Arashi Blast in Hawaii Concert Report for Friday 9/19
Been enjoying Hawaii a lot thanks to all the Arashi reminders around. (Just making a space for this now.)
Lined up from early morning with friends and met a really nice mother and daughter. We were the second group in line after them. Waiting felt like it took forever cuz we had to wait a half a day before we got to go in. It was hot as hell, they had problems with the credit card machine, and I tripped on one of the wires marking out the sections (Be careful! Those are deadly!), skinning and bruising my legs. boblemon got me a bottle of Arashi water and I forgot everything as the concert started.
It was a little late, most likely because they hadn't gauged how long it was going to take to get everyone on with local tickets inside.
I'd heard rumors from rehearsal from others so I knew to look around and spotted the helicopter before most. The opening video showed all the singles and albums from 1999 and on.
They had a camera set inside the helicopter that showed us the guys in their red outfits and sunglasses as they were flying in circles overhead. Jun and Ohno were in the front. Ohno adjusted his sunglasses cooly.
The helicopter landed behind the stage and they climbed out. Each member either pulled their sunglasses off or pulled them down for a second. They walked up a red carpet and started to sing “Arashi”. I liked best when Jun and Sho did their dance, followed by Aiba, Ohno, and Nino doing cartwheels/flips. Ohno didn't give us a chance to sing at the end. ^_^
They spread out all across the stage and danced for “Lucky Man”. Jun came over to waved hello to us in “Gori Muchuu”.
J: Hawaii! It's been 15 years! Are you ready? We're gonna give you the best concert we can!
N: Welcome! (x3) Arashi's here! Let's have a blast together!
A: Are you having fun!? Really? More! More!
O: Hi! (x3) Shall we do our usual call? Let's have a Hawaiian Festival!
Sho asked the sections how they are doing and then Hawaii.
A cameraman stopped in front of us during “Hadashi no Mirai”. I don't know what the footage was used for, but they just kept coming back by from time to time. They did the dance with mics at center stage.
A video for “Pikanchi” opened the next song and they did another dance number at the center. There were a few fireworks. Aiba and Jun had a cute moment when singing together. They performed “Pikanchi Double” right after. Many pairs sang back to back and then they sank down into the stage.
The first video of the history of Arashi series was the members going to see the original cruiser. It was subbed and I might put up the full dialogue later, but no promises.
After spotting it, Jun turned to the others and asked doubtfully, “Was that really the one?”
N: Of course I don't remember.
They talked about their first impressions about becoming Arashi. Jun's was feeling a huge joy and fear, Sho was remember the connection with volleyball, Ohno thought he was going to play in Hawaii but somehow it turned into something big and suddenly he realized, “Am I working?”, Nino was that he went back to the yakiniku restaurant he'd gone to before going to Hawaii the first time and the old lady working there remembered it had been just 15 years, and Aiba was that it didn't feel real until the 2nd year.
Ohno said they didn't start to talk about it until the 2nd year and it was from there that they gradually became closer as a group, leading into their Asia tour.
O: We're only based in Japan, so why would others know about us?
N: We really felt welcomed.
A: I realized they call us the same in other countries as Japan. Sho-kun, Matsujun, Leader, Nino, Aiba... (We all laughed.) Nothing changed at all.
J: We got a lot of confidence from that tour and it brought the five of us together.
O: It wasn't easy, but so long as the fans were happy too, we could keep going.
N: We did everything as well as we could at the time, but kept the basics pretty much stayed the same.
J: We'll never forget the feelings that were sent to us from the fans.
A: Sometimes during a concert, I think that I want to stop time... Is that weird?
Jun said they'd grown closer together as a group after Sho broke his wrist. They'd done so many firsts as a group too.
About Kokuritsu, Jun said they'd accomplished another huge dream. Aiba remembered getting drenched in rain and thinking, “We're alive!”
S: We came out in “Love So Sweet” there and the panorama was amazing.
N: It was incredible how everyone was facing the same direction.
J: It was definitely an important page of our lives.
They sang “Love So Sweet” after that in white and blue striped jackets and yellow shirts. Bowing to us at the end, they started “Oh Yeah” with water cannons soaking the middle sections. Hopping on the moving stages, Sho and Ohno were on our side first. “Kitto Daijoubu” led to the back stage, where they sang “Step and Go”, complete with dance moves. The staff readied the carts to move the members to different areas. In “Happiness”, they pulled out powered water guns to soak the crowd.
Moving to center stage, they danced for “Believe” and the stage rose up for “5x10”. Sho changed the 10 years lyrics to 15 years. One of the cameras stopped in front of us again.
MC
S: Yeah! Yeah! That's for coming! (He glanced around because he wanted to introduce them, but he paused for the members to hurry over to the same spot.)....... Line up. We are Arashi!
Ohno and Aiba bowed to the crowd and to each other.
S: We're here in Hawaii for our anniversary concert. It'll be short- no, wait. That's not right. It'll be a fun time. Just take a look at this Hawaiian atmosphere. And all the local fans.
A: Thanks for knowing about us.
O: Thank you. (In English)
Nino teased that Aiba's earlier “Aloha!” to the crowd was kind of weak cuz he'd been nervous.
S: We were all talking about Arashi's past seriously, but only one of us managed to be laughed at on such a thoughtful topic.
Jun went through Aiba's list of their names again, earning another laugh.
They talked about the ocean view and Jun took off his jacket.
O: I'm glad the weather was good during rehearsal. Yesterday was sort of dangerous, wasn't it? But I guess that a given, isn't it?
The audience laughed at our favorite rain bringer. It rained pretty heavily the day before while we were checking out the venue.
Sho redirected the conversation toward Nino. “How are you feeling, Nino?”
N: It's so hot! I'm sure I must look like a drunk. My face is so red and I can't stop sweating.
They admired the ocean view once more.
J: It really is so fun. We had a celebration on the 15th, but it didn't really sink in. When we were singing “Arashi” at the beginning, suddenly it hit me.
S: We graduated from see-through costumes to helicopters. Although, we should have done the rehearsals in them.
A: Yeah, it would have been good in the rain. We had to use trash bags, but they were really warm.
Jun thanked us for coming and the fans for going to the public viewings. He stopped and waved at the camera. "Hel-lo-every-one-in-Ja-pan."
Sho joked, “Don't say it so stiffly.”
J: Sorry, I just kind of... changed channels there.
Nino and Jun decided to go change their outfits first. Aiba said he'd wait and Ohno didn't care.
S: Then the oji-chan team will wait out here. But please get changed quickly, you two.
Aiba said he'd forgotten about going to a pineapple orchard.
A: I didn't remember it. But you didn't either, right?
They got on the subject of when they debuted.
A: I got a call 3 days before our debut. I thought it was gonna be a trip, but it wasn't.
S: How did the president call you? On your cell phone? On your pocket bell?
A: I didn't have that back then...It was on my cell. It was like... Sho-kun, you do the president.
S: Me?
Aiba pretended to get a call and Sho asked normally, “Is Aiba there?”. Shaking his head at Sho, he whispered, “YOU passport motteru?” Sho humored him, but instead of keeping up a conversation, Aiba just explained the rest of the story himself.
A: It was really a miracle.
Ohno found out about their debut one week before it happened when he recorded the song “Arashi”.
O: He asked me if I'd sing it and I said, “Yeah, I guess.”
S: I know we've told you these stories over and over.
A: Please watch over us anyway.
Jun returned and Sho commented that the new outfit looked good.
O: 15 years, and you're still looking good.
They talked about the different hair styles they had when they debuted. Jun had a perm that he'd gotten cuz he was happy about debuting and thought he should do something big about it. Sho had dreads before and undid them for the press conference.
S: It came out looking like seaweed. I wasn't in my best condition for that.
The two of them talked about a memorable photo shoot they'd done on a road in the middle of nowhere. Jun had searched to find a good photo of that, but when he couldn't find one he'd asked the members for them to send their private pictures to him for him to check. He'd picked Sho's. I believe they used that photo near the end of the concert.
S: I took a lot of photos there. And from the helicopter too.
Us: We want to see them!
Sho smiled at our reaction.
Last was Aiba's promotion for his new movie. He got his words confused and said it would be televised, instead of in theaters.
A: I don't think it'll be shown in Hawaii, so you'd have to make a trip to Japan to see it.
Jun announced that they'd finished the new album's recording and their dome tour would be coming up next.
O: So when we get back.... we've got rehearsals again....
He gave a grim smile and Jun told him not to make a face at that. He'd asked Ohno to choreography songs again.
O: It's all up to Matsumoto-kun.
J: So if I ask you to do them all?
O: Impossible.
J: But the fans want to see it.
We cheered, but that didn't stop Ohno from rejecting the idea. “It'll become like a concert just for myself. I don't want that.”
They'd all returned and moved over to a stage right next to our section for special Hawaiian remixes of several songs.
First was “My Girl”, then “Everything” with an awesome Ohno and Jun harmony part. “Summer Splash” got a new version too. They all moved from the special stage to carts that took them around and through the crowd.
I feel like it's been a while that I sang the regular “Carnival Night”. They used the moving stages to get around to the main stage.
J: Leader!
Jun started taking off Ohno's jacket and as the song finished, Ohno did a great back flip with a creative finishing pose. When he flipped, his ear mic had gotten flung off and was tangled around his ear, so he struggled with it for a moment. According to friends that had seen the Fan Club members only film, Arashi had done a quiz to see who knew the most about Arashi (Jun won, Leader lost, earning him the penalty game during the concert).
The next video about their history started on that one lane road.
O: I remember walking down this.
W: We ran too.
S: 5 years felt so slow to me, but 10 went by so fast.
J: Around 2009, when all the members got their own dramas, that's when Arashi started to get big.
O: I felt like I couldn't keep my feet on the ground.
S: And then we were given the role of being the MC at Kohaku. I got congratulations from everyone around me.
O: When I heard the offer, I thought it was a prank.
N: We spent more time doing work as 5 members then.
A: We're really grateful to all the people who supported us. All the fun times became twice as fun and the hard times were only half as bad.
J: We hoped to do what we could so that it would continue. The place that we can communicate with our fans the best is in concerts.
A: During concerts, it's real, but it feels like a fantasy. It becomes a real fantasy.
O: It's fun to think from the fan's point of view when I think of dances. I end up sharing a hidden part of myself when I make the choreography. I don't like acting cool, but in a concert, it's okay.
A: The first thing we did as juniors was singing and dancing, so it feels natural.
O: I'm confident I can keep dancing for a long time.
A: We want to show you our full power.
A clock on the screen struck midnight and fire blazed up on the main stage. Arashi reappeared in gold and black outfits. “Monster” had the nice surprise of additional Hawaiian dancers twirling and swinging fire in the air.
A dance remix accompanied with digital effects on the big screens had them split up into two groups, Aiba and Ohno on the right and the other three on the left. There were snippets of “Face Down”, but the next song was “Daremo Shiranai” with color fire and a rising stage. It was still up for “Paradox”. Nino's hip shake was positively sinful. Fireworks finished the song.
The stage was broken into 5 blocks that rose and sank independently for “Your Eyes”. After “Meikyuu Love Song”, they all switched to pink jackets. Jun wondered over to our side.
Ohno went by on the moving stage next to us during “Troublemaker” and we got lots of waves from him. By the time “Wild At Heart” finished, they'd gathered at back stage.
N: Hawaii, are you having fun?! Can you do more?!
We did the dance to “Guts” as best we could. At least one of the members managed to slip in an “aloha” sign. They went up in the individual rising stands as a short fireworks show sparkled behind them.
J: Thank you, Hawaii. This is our last song.
The stands slid sideways, two on one side and three on the other for “Kansha Kangeki Ame Arashi”.
It took them a while to come back out for the encore. Arashi was dressed in tasteful white suits.
S: Thank you for coming here today. It's been 15 years. When I listen to old songs, I remember the Hawaiian sky from back then. I was really worried about our debut. Arashi is often told that they are really good friends, but when I remember, maybe it was that we got closer because we were supported. We couldn't stand here after 15 years without that. Although I worried about it, now Arashi's name brings us a lot of honor and love. Making it to Hawaii a second time is all thanks to you.
Even a half a year after Hawaii, we want to make you think that you are glad to be an Arashi fan.
O: Thank you. Riding in the helicopter, I was already touched. Anything more than that, I just can't understand how I feel. In Hawaii last night, I sat alone on my balcony thinking about it. I don't remember a lot about our debut, but some details stick out. When I remember I couldn't understand the feelings that I'd kept inside...
(At this point, he started tearing up and took a breath to try and steady himself, but it took him a minute to continue. I was bawling by that point.)
...Sorry. The fans, our managers, the staff, everyone supported us for 15 years. It's all thanks to you. Please keep supporting us in our 16th year.
A: After seeing Leader's tears, I completely forgot everything that I thought of yesterday to talk about. I can really feel it. What we did wasn't a mistake. Since I've met the other members, my life has gotten 100 times funner. Thank you. I'm really grateful that I'm in Arashi. (He tried to finish up, but he stuttered his name at the end and we could tell he was close to crying too.)
N: I have to say that it's really hard to talk after those two. Thank you for coming all this way to watch our concert. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to do it in such a nice place. Thank you for all the chances you give us to sing, to show up on TV, to have concerts. We always think that if we do something, the fans have to like it. So we tried to make it a really fun concert for you. Well, J made most of it. We still have tomorrow and more concerts when we go back to Japan. But Arashi is made up of all of you.
J: Thank you. The past 15 years have been so fun. You may have connected with us at different timings, but there's only one path you can walk together with us. It was a fun concert. Thank you for a great memory. Thank you for giving us the wind to keep going and giving us your smiles and your power. If you weren't here, we couldn't do this. Thank you. If you'll support us, we'll take many new paths that will be fun to walk together. Please keep following us. Yoroshiku.
They showed MANY old photos during “Seasons” and the previously mentioned picture was displayed here. Ohno and Jun were adorable in “Bittersweet”, singing with their arms thrown over each others shoulders. Aiba came to our side and was smiling cutely to us.
In “Energy Song”, they always change “this place” to where ever they are in the lyrics, so it switched to Hawaii. They sang the last song, “Arashi” and said their good-byes, going backstage. Sho kissed the camera. Aiba and Ohno were cute. Jun seized Ohno's hand from where he was waving so they could do their last bow to us. They climbed back into the helicopter. All five were partying and Ohno and Jun high fived. The music for “Arashi” had kept going, so we sang the lyrics and did the moves as the helicopter took off and left the venue.
Everyone gathered up their stuff and the foldable black chairs that are a present for all concert-goers. It didn't take too long to get out, though I'm sure the buses and shuttles must have been a mess. We drove back to Waikiki pretty quickly. We'll be going tomorrow too!
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