Con Report: Arashi Blast in Miyagi 9/22
** INSERT OPENING NOTES OF GUTS!**
And I just burst out laughing and started to roll around in feels. That morning was kind of a mad rush considering we had to catch the 10am shuttle to the stadium. Kiri, Jess and Ceci are like con going pros. We were up, decked out and out the door in less than two hours!! Go us!!
Back through Sendai Station so we could get to "Donut & Donut" for our bagels.
See!! Told you I got a better pic of Sho & Aiba. See you soon boys!!
Good morning fellow fangirls!! Can I just say I was pretty impressed with the shuttle set up. I honestly had my doubts that this could be pulled off smoothly, but I was impressed with how quickly and effieciently they got that many fans to the stadium.
EEK!!! We have arrived!!!
Now to find goods!!
We'll just follow these people. They seem to know where they are going. See that stadium on the left. Yea, that's not Hitomebore. That's the smaller stadium next door where Jump just had their concerts the month before. This induced a lot of feels in Kiri & Jess because they were just in town for that concert. I was having latent Yuto feels. Ceci and I lined up for goods and the long wait began. Ceci had pretty much already picked up my goods for me in Tokyo, but we were both ofter the "penlights" and I had lists from two friends. Here is where I am impressed again. I've heard stories about goods lines at concerts, but they kept this line moving pretty well. We pretty much snaked our way all over this place and through this stadium...where Ohno's art exhibit with the kids was also taking place. Huge thanks to Kiri and Jess for helping me get all the goods I needed and then it was off to find food!! Starving fangirls are not happy fangirls. But first...PHOTO OPS!!
Sho style selfie!!!
These pictures make me so ridiculously happy. It still blows my mind that I met these girls in Hawaii in 2014 and here we are again in Japan in 2015 and doing Blast all over again. Talk about feels....CRAY FEELS!!!
By the way...see our Pikanchi shirts?!?! So fans in Japan don't have these and you'd be surprised (or maybe not) at how many conversations these babies started. At the con. In the elevator of the hotel. It was pretty awesome.
I'm mastering this Sho selfie thing!! PFFFT!!! So the first Japanese food I ate in Japan was from a food stall and it was on a stick and we were sitting in the grass.
Jess the Uchiwa Master made this for me!! This was before the "Disco Star" fringe fell off, but dudes .... IT'S MY FIRST UCHIWA!!
Ok, but you want a con report right? You want to hear about all the craziness that took place inside the stadium. Jess and I kept talking about how we would never have an Arafes, you know on account of Kokuritsu no longer existing. So we are walking to our seats Tuesday...we had arena seats that day... and we start through the entrance and Jess and I just kind of clung to each other. By now you've all probably see pics of the stage and the floating crown it was CRAZY!!!! We make it to our seats and we are right by an aisle and when I say RIGHT by an aisle. I mean there was one row of seats in front of us....with two of the cutest fanboys....and we were in the first five seats of our row.
Ok so story...there was an older lady next to me that was there with her two daughters. Mom was an Ohno fan, older daught an Aiba fan and younger daughter a Nino fan. These girls freaked out over the uchiwas Jess made all of us. Seriously she could have a side career in making uchiwas for fans. But during the concert, OMG this lady and her love for Ohno. She was the cutest thing. I seriously thought she was going to faint when he came by on the cart next to us. I wish he had looked in out direction when he did because I'm pretty sure it would have made her day. Anyhow, just a cute story.
So the opening movie starts with the little cartoons and their pictures and then there is Jun and ok I admit that after Hawaii hair I was pretty much certain he was going to have really shitty hair for Blast, but all is well with my soul, because I did NOT hate Jun's hair. Like that's all that matters in life right? Anyhow, so "they" appear at the very top of crown that's on the staege......oh wait wait wait....I have to go back and thank whoever was playing the epic techno funk house music before concert. "Do you like drugs!!!" Seriously it was hysterical and we kept joking that Jun was backstage with this laptop plugged in and we were all getting a taste of his personal playlist. Don't I wish. Ok, back to the boys and the disappearing act they would do.
Wild at Heart starts they jump down and Sho pops up right in front us and Aiba was right behind us. Yea, sorry Sho my focus is on the fluffy haired green one. So our section was right between two points of the "star" and when they were on the two walkways they were pretty close. As in no need for screens or binoculars. Awww Aiba and his yellow vest and his smile and I'M AT BLAST AGAIN PEOPLE!!!! Don't ask me to give you a song breakdown right now, that will come later, but here are some of my highlights.
1) I knew a couple of spoilers one of them was the five of them flying together. When we got to the arena and saw the crown I was ridiculously excited. However, when Happiness started and they made their way toward it Jun kind of stumbled, kept walking and flashed a look to Nino. We'd find out later that they ended up nixing it on the spot because the platform felt unstable. Tell me Jun isn't just a freaking professional badass to communicate all of that in a split second with a single look.
2) SOLOS!!! They didn't do solos in Hawaii and that was another spoiler that I had heard. So I knew they were coming, but didn't know who was singing what. Aiba is up first and ok my bias little heart is hoping for Hello Goodbye and Janakute starts playing. Let's just be honest here, it's not one of my favorites....until now. Holy mother of hotness have you seen the papa pics of this porn. You know Aiba in the blue shirt and the ripped jeans dancing on a fucking chair and then kicking water all over the damn place. Yea I might have needed a moment. A few moments, because at the end of his solo he was RIGHT by us, but with his back turned and it was just an eyeful of Aiba ass for a good 30 seconds!!
3) Next up was Neener and that damned cutie and his guitar and who doesn't love a boy who loves his mama. Can I just take a moment here and say how freaking AMAZING Nino looked during Blast. When it comes to Nino my level of feels runs the gamut of "oh-look-at-that-snarky-adorable-brat" to "the-fuck-did-this-hot-piece-of-manflesh-come-from" to "i-could-punch-you-in-the-face-right-now". However, lately, let's all just admit that whatever Kool-aid this kid is drinking he needs to keep it up, because he looked good...DAMN GOOD. He looked happy and healthy and looked like he was having, pardon the pun, a blast. Not to mention the costume he was wearing during his solo had like this skirt thing (again by now you've seen pics) and it was HOT!!
4) AioKimi .... ok I got a little ahead of myself. So being a fan for awhile, but having only attended one other Arashi con (Blast in Hawaii) before this one...I ran into the problem (I guess it's not really a problem) of only so far seeing them perform older songs. Ok, yea Blast in Hawaii was like an anniversary con so that was pretty much a given. I was pretty much expecting this Blast to be about the same. I mean they were celebrating their 16th year (which unless my memory fails me that didn't really mention outright). Anyhow I was pretty freaking thrilled when AioKimi started playing. It's no secret I am about as Aiba biased as they come, but I actually like this song a lot and now it's officially the first "new" song that I have seen Arashi perform.
5) MC ... and we get to hear about Ohno and his epic caesar salad, drinking with Aiba and eating all of his biscuits. Yes, these would be the same biscuits Aiba brought with him to Hawaii. Sorry my brain has frozen and I can't remember who left and changed first, but they came wearing these costumes and they have Ohno's Freestyle art on the pants. This has just kind of been Ohno's year with his art and these costumes were pretty damn awesome. So roll a small video about some local high schools and choirs and kids start coming to the stage....cue the tears in about 4....3....2...
6) Kansha Kangeki Ame Arashi .... Ok I know I keep making comparison to Hawaii, but work with me here. This song would have made me cry if they had sung it at the end of the con, you know like they normally do. It would have made me cry if it hadn't been rearranged and made, in my humble opinion, even better. These kids, who were precious, did an amazing job bring a new life to this already touching song and then the crowd singing along. Cue me just being a MESS!!!
7) Nino & Sho Sensei ... so remember Love Con and the ridiculous amount of time they spent on explaining doing the wave and penlights and all that non-sense. Well, that we nowhere as adorable or entertaining as Sho showing off his impressive counting skills and Nino just be the damned cutest thing in exsistence. So, you may or may not know this, but I have a thing for the song Hadashi no Mirai. Yes, it started long before Aiba practically wiggled his ass in my face in Hawaii, but anyhow Hadashi, Carnival Night, GUTS! & Fight Song were just over the top at Blast this year.
8) We've now reached the point in Blast where all bets are off and all hell pretty much broke loose. We all know by now that Jun is a freakin' genius. We know that he can pull of some shit that most people wouldn't even think of. Now I am all but convinced that he spends his spare time making frequent trips to Vegas just to watch Cirque de Soleil. Come Back to Me has never been my favorite Jun solo. I'm sensing a theme here. However, when Jun pulls off singing Come Back to Me in midair while doing acrobatics, well just fuck it all because Jun just won Blast. It's kind of like you don't really comprehend what you are seeing at first. I mean, he's not wearing skintight pants, and sparkly jacket and knee boots looking like a damn angel just floating around. Ok, he is, but here is the thing. I don't really care if Jun is your bias or not, after seeing that shit live you pretty much are in awe of the way this man's brain works. If Arashi ever goes the way of the dinosaur, Jun has a long and lucrative career in concert production.
9) Poor Sho...can you imagine having to follow that? Ooooh Sho.... I'll hand it to him. It was pretty ingenious to rewrite some of the lyrics to Hip Hop Boogie. Again, not one of my favorite Sho solos. Come to think of it I don't think I really have a favorite Sho solo. Sugar & Salt, maybe, if I had to choose, but I'm kind of indifferent when it comes to Sho's solos. Not to mention he was clear on the other side of the area from us, so couldn't really see him, so umm yea....that's about all there is to report on that.
10) Sooooo this is about the time I lost my shit. One of the solo rumors I heard was that Ohno was going to sing Rain. Ok, great, it's cool I like it. Only Ohno didn't sing rain. He came up on the stage right...RIGHT...behind us and started singing TWO!! Sidenote: when we were standing in line for food and were discussing "what if" there are solos and were discussing what we wanted to hear both Jess and I said we'd pretty much die if Ohno sang Two. Well, cue happy fangirls on the verge of full on freak out mode. Now, I know you are all aware of the scandal that broke right before Blast. I'm not even going to go there, because frankly it just pisses me off. Not that he has/had a girlfriend...in my opinion good for him. I don't really care what he does in his personal life or who he does it with. However, fans can try and tell me it was all for dramatic effect, but I am here to tell you that man on Tuesday night was feeling some pain. When he hit "THE NOTE" the look on his face said it all. He was hurting. Was it because he broke up with her? Was it because of fans reactions? Who knows, frankly it doesn't matter. Jess and I just clung to each other and I nearly lost it, because while it was BEAUTIFUL to hear it was very painful to watch.
11) I'm not even going to try and describe their dance interlude this time, because there is really no proper way to explain it really. It was like a weird time loop thing before Endless Game that was pretty bad ass and then they all briefly sang their solo parts from different songs while they were coming down to center stage: Sho/Believ, Ohno/Monster, Aiba/Your Eyes, Jun/One Love, and then Nino the fucking bad ass and Breathless. Seriously, do I have to keep mentioning Nino and Blast and how fucking amazing he looked. No? Good, because he did and damn!
12) So have you heard about the water/fire fountains? I thought so. Sakura is to Miyagi Blast what PARADOX (in the rain) was to Hawaii Blast. Need I say more? Didn't think so. We just all know by now that when they wear black and gold shit is going to get real.
13) I FINALLY got to do Sakura Sake!!! Yes, I'm the dork who does it in my living room when I watch con DVDs. They robbed me of this song in Hawaii. I was all giddy as shit when they were rehearsing it then, but NOOOOOO!!! I digress. I happened. I was happy.
14) You know what I want? I want to see footage of the makings of all these little VTRs that the guys do. Like the one of them getting dressed in their tuxes that played right before they did Ai wo Sakebe. This might have been the most adorable thing ever.
WRAP UP:
<-- walking and tweeting con reports is dangers.
<-- borrowed Ceci's "A" necklace and came back with a lovely sunburn tattoo. My love for Aiba knows no bounds, but I don't have his name tattooed anywhere.
CONCLUSION: Blast in Miyagi was both not what I expected and a whole lote more. This whole trip coming together, and even the little hiccups at the beginning, was in some instances like a dream. I've said it in posts before, meeting these girls in Hawaii was a blessing I didn't know I needed in my life at the time. Getting to do Blast again was something that I never imagined possible when Hawaii was over. The funny thing is. It's October, and for a long time I was planning to be in Japan in November for the tour. I admit it, I'm a little sad I won't be there this fall. However, I would not trade one single moment of my trip and being with these girls for anything. I'm already planning to be there or wherever next year. Blast I think is becoming our tradition. I mean how many years in a row do you have to do something to make it a tradition?
And I just burst out laughing and started to roll around in feels. That morning was kind of a mad rush considering we had to catch the 10am shuttle to the stadium. Kiri, Jess and Ceci are like con going pros. We were up, decked out and out the door in less than two hours!! Go us!!
Back through Sendai Station so we could get to "Donut & Donut" for our bagels.
See!! Told you I got a better pic of Sho & Aiba. See you soon boys!!
Good morning fellow fangirls!! Can I just say I was pretty impressed with the shuttle set up. I honestly had my doubts that this could be pulled off smoothly, but I was impressed with how quickly and effieciently they got that many fans to the stadium.
EEK!!! We have arrived!!!
Now to find goods!!
We'll just follow these people. They seem to know where they are going. See that stadium on the left. Yea, that's not Hitomebore. That's the smaller stadium next door where Jump just had their concerts the month before. This induced a lot of feels in Kiri & Jess because they were just in town for that concert. I was having latent Yuto feels. Ceci and I lined up for goods and the long wait began. Ceci had pretty much already picked up my goods for me in Tokyo, but we were both ofter the "penlights" and I had lists from two friends. Here is where I am impressed again. I've heard stories about goods lines at concerts, but they kept this line moving pretty well. We pretty much snaked our way all over this place and through this stadium...where Ohno's art exhibit with the kids was also taking place. Huge thanks to Kiri and Jess for helping me get all the goods I needed and then it was off to find food!! Starving fangirls are not happy fangirls. But first...PHOTO OPS!!
Sho style selfie!!!
These pictures make me so ridiculously happy. It still blows my mind that I met these girls in Hawaii in 2014 and here we are again in Japan in 2015 and doing Blast all over again. Talk about feels....CRAY FEELS!!!
By the way...see our Pikanchi shirts?!?! So fans in Japan don't have these and you'd be surprised (or maybe not) at how many conversations these babies started. At the con. In the elevator of the hotel. It was pretty awesome.
I'm mastering this Sho selfie thing!! PFFFT!!! So the first Japanese food I ate in Japan was from a food stall and it was on a stick and we were sitting in the grass.
Jess the Uchiwa Master made this for me!! This was before the "Disco Star" fringe fell off, but dudes .... IT'S MY FIRST UCHIWA!!
Ok, but you want a con report right? You want to hear about all the craziness that took place inside the stadium. Jess and I kept talking about how we would never have an Arafes, you know on account of Kokuritsu no longer existing. So we are walking to our seats Tuesday...we had arena seats that day... and we start through the entrance and Jess and I just kind of clung to each other. By now you've all probably see pics of the stage and the floating crown it was CRAZY!!!! We make it to our seats and we are right by an aisle and when I say RIGHT by an aisle. I mean there was one row of seats in front of us....with two of the cutest fanboys....and we were in the first five seats of our row.
Ok so story...there was an older lady next to me that was there with her two daughters. Mom was an Ohno fan, older daught an Aiba fan and younger daughter a Nino fan. These girls freaked out over the uchiwas Jess made all of us. Seriously she could have a side career in making uchiwas for fans. But during the concert, OMG this lady and her love for Ohno. She was the cutest thing. I seriously thought she was going to faint when he came by on the cart next to us. I wish he had looked in out direction when he did because I'm pretty sure it would have made her day. Anyhow, just a cute story.
So the opening movie starts with the little cartoons and their pictures and then there is Jun and ok I admit that after Hawaii hair I was pretty much certain he was going to have really shitty hair for Blast, but all is well with my soul, because I did NOT hate Jun's hair. Like that's all that matters in life right? Anyhow, so "they" appear at the very top of crown that's on the staege......oh wait wait wait....I have to go back and thank whoever was playing the epic techno funk house music before concert. "Do you like drugs!!!" Seriously it was hysterical and we kept joking that Jun was backstage with this laptop plugged in and we were all getting a taste of his personal playlist. Don't I wish. Ok, back to the boys and the disappearing act they would do.
Wild at Heart starts they jump down and Sho pops up right in front us and Aiba was right behind us. Yea, sorry Sho my focus is on the fluffy haired green one. So our section was right between two points of the "star" and when they were on the two walkways they were pretty close. As in no need for screens or binoculars. Awww Aiba and his yellow vest and his smile and I'M AT BLAST AGAIN PEOPLE!!!! Don't ask me to give you a song breakdown right now, that will come later, but here are some of my highlights.
1) I knew a couple of spoilers one of them was the five of them flying together. When we got to the arena and saw the crown I was ridiculously excited. However, when Happiness started and they made their way toward it Jun kind of stumbled, kept walking and flashed a look to Nino. We'd find out later that they ended up nixing it on the spot because the platform felt unstable. Tell me Jun isn't just a freaking professional badass to communicate all of that in a split second with a single look.
2) SOLOS!!! They didn't do solos in Hawaii and that was another spoiler that I had heard. So I knew they were coming, but didn't know who was singing what. Aiba is up first and ok my bias little heart is hoping for Hello Goodbye and Janakute starts playing. Let's just be honest here, it's not one of my favorites....until now. Holy mother of hotness have you seen the papa pics of this porn. You know Aiba in the blue shirt and the ripped jeans dancing on a fucking chair and then kicking water all over the damn place. Yea I might have needed a moment. A few moments, because at the end of his solo he was RIGHT by us, but with his back turned and it was just an eyeful of Aiba ass for a good 30 seconds!!
3) Next up was Neener and that damned cutie and his guitar and who doesn't love a boy who loves his mama. Can I just take a moment here and say how freaking AMAZING Nino looked during Blast. When it comes to Nino my level of feels runs the gamut of "oh-look-at-that-snarky-adorable-brat" to "the-fuck-did-this-hot-piece-of-manflesh-come-from" to "i-could-punch-you-in-the-face-right-now". However, lately, let's all just admit that whatever Kool-aid this kid is drinking he needs to keep it up, because he looked good...DAMN GOOD. He looked happy and healthy and looked like he was having, pardon the pun, a blast. Not to mention the costume he was wearing during his solo had like this skirt thing (again by now you've seen pics) and it was HOT!!
4) AioKimi .... ok I got a little ahead of myself. So being a fan for awhile, but having only attended one other Arashi con (Blast in Hawaii) before this one...I ran into the problem (I guess it's not really a problem) of only so far seeing them perform older songs. Ok, yea Blast in Hawaii was like an anniversary con so that was pretty much a given. I was pretty much expecting this Blast to be about the same. I mean they were celebrating their 16th year (which unless my memory fails me that didn't really mention outright). Anyhow I was pretty freaking thrilled when AioKimi started playing. It's no secret I am about as Aiba biased as they come, but I actually like this song a lot and now it's officially the first "new" song that I have seen Arashi perform.
5) MC ... and we get to hear about Ohno and his epic caesar salad, drinking with Aiba and eating all of his biscuits. Yes, these would be the same biscuits Aiba brought with him to Hawaii. Sorry my brain has frozen and I can't remember who left and changed first, but they came wearing these costumes and they have Ohno's Freestyle art on the pants. This has just kind of been Ohno's year with his art and these costumes were pretty damn awesome. So roll a small video about some local high schools and choirs and kids start coming to the stage....cue the tears in about 4....3....2...
6) Kansha Kangeki Ame Arashi .... Ok I know I keep making comparison to Hawaii, but work with me here. This song would have made me cry if they had sung it at the end of the con, you know like they normally do. It would have made me cry if it hadn't been rearranged and made, in my humble opinion, even better. These kids, who were precious, did an amazing job bring a new life to this already touching song and then the crowd singing along. Cue me just being a MESS!!!
7) Nino & Sho Sensei ... so remember Love Con and the ridiculous amount of time they spent on explaining doing the wave and penlights and all that non-sense. Well, that we nowhere as adorable or entertaining as Sho showing off his impressive counting skills and Nino just be the damned cutest thing in exsistence. So, you may or may not know this, but I have a thing for the song Hadashi no Mirai. Yes, it started long before Aiba practically wiggled his ass in my face in Hawaii, but anyhow Hadashi, Carnival Night, GUTS! & Fight Song were just over the top at Blast this year.
8) We've now reached the point in Blast where all bets are off and all hell pretty much broke loose. We all know by now that Jun is a freakin' genius. We know that he can pull of some shit that most people wouldn't even think of. Now I am all but convinced that he spends his spare time making frequent trips to Vegas just to watch Cirque de Soleil. Come Back to Me has never been my favorite Jun solo. I'm sensing a theme here. However, when Jun pulls off singing Come Back to Me in midair while doing acrobatics, well just fuck it all because Jun just won Blast. It's kind of like you don't really comprehend what you are seeing at first. I mean, he's not wearing skintight pants, and sparkly jacket and knee boots looking like a damn angel just floating around. Ok, he is, but here is the thing. I don't really care if Jun is your bias or not, after seeing that shit live you pretty much are in awe of the way this man's brain works. If Arashi ever goes the way of the dinosaur, Jun has a long and lucrative career in concert production.
9) Poor Sho...can you imagine having to follow that? Ooooh Sho.... I'll hand it to him. It was pretty ingenious to rewrite some of the lyrics to Hip Hop Boogie. Again, not one of my favorite Sho solos. Come to think of it I don't think I really have a favorite Sho solo. Sugar & Salt, maybe, if I had to choose, but I'm kind of indifferent when it comes to Sho's solos. Not to mention he was clear on the other side of the area from us, so couldn't really see him, so umm yea....that's about all there is to report on that.
10) Sooooo this is about the time I lost my shit. One of the solo rumors I heard was that Ohno was going to sing Rain. Ok, great, it's cool I like it. Only Ohno didn't sing rain. He came up on the stage right...RIGHT...behind us and started singing TWO!! Sidenote: when we were standing in line for food and were discussing "what if" there are solos and were discussing what we wanted to hear both Jess and I said we'd pretty much die if Ohno sang Two. Well, cue happy fangirls on the verge of full on freak out mode. Now, I know you are all aware of the scandal that broke right before Blast. I'm not even going to go there, because frankly it just pisses me off. Not that he has/had a girlfriend...in my opinion good for him. I don't really care what he does in his personal life or who he does it with. However, fans can try and tell me it was all for dramatic effect, but I am here to tell you that man on Tuesday night was feeling some pain. When he hit "THE NOTE" the look on his face said it all. He was hurting. Was it because he broke up with her? Was it because of fans reactions? Who knows, frankly it doesn't matter. Jess and I just clung to each other and I nearly lost it, because while it was BEAUTIFUL to hear it was very painful to watch.
11) I'm not even going to try and describe their dance interlude this time, because there is really no proper way to explain it really. It was like a weird time loop thing before Endless Game that was pretty bad ass and then they all briefly sang their solo parts from different songs while they were coming down to center stage: Sho/Believ, Ohno/Monster, Aiba/Your Eyes, Jun/One Love, and then Nino the fucking bad ass and Breathless. Seriously, do I have to keep mentioning Nino and Blast and how fucking amazing he looked. No? Good, because he did and damn!
12) So have you heard about the water/fire fountains? I thought so. Sakura is to Miyagi Blast what PARADOX (in the rain) was to Hawaii Blast. Need I say more? Didn't think so. We just all know by now that when they wear black and gold shit is going to get real.
13) I FINALLY got to do Sakura Sake!!! Yes, I'm the dork who does it in my living room when I watch con DVDs. They robbed me of this song in Hawaii. I was all giddy as shit when they were rehearsing it then, but NOOOOOO!!! I digress. I happened. I was happy.
14) You know what I want? I want to see footage of the makings of all these little VTRs that the guys do. Like the one of them getting dressed in their tuxes that played right before they did Ai wo Sakebe. This might have been the most adorable thing ever.
WRAP UP:
<-- walking and tweeting con reports is dangers.
<-- borrowed Ceci's "A" necklace and came back with a lovely sunburn tattoo. My love for Aiba knows no bounds, but I don't have his name tattooed anywhere.
CONCLUSION: Blast in Miyagi was both not what I expected and a whole lote more. This whole trip coming together, and even the little hiccups at the beginning, was in some instances like a dream. I've said it in posts before, meeting these girls in Hawaii was a blessing I didn't know I needed in my life at the time. Getting to do Blast again was something that I never imagined possible when Hawaii was over. The funny thing is. It's October, and for a long time I was planning to be in Japan in November for the tour. I admit it, I'm a little sad I won't be there this fall. However, I would not trade one single moment of my trip and being with these girls for anything. I'm already planning to be there or wherever next year. Blast I think is becoming our tradition. I mean how many years in a row do you have to do something to make it a tradition?