS classics, I love love LOVE them to bits.
Koi Matsuri
KOI MATSURI. KOI MATSURIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!! TOWELS ALL OVER THE PLACE. VERY LIVELY. I LOVE THIS SONG NOW MORE THAN EVER.
Butterfly
Full Swing
Romeo 2015
I swear, this was the only time I wanted to curse Koyama. Why? BECAUSE HE'S AN EVIL STRIPTEASE, THAT'S WHY. I might be imagining it, but at some point he left his shirt open in the middle (and I was expecting him to further open it). When he DID take off his shirt, he didn't turn to look back at us and instead disappeared through the door.
Lo and behold, the bellboy who held the door open for Koyama as he exited was no other than Shige!
Escort
I burst out laughing at Shige being the bellboy. So sweet, and hilarious. Oh my darling, never change, Shige. I laughed so much when the juniors pushed him up that ramp!
Junior dance interlude
Kaguya
This combo killed me. I actually thought it was going to be Byakuya instead of Kaguya (I was like, "Byakuya?? Is that Byakuya??" to my seatmate), until they whipped out the umbrellas and launched into the song. It was superb.
Chankapaana
World Quest Remix
Sakura Girl
By this point my legs have betrayed me 60% and I had to go sit more frequently. By the end of Sakura Girl, you know the moment where Massu writes something on his hand to show to everyone at the last "Sakura"? HE WROTE "TEI!" ON IT. TEI!
Everyone went wild mostly I think because of shippers lol.
Weather NEWS
FOREVER MY BEST SONG ON THE ALBUM. I like that we had to make the letter W with our fingers for "Weather NEWS~" line (forgot the rest of the furitsuke lmao). I exclaimed an "OI!" at Tegoshi's guilty face when he sang "Kao agete (Sky!) Kao agete (High!)"
And at the end? There on the screen was Koyama's face superimposed on a cartoon of his News Every caster image. XD
MC
Sorry to disappoint you, as I was busy trying to be kind to my legs and I couldn't understand a thing, I couldn't remember anything except NEWS trying to elicit the voices of the male members of the audience.
Wasurenagusa
Beautiful. Just plain beautiful.
Anata
Sky Beautiful
I liked how it transitioned from Tegoshi's last stanza in Wasurenagusa to his solo. AND PIANO TEGOSHI OMG.
Sky Beautiful, on the other hand, had Massu dancing as always. I got horribly distracted by the screen having a giant bird, though (falcon?). So many flappy things.
Black Jack - Inter -
Byakuya
Supersonic
Wasn't a big fan of Black Jack but was pretty okay with the juniors dancing. Byakuya would have been awesome, but like in Sky Beautiful, I was horribly distracted with the grim reaper image on the screen. (I liked those drapey things all over the stage althroughout - iirc lol) :/ good thing Supersonic made it up to me.
Snow Express
Winter Moon
Snow Express has to be one of my least-liked NEWS songs (and it heavily reminds me of Yamapi), so I got pretty surprised at them winging the rap part pretty well. And I'm horribly embarrassed to say this, but I couldn't and didn't recognize Winter Moon.
NEWS Nippon
The introductory video was funny! We had to fight some big black ugly blobs, it was like a video game. For Massu we had to clap our hands, for Shige we had to stomp (funnily enough, I could feel the stands trembling under my feet. No, I couldn't hurt my poor feet any further, sorry, Shige.), Koyama tried to defeat his blob with Chankapaana poses but he fails XDDDD Tegoshi, on the other hand, required fanning our uchiwas, which I wasn't able to do on time as I had put them away.
Kibou Yell
I couldn't remember this song at all. Why?
BECAUSE NEWS WENT UP TO THE HIGHER STANDS AND GOT ON MOVING CARTS.
In my horror and disbelief, I totally forgot about the excruciating pain in my legs and stood up like nothing happened.
My seatmate and I gaped at each other for like ten whole seconds and SCREAMED. Because, SERIOUSLY?!
I SWEAR, SINCE I WAS JUST TWO ROWS AWAY FROM THE CARTS, EVERYONE WAS JUST TWO METERS AWAY FROM ME, BUT IT WAS UNFORTUNATE THAT I WAS IN THE LOWER STANDS AND NEWS WERE MOSTLY GIVING THEIR ATTENTION TO THE FANS IN THE HIGHER STANDS.
I WAS SOBBING LIKE MAD. SHOUTING, SHAKING, TREMBLING - THE EPITOME OF FANDOM UGLINESS BUT HEY WHO CARES.
BUT OH HOLY SHIT I SAW THEM UP CLOSE (MORE LIKE THE BACK OF THEIR HEADS 75% OF THE TIME) BUT FUCK IT, THEY WERE SOOOOOOOOOOOOO HANDSOME. AND WITH THAT SAID, I AM BETRAYING MASUDA AND SWITCHING OVER TO KATO-KUN. WAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
Sayaendou
Pokoponpekorya
I was still trembling from the earlier encounter so I wasn't able to concentrate on Sayaendou, but Pokoponpekorya started without a sound. Koyama and Tegoshi tried to get us to do some clapping (which we all did confusedly, or maybe that was just me), until they started into the song. I love this cute song.
4+Fan
Seven Colors
At this point I had my body's entire supply of adrenaline pumping throughout me and forgetting everything, danced to 4+Fan like I had never danced before. THIS WAS THE BEST SONG OF THE CONCERT FOR ME IF I HAD TO BE HONEST. And coupled with Seven Colors.... pain? In my legs? What pain??? WTF are you talking about?!
At the end, they disappeared into the back stage...... only to reappear in front of a camera and wrote something on it. As it panned out, it showed the word "LOVE". Everyone disappeared after that, signaling the end of the main concert.
It stayed like that for a few minutes, with the entire venue chanting and calling for NEWS encore, until the words "White" and "Story" appeared on either side of the "LOVE" NEWS had written, signalling the start of the encore.
Encore
White Love Story
Nagisa no Oneesama
I LOVE White Love Story, and I admit I kind of laughed at the transition to Nagisa no Oneesama. Now I didn't quite like these bra songs, but just like with Nyaro, Nagisa was great sung live. It was brilliant.
Ai Kotoba
Now all the NEWS songs I have been singing so far were mostly mangled because, well, I suck at memorizing the Japanese, but this was one of those songs I have already known by heart, and sung over and over AND OVER again. I had quite forgotten it was on the album, so it came as a bit of a surprise, and me gently gasping, "Oh." And yup, I cried again, but not quite like before - just letting the tears cascade down my cheeks. I love them so. I just love all of them so. And I am very proud of them, as proud as I could be. I couldn't help but remember all the hardships I had felt in the last 4-5 years and the pain it took me just to get to this point, to this moment, with these four marvelous men in front of me and singing for us all the love in the world.
If I have a confession to make, it was this: I had been quite afraid, to be honest, of losing my affection for NEWS the moment I finally attended a concert. In a way, it seemed to be the ultimate test for me. If I lose my love for them after just one concert, then it could only mean that they were just a superficial goal for me - something that wasn't worth my time and my effort to make it this far. But I'm glad that they have, for now, proved that it wasn't the case. And through my ugly sobs and tears, I decided: I still love them and I would love to see them again as many times as I could!
I say it again: I LOVE NEWS. To infinity. Period.
Second Encore
Nyaro
At this point while NEWS were busy rattling off the juniors' names (Massu messed up the one named Matsumoto, not sure), there were a number of girls scrambling to run for the exit. I almost did so too (coz my last Shinkansen was at 9:30 something and I could NOT afford to be stranded in Fukuoka because of millions of fangirls), but my seatmate told me to stay as she thought it might not be really over yet. And true enough, after a bit of a break, NEWS came back on with Nyaro. So of course I had to stay and do the cutesy pointing furitsuke movement again. XDDDD
And well after that, I hurriedly hugged my seatmate goodbye, thanked her for everything and ran-limped for the Hakata bus to catch the last Shinkansen. XD
Random moments! (will edit if I remember anything else!)
1. I can't remember which song it was, but you saw how Massu attacked that comedian in Zeus right? So during this song, there was this one junior who kept bothering him, and the next thing I knew, Massu already had wrestled and tackled him XD
2. Somewhere in the middle of the concert, Shige had done something to his hair, and it reminded me of my favorite hairstyle of his - the one from Summertime. I immediately thought he looked VERY HOT and forgot about Massu. XD
3. Still a bit pretty pissed they weren't able to do Top of the World, though. But who cares, I FINALLY SAW THEM! XD
I sped back to Yamaguchi on the Shinkansen and found an undelivered notice on my door for my Tokyo Dome ticket, and forgetting about the pain I biked my way to the post office and retrieved the ticket. My seat, my friends say, is a decent seat, so yeah, life is good! Can't wait to see them again in Hiroshima and Tokyo! :D