ミツル １３： NEWS Quartetto Concert Report: Fukuoka [2016.04.29-30]
So I'm back with another concert report, except that this one won't be filled with exact details, so if you were expecting more, I'm sorry to say that I will most likely disappoint you! My memory isn't too good, and coupled with the inability to comprehend Japanese and the lack of English concert reports this time around, this report will be mostly riddled with vague stuff filled with the good ones that really stood out the most for me.
I went to both Fukuoka concerts with my friend Shannon (h0bbitx3) who dressed up as Sailormoon. It was a bit funny going with her and getting a kick out of surprised exclamations from people on the street and having fangirls run up to us asking for pictures. We were able to get really good stand seats for the first day, and for the second day we were only one row below the aisle where NEWS were to go up to the higher stands during the last few songs of the live.
There were a lot of things that differentiated Quartetto from the previous tour, White, and I had to admit that these differences threw me off guard and made me decide that for now, White is still the better live. For one, some of the album songs were cut short (meaning, not having the second stanzas sung and going directly to the bridge), some of the songs in the set list had different arrangements (which was really interesting for me, seeing that this live had more of this inclination towards music and sounds in general), and the biggest letdown of all perhaps, not having a double encore. (My personal letdown is STILL not being able to hear Top of the World and Hello live, so.... well NEWS, sorry to say but I will keep on hoping in the lives to come, haha.)
So anyway, on to the set list! Please take note that I am fusing the reports for both days, and if there are moments that happened on a specific day, I'll mention it. Please don't take everything as 100% sure, my memory is just that bad.
Opening spiel
Right from the start, the stage was covered with red drapes / curtains (like a theatre stage), so the insides were hidden from view.
There was no sudden blackout to signal the start; instead, juniors dressed all in black and with covered faces (like stagehands) lined up all perfectly on the stage and then, all at once, began clapping and stomping their feet in rhythm. I think there were four distinct (and I should say, real interesting) patterns, afterwhich the red drapes behind them slowly began to roll up, revealing the stage monitor playing an edited version of the Theme of Quartetto PV...
... until everything went black, and four huge spotlights revealed the members standing near the center stage in each of the four directions, and singing with full vocal power QUARTETTO's first line.
01 QUARTETTO
The bright costumes resembled large colorful robes (mostly serving as the cover to the next costume change), thin and light enough to follow their movements especially when they had to jump during the "We can fly!" line at the end of the chorus. I was too busy singing the song to pay more attention, though. XD
But I do have to say, I was a little bit concerned with Koyashige's solo parts in here. Not sure if it was because they had to sing live while dancing like mad - but then again most likely, it was.
02 ANTHEM
03 Chankapaana
They all started to make their way back to the main stage, where four microphone stands had already been set up.
The solo "Chankapaana" lines saw NEWS making their best kissy faces. XD
04 Kibou ~Yell~
05 Chumu Chumu
Around this time NEWS took off the robes to reveal some weird lime green / yellow outfits. At this point my friend and I were like WHY NEWS, WHY. You've got to question Massu's fashion sense and the members' leniency sometimes.
Koyama's "Chumu!" at the beginning never FAILS to give me the goosebumps. I swear I didn't like this song when it first came out, but now its ridiculous catchy rhythm has grown on me and I couldn't help sing along. Why do you do this to me, NEWS, I am asking you.
06 KAGUYA
They went back to the center stage to perform Kaguya. I found myself looking at the screen more during Kaguya, simply because there was a VTR playing of the members doing a lot of actions with sand: scooping it up in their hands, kicking it, caressing it, and dancing. The VTR was mainly focusing on their hands and you wouldn't know it was the members themselves until the very end of the song, where their serious profiles were all revealed side by side.
07 Taiyou no Namida
This song reminds me of Yamapi along with Snow Express not in a good way, but I had to say 4-nin NEWS did give it justice.
08 Happy Birthday
I was a little happy they included Happy Birthday, simply because I regarded this trip as a belated birthday gift to myself.
09 Cherish
All the members started spreading around and waving to fans as they sang. Shige caught my attention mainly because he was walking back to the main stage (and was passing by us in doing so). I realized by then that his solo was next and he was going back first to prepare for it.
10 Hoshi no Oujisama
The solo opened with Shige at a desk, reading a book (?) and then speaking to us.
As the solo started, spotlights fell on juniors acting as stagehands once more, except that they were divided into three groups according to what they were wearing on their heads - one group with stars, another with roses, and yet another with foxes. It was okay, and I laughed at the part where they had to lift him up to make it seem like he's walking in midair. At the end of the solo, Shige gave a little speech (forgot what it was mostly, but I can only remember him saying "...., wakaru?") and then the screen slowly spelled out "Dedicated to de Saint-Exupéry from Shigeaki Kato" and its Japanese translation.
11 LIS'N
Juniors began walking up onto the center stage in the dark, Massu dead last. It was entirely silent, until Massu powerfully belts out the first rap line of his solo.
I think this is my best solo performance from him so far. I would always notice how Massu always have solos that focus on dancing and that he was always lipsyncing during performances. Not for this one. Each and every word was sung out live, and you could hear him breathing hard trying to catch his wind.
12 Touch
This was a very cute song, particularly during the first few seconds in which they had to turn around one by one and make all these kissy faces at the cameras. Typical NEWS fanservice time :D
13 NEWSKOOL
This song was very interesting. NEWS was surrounded by the juniors and keeping a straight line, they formed four groups with each NEWS member as the center, dancing only during a member's singing part. The main screen had some really cool effects too.
At the end of the song, all of them jumped and the screen behind them froze on the moment they were all in mid-air. It reminded me of one of their Fighting Man CMs.
14 Weeeek
15 Departure
Funny how Departure is my favorite song on the album yet I couldn't remember what exactly happened during this part. I think I was too engrossed with singing it out loud, lol.
After the song ended, Massu softly sang in acapella the first line of Departure as if the song hasn't finished at all, going "miageta sora ni nagarete kieta", until the member had to remind him it was already over and it was already time for the MC. XD
MC
My memories are all over the place and I also couldn't understand every single thing they said for each day so I'm just going to do this in bullets.
- They mentioned how NEWS has been really busy these days and how they want to keep up the pace, releasing summer / fall singles then an album in February and then a spring tour.
- They were thinking of how they wanted to go to Kumamoto and ways on how to help the people who were affected by the earthquakes. The people who were sitting in front of us (I presume they were from Kumamoto) shouted their thanks. Apparently they put a donation box near the entrance. (I only found it on the second day, and was able to slip in something.)
- In the second show, they were talking about Koyama's birthday, and they took a commemorative photo with the audience in the background. (From Twitter, I think it was for the newsletter that's coming in July.)
- They also commented how it has been really hot recently, and asked if everyone who was wearing the parka felt okay and told us to take care of ourselves.
- There was mention of how they were using names (Shige's in particular) with ~sa at the end, and the usual "Koyama-san, Masuda-san, Tegoshi-san, Shige" line.
- Koyama appealed for birthday kisses XD
16 Aikotoba
At the end of the MC, they all walked towards the center stage where a large music box (similar to the concert good) has been set up. At first NEWS asked us to sing with the music box for about 2-3 times, and then finally the song itself.
As the song was ending, the music started to change / distort, until I realized it was leading into Theme of "Quartetto" and all of NEWS began clapping.
17 Theme of "QUARTETTO"
They finished the PV version (the dancing) for this part, as the first part with all the sound mixes was utilized during the opening spiel. As they walked back to the main stage (which had been covered behind drapes again), the CD version of the song kept playing and they all disappeared behind the curtains.
18 Yonjuushi
If I remember correctly, the juniors had another dancing part prior to the performance. The curtains lifted up and we all saw NEWS in their Yonjuushi outfits.
19 Hoshi wo Mezashite
20 Ai no Elegy
No stripping Koyama, but he was dressed in an outfit similar to Kaguya which showed off a little of his chest, and there was a line of lanterns from the main stage to the center stage. Overall the solo was like Kaguya XD at the end of the performance Koyama dropped to the floor, lying on his back and breathing heavily all the while.
21 Encore
It was simply Tegoshi on a chair with a microphone stand. Before starting his solo, he looked at the ring on his hand and goes on looking all sentimental and holding it and his hand close.
The song stopped midway and Tegoshi sang out the lyrics in acapella. This is the point where I felt real respect and admiration for Tegoshi's vocal prowess - he may be my least favorite member, but his singing ability is no joke. I've always loved the Tegoshi in Tegomasu better than the Tegoshi in NEWS in terms of singing, and this song proved it.
As the song ended, he took off the ring from his finger, dropped it and fled from the stage.
22 I・ZA・NA・I・ZU・KI
I've always loved this song back when I stumbled upon the past NEWS DVDs and watched Shige do "kuchizuke wo", so this was a pleasant surprise.
One lone spotlight flashed on the center stage to reveal Massu clad in a white robe (similar to the one they had on the WHITE album cover) singing the intro and then dancing solo, then the stage blacked out. I could still see him fleeing the stage as fast as he could, though. XD
One by one NEWS came up on the center stage and sang.
The interesting thing about their outfits was that they were plain white with the normal spotlights, but with purple lights (UV? not really sure), the outfits revealed some colorful designs.
23 Wonder
24 Sirius
One word: hoverboards! It was quite nervewracking yet cool to see them doing turns and moving on those - I had to say that most of the time I was focused on Shige because I didn't think he'd be able to control one. XD
In the middle of the song they made their way to the center stage and performed a bunch of tricks individually. The cutest part was when Koyama sat down on his board and clung onto Massu, trailing behind him... and Shige doing the same, clinging to Koyama. NEWS hoverboard train. XD
25 NEWS Nippon
NEWS went up to the higher stands for this song! The first day we were too far from them; on the second day we were only a row below them and I could really see them up close! Too bad they didn't notice us for this time as well. /cries
Massu was giving high fives like crazy though!
26 Sayaendou
During the second show there was a huge wave of squeals at the beginning of the song. Obviously I had missed it, but apparently Tegoshi and Shige did kiss Koyama on the cheek, and Koyama changed the first line of Sayaendou to "I got a kiss from Tegoshi and Shige~! I'm waiting for you next Massu!"
(My Japanese is apparently fail so I am confusing all my -te kuretas lol)
27 Koi no ABO
This was hilarious. You know the first line of the song in which Koyama does his "You達, 何型?" Well, during the first show, TegoMasuShige blocked him from the cameras so bad that he ended up saying, "You-tachi, JAMA!" (All of you, you're a hindrance!!!!")
For the second show, TegoMasuShige said his intro at different times and messed with it and when Koyama had to do it, he ended up missing the timing instead. These brats. XD
And I'm not sure if it happened during this song, but as a response to Koyama's birthday kiss appeal, Massu took Koyama's face in his hands and, all the while smirking, gradually moved his face closer and closer as if to kiss him on the lips, but moved away at the last minute. In the end, Koyama ended up giving Massu a kiss on the cheek. XD
This sketch by @watarun_3d on Twitter pretty much summed up this kiss incident quite nicely.
28 TEPPEN
29 NYARO
30 Hikari no Shizuku
Before they began the song, Shige said that they were dedicating it to Kumamoto. :')
Encore
31 ONE -for the win-
32 Sakura Girl
For the first show, Massu wrote "Marine Messe Masuda" on his palm. For the second show though, he drew some random character and some words I couldn't read. DX
33 Koi Matsuri
Unfortunately there was no double encore. I heard from friends that so far there hasn't been a double encore. I wonder why? Hmmm....
It was a really fun start to my Golden Week and I've never attended concerts two days in a row so it was quite an experience as well! I'm going to Hiroshima's concert in 25 days, so I hope I can remember more stuff and pay more attention this time. :D
I went to both Fukuoka concerts with my friend Shannon (h0bbitx3) who dressed up as Sailormoon. It was a bit funny going with her and getting a kick out of surprised exclamations from people on the street and having fangirls run up to us asking for pictures. We were able to get really good stand seats for the first day, and for the second day we were only one row below the aisle where NEWS were to go up to the higher stands during the last few songs of the live.
There were a lot of things that differentiated Quartetto from the previous tour, White, and I had to admit that these differences threw me off guard and made me decide that for now, White is still the better live. For one, some of the album songs were cut short (meaning, not having the second stanzas sung and going directly to the bridge), some of the songs in the set list had different arrangements (which was really interesting for me, seeing that this live had more of this inclination towards music and sounds in general), and the biggest letdown of all perhaps, not having a double encore. (My personal letdown is STILL not being able to hear Top of the World and Hello live, so.... well NEWS, sorry to say but I will keep on hoping in the lives to come, haha.)
So anyway, on to the set list! Please take note that I am fusing the reports for both days, and if there are moments that happened on a specific day, I'll mention it. Please don't take everything as 100% sure, my memory is just that bad.
Opening spiel
Right from the start, the stage was covered with red drapes / curtains (like a theatre stage), so the insides were hidden from view.
There was no sudden blackout to signal the start; instead, juniors dressed all in black and with covered faces (like stagehands) lined up all perfectly on the stage and then, all at once, began clapping and stomping their feet in rhythm. I think there were four distinct (and I should say, real interesting) patterns, afterwhich the red drapes behind them slowly began to roll up, revealing the stage monitor playing an edited version of the Theme of Quartetto PV...
... until everything went black, and four huge spotlights revealed the members standing near the center stage in each of the four directions, and singing with full vocal power QUARTETTO's first line.
01 QUARTETTO
The bright costumes resembled large colorful robes (mostly serving as the cover to the next costume change), thin and light enough to follow their movements especially when they had to jump during the "We can fly!" line at the end of the chorus. I was too busy singing the song to pay more attention, though. XD
But I do have to say, I was a little bit concerned with Koyashige's solo parts in here. Not sure if it was because they had to sing live while dancing like mad - but then again most likely, it was.
02 ANTHEM
03 Chankapaana
They all started to make their way back to the main stage, where four microphone stands had already been set up.
The solo "Chankapaana" lines saw NEWS making their best kissy faces. XD
04 Kibou ~Yell~
05 Chumu Chumu
Around this time NEWS took off the robes to reveal some weird lime green / yellow outfits. At this point my friend and I were like WHY NEWS, WHY. You've got to question Massu's fashion sense and the members' leniency sometimes.
Koyama's "Chumu!" at the beginning never FAILS to give me the goosebumps. I swear I didn't like this song when it first came out, but now its ridiculous catchy rhythm has grown on me and I couldn't help sing along. Why do you do this to me, NEWS, I am asking you.
06 KAGUYA
They went back to the center stage to perform Kaguya. I found myself looking at the screen more during Kaguya, simply because there was a VTR playing of the members doing a lot of actions with sand: scooping it up in their hands, kicking it, caressing it, and dancing. The VTR was mainly focusing on their hands and you wouldn't know it was the members themselves until the very end of the song, where their serious profiles were all revealed side by side.
07 Taiyou no Namida
This song reminds me of Yamapi along with Snow Express not in a good way, but I had to say 4-nin NEWS did give it justice.
08 Happy Birthday
I was a little happy they included Happy Birthday, simply because I regarded this trip as a belated birthday gift to myself.
09 Cherish
All the members started spreading around and waving to fans as they sang. Shige caught my attention mainly because he was walking back to the main stage (and was passing by us in doing so). I realized by then that his solo was next and he was going back first to prepare for it.
10 Hoshi no Oujisama
The solo opened with Shige at a desk, reading a book (?) and then speaking to us.
As the solo started, spotlights fell on juniors acting as stagehands once more, except that they were divided into three groups according to what they were wearing on their heads - one group with stars, another with roses, and yet another with foxes. It was okay, and I laughed at the part where they had to lift him up to make it seem like he's walking in midair. At the end of the solo, Shige gave a little speech (forgot what it was mostly, but I can only remember him saying "...., wakaru?") and then the screen slowly spelled out "Dedicated to de Saint-Exupéry from Shigeaki Kato" and its Japanese translation.
11 LIS'N
Juniors began walking up onto the center stage in the dark, Massu dead last. It was entirely silent, until Massu powerfully belts out the first rap line of his solo.
I think this is my best solo performance from him so far. I would always notice how Massu always have solos that focus on dancing and that he was always lipsyncing during performances. Not for this one. Each and every word was sung out live, and you could hear him breathing hard trying to catch his wind.
12 Touch
This was a very cute song, particularly during the first few seconds in which they had to turn around one by one and make all these kissy faces at the cameras. Typical NEWS fanservice time :D
13 NEWSKOOL
This song was very interesting. NEWS was surrounded by the juniors and keeping a straight line, they formed four groups with each NEWS member as the center, dancing only during a member's singing part. The main screen had some really cool effects too.
At the end of the song, all of them jumped and the screen behind them froze on the moment they were all in mid-air. It reminded me of one of their Fighting Man CMs.
14 Weeeek
15 Departure
Funny how Departure is my favorite song on the album yet I couldn't remember what exactly happened during this part. I think I was too engrossed with singing it out loud, lol.
After the song ended, Massu softly sang in acapella the first line of Departure as if the song hasn't finished at all, going "miageta sora ni nagarete kieta", until the member had to remind him it was already over and it was already time for the MC. XD
MC
My memories are all over the place and I also couldn't understand every single thing they said for each day so I'm just going to do this in bullets.
- They mentioned how NEWS has been really busy these days and how they want to keep up the pace, releasing summer / fall singles then an album in February and then a spring tour.
- They were thinking of how they wanted to go to Kumamoto and ways on how to help the people who were affected by the earthquakes. The people who were sitting in front of us (I presume they were from Kumamoto) shouted their thanks. Apparently they put a donation box near the entrance. (I only found it on the second day, and was able to slip in something.)
- In the second show, they were talking about Koyama's birthday, and they took a commemorative photo with the audience in the background. (From Twitter, I think it was for the newsletter that's coming in July.)
- They also commented how it has been really hot recently, and asked if everyone who was wearing the parka felt okay and told us to take care of ourselves.
- There was mention of how they were using names (Shige's in particular) with ~sa at the end, and the usual "Koyama-san, Masuda-san, Tegoshi-san, Shige" line.
- Koyama appealed for birthday kisses XD
16 Aikotoba
At the end of the MC, they all walked towards the center stage where a large music box (similar to the concert good) has been set up. At first NEWS asked us to sing with the music box for about 2-3 times, and then finally the song itself.
As the song was ending, the music started to change / distort, until I realized it was leading into Theme of "Quartetto" and all of NEWS began clapping.
17 Theme of "QUARTETTO"
They finished the PV version (the dancing) for this part, as the first part with all the sound mixes was utilized during the opening spiel. As they walked back to the main stage (which had been covered behind drapes again), the CD version of the song kept playing and they all disappeared behind the curtains.
18 Yonjuushi
If I remember correctly, the juniors had another dancing part prior to the performance. The curtains lifted up and we all saw NEWS in their Yonjuushi outfits.
19 Hoshi wo Mezashite
20 Ai no Elegy
No stripping Koyama, but he was dressed in an outfit similar to Kaguya which showed off a little of his chest, and there was a line of lanterns from the main stage to the center stage. Overall the solo was like Kaguya XD at the end of the performance Koyama dropped to the floor, lying on his back and breathing heavily all the while.
21 Encore
It was simply Tegoshi on a chair with a microphone stand. Before starting his solo, he looked at the ring on his hand and goes on looking all sentimental and holding it and his hand close.
The song stopped midway and Tegoshi sang out the lyrics in acapella. This is the point where I felt real respect and admiration for Tegoshi's vocal prowess - he may be my least favorite member, but his singing ability is no joke. I've always loved the Tegoshi in Tegomasu better than the Tegoshi in NEWS in terms of singing, and this song proved it.
As the song ended, he took off the ring from his finger, dropped it and fled from the stage.
22 I・ZA・NA・I・ZU・KI
I've always loved this song back when I stumbled upon the past NEWS DVDs and watched Shige do "kuchizuke wo", so this was a pleasant surprise.
One lone spotlight flashed on the center stage to reveal Massu clad in a white robe (similar to the one they had on the WHITE album cover) singing the intro and then dancing solo, then the stage blacked out. I could still see him fleeing the stage as fast as he could, though. XD
One by one NEWS came up on the center stage and sang.
The interesting thing about their outfits was that they were plain white with the normal spotlights, but with purple lights (UV? not really sure), the outfits revealed some colorful designs.
23 Wonder
24 Sirius
One word: hoverboards! It was quite nervewracking yet cool to see them doing turns and moving on those - I had to say that most of the time I was focused on Shige because I didn't think he'd be able to control one. XD
In the middle of the song they made their way to the center stage and performed a bunch of tricks individually. The cutest part was when Koyama sat down on his board and clung onto Massu, trailing behind him... and Shige doing the same, clinging to Koyama. NEWS hoverboard train. XD
25 NEWS Nippon
NEWS went up to the higher stands for this song! The first day we were too far from them; on the second day we were only a row below them and I could really see them up close! Too bad they didn't notice us for this time as well. /cries
Massu was giving high fives like crazy though!
26 Sayaendou
During the second show there was a huge wave of squeals at the beginning of the song. Obviously I had missed it, but apparently Tegoshi and Shige did kiss Koyama on the cheek, and Koyama changed the first line of Sayaendou to "I got a kiss from Tegoshi and Shige~! I'm waiting for you next Massu!"
(My Japanese is apparently fail so I am confusing all my -te kuretas lol)
27 Koi no ABO
This was hilarious. You know the first line of the song in which Koyama does his "You達, 何型?" Well, during the first show, TegoMasuShige blocked him from the cameras so bad that he ended up saying, "You-tachi, JAMA!" (All of you, you're a hindrance!!!!")
For the second show, TegoMasuShige said his intro at different times and messed with it and when Koyama had to do it, he ended up missing the timing instead. These brats. XD
And I'm not sure if it happened during this song, but as a response to Koyama's birthday kiss appeal, Massu took Koyama's face in his hands and, all the while smirking, gradually moved his face closer and closer as if to kiss him on the lips, but moved away at the last minute. In the end, Koyama ended up giving Massu a kiss on the cheek. XD
This sketch by @watarun_3d on Twitter pretty much summed up this kiss incident quite nicely.
28 TEPPEN
29 NYARO
30 Hikari no Shizuku
Before they began the song, Shige said that they were dedicating it to Kumamoto. :')
Encore
31 ONE -for the win-
32 Sakura Girl
For the first show, Massu wrote "Marine Messe Masuda" on his palm. For the second show though, he drew some random character and some words I couldn't read. DX
33 Koi Matsuri
Unfortunately there was no double encore. I heard from friends that so far there hasn't been a double encore. I wonder why? Hmmm....
It was a really fun start to my Golden Week and I've never attended concerts two days in a row so it was quite an experience as well! I'm going to Hiroshima's concert in 25 days, so I hope I can remember more stuff and pay more attention this time. :D