Hey! Say! JUMP smart Tour - Osaka - August 2, 2014
I can't express how happy I am that I was lucky enough to be able to go to the first concert of Hey! Say! JUMP's smart tour! I arrived in Japan just the day before, but I arrived in Tokyo so I took the train to Osaka early on Saturday morning. Still, I only arrived around 10:30 AM and by then the line for buying concert goods was literally miles-long! I've never seen a goods line that long! Despite the bad weather I gave it a shot, but I'd only come half-way when I had to leave the line to enter the arena and see the concert. So I bought my concert goods after the concert instead - that's a first! This is what I got (plus the photo sets of HSJ, Yabu, Yamada and Daiki):
I had a really good seat: on the left side stands, on the same distance from the main stage as where the arena seats started, and on the second row. The concert was held in Osaka Jo Hall, and it was the first time I was there. I must say, I really like that arena. It's big, but not huge, and it felt quite intimate - even when the guys were on the other side of the arena they still didn't feel too far away. The stage setup was: main stage, center stage, front stage, and by the stands on each side there was a small stage that could be lifted upwards. And then there were runways like a cross between these stages.
The introduction video was really cute this year too. For each member, there were coloured lines that formed the outline of the member, and then the outline turned into the member - and they all made cute and nice faces! Although Yabu was looking kinda cool instead of cute. At the end of the video they did a countdown to zero in English, then there was a lot of smoke on the main stage - and suddenly they were all there! They were standing in a long line, dancing, and I think Hikaru was very close to me - Yabu was far on the other side... And Yamada somewhere in the middle. The first song was Ready Go, and that was a perfect song to start with! It's very upbeat and just got a lot of energy, I could feel all the excitement from the members as well as from all the fans come together in this song. And I just love this song so much! Chinen didn't sing all of his first part - instead he said "I wanted to meet you!" after he sang the "this day I longed for has come" part. Then at the part where Inoo sings "Sou sa Beautiful World!" he did an idol wink, so Inoo-ish!
They continued straight away with Come On A My House and that performance was mostly like it usually is - they were just really cute and silly. Chinen took advantage of the stairs on the main stage and climbed it before he said his solo line. But Yamada changed the second chorus - he started talking instead of singing, in a really silly voice, and I think he said something about Osaka?
At the end of the song they all rushed to center stage. Then I could see how the fans close to center stage went crazy as JUMP started singing Super Delicate. I would have gone crazy as well, being to close to the YamaJima moment! Oh, Yamada and Yuto, they're so cute! They started fiddling with each other's hair and were just super cute with each other.
Then they went to front stage while they welcomed us and said they hoped we would enjoy the concert. The next song was Beat Line. My favourite part of this performance has to be when they do this really cool dance routine while Yuto is playing the drums. After this they sang Our Future, and now they all ran around the whole arena, waving to the fans. I'm so happy that this song is released on CD by now! This performance brought back a lot of memories from the Tokyo Dome concerts last year... At the end of the song, Hey! Say! BEST left the stage, and I thought that there would be a Hey! Say! 7 corner. But instead there was a BEST corner.
BEST performed スクールデイズ, as usual, but with a new touch. And I loved it! They started on center stage and the intro was the same as in Tokyo Dome last year, but the long coats were different - they were red and really nice-looking. I remember thinking it's a shame they only use them during the intro of the song... The beginning of the song was "normal" (there is actually nothing at all about this performance that is normal, but anyway...).
But suddenly Daiki stopped singing, and Yabu said "STOP STOP STOP" so everyone stopped singing, and then he shouted at Daiki to get a grip and sing properly! Then Daiki started rambling on and on about how no matter how much he sings, he never becomes popular. They showed a video of things they've done before as BEST, and he said "We've drunk milk, we've played instruments, we've looked macho - what else can we do?! If we continue like this we'll never become popular! Stupid!" I think this was the moment when Hikaru walked up to him and it looked like he was going to hit Daiki, but instead he hugged him tightly while talking to him (at this part they were talking too fast for me to catch it all...). But they all admitted that they actually want to be popular. Which made all the fans scream and cheer loudly - hey, they ARE already popular!! (Aw Daiki, you too, you are adorable!)
Then they created a new meaning of BEST - unfortunately each letter got such a long meaning that I couldn't memorize them all... But B stood for 'BATTLE ga attara (couldn't catch the rest) if there's a battle, -', E stood for 'EVERY DAY (couldn't catch the rest for all the screaming!)', S stood for 'shuugoubasho wa ? the meeting place is ?' and T I didn't manage to catch at all... And then they finished by reading a line from Score, and let the fans scream the BEST part. And then they performed Score. The beginning was the best! Each person took a few balett steps during their solo lines - you know, pirouettes, tripping on toes, all that stuff. And I think it was Daiki and Hikaru who were dancing together as well, as a couple. Takaki...was just kinda flapping his arms like wings! And during the whole song, the cheering of the fans echoed through the arena! The second part of the song was performed on main stage, and right at the end one of them said "se no!" and they opened their jackets. Standing on a line, with one letter on each t-shirt, we could read "モテたくて" and then they turned around and let the jacket fall lower down, and on the back of the t-shirts was formed "つづけます" (We'll continue to wanna become popular").
Then there was the HS7 corner. Keito appeared on front stage, the others were on one runway each. They performed Just For You, but in the middle of the song Keito stopped, and said "This is history" (in English), and he removed the red rose from his jacket pocket and threw it on the stage floor, and Yamada, Yuto and Chinen did the same with their roses. Actually Yuto had accidentally dropped his rose right at the beginning of the song and a fan had to return it to him! And I wonder if Yamada had some trouble with his earpiece, because he was out of tune a few times...
And then everyone entered the stage, BEST were now also wearing the same white suits with their initials in black on the back of the jacket, just like 7. And now they all wore a hat. They sang RELOAD; the first part of the song on center stage, and the second part of the song they spread out on the center runway. Daiki was almost right in front of my section! I have to admit that when I listened to the album earlier this was not one of my favourite songs. But live? It was an amazing live song! And the dance was great. I don't know if it's just me, but the suits and the hats and the dance made me think of Michael Jackson... Since Daiki was dancing so close to me during this song, it's mostly him I remember... But maybe that's not so bad after all, since he wrote the song. However, I remember that someone dropped his hat during the first part of the song - either Keito or Yabu, because there was a K on the back of the jacket of the person...
They returned to center stage and performed Ride With Me. By now they had gotten rid of the hats. The dance was the usual one. But here I can mention that at those times when they were dancing everyone together on center stage, they really adapted the dance so they turned in different directions throughout the song, so no one around them had to watch their backs for a whole song. Anyway, I was so happy to get to hear this song live! It's one of my favourite songs, and the dance is just amazing! Speaking of dance - there was an extra section added to the performance - suddenly in the middle of it, everything turned absolutely silent, and they did some kind of tap dancing. That was so cool! I also think there were like laser beams? And then Yamada sang the bridge part almost a capella because the background music was very low in volume.
The next song was also a 'finally!' song on my part: 瞳のスクリーン. Well, they did perform it the last time I saw them as well, but at that time everyone was spread out on their own small stage - now they were all dancing together on center stage. I really like this song too! And it was much cooler to see them all dance together. Then at the end of the song they divided into BEST and HS7, and they each went to one of the stages on the sides. HS7 went to the one on my side. Then those stages rose into the air! And stopped right in front of the stands! And I'm not lying when I say that they were dancing right in front of the fans who had those seats closest to the stages! It was really like, the stage was soooo close to touching the rail of the stands! Anyway, Yamada said his usual line "I love you!", but it looked like he started laughing right after he said it, and couldn't start singing again until after a few lines? That's what it looked like from my seat anyway, and I thought that was hilarious!
Then they sang OVER while they were still on the side stages. BEST and HS7 were dancing while facing each other, and it looked really cool actually. It almost became like a dialogue between the stages at the "over" parts. After a while the stages were lowered again, and they all met on center stage. I really liked the choreography for this song. But I noticed throughout the concert that when they divided into groups, it was not just randomly done, but usually BEST vs HS7. I didn't really mind it though, I just noticed it.
They all walked over to the main stage during the end of the song. The next song was Candle, and it was just as beautiful as I had expected! Yamada had actually left the stage early during OVER, and returned for his solo part wearing a sparkly vest instead of the jacket. While Yamada was singing, the others also changed outfits. They all spread out on the main stage, and each had a spotlight on them. It was so beautiful, and the song was so beautiful, and my eyes definitely filled with tears... At the end they all went in their spotlights to stand on one line along the whole main stage, and there was sparkly confetti falling from the ceiling. It was so damn beautiful! And Yamada, good job on writing this song!
Then the mood changed completely when Chinen, Yuto and Yabu entered the stage, wearing sparkly blue outfits, horrible glasses and huge fake mustaches, waving penlights. Super Super Night is actually a very enjoyable live song, even though the album version is so-so. These three really know how to put up a good show - and Yuto just has too much energy! He's the one who's jumping instead of walking, and whose normal mode is running... He's adorable to watch!
After this, everyone entered main stage and performed 愛すればもっとハッピーライフ. The choreography for this song is adorable! And on the screens there was a video with the JUMP member characters - in 3D this year! Oh, and at the beginning of the song, some of them were talking to the fans, and Inoo was so Inoo-ish again... He ended his talk with "ii no?" .... Many of them came all the way to the stands on my side, but I don't remember all of them. I'm pretty sure Hikaru and Keito were singing right next to my section though.
Then they all jumped onto carts that brought them through the arena all the way to the front stage. There they performed School Girl, I loved it! And oh how the fans screamed during the part at the end where they stand in a line with their hands on the guy in front of them! And I think there was one of them who tried to kiss one of the others? I kinda missed the whole thing though because I was looking at some of the other guys, so I don't know who tried to kiss who...
Then they performed ウィークエンダー. It's a really really good song, I love it! Sadly, I don't remember much of the performance... Except that the dance was kinda cute.
MC time! They all gathered on the main stage and bid us to sit down. Also, since it was so hot in the arena they told us to drink if we had some kind of drink with us. They themselves were really really sweaty! Especially Inoo was sweating a lot!
Daiki: "Inoo, when was the last time you were sweating this much?"
Inoo: "That's probably like 7 years ago!"
Then they talked a little about the outfits they were wearing - on the jackets there was a 7 or a B, depending on if they were a HS7 member or a BEST member.
Hikaru: "B for BEST. It's not B for baka ('idiot')."
Daiki: "Because Takaki could be the baka."
Inoo: "Hey! Don't talk bad about Takaki!"
Then one of them, I think it was Hikaru, brought out the tumbler they are selling as concert goods. It's got the JUMP member characters on it, and Hikaru said "The person who drew these must be a genius!" and everyone laughed...
Suddenly while they were talking about the JUMP member characters, the fans went wild and were screaming so much! I noticed at once why - one of the cameramen had been filming Yamada really close-up while he was drinking from his tumbler, and it actually looked very sexy... But Hikaru was like 'eh? what happened?' and looked around him. Most of the guys, Hikaru included, seemed to figure out quickly why the fans had screamed, so Hikaru tried drinking too - everyone was silent. Then another guy tried drinking and he was filmed as well - but only a few fans screamed half-heartedly. Yamada still didn't seem to completely get it though! But then he was like "Eh? Me? Me?" and when the cameraman zoomed in on Yamada again (he wasn't drinking now) everyone started screaming again, and Yamada was like 'eeeh... >_>' And then he looked closely at himself on the big screen and commented how sweaty he was.
Suddenly Chinen walked up to Yamada:
Chinen: "Isn't your top very transparant?"
Yamada: "I guess so..."
Chinen: (starts removing Yamada's jacket) "It really is!"
Yamada: "Stop it, stop it!"
Next they mentioned the new extra section during Ride With Me, and Yamada started saying something about the fans on the top floor of the arena - but he started stuttering "Ue-ue-ue-ue..." so the others laughed and called him Yamada-DJ. They also talked a bit about the BEST corner and the HS7 corner. Apparently, what Yabu had said during the BEST corner about the meeting place, he had mentioned a spot in Osaka, and now they asked if anyone knew it? A lot of people apparently did, and Yabu seemed a little disappointed that he had chosen a spot that was so well-known... And then Yamada commented on the differences between the BEST corner and the HS7 corner: that BEST just complain "We want to be popular!" and HS7 sing "Just for you..." Which led to that Keito once again had to explain what 'just for you' means in Japanese.
The evening before, all of them had gone out to eat dinner together, and for some reason they went to stand in the order they were sitting at in the restaurant (and there became a huge gap between Yabu & Inoo and the rest of the members, so Yabu was like "Hey, what's this huge gap about??"). The owner had talked to them, and Hikaru acted the owner now when they re-enacted parts of the conversation.
Hikaru (owner): "The guy over there, isn't he the most handsome one?" (pointing at Keito)
(most of the fans start laughing)
Keito: "Oi! Why are you laughing?!"
Hikaru (owner): (looking at Yamada) "Aren't you Koichi-kun?"
They talked a little more about the dinner, and then they talked about the songs they themselves wrote on the album.
Hikaru: "The RELOAD performance was really cool, right?"
Yamada: "Yeah, with the hats and everything. Dai-chan said he really wanted to do that."
Daiki: "Hey, don't tell everyone here! It's embarrassing!"
They talked about the new single, ウィークエンダー / 明日へのYELL. Chinen started doing some serious promotion for it, but being Chinen he soon turned into a robot, speaking very robot-like. The fans all went "kawaii~!!!" and Chinen (being Chinen) said "I know!" and everyone went 'kyaa!!'
Speaking about ウィークエンダー, they started talking about Kindaichi shounen no jikenbo neo, because the next episode would be aired that very evening. So we got a short VTR of it on the screen! At the end, Hajime is close to kissing a girl (sorry, I haven't watched any of the episodes yet so I don't know anything about the other characters...) and Chinen then commented that he almost felt a little jealous... Though I don't know if he meant jealous of Yamada getting to kiss a girl, or jealous of the girl getting to kiss Yamada, LOL!
Yamada: "Is there anyone in here who has managed to solve a case faster than Hajime?"
(some fans call out that they did)
Some HSJ members: "Really? Oh, amazing!"
Chinen: "I don't believe any of you are that smart!"
Yamada: "Don't be rude!"
Chinen: "No one can beat Hajime."
Yamada: "So everyone, please go straight home tonight and watch it!"
Then he also mentioned his role in the movie Grasshopper (in cinemas next year), and that it's a very different role compared to his role in Kindaichi. I think it was Yabu who said "As soon as I saw you had changed your hair colour, I knew that you had been given the role of [---] and I was so happy!" Yamada said that he hoped many of us would go and watch the movie, but that some might find it a bit scary, so we should take care.
Then Yuto and Takaki promoted their drama Suikyu Yankees.
Yamada: "I'm called Hey! Say! JUMP's Gin-san or Kin-san!" (Mr. Silver or Mr. Gold - but could also refer to Kindaichi=Kin-san)
Yuto: "Gin-san."
Yamada: "Kin-san."
Yuto: "Gin-san."
Yamada: "Let's stop it now..." (laughs)
Yuto started explaining some of the things he's learned about swimming. Like, how to stay floating. All the others were really impressed! Then Hikaru told about how he can't swim at all and almost drowned one time when on Hawaii, and Inoo said "He was angry with me after that and asked why I hadn't rescued him..."
And then we got to see a VTR of Suikyu Yankees too, while all the members went off stage to change outfits. While we were watching the VTR, they also brought out the drums and the keyboard on main stage.
Right after the VTR they performed 明日へのYELL, which is the theme song for Yuto and Takaki's drama. It's a really good song too! And I liked the performance!
After that, Yuto had a drum solo (he's sooooo skilled!!!) before Inoo joined him on keyboards, and Hikaru played the bass and Keito the guitar, as usual. They performed コンパスローズ. Oh, who was it who walked up to Inoo and put his arm around his shoulders? I think it was Chinen, but I'm not completely sure... Everyone was spread out on the main stage, even in the stairs. In the left stairs, Keito was standing playing he guitar, and Takaki was sitting below him - it looked as if he was serenading Keito or something, LOL! And now it was Yamada who was touching Chinen's chest! Payback?
The next song was Dash!! which is one of my absolute favourite live songs! Yabu was acting weird again during one of his solos, just making strange noises instead of singing... Next was Magic Power, performed on main stage. That's also one of my favourite live songs! During the YamaChii moment, Yamada patted Chinen on his head...
Then everyone left the stage, and above the main stage appeared three Wanted-posters. Keito introduced us to them, in English.
"In this town there are three thieves called Kaitou y-ELLOW-voice [too many screaming fans for me to catch the rest]. Wait, they are still wanted? Alright, let me introduce the three members of Kaitou y-ELLOW-voice. Please be careful. First, the sexiest of them all: Ryosuke Yamada. Girls, watch out for his sweet look. Second, the coolest of them all: Yuya Takaki. Girls, watch out for his whisper. And last, but not least, and please be careful with him. Hikaru Yaotome, the most dangerous in this town. Wait wait wait - is he really dangerous? Huh, no way!"
For each member being introduced, his Wanted-poster turned into a video of him instead of just an image, so when Keito said "Is he really dangerous?", the Hikaru in the video made this really funny face, looking more weird than strange... The Yamada in the video said to Hikaru "Hey, stop that! Be serious about this now!" and Hikaru replied "Oi, I'm your senpai!" (meaning that Yamada should watch how he speaks to Hikaru). But then they all started throwing things at each other... Until Hikaru laughed in an evil, cackling way, and Yamada said "Let's start!"
And then they appeared on the upper main stage, wearing black pants, white shirts and black neckties. They performed Yes! and OH MY GOD! The dance!! I seriously think my eyes almost fell out of their sockets, and I was drooling and cheering so much, oh my god! It was such a sexy dance that I could have bought a ticket for every show on the tour, just to get to see this performance again and again...! Unfortunately, Hikaru was on the far end of the stage in the beginning so I couldn't see him very well. Yamada was in the middle and Takaki was closest to me. So I could see both Yamada and Takaki very well, and those hip moves... Not only Yamada, but Takaki as well! Takaki really knows how to be sexy too! Anyway, so they made their way down the stairs to the lower main stage and got together in the centre of the stage. Hikaru stood in the middle, and then Yamada and Takaki started running their hands all over him, and my eyes were like this: O.O
And then after this, when I thought I couldn't take any more of their hotness - they undid their neckties and opened their shirts... And more dancing. Have you ever seen Yamada shirtless, when he's fit? Well, I have, and he looks hot like in the photos below... Sorry about the lack of Takaki och Hikaru photos - Yamada is one of my favourite JUMP members after all... I can't wait for the DVD! Seriously, I will be watching this performance over and over again, because it's one of the hottest performances I've ever seen! And I was almost deaf after this performance because everyone was screaming SO MUCH!
After this crazy performance we got to calm down to Daiki, Inoo and Keito performing Oh! アイドル! Even though there was a lot of screaming during the beginning of this song too. They wore really sporty outfits and were so cute! And this song was SO FUN live! Because there are so many parts for the fans to take part in! Like the parts where their names are shouted. And in the middle there were streamers for the arena seats.
Now there was a short magic show! I was kinda surprised by this. But it was fun! Yuto appeared on the center runway, beneath a cloth. He walked to the front stage, where he made Chinen appear from another cloth. The two of them walked to two other runways, where they picked up guns and shot laser beams at the screen behind the main stage. The beams created holes in the screen, and out of those holes Yabu and Hikaru appeared. They danced a little in front of a big box standing in the middle of the main stage. Suddenly Yamada appeared behind them, in front of the box (I saw him appear from the floor...). He entered the box, it was lifted into the air and someone shot laser beams at the box. It was really completed destroyed! And when it opened/exploded, it was empty!
Suddenly everyone appeared on the center stage, and they performed FOREVER. I love that song sooo much! It's probably my favourite song on the smart album, together with Ready Go. And the performance! To start with, the outfits were really cool. And then there were all these fire effects - like fire cannons and what-not. And the dance was the coolest! Love love love.
The next song was Come Back...?, but I don't really remember anything from it... I think they were spread out on main stage during this song?
Then they went to the upper main stage where they spread out along the whole stage and performed 僕はVampire. They had this kind of lighting that made their outfits look green at times, purple at times - but in reality they were sparkly silver. In this song as well they had put an extra section! This was when they all put on jackets to match the rest of the outfit. And then they all got together in the middle of upper main stage and danced. The extra section had a totally different sound, more like clubbing music. But it was really cool how they did it. And then the rest of the performance was as usual. Including the hiproll...
After this there was a section with old hit songs: Dreams Come True and Ultra Music Power. During these two songs they were riding on the carts and walking along all the runways, and all of us were trying to get their attention... I love the part where only the fans sing during Dreams Come True! I always get goosebumps then... The last song of the main show was 明日へのYELL one more time, but now they told us to bring out our towels if we had bought them before the show. Sadly I didn't have one - but even if I had been able to buy my goods before the show I probably wouldn't have bought the towel... Anyway, the performance was really fun, as all of JUMP were running around the runways and stages, waving their towels. Then they thanked us and left the stage.
We only got one encore. Let me just say, that one of my favourite moments during any Johnny's concert is these minutes between the main show and the encore, when the whole arena is calling for encore! The energy and the voices of all the fans, even after a 2 hour long show, is amazing!
The first song was AinoArika, performed on the center stage. It's a good song, but I don't remember the performance very well.
Then they went to get their signed balls (if I remember correctly, Yuto went to get both his own and Yamada's baskets?) and they walked around throwing the balls to the fans while singing ウィークエンダー again. So many of the members came close to me during the encore! Keito, Daiki, Yamada, and more! Just a few metres away! They are sooo handsome, all of them! You can tell that already from magazines and photos, but in reality - gosh they're beautiful!
At the beginning of ウィークエンダー, for some reason Yamada wasn't prepared for his lines, so instead he just said "Osaka-san! Osaka-san! Tanoshikatta?" It was really cute. Oh, and speaking of cute! At the end of the song Yamada was on the main stage, and he threw a signed ball towards the section above mine I think. But he didn't throw it hard enough, so it landed on the arena floor... He looked so ashamed and sorry, and bowed to apologize. But then the song had almost ended and everyone gathered on the front stage, so Yamada had to run through the whole arena to join them! They thanked us and did the Hey! Say! JUMP call (there were streamers for the upper balcony), and left the stage while still thanking us. Yabu's parting phrase was "Osaka, sukiyannen!"
This was truly an amazing concert! I can't help but love the JUMP concerts sooo much! They're fun, they're cute, and they're cool. There's so much energy, and it's great to see how they actually can pull off a complete concert all on their own - not a single junior on the stage! They are so different, all of them. Different personalities and so on, so the MCs are always very entertaining when they tease each other. And since there are so many of them, there's always something cute or funny going on somewhere on the stage... And yeah, the whole concerts are just so much fun!
And some things I liked very much about this particular tour:
First of all, the new album has a slightly different sound. There are the cute songs, of course. JUMP has a cute image. But this time, there are also many songs that are much more grown-up in the sound of them, more mature and cool. For example, FOREVER and Yes! And thanks to that, parts of the show were also much more mature and cool than what I've seen before. Yes, there are performances like Beat Line and Arigatou and OVER, those are more cool than cute, but now they've taken it one step further. And I like it! It's great to see the adult side of JUMP - after all, they are all adults now.
Secondly, I enjoyed seeing Daiki getting much more space and time at the front together with Yamada and Chinen! Until now, it's felt like Yamada and Chinen were the only ones getting front positions, but now Daiki was there with them a lot.
Thirdly, I'm so happy with the new songs - because ALL of the members get to sing LOTS! They all have solo lines in almost all the new songs, and that makes me really happy! After all, I am a JUMP fan who loves all the members in one way or another, and it breaks my heart when some members of a group are left out. That's why I enjoyed the performances of the new songs so much.
Yeah. Okay. I don't think there's anything more I have to say about this concert. Just that I can't wait for the DVD. And that Yamada's new hair colour actually looked great in reality (and Yuto's did not). And that Daiki is just really cute! (But you already knew that, I suppose.) And here are a few final photos for you:
Set List
01. Ready Go
02. Come On A My House
03. SUPER DELICATE
04. Beat Line
05. OUR FUTURE
06. スクールデイズ (Hey! Say! BEST)
07. Score (Hey! Say! BEST)
08. Just For You (Hey! Say! 7)
09. RELOAD
10. Ride With Me
11. 瞳のスクリーン
12. OVER
13. Candle
14. Super Super Night (Yabu, Yuto, Chinen)
15. 愛すればもっとハッピーライフ
16. School Girl
17. ウィークエンダー
MC
18. 明日へのYELL
Yuto's drum solo
19. コンパスローズ
20. Dash!!
21. Magic Power
22. Yes! (Yamada, Takaki, Hikaru)
23. Oh! アイドル! (Daiki, Inoo, Keito)
Magic show
24. FOREVER
25. Come Back...?
26. 僕はVampire
27. Dreams Come True
28. Ultra Music Power
29. 明日へのYELL
Encore
30. AinoArika
31. ウィークエンダー
I had a really good seat: on the left side stands, on the same distance from the main stage as where the arena seats started, and on the second row. The concert was held in Osaka Jo Hall, and it was the first time I was there. I must say, I really like that arena. It's big, but not huge, and it felt quite intimate - even when the guys were on the other side of the arena they still didn't feel too far away. The stage setup was: main stage, center stage, front stage, and by the stands on each side there was a small stage that could be lifted upwards. And then there were runways like a cross between these stages.
The introduction video was really cute this year too. For each member, there were coloured lines that formed the outline of the member, and then the outline turned into the member - and they all made cute and nice faces! Although Yabu was looking kinda cool instead of cute. At the end of the video they did a countdown to zero in English, then there was a lot of smoke on the main stage - and suddenly they were all there! They were standing in a long line, dancing, and I think Hikaru was very close to me - Yabu was far on the other side... And Yamada somewhere in the middle. The first song was Ready Go, and that was a perfect song to start with! It's very upbeat and just got a lot of energy, I could feel all the excitement from the members as well as from all the fans come together in this song. And I just love this song so much! Chinen didn't sing all of his first part - instead he said "I wanted to meet you!" after he sang the "this day I longed for has come" part. Then at the part where Inoo sings "Sou sa Beautiful World!" he did an idol wink, so Inoo-ish!
They continued straight away with Come On A My House and that performance was mostly like it usually is - they were just really cute and silly. Chinen took advantage of the stairs on the main stage and climbed it before he said his solo line. But Yamada changed the second chorus - he started talking instead of singing, in a really silly voice, and I think he said something about Osaka?
At the end of the song they all rushed to center stage. Then I could see how the fans close to center stage went crazy as JUMP started singing Super Delicate. I would have gone crazy as well, being to close to the YamaJima moment! Oh, Yamada and Yuto, they're so cute! They started fiddling with each other's hair and were just super cute with each other.
Then they went to front stage while they welcomed us and said they hoped we would enjoy the concert. The next song was Beat Line. My favourite part of this performance has to be when they do this really cool dance routine while Yuto is playing the drums. After this they sang Our Future, and now they all ran around the whole arena, waving to the fans. I'm so happy that this song is released on CD by now! This performance brought back a lot of memories from the Tokyo Dome concerts last year... At the end of the song, Hey! Say! BEST left the stage, and I thought that there would be a Hey! Say! 7 corner. But instead there was a BEST corner.
BEST performed スクールデイズ, as usual, but with a new touch. And I loved it! They started on center stage and the intro was the same as in Tokyo Dome last year, but the long coats were different - they were red and really nice-looking. I remember thinking it's a shame they only use them during the intro of the song... The beginning of the song was "normal" (there is actually nothing at all about this performance that is normal, but anyway...).
But suddenly Daiki stopped singing, and Yabu said "STOP STOP STOP" so everyone stopped singing, and then he shouted at Daiki to get a grip and sing properly! Then Daiki started rambling on and on about how no matter how much he sings, he never becomes popular. They showed a video of things they've done before as BEST, and he said "We've drunk milk, we've played instruments, we've looked macho - what else can we do?! If we continue like this we'll never become popular! Stupid!" I think this was the moment when Hikaru walked up to him and it looked like he was going to hit Daiki, but instead he hugged him tightly while talking to him (at this part they were talking too fast for me to catch it all...). But they all admitted that they actually want to be popular. Which made all the fans scream and cheer loudly - hey, they ARE already popular!! (Aw Daiki, you too, you are adorable!)
Then they created a new meaning of BEST - unfortunately each letter got such a long meaning that I couldn't memorize them all... But B stood for 'BATTLE ga attara (couldn't catch the rest) if there's a battle, -', E stood for 'EVERY DAY (couldn't catch the rest for all the screaming!)', S stood for 'shuugoubasho wa ? the meeting place is ?' and T I didn't manage to catch at all... And then they finished by reading a line from Score, and let the fans scream the BEST part. And then they performed Score. The beginning was the best! Each person took a few balett steps during their solo lines - you know, pirouettes, tripping on toes, all that stuff. And I think it was Daiki and Hikaru who were dancing together as well, as a couple. Takaki...was just kinda flapping his arms like wings! And during the whole song, the cheering of the fans echoed through the arena! The second part of the song was performed on main stage, and right at the end one of them said "se no!" and they opened their jackets. Standing on a line, with one letter on each t-shirt, we could read "モテたくて" and then they turned around and let the jacket fall lower down, and on the back of the t-shirts was formed "つづけます" (We'll continue to wanna become popular").
Then there was the HS7 corner. Keito appeared on front stage, the others were on one runway each. They performed Just For You, but in the middle of the song Keito stopped, and said "This is history" (in English), and he removed the red rose from his jacket pocket and threw it on the stage floor, and Yamada, Yuto and Chinen did the same with their roses. Actually Yuto had accidentally dropped his rose right at the beginning of the song and a fan had to return it to him! And I wonder if Yamada had some trouble with his earpiece, because he was out of tune a few times...
And then everyone entered the stage, BEST were now also wearing the same white suits with their initials in black on the back of the jacket, just like 7. And now they all wore a hat. They sang RELOAD; the first part of the song on center stage, and the second part of the song they spread out on the center runway. Daiki was almost right in front of my section! I have to admit that when I listened to the album earlier this was not one of my favourite songs. But live? It was an amazing live song! And the dance was great. I don't know if it's just me, but the suits and the hats and the dance made me think of Michael Jackson... Since Daiki was dancing so close to me during this song, it's mostly him I remember... But maybe that's not so bad after all, since he wrote the song. However, I remember that someone dropped his hat during the first part of the song - either Keito or Yabu, because there was a K on the back of the jacket of the person...
They returned to center stage and performed Ride With Me. By now they had gotten rid of the hats. The dance was the usual one. But here I can mention that at those times when they were dancing everyone together on center stage, they really adapted the dance so they turned in different directions throughout the song, so no one around them had to watch their backs for a whole song. Anyway, I was so happy to get to hear this song live! It's one of my favourite songs, and the dance is just amazing! Speaking of dance - there was an extra section added to the performance - suddenly in the middle of it, everything turned absolutely silent, and they did some kind of tap dancing. That was so cool! I also think there were like laser beams? And then Yamada sang the bridge part almost a capella because the background music was very low in volume.
The next song was also a 'finally!' song on my part: 瞳のスクリーン. Well, they did perform it the last time I saw them as well, but at that time everyone was spread out on their own small stage - now they were all dancing together on center stage. I really like this song too! And it was much cooler to see them all dance together. Then at the end of the song they divided into BEST and HS7, and they each went to one of the stages on the sides. HS7 went to the one on my side. Then those stages rose into the air! And stopped right in front of the stands! And I'm not lying when I say that they were dancing right in front of the fans who had those seats closest to the stages! It was really like, the stage was soooo close to touching the rail of the stands! Anyway, Yamada said his usual line "I love you!", but it looked like he started laughing right after he said it, and couldn't start singing again until after a few lines? That's what it looked like from my seat anyway, and I thought that was hilarious!
Then they sang OVER while they were still on the side stages. BEST and HS7 were dancing while facing each other, and it looked really cool actually. It almost became like a dialogue between the stages at the "over" parts. After a while the stages were lowered again, and they all met on center stage. I really liked the choreography for this song. But I noticed throughout the concert that when they divided into groups, it was not just randomly done, but usually BEST vs HS7. I didn't really mind it though, I just noticed it.
They all walked over to the main stage during the end of the song. The next song was Candle, and it was just as beautiful as I had expected! Yamada had actually left the stage early during OVER, and returned for his solo part wearing a sparkly vest instead of the jacket. While Yamada was singing, the others also changed outfits. They all spread out on the main stage, and each had a spotlight on them. It was so beautiful, and the song was so beautiful, and my eyes definitely filled with tears... At the end they all went in their spotlights to stand on one line along the whole main stage, and there was sparkly confetti falling from the ceiling. It was so damn beautiful! And Yamada, good job on writing this song!
Then the mood changed completely when Chinen, Yuto and Yabu entered the stage, wearing sparkly blue outfits, horrible glasses and huge fake mustaches, waving penlights. Super Super Night is actually a very enjoyable live song, even though the album version is so-so. These three really know how to put up a good show - and Yuto just has too much energy! He's the one who's jumping instead of walking, and whose normal mode is running... He's adorable to watch!
After this, everyone entered main stage and performed 愛すればもっとハッピーライフ. The choreography for this song is adorable! And on the screens there was a video with the JUMP member characters - in 3D this year! Oh, and at the beginning of the song, some of them were talking to the fans, and Inoo was so Inoo-ish again... He ended his talk with "ii no?" .... Many of them came all the way to the stands on my side, but I don't remember all of them. I'm pretty sure Hikaru and Keito were singing right next to my section though.
Then they all jumped onto carts that brought them through the arena all the way to the front stage. There they performed School Girl, I loved it! And oh how the fans screamed during the part at the end where they stand in a line with their hands on the guy in front of them! And I think there was one of them who tried to kiss one of the others? I kinda missed the whole thing though because I was looking at some of the other guys, so I don't know who tried to kiss who...
Then they performed ウィークエンダー. It's a really really good song, I love it! Sadly, I don't remember much of the performance... Except that the dance was kinda cute.
MC time! They all gathered on the main stage and bid us to sit down. Also, since it was so hot in the arena they told us to drink if we had some kind of drink with us. They themselves were really really sweaty! Especially Inoo was sweating a lot!
Daiki: "Inoo, when was the last time you were sweating this much?"
Inoo: "That's probably like 7 years ago!"
Then they talked a little about the outfits they were wearing - on the jackets there was a 7 or a B, depending on if they were a HS7 member or a BEST member.
Hikaru: "B for BEST. It's not B for baka ('idiot')."
Daiki: "Because Takaki could be the baka."
Inoo: "Hey! Don't talk bad about Takaki!"
Then one of them, I think it was Hikaru, brought out the tumbler they are selling as concert goods. It's got the JUMP member characters on it, and Hikaru said "The person who drew these must be a genius!" and everyone laughed...
Suddenly while they were talking about the JUMP member characters, the fans went wild and were screaming so much! I noticed at once why - one of the cameramen had been filming Yamada really close-up while he was drinking from his tumbler, and it actually looked very sexy... But Hikaru was like 'eh? what happened?' and looked around him. Most of the guys, Hikaru included, seemed to figure out quickly why the fans had screamed, so Hikaru tried drinking too - everyone was silent. Then another guy tried drinking and he was filmed as well - but only a few fans screamed half-heartedly. Yamada still didn't seem to completely get it though! But then he was like "Eh? Me? Me?" and when the cameraman zoomed in on Yamada again (he wasn't drinking now) everyone started screaming again, and Yamada was like 'eeeh... >_>' And then he looked closely at himself on the big screen and commented how sweaty he was.
Suddenly Chinen walked up to Yamada:
Chinen: "Isn't your top very transparant?"
Yamada: "I guess so..."
Chinen: (starts removing Yamada's jacket) "It really is!"
Yamada: "Stop it, stop it!"
Next they mentioned the new extra section during Ride With Me, and Yamada started saying something about the fans on the top floor of the arena - but he started stuttering "Ue-ue-ue-ue..." so the others laughed and called him Yamada-DJ. They also talked a bit about the BEST corner and the HS7 corner. Apparently, what Yabu had said during the BEST corner about the meeting place, he had mentioned a spot in Osaka, and now they asked if anyone knew it? A lot of people apparently did, and Yabu seemed a little disappointed that he had chosen a spot that was so well-known... And then Yamada commented on the differences between the BEST corner and the HS7 corner: that BEST just complain "We want to be popular!" and HS7 sing "Just for you..." Which led to that Keito once again had to explain what 'just for you' means in Japanese.
The evening before, all of them had gone out to eat dinner together, and for some reason they went to stand in the order they were sitting at in the restaurant (and there became a huge gap between Yabu & Inoo and the rest of the members, so Yabu was like "Hey, what's this huge gap about??"). The owner had talked to them, and Hikaru acted the owner now when they re-enacted parts of the conversation.
Hikaru (owner): "The guy over there, isn't he the most handsome one?" (pointing at Keito)
(most of the fans start laughing)
Keito: "Oi! Why are you laughing?!"
Hikaru (owner): (looking at Yamada) "Aren't you Koichi-kun?"
They talked a little more about the dinner, and then they talked about the songs they themselves wrote on the album.
Hikaru: "The RELOAD performance was really cool, right?"
Yamada: "Yeah, with the hats and everything. Dai-chan said he really wanted to do that."
Daiki: "Hey, don't tell everyone here! It's embarrassing!"
They talked about the new single, ウィークエンダー / 明日へのYELL. Chinen started doing some serious promotion for it, but being Chinen he soon turned into a robot, speaking very robot-like. The fans all went "kawaii~!!!" and Chinen (being Chinen) said "I know!" and everyone went 'kyaa!!'
Speaking about ウィークエンダー, they started talking about Kindaichi shounen no jikenbo neo, because the next episode would be aired that very evening. So we got a short VTR of it on the screen! At the end, Hajime is close to kissing a girl (sorry, I haven't watched any of the episodes yet so I don't know anything about the other characters...) and Chinen then commented that he almost felt a little jealous... Though I don't know if he meant jealous of Yamada getting to kiss a girl, or jealous of the girl getting to kiss Yamada, LOL!
Yamada: "Is there anyone in here who has managed to solve a case faster than Hajime?"
(some fans call out that they did)
Some HSJ members: "Really? Oh, amazing!"
Chinen: "I don't believe any of you are that smart!"
Yamada: "Don't be rude!"
Chinen: "No one can beat Hajime."
Yamada: "So everyone, please go straight home tonight and watch it!"
Then he also mentioned his role in the movie Grasshopper (in cinemas next year), and that it's a very different role compared to his role in Kindaichi. I think it was Yabu who said "As soon as I saw you had changed your hair colour, I knew that you had been given the role of [---] and I was so happy!" Yamada said that he hoped many of us would go and watch the movie, but that some might find it a bit scary, so we should take care.
Then Yuto and Takaki promoted their drama Suikyu Yankees.
Yamada: "I'm called Hey! Say! JUMP's Gin-san or Kin-san!" (Mr. Silver or Mr. Gold - but could also refer to Kindaichi=Kin-san)
Yuto: "Gin-san."
Yamada: "Kin-san."
Yuto: "Gin-san."
Yamada: "Let's stop it now..." (laughs)
Yuto started explaining some of the things he's learned about swimming. Like, how to stay floating. All the others were really impressed! Then Hikaru told about how he can't swim at all and almost drowned one time when on Hawaii, and Inoo said "He was angry with me after that and asked why I hadn't rescued him..."
And then we got to see a VTR of Suikyu Yankees too, while all the members went off stage to change outfits. While we were watching the VTR, they also brought out the drums and the keyboard on main stage.
Right after the VTR they performed 明日へのYELL, which is the theme song for Yuto and Takaki's drama. It's a really good song too! And I liked the performance!
After that, Yuto had a drum solo (he's sooooo skilled!!!) before Inoo joined him on keyboards, and Hikaru played the bass and Keito the guitar, as usual. They performed コンパスローズ. Oh, who was it who walked up to Inoo and put his arm around his shoulders? I think it was Chinen, but I'm not completely sure... Everyone was spread out on the main stage, even in the stairs. In the left stairs, Keito was standing playing he guitar, and Takaki was sitting below him - it looked as if he was serenading Keito or something, LOL! And now it was Yamada who was touching Chinen's chest! Payback?
The next song was Dash!! which is one of my absolute favourite live songs! Yabu was acting weird again during one of his solos, just making strange noises instead of singing... Next was Magic Power, performed on main stage. That's also one of my favourite live songs! During the YamaChii moment, Yamada patted Chinen on his head...
Then everyone left the stage, and above the main stage appeared three Wanted-posters. Keito introduced us to them, in English.
"In this town there are three thieves called Kaitou y-ELLOW-voice [too many screaming fans for me to catch the rest]. Wait, they are still wanted? Alright, let me introduce the three members of Kaitou y-ELLOW-voice. Please be careful. First, the sexiest of them all: Ryosuke Yamada. Girls, watch out for his sweet look. Second, the coolest of them all: Yuya Takaki. Girls, watch out for his whisper. And last, but not least, and please be careful with him. Hikaru Yaotome, the most dangerous in this town. Wait wait wait - is he really dangerous? Huh, no way!"
For each member being introduced, his Wanted-poster turned into a video of him instead of just an image, so when Keito said "Is he really dangerous?", the Hikaru in the video made this really funny face, looking more weird than strange... The Yamada in the video said to Hikaru "Hey, stop that! Be serious about this now!" and Hikaru replied "Oi, I'm your senpai!" (meaning that Yamada should watch how he speaks to Hikaru). But then they all started throwing things at each other... Until Hikaru laughed in an evil, cackling way, and Yamada said "Let's start!"
And then they appeared on the upper main stage, wearing black pants, white shirts and black neckties. They performed Yes! and OH MY GOD! The dance!! I seriously think my eyes almost fell out of their sockets, and I was drooling and cheering so much, oh my god! It was such a sexy dance that I could have bought a ticket for every show on the tour, just to get to see this performance again and again...! Unfortunately, Hikaru was on the far end of the stage in the beginning so I couldn't see him very well. Yamada was in the middle and Takaki was closest to me. So I could see both Yamada and Takaki very well, and those hip moves... Not only Yamada, but Takaki as well! Takaki really knows how to be sexy too! Anyway, so they made their way down the stairs to the lower main stage and got together in the centre of the stage. Hikaru stood in the middle, and then Yamada and Takaki started running their hands all over him, and my eyes were like this: O.O
And then after this, when I thought I couldn't take any more of their hotness - they undid their neckties and opened their shirts... And more dancing. Have you ever seen Yamada shirtless, when he's fit? Well, I have, and he looks hot like in the photos below... Sorry about the lack of Takaki och Hikaru photos - Yamada is one of my favourite JUMP members after all... I can't wait for the DVD! Seriously, I will be watching this performance over and over again, because it's one of the hottest performances I've ever seen! And I was almost deaf after this performance because everyone was screaming SO MUCH!
After this crazy performance we got to calm down to Daiki, Inoo and Keito performing Oh! アイドル! Even though there was a lot of screaming during the beginning of this song too. They wore really sporty outfits and were so cute! And this song was SO FUN live! Because there are so many parts for the fans to take part in! Like the parts where their names are shouted. And in the middle there were streamers for the arena seats.
Now there was a short magic show! I was kinda surprised by this. But it was fun! Yuto appeared on the center runway, beneath a cloth. He walked to the front stage, where he made Chinen appear from another cloth. The two of them walked to two other runways, where they picked up guns and shot laser beams at the screen behind the main stage. The beams created holes in the screen, and out of those holes Yabu and Hikaru appeared. They danced a little in front of a big box standing in the middle of the main stage. Suddenly Yamada appeared behind them, in front of the box (I saw him appear from the floor...). He entered the box, it was lifted into the air and someone shot laser beams at the box. It was really completed destroyed! And when it opened/exploded, it was empty!
Suddenly everyone appeared on the center stage, and they performed FOREVER. I love that song sooo much! It's probably my favourite song on the smart album, together with Ready Go. And the performance! To start with, the outfits were really cool. And then there were all these fire effects - like fire cannons and what-not. And the dance was the coolest! Love love love.
The next song was Come Back...?, but I don't really remember anything from it... I think they were spread out on main stage during this song?
Then they went to the upper main stage where they spread out along the whole stage and performed 僕はVampire. They had this kind of lighting that made their outfits look green at times, purple at times - but in reality they were sparkly silver. In this song as well they had put an extra section! This was when they all put on jackets to match the rest of the outfit. And then they all got together in the middle of upper main stage and danced. The extra section had a totally different sound, more like clubbing music. But it was really cool how they did it. And then the rest of the performance was as usual. Including the hiproll...
After this there was a section with old hit songs: Dreams Come True and Ultra Music Power. During these two songs they were riding on the carts and walking along all the runways, and all of us were trying to get their attention... I love the part where only the fans sing during Dreams Come True! I always get goosebumps then... The last song of the main show was 明日へのYELL one more time, but now they told us to bring out our towels if we had bought them before the show. Sadly I didn't have one - but even if I had been able to buy my goods before the show I probably wouldn't have bought the towel... Anyway, the performance was really fun, as all of JUMP were running around the runways and stages, waving their towels. Then they thanked us and left the stage.
We only got one encore. Let me just say, that one of my favourite moments during any Johnny's concert is these minutes between the main show and the encore, when the whole arena is calling for encore! The energy and the voices of all the fans, even after a 2 hour long show, is amazing!
The first song was AinoArika, performed on the center stage. It's a good song, but I don't remember the performance very well.
Then they went to get their signed balls (if I remember correctly, Yuto went to get both his own and Yamada's baskets?) and they walked around throwing the balls to the fans while singing ウィークエンダー again. So many of the members came close to me during the encore! Keito, Daiki, Yamada, and more! Just a few metres away! They are sooo handsome, all of them! You can tell that already from magazines and photos, but in reality - gosh they're beautiful!
At the beginning of ウィークエンダー, for some reason Yamada wasn't prepared for his lines, so instead he just said "Osaka-san! Osaka-san! Tanoshikatta?" It was really cute. Oh, and speaking of cute! At the end of the song Yamada was on the main stage, and he threw a signed ball towards the section above mine I think. But he didn't throw it hard enough, so it landed on the arena floor... He looked so ashamed and sorry, and bowed to apologize. But then the song had almost ended and everyone gathered on the front stage, so Yamada had to run through the whole arena to join them! They thanked us and did the Hey! Say! JUMP call (there were streamers for the upper balcony), and left the stage while still thanking us. Yabu's parting phrase was "Osaka, sukiyannen!"
This was truly an amazing concert! I can't help but love the JUMP concerts sooo much! They're fun, they're cute, and they're cool. There's so much energy, and it's great to see how they actually can pull off a complete concert all on their own - not a single junior on the stage! They are so different, all of them. Different personalities and so on, so the MCs are always very entertaining when they tease each other. And since there are so many of them, there's always something cute or funny going on somewhere on the stage... And yeah, the whole concerts are just so much fun!
And some things I liked very much about this particular tour:
First of all, the new album has a slightly different sound. There are the cute songs, of course. JUMP has a cute image. But this time, there are also many songs that are much more grown-up in the sound of them, more mature and cool. For example, FOREVER and Yes! And thanks to that, parts of the show were also much more mature and cool than what I've seen before. Yes, there are performances like Beat Line and Arigatou and OVER, those are more cool than cute, but now they've taken it one step further. And I like it! It's great to see the adult side of JUMP - after all, they are all adults now.
Secondly, I enjoyed seeing Daiki getting much more space and time at the front together with Yamada and Chinen! Until now, it's felt like Yamada and Chinen were the only ones getting front positions, but now Daiki was there with them a lot.
Thirdly, I'm so happy with the new songs - because ALL of the members get to sing LOTS! They all have solo lines in almost all the new songs, and that makes me really happy! After all, I am a JUMP fan who loves all the members in one way or another, and it breaks my heart when some members of a group are left out. That's why I enjoyed the performances of the new songs so much.
Yeah. Okay. I don't think there's anything more I have to say about this concert. Just that I can't wait for the DVD. And that Yamada's new hair colour actually looked great in reality (and Yuto's did not). And that Daiki is just really cute! (But you already knew that, I suppose.) And here are a few final photos for you:
Set List
01. Ready Go
02. Come On A My House
03. SUPER DELICATE
04. Beat Line
05. OUR FUTURE
06. スクールデイズ (Hey! Say! BEST)
07. Score (Hey! Say! BEST)
08. Just For You (Hey! Say! 7)
09. RELOAD
10. Ride With Me
11. 瞳のスクリーン
12. OVER
13. Candle
14. Super Super Night (Yabu, Yuto, Chinen)
15. 愛すればもっとハッピーライフ
16. School Girl
17. ウィークエンダー
MC
18. 明日へのYELL
Yuto's drum solo
19. コンパスローズ
20. Dash!!
21. Magic Power
22. Yes! (Yamada, Takaki, Hikaru)
23. Oh! アイドル! (Daiki, Inoo, Keito)
Magic show
24. FOREVER
25. Come Back...?
26. 僕はVampire
27. Dreams Come True
28. Ultra Music Power
29. 明日へのYELL
Encore
30. AinoArika
31. ウィークエンダー