Alice Nine @ Budoukan!
i know a lot of people have probably already done/read live reports on Budoukan already… i wasn’t even considering the fact that i wouldn’t have internet access during my entire stay in Japan… but i guess i’ll just do a quick one since i promised it. ^^/ i guess it’ll be more like a blog than a report…
so, myself and my sister arrived at the venue around 11am because we wanted to be first for Hiroto’s goods sales at 3pm. that was actually a great time to go because a lot of people showed up early as well. we weren’t first in line because we were too busy gawking at the goods for like 30 minutes, but during that time we met up with another numba sixu from Twitter! (who was very helpful!!) we got in line around like 12:30pm? and they decided to open goods sales early! hooray!! i ended up buying the ‘love joy dream sound smile’ tank-top, the Tokyo Galaxy shirt, and the ‘love joy dream sound smile’ bag. anything Hiroto modeled i bought. xD; needless to say there went all my yen.
ANYWAY, we were done w/ goods purchasing by 3pm and tried to keep warm until the opening. we were actually just standing around and this line ended up forming behind us and before we knew it we were like first in line to pick up overseas tickets. it was an act of fate~ after getting our tickets, another numba sixu came over and joined our group! (btw, i hope other Alice Nine fans don’t mind that i refer to them as numba sixu ;___;) it was really awesome. Alice Nine has really cool fans!
finally after what felt like FOREVER, they let us inside. i was really thinking that our seats were going to be really far away and i’d only see a tiny, shimmering Shou-kun but NO. our seats were so amazing i can’t even describe. the only seats better than ours were the fan club ones. we were the next section behind them in the arena and center stage too! the camera people kept running by us and i feel like they filmed my row since we were the first one in the section. i wonder if i’ll be on the DVD. o.o;; moving onnn…
i remember the concert started at 6:33pm because they were 3 minutes late and i was commending them on being very prompt with everything else (other than the early goods sales). when Cradle to Alpha started playing i felt like i couldn’t even breathe! i was so excited i thought i might die of a heart attack! Alice Nine really surprised me when they came out from this platform in the middle of Budoukan. i was like ‘where are they??’ then i saw everyone turn around and they were like RIGHT THERE. they picked the perfect outfits honestly. white and glittery and so bright when the lights hit; they really looked like… godly. Shou’s new hair caught my attention right away, and for some reason it took me forever to find Hiroto… probably because he was on the end and i was expecting him to be next to Shou. xD;
when they all got on stage, they did their little chant, the one you usually see them do during backstage footage, right in front of everyone. it was so nice and inspiring! it felt like we were really a part of them. then they dove right in Senkou and i panicked a little bit because i didn’t know the furitsuke, but it was really easy to pick up! that’s what i really like about Japanese vs. American lives (i COULD be biased but…) i feel like during American lives, everyone competes with each other to get the band’s attention or something. during Alice Nine’s live, i felt like we were all working together with each other and with the band to make the live successful. i also liked how everyone stayed in their seat and it wasn’t like chaos. the Japanese got their shit together.
anyway, the live was really like what i’ve seen on all their DVDs. headbanging, fun coordinated hand movements, and yelling~! the song that really stuck out for me was Corona. they played footage from past lives and it made me realize how far they’ve truly come as a band and how much they grew up. especially when they showed little boy Hiroto with his squirrel teeth. like he’s grown up now! ;___; i won’t lie, i got a little choked up. then right after was Fantasy. and Hiroto sang back-up. like, they didn’t give my emotions a break. i was definitely in tears.
i’m also happy they played Heisei Juushichinen Shichigatsu Nanoka! it’s always been one of my favorites. even though i’ve seen it in previous lives, when the ribbons came out it caught me off guard but i was so happy when i caught one out of the air! i was like ‘i’m really at an Alice Nine live!’ when they played G3 i was a little disappointed they didn’t do their signature marching, but it was still a lot of fun!!! such a high-energy song! Hiroto was especially lively. shaking the bars and head-banging and then graciously unbuttoning his shirt at the end. thanks Hiroto! ^^/
OH, and one of my absolute favorite parts was when Shou transitioned from Waterfall to the beautiful name during the encore. if i remember correctly (or i could fail hxc right now) he switched the last line of Waterfall with the last line of the beautiful name and then started singing the beautiful name. and then did the same thing with the end of the beautiful name. it was really cool!
the preview for Gemini at the end was so exciting! it opened with Hiroto on a couch playing an acoustic guitar. like gtfo jrockers with acoustic guitars<3 everyone looked so amazing! i really have a good feeling about this new album. it kind of reminds me of Muse a little bit, and i love Muse! so a Muse-ish/Alice Nine sound seems perfectly okay to me~!
the live seemed to go by in legit 30 minutes. when they lights came back on i was like ‘eh? it’s over???’ i didn’t want to go home at all and i wasn’t able to sleep that entire night. but i’m very lucky to have had the opportunity to see them live, especially at such a landmark in their musical career. to share the atmosphere and energy with them was truly an honor, and all the wonderful people i was able to meet at the concert, i really am blessed to have met them. i hope i will see all of you at another live one day!!!
i love how i said i was going to do this quickly, but it took me a long time to write up. xD; ah, i always get carried away with Alice Nine. if you read up until this point, arigatou! i hope those who were unable to attend the live were able to get a feel for what it was like. i promise that all of your energy reached the Budoukan that night and made it a memorable moment for everyone!
thanks for making this the greatest New Year of my life~!
ps - it’s the year of the rabbit right? …Shou-kun~ ^^;