[Concert Report] May 8 NEWS Quartetto Tour 2016 in Nagoya
"Are there dreams that don’t come true?”
A question that made me book a flight to Nagoya spontaneously after re-watching NEWS’ Live Live Live Concert DVD. It's a line from their Barefoot Cinderella Boy song that made me wonder about dreams. Is it enough to wish for it to come true? Do dreams that don’t come true exist? Of course I want mine to really happen! I want to see NEWS live!
Long story short, I purchased a flight to Japan a day after reflecting on dreams and all. I decided to watch their Quartetto Tour in Nagoya because the arena is pretty intimate with a capacity of 10,000 people. This means bigger chances of seeing them up-close! After that, I immediately booked a room via Airbnb, applied for a visa and waited for their May 7/8 concert tour tickets to be out.
It was around early April when the tickets for their Nagoya tour became available. Since it was my first time to watch a concert in Japan (let alone a Johnny’s concert), I was a little unfamiliar with the whole process. Good thing a very good friend of mine(mklia) explained everything to me. I was lucky to obtain a May 8 ticket block A4 arena seat. It was very close to the main stage!
I bought the concert goods one day ahead of time (May 7). My ticket was for their 12:30PM performance the next day and I don’t want to wake up early :P
All for myself :D
For my friends :D
On the concert day itself, I arrived at Nippongaishi Hall a few minutes before they let the audience in. The place was jam-packed with fangirls buying goods and getting ready for the concert. I admire them for the effort they exert to stand out. They decorated themselves with flowers, put on matching outfits and so on. They all looked so cute! The arena opened at exactly 11:30AM. They were giving away Nissen Touchn flyers with NEWS as endorsers.
It wasn’t difficult to find my seat. I’m only around 8 rows away from the main stage and very near the center pathway. It was fun observing Japanese fans filling up the whole venue. I can hear their excited whispers and laughters. At exactly 12:30PM, the lights went out and the Juniors started dancing at the main stage. They also showed the video of NEWS included in the Quartetto LE Album. After that, the lights went on again and NEWS appeared at the center stage! Massu was closest to my area. Their intro song was Quartetto (as expected) which is their tour title. I was really in awe when I saw the 4 of them for the first time live! Since Tegoshi is my ichiban, 80% of my attention was directed to him throughout the concert. I was very lucky that he was facing our area during the intro part. He was also wearing an amber contact lenses (I think). Koyama was a little unenergetic at first but immediately regained his natural self. Massu kept smiling at the fans (he looked like an anime character!). Shige was being shy (in a very kawaii way).
During the introduction speech, Kei-chan was calling out for otokos in the arena just to see how many concert goers were men (I am not fluent in nihonggo. Apologies if I translated incorrectly). He even asked what song they were looking forward to see. Someone shouted from the otoko crowd “Chankapanaaaa!!” it was so funny! Kei-chan said it was a good pick.
And so they went on with the show.
Here are my most memorable songs during the concert:
Chankapana
I’ve always wanted to hear this live! I love how catchy the whole song is and the hand gestures! You can really tell that the whole crowd was having fun performing the hand gesture thing with NEWS. The audience went wild when Massu said the line “Yakusoku suru yo, Chankapanaaa.” It was also a very memorable song for me since this is their comeback single.
Taiyou no Namida
This is my all time favorite single of theirs! Every time it rains (which is frequent since I live in a tropical country), I always sing this song (and Tegomass’ Ai Ai Gasa) while holding my vinyl transparent umbrella.
NEWSKOOL
From the title itself, it’s a really cool song! It’s a perfect song to play during first day of school (it feels that way to me). I also love their costumes here! They were wearing blue denim coat and jeans. The juniors were also having a good time performing this! It was a very refreshing number.
EDITED: I just remembered something after reading some of the fan reports online. They jumped in front of the camera at the end of the song and the captured moment of the boys in mid-air(image similar to their Fighting Man Single) was shown on the concert screens.
Ai Kotoba~ Te wo Hiite
They performed this right after the MC part. There’s a huge replica of the music box (sold as an official concert merchandise of the tour) on the middle stage and they were pretending to turn the key for it to produce music (I find this part really cute). Before the start of the song, they let us open our penlights per area of the arena to make a penlight wave (I don’t know what to call it). It was beautiful. When the song began, they let us sing some of the lyrics. I almost cried during this performance! The melody was so sweet and the audience waving their penlights in unison left a big impact in me.
Actual music box plays Ai Kotoba :)
Wonder
This is my favorite song in the Quartetto album! Hearing the intro part of the song sent chills down my spine. I find this song somewhat rockish and sexy which is something unusual to NEWS.
Sirius
They performed this song with hoverboards! (I almost forgot this scene oh my haha). Kei-chan was so funny when he was asking for Massu's help to do some stunts using the hoverboard haha. Here's the actual scene from the concert photos online:
Credits to inala for the pictures!
I.ZA.NA I.ZU.KI
I super love this song! I like it everytime Tegoshi and Massu sing together in the bridge part. The blending was superb! The fans went “Kyaaa~!” when shige sang the “yori kuchiduke wo” part while doing the sexy hand gesture thingy he always does in their live tours.
Koi no ABO
This is their funniest performance for me. Kei-chan just kept singing PO~PO~PO~ during his part. I think Massu got a little tired of it and tried to sing some of the lyrics haha!
One for the Win
Im a big Tegoshi fan. I was really stunned when he sang the “Uruguay” and “we know we are the one” part at the end of the song. He was so good with high notes and his vibrato was really impressive.
Sakura Girl
This song just means so much to me and I was really glad it was part of the setlist. I think this was when Massu wrote “Arigatou Okaa-san” at the palm of his hand (or was it during their Nyaro performance? Apologies if I can’t remember correctly. Memory is indeed a fickle thing).
Solo Performances
Hoshi no Oujisama
I like the introduction of this number. Shige was sitting in front of a table and reading a few lines from a book (which I assume is the Little Prince). The whole theme of this song is from The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry . I can tell that Shige is a huge fan of the book. He even dedicated the song to the author. I was on LSS mode after the concert and kept singing “Invisible to the eye~” (note that the lyrics was composed by Shige himself).
LIS’N
It was so cool to hear Massu rap live! He performed this song at the middle stage which made it hard for me to see the whole thing (I am closer to the main stage) but I still enjoyed the techno feels of it!
Ai no Enegy
I’m really into Mexican/Salsa feels that is why I enjoyed this song. Kei-chan was wearing a modern yukata outfit (somewhat similar to their Kaguya costume) during the performance. There were also plenty of Japanese lanterns used as props. At the end of the song, Kei-chan collapse on stage (which I think is part of the whole production, nothing to be worried about).
Encore
I sooo love this Tegoshi solo! At the beginning of the song, he was staring at the ring on his finger (I assume it’s a wedding ring or couple ring something like that) and did the humming part of the intro beautifully (Okay, I think I am having a one-sided point of view here >.<). He was seated with his legs crossed on the main stage. I felt so lucky at that time since I was very near him! (I guess the “wish come true” charm I got from Osu Kannon Temple did wonders :P ). The bridge part was delivered in slow acapella which made it melodramatic and full of emotion. At the end of the song, he was looking at the ring again, removed it from his fingers, then smiled at the audience and left the stage. I was like, what was that??! Haha.
MC Part
If I remembered correctly, the MC part was after their Departure performance. Massu was imitating Shige’s singing voice as an intro. It was hilarious! I didn’t understand most of the conversation (again, I am not fluent in Nihonggo so I apologize if my translation is incorrect), but basically NEWS said that it was mother’s day at that time. They made all the moms in the venue stand up and thanked them for all the love and care that they give to their children and for celebrating that special day with NEWS.
It was also during the MC part that I noticed the fake tattoos Tegoshi have on his arms; A Whale tattoo on his right arm then a Spider on his left (or vice versa). I was really really lucky that both Tegoshi and Koyama were at the main stage near my area. I was staring at them the whole duration! (okay, sometimes to Massu and Shige too!). They were doing a lot of silly gestures. Tegoshi was trying to cool himself from the heat by letting the air produced by the electric fan (which they placed on the stage during the MC part) inside his shirt. It was fun watching him do that.
After the MC part, they carried on with the show. One funny moment (in which I can’t remember what particular song this happened), Massu was pretending to be annoyed at the Juniors doing back-up dance for him. It was so cute!
At the end of the concert, when Shige was heading to the main stage, he threw his towel to the Okaa-san with a Shige Uchiwa along my row. How lucky! He and Tegoshi were laughing when they saw how happy the fan was. What a perfect mother’s day gift! Finally, the members were all settled at the main stage and ready to bid farewell to their fans. Kei-chan thanked the crowd and requested for us to shout their group name in unison. When the fans screamed “NEWS!!!’, concert streamers started falling from above. Of course, I managed to get some ;)
I was really happy and sad at the same time when the concert ended. The whole thing was so surreal. I never really imagined that I’ll get see them live after 5 years of being inactive in the JE fandom. I thought I outgrew the whole thing. It was only February this year when I started to watch NEWS related videos again. I regret that I wasn’t with them when they were facing the biggest crisis of their career. Hopefully, this spontaneous trip will compensate for all the moments that I have missed. From here on, I promise to support them again! I will definitely comeback to Japan to watch NEWS in the future! Hopefully on their next tour, I’ll get to see them perform at Tokyo Dome ;)
PS. The penlight was super awesome! Since it was my first time to attend a JE concert, I didn’t know that the penlights can be controlled. There were songs that it will be turned off (without me switching it off) and songs that it will be flashing. For fans familiar with this, feel free to enlighten this naïve fangirl =))
A question that made me book a flight to Nagoya spontaneously after re-watching NEWS’ Live Live Live Concert DVD. It's a line from their Barefoot Cinderella Boy song that made me wonder about dreams. Is it enough to wish for it to come true? Do dreams that don’t come true exist? Of course I want mine to really happen! I want to see NEWS live!
Long story short, I purchased a flight to Japan a day after reflecting on dreams and all. I decided to watch their Quartetto Tour in Nagoya because the arena is pretty intimate with a capacity of 10,000 people. This means bigger chances of seeing them up-close! After that, I immediately booked a room via Airbnb, applied for a visa and waited for their May 7/8 concert tour tickets to be out.
It was around early April when the tickets for their Nagoya tour became available. Since it was my first time to watch a concert in Japan (let alone a Johnny’s concert), I was a little unfamiliar with the whole process. Good thing a very good friend of mine(mklia) explained everything to me. I was lucky to obtain a May 8 ticket block A4 arena seat. It was very close to the main stage!
I bought the concert goods one day ahead of time (May 7). My ticket was for their 12:30PM performance the next day and I don’t want to wake up early :P
All for myself :D
For my friends :D
On the concert day itself, I arrived at Nippongaishi Hall a few minutes before they let the audience in. The place was jam-packed with fangirls buying goods and getting ready for the concert. I admire them for the effort they exert to stand out. They decorated themselves with flowers, put on matching outfits and so on. They all looked so cute! The arena opened at exactly 11:30AM. They were giving away Nissen Touchn flyers with NEWS as endorsers.
It wasn’t difficult to find my seat. I’m only around 8 rows away from the main stage and very near the center pathway. It was fun observing Japanese fans filling up the whole venue. I can hear their excited whispers and laughters. At exactly 12:30PM, the lights went out and the Juniors started dancing at the main stage. They also showed the video of NEWS included in the Quartetto LE Album. After that, the lights went on again and NEWS appeared at the center stage! Massu was closest to my area. Their intro song was Quartetto (as expected) which is their tour title. I was really in awe when I saw the 4 of them for the first time live! Since Tegoshi is my ichiban, 80% of my attention was directed to him throughout the concert. I was very lucky that he was facing our area during the intro part. He was also wearing an amber contact lenses (I think). Koyama was a little unenergetic at first but immediately regained his natural self. Massu kept smiling at the fans (he looked like an anime character!). Shige was being shy (in a very kawaii way).
During the introduction speech, Kei-chan was calling out for otokos in the arena just to see how many concert goers were men (I am not fluent in nihonggo. Apologies if I translated incorrectly). He even asked what song they were looking forward to see. Someone shouted from the otoko crowd “Chankapanaaaa!!” it was so funny! Kei-chan said it was a good pick.
And so they went on with the show.
Here are my most memorable songs during the concert:
Chankapana
I’ve always wanted to hear this live! I love how catchy the whole song is and the hand gestures! You can really tell that the whole crowd was having fun performing the hand gesture thing with NEWS. The audience went wild when Massu said the line “Yakusoku suru yo, Chankapanaaa.” It was also a very memorable song for me since this is their comeback single.
Taiyou no Namida
This is my all time favorite single of theirs! Every time it rains (which is frequent since I live in a tropical country), I always sing this song (and Tegomass’ Ai Ai Gasa) while holding my vinyl transparent umbrella.
NEWSKOOL
From the title itself, it’s a really cool song! It’s a perfect song to play during first day of school (it feels that way to me). I also love their costumes here! They were wearing blue denim coat and jeans. The juniors were also having a good time performing this! It was a very refreshing number.
EDITED: I just remembered something after reading some of the fan reports online. They jumped in front of the camera at the end of the song and the captured moment of the boys in mid-air(image similar to their Fighting Man Single) was shown on the concert screens.
Ai Kotoba~ Te wo Hiite
They performed this right after the MC part. There’s a huge replica of the music box (sold as an official concert merchandise of the tour) on the middle stage and they were pretending to turn the key for it to produce music (I find this part really cute). Before the start of the song, they let us open our penlights per area of the arena to make a penlight wave (I don’t know what to call it). It was beautiful. When the song began, they let us sing some of the lyrics. I almost cried during this performance! The melody was so sweet and the audience waving their penlights in unison left a big impact in me.
Actual music box plays Ai Kotoba :)
Wonder
This is my favorite song in the Quartetto album! Hearing the intro part of the song sent chills down my spine. I find this song somewhat rockish and sexy which is something unusual to NEWS.
Sirius
They performed this song with hoverboards! (I almost forgot this scene oh my haha). Kei-chan was so funny when he was asking for Massu's help to do some stunts using the hoverboard haha. Here's the actual scene from the concert photos online:
Credits to inala for the pictures!
I.ZA.NA I.ZU.KI
I super love this song! I like it everytime Tegoshi and Massu sing together in the bridge part. The blending was superb! The fans went “Kyaaa~!” when shige sang the “yori kuchiduke wo” part while doing the sexy hand gesture thingy he always does in their live tours.
Koi no ABO
This is their funniest performance for me. Kei-chan just kept singing PO~PO~PO~ during his part. I think Massu got a little tired of it and tried to sing some of the lyrics haha!
One for the Win
Im a big Tegoshi fan. I was really stunned when he sang the “Uruguay” and “we know we are the one” part at the end of the song. He was so good with high notes and his vibrato was really impressive.
Sakura Girl
This song just means so much to me and I was really glad it was part of the setlist. I think this was when Massu wrote “Arigatou Okaa-san” at the palm of his hand (or was it during their Nyaro performance? Apologies if I can’t remember correctly. Memory is indeed a fickle thing).
Solo Performances
Hoshi no Oujisama
I like the introduction of this number. Shige was sitting in front of a table and reading a few lines from a book (which I assume is the Little Prince). The whole theme of this song is from The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry . I can tell that Shige is a huge fan of the book. He even dedicated the song to the author. I was on LSS mode after the concert and kept singing “Invisible to the eye~” (note that the lyrics was composed by Shige himself).
LIS’N
It was so cool to hear Massu rap live! He performed this song at the middle stage which made it hard for me to see the whole thing (I am closer to the main stage) but I still enjoyed the techno feels of it!
Ai no Enegy
I’m really into Mexican/Salsa feels that is why I enjoyed this song. Kei-chan was wearing a modern yukata outfit (somewhat similar to their Kaguya costume) during the performance. There were also plenty of Japanese lanterns used as props. At the end of the song, Kei-chan collapse on stage (which I think is part of the whole production, nothing to be worried about).
Encore
I sooo love this Tegoshi solo! At the beginning of the song, he was staring at the ring on his finger (I assume it’s a wedding ring or couple ring something like that) and did the humming part of the intro beautifully (Okay, I think I am having a one-sided point of view here >.<). He was seated with his legs crossed on the main stage. I felt so lucky at that time since I was very near him! (I guess the “wish come true” charm I got from Osu Kannon Temple did wonders :P ). The bridge part was delivered in slow acapella which made it melodramatic and full of emotion. At the end of the song, he was looking at the ring again, removed it from his fingers, then smiled at the audience and left the stage. I was like, what was that??! Haha.
MC Part
If I remembered correctly, the MC part was after their Departure performance. Massu was imitating Shige’s singing voice as an intro. It was hilarious! I didn’t understand most of the conversation (again, I am not fluent in Nihonggo so I apologize if my translation is incorrect), but basically NEWS said that it was mother’s day at that time. They made all the moms in the venue stand up and thanked them for all the love and care that they give to their children and for celebrating that special day with NEWS.
It was also during the MC part that I noticed the fake tattoos Tegoshi have on his arms; A Whale tattoo on his right arm then a Spider on his left (or vice versa). I was really really lucky that both Tegoshi and Koyama were at the main stage near my area. I was staring at them the whole duration! (okay, sometimes to Massu and Shige too!). They were doing a lot of silly gestures. Tegoshi was trying to cool himself from the heat by letting the air produced by the electric fan (which they placed on the stage during the MC part) inside his shirt. It was fun watching him do that.
After the MC part, they carried on with the show. One funny moment (in which I can’t remember what particular song this happened), Massu was pretending to be annoyed at the Juniors doing back-up dance for him. It was so cute!
At the end of the concert, when Shige was heading to the main stage, he threw his towel to the Okaa-san with a Shige Uchiwa along my row. How lucky! He and Tegoshi were laughing when they saw how happy the fan was. What a perfect mother’s day gift! Finally, the members were all settled at the main stage and ready to bid farewell to their fans. Kei-chan thanked the crowd and requested for us to shout their group name in unison. When the fans screamed “NEWS!!!’, concert streamers started falling from above. Of course, I managed to get some ;)
I was really happy and sad at the same time when the concert ended. The whole thing was so surreal. I never really imagined that I’ll get see them live after 5 years of being inactive in the JE fandom. I thought I outgrew the whole thing. It was only February this year when I started to watch NEWS related videos again. I regret that I wasn’t with them when they were facing the biggest crisis of their career. Hopefully, this spontaneous trip will compensate for all the moments that I have missed. From here on, I promise to support them again! I will definitely comeback to Japan to watch NEWS in the future! Hopefully on their next tour, I’ll get to see them perform at Tokyo Dome ;)
PS. The penlight was super awesome! Since it was my first time to attend a JE concert, I didn’t know that the penlights can be controlled. There were songs that it will be turned off (without me switching it off) and songs that it will be flashing. For fans familiar with this, feel free to enlighten this naïve fangirl =))