Review of NO MORE PAIИ-WORLD TOUR 2010
I am glad I did not pre-order the DVD. Even if the postcards are wonderful(I haven't seen scans of them), I am still not wasting a few thousand yen to get it. As a fan of KAT-TUN I should have gotten it if I am able to afford it. More so now that everyone is still feeling uncertain after Akanishi Jin had decided to go solo. But as someone who enjoys live performances and collects concert DVDs, I do not see the value of acquiring a concert DVD which I would not remotely feel like watching for a second time.
Frankly speaking, I was terribly disappointed by the performances in disc 1. I spent quite some time downloading the file because one of the split file gave me quite a bit of a problem as I was downloading it. I was really looking forward to it. More so after finishing a high quality performance by SMAP in the We are SMAP! 2010 concert.[I just bought a copy of it from amazon.jp]
I reached my limits after disc 1. More accurately, I've reached my limits the moment I see Kamenashi's pained expression as he was hitting the drums before Tanaka's solo. But I persevered until the end of disc 1.
This is most probably just me, I feel that the opening was somewhat very rushed. Everything was moving too fast for me and I keep getting the feeling of "We just want this done and over with." I know it's the usual opening of a series of rock, fast-paced, number to hype-up the audience, but I had this feeling that everything was very rushed gnawing on my insides. Also, I'm kinda weirded out and even let out the occasional "tsk" when Nakamaru starts talking at odd intervals during the song, or when he lets out a "Woo" as and when he likes. Again it is something that ought to be very normal, repeatedly done during various concerts, by others as well, but I almost always get the "Ah, wrong timing again" feel whenever he does something like that.
The first three songs, N.M.P, Fall Down, and Real Face left me feeling very uncertain, and I was totally not hype up at all. I was just watching the performance calmly, something which was not usual when I'm watching such performances. I started getting more high when they sang One Drop, Tanaka singing Akanishi's part was a pleasant surprise and I really enjoyed the new arrangement.
Just when I was getting into it, Love Yourself ended and the focus was on the drum set. I was still kinda excited though as I've always admired anyone who could play the drums. It's such a physically taxing instrument to play, and I feel that it requires more hand-leg co-ordination than most sports. Then Kamenashi had to take off his shirt. Frankly speaking, and this is strictly due to personal taste, he does not have an awesome body to show off. I would have no qualms if he had Nishikido Ryo's or Tackey's packs to show off. I would have no qualms if he had Kimura Takuya's tanned flat nicely toned stomach. My mood took a further plunge when he decided to stamp his foot with all his might to play the bass drum. I was not expecting a Matsuoka[Tokio] standard performance. I was not expecting a Shintaro[UVERworld] standard performance. But I was certainly not expecting Kamenashi to be hitting on the drums as if venting all of his 24 years of pent-up frustration, hitting on the drums with all his might, his face scrunched up like it was the most painful and tiring thing he had to do in his life thus far. I don't know how could anyone "kyaa-kyaa" to that performance, but I was completely grossed out. I took off my head phone, stared at the key board until it was all over. I could hardly look. Mum thought I was having too high of an expectation. I showed her the part and she agreed with me.
Make you wet ~Chapter 2~ is one of the few solos from Tanaka that I remotely like. My favourite is I don't miss u. [Most of his solo don't make sense to me that's why.] I don't like the way there was a bed on the stage. It made the stage look empty in my opinion. More so when there were only a few juniors back-dancing. I don't like the way the dance was all that explicit. It made the performance looked cheap.
I can't believe this but I am actually agreeing with him on how weird the transition between Tanaka and his solo was. What's with that transition? Once again, I can't believe this, but of the 3 solo, keeping in mind Nakamaru overtook Kamenashi as my favourite member in KAT-TUN and have had a series of solos I love to loop, I actually enjoyed Taguchi's solo the most when I don't even like the song Love Music all that much. In that performance, I saw Taguchi's improvement in dance, in voice control and I thought it was a refreshing and simple performance which is not all too fanciful. I enjoyed it. After Break the Records, I have this strong impression that Taguchi does too many things during his solo. Love Music was a nice change.
Next comes a "wake wakannai" segment. I have a few theories about the origin of this segment. NMP is after all a performance which they brought overseas, so they wanted to bring something that identify them as Japanese. They wanted a segment which hints "Japanese Culture" when brought overseas. But I thought it was old and recycled from Break the Records and the flow was not very good. Tanaka had already played the Taiko, and this time round it was so short I did not get to enjoy a nice Taiko performance. Ueda "flying" around and "releasing the scroll" was obviously done by Kamenashi during his solo performance in Break the Records. All that umbrellas when Nakamaru and Taguchi took the stage reminds me of Moon, and them swinging around reminds me of Tackey&Tsubasa's Yume Monogatari. Kamenashi's mask was obviously from Break the Records, and we switched the umbrella with a giant fan this time round. Old.
KT-TU back-dancing for Nakamaru during Understandable was awesome. But, Kamenashi was all too distracting. Can't he wear his jacket properly? The others could, why can't he? It was totally interfering with the dance step, I cannot forgive that. I don't get what kind of character he was aiming for right then. The medley of all the songs I like is cool. The dance is cool. But I don't get the usual "kakkoi na~" feel while watching Nakamaru sing and dance. I suspect it's the lack of tonnes of juniors back-dancing behind him. Without back-dancers to bring out the idol in him, I'm sorry to say, "futsu". It feels so plain. So normal.
After that it was DON'T U EVER STOP, RESCUE, LIPS～愛のコマンド～GOLD. Nothing very memorable. I didn't get to see the dance steps clearly because of the way the video was edited(?). Don't you ever stop, Rescue, and Lips. All I could say is "Nothing very memorable"?
Unless there is a very good reason, I am not watching Disc 2 even though I quite like most of the songs in there. I like the songs in disc 1 more, and the performance was -_-" Moreover, I am not looking forward to a vampire Kamenashi in Lost my Way nor Ueda's solo after the various papa pics.
I don't know if anyone has the same impression of the concert. I feel that KAT-TUN tried too hard. There were a lot of things which feel forced in my opinion. I think the set in Osaka Dome lacks sincerity too, and it was not at all impressive. Oh, and I don't like concerts without a distinct theme. The previous concerts were all very clear in what they are trying to express as compared to NMP world tour 2010 in my opinion.
A friend asked "Why is it that anything Kame does annoy you so much these days?". I replied, "Because everything he does feels so calculated and fake these days, he seems to be losing his usual touch to charm. Didn't you say he tried too hard with the wink at the end of the music station performance of Change Your World the other time? Imagine watching that continuously non-stop for one hour, you should know why I'm so irritable."
I love the boys. I want them to improve. I think they've had it too easy in the past. I certainly hope the quality of the concert would improve and be a lot better that last year's. It's their 5th anniversary after all.
Frankly speaking, I was terribly disappointed by the performances in disc 1. I spent quite some time downloading the file because one of the split file gave me quite a bit of a problem as I was downloading it. I was really looking forward to it. More so after finishing a high quality performance by SMAP in the We are SMAP! 2010 concert.[I just bought a copy of it from amazon.jp]
I reached my limits after disc 1. More accurately, I've reached my limits the moment I see Kamenashi's pained expression as he was hitting the drums before Tanaka's solo. But I persevered until the end of disc 1.
This is most probably just me, I feel that the opening was somewhat very rushed. Everything was moving too fast for me and I keep getting the feeling of "We just want this done and over with." I know it's the usual opening of a series of rock, fast-paced, number to hype-up the audience, but I had this feeling that everything was very rushed gnawing on my insides. Also, I'm kinda weirded out and even let out the occasional "tsk" when Nakamaru starts talking at odd intervals during the song, or when he lets out a "Woo" as and when he likes. Again it is something that ought to be very normal, repeatedly done during various concerts, by others as well, but I almost always get the "Ah, wrong timing again" feel whenever he does something like that.
The first three songs, N.M.P, Fall Down, and Real Face left me feeling very uncertain, and I was totally not hype up at all. I was just watching the performance calmly, something which was not usual when I'm watching such performances. I started getting more high when they sang One Drop, Tanaka singing Akanishi's part was a pleasant surprise and I really enjoyed the new arrangement.
Just when I was getting into it, Love Yourself ended and the focus was on the drum set. I was still kinda excited though as I've always admired anyone who could play the drums. It's such a physically taxing instrument to play, and I feel that it requires more hand-leg co-ordination than most sports. Then Kamenashi had to take off his shirt. Frankly speaking, and this is strictly due to personal taste, he does not have an awesome body to show off. I would have no qualms if he had Nishikido Ryo's or Tackey's packs to show off. I would have no qualms if he had Kimura Takuya's tanned flat nicely toned stomach. My mood took a further plunge when he decided to stamp his foot with all his might to play the bass drum. I was not expecting a Matsuoka[Tokio] standard performance. I was not expecting a Shintaro[UVERworld] standard performance. But I was certainly not expecting Kamenashi to be hitting on the drums as if venting all of his 24 years of pent-up frustration, hitting on the drums with all his might, his face scrunched up like it was the most painful and tiring thing he had to do in his life thus far. I don't know how could anyone "kyaa-kyaa" to that performance, but I was completely grossed out. I took off my head phone, stared at the key board until it was all over. I could hardly look. Mum thought I was having too high of an expectation. I showed her the part and she agreed with me.
Make you wet ~Chapter 2~ is one of the few solos from Tanaka that I remotely like. My favourite is I don't miss u. [Most of his solo don't make sense to me that's why.] I don't like the way there was a bed on the stage. It made the stage look empty in my opinion. More so when there were only a few juniors back-dancing. I don't like the way the dance was all that explicit. It made the performance looked cheap.
I can't believe this but I am actually agreeing with him on how weird the transition between Tanaka and his solo was. What's with that transition? Once again, I can't believe this, but of the 3 solo, keeping in mind Nakamaru overtook Kamenashi as my favourite member in KAT-TUN and have had a series of solos I love to loop, I actually enjoyed Taguchi's solo the most when I don't even like the song Love Music all that much. In that performance, I saw Taguchi's improvement in dance, in voice control and I thought it was a refreshing and simple performance which is not all too fanciful. I enjoyed it. After Break the Records, I have this strong impression that Taguchi does too many things during his solo. Love Music was a nice change.
Next comes a "wake wakannai" segment. I have a few theories about the origin of this segment. NMP is after all a performance which they brought overseas, so they wanted to bring something that identify them as Japanese. They wanted a segment which hints "Japanese Culture" when brought overseas. But I thought it was old and recycled from Break the Records and the flow was not very good. Tanaka had already played the Taiko, and this time round it was so short I did not get to enjoy a nice Taiko performance. Ueda "flying" around and "releasing the scroll" was obviously done by Kamenashi during his solo performance in Break the Records. All that umbrellas when Nakamaru and Taguchi took the stage reminds me of Moon, and them swinging around reminds me of Tackey&Tsubasa's Yume Monogatari. Kamenashi's mask was obviously from Break the Records, and we switched the umbrella with a giant fan this time round. Old.
KT-TU back-dancing for Nakamaru during Understandable was awesome. But, Kamenashi was all too distracting. Can't he wear his jacket properly? The others could, why can't he? It was totally interfering with the dance step, I cannot forgive that. I don't get what kind of character he was aiming for right then. The medley of all the songs I like is cool. The dance is cool. But I don't get the usual "kakkoi na~" feel while watching Nakamaru sing and dance. I suspect it's the lack of tonnes of juniors back-dancing behind him. Without back-dancers to bring out the idol in him, I'm sorry to say, "futsu". It feels so plain. So normal.
After that it was DON'T U EVER STOP, RESCUE, LIPS～愛のコマンド～GOLD. Nothing very memorable. I didn't get to see the dance steps clearly because of the way the video was edited(?). Don't you ever stop, Rescue, and Lips. All I could say is "Nothing very memorable"?
Unless there is a very good reason, I am not watching Disc 2 even though I quite like most of the songs in there. I like the songs in disc 1 more, and the performance was -_-" Moreover, I am not looking forward to a vampire Kamenashi in Lost my Way nor Ueda's solo after the various papa pics.
I don't know if anyone has the same impression of the concert. I feel that KAT-TUN tried too hard. There were a lot of things which feel forced in my opinion. I think the set in Osaka Dome lacks sincerity too, and it was not at all impressive. Oh, and I don't like concerts without a distinct theme. The previous concerts were all very clear in what they are trying to express as compared to NMP world tour 2010 in my opinion.
A friend asked "Why is it that anything Kame does annoy you so much these days?". I replied, "Because everything he does feels so calculated and fake these days, he seems to be losing his usual touch to charm. Didn't you say he tried too hard with the wink at the end of the music station performance of Change Your World the other time? Imagine watching that continuously non-stop for one hour, you should know why I'm so irritable."
I love the boys. I want them to improve. I think they've had it too easy in the past. I certainly hope the quality of the concert would improve and be a lot better that last year's. It's their 5th anniversary after all.