[Quick Recap] HAPPY NEW YEAR!
I came back from the busy Dec.30-Dec.31-Jan.1 trip to Makuhari and Tokyo...!
I am so sleepy right now and I have to get a good night's sleep before the Uchi con tomorrow, so here's a quick recap of what happened:
Dec. 30
- First GLAY live in 8 years!! Yay!!
Dec. 31 to Jan. 1
- Went to the afternoon FiVe/Question live. Question played first, then FiVe, then FLAT FIVE FLOWERS. Originally it was supposed to be an hour and a half long, but it ended up being a bit more than 2 and a half. Rikki said "The NewS con (which they participate in) starts in 50 minutes... but we'll stay here as long as we possibly can!" The MC came after the three bands performed, and then they all played a few songs together. All this for 3,500-yen!! Too cheap!! Subaru said that Akun and Rikiya came into his shower room even though there were others opened. They all took a peek at Subaru's junior. Makki, who was standing at the far end of the 9 guys standing across on stage (FiVe + Question + Subaru) said that the guys wearing hats (at that time) were perverts... which was true, because Subaru, Akun and Rikiya were wearing hats!! Hahaha.
- Headed straight to Makuhari for the GLAY countdown. We had a great view of them!!! Too bad we had to leave right after the first song after counting down to the new year.... but it was so much fun!!
- Came back to Tokyo again for the FiVe/Question midnight live. For the Dec.30/31 FiVe/Question live, it was officially announced that Subaru would be there. But for the midnight show, it was "FiVe/Question and Others" but I was pretty sure Subaru would be there. He confirmed my thoughts when he clearly said that he'd be there during the MC on the 31st, haha. Question and FiVe did a few more songs than the 31st (this show was 5,000-yen and originally scheduled to be a 2 and a half hour show). FLAT FIVE FLOWERS played Blues Master Kill and Misetekure, songs that they didn't play on the 31st. They also played Flower, Starlight, Sawer, Window, Flat Five Flowers theme song, Pray and Te (with the others).
- During what was supposed to be the MC part, they brought out the guests. SHOTA was the first one to be called, which made me really happy because Subaru kept on saying that he wants to expand this "J-ROCK FAMILY" group and make a change in the Johnny's music as well as J-POP in general. Shota was wearing a yellow knit hat, grey sweatshirt, light yellowish shorts (god his legs are skinny) and yellow sneakers I think? I was right in front of the stage but I wasn't really focusing on his feet, hahaha.
- Subaru said "I respect Yasuda Shota." and Shota said "Shibuyan, I respect you too <3" They hugged each other as well. Yes, all on stage in front of thousands of people!! They were in their own little world, haha!!! Happy New Year to you two, please stay happy together forever <3 The two of them sang ONE with the other guys playing in the back as well. They let Shota play the guitar solo (Rikki played it when they did this at the FFF live) which was really cool. What a great song!!!
- Then Subaru called out "My cute, cute brother. Uchi Hiroki!!" Shota still had his guitar with him and played V.WEST's "Let's Go! Let's Go!" Uchi sang and Shota sang the chorus. Half of V.WEST was reunited!!!!!!! The other guys played along too.
- Last one that came out was Ryo. Before they came out on stage, I kept on watching Shota and Ryo looking at the stage from the stands; Shota was kinda leaning towards the wall and watching really carefully (I'm sure he only had eyes on the vocalist, lol) and Ryo was kinda standing there watching. Ryo and Shota looked cute together; they were talking to each other a lot. When Subaru asked the guys to say "FULA FULA FLAT FLOWERS!" they yelled and that was when I noticed where they were. Anyway, Ryo came out on stage wearing the "LOSER" cap he likes to wear. He said he knows the meaning of it, but he wears it anyway haha. Shota, Subaru, Ryo and Uchi lined up and sang "Heavenly Psycho"!!!!!!!!!!! During the intro, Subaru, Ryo and Uchi were discussing off-mic who was going to sing which part. Uchi had trouble with the lyrics but Ryo was mouthing it for him. It was sooooooooo nice to see and hear them singing together!!! It was an amazing moment :-)
- The Kansai Juniors appeared during the double encore. Kiriyama, Nakata, Hamada and Senzaki were there. Subaru introduced them but he wasn't sure if he got Senzaki's name right so he had to ask him off-mic a bit, haha. He clearly didn't know his first name.
- The live was supposed to end at 5:00am, but it ended at 6:15am. 2:30-6:15am... 3 hours and 45 minutes?? I was in the arena where it was all-standing (meaning no seats) so my legs were DYING. The GLAY Countdown live was an all-standing live too so I was really, really exhausted. It was worth it though!!! We had really good tickets so we were able to stand right at the front of the stage. It was a very great experience to be able to see those guys that close for so long!! By the way, they said that this was the first midnight live a Johnny's group has ever had. Congrats guys! Subaru kept on saying that they want to make this a tradition every year, so let's hope they do that :-)
- I cannot believe how tough Gakki (Ishigaki Daisuke) is!! He belongs to both FiVe and Question, so he was on the stage the entire time. He also is participating in the NewS cons as FiVe and I think in the Uchi cons as Question as well? (Maybe it'll be a different keyboardist for that, I'm not sure) but MAN the kid kept on rocking out through the night. Way to go, Gakki-sama!!
- I really like FiVe and Question. I hope they get more attention and playing time because they surely deserve it! I'm sure the Macchi live in February will be a great experience for them too. Good luck, FiVe and Question!!!!
...I really need some sleep because I only slept on the shinkansen ride home... :-( Couldn't sleep at all after the midnight live!!!