[Report] 8UPPERS TOUR 2010-2011 - Oct. 30 & 31, 2010 Hokkaido
I went to three shows in Hokkaido this past weekend for the 8UPPERS Tour. I wrote a report excluding the MC; I will write up the MCs sometime later, haha.
The following includes major spoilers! Don't click if you're avoiding them!!!
---
[Report] KANJANI8 8UPPERS TOUR 2010-2011 - Oct. 30 & 31, 2010 Hokkaido
KANJANI8’s 8UPPERS TOUR started in Hokkaido on October 30, 2010. I went to the first three out of the four shows. I wanted to go to the fourth one too, but I wouldn’t have made my plane back, so I couldn’t… oh well!
These are the goods I bought:
For the first show, I was in the second row on the second floor. In previous tours, they’ve come up to the second floor on the moving carts but for this tour, none of them came all the way up. For the second show, I was right next to the stage, fourth row. None of us knew how the stage would be laid out for this tour, so the fact that our seats in the stand being right by the stage was a pleasant surprise!! Then for the third show… I hit for Arena 1, seat 1, lol. That doesn’t happen every day!! My friend and I were the only ones in the first row of that block. It was beyond awesome!!!!
Since I had nothing blocking my view, I had so many moments with the guys that I can look back to and can’t stop smiling about… but, I don’t think people would be interested in things like that so I’ll leave that out from this report, haha.
To make things easier to understand, I will call each show “S1” “S2” and “S3”.
Okay, here goes!
0. OVERTURE / ORIENTAL SURFER - They showed the beginning part of the 8UPPERS movie (where they show the names of the guys in front of Club Eight and the intro part to each character). Honestly, I was a little disappointed with the opening movie because it was exactly the same as the one on the DVD! I wanted to see something new, but… oh well. It fits the whole theme anyway. It was funny how the fans were like “KYAAA!! OH MY GOD!!” while watching this; I was like “Girls, calm down! We’ve seen this already!” lol.
1. UKIYO ODORIBITO - A good concert opener, I would say! They didn’t sing the full song, but they sang this as they came down in a gondola (is that how you call those things?) from the ceiling along the big screen on the main stage. They were standing across in one line. From the left were Ryo, Shota… and I don’t remember the rest of the order, haha. Oops. I liked how I could clearly hear Shota’s harmonizing part during the rap part of the song. They were all wearing their suit from the 8UPPERS film.
2. JACKHAMMER - Ryo took out a cigarette and started smoking. He couldn’t light it well in S3 so he was giving an “oopsie” face to Shota, who was next to him. Lots of fire for this song! It was hot because I was so close to it. They were all looking tough and cool, not much smiling. They took turns coming to the side of the stage, so I had a great view of everyone except Hina because he was kinda stuck in the middle. Ryo came first, then Shota, Ohkura/Subaru or Yoko/Maru. They were right there! It was great having nothing in the way in between me and the stage!!
3. MONOGRAM - My favorite song of the album! They danced to this song. It was mostly slow movements of their arms, but it was somewhat complicated, haha. I don’t usually watch Subaru dancing, but since he was on my side in S3, I did. He’s so tiny! When Maru and Ohkura sing their part together in the first verse, they had their backs together so the fans went “Kyaaaaa!” When Shota sang the “1mm mo shisen sorasanai” part, he pointed at Maru and Maru pointed back and they literally didn’t take their eyes off of each other, even for a millimeter (like the lyrics say), so that was extremely cute, lol. At the beginning of the second verse, Subaru, Shota and Ryo formed a triangle on the stairs towards the back of the stage. Subaru and Shota sang first, then Shota went up and Ryo came down for Ryo and Subaru to sing.
4. BACK OFF - Cool dance! All seven of them started off dancing hard and then took out their colored handkerchiefs from their pockets. Ryo put the handkerchief in his mouth and started dancing. Then Ohkura faced his back to the crowd and started taking off his jacket. Of course the girls went “KYAAA!!” Shota then danced and blew a kiss in the end. Yoko spun and then kicked his leg out. In S3, Ryo took off his jacket like Ohkura usually does, so Ohkura was at a lost in what to do so he just stood there during his few seconds under the spotlight, lol. Yoko then pretended to try and take his jacket off too but ran out of time (on purpose). After the four danced, the music changed a little bit as Maru was up on the stairs with his mask and stick. He had a good few seconds to himself, as he spun the stick around along with the music while crashing the lighted balls that were on the screen. Then the music was back to Back Off and Hina came out with a hat. He twirled the hat but missed it in S2, lol. Then the Veterans came out as the bad guys trying to attack him. The baby stroller was there too and Hina saved the baby from the bad guys. Then Subaru came out from the side holding the baby and a gun. He shot the bad guys and then threw a bomb towards the other side of the stage. Both times, there was a loud explosion which scared me so much, haha. I knew when it was coming though so I had my ears shut when I was at the front! Then on the other side, the four from earlier started leaning forward like Michael Jackson. They had the baby safely in their hands; Ohkura picked the baby up, gave it to Shota, and then started patting Shota’s hair. They were like a young married couple with Shota being the wife that just gave birth and Ohkura being the husband that is so kind and gentle to her, lol. After the little show, the Veterans came to the side dancing to the rest of Back Off. I didn’t notice this in S1, but they started setting the main stage up for the band.
5. LIFE ~ ME NO MAE NO MUKOU E ~ - I was pleasantly surprised in S1 when all of a sudden they had the band ready on stage! They sounded like they were a bit nervous in S1, but sounded fine in the other shows.
6. BABY BABY - As soon as the staff came out bringing an acoustic guitar for Subaru at the end of the previous song, I knew this was coming, haha. Unfortunately, I knew they were going to play this as a band because Ohkura mentioned how the drum part is difficult in his Ranger Diary… thanks for the spoiler, Ohkura!! I LOVE Shota’s guitar solo in this song! It is so soothing and beautiful to hear. Maybe I had my Yasuba filter on, but I thought Subaru was looking at Shota so proudly while he was playing this solo, too! Haha.
7. GREETINGS - Subaru started off the greeting while Yoko annoyingly kept on playing that shiny-sounding instrument in the back, haha. Subaru said he was excited that the tour is finally starting and that he hopes we all have a great time. In S1, Ryo said “Hi, I’m Nishikido Ryo, your mouth’s lover! (a phrase from a commercial) Wow, I am never saying that again! I can tell that that wasn’t funny at all judging from your reactions! Good luck!” Then Shota said his hello. He was hyper as usual. Maru did “paaaaan!!” with us all. Ohkura said “Hi, I’m Peter from Australia” in S1, but for the other shows, his greetings were so short and lazy, haha. Yoko said that they’re going to sing a lot of the songs from the album so to look forward to it. In S3, he said that “I might make many mistakes, but if you think that I might have a high fever, then you’ll be thinking ‘Wow, he’s working hard even with a fever!’” LOL. He said something similar in Fukuoka back in 2008 too! Back then, he said “My arm might be broken” lol. Hina was last and he came out saying “Ussuuu, Murakami ssuuu” He asked everyone to say YEAH like always. There were many guys in the crowd!!
8. NAKANAIDE BOKU NO MUSIC - They danced to this song as well and they were so adorable!! They used the stairs for this dance and they were going up and down. Some looked a bit shaky, lol, but overall it was a very cute choreography. Shota and Hina were fooling around most of the time so Hina once smacked Shota’s head during the song, haha.
9. HORORI MELODY - They danced to this song, too!! They must have had lots to learn and memorize! Yoko tried to hold Shota’s hands (or arm) during their duet part, but it never worked out because he’d let go quickly, haha. I liked all the harmonies for this song. When Maru said “Akan, horete mouta” and Shota said “Omae shika, miehenshi”, the crowd went crazy, as expected, haha. The guys were so close to Shota while he said his line; Ryo’s face was only a few inches away from Shota’s cheek. I couldn’t stop laughing at it though because of Shota’s story behind the line, haha!! Towards the end of the song, they started moving to the center stage. Yes, up until this song, everything was done on the main stage.
10. ANIMAL MAGIC - They got in one line across the center stage and sang this song. It was pretty much the same as what we’ve seen on Music Station. I don’t know why but Ryo kept on messing up which hand to move up first, haha. That’s about the only “dance” they have in this song!!
11-A. ORIENTAL SURFER / REALIZE (WINK KILLER GAME) - Oriental Surfer was on again and the guys hurried to get to their places. Yoko’s voice was heard as his narration said “The dark underground organization. Seven destroyers. For them, there is nothing impossible.” Jacky (Hina) was first as he twirled his butterfly knife… err, fork, haha. Then Toppo (Shota) came out with glasses that were three times as big as his face and then sprayed Jacky’s face with an unidentified substance, lol. Then Mac (Yoko) stood in Jacky’s way to punch him in the stomach. Jacky still moved towards the main stage where Gum (Maru) was waiting for him with his mask and stick; Gum attacked Jacky with the stick and Jacky was about to collapse when he landed safely into Johnny’s (Ohkura’s) awaiting arms, lol. Then Arsenal (Subaru) came out with a huge gun and started shooting mindlessly at Jacky. However, Jacky stopped all the bullets with his bare hands (just like Black Ranger!) and said that it was dangerous. He forgot to bring his microphone with him though in S1, so we had no idea what he was saying, haha. Mac later said “Jacky is making so many mistakes today!!” Finally, Ace (Ryo) came out licking a lollipop. He didn’t do anything to Jacky but instead showed himself off, haha. Yoko’s voice was back on saying “They are the 8UPPERS!” and they all kinda nonchalantly took a pose.
Mac said that they got another request. I think I heard “realize” from the album playing in the background. On the letter he was holding, it said “Can you kill people just by winking at them?” I honestly thought that that was more like a “question” rather than a “request,” haha, but they kept on going. Gum said that it’ll be easy if people can just kill by winking; it’ll make their job much easier. Arsenal said, “…Can people really change?” (the famous line from the film) HAHAHA Out of nowhere!! Mac calmly said “It depends on the TPO.”
Then, Toppo said “Hey guys! Let’s play a game! It’s called the Wink Killer Game. Do you know it?” The other six gathered around in front of the camera to say “Wink Killer Game????” Then the screen showed a photo of an extremely girly and cute Toppo with flowers trying to explain what the game is all about. In S1, I was focusing too much on the photos of Toppo (cute Toppo, cool Toppo, sad Toppo, happy Toppo, winking Toppo… you name it!) so I didn’t get the rules of the game, lol. Toppo went on to explain the game. “First, the players must select a card. Whoever picks the Joker will be the person to do the winking. The winker must wink at the other players but can’t be noticed. The wink killer will win if he can wink at all the guys without anyone noticing; the others will win if any of them catch the wink killer winking. Will the wink killer win, or the rest of the guys? A very embarrassing penalty awaits the loser…” then, the screen showed a picture of a middle-aged man. “By the way, this is Yasuda Kazumitsu 53, my father. He is not a chimpanzee!” The crowd was the loudest when this was shown, HAHAHA!!! Yasuda’s dad!!!!! Yoko was like “Geez, everyone was the loudest at the last picture! He’s the one that slapped me in the face and said that I can talk about it in the MC!” Subaru said “What is he eating (in the photo)?” “Oyako-don (chicken and egg rice bowl)…” “HAHAHAHA!!!”
Hamanaka from the Veterans came out with the cards ‘sold as goods’ (the guys started advertising the goods, haha). A voice that sounded very much like Ei Toshiro-san said to pick one from the pack. They did, and whoever picked the Joker was “it.” In S1, the camera was too close to their hands so I saw the Joker going to Ryo. We weren’t supposed to give any reactions though. The big screen showed the seven faces as they sat in their seats and started looking at each other. I was paying attention to Ryo in S1 because I didn’t really get the rules to the game, and MAN was he ever sneaky!!! In a few seconds, he had turned to Shota and winked at him. Shota slowly raised his hand and said “…I’m dead!!” One after the other, Ryo kept on giving sneaky winks to the guys and he killed them all. The wink killers won in all the shows I went to; S1 was Ryo, S2 was Yoko and S3 was Hina. It was so funny to see them winking so naturally. They also showed replays of the winking and Hina was very bad at it, haha. He was blinking more than winking!
The embarrassing penalty to the losers was “Zettai Fukujuu! PYRAMID!” (= Must obey! Pyramid) In Japan, kids form a pyramid on sports day as part of their performances. Grown-ups don’t usually do it, lol. Three guys are at the bottom, two in the middle and one at the top. Normally the smallest person will be on the top, but since this is the “Must obey!” pyramid, the winner gets to give out the instructions. In S1, Yasuba kept on complaining that they were the smallest and that there was no way the big guys can come on top of them. Shota was putting his chin on Subaru’s shoulder. They looked so small and adorable, lol. Shota said “They weigh 30kg more than us!” and Ohkura replied “We’re not 30kg more!!!” Yoko kept on saying this was very embarrassing. Ryo said that it’s hard being the one people have to obey to because he was do-M, lol. Ryo was nice enough to let Subaru, Shota and Hina be on the top with the fat-three on the bottom. Ryo kept on calling them fat. In S3, he said “debu debu debu!” but Ohkura said “At least call us pig; that’s cuter!”
Here is how the pyramids looked in each show:
In S2, they did a janken (rock, paper, and scissors) to see who will go where. Maru and Ohkura, who were complaining how they were always at the bottom, were the first two to lose, lol. Next, out of the four, Shota won so he got to go on top. Subaru lost the next round so he had to be at the bottom, haha. Subaru complained that he was too small for this, but Yoko said “But what’s your height in your profile?” “…175cm” “I’m 176cm so we’re not much different.” “But I’m 46kg!!!” haha. He said that his feelings make him bigger. While they were forming the pyramid, they were all embarrassed because of the positions their bodies get into. Subaru got excited and said “This is like a sexual pose!” Oh Subaru… Ohkura had his butt sticking out in S2 so Shota was rubbing it. Yes, I had a great view of that, haha. Apparently the one in the bottom center gets the most weight on him, and poor Maru had that twice!
Anyway, the winner made them do some embarrassing things while they were forming the pyramid. “Make an ‘oh this feels so good’ face and turn right!” “Make a ‘my confession was just rejected’ face and turn left!” “Make a kissing face and face the front!” etc. Subaru’s “kissing” face was like a dog because he had his tongue out licking endlessly, haha. After some embarrassing moments, they collapsed to the ground. When Shota was on top of Ohkura, they didn’t get up for a while after the crash. Hina started kicking them and told them to get up. When Hina was the winner, he was almost about to get on top of the pyramid because he said “There’s no rule where I’m not allowed to join, right?! It’s ‘must obey’ right?!” but fortunately that didn’t happen, lol. Yoko said that they practiced this pyramid for two hours and it was sad because back then there were only male staff watching as they said “Haha, funny.”
Then, suddenly, a phone started ringing. It was Mac’s phone. He answered it, pretending that his hand was the phone. In S3 though, big Muro came out to the stage holding a hair dryer. “Yokoyama-kun, you’ve got a phone call!” Yoko was forced to make a joke with it… but of course, he failed miserably. He then said that Subaru was very good at this kind of thing, but Subaru failed miserably as well.
Yoko went on to say, “What!? Murakami got a commercial!? …and what!? That guy, too!?” The guys all ran around saying “Oh! We must go watch this!” and left the stage. The screen showed Hina’s Pro Active commercial.
11-B. PRO ACTIVE CM - For the first 30 seconds or so, they showed the real Hina commercial that’s on air. For the next 30 seconds was a different member doing the same thing, lol!!! S1 was Maru, S2 was Ohkura and S3 was Subaru. I heard S4 was Ryo. Maru’s was so invigorating and his skin was too nice for this commercial! Ohkura’s lips were too pink compared to his blonde hair. Subaru stumbled on the bottle tossing part of the commercial, haha. They had the same lady doing the “Go, go, go!” narration and she also advertised 8UPPERS saying that it’s now on sale and that we should all visit the Johnny’s website for more information.
12. WONDERFUL WORLD - They came back out on the main stage and were wearing shiny rainbow colored outfits!!! I WANT THEM!!!! Haha. Shota was hyper as he danced crazily during the song. The screen showed some clips from Bouken Japan as well. They all headed to the back stage during the song. They went on the moving carts through the arena to get to the backstage because they didn’t have a stage connected to the back. Shota and Ryo’s harmony sounded beautiful especially in S3!
13. ZUKKOKE OTOKOMICHI - On the count of “1, 2!” by Yoko, they sang Zukkoke on the back stage. They might have sung the whole song because it felt long. When they get in one line and pop their heads up (hard to explain but you know what I’m talking about!), Subaru didn’t take his hands off of Shota’s hips for a while in all the shows, haha. Towards the end of the song, they were all slowly moving, lying down on the stage, getting on top of each other, etc. Hina, Ryo and Ohkura were all over Shota at various points of the song.
14. WAHAHA - They got on the moving carts again and headed back to the center stage during this song. Shota and Subaru were on the same cart and they were smiling throughout the whole song. Shota put his arm around Subaru’s shoulders and together faced the camera with big smiles. In S3, the Veterans got on the carts as well with the guys.
15. KYU! JO! SHOW!! - Their colored guitars were on the center stage as well as Ohkura’s little drum set. They might have sung the full version for this, too. I don’t remember! Streamers came out during this song. This time, they had the tour logo in seven colors. I was able to get five but I don’t have red and yellow! Sad!!! Maru was “searching for happiness” rather dramatically, so Yoko later said that Maru was like a Gekidan Shiki actor (musical performers in Japan). Maru said he was able to find so much happiness in the crowd <3
16. MC - I think I will write this separately because this report is already getting a bit too long!
17. FUTARI NO HANA (MARU / OHKURA) - Maru and Ohkura left early during the MC to get ready for this. I had no idea they were going to have new songs or any new units, so this was very surprising!! In S1, they made Shota introduce the song. He became DJ Yasuda and started talking nonsense nonstop, so Yoko told him to just introduce them already, haha. In my opinion, Maru and Ohkura singing together is probably the best combination in the group, so I was very excited to hear their new song. They didn’t disappoint me; their harmony was very steady and sounded nice to the ears. They also danced quite a bit, too!! Ohkura wore a hat in S1 and S3 but not in S2. They started on the main stage but ended up in the center stage in the latter part of the song. They both threw a rose into the crowd at the end of the song.
18. 9 GOUSHA 2 BAN A SEKI (SUBARU / RYO) - Subaru and Ryo came out slowly on to the main stage, both holding an acoustic guitar. They also had music sheets in front of them. I guess they didn’t have the chords or the lyrics (or both!) memorized yet. Subaru started off saying “Hi. We are the not-at-all-uncomfortable duo. We are such good friends.” Yeah right, lol. This was a pretty good song. Subaru said they came up with the song while they were on the bullet train. 9th car, 2nd row, seat A was the one they were sitting in. At first, I was laughing at the title of the song and some parts of the song such as the “shitei seki kara green sha” part (= “reserved seat to green car”), but the more I hear the song, the better it sounded. The song was basically about how they don’t want to forget their childhood days when they used to sit in the deck part of the bullet train on their ways to work in Tokyo. Being young, they didn’t get to sit in a reserved seat all the time. But, they had fun anyway because they got to talk to each other without worrying about anything else. Now, they have grown up and gotten used to sitting in reserved seats and now the green car (the car with the comfortable seats and is more expensive than the normal cars) and they have kids coming up to them asking them what’s so good about being in the green car. They say you get to read books and stuff, but the kids say that’s not fun at all. I imagined the guys being younger and going through thoughts like these while they’re on the bullet train to and from Tokyo. The song actually ended up being touching. I didn’t cry, but there were quite a few girls around me who were! They also put in “nozomi” “hikari” and “kodama” into the lyrics, the three major bullet train names that go between Tokyo and Osaka.
19. (DON’T KNOW THE TITLE) (YOKO / HINA) - I think it’s called “Shooting Star” but I’m not positive so I am not going to write the title for now. WOW, was my first impression, haha. I was wondering what the remaining three guys were going to do, but I had this gut feeling that Shota was going to do TOPOP… and then, these two came out together on the back stage without Shota so my feeling was turning into certainty!! Yoko and Hina were harmonizing!!!!!!! I wonder how they came up with these units this time. Another janken, I wonder? The lyrics had this Showa era idol type image (maybe it was just me, haha) but they did dance quite a bit. They said “Thank you” to each other shaking hands, which made some Yoko/Hina fans go “KYAAA!!” They went on the moving carts with wind blowing at them as they moved to the center stage. I think that if they worked just a bit harder, their voices would actually match quite well!! I remember reading the pamphlet in the hotel room at night after the first day and saw Yoko saying something like “They told me to do something that I don’t have confidence in!” and I think he was talking about this, haha. Yoko’s “All right” during the song was very amaaaaaaai.
20. TOPOP (YASUDA) - HERE HE COMES, haha!! I just KNEW this was going to happen! I might sound like a liar, but I seriously imagined the other members back dancing to this song. It really happened!! I didn’t imagine them all wearing the same outfits though, lol. Now that left quite an impact!! They all looked the same and it was extremely hard to tell who was who, haha. Shota first danced with the Veterans and towards the end, he ran behind a big picture of himself to get the cotton candy pompom and that’s when the other Toppos joined him, haha. Wow I will never forget the shock I felt the first time I saw it, lol. They all wore the same outfits, white glasses, yellow cap that says “TOPOP” and held the cotton candy pompoms. They all danced to the chorus, and in the part which was in the CD but missing from the Prologue of Patch PV, they all lined up behind Shota and started doing stuff with their arms and the pompoms. It was quite a sight! It looked perfect, too!! For S2 and S3, I saw the scene directly from the side so that was an interesting view for sure, haha. Right behind Shota was Subaru, and then a few others and the last two were Maru and Ohkura. They were so close to each other, haha. Anyway, this seriously needs to be on a DVD!!!!!!!!
21. VETERAN - They sang the “Break the World” song (I’m sorry I don’t know the title of it!). I like the Veterans, but at K8 concerts I am so focused on them that I barely watch the Veterans even though they were right there… sorry! Maashii came by a lot. He looked like he was having the time of his life (Note: I’m being sarcastic, haha.) Also, Kikuoka’s skin is very pretty.
22. SUKIYANEN OSAKA / KANFUU FIGHTING TECHNO VERSION - This might be the performance I liked the most out of the entire setlist!!!!!!!!!! They’ve done these two songs so much in previous concerts so I was getting tired of them, but with this new version… it brought a whole new life into them!!!! They came out in neon yellow outfits and started dancing to this Perfume-like techno remix version of Sukiyanen Osaka. The dances were TOO CUTE!!!!!!! There was a little bit of Wahaha in between and then it went to Kanfuu Fighting. Here, they shook their butts hard!!! Subaru must have had a great view of his favorite butt (Shota’s, haha) because he was right behind him in the line!! After a few verses, the song was back to Sukiyanen, Osaka. They had more of the Perfume moves and then also had an EXILE type movement, too. Neon yellow streamers shot out and the entire performance was just too amazing!! In the pamphlet, they’ve all said that they wanted to think of things that the fans would enjoy. This was definitely one of their new ideas and I just totally loved it!!!!!!! During this song, I think Ryo sang parts of KARA or one of those Korean girls' group songs, haha.
23. OSAKA ROMANESQUE - Right after such a wacky performance, they sang this, lol. It was very weird seeing them sing such a good song in those neon yellow outfits… I guess it’s very them, though, haha. During this song in S3, Hina came right in front of me and just stood there watching me the entire time. Seriously, I was like “can you please look elsewhere!?” He messed my Romanesque hand movements up!! He was there for an entire chorus!! He then smiled as if to say “I won!” and then walked away. WTF??
24. NEGAI - I love this song as well! They all came back to the main stage during the previous song. If I remember correctly, at the top of the stage were Shota, Ryo, Subaru and Ohkura. At the bottom were Hina, Maru and Yoko. There was a shooting star heading for Ohkura to start the song off. After he sang, he left the stage and the shooting star now went to Shota for his part. I was able to get a good view of him the entire time, even in the darkness, since he was closest to where I was. He seemed to be putting a lot of emotion into his part! Then, Maru harmonized with Subaru for his part. It was easy to tell that the rock medley was coming up after this because the band boys left, haha. After Ryo’s part, Hina and Yoko sang together again!!! Harmonizing!!! Some parts were not good (I had to squirm…) but other parts were better. But seriously, if they practiced a bit more, I think their voices would really match!!! I thought I’d never say this, but I think overall Hina can hit the notes more correctly than Yoko. It’s just that his voice is too ‘Hina,’ lol. Subaru, Ryo, Hina and Yoko remained on the stage to finish the song off.
25. BAND SESSION - Ohkura and his big drum set came out in the darkness, and every time he’d hit on a drum that part lit up! In S2, the big bass drum was unfortunately not lighting up, though. He drummed a bit before Maru and Shota joined. The three sounded quite good! When I first saw Shota on the stage, I was like “Wow! He’s wearing something normal for a change!” but that was just in the darkness… Once the lights were on, he was wearing an orange t-shirt; it looked white in the dark! lol
26. MISETEKURE - YAY!! I no longer held my uchiwas because it was rock medley time!! Subaru was so hyper from this song and on. It might have been my first time I saw him joining in the rap part of this song. He was moving his head back and forth. All of them were wearing street clothes type outfits, but Yoko was wearing a pink and black checked suit and short pants with a hat. He looked different from the others, haha.
27. TTE!!!!!!! - My GOD this was such an awesome live song!!! Everyone was extremely hyper. Ohkura, Shota and Maru played this as well. The entire venue was really into it too, I could tell. Well, I was surely into it big time, haha. I hope they keep on playing this in future tours and not just this one! I’m so proud of Shota for being able to make songs like this! Through my Yasuba filter, I thought I saw Subaru looking proudly at Shota during this guitar solo as well, haha.
28. BOY - Shota started off with his guitar. All the guys were going to the back side of the venue so I was watching the screen with the lyrics most of the time. I still need to memorize the lyrics to this one, haha. I tend to be slower at memorizing songs that are towards the end of an album…
29. AOJASHIN - I had totally forgotten about this song! I love it and always hum it, too! It was a good ending song, though. Before the song, one guy gave a speech. S1 was Maru, S2 was Subaru and S3 was Hina. I heard S4 was Yoko. After they each sang their solo parts, they all started walking back to the main stage. When Yoko walked by, he gave me the warmest smile! I heard myself saying “fwaahh” lol. Ohkura was standing right in front of me for the entire first half of the song, but he didn’t do anything interesting, haha. He starts off the song so he was just standing there for the rest of the song after he finished. Once they all got to the main stage, they started climbing up the stairs to the gondola that they came down on at the beginning of the concert. Ryo sang his last solo part before joining the others on the gondola. They were raised up and said their final good byes… so sad! The screen took a still picture of the seven of them, and then after they were pulled up to the ceiling where they started off, it started showing off-shot pictures of them from rehearsal. I loved the picture of Maru practicing seriously for the Perfume medley, lol. The last picture was that of the group clear file. They all have GREAT smiles!!! I love this picture so much!!!
ENCORE
1. MUSEKININ HERO - They came out pretty quickly for the encore. They had their signboards with them. Maru was clapping to the intro and Ryo started dancing weirdly as well, but no one except for Maru, me and whoever else was watching so he stopped and mouthed “hazukashii…!” Haha. In S3, there was a pregnant lady in the 1st row of stands right by me with her husband. They had an uchiwa that said “My wife’s about to give birth. Please name the baby!” Hina walked over to them and was praying hard towards the stomach, haha. The lady was probably 9 or 10 months pregnant because she was very big! Hina gave the signboard to them. The lady later posted on mixi and said that her husband is saying they should name their baby Shingo, haha.
2. HITOTSU NO UTA - Come to think of it, this was the second venue I’ve ever sung this song with the entire group. The other venue is of course Kyocera Dome. I’ve sung it with Ryo and Maru in the Puzzle DVD event in Fukuoka and many times at Yoko’s solo concert, but with the seven of them, this was the second venue ever, haha. At center stage, Shota and Maru were singing side by side during the “Itsumade mo kata wo narabete” solo parts that they have, and it was extremely adorable until someone *cough*Hina*cough* had to come in between… It was funny though because Hina hit his face with Shota’s shoulder, lol. That’s what you get for trying to get in between people like that!! In other shows, it was Hina and Shota singing side by side. Hina really seem to love Shota these days.
---
OK, I think this is it for now. The MC is going to be another long report, so I will write it sometime else… I’m kind of tired of typing now, haha.
Anyway, the 8UPPERS tour started off great!! I really enjoyed my time there, and it reminded me of how much I love this group. I’ve been to shows of other groups, but I never feel the same way as I feel when I go to Kanjani8 concerts. They are without doubt my favorite group!!!!!!!