ミツル １８： NEWS Neverland Concert Report: Fukuoka [2017.04.09, second and final]
There's only one phrase that can describe this concert.
It was simply amazing.
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I've been to the past two concerts, and while both White and Quartetto were special to me (White being the first NEWS tour I've gone to, and Quartetto having the musical style and motif/theme I really like), Neverland went even far beyond those two. It was completely different from every NEWS live I have watched and been to so far, in terms of stage layout, execution and sheer presence. I could tell that NEWS had poured every bit of creativity they had into making this concert perfect, and I am proud of them for it.
So where to start? XD
Fukuoka had a lot of lucky turns for me I should say. Prior to the ballot results, I had decided to attend only the final Sunday show, but with the additional performance, I was able to get tickets to both of the Sunday shows mainly with h0bbitx3's help, whose friends had a really detailed balloting strategy which worked wonders. And this week, my friend from Australia visited Hiroshima and I was able to borrow her JR pass, which made my commute to Fukuoka really easy and - insert evil laugh here - FREEEEEEEE! That's like 14-16k yen saved so I was immensely grateful. I continue to be seriously envious of tourists who get to use their JR passes here, haha. Wish we had something similar...
Prior to the concert week I was quite stressed and busy with work and I was also sent on a business trip, so I couldn't plan and make my uchiwa. I only managed to come home the day before the concert, so I had no time to plan-coordinate a concert outfit, much less make an uchiwa designed to catch NEWS's eyes. So on the day itself, I grabbed my 4-nin NEWS uchiwa from the Countdown concert two years ago and put an "ありがとう" over it, put on the NEWS misanga and tshirt from the One -for the win- special box, and the 24hr tv hair bands (talk about mismatched, rushed, horribly planned fashion, lol). After a stroke of inspiration, I decided to do a tattoo-like design on my hand and under my right eye as well.
Apparently it was quite convincing that my parents had to message me on Skype literally MINUTES after I took this picture demanding why I had gotten a tattoo. XD
I arrived in Hakata around 10:30 (got on the Sakura as I couldn't really use the Mizuho / Nozomi with the JR pass), but because of a toilet break plus billions of fangirls at the bus stop, I only managed to get to Marine Messe Fukuoka about 30 minutes before the concert started. I had brought the 10th anniversary penlight along (because I was sheer horrified at this year's penlight, haha), but because I was stupid enough not to have checked the batteries' status, I ended up buying the current penlight anyway. I bought the parka and the concert tshirt as well on instinct, and to my delight found that the parka fits and it was so comfortable!
Before I could go to where my friend was waiting I noticed the NEWS trucks, and since it was a bit of a rare case for me to see them I just had to do this:
Yay me. :D The "NEWS" tattoo-like thing under my right eye isn't too visible though.
After taking the picture, I was able to meet my friend, and so after a bit of fangirling, we entered the concert venue. Right away I could sense the "fantasy" and "magic" vibe the tour is centered on; it reminded me a bit of Tegomasu's Mahou, only that everything seemed even more mysterious and mystical.
The set was nothing like the previous concerts' - there were huge transparent balloons up in the air with the NEVERLAND letters in them (they resembled bubbles); there was only one single thick walkway from the stage cutting through the middle of the arena, all covered up in cloth; in its center there was a raised circular platform that held a gigantic Neverland key. The stage itself had some decorations that looked like thick vines; they had the same feel and color as the set in Neverland Episode 0. There were train cars scattered too. The center screen had a huge NEVERLAND on them, and so did the side ones, but the center one had more color and the "NE", "VER", and "LAND" parts freely moved up and down.
I was too far away to see any intricate details, but here's a picture:
Magic and fantasy all around. Click on the picture for the full size!
The moment we entered I was pretty surprised to see everyone doing some sort of choreographed dance, and as soon as we had settled down in our seats I saw that they were mimicking the video that was being played on the screens at the moment. Turns out, it was Mr. Impossible introducing the seven elements, and then teaching us the dance moves on that bonus content video that came with the album (the one that needed the ID). At first Mr. Impossible taught us the steps slowly, but in the middle of it he cried "stop, STOP! Aren't you being a little too embarrassed in doing this?!" So we all laughed and then did as he taught us. It was quite amusing, hearing the tutorial in a weird robotic voice, and the dance gradually becoming faster and faster until we couldn't catch up. In the end Mr. Impossible made us do a round of applause, told us to wait, and the screens faded to reveal a mirrored surreal-like clock (which reminded me of Salvador Dali's melting clocks). It was quite cool. :)
About 3-5 minutes before the con started, the fans started doing the NEWS call, and then the lights went out, signaling the start. NEWS time!
The screen started playing Neverland Episode 0 - it was basically everything that was on the DVD, but at the end it showed the girl getting up and walking over to the side of her room, stopping in front of a door. The door's lock changed, ready to receive the key, and the girl unlocked it, opened the door slowly, walked inside, and disappeared. And the whole stage became dark again, in preparation for the most wonderful concert entrance I have ever seen.
The main stage opened to reveal the front car of a steam engine train - complete with smoke! As the juniors holding it moved forward, the other juniors picked up the scattered train car parts on the stage and began assembling the entire thing. The train drove to the center of the main walkway, right on the circular platform, where they disassembled once more to form a circle. At this point I still had NO idea where NEWS would be coming from - somewhere in my insane mind I had thought they would be descending from the ceiling, and somewhere else I thought that they were the ones "driving" the train. As the first strong chords of Neverland came up, the circular platform went up in time with the rhythm, and I could barely register the fact that its center had been lowered for some time now, and with that one rising, NEWS was slowly coming into view.
In that moment I lost all sense of embarrassment and could do nothing but cry as if it was my very first NEWS concert. It was brilliant.
01 NEVERLAND
Each of the members were facing each other, each one in a different direction and holding something. Massu was holding two katanas, Shige was holding the Neverland flag, Koyama was holding a cane, and Tegoshi was holding a long flamethrower (?) of some sort. Live singing as usual, which I appreciate, but the sounds were too loud at times and hurt my ears.
While they were chanting the seven elements, the stage lit up, there were fire effects, and there were water effects as well! Sure, NEWS had used water in their concerts before, but these water effects were similar to what Arashi did for their tours so I couldn't help but go d'aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwww.
I quite liked the choreography they did as they chanted the elements. It's just a simple "slowly move hands away from the sides, palms in front" step, but it had an effect on me.
Also not sure when it exactly happened, but during the first Sunday show, Tegoshi was in danger of his pants falling off! At first he was trying to keep them on by himself, but in the end he couldn't do it and while changing the lyrics, asked for help XDDDDDD Koyama was right beside him so he quickly came to the rescue, but they were moving around so much I was worried they might fall off the stage. In the end it was all resolved, Tegoshi has his pants firmly on, but they couldn't stop laughing. That little brat. XD
02 Un Deux Trois
They made us do the "hey!" part in the chorus so it was quite cute :) during Massu's bridge they made this little backing step towards the main stage too.
I'm not sure if it was this song, but at the end each of them formed the letters N-E-W-S with their hands.
After the song they disappeared into the back as a VTR played, reshowing the girl from Neverland episode 0, and Mr. Impossible explaining the map of NEVERLAND, which is basically just having 4 areas named North, East, West and South. Each of the areas have a gate, and a NEWS member that served as a guide. The North gate was Shige's, and had the element of ray (hikari / light = 光). East gate was governed by Koyama, and had the element of water (mizu = 水). West gate was Massu's, having sound (oto = 音). And lastly South gate was Tegoshi's, having the element of fire (honoo = 炎). After the entire explanation, it was again lights out, which then resumed with NEWS in their EMMA outfits, ready to perform the song.
03 EMMA
I still get a little bit uncomfortable with the pelvic thrusting choreography, but I guess I'm thankful to the distance for making it less painful to see. XD
04 Kaguya
After EMMA, NEWS disappeared for a bit and instead of umbrellas, reappeared with towels in hand. They started walking down the main aisle and got on smaller platforms, which turned out to arm-type ones that could swivel around in circles!
05 Koi Matsuri
I had been puzzled as to why they had brought towels with them, and frankly I should have known that Koi Matsuri was going to be performed at this point. What annoyed me personally was that I had left my NEWS towels at home (and just realized it when I was already on the shinkansen) so I had no choice but to use my shawl for the first show and the arm of the Neverland parka for the second XD;;;;
The members also threw their towels into the crowd, so the fans who caught them were very lucky indeed.
06 D・T・F
This was one of the fun songs for me on the Live3x album (which speaks a lot because it is my least favorite NEWS album) so I was very glad they included this! I think it was similar to the Shounen Club Premium performance so there's nothing much I can say about it, though the pair parts were so hilarious to see because of their dorky expressions.
It made me very happy because every time this song comes up on my playlists I always remember the weird RyoMassu interaction from the Live3x DVD, which kinda pissed me off every time to be honest. I can't wait for the DVD to come out so that I would be able to wash off that nasty recollection every time I hear this song.
(Before you attack me or give any justifications, just a brief background... I came into NEWS fandom two months before RyoPi left. The only DVD I kept repeating in those two months was Diamond. I watched Live3x after the news broke out, and I could immediately sense the awkward distance those two had from the rest of 4nin. And then that interaction between Ryo and Massu during this song.... and Endless Summer too. I know I might be reading too much into it and I didn't know anything about their dynamics before, but I hate seeing it and I cringe every time I hear Ryo's and Massu's names together. Even now. Even when K8 guested on SCP. End of rant, haha.)
07 4 + Fan
This song is fun and happy rainbows and all, but it always makes me regret the fact that I didn't come for their 10th anniversary con. T_T
After the song the stage got all dark and another VTR played, showing the girl walking through a well-lit, sparkling area. Which makes sense, because Mr. Impossible said that we had arrived at the North Gate, which was Shige's jurisdiction (ray = hikari). The character for ray gently led the girl into opening the gate and the VTR faded away, plunging the entire venue into darkness, signaling the start of Shige's solo.
08 Ayame
One sentence: THIS IS BY FAR MY FAVORITE SHIGE SOLO PERFORMANCE EVER.
As the music started, we saw Shige all curled up on his side right in the middle of the circular platform, dressed in a flowing dress tunic and pants. I couldn't see clearly from my area but it looked like there were flower (iris?) designs on them. AND HE SUNG LIVE! I could tell because I could hear a recorded version of him singing in the background and he was doing his best to match that (I think he said that for his solo he had to record two versions and they overlapped it in the final result). He was also breathing hard, since his solo was kind of similar to those interpretative dances I've seen before, which had him jumping at some points with the juniors around him, who were dressed in a similar fashion. In the middle of the song, two of the arm-like platforms rose up, which made me go ??????, but turned out there was a reason: during the chorus Shige RAN UP ONE OF THEM BAREFOOT which legitimately made me scream both in amazement and fear, especially because it was shaking quite a bit. When the distance between the two platforms was close enough, Shige JUMPED FROM ONE TO THE OTHER and picked up a rainbow flag, and waved it around proudly as he made his way down, the platform still shaking with each and every step STOP MAKING MY HEART STOP SHIGE, YOU'RE GOING TO KILL ME. At the end of the song the platforms kind of formed a triangle and there were rainbow lights illuminating them, and we all were proud and amazed at how beautifully Shige had done his solo performance. It was so good and I still smile every time I remember it.
09 Brightest
10 Sirius
11 Snow Dance
When this came on I was very clueless on the song's title, until it got to the chorus XD it was one of the songs I liked best on the EMMA single but for some reason I didn't really have that single on repeat, so I am to blame XDDD
In the second show - as he was high up in the air waiting for his turn to sing, Tegoshi looked in our direction so I frantically waved at him, and was pleasantly surprised to see him point at us and waved back. I'd like to think it was us because I was the only one who did the wave, ahahahaha.
12 Touch
At the end of the song (after it got dark, right before the VTR played), Massu said "touch!" in a very cute, childish way, which made us all laugh. XD
It was again VTR time, and now it showed the girl walking through a watery environment. She had arrived at the East Gate, which was Koyama's gate (water = mizu). The character for water led the girl through the door and the VTR finished, and then it was time for Keichan's solo.
13 Nyanta
The first thing that flashed on the screen was a picture of Koyama and Nyanta.
Koyama was standing on the main stage with a mic stand, and while he was singing, drawings of Nyanta and photos of him with Koyama were playing on the screen. I loved the ones which had Koyama lying on his side on the floor, with Nyanta in a similar pose right behind him, and the ones with a younger and older Koyama displayed side by side. The melody was supposed to be cheerful and uplifting, but it didn't prevent me from going "nooooooo" at the thought of Koyama having to relive memories of Nyanta. I was sure he had meant it to be a happy send-off for his beloved pet, but still there is grief and you can't help but be sad.
14 Koi wo Shiranai Kimi E
15 Full Swing
With both of these songs after Nyanta, I was already wondering if Koyama's gate was supposed to make everyone cry. ;A;
16 Koi no ABO
Massu's mischievous side once asserted itself once more with all the "oshiri" mentions - not just his, but also one of the juniors, if I remember correctly. Oh, Massu.
17 Nyaro
At one point in one of the concerts, during the part where they were supposed to make a heart, they didn't because they were fooling around XD I think it was mainly Tegoshi's fault, lol.
18 Orihime
For some reason I actually thought this one was Nagareboshi XD;; What caught my attention during this section was a pair of dancing juniors who seemed to be Orihime and Hikoboshi, because at the end of the song the center platform was raised, effectively blocking and separating them from each other, and the two of them could only do nothing but stretch their arms out towards the other person in sorrow.
At this point Mr. Impossible came on and told everyone it was time for the MC. I think this left me a little disappointed, because at this point I was used to high-energy songs before the MC - Weather NEWS for White, and Departure for Quartetto. But oh well.
19 MC
So obviously I still don't know a lot of Japanese and I am and will forever bitter for being so slow in learning, so this portion will just be a mixture of what I've remembered from both shows. Again, I do not claim 100% accuracy for these.
Towards the end of the MC Mr. Impossible came back on and told them to wrap up the MC so that they could start the second half. TegoShigeMassu disappeared and Keichan was left behind for a bit (somehow giving Massu more time to change for his solo) and then at the end he did "Un, deux, trois" and disappeared for the backstage as well.
20 Forever Mine
The VTR came back on, showing the girl walking through an environment filled with sound and music. The character for sound appeared and led her to Massu's West Gate, which had some musical notes flying out the moment it was opened.
It was lovely and sweet. I have always loved Massu doing ballads, but for some reason I think I had gotten too used to his dance solos by this point.
During the second show though, he made a mistake and after apologizing, requested to do it once more. He was so sincere and serious in doing so, in contrast to Tegoshi who always manages to smile and laugh at himself for the blunder he has made.
21 Silent Love
God I love this song. I just love how they divide their singing parts, and how it suited and showed off their musical prowess, especially in Tegoshi's case. I quite liked the dancing at the chorus part too.
22 Mysteria
23 Sakura Girl
Massu didn't write anything on his palm this time, which kind of surprised me a bit. I wonder if it was because he had to sing the entire time (because Tegoshi had disappeared towards the end to prepare for his solo).
Sakura Girl finished and the VTR once again started to let us know that we have arrived at the last area of Neverland: Tegoshi's South Gate, governed by the element of fire. At this point I was bracing myself for the next few minutes, because judging from the solo's lyrics and Tegoshi's personality itself, I knew it was going to be something daring and outrageous.
And yeeeep, it was. >_>;;;
24 I'm coming
Welcome to the most outrageous Tegoshi solo in history, lol. On the raised circular platform, there was a bed covered with a red sheet (I think there weren't any pillows), and Tegoshi was lying on it as he sang his solo. Throughout the song he got up and well.... did some actions that left a lot to imagination. One moment he would be lying down with his hips in the air, then the next second he would flip over and lean over an imaginary person pretending to give her pleasure XD didn't help that the lights would come on and off and they would always come on whenever Tegoshi is doing something quite obscene. I have to say though, Tegoshi's vocals were crazy and strong af and I respect him for that, but this solo was just beyond belief. XD I was a little worried though that the bed would be destroyed as he thrashed about; it didn't look too sturdy and it was too close to the edge of the stage so it moved dangerously quite a bit.
25 Black Fire
The rest of NEWS came back on the main stage in these rockish outfits (Tegoshi had started the song STILL LYING ON THE FREAKING BED), and I was delighted to see Shige's hair in that slicked back hairstyle.
During the song it was EXTREMELY LOUD for my poor ears. I have mixed emotions when it comes to rock music, but fortunately Black Fire was something I could deal with, though I had to resort to praying at the first few seconds for Shige to successfully pull off shouting the "moyaseeeeeeeeeee" line. Towards the end the atmosphere had completely changed to rock and I was left wondering if I had gone to the wrong concert. XD
26 Bambina
27 Chankapaana
28 Chumu chumu
As these songs were performed back to back to back, I actually felt my eyes growing larger and larger with incredulity and disbelief. Somehow, Tegoshi's gate is the most formidable of all the gates - formidable in the ero sense. At the end of the songs I was quite convinced that the South Gate is full of perversion, lol. If Neverland hadn't stuck too close to its album order, I would have thought EMMA would be in this area as well.
29 weeeek
NEWS went up to the stands and went around the arena! I'm not sure for the other members, but I could see Tegoshi throwing balls for the audience to catch. For the first show we were 2-3 rows below them, and for the second time we were 5+ rows above them. During the second show Massu met my eyes for a bit and so I blew him a kiss, and then he smiled that gentle omanju smile of his that made his eyes disappear. ARGHHHHHHH.
30 Pokoponpekorya
I let out an AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW as soon as I heard it, mostly because I always associate it with the 10th anniversary con and I had always wanted to see this song live. No kids with the shapes on the heads, but it was still cute all the same.
Towards the end of the song, NEWS suddenly stopped and fell asleep, with the juniors panicking around them. Mr. Impossible came on and explained to us that for them to wake up, we have to do the dance that he had taught us at the beginning of the concert. So we did the dance for like three times, and NEWS woke up one by one (during the second show Keichan exclaimed to Shige "YOU WOKE UP TOO FAST SENSEI"), and we all did the dance together.
Somewhere here Koyama was looking sternly at the audience to check if they were indeed dancing - and sure enough, he chided someone on the left wing, saying "YOU! YOU ARE NOT DANCING!"
oh I don't know if I've told you, but sometimes I don't like this side of Koyama; for me he's so scary when he gets mad and talks sharp like that. I actually cringe every time this side of him surfaces.
31 Nagareboshi
NEWS gave a bit of a closing speech, thanking everyone for coming, and the juniors came back on with the steam train. Together with the train, NEWS disappeared backstage to prepare for an "encore". Why the quotation marks, you'll know soon.
The last VTR played, showing some of the concert scenes as photographs, as Mr. Impossible thanked us all for coming to Neverland, the narration more or less similar to "The Grand Finale" on the album. The main part that changed was the end, which displayed only one sentence:
"あなたは、一人じゃない。"
32 U R Not Alone
From the album itself I had already guessed how they would execute the song - in the same style as Aikotoba, or Full Swing. Clad in the tour tshirts and parkas, they sung the song out and asked us to join in for the choruses, which I was only too happy to do so, considering that I had practised singing this song so many times to the point of memorization. Right before Tegoshi's solo, they told us to sing the first chorus in acapella for about 2-4 times. It was quite moving for me and I couldn't help but blink back some tears.
At the end of the song, they said their final goodbyes and disappeared for real as streamers burst out. I think we didn't even manage to call out "NEWS!!!!" like we usually do, so everyone was a bit confused if that was indeed the end of the concert. I knew it was already the end, because I was looking at my watch and saw that the concert was more or less 2 hours and 30 minutes at this point, and also because for some reason, it felt wrong to end the concert with another encore after U R Not Alone. They had been mostly faithful to the album's order so they felt they had to end the concert with it. And to me it seemed right that way. I had been disappointed with Quartetto's lack of a double encore, but for this concert that didn't exactly have one, I was already satisfied and my heart was full.
For the final Fukuoka show, as we were preparing to go out of the venue, Mr. Impossible came back on with "To Be Continued...", saying that the Neverland journey will continue in Miyagi. I actually tore up a bit hearing it, imagining how it would be said in Hiroshima and Tokyo. Pretty sure it would be bittersweet.
Some random part:
At the end of a song the juniors and NEWS gathered at the edge of the walkway and posed for a picture, but Massu was gleefully looking somewhere else, and so they called him out for it. XD can't remember which song though!
As I've perhaps reiterated in this report over and over again, this concert had been freaking amazing and this has turned out to be my favorite concert ever! I'm so proud of NEWS and the effort and love they had poured into creating this masterpiece. I can't wait to see them next in Hiroshima and Tokyo!
It was simply amazing.
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I've been to the past two concerts, and while both White and Quartetto were special to me (White being the first NEWS tour I've gone to, and Quartetto having the musical style and motif/theme I really like), Neverland went even far beyond those two. It was completely different from every NEWS live I have watched and been to so far, in terms of stage layout, execution and sheer presence. I could tell that NEWS had poured every bit of creativity they had into making this concert perfect, and I am proud of them for it.
So where to start? XD
Fukuoka had a lot of lucky turns for me I should say. Prior to the ballot results, I had decided to attend only the final Sunday show, but with the additional performance, I was able to get tickets to both of the Sunday shows mainly with h0bbitx3's help, whose friends had a really detailed balloting strategy which worked wonders. And this week, my friend from Australia visited Hiroshima and I was able to borrow her JR pass, which made my commute to Fukuoka really easy and - insert evil laugh here - FREEEEEEEE! That's like 14-16k yen saved so I was immensely grateful. I continue to be seriously envious of tourists who get to use their JR passes here, haha. Wish we had something similar...
Prior to the concert week I was quite stressed and busy with work and I was also sent on a business trip, so I couldn't plan and make my uchiwa. I only managed to come home the day before the concert, so I had no time to plan-coordinate a concert outfit, much less make an uchiwa designed to catch NEWS's eyes. So on the day itself, I grabbed my 4-nin NEWS uchiwa from the Countdown concert two years ago and put an "ありがとう" over it, put on the NEWS misanga and tshirt from the One -for the win- special box, and the 24hr tv hair bands (talk about mismatched, rushed, horribly planned fashion, lol). After a stroke of inspiration, I decided to do a tattoo-like design on my hand and under my right eye as well.
Apparently it was quite convincing that my parents had to message me on Skype literally MINUTES after I took this picture demanding why I had gotten a tattoo. XD
I arrived in Hakata around 10:30 (got on the Sakura as I couldn't really use the Mizuho / Nozomi with the JR pass), but because of a toilet break plus billions of fangirls at the bus stop, I only managed to get to Marine Messe Fukuoka about 30 minutes before the concert started. I had brought the 10th anniversary penlight along (because I was sheer horrified at this year's penlight, haha), but because I was stupid enough not to have checked the batteries' status, I ended up buying the current penlight anyway. I bought the parka and the concert tshirt as well on instinct, and to my delight found that the parka fits and it was so comfortable!
Before I could go to where my friend was waiting I noticed the NEWS trucks, and since it was a bit of a rare case for me to see them I just had to do this:
Yay me. :D The "NEWS" tattoo-like thing under my right eye isn't too visible though.
After taking the picture, I was able to meet my friend, and so after a bit of fangirling, we entered the concert venue. Right away I could sense the "fantasy" and "magic" vibe the tour is centered on; it reminded me a bit of Tegomasu's Mahou, only that everything seemed even more mysterious and mystical.
The set was nothing like the previous concerts' - there were huge transparent balloons up in the air with the NEVERLAND letters in them (they resembled bubbles); there was only one single thick walkway from the stage cutting through the middle of the arena, all covered up in cloth; in its center there was a raised circular platform that held a gigantic Neverland key. The stage itself had some decorations that looked like thick vines; they had the same feel and color as the set in Neverland Episode 0. There were train cars scattered too. The center screen had a huge NEVERLAND on them, and so did the side ones, but the center one had more color and the "NE", "VER", and "LAND" parts freely moved up and down.
I was too far away to see any intricate details, but here's a picture:
Magic and fantasy all around. Click on the picture for the full size!
The moment we entered I was pretty surprised to see everyone doing some sort of choreographed dance, and as soon as we had settled down in our seats I saw that they were mimicking the video that was being played on the screens at the moment. Turns out, it was Mr. Impossible introducing the seven elements, and then teaching us the dance moves on that bonus content video that came with the album (the one that needed the ID). At first Mr. Impossible taught us the steps slowly, but in the middle of it he cried "stop, STOP! Aren't you being a little too embarrassed in doing this?!" So we all laughed and then did as he taught us. It was quite amusing, hearing the tutorial in a weird robotic voice, and the dance gradually becoming faster and faster until we couldn't catch up. In the end Mr. Impossible made us do a round of applause, told us to wait, and the screens faded to reveal a mirrored surreal-like clock (which reminded me of Salvador Dali's melting clocks). It was quite cool. :)
About 3-5 minutes before the con started, the fans started doing the NEWS call, and then the lights went out, signaling the start. NEWS time!
The screen started playing Neverland Episode 0 - it was basically everything that was on the DVD, but at the end it showed the girl getting up and walking over to the side of her room, stopping in front of a door. The door's lock changed, ready to receive the key, and the girl unlocked it, opened the door slowly, walked inside, and disappeared. And the whole stage became dark again, in preparation for the most wonderful concert entrance I have ever seen.
The main stage opened to reveal the front car of a steam engine train - complete with smoke! As the juniors holding it moved forward, the other juniors picked up the scattered train car parts on the stage and began assembling the entire thing. The train drove to the center of the main walkway, right on the circular platform, where they disassembled once more to form a circle. At this point I still had NO idea where NEWS would be coming from - somewhere in my insane mind I had thought they would be descending from the ceiling, and somewhere else I thought that they were the ones "driving" the train. As the first strong chords of Neverland came up, the circular platform went up in time with the rhythm, and I could barely register the fact that its center had been lowered for some time now, and with that one rising, NEWS was slowly coming into view.
In that moment I lost all sense of embarrassment and could do nothing but cry as if it was my very first NEWS concert. It was brilliant.
01 NEVERLAND
Each of the members were facing each other, each one in a different direction and holding something. Massu was holding two katanas, Shige was holding the Neverland flag, Koyama was holding a cane, and Tegoshi was holding a long flamethrower (?) of some sort. Live singing as usual, which I appreciate, but the sounds were too loud at times and hurt my ears.
While they were chanting the seven elements, the stage lit up, there were fire effects, and there were water effects as well! Sure, NEWS had used water in their concerts before, but these water effects were similar to what Arashi did for their tours so I couldn't help but go d'aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwww.
I quite liked the choreography they did as they chanted the elements. It's just a simple "slowly move hands away from the sides, palms in front" step, but it had an effect on me.
Also not sure when it exactly happened, but during the first Sunday show, Tegoshi was in danger of his pants falling off! At first he was trying to keep them on by himself, but in the end he couldn't do it and while changing the lyrics, asked for help XDDDDDD Koyama was right beside him so he quickly came to the rescue, but they were moving around so much I was worried they might fall off the stage. In the end it was all resolved, Tegoshi has his pants firmly on, but they couldn't stop laughing. That little brat. XD
02 Un Deux Trois
They made us do the "hey!" part in the chorus so it was quite cute :) during Massu's bridge they made this little backing step towards the main stage too.
I'm not sure if it was this song, but at the end each of them formed the letters N-E-W-S with their hands.
After the song they disappeared into the back as a VTR played, reshowing the girl from Neverland episode 0, and Mr. Impossible explaining the map of NEVERLAND, which is basically just having 4 areas named North, East, West and South. Each of the areas have a gate, and a NEWS member that served as a guide. The North gate was Shige's, and had the element of ray (hikari / light = 光). East gate was governed by Koyama, and had the element of water (mizu = 水). West gate was Massu's, having sound (oto = 音). And lastly South gate was Tegoshi's, having the element of fire (honoo = 炎). After the entire explanation, it was again lights out, which then resumed with NEWS in their EMMA outfits, ready to perform the song.
03 EMMA
I still get a little bit uncomfortable with the pelvic thrusting choreography, but I guess I'm thankful to the distance for making it less painful to see. XD
04 Kaguya
After EMMA, NEWS disappeared for a bit and instead of umbrellas, reappeared with towels in hand. They started walking down the main aisle and got on smaller platforms, which turned out to arm-type ones that could swivel around in circles!
05 Koi Matsuri
I had been puzzled as to why they had brought towels with them, and frankly I should have known that Koi Matsuri was going to be performed at this point. What annoyed me personally was that I had left my NEWS towels at home (and just realized it when I was already on the shinkansen) so I had no choice but to use my shawl for the first show and the arm of the Neverland parka for the second XD;;;;
The members also threw their towels into the crowd, so the fans who caught them were very lucky indeed.
06 D・T・F
This was one of the fun songs for me on the Live3x album (which speaks a lot because it is my least favorite NEWS album) so I was very glad they included this! I think it was similar to the Shounen Club Premium performance so there's nothing much I can say about it, though the pair parts were so hilarious to see because of their dorky expressions.
It made me very happy because every time this song comes up on my playlists I always remember the weird RyoMassu interaction from the Live3x DVD, which kinda pissed me off every time to be honest. I can't wait for the DVD to come out so that I would be able to wash off that nasty recollection every time I hear this song.
(Before you attack me or give any justifications, just a brief background... I came into NEWS fandom two months before RyoPi left. The only DVD I kept repeating in those two months was Diamond. I watched Live3x after the news broke out, and I could immediately sense the awkward distance those two had from the rest of 4nin. And then that interaction between Ryo and Massu during this song.... and Endless Summer too. I know I might be reading too much into it and I didn't know anything about their dynamics before, but I hate seeing it and I cringe every time I hear Ryo's and Massu's names together. Even now. Even when K8 guested on SCP. End of rant, haha.)
07 4 + Fan
This song is fun and happy rainbows and all, but it always makes me regret the fact that I didn't come for their 10th anniversary con. T_T
After the song the stage got all dark and another VTR played, showing the girl walking through a well-lit, sparkling area. Which makes sense, because Mr. Impossible said that we had arrived at the North Gate, which was Shige's jurisdiction (ray = hikari). The character for ray gently led the girl into opening the gate and the VTR faded away, plunging the entire venue into darkness, signaling the start of Shige's solo.
08 Ayame
One sentence: THIS IS BY FAR MY FAVORITE SHIGE SOLO PERFORMANCE EVER.
As the music started, we saw Shige all curled up on his side right in the middle of the circular platform, dressed in a flowing dress tunic and pants. I couldn't see clearly from my area but it looked like there were flower (iris?) designs on them. AND HE SUNG LIVE! I could tell because I could hear a recorded version of him singing in the background and he was doing his best to match that (I think he said that for his solo he had to record two versions and they overlapped it in the final result). He was also breathing hard, since his solo was kind of similar to those interpretative dances I've seen before, which had him jumping at some points with the juniors around him, who were dressed in a similar fashion. In the middle of the song, two of the arm-like platforms rose up, which made me go ??????, but turned out there was a reason: during the chorus Shige RAN UP ONE OF THEM BAREFOOT which legitimately made me scream both in amazement and fear, especially because it was shaking quite a bit. When the distance between the two platforms was close enough, Shige JUMPED FROM ONE TO THE OTHER and picked up a rainbow flag, and waved it around proudly as he made his way down, the platform still shaking with each and every step STOP MAKING MY HEART STOP SHIGE, YOU'RE GOING TO KILL ME. At the end of the song the platforms kind of formed a triangle and there were rainbow lights illuminating them, and we all were proud and amazed at how beautifully Shige had done his solo performance. It was so good and I still smile every time I remember it.
09 Brightest
10 Sirius
11 Snow Dance
When this came on I was very clueless on the song's title, until it got to the chorus XD it was one of the songs I liked best on the EMMA single but for some reason I didn't really have that single on repeat, so I am to blame XDDD
In the second show - as he was high up in the air waiting for his turn to sing, Tegoshi looked in our direction so I frantically waved at him, and was pleasantly surprised to see him point at us and waved back. I'd like to think it was us because I was the only one who did the wave, ahahahaha.
12 Touch
At the end of the song (after it got dark, right before the VTR played), Massu said "touch!" in a very cute, childish way, which made us all laugh. XD
It was again VTR time, and now it showed the girl walking through a watery environment. She had arrived at the East Gate, which was Koyama's gate (water = mizu). The character for water led the girl through the door and the VTR finished, and then it was time for Keichan's solo.
13 Nyanta
The first thing that flashed on the screen was a picture of Koyama and Nyanta.
Koyama was standing on the main stage with a mic stand, and while he was singing, drawings of Nyanta and photos of him with Koyama were playing on the screen. I loved the ones which had Koyama lying on his side on the floor, with Nyanta in a similar pose right behind him, and the ones with a younger and older Koyama displayed side by side. The melody was supposed to be cheerful and uplifting, but it didn't prevent me from going "nooooooo" at the thought of Koyama having to relive memories of Nyanta. I was sure he had meant it to be a happy send-off for his beloved pet, but still there is grief and you can't help but be sad.
14 Koi wo Shiranai Kimi E
15 Full Swing
With both of these songs after Nyanta, I was already wondering if Koyama's gate was supposed to make everyone cry. ;A;
16 Koi no ABO
Massu's mischievous side once asserted itself once more with all the "oshiri" mentions - not just his, but also one of the juniors, if I remember correctly. Oh, Massu.
17 Nyaro
At one point in one of the concerts, during the part where they were supposed to make a heart, they didn't because they were fooling around XD I think it was mainly Tegoshi's fault, lol.
18 Orihime
For some reason I actually thought this one was Nagareboshi XD;; What caught my attention during this section was a pair of dancing juniors who seemed to be Orihime and Hikoboshi, because at the end of the song the center platform was raised, effectively blocking and separating them from each other, and the two of them could only do nothing but stretch their arms out towards the other person in sorrow.
At this point Mr. Impossible came on and told everyone it was time for the MC. I think this left me a little disappointed, because at this point I was used to high-energy songs before the MC - Weather NEWS for White, and Departure for Quartetto. But oh well.
19 MC
So obviously I still don't know a lot of Japanese and I am and will forever bitter for being so slow in learning, so this portion will just be a mixture of what I've remembered from both shows. Again, I do not claim 100% accuracy for these.
- For the first show, the first thing they all talked about was Tegoshi's wardrobe malfunction at the start. They discussed how Massu designed the costumes again for this tour (and it was quite a relief for me to see that they weren't too shocking this time around) and then Tegoshi went "脱ーぐぞ！" to which Shige immediately replied "What's with that "まーきの！ way of saying, as if it's some kind of buzzword!" (For those who can't remember, "Ma~kino!" was Hanazawa Rui's way of calling Makino Tsukushi from Hana Yori Dango.)
- Massu complained a bit about how the audience don't properly do the furitsuke for some of the songs. As an example, he mentioned that during the "koishite taito iin janai" part of the Koi no ABO chorus, they move their heads/necks from side to side, but the audience just move their penlights in a similar motion. For weeeek's chorus, they all jump up and down, but the audience just bobs up and down on their feet / bobs their heads up and down. At this point Koyama jumped in and agreed, and requested that we do the choreography properly as well along with them. Weeeeeeeeelll I'd love to, NEWS, if only I wasn't afraid to 1.) be seen as crazy by the fans around me; 2.) risk straining my feet and legs even further; and 3.) contribute to the collapse of the stands if we jumped / moved around too much.
- Massu said he went to Fukuoka Dome and wished they could perform domes one day. Everyone agreed though that they should play both domes and arenas together. Personally speaking, I am contented with them like this. I don't like them having to play only at domes and lose the intimacy and closeness only arena venues can provide.
- Tegoshi mentioned wanting to do overseas tours. DO IT, NEWS. (Although pretty sure Arashi might have a better chance of doing it...)
- They talked about their individual shows: news every for Koyama (there was a slight mention of Sorajiro), Vivit for Shige (I think he mentioned something about his nosebleed incident), ItteQ for Tegoshi (he ended up referencing to an episode where he had to gather cauliflowers - I was a bit mad because I wasn't able to watch that one yet so I couldn't fully understand the reference) and Chara Parade for Massu. Massu talked a bit about the show and then mentioned NEWS no Torisetsu! He explained how he described KoyaShige in the lyrics, and ended up singing the part about Tegomasu, to which Tegoshi was like "wait, what, no, no, huh? Wait what. WHY?! (in Degawa style)". As someone who gets peeved at Tegoshi's antics sometimes, I actually thought "serves you right you little shit". XD
Towards the end of the MC Mr. Impossible came back on and told them to wrap up the MC so that they could start the second half. TegoShigeMassu disappeared and Keichan was left behind for a bit (somehow giving Massu more time to change for his solo) and then at the end he did "Un, deux, trois" and disappeared for the backstage as well.
20 Forever Mine
The VTR came back on, showing the girl walking through an environment filled with sound and music. The character for sound appeared and led her to Massu's West Gate, which had some musical notes flying out the moment it was opened.
It was lovely and sweet. I have always loved Massu doing ballads, but for some reason I think I had gotten too used to his dance solos by this point.
During the second show though, he made a mistake and after apologizing, requested to do it once more. He was so sincere and serious in doing so, in contrast to Tegoshi who always manages to smile and laugh at himself for the blunder he has made.
21 Silent Love
God I love this song. I just love how they divide their singing parts, and how it suited and showed off their musical prowess, especially in Tegoshi's case. I quite liked the dancing at the chorus part too.
22 Mysteria
23 Sakura Girl
Massu didn't write anything on his palm this time, which kind of surprised me a bit. I wonder if it was because he had to sing the entire time (because Tegoshi had disappeared towards the end to prepare for his solo).
Sakura Girl finished and the VTR once again started to let us know that we have arrived at the last area of Neverland: Tegoshi's South Gate, governed by the element of fire. At this point I was bracing myself for the next few minutes, because judging from the solo's lyrics and Tegoshi's personality itself, I knew it was going to be something daring and outrageous.
And yeeeep, it was. >_>;;;
24 I'm coming
Welcome to the most outrageous Tegoshi solo in history, lol. On the raised circular platform, there was a bed covered with a red sheet (I think there weren't any pillows), and Tegoshi was lying on it as he sang his solo. Throughout the song he got up and well.... did some actions that left a lot to imagination. One moment he would be lying down with his hips in the air, then the next second he would flip over and lean over an imaginary person pretending to give her pleasure XD didn't help that the lights would come on and off and they would always come on whenever Tegoshi is doing something quite obscene. I have to say though, Tegoshi's vocals were crazy and strong af and I respect him for that, but this solo was just beyond belief. XD I was a little worried though that the bed would be destroyed as he thrashed about; it didn't look too sturdy and it was too close to the edge of the stage so it moved dangerously quite a bit.
25 Black Fire
The rest of NEWS came back on the main stage in these rockish outfits (Tegoshi had started the song STILL LYING ON THE FREAKING BED), and I was delighted to see Shige's hair in that slicked back hairstyle.
During the song it was EXTREMELY LOUD for my poor ears. I have mixed emotions when it comes to rock music, but fortunately Black Fire was something I could deal with, though I had to resort to praying at the first few seconds for Shige to successfully pull off shouting the "moyaseeeeeeeeeee" line. Towards the end the atmosphere had completely changed to rock and I was left wondering if I had gone to the wrong concert. XD
26 Bambina
27 Chankapaana
28 Chumu chumu
As these songs were performed back to back to back, I actually felt my eyes growing larger and larger with incredulity and disbelief. Somehow, Tegoshi's gate is the most formidable of all the gates - formidable in the ero sense. At the end of the songs I was quite convinced that the South Gate is full of perversion, lol. If Neverland hadn't stuck too close to its album order, I would have thought EMMA would be in this area as well.
29 weeeek
NEWS went up to the stands and went around the arena! I'm not sure for the other members, but I could see Tegoshi throwing balls for the audience to catch. For the first show we were 2-3 rows below them, and for the second time we were 5+ rows above them. During the second show Massu met my eyes for a bit and so I blew him a kiss, and then he smiled that gentle omanju smile of his that made his eyes disappear. ARGHHHHHHH.
30 Pokoponpekorya
I let out an AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW as soon as I heard it, mostly because I always associate it with the 10th anniversary con and I had always wanted to see this song live. No kids with the shapes on the heads, but it was still cute all the same.
Towards the end of the song, NEWS suddenly stopped and fell asleep, with the juniors panicking around them. Mr. Impossible came on and explained to us that for them to wake up, we have to do the dance that he had taught us at the beginning of the concert. So we did the dance for like three times, and NEWS woke up one by one (during the second show Keichan exclaimed to Shige "YOU WOKE UP TOO FAST SENSEI"), and we all did the dance together.
Somewhere here Koyama was looking sternly at the audience to check if they were indeed dancing - and sure enough, he chided someone on the left wing, saying "YOU! YOU ARE NOT DANCING!"
oh I don't know if I've told you, but sometimes I don't like this side of Koyama; for me he's so scary when he gets mad and talks sharp like that. I actually cringe every time this side of him surfaces.
31 Nagareboshi
NEWS gave a bit of a closing speech, thanking everyone for coming, and the juniors came back on with the steam train. Together with the train, NEWS disappeared backstage to prepare for an "encore". Why the quotation marks, you'll know soon.
The last VTR played, showing some of the concert scenes as photographs, as Mr. Impossible thanked us all for coming to Neverland, the narration more or less similar to "The Grand Finale" on the album. The main part that changed was the end, which displayed only one sentence:
"あなたは、一人じゃない。"
32 U R Not Alone
From the album itself I had already guessed how they would execute the song - in the same style as Aikotoba, or Full Swing. Clad in the tour tshirts and parkas, they sung the song out and asked us to join in for the choruses, which I was only too happy to do so, considering that I had practised singing this song so many times to the point of memorization. Right before Tegoshi's solo, they told us to sing the first chorus in acapella for about 2-4 times. It was quite moving for me and I couldn't help but blink back some tears.
At the end of the song, they said their final goodbyes and disappeared for real as streamers burst out. I think we didn't even manage to call out "NEWS!!!!" like we usually do, so everyone was a bit confused if that was indeed the end of the concert. I knew it was already the end, because I was looking at my watch and saw that the concert was more or less 2 hours and 30 minutes at this point, and also because for some reason, it felt wrong to end the concert with another encore after U R Not Alone. They had been mostly faithful to the album's order so they felt they had to end the concert with it. And to me it seemed right that way. I had been disappointed with Quartetto's lack of a double encore, but for this concert that didn't exactly have one, I was already satisfied and my heart was full.
For the final Fukuoka show, as we were preparing to go out of the venue, Mr. Impossible came back on with "To Be Continued...", saying that the Neverland journey will continue in Miyagi. I actually tore up a bit hearing it, imagining how it would be said in Hiroshima and Tokyo. Pretty sure it would be bittersweet.
Some random part:
At the end of a song the juniors and NEWS gathered at the edge of the walkway and posed for a picture, but Massu was gleefully looking somewhere else, and so they called him out for it. XD can't remember which song though!
As I've perhaps reiterated in this report over and over again, this concert had been freaking amazing and this has turned out to be my favorite concert ever! I'm so proud of NEWS and the effort and love they had poured into creating this masterpiece. I can't wait to see them next in Hiroshima and Tokyo!