幻ばかり追いかける世界
So Saturday was The Day, and I met goingasajet and okuralove816-sempai for the concert. As it turns out, sempai's sempai, renchan5, got a ticket too and went the same day! We got to the dome at 11am and got in line for goods, and I was really surprised at how quickly the line moved! Once inside, I went insane and bought at least one of nearly everything. You can have a look here. I didn't get the photo sets because I know they'll probably put them up at the store later, and even though the T-shirt is kickass, it'd never fit, so I skipped it. (But it looks lovely on goingasajet.) I also didn't get everyone's uchiwa or everyone's poster, so I naturally got Sho's uchiwa and then the group poster. The penlight is adorable, and they sold out of them before 2pm!! The passport case is teh awesome too. It's long like a ladies long wallet and it has space for your tickets, your passport, money, and any other important documents you need while traveling... and it sparkles like nobody's business. Oooo... the shiny... *.* But this isn't a "Goods Report" so let's get to the singing and dancing!
I have a tendency to forget concerts the minute after they happen, therefore, I'm going to attempt to write the most detailed report I have ever written in my life. Let's start with the stage setup. It was kinda basic (I guess) in that there was a staircase on the stage and an area out front for dancing. The hanamichi came out from the middle to one of the clear moving platforms. There were two other hanamichi out to each side of the stage and giant balloons with the Around Asia logo at the back. At the opposite end of the dome was another curved hanamichi and two clear platforms moving back and forth between that and the main stage. And of course, there was space for two trollies to drive around the circumference of the dome. (I love the trolley. It brings the boy within binocular range. ^_^)
They started by showing a montage of music video clips of Arashi through the years, and when we finally got to 2007 they came out on stage and everybody screamed. If I remember correctly, the staircase split and *ta da* The Storm. I wasn't talented enough to write down their set list, but I'm not worried because "Wink Up" will publish it when they do their con report in probably the June or July issue. But if I'm not mistaken, they started with "Arashi" and then moved into "Sakura Sake."
Rather than try to remember it all the way through and give a boring play by play, I'll just write about the highlights and what Sempai, L, and I had to say during the show. The talk was pretty funny. I couldn't catch a lot of it (I didn't realize how much I depend on those Japanese subtitles during Arashi shows), but there was something about Aiba being in the shower when Sho was in there. I assume he didn't want to be bothered since it's his one pre-show ritual.
Then they were talking about going out to eat. I think they said that Matsujun sometimes pays for other people's food while the rest split the bill. XDD But the one part I did get about 90% of was when Sho was saying that if he gets mad or it looks like he's about to blow up at restaurant staff, Aiba jumps in between and tries to handle the situation. During a discussion about ramen, I think Sho said that they messed up his order or they were out of it and he was going to potentially become angry, but then Aiba got between Sho and the staff and said, "Now Sho-chan, we're going to take care of this. We'll get you some nice ramen, just don't get angry." Sho kept insisting that he wasn't mad and he even did his Choshu Koriki "キレってないっす" impression. *dies* After hearing that, I really appreciate Sakuraiba and think it's adorable how Sho is the tempermental dad and Aiba's the mom that just wants to smooth everything out.
During the talk, Aiba was going on and on about stuff and the others couldn't get a word in, so at one point they told him, "You're talking too much! Let others say stuff!" So he stopped for, like, 30 seconds and then he and Nino got into a conversation and the others yelled, "You're doing it again!" Hahaha! Poor baby! He just doesn't know when to shut up! Oh, and during the second talk they did, he got a foot cramp and when the four of them turned around, he was splayed out on the ground. They yelled, "What the hell are you doing back there?!" Then he took off his boot and Jun(?) massaged his foot. Between Nino's barbed comments and Aiba's goofiness, it's tough to tell who steals the show each time.
While we're on the subject of Aiba and Nino stealing the show, I'll move to solos. Aiba came out on stage dressed as his Kiiroi Namida character and played the guitar and sang "Namida no Nagareboshi." I know it's not technically a solo, but he was alone and he is the main one for the song, so I'm counting it. Nino's "Himitsu" solo was 7 kinds of a*do*ra*ble. He was dancing on one of the platforms with about 6 other juniors and I said, "Which one's Nino? They all look 12!" Ohno did "Rain," which of course, made me melt. That song is so damn hot! Matsujun's solo scared the crap out of me because they strapped him to one of the balloons and he was suspended in the air. He was basically level with the people in the nosebleed section of the dome and I kept thinking, "Please don't let this be the one concert where the supports give out." Sho did "Unti Unti" and since I'd never seen it or heard it, I was like, "Woooow, he's so damn cool."
They played a lot of really great songs, and during the middle part of "Cool & Soul," Sho changed every other line to reflect that they'd toured around Asia and were now coming back to Japan. It was so cool, but I was trying my best to read the Japanese really really fast. ^_^; I had been waiting for them to do "Eyes With Delight" because I sooooo wanted to do the chant part with a huge group, but they didn't do the chant!! FTW??! They played it, but Jun and Sho were backstage getting ready for the next song, and I kept thinking, "Sho's not out here... shit! We're not gonna do the chant?? DAMMIT SHO!!" Oh well, I still love him. We did get to do "Lucky Man" and "A Day in our Life," so that was fun. Before the show, I took Okuralove and Ren-chan's advice and bought binoculars. I'm SO glad I did! It made a big difference! When they came out to our end of the dome, it was really easy to see them. The looks on the Juniors' faces cracked me up! When they were dancing, they were SO FOCUSED. You could tell they were thinking, "And 1 and 2 and 3 and spin, and 5 and 6 and kick and turn. Step step slide, step step slide, pivot!" It was sooo funny! But I guess you have to be 100% serious when you're a junior because you don't get debuted for being a slacker.
Another funny junior moment was at the end when Sho and Ohno were on the trollies. Sho was right in front of us and as he was about to come down the stairs, 3 juniors were going to up the stairs. When they saw Sho coming down, they almost tripped over each other trying to get out of his way!! XDD Sho's facial expression was like, "Hahaha, you dorks." He looked amused and not like he was about to elbow drop on them. Let's hope he didn't beat the crap out of them backstage. -_-*
There was no Ohmiya SK!!!!!!!!!!!! They got us all excited by playing this video of them giving a statement saying, "We were asked not to show up at the dome, so we can't come out." We were all thinking, "This is just a joke, right? They'll come out. They have to!" But then Ohno and Nino came out dressed normally and the whole audience went, "EHHHHHH???!" Nino said, "Now now now, I know. I know. But... they're not gonna come out." Then there was more talking after that about the characters, but I didn't catch all of it, and I was too busy being crushed because of the ban on SK action. T_T There should never be a ban on SK action... EVER.
When the end came, people were being pussies about yelling for an encore, so Sempai gave up and said, "Let's go NOW or else we'll be stuck here forever." So we ran down the stairs, and just got out into the hallway when we heard "KYAAAAAA!" We came running back in, and sure enough, they'd come back out for more. We felt like such heels for running out on the boys, but we honestly thought they'd never come! They did "Love So Sweet" once more and of course, "Fight Song." I shoulda known that they'd never close a show without doing "Fight Song," but it didn't occur to me at that time. After that encore, we did leave though, and to the best of my knowledge, they didn't come out again.
My one regret was that as I was leaving the dome, I didn't stop long enough to take a picture of the flowers they had out in the lobby. In Japan, whenever an event is held or a new shop opens, supporters send flowers with big signs saying who it's from. And in the middle of the flowers for the group, News Zero had sent Sho a big display. I thought, "AWWW! They love him!!" *^.^* But how can you not? Ehehe!
If JE be hell, then Sakurai Sho is my dark angel of death.