a-nation report
So I left early for Kobe as I promised, and I followed the large group of young people to the concert, like I had planned. It wasn't hard to get there, just very long and very hot.
When you first get to the venue, there are the booths for goods, food, drinks and a mini stage where I guess Avex allows some new people to perform. All of this you can get to for free, without having a ticket. I watched this girl group called "Bright" for a little while--they weren't that bad actually--bought an ice cone thing and went to find my "seat" (a spot in the grass.)
As for goods, I bought the Koda Kumi key chain and a Tohoshinki fan--it's not that I'm a big fan of theirs (I only know maybe 3 of their songs) but it was hot, I'd forgotten to bring one and it was only 500 yen. The Koda Kumi towel was VERY popular, I saw a LOT of people wearing them across their shoulders.
The show was supposed to start at 3pm but at 2:15 they brought on some new/up-and-coming artists (if anyone cares, they were J-Min, some dude and May. I have no idea who any of those people are.) They all did about 2/3 songs.
Finally the concert started. Here's how it worked--between each artist there is a small, less than 5 minute break. Everyone generally sits down during this break and they only seemed to get up if someone they liked went up on stage. Before each artist is a little introductory video.
1. AAA--Came out on scooters and did 4 songs. The crowd jumped up and shouted as soon as they came on, and seemed to enjoy their performance.
2. My Little Lover--I was like, who the hell is this? O_O Apparently My Little Lover is a woman who looked to be in her 40's. She must be quite famous, because the crowd got pretty excited and everyone sang her songs. She did about three and left the stage. Her songs were ok, but I found her voice to be subpar like a cross between Ayumi Hamasaki and Ai Ostuka. Yuck.
3. Tenjo Chiki-- So, you know how I said that people sit down between breaks? Well, when Tenjo Chiki got on stage, very few people stood up for them. I was one of the few people that stood up in my section. It was so sad, no one cared that they were performing! The poor girls didn't even get to use the full stage--they were crammed onto one of the smaller ones on the side. When they tried to talk to the audience or get the audience to participate, no one did. SAD!!! Well, I had no idea they were going to be there so I was pretty happy. They performed Boomerang, The Club and whatever their new single is.
4. Anna Tsuchiya--All the people who were sitting on their butts for Tenjo Chiki leapt up when Anna got on stage. Girls were screaming "ANNA-CHAN!!!" and everyone was generally excited to see her. I had no idea she was that popular. She sang about 3/4 songs and had really good energy.
5. Somthing Satomi--I'm sorry, I have no idea who she is. All I know is that she did the song for that strange movie Koda Kumi was in with the SMAP guys. But she was pretty boring--her songs are just NOT summer concert material--but thankfully she only did two songs before she went away.
6. DBSK/Tohoshinki--So yeah, I was pretty excited for this one! When they came out, lots of people jumped to their feet and participated for the first song, but as they continued into other songs people started to sit down. I was surprised to see quite a few men getting into the DBSK performance, and one girl near me was obviously a hardcore fan singing all the songs and moving her hands around like a rapper. They sang the following songs, not necessarily in this order: [Some song I don't know, sorry!], Choosy Lover, Loving You, Summer Dream and O. Their singing and dancing was really good, and overall they did a great job.
10 minute break
7. Ai Otsuka--OMG SHE WAS SO ANNOYING. Well, of course the crowd jumped up for her but I remained sitting in silent protest. LOL. Her introduction video kept repeating "PEACH, PEACH, PEACH" like 50 million times before she FINALLY dragged her butt onto the stage. She did maybe TWO MCs, 6 songs and spent what felt like an eternity trying to teach the crowd how to do some dance. In other words, it felt like she was on stage FOREVER. By the end of her performance I was pretty annoyed and just wanted Koda Kumi to come on stage so I could go home.
8. mink--Ok, now, she has a beautiful voice and everything, but really. What were they thinking? No one stood up, no one was paying attention and to make it worse she sang some horribly boring ballad and a terrible rendition of Amazing Grace. At a summer concert. Right. She only did two songs and was gone. During her performance, however, lightning began to flash on the other side of the mountains. A storm was coming!!
9. Something-Something (Koma Koma? Kome Kome?) Club--Sorry forgot to write their name! LOL. Because this group used a large band, it took at least 15-20 minutes for them to start after mink was done! By then, the lightning had gotten worse, closer and the clouds had gotten darker. I was concerned that a storm would come before Kumi got on stage and that they would cancel the rest of it. Although their music was cool and they were fun to watch, THEY WERE ON THE STAGE FOREVER. 2/3 MCs, 6 songs, combined with the obscenely long time it took to set up their stage--dear god! All throughout their OVERLY LONG PERFORMANCE, the storm got closer and closer. I just wanted them to GET OFF the stage before it started pouring, because I knew Koda Kumi had to be next.
The singer, whatever his name is, was talking about how he was excited to meed Kumi and Ai and how Kumi and Ai Ostuka were going to join them on the stage and sing. The crowd was like "EHHHHHHHHH?!!!!!!!!" and got all excited. Well, "Ai" and "Kumi" came out--turns out they were just dancers who looked more like Kumi than Ai with big puffs of fake hair on their head. The singer even started singing a bit of "Cutie Honey" right in the middle of one of their songs! He must be a big fan. Anyway, this group must be super popular, because the crowd exploded when they came on everyone sang their songs.
9. Koda Kumi--So. After Kome Kome finally got their butts off the stage, there's this announcement in a scary male voice. I did understand what they were saying, but I assumed it was about the approaching storm. At one point during the announcement, the crowd went "EEEEEHHHHHHHHH?!!!!!!!!!!!" so I thought that there was bad news. I was freaking out--were they telling everyone that the rest of the concert was canceled and to go home?? Eventually they said something I understood--sit and wait. That left me with some hope.
Then, about 10-15 minutes later, FINALLY, FINALLY the introduction video for Koda Kumi came on. EVERYONE immediately got up and waited for her to come out.
The intro video played "We Will Rock You" but Kuu came out singing "BUT." The crowd clapped throughout the ENTIRE song--it didn't sell well but apparently people like it! From there she did "girls" AND "Sora." Umm, yeah. O_O For the first three songs, she wore a dark red see-through halter-top with a black bra, short short short black shorts and lace up black shoes. After Sora, she disappeared. I started freaking out, thinking that due to the storm, they had cut her performance short! By then, it had started to rain lightly but the lightning was now directly over us.
Then these dancers came out. They weren't dancing to Kuu's music, but Kuu's voice was scattered throughout the music so I figured that she was just changing her clothes and would be back out--I was right.
She came back out wearing a black outfit--a black shirt that showed her stomach, black capri pants and something that looked like half of a plaid kilt. She did Freaky~We Will Rock You~Freaky, Yume no Uta (shorter version) and With Your Smile. I was surprised that she didn't do a song from her new single since just about everyone else did.
She did an excellent job--vocals were ON SPOT, great dancing and she worked the crowd really well. She didn't blab on and on during her MC, probably because of the storm and unlike SOME OTHER PEOPLE she only had one MC period. The crowd loved her--everyone was moving to the music and participated when she asked them to--i.e. waving around their towels.
I left immediately after Kuu's performance, so don't ask me anything about Ayumi Hamasaki! I was NOT about to sit through a lightning storm for that crap, sorry.
So I'm pretty tired--didn't get back until close to 10pm, but Kumi did such a great job performing that it was worth it! People who get to see a full show of hers are incredibly lucky.
When you first get to the venue, there are the booths for goods, food, drinks and a mini stage where I guess Avex allows some new people to perform. All of this you can get to for free, without having a ticket. I watched this girl group called "Bright" for a little while--they weren't that bad actually--bought an ice cone thing and went to find my "seat" (a spot in the grass.)
As for goods, I bought the Koda Kumi key chain and a Tohoshinki fan--it's not that I'm a big fan of theirs (I only know maybe 3 of their songs) but it was hot, I'd forgotten to bring one and it was only 500 yen. The Koda Kumi towel was VERY popular, I saw a LOT of people wearing them across their shoulders.
The show was supposed to start at 3pm but at 2:15 they brought on some new/up-and-coming artists (if anyone cares, they were J-Min, some dude and May. I have no idea who any of those people are.) They all did about 2/3 songs.
Finally the concert started. Here's how it worked--between each artist there is a small, less than 5 minute break. Everyone generally sits down during this break and they only seemed to get up if someone they liked went up on stage. Before each artist is a little introductory video.
1. AAA--Came out on scooters and did 4 songs. The crowd jumped up and shouted as soon as they came on, and seemed to enjoy their performance.
2. My Little Lover--I was like, who the hell is this? O_O Apparently My Little Lover is a woman who looked to be in her 40's. She must be quite famous, because the crowd got pretty excited and everyone sang her songs. She did about three and left the stage. Her songs were ok, but I found her voice to be subpar like a cross between Ayumi Hamasaki and Ai Ostuka. Yuck.
3. Tenjo Chiki-- So, you know how I said that people sit down between breaks? Well, when Tenjo Chiki got on stage, very few people stood up for them. I was one of the few people that stood up in my section. It was so sad, no one cared that they were performing! The poor girls didn't even get to use the full stage--they were crammed onto one of the smaller ones on the side. When they tried to talk to the audience or get the audience to participate, no one did. SAD!!! Well, I had no idea they were going to be there so I was pretty happy. They performed Boomerang, The Club and whatever their new single is.
4. Anna Tsuchiya--All the people who were sitting on their butts for Tenjo Chiki leapt up when Anna got on stage. Girls were screaming "ANNA-CHAN!!!" and everyone was generally excited to see her. I had no idea she was that popular. She sang about 3/4 songs and had really good energy.
5. Somthing Satomi--I'm sorry, I have no idea who she is. All I know is that she did the song for that strange movie Koda Kumi was in with the SMAP guys. But she was pretty boring--her songs are just NOT summer concert material--but thankfully she only did two songs before she went away.
6. DBSK/Tohoshinki--So yeah, I was pretty excited for this one! When they came out, lots of people jumped to their feet and participated for the first song, but as they continued into other songs people started to sit down. I was surprised to see quite a few men getting into the DBSK performance, and one girl near me was obviously a hardcore fan singing all the songs and moving her hands around like a rapper. They sang the following songs, not necessarily in this order: [Some song I don't know, sorry!], Choosy Lover, Loving You, Summer Dream and O. Their singing and dancing was really good, and overall they did a great job.
10 minute break
7. Ai Otsuka--OMG SHE WAS SO ANNOYING. Well, of course the crowd jumped up for her but I remained sitting in silent protest. LOL. Her introduction video kept repeating "PEACH, PEACH, PEACH" like 50 million times before she FINALLY dragged her butt onto the stage. She did maybe TWO MCs, 6 songs and spent what felt like an eternity trying to teach the crowd how to do some dance. In other words, it felt like she was on stage FOREVER. By the end of her performance I was pretty annoyed and just wanted Koda Kumi to come on stage so I could go home.
8. mink--Ok, now, she has a beautiful voice and everything, but really. What were they thinking? No one stood up, no one was paying attention and to make it worse she sang some horribly boring ballad and a terrible rendition of Amazing Grace. At a summer concert. Right. She only did two songs and was gone. During her performance, however, lightning began to flash on the other side of the mountains. A storm was coming!!
9. Something-Something (Koma Koma? Kome Kome?) Club--Sorry forgot to write their name! LOL. Because this group used a large band, it took at least 15-20 minutes for them to start after mink was done! By then, the lightning had gotten worse, closer and the clouds had gotten darker. I was concerned that a storm would come before Kumi got on stage and that they would cancel the rest of it. Although their music was cool and they were fun to watch, THEY WERE ON THE STAGE FOREVER. 2/3 MCs, 6 songs, combined with the obscenely long time it took to set up their stage--dear god! All throughout their OVERLY LONG PERFORMANCE, the storm got closer and closer. I just wanted them to GET OFF the stage before it started pouring, because I knew Koda Kumi had to be next.
The singer, whatever his name is, was talking about how he was excited to meed Kumi and Ai and how Kumi and Ai Ostuka were going to join them on the stage and sing. The crowd was like "EHHHHHHHHH?!!!!!!!!" and got all excited. Well, "Ai" and "Kumi" came out--turns out they were just dancers who looked more like Kumi than Ai with big puffs of fake hair on their head. The singer even started singing a bit of "Cutie Honey" right in the middle of one of their songs! He must be a big fan. Anyway, this group must be super popular, because the crowd exploded when they came on everyone sang their songs.
9. Koda Kumi--So. After Kome Kome finally got their butts off the stage, there's this announcement in a scary male voice. I did understand what they were saying, but I assumed it was about the approaching storm. At one point during the announcement, the crowd went "EEEEEHHHHHHHHH?!!!!!!!!!!!" so I thought that there was bad news. I was freaking out--were they telling everyone that the rest of the concert was canceled and to go home?? Eventually they said something I understood--sit and wait. That left me with some hope.
Then, about 10-15 minutes later, FINALLY, FINALLY the introduction video for Koda Kumi came on. EVERYONE immediately got up and waited for her to come out.
The intro video played "We Will Rock You" but Kuu came out singing "BUT." The crowd clapped throughout the ENTIRE song--it didn't sell well but apparently people like it! From there she did "girls" AND "Sora." Umm, yeah. O_O For the first three songs, she wore a dark red see-through halter-top with a black bra, short short short black shorts and lace up black shoes. After Sora, she disappeared. I started freaking out, thinking that due to the storm, they had cut her performance short! By then, it had started to rain lightly but the lightning was now directly over us.
Then these dancers came out. They weren't dancing to Kuu's music, but Kuu's voice was scattered throughout the music so I figured that she was just changing her clothes and would be back out--I was right.
She came back out wearing a black outfit--a black shirt that showed her stomach, black capri pants and something that looked like half of a plaid kilt. She did Freaky~We Will Rock You~Freaky, Yume no Uta (shorter version) and With Your Smile. I was surprised that she didn't do a song from her new single since just about everyone else did.
She did an excellent job--vocals were ON SPOT, great dancing and she worked the crowd really well. She didn't blab on and on during her MC, probably because of the storm and unlike SOME OTHER PEOPLE she only had one MC period. The crowd loved her--everyone was moving to the music and participated when she asked them to--i.e. waving around their towels.
I left immediately after Kuu's performance, so don't ask me anything about Ayumi Hamasaki! I was NOT about to sit through a lightning storm for that crap, sorry.
So I'm pretty tired--didn't get back until close to 10pm, but Kumi did such a great job performing that it was worth it! People who get to see a full show of hers are incredibly lucky.