[CON] Yellow Gold Tour 3011 @ Nippon Budokan, 13/02/2011 17:00
You know, these reports are just going to get shorter and shorter. By the time I get to the end of the tour, they'll look like this:
Jin was pretty. Paparats was fiery. Ye-oh, Ye-oh.
The last Tokyo show was easily the best of the three and so awesome, for various reasons, that I'm having trouble calming down enough to type this. Fortunately I didn't take many notes this time, on the grounds that not much changes and I was with the most enthusiastic dancers I've seen since New York.
Anyway, let me start at the beginning. I met up with lelouch7 and her cousin outside the venue and we had fun finding the ticket office. As mentioned previously, I'd opted to try for a ticket with J-Ticket International, and their condition was that I had to pick it up from the venue in the hour before the show, armed with my email confirmation, passport, and 7,500 yen in cold, hard cash. (Which still makes it the least I've ever paid for a Jin show, I think.)
The ticket office was well-signposted and I was served by a non-Japanese English speaker, no problem. They gave me a questionnaire to fill in afterwards with feedback. After two nights up on the second floor, imagine my glee when I found myself in the first floor stands. They really came through!
Uh, sort of. While I was a lot closer to the stage than before, this came at a price. I was over in the West block and the second floor stands came down low enough that when Jin went around on the moving platform, we had to sit down at various points in order to see him. We also couldn't see any of the screens except the centre one, which meant no lyrics -> seriously cut down on my ability to sing along with some things.
Nevertheless, I had a blast! I spent a while chatting with a lovely Austrian Arashi fan on my left, and I'm not sure where the girl on my right was from but boy, did she dance. And she declared her love very loudly for the American portion of the #jincrew. Now I know where the real life and soul of the party is (other than on the stage) - it's where they stick the international fans. I definitely have to do this again sometime.
Despite my closer proximity to the stage I did raise the binoculars at certain points and started off by taking a closer look at Paul's "bling-wing", as uepixie has dubbed it, during Christmas Morning. The damned thing looks like a cross between a wrench, an anchor and a snorkel. Who designs these things?
We had to duck down - even sit down - for Magnitude when Jin came round on the platform, but my side certainly gave him a warm welcome. Some of the girls behind us actually crept out into the aisle.
Hmm, skimming quickly through notes here. Yeah, lots of Jin/Lizzy during Bass Go Boom, Paul being the one to yell out "International Party!" (I always wondered who it was), Juice doing tricks with his cap... Oh, and they showed more of the rest of the crew on the screen this time, so it seemed to me. There was more of a focus on Jin before, but the others got more screentime today! :-) During the mic battle Jin appeared to be frisking Juice - I got flashbacks to my normal airport experiences.
Watched Paul and Lizzy trying to teach each other how to count in Oowah (one finger at a time, that's it...).
Jin stripped off his jacket in Body Talk again while singing, but got much bigger screams for removing his sunglasses. I guess the fans want to see his eyes more than the rest of his body and I can get behind that, definitely. Oh, the other down side to being over on the left? If you look through binoculars, you get blinded by the light glaring off Jin's gigantic watch.
Care was a lot better than last night - I guess clubbing recharges his batteries? The chorus, especially, he threw himself into with a vigour I haven't seen since the cons last February, a little on the violent side. Reminds me that he's got one heck of a voice when he chooses to use it.
His aim was a bit off when he threw the guitar down the trapdoor, though, and it hit the side on the way down. I still have no clue who the guy in the bowler hat who dances with him is, but there's a fifth person credited in the US #jincrew in the end roll and I think it might be him, in which case I'm wondering if he's the guy who danced with Yara in LA during the Lock Dance section?
So, the guys get locked up, same as always, and Juice insists that we *know* he didn't do it. I'm sure in Kobe he'll be yelling out that he was framed, since his protests seem to be escalating. Nothing for A Page, watched Jin molest his own hat a lot in Lovejuice...
Paparats! No hat today, and like hell was he singing "fun". Without a hat to molest he went for the mic stand instead, and I simply watched and enjoyed without putting pen to paper.
Surprise surprise, Josh came for Hey Girl. Today's #joshnotes for Molo and Becs: the man has terrible taste in footwear. Bright orange socks to go with the bright yellow shoes? Please. No wonder he wears sunglasses. Hoolum band, like Jin's, only I think the writing was black instead of red/orange. He pointed to Jin on the word "Miss" - what do you know that we don't, Josh? Are you acquainted with Jinnifer?
No collarbone attack but the song was hilarious, nonetheless. Josh airguitared the solo (minus Paul's body, this time), and he and Jin chatted during it by the mic stand - which Josh had to point to in order to get Jin to return to it in time to sing. Jin sang the last chorus higher than usual, he and Josh did some dorky dancing at the mic stand and did some higher/lower hand gestures, which sent Jin off in fits of giggles. (There was a lot of "Aww!"ing from the audience tonight.) Again, Josh had to remind Jin to get back to the mic!
Everyone seemed to put more into the dance segment today. Everything was higher tension, more powerful, more energetic. When Jin came back he had such an adorable smile, we all just melted.
He failed the manliness test again by making incredibly girly hand movements during Pin Dom. That said, I think the entire last part of the song is an excuse for the three guys to thrust their respective crotches as far forward off the stage as they can while they walk/dance down to the front part.
Since I couldn't see any screens other than the central one, from my perspective, Crystal Kay had nothing to do with Wonder at all. I was stuck staring at the Wonderhat, the fashion disaster that will never die.
I was finally on the right side to see The Fifth Season properly! Jin took a lot of slow, heavy steps to and around the mic stand, presumably weighed down by all that snow that won't melt in his heart, or whatever... Let's just say he treated the song with the gravity it deserved.
Nothing on Yellow Gold or My Mp3, no surprise there...
Tipsy Love was adorable! So, after Jin's mistake yesterday I wasn't sure what to expect. He sang the first two lines correctly, then paused, smiled, scratched, and we all laughed. He made an aborted attempt at the third line, then did a more complicated "Ye-oh" than usual, which we all copied and gave ourselves a cheer afterwards. He looked so happy! :-)
It goes without saying that Josh came back for the song. Member intros: Kazumi, Miss Sullivan and the dancers all danced at the back - only the non-Japanese #jincrew got to be at the front. Jin started singing "Juice", so we sang, but he broke off to giggle when Juice wriggled his rear at the crowd. Boys. Then Lizzy, then Paul, then Josh (who got quite a lot of applause for all that he barely appears) and he just bowed politely. No attempt on Jin's collarbones this time.
Jin looked happily bemused as we all continued to sing "He-ay he-ay" once they'd stopped the music, and we could've kept going forever, probably. But my goodness, do you get a lot of exercise at Jin's cons if you do all the hand and arm movements! I got a real workout this week, even if didn't take any shots or grab any girls (I didn't think the ladies next to me would appreciate it).
Everyone around me had to sit in order to see Eternal, which was lovely as always, and then we got the announcement you've all heard about by now. (I guess that and the collaboration were what the press conference was about? So you all knew it before me, then.) Everyone screamed so loudly the moment Jin started talking about a DVD, I couldn't even hear what he was saying. (But "DVD" is the most important bit to hear, right?) The announcement appeared on the screen after the end credits had finished, and lots of people around me took photos so it's probably all over the Internet by now.
So, that was the final Tokyo show! It wasn't just that the performers were more hyped up today - the crowd was too. I don't think a single person stayed still for the entire thing, we all sang loudly, there was a lot of enthusiasm in the audience and everything was generally more energetic. I loved the atmosphere so much! You should see it during Tipsy Love, everyone moving together, singing so earnestly, just happy and full of love and hope. That feeling right there? That's why I love going to concerts.
That's all for Tokyo. Next stop: Kobe!
Jin was pretty. Paparats was fiery. Ye-oh, Ye-oh.
The last Tokyo show was easily the best of the three and so awesome, for various reasons, that I'm having trouble calming down enough to type this. Fortunately I didn't take many notes this time, on the grounds that not much changes and I was with the most enthusiastic dancers I've seen since New York.
Anyway, let me start at the beginning. I met up with lelouch7 and her cousin outside the venue and we had fun finding the ticket office. As mentioned previously, I'd opted to try for a ticket with J-Ticket International, and their condition was that I had to pick it up from the venue in the hour before the show, armed with my email confirmation, passport, and 7,500 yen in cold, hard cash. (Which still makes it the least I've ever paid for a Jin show, I think.)
The ticket office was well-signposted and I was served by a non-Japanese English speaker, no problem. They gave me a questionnaire to fill in afterwards with feedback. After two nights up on the second floor, imagine my glee when I found myself in the first floor stands. They really came through!
Uh, sort of. While I was a lot closer to the stage than before, this came at a price. I was over in the West block and the second floor stands came down low enough that when Jin went around on the moving platform, we had to sit down at various points in order to see him. We also couldn't see any of the screens except the centre one, which meant no lyrics -> seriously cut down on my ability to sing along with some things.
Nevertheless, I had a blast! I spent a while chatting with a lovely Austrian Arashi fan on my left, and I'm not sure where the girl on my right was from but boy, did she dance. And she declared her love very loudly for the American portion of the #jincrew. Now I know where the real life and soul of the party is (other than on the stage) - it's where they stick the international fans. I definitely have to do this again sometime.
Despite my closer proximity to the stage I did raise the binoculars at certain points and started off by taking a closer look at Paul's "bling-wing", as uepixie has dubbed it, during Christmas Morning. The damned thing looks like a cross between a wrench, an anchor and a snorkel. Who designs these things?
We had to duck down - even sit down - for Magnitude when Jin came round on the platform, but my side certainly gave him a warm welcome. Some of the girls behind us actually crept out into the aisle.
Hmm, skimming quickly through notes here. Yeah, lots of Jin/Lizzy during Bass Go Boom, Paul being the one to yell out "International Party!" (I always wondered who it was), Juice doing tricks with his cap... Oh, and they showed more of the rest of the crew on the screen this time, so it seemed to me. There was more of a focus on Jin before, but the others got more screentime today! :-) During the mic battle Jin appeared to be frisking Juice - I got flashbacks to my normal airport experiences.
Watched Paul and Lizzy trying to teach each other how to count in Oowah (one finger at a time, that's it...).
Jin stripped off his jacket in Body Talk again while singing, but got much bigger screams for removing his sunglasses. I guess the fans want to see his eyes more than the rest of his body and I can get behind that, definitely. Oh, the other down side to being over on the left? If you look through binoculars, you get blinded by the light glaring off Jin's gigantic watch.
Care was a lot better than last night - I guess clubbing recharges his batteries? The chorus, especially, he threw himself into with a vigour I haven't seen since the cons last February, a little on the violent side. Reminds me that he's got one heck of a voice when he chooses to use it.
His aim was a bit off when he threw the guitar down the trapdoor, though, and it hit the side on the way down. I still have no clue who the guy in the bowler hat who dances with him is, but there's a fifth person credited in the US #jincrew in the end roll and I think it might be him, in which case I'm wondering if he's the guy who danced with Yara in LA during the Lock Dance section?
So, the guys get locked up, same as always, and Juice insists that we *know* he didn't do it. I'm sure in Kobe he'll be yelling out that he was framed, since his protests seem to be escalating. Nothing for A Page, watched Jin molest his own hat a lot in Lovejuice...
Paparats! No hat today, and like hell was he singing "fun". Without a hat to molest he went for the mic stand instead, and I simply watched and enjoyed without putting pen to paper.
Surprise surprise, Josh came for Hey Girl. Today's #joshnotes for Molo and Becs: the man has terrible taste in footwear. Bright orange socks to go with the bright yellow shoes? Please. No wonder he wears sunglasses. Hoolum band, like Jin's, only I think the writing was black instead of red/orange. He pointed to Jin on the word "Miss" - what do you know that we don't, Josh? Are you acquainted with Jinnifer?
No collarbone attack but the song was hilarious, nonetheless. Josh airguitared the solo (minus Paul's body, this time), and he and Jin chatted during it by the mic stand - which Josh had to point to in order to get Jin to return to it in time to sing. Jin sang the last chorus higher than usual, he and Josh did some dorky dancing at the mic stand and did some higher/lower hand gestures, which sent Jin off in fits of giggles. (There was a lot of "Aww!"ing from the audience tonight.) Again, Josh had to remind Jin to get back to the mic!
Everyone seemed to put more into the dance segment today. Everything was higher tension, more powerful, more energetic. When Jin came back he had such an adorable smile, we all just melted.
He failed the manliness test again by making incredibly girly hand movements during Pin Dom. That said, I think the entire last part of the song is an excuse for the three guys to thrust their respective crotches as far forward off the stage as they can while they walk/dance down to the front part.
Since I couldn't see any screens other than the central one, from my perspective, Crystal Kay had nothing to do with Wonder at all. I was stuck staring at the Wonderhat, the fashion disaster that will never die.
I was finally on the right side to see The Fifth Season properly! Jin took a lot of slow, heavy steps to and around the mic stand, presumably weighed down by all that snow that won't melt in his heart, or whatever... Let's just say he treated the song with the gravity it deserved.
Nothing on Yellow Gold or My Mp3, no surprise there...
Tipsy Love was adorable! So, after Jin's mistake yesterday I wasn't sure what to expect. He sang the first two lines correctly, then paused, smiled, scratched, and we all laughed. He made an aborted attempt at the third line, then did a more complicated "Ye-oh" than usual, which we all copied and gave ourselves a cheer afterwards. He looked so happy! :-)
It goes without saying that Josh came back for the song. Member intros: Kazumi, Miss Sullivan and the dancers all danced at the back - only the non-Japanese #jincrew got to be at the front. Jin started singing "Juice", so we sang, but he broke off to giggle when Juice wriggled his rear at the crowd. Boys. Then Lizzy, then Paul, then Josh (who got quite a lot of applause for all that he barely appears) and he just bowed politely. No attempt on Jin's collarbones this time.
Jin looked happily bemused as we all continued to sing "He-ay he-ay" once they'd stopped the music, and we could've kept going forever, probably. But my goodness, do you get a lot of exercise at Jin's cons if you do all the hand and arm movements! I got a real workout this week, even if didn't take any shots or grab any girls (I didn't think the ladies next to me would appreciate it).
Everyone around me had to sit in order to see Eternal, which was lovely as always, and then we got the announcement you've all heard about by now. (I guess that and the collaboration were what the press conference was about? So you all knew it before me, then.) Everyone screamed so loudly the moment Jin started talking about a DVD, I couldn't even hear what he was saying. (But "DVD" is the most important bit to hear, right?) The announcement appeared on the screen after the end credits had finished, and lots of people around me took photos so it's probably all over the Internet by now.
So, that was the final Tokyo show! It wasn't just that the performers were more hyped up today - the crowd was too. I don't think a single person stayed still for the entire thing, we all sang loudly, there was a lot of enthusiasm in the audience and everything was generally more energetic. I loved the atmosphere so much! You should see it during Tipsy Love, everyone moving together, singing so earnestly, just happy and full of love and hope. That feeling right there? That's why I love going to concerts.
That's all for Tokyo. Next stop: Kobe!