[Report] 2009 PUZZLE TOUR - Fukui (July 4th, 2009 @14:00, 18:00 and July 5th, 2009 @13:00, 17:00)
Yay! I have written a report for Fukui!! It's not much (although the MCs are a bit long), but I've written stuff from all four shows in Fukui.
Enjoy!!
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[Report] 2009 PUZZLE TOUR - Fukui (July 4th, 2009 @14:00, 18:00 and July 5th, 2009 @13:00, 17:00)
I think we would never hit for seats THAT good ever again, lol. We hit for Arena A1, which is probably the best you can get, and we had the whole row to ourselves. We were right at the front of the stage AND on Shota (and Hina)’s side during the MC and the band, which is when they are on the main stage!! Of all the concerts I’ve been to, I’ve never seen Shota that close for that long, haha. Plus… so many things happened there!!! :-D Ahhh, great memory…
That was the first out of the four shows. The next two I had tickets for standing. It was the first time I’ve experienced standing. Well, next time there’s a concert in Fukui, I might even LOOK for standing tickets!!! Hahaha, I enjoyed it so much!!!! There’s so much space so I was dancing around like crazy, haha. I didn’t notice in the first show, but my friend told me where Shota was going to go around on carts during the encore so we got a spot where he was definitely going to see us when he comes because there were no seats in front of us. The main stage is set up higher than the others, so I felt close enough. The second show on Saturday, I don’t know why but I was so tired so I didn’t really get into the show as much as I had liked to (up to Kicyu I was hyper but the Eight Ranger skit was dragging so I got tired during it, haha) but Sunday 1st! I had a blast!! Also, Shota remembered my uchiwa from the day before so he made a hand gesture and smiled so much and waved when he came by on the cart :-) I didn’t hold my uchiwa at all during that show except for the encore when Shota came around. It worked like a charm, haha!
It was such a weird feeling NOT to be in the stands at all in Fukui. Last year, I was in the stands for all four shows. This time was twice in the arena (fourth show was in the arena as well) and twice standing. Last year they didn’t even have standing, but I have a very strong feeling that they’re going to have standing from now on in Fukui because there’s sooooo much space that they should not waste! 800 people can fit in the standing area and still have enough space left.
Anyway, here is another short memo-type report from the Fukui shows. I just wanted to write them down before I go to Ishikawa because I know I’m going to get all the shows mixed up, lol.
1. MUSEKININ HERO - Guess who I watch the most during this song? Shota? Actually, no… MARU!!! LOL He is super hyper during this song!! He makes sooooo many unnecessary (haha) moves, lol. It is for songs like this when I enjoy the standing area a lot… there’s so much space to do those movements!! When you’re in a seat standing in between people, you can’t really stretch your arms as much as you want to… I’m one of the taller ones out there so I’m usually extra careful trying not to bump into the person next to me. Towards the end of the song, the guys usually say Hi to the crowd. I wave to the screen twice… once for Shota, and the other for Hina because Shota’s always in the screen with him, hahaha. Hina’s always in the screen when Shota says Hi, too. The cartoon type thing that is on the screen during this song is a bit weird though… running robots?? Huh??
2. IT'S MY SOUL - I actually don’t remember much from this song because they scatter around the arena. I usually watch whoever is closest to us. I do remember in Oita when Maru was going crazy during the song! He was trying to take off his belt and pants in front of Ohkura and Ohkura couldn’t stop laughing. Geez, do I watch Maru a lot or what!?
3. KANFUU FIGHTING - In Hiroshima, Kumamoto and Oita, they all lined up across the back stage side, but since Fukui is round, they used the center. This again was far from where I was so I just enjoyed singing and dancing around to the song, haha.
4. ICHIBYO KISS - YES!!!!!!!!!! I love this song so much!!! I enjoyed watching Shota dance up close <3 Subaru does many things to try and get Shota’s attention during this song, haha. It’s so cute to watch! Ohkura came by often during the song and kept on looking, but all I could do is look back, haha. I don’t know why but I never go “KYAAAAAAA!!!!” over Ohkura, haha.
5. GLORIOUS - During the second show on Saturday, my friend and I dedicated this song to another friend we were with. I kept on singing dramatically to her (we were in the standing so it didn’t really matter how loud we were singing it, haha). My other friends were waving their penlights at us, lol. But in the latter half of the song, I started preparing myself for what was to come… drop the uchiwa… stretch arms and legs… take a few deep breaths…
6. KICYU - JAAAAN!! JAJA JAAAAAAN!! JAAAAN!! JAJA JAAAAAAAN!! (Please imagine the sound of the intro, lol) GOSH I love this song!!!! Both of them are so adorable!!! Yoko wore a pink hat in the second show on Sunday. Shota said “Kimi-kun mo” and “Yokocho mo” again and of course Yoko got all shy about it. But! I’ve noticed that Yoko’s not lip synching anymore! Yay for him! He even changed the lyrics around himself. “Mou, Yasu ga wakan naiyo!!” Then Shota went “Dattara awasete Yasu to Kimi! Yasu Kimi YasuKimi!!” I can just watch this song over and over and over again…
7. YOU CAN SEE - Usually I only watch the screen for this song because I haven’t memorized the lyrics yet (oops) and the two are far apart anyway. But, since I had the chance to watch them closely in the first show, I focused on the main stage when they walked back to it. The “Maru” that comes up on the lift wearing the knight mask… is definitely not Maru, lol. It’s probably Maashii. There’s no way he has enough time to go back down, take off the mask, and come back up again in 3 seconds. Plus… the “Maru” was wearing a different vest than the real one! lol
8. PUZZLE - This is a nice song to listen to, but nothing too much to watch once you get used to the old/new pictures of the guys, haha.
9. KAWAITA HANA - They finish Puzzle on the center stage surrounding Ryo at center, then in between the songs Ryo and Subaru switch and for the start of the song, Subaru is surrounded by the others. After the song opening phrase, they all walk towards the main stage where once again Shota’s right in front!!! A1 block SAIKOU!!!!!! While they walk back to the main stage, Subaru keeps on bugging Shota. He was sticking his tiny butt out as he was walking. Also during Maru’s solo part, there’s this movement where the other six get in a line and dance around. Subaru bugs Shota here as well, haha.
10. EIGHT RANGER - I… don’t really have the energy to write a report on the Eight Ranger… but! Let me just say that Nasu is hilarious, haha. He runs around the venue sooooo much. One moment he’s on the main stage, and in another he’s on the moving carts flying past the area behind the main stage. Then, he’s in the stands on the back stage side way on the other side sitting in between fans and smacking them around. He’s back on the main stage in the next scene where he is totally out of breath, lol. Hahaha Director Yoko made Nasu run around so much! And then kills him! The poor guy, lol. The part where Yellow stabs Nasu has changed a bit too. Not only does Yellow stab Nasu, but also the others surrounding him start punching and kicking him around as well. Right before Nasu falls to the ground, he’s like “WHO JUST PUNCHED MY RIB!!! IT HURTS!!!!” Poor guy! Hina was soooooo hungover during the first show on Saturday! The guys kept on making fun of how he stunk. When they say stuff like “Why do we always end up like this!” “Why did Nasu have to die!” etc., Ohkura’s like “He must have had something that was bothering him if he had to drink THAT much last night!!!” Hahahaha.
Orange is always hilarious during this skit. In Oita, which was right after Michael Jackson passed away, Orange did many MJ dance movements. When Nasu came back to life, everyone started going “NOOOO!” “Scary!!” “Why are you still alive!?” and all that, and Orange does this weird zombie move that I could not stop laughing to!! Ohkura was laughing helplessly as well haha. He did the zombie again in Fukui! Red was also funny in Oita. He did this weird robot dance that comes out of the blue. He did this in Fukui as well, which made me laugh.
In Fukui, when Red “catches” the flying arrow to save Yellow and makes Blue read the letter attached to it, Red got sooooo close to Blue and almost made him fall on the other side of the stage. Yellow got close at one point too, and Blue’s like “You guys… you’re too close…” haha.
Like I said at the beginning, the Eight Ranger skit during the second show on Saturday was so long and blah… Black even said “Eight Rangers have come to Oita!” when we were clearly in Fukui, haha. Then they kept on going on and on before Red finally punched Black. Sometimes these skits could be dull and boring! I think this was when Black said that he wants the center position because that’s where everyone looks at; take Tohoshinki as an example, he said, haha.
Oh! I almost forgot to mention, but at the start of the skit in the first show on Saturday, Yellow stared at us and then turned to Red to say “What’s wrong?” in English! Hahaha, oh Ryo…
11. DONNA NI HANARETE TATTE SOBA NI IRUKARA - After they figure out the puzzle pieces, Nasu performs the magic to bring the colors back to Black, Orange and Green (although Green always takes off his blue suit way too early!!). Here, I don’t know why but Yoko and I had a rather long eye contact while he was taking off the red suit, haha. In the second show on Sunday, we were extremely close to the guys singing the last chorus along the back stage. I was once again on Shota’s side!! Yay!!
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12. GIGA MAJI MEGA FIGHT - They take forever to take off the upper half of their suit! I don’t know why Subaru throws all three of his sign balls to the oyako seats. There are many other fans around you, you know!! I always enjoy watching Maru in this song. During the intro, he always does weird moves. In one of the shows, he just kept on doing push-ups! At center, Maru kept on singing the song putting on his own dance movements that went along with the lyrics. I kept on copying his moves but he’s so random that it is almost impossible to keep up, haha!
13. MC - 1st show (Sat): The magical MC where the guys (Hina and Shota, mostly) talked to us!! They started by talking about how people get to Fukui (train! car!), how far it is from the nearest station (15 minutes! 20 minutes!), what food is famous in Fukui (crab!) and all that crap. Then! Hina suddenly said “I see quite a few people from different countries today… you, are you from Australia? Are you with a friend?” We didn’t see the Australian and I don’t think we know her/them… then, Hina said “You’re from England” to our friend who was sitting in A3 block. He asked her where she was from so she said Shizuoka. They couldn’t hear her, so we said “SHIZUOKA!!” for her, haha. Then Hina started asking us questions. Subaru mumbled that these foreigners are not exactly FROM the country, they live here anyway, blah blah blah so I was like “SHE LIVES IN CALIFORNIA!” pointing to the friend that really doesn’t live in Japan, haha. I kept on giving the thumbs up and Hina imitated it saying “Gooooo,” haha. Shota then looked straight at my eyes and said “Your ‘nori’ is so pop!!” HAHAHA of all the things that my number-1 guy could say to me, he says that my ‘nori’ is pop!! What does that even MEAN!? LOL. Anyway, Ohkura said he can’t imagine himself being the only Japanese person among non-Japanese people and asked whether we could go to concerts like that, and me, being the Japanese I am, was like “I DO THAT ALL THE TIME!!” haha. I had my uchiwa facing Shota, so I could feel his line of sight so much… I think I was one of the only Shota fans in the area, haha. He just basically stood there for the entire MC talking to us. Even during the “train” “15 minutes” “crab” etc. exchange at the beginning, he kept on looking and asking questions because I kept on answering, lol. Surprisingly, the people around us were rather quiet! …Except for a few girls who would go “KYAAAAAAA!!!!” whenever they say something like “crab” and the guys respond to it, lol. Hina asked my friend if she was a Maru fan, and Maru waved at her saying something that I couldn’t catch! Maybe this was when Hina was saying “Goooo” haha. Anyway… the few minutes that we were talking to them felt so unreal! I felt like we had this special moment where no other fans came in!! During the second show on Sunday, I was far from the main stage so I noticed how it’s so hard to see anything happening in A1. I’m sure people felt left out while we were talking to them because the guys had microphones and were seeing what we were doing/saying, but the rest of the fans probably had no idea what was going on. Oh well!! It was a once in a lifetime experience that I will never forget!! After the show, many people came up to us asking to take pictures. I kinda felt weird about it because I’m 100% Japanese!!
2nd show (Sat): They said they see a lot of guy fans (there were quite a few!) and started talking about how it’s always nice to see guys in the stands. Ohkura said that his brother came to watch a concert once but the brother said he’s never going to come again because he felt so out of place and embarrassed, haha. I can’t imagine being a sister/brother of a Johnny’s idol! I wonder how that would feel! The younger brother got a girlfriend and also dyed his hair brown. Hina’s brother has come to a concert before, too. His brother also has a girlfriend of 3 years. Once, Hina asked the girlfriend to have dinner with him some time over the phone. She said “Uhh… no.” LOL!!!! Hina even gets declined by his brother’s girlfriend!!!! She apparently does not believe that THE Murakami Shingo is her boyfriend’s brother. The brother, by the way, used to work at a TV station but now works for a forwarding agency. He’s just like Ohkura’s brother; long hair, pierced ears, etc. One night, the brother was talking so loud on the phone so Hina grabbed it and hung up! LOL When he looked at the screen of the phone, it had a picture of his brother and his girlfriend kissing. Hina was like EWWWW I DIND’T WANT TO SEE THAT! Hahahaha. Oh the fabulousness of the Murakami household… Ryo enjoys going out for dinner and stuff with his sister’s husband. He’s never had a younger brother, so he treats the husband (same age as his younger sister) as if he is. The guys asked him how the husband calls Ryo, and Ryo shyly said “Ryo niichan.” This was kinda cute, haha. Shota gets along well with his sister’s husband. He actually was the guy who, once during a festival, came up to Shota to say “HEY aren’t you Yasuda!?” because he was on TV as a Junior and stuff. Of course Shota didn’t have a good impression of him. Then a few years later, Shota’s sister said that she was going to get married. Shota’s like “Oh cool, who is it?” and it’s the guy from the festival, lol. He’s cool now though and calls him Shota-kun. Shota also proudly said that his sister’s kids are ichi-hime ni-taro, meaning that the first born is a girl and the second one a boy, which is usually considered a good thing in Japan. Subaru talked about his two brothers as well. The older one got divorced in September (oi!) and Subaru doesn’t really know where he is now. He used to work at a pachinko place, but he cheated and did stuff to the pins so that people would win more, and he got caught for it and got fired, lol. What the heck! He doesn’t talk to his younger brother much either. Subaru’s been in Tokyo since the age of 15 so he’s never had much chance to talk with his younger brother. That’s why things are very awkward between them. Last he heard from Taeko was that he’s in a band or something, haha. Maru talked about his little brother and sister as well. The brother is just like Maru; he’s not the brightest in the class, haha. He had one “3” and all the rest were “2” in his report card… out of “5,” of course, haha. Poor kid. Maru then said that his sister doesn’t want to take a bath with him anymore. The guys started saying “oppai” and Maru admitted that he thinks his sister is developing. Yoko, who was really quiet throughout this MC, suddenly jumped in and talked about girls and boobs. Oh boys… Finally Yoko talked about his brothers, but just that he sees them often. I don’t think he said anything else?
1st show (Sun): I think this was when they talked about each other’s habits. First they said that they had yakiniku the night before, and Shota said his stomach doesn’t accept much meat anymore… he’s getting old. Ohkura immediately said “YOU NEED TO EAT MORE! Let your stomach get used to (the amount of food)!!!” hahaha. Then he said “Yassan’s main dish is Calorie Mate. He doesn’t eat anything!” The guys were worried about Shota not eating much, but Shota kept on saying that it was because he can’t eat too much before a concert. I think Ryo said he can eat a lot before a concert and still move around. Then they talked about eating habits and how Ohkura always shakes his chopsticks up and down while he eats. After eating, Ohkura jumps around. Yoko said that it was because Ohkura was trying to make room in his stomach to fill more food, lol!! Maru eats noodles like he does on TV - make it sound and look good, haha. Maru said Sho-chan (I love how he calls him Sho-chan <3 It’s cute!)’s habit is to talk too fast when he gets excited. Yoko or someone said that people who talk fast are actually geniuses because they think fast in their head. Yoko then asked Shota, “Yasu, are you a genius?” Shota stood there for a few seconds before answering “…Yes.” Hahahaha! That was classic!! Shota trying to sound all smart and cool, lol. Ohkura said that Shota says “Sayou-ka” (=meaning “Is that right” but in an old fashion way) a lot recently. Hina asked if it was a line in his play (Kagotsurube) or something but it wasn’t. Weird boy! Yoko’s habit was to make a loud noise with the water bottle while he’s sleeping. Hina and Yoko used to share hotel rooms, and Hina would always wake up to the sound of Yoko sucking on the bottle so hard. Yoko said that he has dreams where he’s so desperate and dying of thirst. Hina’s habit was to drink water and say “Phwaaaaa!” so loudly as if every gulp was his first. I think they talked about this on Recomen before as well, but Hina demonstrated it for us. It was actually very annoying, lol. I don’t remember if they talked about Ryo or Subaru’s habits, but I found it very funny when Ryo was promoting his drama… he said it so quickly, as if to show off that he’s a genius as well! OH! I think it was during this show when Yoko was saying that Subaru, him, Bunichi and the manager or something went to eat yakiniku the night before, and while they were on the taxi, Subaru kept on moaning every time the taxi went over a bump. He said that he was “feeling” the meat, haha.
2nd show (Sun): They started by saying that it’s already one of their last few shows of the tour. Only 3 more cities, 10 more shows left! They mainly talked about what they want to do in the summer. Maru said he wants to go to an amusement park with his brother and sister. He also wants to go to Spain again. Hina wants to travel too, but he really wants to play soccer… Then, surprisingly, Ohkura started yelling at him! LOL. He’s like “Murakami-kun! You’re not allowed to play soccer anymore! You had a stress fracture in your foot! You think you’re stronger than you really are. I’m not going to let you!” Hahaha. Shota said that he wants to go to the ocean and dive. He said that the place he went to the other day (Belize) had the most beautiful ocean. He said that there actually is a place in Tokyo where you can swim with the dolphins. Ohkura was interested and he’s like “Really!? Yassan, you got a license right!?” Shota said that dolphins don’t swim with people that are not smart. He hasn’t had a chance to swim with them YET, but he said he will eventually! He said that he’s swum with a sea turtle, though. Maru and Shota kept on making sea turtle faces, haha. Subaru said that he has Dream Boys coming up, but he wants to go BBQ’ing with everyone. They haven’t gone together in a while. I don’t think Ryo said anything about his summer plans (it’s probably full of work anyway, haha). Yoko suddenly said, “Can I say this in front of everyone? Murakami is a thief! He stole from me! Can I say this??” Hina didn’t have a clue so he’s like “…Sure?” Yoko said “I was humming a Mr. Children song. Then, he came in and started singing ‘Ama iro no-- nagai kami wo--,‘ which is a different song!!” haha. Yoko’s like “You stole my humming!” and Hina said “I just wanted to sing with you!” Then Subaru said “THEN SING HERE NOW!!” Hahahaha what a great set up for Subaru, who’s trying so hard to bring Hina and Yoko together these days, lol. Yoko kept on refusing and saying “No! No! No!” but Hina was into it. Subaru asked the staff to put the spotlight only on the two at the middle of the stage. Subaru asked them to hold hands. Yoko said “Why do two 28-year old ossans have to hold hands!” and then Hina’s like “It’s a privilege only for those (people who work as idols) like us,” hahaha. Yoko kept on saying “No one’s going to achieve anything from this!” but Subaru said “The fans will!!” Yoko kept on refusing but eventually gave in. He said “At least give us a song to sing.” Hina said “Let’s sing the song that I stole from you. I’ll give it back.” The two came to the middle of the stage while the others took a step back and sat down. The spot light was on the two. Without the microphone, Hina said something to Yoko and Yoko’s like “HAHA!! Oh my god!! Don’t ask me if I am okay with the lyrics!! You’re taking this too seriously!!!!” Hina then said “Us singing together is the ultimate goal!” or something cool like that. Hina was so manly and full of confidence!!! LOL Hina put his hand out for Yoko to hold. Then, Hina’s like “Wait, should I put my hand out this way?” hahaha he turned it over, lol. Yoko’s like “I DON’T CARE!” Subaru told the crowd to say “Seeeeno!” (=Ready, set, go!) together. We did. They started singing!!! Holding hands!!! Subaru said “Go round!” so they went round!! They finished with a pose. Hahaha what a rare thing to see!!! Hina said that it was a great success and that he’d like to do it again in the future!!
14. EXPLOSION & Veteran’s Song - Before the Veterans sing their song, they introduce themselves and promote stuff. Usually it was Muro’s oldest brother doing all the talking, but this time around they took turns saying things. Some kids were promoting the Ahoyanen show that only Muro’s oldest is a part of, haha. They promoted the play in Shochikuza which Yoko wrote the general story for (he stayed during this part in the last show to help them promote it). They also promoted their drama, “Bougetsu,” airing sometime in August. Hina chose a random member and asked them what their personal plans are. Kikuoka couldn’t come up with anything funny, so Hina said “I’m going to choose randomly so you all better be ready!” Kunta was ready in the show he was asked for, and he said “I plan on going to get a haircut on the 6th!” Haha.
15. AKAI SHINKIRO - This is one of those songs where they were scattered around the arena facing the stands, so I just looked at the backs of whoever was closest, haha.
16. BURLEE - I really like this song and dance!!! I think they’re going to show a part of this song on the SCP this weekend so I can’t wait to watch it :-)
17. MY LAST TRAIN - Hina came by on the cart during the first show on Saturday, and because he came so close, I was able to tell that he was hung over, lol.
18. OSAKA RAINY BLUES - For this song, Shota’s on the main stage, Subaru at center and Ryo on the back. In Kumamoto I clearly remember Subaru looking so intently at Ryo, but for the last few shows he is only looking at Shota. His stare is intense!
19. ZUKKOKE OTOKOMICHI - I still think that this song doesn’t fit in here. The “Say Yeah!!” “Yeah!!” bit they do during the intro is a bit awkward, and it sucks that the three instrument guys (Shota, Maru and Ohkura) always have to leave early!
20. BAND SESSION & DO YOU AGREE? - Shota playing the guitar RIGHT THERE!!! WOOOO!!!! He was so into it that it was kinda awkward watching his face… he was enjoying it for sure, lol. I enjoyed this especially because they all stay on the main stage during this song now!!!! Ryo joined in the band session for a few shows.
21. GORI GORI - I remember Maru playing the bass at the beginning right in front of us. I was like YEAH!!! and then kept on jumping around.
22. JYONETSU PARTY - I really, really like this song live!!! I was really hyper and moving all over the place while I was in the standing, hahaha.
23. ROLLING COASTER - Oh my god, Shota right in front again!! A1 block really was AWESOME!!! Their performance is definitely improving, too :-)
EN1. MUGENDAI
EN2. SAITE IKIYO
DOUBLE EN. WAHAHA (Just the second show)
During the encore or at the end of the show during the first one on Saturday, Ryo walked over to Shota and started taking his shirt off right in front of us!!!!!! I was like YOU GO RYO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hahahahaha what a BEAUTIFUL VIEW that was!!!!! He only made him take his shirt off in that show, too. I gotta say THANK YOU to Ryo for that one, haha. Shota seemed a bit shy about it because no one else had their shirt off, haha. He was hiding his body… when he totally doesn’t need to!!! At first I thought that Ryo was going to throw the t-shirt into the crowd, but I don’t think he would have been allowed to do that, haha. Anyway… thanks Ryo for doing that!!!!
I think this concludes my Fukui report. I definitely rushed through the end because I really don’t remember much anymore… but I’m glad I was able to write everything down before I went to Ishikawa! I didn’t read over the latter half of this report so there are probably tons of grammar mistakes, but please forgive me! I haven’t packed at all for the Ishikawa trip yet!! Hahaha.
Anyway, I hope you all have a great weekend and a 3-day weekend for those living in Japan!