Beyonce "I Am..." 2009 World Tour @ さいたまスーパーアリーナ 10/17
Except for two artists, I've never considered myself an actual fan of any Western artist. Maybe because when I was in the States, just constantly hearing the same three or four songs play for months got me easily tired of Western music. Every once in awhile, there would be one song that I would think - "ooh, this is pretty cool" but then I'd try listening to their next release and it would be disappointing.
Like I mentioned in my last post, I recently went on a huge concert ticket binge. Even though I'd just gone to SID last weekend, yesterday found me up in Saitama to see Beyonce! I've always enjoyed Beyonce's upbeat party songs, and I thought it would be a nice break - and an opportunity to reconnect myself with Western culture - to go to her concert.
To sum it up as shortly as possible: it was AMAAAAAAZING. o_o
My calorific lunch right before the concert...which worked out well, because I needed all the energy I could get XD
Siki and I arrived early at Saitama to do some unrelated shopping. We went over to Saitama Super Arena at 4pm, an unthinkably early time to begin letting people in, since the concert didn't start until 5:30pm.
We went over to the merchandise tents - the line was probably only 1/5 of what the line was like at Shiina Ringo's concert, so I was a bit curious about how many Although generally it's my rule to buy a T-shirt for each concert I go to, I wasn't very into the idea of having a T-shirt with Beyonce printed on the front in gold (not to mention it was 4000 yen!), so I just went with a muffler towel.
Our seats were at the very last/back row of the 1st floor stands, to the right of the stage (if you were facing the stage directly). Further back than I expected, but it was a relief since we didn't have to worry about anyone behind us - especially since Siki is so tall, hehe.
Siki and I had tried to predict what the kind of fans Beyonce had in Japan were like - we figured the obvious would be young Shibuya-kei girls (late teens, early 20s?). There was a decent amount of foreigners around, although that was expected. But we were oh so wrong about her Japanese fans. As people continued to shuffle in, there were nearly no people our age around...instead, there were a ton of fans (because they had a good amount of tour merchandise in their hands) who were in their late 40s at the youngest, and even 60s at the oldest!
There were the older OLs, who came in packs - working independent ladies?! how very Beyonce/Destiny's Child. Of course, concerts make a great date spot for couples - but almost all of the couples we saw looked like they were in their 50s...around the same age as our parents?! Just imagine if your parents told you, "okay honey, we're going out for awhile to go see Beyonce's concert." And probably the most shocking to us was the slightly balding old men who were ALL ALONE and came to see the concert! They looked like they were in their 50-60s on average. Needless to say, it was a pretty good culture shock. We were also really curious about how these people would act during the concert.
But once the performance began, I didn't even have the time to think about any of that! It was simply amazing. Beyonce put on a flawless show. She'd strut her stuff, sing her heart out, and more than anything - SHAKE IT. A round of applause to whoever designed her costumes, because every outfit (I think she had 4~5) made her breasts look PERFECT haha. That and her MAGIC PANTYHOSE, because even though we all know that Beyonce has monster thighs, no matter how much sass she would walk with, her thighs didn't budge one bit.
Her aura is INCREDIBLE. She captured the entire venue's heart the whoooole time. Her voice, her moves were perfect. At the end of the concert, she didn't sound or look wary at all (although her voice is a lot huskier than I thought it was)! LOTS LOTS LOTS of fan service. There were two super VIP groups literally right next to the stage (I think it was 50,000 yen for one ticket o_O) but she would constantly go straight right up to them and shake hands with them, dance RIGHT in front of them...during "If I Were a Boy" she even sang "but...you're just a silly ass boy" to the lucky?poor? guy there. She would throw her towels to the crowd. During the last portion of the concert, when she was passing through the arena seats, she pet someone's baby (although some people on the internets were complaining since babies weren't supposed to be allowed into the concert), shook hands with as many people as possible, and even picked up someone's cell phone - I think someone dropped it when trying to take a photo because everyone in the arena section SMASHED into the center whenever she walked through.
Other randomness - her band members (guitar, bass, drums, three brass instrument players, and two keyboards) were all women and seriously kick ass. I'm not the YEAH!FEMINISM type, but woah. And her three backup singers - who called themselves "the Mommas" (ha they were pretty heavyset) may have drawn even more cheers than Beyonce at a single point. Siki and I agreed that if they ever had their own concert, we would love to - and seriously would - go.
Also, towards the end they did a huuuuuuge Destiny's Child medley!!! I loved Destiny's Child's songs maybe even more than Beyonce songs...even now I listen to them every once in awhile.
SET LIST
01. Crazy In Love
02. Naughty Girl
03. Freakum Dress
04. Get Me Bodied
05. Smash Into You
06. Ave Maria
07. Broken-Hearted Girl
08. If I Were A Boy
09. Sweet Dreams（VIDEO）
10. Diva
11. Radio
12. Ego
13. Hello
14. Baby Boy
15. Irreplaceable
16. Bug A Boo
17. Bootylicious
18. Jumpin' Jumpin'
19. Upgrade U
20. Video Phone
21. Say My Name
22. Independent Women Part 1
23. Bills Bills Bills
24. No, No, No
25. Survivor
26. At Last
27. Listen
28. Single Ladies
(Encore)
29. Halo
30. Happy birthday
I had such an awesome time at the concert! I don't really think I have anything negative to say about it XD Siki and I were dancing so hard the whole time that we were grossly sweaty by the end of the concert. It was more like an EXPERIENCE than just a concert...if they release a DVD, I swear I will buy it! I've definitely been transformed into a Beyonce fan. :DDD
Anyway...that ends my crazy happy rant. Reaaaaaaally not looking forward to this upcoming week, which is gonna be pure hell thanks to work...but once it ends, I'll be off to the Philippines for about a week to see my parents!
Hope everyone is doing well!!!