[Report] Tour 2007 - Hiroshima (7/21 17:30)
Tour 2007: July 21st, 2007 @ 17:30 Hiroshima
(View from my hotel room; you can see the Green Arena right there. I was also able to see the Hiroshima Castle and the museum.)
(Tour buses)
The concert was the first one since Yokohama in May for me so I was really excited!! Our seats were in the third row from the back in the stands, but the Arena itself was not that big so we were able to see the boys totally fine. It was a Shota-seat for this show (meaning Shota comes by very often and all the key Blue Ranger stuff goes on in front) so I was extremely happy <3
I talked to the two ladies sitting next to me; they were from Osaka and I told them I was from Kobe so we had a good laugh at how far people come to see these boys, haha. One was an Ohkura fan but she said her favorite changes constantly because it’s hard to choose. The other lady was a Shota fan.
[Opening]
As is the case for bigger arenas, the boys came out in their mini bikes with their long white coats and sunglasses. Subaru’s hair was all tied back so you can’t really tell the difference at first glance, but his hair was shoulder length and his ponytail was a lot smaller. Shota had cut his hair too and it’s about the length of Ryo but the side was a bit longer.
1. Zukkoke Otokomichi - When each of them sang their solo parts, they said their names: “Nishikido Ryo desu!” yay yay yay “Yasuda Shota desu!” hora, bun bun! “Tacchon desu! Tacchon desu!” yay yay yay “Murakami Shingo desu!” “Maru-chan desu! Maru-chan desu!” yay yay yay “Suba-chan desu! Suba-chan desu!” hora, bun bun! …and then, “WENTZ DESU” LOL Yes, I cannot deny the fact that Yoko does look like Wentz Eiji… (from WaT) Subaru put Shota in his skirt like always (after forcing him down to the floor).
2. Kanfuu Fighting - The solo parts were done in a manly tone this time (usually, the guys follow suit after whatever Subaru does first). The last bit for Subaru was “Hiroshimaaaaa!”
3. Sukiyanen, Osaka - Right before the song started, Ohkura touched Shota. Shota was like “???” Ohkura was kinda smirking and then the song started. Hina and Shota were doing a weird dance together while Ohkura said hi to everyone. Ryo and Subaru did the “Natsu Yasumi! (summer vacation)” “Natsu Matsuri! (the title of the show they started doing this)” “Nishikido!” “Shibutani!” or whatever again, but it was hard to hear what exactly they were saying.
[Greetings]
Ohkura - I went to the Peace Memorial. I ate Hiroshima-yaki (okonomiyaki with noodles).
Shota - Eight loves you!!!
Maru - This is our second time in Hiroshima.
Hina - Men in the crowd!? (yaaaaaaa) Ohhh! Nice, nice! (During the MC, they asked the men in the crowd who they came with; one guy in the arena who I had noticed from the very beginning of the show was jumping up and down saying “I came alone!” holding up his uchiwa that said “saiko-!” The guys were surprised at his courage and told the girls around him to be nice to him.)
Subaru - Hiroshima! Hiroshima!! Hiroshima!!! (hyper) …ah… (nervous)
Yoko - Maru just said that this is our second time in Hiroshima… this is actually our third time. I told him that just now, and he goes, “Easy, easy!”
Ryo - I went to the Peace Memorial twice.
4. Explosion - Ohkura’s “explosion” was “Hiroshima.” When they switch sides, Shota and Subaru were high-fiving.
5. Misetekure - The fire was hot (as in temperature hot) even from where we were sitting! Shota was into it big time and he was on his knees with the guitar as the small stage moved toward the center. Shota and Yoko exchanged the small moving stages while Maru and Hina did at the other end. Subaru was hyper throughout this song and was screaming constantly.
6. Eden - Right after the noisy rock song, they start this. I think their performance has improved big time compared to when I first heard it in Yokohama. I’m very happy to see that they are gaining so much experience and improving day-by-day! I personally like Hina’s serious facial expression when he plays the keyboard… and of course Shota’s beautiful guitar solo. I love that one break they have after Ryo and Subaru face each other with their guitars and before they get into that clear solo of Shota’s.
7. Stereo - With the exception of Yokohama where all the solos were played, they have been dividing the solos into Ryo/Hina/Ohkura/Subaru, Shota/Yoko/Maru/BAND. Before the concert started, Lisa (Maru fan), Renee (Yoko fan) and I (Shota fan) were saying how funny it would be if they did the first set of solos for both the shows we were going to out of the three in Hiroshima. Can you imagine how disappointed I was when Ryo put his pick down after Eden and marched forward to start his solo? Haha, no offense to Ryo’s song because I like it a lot and the band plays with him anyway, but that meant that there was no Watashi Kagami, Wonder Boy or Magic Word that day…
8. Forward - The sound on Hina’s mic seemed to be a bit low for this one. He kinda messed up the lyrics toward the end and was cute when he was looking at the big screen for help, haha. I really like this dance.
9. Mamoritai - Ohkura came right in front of us in that chair so the girls next to me (I was sandwiched between Ohkura fans) were like Kyaaa! As was the case for Ryo’s song, Ohkura’s song was shorter than it was in Yokohama, too. They didn’t sing their second verses.
[Eight Ranger]
Hopefully by now, you know what the overall story is for the skit (how Blue falls in love) so I won’t tell the whole story… in case you don’t know, please read my report from Yokohama here: http://paaaaan.livejournal.com/18555.html
Anyway, Black and Orange were HILARIOUS in this skit. I don’t know what it was, but they were so funny. Black even said during the skit, “Wow, Orange, we’re on a roll in Hiroshima!”
The confessions for the day were Green and Yellow. Green had his helmet off so Black yelled at him for taking it off so easily. Green’s confession was something like “I, um… (mostly says nothing for the next five minutes, or so it seems) I like you.” That was it, lol.
Yellow’s is always interesting. I love how he gets so into it and he’s acting everything out by himself. This time, it went like this: “You know Nishiki-dou?” (Black in the background: “Haha, the momiji manjuu brand.” There is a brand called Nishiki-dou that sells momiji manjuu, which is a popular Hiroshima snack) Yellow goes on: “You know, I have never said this in magazines before, but that brand is actually my cousin’s.” (Rangers in the background: “Hahaha, are you serious!?” I don’t know if he was serious or not.) “You know, they’re looking for people to take over the business… do you want to do it with me?” Everyone was like Wooooo! Black goes “Yellow’s future is momiji manjuu!?” …Needless to say, a whole bunch of Eighters including myself bought Nishiki-dou momiji manjuu as souvenirs after the concert, haha. I bet the Hiroshima Nishiki-dou people were wondering why they sold so much this weekend!
Anyway, after that, Blue runs over to the mannequin because it was the day to hear her answer to his confession. Black is worried about Blue so he suggested to the other Rangers that they should watch him from far away. It has grown into a custom that each Ranger has to do a weird expression to the camera when they say “Okay, let’s go watch Blue.” Usually when Orange starts it off, the expressions are so complicated to imitate that most of them don’t want to do it (especially Nasu, Yellow and Green). Today’s “expression” was kind of like the hannya. All of them did pretty well except for Green, who’s “hannya” was a mini-hannya. Black goes, “Green, you don’t have enough chin to do this.”
When Blue was talking to the mannequin, big fake dragonflies were flying about as well as the butterflies. Blue’s ippatsugei (the mannequin always mucha-buris Blue to do something funny) for the day was “wiper.” Haha, he got on to one knee, started waving left and right with both hands like a wiper. It was cute and no, I’m not biased. Of course the mannequin’s response was “You’re so short.”
Anyway, Blue and the mannequin get together and Blue’s kissing the mannequin big time. The other Rangers dance their cutesy dance with the sticks/flowers and they part for the day promising not to be late the next morning. Black is happy that Blue’s confession went well, but sees something that he shouldn’t be seeing; yes, the mannequin had another lover! I don’t know who the Junior acting as the mannequin’s other lover was, but his voice was very small in the beginning. After he stopped talking, Black was like “I think… I THINK he was telling the girl, ‘You seem to be hanging out with another guy.’ I have to make sure I say this so that everyone knows what he said! …Alright just like the script… oh no, what should I do!? How should I tell Blue!?” lol
Everyone other than Black meets up the next morning and Nasu asks Blue how the confession went. Nasu is SO close to Blue physically by the way. Blue says it went well and Orange and Yellow did “wiper!” and Blue was like “How do you know…??” Nasu goes “Oh it’s nothing, it’s nothing; congrats!” and hugs him tightly. Black comes later and has something to tell Blue. Blue wanted to deliver the good news to him as well, but Black stops him to tell him that he likes him. Blue says he’s happy as a friend but isn’t it weird for a guy to like a guy (not for you, Shota)? When Nasu and Black are sandwiching Blue, he looks so tiny and adorable, haha.
Black and Blue get into a heated argument and Nasu tries to stop them. Nasu keeps on emphasizing the fact that you shouldn’t hit someone (this is key toward the end of the skit). Blue gets annoyed that Nasu was siding with Black and he runs off saying that what the hell, I hate you Black! Yellow punches Black, Black gets pissed and runs off, Orange goes to Yellow telling him that Black is not a bad person, Yellow runs off, Orange says “I like Yellow even in that (angry stubborn) way” and takes off, and the other three are left.
Nasu is talking and complaining how he doesn’t understand why they always have to get into stupid fights like this and turns around to say “Right?” to Red but Red turns the other way to respond to Nasu so of course Nasu smacks him by saying, “This way! How could you turn the other way when you hear the voice coming from this way!” Then Nasu turns his back to Red and starts talking again, and during that time Red goes over next to Green. When Nasu turns back again, Red pushes Green toward Nasu a few times. Red’s “I’m scared/I’m sorry/I’m pouting” expression was priceless! Nasu tells Red to go check on Blue and he says “Hai!!” Before Nasu could say anything to Green, Green goes “Gotcha!” and takes off. Nasu says “What did you ‘get’!?” and leaves.
Blue is angry at Black and he doesn’t think of him as a friend anymore. On the other hand, Black is begging to the Junior asking him to let Blue be happy with the girl. The Junior punches Black and the sound of the punch goes, but Black doesn’t move an inch, lol. He gets punched again but again doesn’t move an inch. Orange comes out to stop the Junior from punching Black, and he gets punched too; but he doesn’t move an inch either. Orange punches the Junior but the sound doesn’t go and the Juniors leave; Black says “Orange, if you’re going to do that, you have to let them know first! The sounds effect people will have a tough time!” Then Black and Orange started doing this “Orange, you’re bleeding…” “Haha, Black, it’s alright; ahh….. (falls down) …haha… I guess I’m not as strong as you are…” (I forget if this was this show or the other one, but it was funny nonetheless) After the Black/Orange bit, Black says “Orange, how did you know I was here?” “What Yellow was saying was true… come out, Yellow!” and Yellow comes out with his trademark sad face on. Yellow and Black make up and Orange gathers them in the middle to shake hands. When he pointed at the two and said, “Geez, you guys…” it was somehow so funny we all couldn’t stop laughing. Orange was really on a roll this day!!
On the other side of the arena (right in front of me) is Red and Blue. Red shows Blue what his friends were doing for him and starts singing “Kono Hoshi ga Kagayaku Wake.” These two little ones have started dancing to this song and Blue usually follows what Red does. This time, they spread their arms awkwardly, then occasionally, as they walk toward the main stage, they face each other and do a tiny movement with their hands in front of their bodies and opening them up (hard to explain!). Toward the end they stood there just looking at each other for the longest time. While Red is singing, Nasu and Green show up in the main stage and are dancing in complete unison and it was HILARIOUS. When did they start doing this, haha. This particular part of the skit is always so hard to concentrate on one thing because at one end you have Yellow and Black molesting Orange, at another end Red and Blue are in their own little worlds, and in the middle Green and Nasu are doing this hilarious dance… where am I supposed to look!? Well for this show at least, I was focusing on Red and Blue since they were right in front of me and they’re my top two anyway, haha.
So everyone finally comes together, Blue goes and hugs Orange, and they tell Blue that he should go straighten things out with the mannequin. They stride toward the other stage (I love how they elaborately walk here; they think they’re the coolest things on earth!) with Red and Orange taking extra big strides.
Blue says “So, you’re seeing someone else, huh…” the mannequin goes, “No, it’s a misunderstanding (“gokai” in Japanese)!!” Blue looks at the other Rangers for help, “She’s saying it’s a gokai…” Black goes, “The stands are in the nikai (second floor; “gokai” also sounds like “fifth floor”)” He gets a good laugh here, haha. Then Blue is about to smack the mannequin for hurting his feelings but stops just before he does and drops down to the floor crying “I… I can’t hit a girl…” and all the other Rangers gather around to tell him that that was the best decision. Black is hugging Blue really tightly as if he’s the most important thing in the world, lol. Black goes, “Look, Yellow seems to have something to say to you.” Yellow tells Blue to stand the f*ck up and slaps his face, lol. He goes, “Blue, what the hell kind of expression do you have on now!! You did the right thing, you’re the strongest guy here!!” and Yellow and Blue hug each other REALLY passionately, haha. Blue is getting all kinds of love.
They all turn to go home, but Green stares at the mannequin and says “Don’t think guys are that easy” really coldly. Then Blue rushes over to the mannequin saying “You know, I really had fun… I was really happy… I hope you have a happy life.” The mannequin says “You have a happy life, too!” as if she had done nothing wrong. Nasu walks over to smack her in the head and goes, “Oh shit! I smacked her!!!” after saying how it is very wrong to be smacking people, haha. The mannequin starts going hahaha hahhahaha and the Rangers run away because she has gone crazy.
Blue thinks that there are no trustworthy girls around, but Green points to the crowd and says that there are so many here. Blue is very happy to have great friends like them and says his thank you… of course Red comes out and bows to Blue, and this time Red has his eyes wide-opened and is staring intently into Blue’s eyes trying to get attention. It’s so funny because he’s bowing but his face is facing the front. Black says that Yellow is wanting to do that too (when he clearly isn’t, haha) and Yellow does it too but it was kinda weird… and Red was doing it from behind and Nasu smacks him. Yellow gets all embarrassed and mad because he hates doing these kinds of things!
Anyway, Black has something to tell everyone too and he goes up to the main stage; he says a big THANK YOU to the boys and FINALLY they go into their next song, lol. (I’m sure I’m missing something from the skit but it’s just too long… I’m sure you’re tired of reading it anyway, haha)
10. Arigato - Maru, Shota and Ryo sang their solo parts like a rap toward the end. Shota, Maru and Yoko start throwing their sign balls and when the song was about to finish, they start asking “Hey, where did the other guys go??” and the other four appear in the stands.
11. Obachan Rock - Ohkura, Subaru, Hina and Ryo went around the arena (half lap each) in the moving carts. Ohkura and Subaru came by our area. Subaru was saying “Ne, ne mite kono hyo-gara no se-ta-!” when he stopped right in front of us and got ready to get off the cart to go back down to the stage. After a good round of Obachan rocking, we were finally able to sit down for the MC (…this is already page 8 on Word and I still haven’t mentioned the MC?! Geez…)
[MC - Yoko’s massage]
The main speaker was Yoko (E! Honma!? Bikkuri!! Haha) He told us about the night before how he called for massage in his hotel room. A young girl came and when she saw his face, she had a surprised expression on. Yoko in his head was like “oh, here we go, she’s noticed me.” The girl goes “You know, you remind me of someone…” Yoko’s head (Yes, yes, here it comes…) “You know… you look like my cousin!!” Yoko (Ehhhhhh) Apparently, she liked the cousin and she didn’t mind getting married to him. Hina said that it’s okay to marry your first cousin in Japan.
Anyway, the girl goes on, “You know, you look like another guy too… you look like the ‘suttoko dokkoi’ guy in Kanjani!!!” Yoko was like Ehhhhh again. I don’t know how I can translate the word “suttoko dokkoi” into English, but I guess it could mean like goofy, funny, something to that extent. Yoko pretended he didn’t know who or what Kanjani was. She asked her “You don’t know Kanjani!? They are so ‘trendy’ now!!” The guys laughed at this because her choice of words (‘suttoko dokkoi’ and ‘trendy’) is kinda out of date and no one really uses them anymore, haha. Yoko made a joke saying “Oh, the name of the group is Kanjani Trendy?” then the girl said “Good one!” and laughed and Hina was like “Haha, that is so annoying.” She goes on to ask him “Do you know KAT-TUN?” and Yoko said “Yes I’ve heard of them before,” since it’ll be too fake to not know anything. She goes on “Do you know Kamenashi-kun? Kamenashi-kun is ‘trendy’!!” and everyone was like what is her standard for “trendy”??
She goes on saying “I know so much about that suttoko dokkoi kid.” Yoko’s like (ya right, you don’t even know you’re talking to the real one!) She goes “He’s a funny guy on TV but he’s actually very quiet.” Hina says “Haha, that is true, she got that one right.” Girl goes “I know he has a problem on his mind. He’s worried that he’s getting real chubby these days. But oniisan, you’re pretty skinny!” Yoko was like “SHE DOESN’T KNOW ANYTHING, she’s crazy!!” She didn’t realize it was Yoko himself at all. He never told her either. When she asked him what he does for a living, he told her “hair dresser. A charismatic hair dresser working in Shibuya.” Apparently, that is his answer whenever people ask him that when they don’t know who he really is, haha.
Yoko said that Leah Dizon told him that he looked like her brother. Then, Leah told one of the staff (Ume-san) that he looked like her dad… and Ume-san is not the most attractive man in the world, so the guys were laughing that that is so awkward, haha.
[MC - Ohkura eats a lot]
They started talking about how Ohkura has been eating so much these days. Apparently, that morning Ohkura ate a Japanese-food set meal with two bowls of rice, then ate okonomiyaki and mentaiko spaghetti. He considers okonomiyaki a snack. Ohkura said that Yoko eats a lot, too. Yoko said that he usually prefers a Western breakfast to a Japanese style one, so this morning he had toast, soup and coke (as in soda). Then he had okonomiyaki and Fanta (type of soda). Ohkura says “He’s so debu (fat)!”
[MC - People with weird habits]
Yoko knew of a senpai back home that had a weird habit. People called him “Hun-senpai” and rumors said that he was very scary and intimidating so you better not mess with him. One time during a summer festival, Yoko was carrying the mikoshi (a portable shrine used in festivals) and Hun-senpai was very close to him. He finally figured out why he was called Hun-senpai; when he’s jogging with the mikoshi, he goes “Hun! Hun! Hun!” Yoko wanted to laugh so bad but he knew if he did, he would get beaten up.
Maru knew someone similar to that. There’s this guy he knows who says “Moshimoshi hunnnn… yeah what’s up hunnnn” everytime he talks. Hina seems to know him too and was laughing a lot.
Yoko asked the others (finally!) if they had any weird habits and asked Shota. Shota was like “habit? Do I have a habit, guys?” Yoko said “Actually, the way Yasu drives is really bad. I don’t know why but he tries to act bad-assed when he drives.” Shota explained how he usually drives; he sat on the stage and asked Hina to hold his mic for him. Shota said that he usually has one hand on the steering wheel, one foot on the brakes, and the other hand on the arm rest and his other leg raised on the chair. Everyone was like Ehhhhhh and Shota followed up saying that he has both his hands on the wheels when he needs to be careful. Maru said “Your teacher from driving school will not be happy!” and all the rest were like “You’ve never even been to a driving school!!” (Maru’s the only one without a license.)
Subaru’s switch went ON the moment they started talking about Shota (seriously, the moment Shota started talking, Subaru put his mic closer to his mouth… he’s usually just standing there listening to all that’s being said), and he said “You know, Yasu drives (bad-assed) like that, but his seat is very close to the steering wheel (because his legs are short)!!” Shota protested “Yeah right!! Shibuyan’s is a lot closer than mine!!” “No, yours is!” “No, yours!!” and these two go back and forth before Yoko comes in and says “You know; I’ve been on both of their cars… Subaru’s is closer to the wheel.” Haha. Hina adds “Yeah, Subaru holds his wheels here (right in front of the chest) when he drives!” Yoko says “When I sit in Subaru’s seat, the mirrors are adjusted so low that I only see my chin! I can’t even squeeze into the seat!”
In relations to the car, Hina said that a long time ago when Yoko and him were out on a drive, Yoko was navigating and he told him to take a U-turn. Hina was having trouble adjusting his seat and when he was about to turn, he touched his seat so that it went all the way to the back of the car, haha. He went “Ahhhh!” Somehow, Yoko doesn’t remember this!
They talked enough so they started setting up for the acoustic song. The fans kinda booed I think because Ryo didn’t speak at all. Yoko goes “What? We were funny enough! We beat you, Hiroshima!”
12. Itsuka, Mata - Yoko said he mentioned this in the MC the day before in Okayama, but when he went to Tsutaya (CD rental store in Japan), he went to the Johnny’s corner and saw the store had its own comments on the KJ2 album. They had written that the “Itsuka Mata” in the B-version is a must-listen piece and that you can tell how tight-knit this group is. I read a report on Okayama and Yoko had said that they had comments for each member: “The B-gatan of Kanjani8! Hina-chan takes the lead,” “Always cheers everyone up! The mood-maker of Kanjani8, Maru-chan,” “He’s become so sexy these days! The youngest of the group, Tacchon,” “Handsome Ryo-chan, he’s too hot,” “He’s small but he has a big heart! He can really play music (Shota),” “How much better is his singing going to be!? (Subaru),” so Yoko was anxious to see what they had to say about him. He read, “At his own pace, Yoko.” ……………LOL THAT’S IT?!?! He was by himself in the store so it made him even more depressed, haha poor guy. Ryo was laughing throughout this song; I wonder why. He kept on chatting with Shota.
13. Ruwa - Subaru’s voice was as usual, WOW.
(Juniors’ dance)
(Hina/Ohkura, Maru/Yoko, Ryo/Shota/Subaru’s dance)
14. Kanashii Koi - I like the costume they wear for this song; white long jacket that spreads like a skirt when they go around.
15. Osaka Rainy Blues - During Subaru’s first solo, the others don’t have the spot light on them; in the darkness, Ryo and Shota were spinning around and in the end, Ryo spun around and took Shota in his arms and spun him around with him.
16. Futari no Namida Ame - The mirror ball that comes down during this song is really, really pretty.
17. Osaka Romanesque - During Ryo’s last solo, he sings “Koi wo surunara Hiroshima kara” instead of Midosuji.
18. Heavenly Psycho - The “Let’s sing with Ryo-chan” was Heavenly Psycho. He kept on stopping at the end and teased the fans.
(Band session: Drums, bass, guitar. When the guitar man came out, he had his hood on with the bright pink/green top, yellow balloon skirt, pink leggings… he came out saying 1, 2, 3, 4!! And was jumping up and down… he was SHINY hahaha. Lisa’s friend who doesn’t know K8 thought that he was like a little fairy, lol)
19. Do you agree? - The voltage of the arena was at its highest; Subaru was screaming like crazy and everyone was just jumping up and down! It was rocking!
20. Gojo ni Go! - This is a GREAT live song!!!! The guys were going crazy and the fans were going crazy with them.
21. Sayonara wa Itsumo - After going crazy with the two rock songs, the last one is very calm and quiet. The confetti was so pretty with the white/yellowish light.
EN1. Mugendai - The fans sang along with them. Always a nice song!
EN2. Zukkoke Otokomichi - Hina and Ohkura were doing a weird dance together, getting closer and closer to each other as the song went on. Ohkura got so close that Hina had to smack him because of the proximity. Maru was pretending to dig and “work” when the lyrics went “hatarakedo, hatarakedo.”
DoubleEN - They came out to say their thank yous; Subaru was wearing a long tie-dye shirt, Ryo and Hina were topless. Yoko was throwing his signboard like a frisbee and it flew from one end of the arena to the other! It was awesome! The girl who got it totally did not expect and had no idea where that came from, haha. It was actually pretty funny to see that.
Shota started doing the weird dance with his knees bent and hands in the air (if you see the beginning of the July 17 Muchaburi where Subaru and Shota are doing weird moves, you know what I mean) and the rest of them started doing that as well. Ryo and Subaru had already left the stage, but the other five kept on dancing to the “Eito! Eito!” call and Hina finally stopped and said, “Who’s going to stop us!” Yoko kept on doing this weird pose where he has one leg out to his right. He seriously did it a lot of times and it was hilarious; Maru started doing it too and they did something in sequence. The very last thing we saw was Ohkura, wearing a black tank top and a white towel around his waist, dropping down his towel “by accident” and showing his bicycle shorts. Maru in the end said, “This is a!?” and everyone went PAAAAAAAAAN!!! (ie This is a ‘pen’ lol)
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I feel like I rushed the report after the MC, but it was getting too long that I had to! Sorry! I’ll add if I remember anything else. Plus, I have to write another one for the show after this one… which was probably the funniest show I’ve ever been to. I was laughing so much. If the first show was loud, hot and exciting (the atmosphere was fabulous), the second show was full of laughter!!