my "ARASHI 10-11 TOUR 'Scene'～君と僕の見ている風景～" in Sapporo
Think I should write this entry first before I forgot everything which was happened (well, I already did anyway - cannot help when u have to take train trip down from Hokkaido to Tokyo with many stops!- so please don't expect this to be like concert report, let's make it more like...my view towards this tour :D).
We have discussed among me and friends that we would leave early for concert goods on Saturday (well, lesson was learned from last year) so despite the weather or any obstacles, we must leave the hotel at 7 am. And we did leave on time for Sapporo Dome. Think we got to Sapporo Dome almost at 8 am and it was actually 60 or 70 people walking ahead of us from subway station to Dome. By the time we got to car park which they used for selling goods. I saw like hundreds of people in jam-packed queue and it was only 8 am!
I seriously wonder what time these people left the house for queuing, I mean, what time did you guys get up?! I woke up at 5.45 am *tut tut* Such a dedication of Arashi fangirls (well, cannot say fangirls since many men are in line as well, dunno if they were dragged by the wives/daughters/girlfriends/mums but i didn't see any of them complaining so should probably be fans as well). There was a rotation of Goods selling stalls from last year though. I think with this year rotation, it did increase numbers of stalls which facilitates the fans to buy goods more quickly as I can feel that once they started selling, the queue was moving quite fast.
(sorry for bad drawing or photoshopping)
Good thing that it was sunny day that day so we enjoyed killing our time by standing around, waiting and watching more people join the queue. It was incredibly amazing coz I think some of these people are actually would wait for concert after getting their goods since they all dressed up in costumes in colours according to their ichibans which is like 10 hours waiting!
It seems like the Yankee clothes are "in" for this tour. I have seen a lot of girls wearing overall like this in colours according to their ichibans both in Sapporo and Tokyo for concert. Another popular thing for this season is "Duffy Disney Bear" dressing according to your ichiban's solo outfits. I couldn't take any pix but I first saw Duffy in Aiba-chan's Magical Song outfit (or somewhat like that) while I was in queue in Sapporo and then I started to see many Duffy bears in T.A.B.O.O's outfits and in Tokyo, I saw Duffy in Sho's Tomadoinagara outfit from last tour. And the persons who carried these bears around are like late teens and even 20s something. It's so "ONLY IN JAPAN" thing. However, I am inspired, to be honest, not the bit about carrying Duffy the bears but the DIY thing. Many fans have customised their tour shopping bags and I think I might do that to mine as well.
I remembered reading from web that the goods would start selling at 8.30 am, however, I don't think we have moved until it was 9 am. I got to the head of the queue around 10.30 am and finally finished everything off at 11 am. That was good fun and quick and much less miserable than last year (OBVIOUSLY). We walked back to subway station to take go back to city centre for lunch and dropped things off. There were already some fans standing with paper asking for tickets. I was already amazed, little did I know that when I returned later for concert, there would be like tons of them standing all the way from subway station along the way to the front of Sapporo Dome. There were much more people asking for tickets this year comparing with last year. I saw two teenage boys writing on paper poster with Arashi pictures on asking for 2 tickets and some even willing to give you money+last year charms from all concert venues. I felt for them, these fans who didn't have tickets but it's the way it is in this business. Only the luckiest or people with money will be able to stand the chance for concert tickets :S
Since we didn't win the ballot for first night concert and I was the only one who was blinded by Sho's T.A.B.O.O, none of my friends were joining me for the concert tonight. So I was the only one, brave soul, on my own *lol* I had nothing to do so left the hotel early than expected and went to Dome.
(You can see the lady on right end holding paper - yup she's asking for tickets)
I had the experience of joining the queue to enter the Dome for like 10 minutes (which isn't necessary as next day we arrived like half an hour before the show and we walked in without queue and that was fine). So I sat there and mesmerised with my amazing seat on the first day which I only paid 30000yen for. That is cheap, considered I almost got the top of the Dome seat (it was like 2 rows before the top of the Dome) which was selling at 35000yen. You also need luck when buying tickets from ticket.co.jp as well. This block was amazingly good, from previous experience last year as Arashi would have to walk in front of you from or to main stage often. So I was pleased. I sat there peacefully, watching people fill up the Dome and waiting to see neighbours around me. I heard people speaking English so I turned round and found this western lady (if you sit on the block Gate 92 row 39, please say hi. I'm in row 41) coming with 2 friends. I saw a lot of male fans as well. Sapporo is famous for their male fans. I so know they are fans coz they aren't just papa sitting and waiting for concert to ends. They had penlights and even uchiwas. They even exclaimed "So close!" (Chikai ne) when they were guided to the seats.
My left-sided neighbour is a female fan who tried to talk to me once she saw that I had Sho uchiwa. I used all my Japanese knowledge to say that I was soory as I don't understand Japanese much. She asked me where I came from and when I said Thailand, she was like 'sugoi'. We became Sho-flailing partner for a bit anyway despite language barrier *lol* We always use our binoculars looking in the same direction and would turn to each other for 'Kakkoii ne' moment *lol* It was fun. My right-sided neighbour was a bit of trouble as first. I think she was a bit drunk and high anyway. She came with another friend and kept bouncing around. It was annoying. She then tried to talk to me, probably apologising that's when I turned to her and use my favourite Japanese phrase 'sumimasen, Nihongo wo wagarimasen. Thai jin desu' (I'm sorry, I don't understand Japanese. I'm Thai). That should stop her but....no, was not. She wrapped her arms around my shoulder and kept bouncing like we were new dance-partners *lol*
Oh well, she did stop anyway after a few minutes. She let me off to lose my senses in T.A.B.O.O. No shit that solo was freaking hot! I have to be honest that I sorta not liking the outfit first time I saw the pic. It was like 'what the hell is that hat for' but after this tour, I learned to love it. I think I love it so much. I find it very sexy and sooooooo T.A.B.O.O *lol* Could be the fact that Sho has straightened his hair as well so no moppy-head. Actually I think all clothes for this tour, when seeing with your own eyes, are not that bad (But definitely not as great as last tour. The last tour outfits were outstanding with no false!). I did have trouble with Circus outfit (kinda like colourful shawl with fluffy colourful feathers), Nino's solo pants (just awful, makes his legs shorter and he did seem to have trouble stepping up and down the stages) and maybe Aiba-chan's solo outfit (too flashy - anyhow, suits his personality. Wait for dvd, you will so know what I mean - lol). When they started with Movin' On, I couldn't get my view clear so I thought the fluffy curly hair was Sho-chan, instead it was Aiba-chan! At that point, I so knew Aiba-chan's drama will be confirmed soon coz he won't permed his hair for nothing. I dun like that fluffy head of him much but he was still very handsome in person (much clear vision of him on 2nd day)
What I remembered about the first day was that they were so into "Soiya" thing during Fight Song and everyone in Sapporo Dome was so into as well. Jun just kept saying Soiya. He looked so lively. They then talked about how Sapporo Male fans are really into it. Jun said during Carnival Night, in front of him was this male fan shaking his hip furiously and dancing along *lol* Aiba-chan also said that yesterday was his brother's birthday so he wanted us all to sing him happy birthday (that's ur cue, Masaki fans, next time visit Keikarou in November, dun forget to bring present for another Aiba-chan!). If you are interested in MC, you can go to yamakaze's entry for more details.
Oh, and Aiba-chan was slipped on stage after Summer Splash. He was running to grab the towel on main stage which was wet from small fountain thing. And he slipped. I think we all were like 'AIBA-CHAN!' (well, I did anyway *lol*). The boys were like "Daijoubu desu ga?!" and laughed *hahahahha* Aiba-chan was like 'sumimasen, sumimasen'. It's only Aiba-chan who can pull something like that *lol* Anyway, Nino was so funny during his thank you speech. I think everyone was serious but Nino was just talking about how audiences jaw-dropped during Circus performance, i mean he even dropped his jaws to show what he saw. So Nino! *lol*
The concert ends around 9pm and I was the first block to leave the Dome. Amazingly I got to hotel around 9.40pm and even had to wait for friends to come back from Susukino for dinner later. I did catch a glimpse of Shiyagare as well. Totally different story from last year that I got back to hotel like 10.30pm something!
For second day of the concert, I think we left for concert in chilled-out mode. Got there like 30 minutes before the show started. Our seat for today was incredibly close!
It's like the first time I realised that binoculars means nothing to me *lol* Can see the expression and everything so perfectly. Sho was REALLY handsome in person (I think I mentioned this like ZILLIONS of times). He's so gorgeous. So unreal. All my friends were like 'he's really handsome' (Of course! LMAO). All of them were really good-looking in real life. Nino was like the sweetest with fans as ever. He never changes and that's what I like about Nino in concert. He always look out to all fans.
I must admit that I thought first day was already fun, second day was much more. Sapporo people surely were high for this tour. So fun to be around with. As we seated near aisle, we only had neighbour on our right. racwanat was telling us that the couple (we think they are husband and wife) next to us were really into the concert as the wife was dancing along and the husband was holding binocular in one hand and penlight on the other hand. They must have met eachother at Arashi concerts! *lol* In front of us were this boy and girl, I think they are sibilings. I thought the boy was dragged by his sister, turned out he was holding Oh-chan uchiwa all the time. We think he is a new fan coz he kept waving his uchiwa so high which wasn't the right manner (-____-").
The MC that day was so funny esp. with Arashi singing "Genghis Khan" song *lol* I think it was Sho-chan who started of by talking that they had Genghis Khan BBQ last night and started singing the song before everyone was joinning. They made us craving Genghis Khan BBQ so after the concert we went to have that (and met many Arashi fans at the restaurant - LOL). For details of MC, go to yamakaze.
I shouldn't forget to mention that before the acrobatic show before Circus, Sho-chan was speaking English. I did catch like beginning of that and then at the end of it, I just couldn't quite hearing what he was saying. Whenever he speaks English, I found that his voice will be so soft unlike when he speaks Japanese which he speaks more harder and fuller in terms of voice.
It was a really great fun concert for Sunday night. I had absolutely a blast. Probably due to the fact that I wasn't alone, but with 3 friends. We just kept nudging each other when the boys came and esp. during Aiba-chan's solo (LMAO). Concert finished around 7pm and we were quite fast to leave the Dome to go back to city.
I managed to snap the flags outside Sapporo Dome before we left.
It was yet another great tour. I think it was totally different feelings from last year 5x10 Tour which focus mainly on "Thank You" all fans for the supports and more like history and what made Arashi, while this one is all about the new album and great shows they can pull. I enjoy both, no wait, I enjoy ALL Arashi concerts anyway, whether I sat in Dome, arena or at home. They are absolutely brilliant entertainers. Trust me it is not easy to move 5,000 people, let alone 60,000 people like in Sapporo Dome. I hope they continue doing what they do and be more creative so we all can get to see the brilliant shows!
(No kidding, this is effing long entry!)