[Report] FLAT FIVE FLOWERS - Osaka (September 7th, 2008)
I know I wanted to write the concert reports for the Hiroshima, Fukuoka, Osaka and Mie shows for K8, but I feel like this needs to get out there first! FLAT FIVE FLOWERS in Osaka!!
Before I write about the show itself, here are some pictures of the goods and a translation of Shota’s message on the pamphlet:
T-shirt and towel
The Package - Pamphlet, Sticker, Painting -
Translation of Shota’s message on the pamphlet
Shibuyan knew that I like to design t-shirts and draw, so he wanted me to be in charge of the art designs for this project. Thanks to him, I was able to join in as an Art Director. It was something I really wanted to do and I am sure that this live was something Shibuyan and the 4 members of FiVe wanted to do as well, so I was really happy when Shibuyan first asked me! I wanted to make something meaningful and something that can be treasured forever.
From the beginning, I knew that I wanted to use "hands" as the motif for the design. That was because I wanted it to mean that the five guys who usually work with different groups are taking each other's hands to create one stage. I had real handprints printed on the towel that I wanted everyone to raise and wave so that it was like we were all connected. At first, I was going to use the real handprints on the t-shirt as well and have the hands be in a circle, but since the name of this project was decided on “FLAT FIVE FLOWERS,” I wanted to link the logo with the name and so I discussed it with the guys and immediately drew this flower.
The petals are the hands of the five guys. At the center of the five hands is the "eye." It is also the "bud" (note: both are called 'me' in Japanese) but to me, it is the "seed" as well. Seeds are usually underground, but for the FLAT FIVE FLOWERS, they're not. It's like the flowers are blooming with the seed in the middle. I wanted to draw five petals that were blossoming really hard. The guys liked it a lot, too. I was really glad.
I would be happy if everyone can wear or use these goods during and after the live and remember what it was like!
Fula Fula is the best!
I was beyond happy when I first saw that Shota had designed everything for Subaru’s solo show. Because I know how important this project with FiVe is to Subaru, I was touched to hear that Subaru had asked Shota to be a part of it. Is it love or what!?
Shota also drew 8 pictures that were being exhibited at the venue. He said he drew all 8 of them in 2 days!! There were two lines forming at the venue: one for the goods and the other for the Yasuda Art Gallery. Even if you don’t have a ticket, you can line up for both. The art line goes fast because they only give you 90 seconds to take the pictures. So, if you have time, you can line up however many times you want until you are able to take all the pictures, haha. If you would like to see the pictures of the “Artist” Yasuda, please go here: http://paaaaan.livejournal.com/72198.html
As you can see from the picture of the pamphlet, it has a full-length report on the rehearsals this group had for the show. I won’t translate the entire thing because it is way too long, but I will write a little bit from Day One of rehearsals:
Day One of rehearsals was on August 8th. Subaru, the members of FiVe (Rikiya Nakaegawa, Ryota Uesato, Koji Makino and Daisuke Ishigaki), Shota and the staff (a total of 25 people) gathered for their first meeting. Subaru insisted that they didn’t need a fancy stage and that they were going to wear street clothes. They wanted everything to be simple.
At 9pm, they started discussing the name for the project. They wondered how to say ‘oso-zaki’ in English… I don’t know which dictionary they used, but they found “late flower.” It’s more like a “late bloomer” since all five of them have had / are having long careers as Juniors. Anyway, they liked the word “flower” so they started coming up with names: “Super Late Flower,” “Super Cherry Flower,” “Franchise Flower Shop” …lol. After all the discussions, at 9:40pm they came up with “FLAT FIVE FLOWERS.” Shota immediately said, “OK then I’ll come up with something that is linked to the name! How about having the hands of the five guys as the petals of a flower? I’ll have the five hands facing different directions from the center of the flower! How about that!? I’m going to draw it now!” Subaru was like, “Wow, you’re just amazing… What ARE you?” and the rehearsal studio exploded with laughter. Haha, I can just imagine twinkle-eyed Shota saying this in his fast, excited way and Subaru just looking at him lovingly, lol.
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I was very lucky to have been able to go to this show. My friends and I didn’t hit for the ones we applied for (boo for another “one membership can only apply for one show” rule!), but were really desperate to see at least one show. I was willing to go to any of the shows in Tokyo, whether it was on a weekday or not. I kept on checking mixi and seeing if anyone had extra tickets. But unfortunately, there were hundreds and thousands of people wanting tickets and only a handful that had extras. I’ve sent messages to a few people, but had no luck.
So, knowing that it was 99% impossible (especially for the last show in Osaka!), my friend and I went to the venue on Sunday and sat down with signs that asked for tickets. It was my first time holding up any kind of sign, so I didn’t know how likely people were able to get tickets that way, but we just knew it was quite unlikely because there were so many other fans with signs… but, a miracle like this http://paaaaan.livejournal.com/72689.html happened and I was able to experience the world of the FLAT FIVE FLOWERS. I think I have never been this thrilled and excited to be able to attend a show before…
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Anyway, sorry for the long introduction, but here is the concert report for the September 7th show in Osaka:
FLAT FIVE FLOWERS LIVE 2008 (September 7th, 2008 13:00)
Our seats were in the last row of the third floor to the left facing the stage. I honestly did not care where I sat, even HAPPY that I was in the very last row because I kept on saying the very last row was enough for me. It was a small venue so I had no problem seeing things. The girls who gave us tickets kept on apologizing that their seats were so bad, but I don’t think I’ve ever been this thankful for a ticket before!! There was (unfortunately enough) an empty seat in front of me so I had a clear view of the stage.
I didn’t have enough time to settle down and appreciate things because we got in the venue with only a few minutes to go, but the stage had a really simple set up, just like they talked about on Day One of rehearsals. The instruments were set up in front of a big picture of Shota’s FLAT FIVE FLOWERS logo (the same one as the sticker).
The lights went off exactly at around 1pm for the start of the show! I honestly can’t remember much from the beginning (hey, it went for 3 hours and 35 mintues, lol) but they all walked out to the stage naturally. Subaru was wearing shorts and sneakers and a white hoodie :-) The guys stood like this:
Daisuke Ishigaki (keyboard) Koji Makino (drums)
Rikiya Nakaegawa (guitar) Subaru Shibutani (vocal) Ryota Uesato (bass)
1. “BLUES MASTER” Kill - It’s a SMAP song but I honestly didn’t know it… I would love to hear it again though because I don’t remember anything, just that Subaru was jumping up and down getting it started!
2. MISETEKURE - I was like OH MY GOOOOD!! (Note: I will be going OH MY GOOOOD!! for many things during this concert, lol) at the intro. They had fire for this song where Subaru sang everything including the rap part. The “You don’t cry” parts were sung by Gakki and I think Rikiya too. It sounded like a different song when Subaru was singing the rap, but when it came to his original solo part, I naturally muttered “honmono da…” (=”it’s the real thing”) to myself, haha. For those who read my LJ entries, you might already know that I hate spoilers… needless to say, I was seriously glad that I didn’t read ANYTHING for this show as well!
3. SA*WER - I don’t remember much from this song either… I think I was still having a hard time letting things sink in because I couldn’t believe I was actually there!
4. ONE - Subaru had the staff bring his guitar, and the spotlight was on him. Before he went into the song, he played one chord… I think it was A-minor or something, but the moment I heard it, I knew what was coming and I was like OH MY GOD OH MY GOD… then he started singing “Tsumetai ame ni, nando mo utare…” he was losing his voice for the “hi wa mata noboruuu!” but to hear this song live again… just, wow. I honestly kinda felt weird about it because the guitar wasn’t Shota, but because Rikiya changed the arrangement and played the guitar solo differently, I was able to listen to it as a different form of a song… it’s really hard to explain it, but I had so many things going on in my head at this point, haha!
5. HEAVENLY PSYCHO - I think I was talking to myself a lot during this concert, even though my friend was next to me. I remember saying “kore wa hansoku daro!” to myself… meaning it’s not fair to sing this right after ONE because I just couldn’t stop saying OH MY GOD OH MY GOD!! LOL.
Before going into this song, Subaru was like “…it’s so hot in here. So hot… Third floor! Second floor! First row! The physical distance doesn’t matter! I’ll sing to everyone here!” Usually at K8 concerts, I think Subaru never looks at the fans straight in the eyes… but this day, I felt like he was looking into the crowd a lot. Even though I couldn’t see his eyes, I felt his line of sight all the way up to the third floor. I think this is one of the reasons I felt like I was seeing the “human” side of Subaru for the first time.
During/after Heavenly Psycho, they had a brief greeting MC. “Hello, this is Shibutani Subaru of the FLAT FIVE FLOWERS! For the first three days, the shows started at 18:30… today’s show started at 13:00, so my throat is not opened up yet.” The fans were like EHHHHHHH so Subaru’s like “Haha, let’s take it slow and we’ll be at our best real soon!”
6. FLOWER - This was one of their new songs. Subaru wrote the lyrics and Rikiya composed. They had LCD screens on both sides and displayed the lyrics. The song talked about how it took them so long to get here, they’ve all become adults but their thoughts are the same as 10 years before… 10 years of mistakes, 8 years of striking at the air, but all those mistakes are never in vain. Then the chorus used English words “CRY” “TRY” “FLOWER” and “FLY” and went something like in the rain, everyone cries but once again, everyone tries, and flowers bloom again as we all fly or something like that. I still kinda remember the melody but not entirely… boo! During the song, Subaru said that the FLAT FIVE FLOWERS are not just about the five guys on the stage, but it also included the fans as well. Let’s take steps together, one at a time!
After the song, some girls kept on shouting “I love you!” “Otokomae!” “Today’s my birthday!” and stuff like that so it was annoying, and I know Subaru hates people screaming during MCs too, but he was patient and was responding to those… to the birthday one, he said “Stop appealing yourself like that! …Haha, just kidding, congratulations.”
He said that the next song was a new one too, and he’s like “I’m sorry for all these songs you’ve never heard of!” Subaru… I don’t think anyone in that place minded, lol.
7. STARLIGHT - This was a love song, written by Subaru and composed by Rikiya. I think this is the first time I’ve heard a “straight” love song written by Subaru! The stage was all shiny and pretty with the star lights. I remember the melody to “Flower” more than this one, but this song was nice as well.
8. SUKIYANEN OSAKA - After such a nice love song, what do I hear!? Yes, the intro bass tune to… SUKIYANEN OSAKA!! Hahaha. That totally caught me off guard. For this FFF live, I didn’t bring an uchiwa or a penlight. Well, I didn’t know that I was going to be able to see it so I hadn’t brought anything with me, but even if I knew I was going, I wouldn’t have brought the usual concert stuff with me because this was something different. Therefore, I had two hands unoccupied so enjoyed dancing to the song. It was also nice because I didn’t have to worry about anyone sitting behind me and not being able to see! For the talking part during the song, they went around saying what their favorite moment was during their few days in Osaka. Everyone was like “I’ve had good food, but the best moment is… right here, right now!” and stuff, but Ryota the bassist turned around and put on sunglasses… yes, he was going to do Inui Hiroshi! LOL. Inui Hiroshi is a comedian… character, shall I say? It’s one of the comedy duo Savanna’s Takahashi’s acts. He usually holds a guitar and sings the blues comparing two things and ends up saying that to choose between the two is totally up to you and that you have the “freedom” to choose (“jiyuu daaa!”). So, Ryota started singing the Osaka blues, and the other guys played the tune. He said “Because I liked Osaka so much, I don’t mind living here… but, we still have some shows left in Tokyo so I can move back there as well… to choose between Osaka and Tokyo is… jiyuu daaaaaa! Osaka is freedom! Osaka is freedom! Everybody! Osaka is freedom! Osaka is freedom! …Either way, I’ll be coming back!”
9. SKIT “THE FLAT FLOWER” - I don’t know the official title for this skit, but yes, there was a skit… and it was “HUH!?” throughout, lol. The screen came down and the announcement was being made by this hyper chick, saying that a movie is about to start featuring the “FLAT FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE FLOWERRRS” haha, the pronunciation of the “VE” was so good!! They divided the skit into a few “episodes” (the font was like the Star Wars Episodes!) and on the screen, they showed a cheap Flash movie type thing, haha, with the picture of the guys’ moving around. The big plot was something about a special flower called the “Flat Flower” (or was it the Fula Fula Flower? I don’t even know, lol) and that when you find it, happiness will come to you.
So they went on to introduce the characters. The first one came to the stage… wearing a red frilly dress and his (her?) hair in two pigtails… her name was “Rikiko.” The only problem with her was that she was heavy-bearded. She was in love with “Gakki,” the most handsome guy on this Planet. The only problem with him was that his phone calls were too long. At the bottom right of the screen, it said “His conditioner (as in shampoo) is long as well.” Hahaha. He was wearing a Hawaiian type shirt and shorts with a cell phone in his hand… a typical young, frivolous male, haha.
The third one was “Makiko” who was wearing super short shorts (one that showed his… her thighs and all the way down) and had big boobs and long hair. She was a fashion leader and was the most beautiful girl on the Planet, but her only problem was that she had a big belly, haha. It was hanging out from the shorts. The fourth one was “Ryota,” Makiko’s boyfriend, but he came out in the Inui Hiroshi look from the song before. The only problem with him was that he was too free (the “freedom” guy) haha.
The last one was the bald-headed occhan!! Subaru!! It reminded me of Mitei-Ichi!! Hahaha. He’s so freakin skinny. His name was “Occhan” and the only problem with him was that no one knew who he was… “Who are you!?” Anyway, turns out that he was the keeper of the special “Flat Flower” that everyone was looking for. They chased each other, killed the occhan with a bazooka during the process etc. and the skit ended… what now?! Hahaha. I think the only part I laughed so hard was during the chase, they came out in one line and danced to Sazae-san’s theme song. That was hilarious. Other than that, it was just… all sorts of craziness that I don’t know how to explain, lol.
I seriously don’t understand what it was all about and as a skit, the plot was blah, confusing and slow… maybe it’s because I’m so used to seeing the Eight Ranger skits that are created by professional Kansai comedians… I mean, Yoko, haha. This was made by Ryota and I think he did a good job and I know they wanted some entertainment in the live as well, but… they still have room for improvement, I’d say! LOL.
10. FULA FULA - Still in their costumes from the skit, they sang another new song. Subaru was barefoot. The song basically went “Fula Fula Fulatto Flowers! Fula Fula Fulatto Flowers! Ahhh ahhhhh… FULATTO (FLAT) FIVE FLOWERRRRRS!” That was it. It was very catchy though so I still remember it!
11. MC - So, still in their costumes, they went on to the MC haha! It was quite long. Hmm where did they start… well Ryota was saying how he was so nervous with the skit because he thought Osaka fans would be pretty strict on comedy (like me? Haha, oops). But he was glad that the fans warmly accepted them. Ryota said that he was more nervous about the skit than the actual live, lol. Makino still had the boobs on and he said that it’s like a part of him now. The girls (Makino and Rikiya) went backstage to change. The guys left on stage talked about how Shota designed the goods for them. Subaru said he really appreciates Shota for the great things he made. FiVe was surprised to see Shota in their first meeting and Ryota was like “At first, I thought it was going to be Shibutani Yasuda with FiVe!” Subaru didn’t tell them that Shota was going to be there as well. They were like “Then, Yasu sat there and started drawing pictures! He was like ‘Honana~, I’m going to draw pictures!’” They said that there have been more and more people with the red towels. Subaru was like “It’s either me, or Ei-chan!” Ei-chan is Yazawa Eikichi and he’s an old rock singer known for his towels around his neck.
The “girls” came back and Makino still had his boobs under his street clothes. He took it off on stage with one hand, and everyone was impressed. Subaru said “If there’s an Olympic sport for taking off your bra quickly, you’ll do a very good job!”
Then Makino said “We have something we haven’t told you (Subaru) for 8 years…” Subaru was like “Huh!? What is it!?” Apparently, whenever they talk about Subaru, calling him “Subaru-kun” was too long so they were calling him “Kashira (the “Head”). “Yo, did you hear that we are going to do a live with Kashira soon!?” They still use it, haha. So they wanted to get permission from Subaru and Subaru was like “Of course that’s fine! I’m glad it wasn’t something like ‘Ossan’ or ‘the little one’ or something.”
They then started talking about what they have had for dinner. The night before the first show, they went to have Chinese food. The next night, they went for yakiniku, then sushi, then the night before this show they had nabe & okonomiyaki. During the show on the 6th, they showed pictures of the 109 plates of sushi the 5 of them had… and of course they had pictures from the nabe & okonomiyaki from the night before for us as well! Yay! So they all sat down on stage, relaxed (Subaru was laying down, haha) and started showing the pictures.
Picture #1 - It was them in a “serious” meeting while waiting for the food to arrive. Only Rikiya was facing the camera and posing, so they were all booing, haha. Rikiya had his hand to his forehead in like a saluting pose. We were all like “That’s so Showa!! (meaning it’s so old-fashioned)” They said that the shirt Rikiya was wearing was his dad’s. What the heck?? LOL.
Picture #2 - They were eating dessert. It was good ice cream, they said. Subaru’s expression looked like he had just had something really sour, but according to him, it was the expression of putting something very cold in the mouth.
Pictures #3 - It was a picture of all of them showing their tummies after eating. Subaru’s tummy was like a kid’s tummy, you know how it gets really big when they eat a lot? Anyway, Rikiya’s tummy was …uhhh, yeah. He was totally not a “J” (Johnny’s idol). “He’s an ‘S’!!” Subaru said. “’S’ for sumo!!!” LOL. Rikiya seriously looked like an old, fat man in his 40’s or something. But his face was like “I’m so handsome” LOL. Ryota, mysteriously, was showing his nipple. They all asked him why, and he said “Well, my tummy is nothing compared to Rikiya’s, so I just figured I could show my nipple instead.”
Pictures #4 - It was a close-up of Rikiya’s tummy, haha. Everyone was like “You look like you’re pregnant!” “Is it your third child or something?!” Gakki in the background looked really shocked, haha. Subaru said “Your tummy is like a globe!” Rikiya was wearing pink underwear by the way.
They said they went to take some purikuras as well, so they showed all 6 of them to us! They had a few normal looking ones but also had weird facial expressions. Rikiya had the saluting pose again so we just had to laugh… he said that whenever he feels like he has to pose, he just naturally salutes, lol. One of them I really liked was the last one they showed, which had Subaru up really close and the other four in each empty corner, haha. They were all like “That was totally unplanned but we just knew where to go! We have the ‘J’ blood in us after all!” Subaru was like “It’s like a photo shoot for Wink Up or something!” Haha. They wrote “Fula Fula” on Subaru’s forehead, then “Osaka saikou!” at the bottom. My friend and I took similar purikuras after the show, haha. They had another one that said “Fula Fula saikou” or something like that. Also, there was one of Makino that had a penguin on the side and said “Debu (=fat).” The fans were like “Kawaiiiiiii!” According to Subaru, Ryota looked like a high-class “new half” (that’s how we call it in Japanese, but… I don’t know the English term for it. It’s guys dressing up as girls like Haruna Ai) from Thailand, haha. Makino looked like an information person, saying “I’m telling you, this is cheap! You won’t get a sweet deal like this anywhere else!” Haha. Subaru said that whoever wants these purikuras, they should ask Makino for the “sekigaisen” infra-red radiation connection with his cell phone, haha. I want one too!! LOL.
When the “guys (from the skit)” went backstage to change, Rikiya, Makino and Subaru were left on stage. Subaru wanted to say something but he totally forgot what he was going to say. The two were standing away from Subaru so he was like “You know, guys, why are you leaving me like this… not that I don’t like it, but still… come on!” Ryota came back first so he joined them and said “Look, we’re in height order!” From the left, it was Rikiya (shorter but way chubbier than Subaru), Subaru, Makino and Ryota. Subaru said “We’re like the phone signal!” Then Gakki came back and they all said that he could be the battery sign, haha. I didn’t notice that Rikiya was that short! Probably shorter than Shota!
The occhan finally went to change (yes, he was in the occhan costume all this while!) and the members of FiVe were left on stage. Ryota was taking the lead and started talking about how they were able to do their own live just recently. They then said that they should start speaking in Kansai-ben until Subaru came back. Ryota wasn’t so bad, but Rikiya… he only kept on saying “Seyana” and “Seyanen” lol. Haha, cheater! Anyway, that didn’t last too long and I think it was here that they started talking about the songs and Subaru came back? I don’t remember. They said that the new songs were written by Subaru and composed by Rikiya. Rikiya’s songs were finished really quickly, but the lyrics took some time… Subaru was like “I work for other things, too!” Haha. Ryota said that making songs with Rikiya is so quick because the FiVe members just know what is expected. When Rikiya says “the usual,” they just know what to play.
Subaru was drinking endlessly from a paper cup. One of the fans said “What are you drinking?” and her voice really stood out so they all said that she should do a song on stage.
Anyway, they started setting up for their acoustic sessions. Subaru called “Staffu~~!” like Kanou Eikou (comedian), haha. Then one of the fans from our floor shouted “Staff!” and Subaru’s like “You don’t need to send cheers to the staff! They’re just doing their job!” Haha.
Makino was sitting on the box-type drum thing that Ohkura uses sometimes. Rikiya sat to the left with his guitar, Ryota to the right, and Subaru at center. Gakki was at his keyboard. I had no clue what they were going to play. Then…
12. EDEN - OH MY GOD!! Haha, well I couldn’t really go OH MY GOD because I felt like something was missing… sure enough, Subaru started singing but stopped almost immediately and said that they should start over. No sound was coming from Rikiya’s guitar. Anyway, they regrouped and started over. I think it’s really nice to have a keyboardist in the band because he can do all sorts of things… Hina, ganbatte! After the song, some fans shouted “Rikki!” so Rikiya did the saluting pose, lol. He did that a few times and it was quite funny. I think Subaru did it too at some point.
13. WAHAHA - Still in the acoustic mode!! I was pleasantly surprised!! Subaru started off saying “Here’s a song that you all know.” It was a very nice arrangement of the song. It was like a light-hearted but warm song. There were some questionable harmonies by Gakki but overall it was well sung. I would love to hear this again!!
After the song, Subaru said “Umm… the next one is another ballad, but considering the rest of the show, you probably should stand up here.” We were sitting this whole time starting from the skit, so I almost forgot to stand up! Hahaha. He said “Here are a few Kanjani8 songs for you…” and then…!!!
14. MAMORITAI - NO WAY!!!!!!! LOL The moment Gakki played the intro, I felt goose bumps running through my body. So THAT was why Subaru was singing this so loudly in the bath, haha. Ohkura said “Subaru-kun, can you please stop singing Mamoritai at the top of your lungs in the bath?” at one of the MCs in the K8 concerts during the summer. Aww he was practicing!! LOL. The stage had green lights. He sang it really well and I wish I can hear it again!
15. WATASHI KAGAMI - OHHHHHHH MYYYYYYY GODDDDDDDD!!!!! WAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! I just could NOT STOP SMILING when I was listening to this!!!!!! I don’t know how to explain the feeling but OH MY GOOOOOODDDDD my mouth just kept on splitting into a wide smile and it just did not shut!! LOL. I think it was a “pop” arrangement and I was moving left to right according to the rhythm. Subaru looked SO HAPPY singing this song. Even though I couldn’t see his face clearly, I just sensed the happiness aura coming from him. I think I even saw his smile from all the way up because it was so big. His voice was kinda girly for this song. I wish I can listen to this over and over and over again… god!!!!!
16. GREEDY - OH MY GODDDDD!!!!!!! The moment I heard the intro I was like “WAAAAAA!!!” Hahaha I just couldn’t stop going “Waaaah!!!” and “Gyaaaaaa!!!” for a while, lol. I think this was the first time I heard this live. FiVe’s performance was really good and powerful. Subaru’s voice was awesome as well. Amazing!!!!
17. I & I
18. CRY - I don’t remember which one was which, but “I&I” and “CRY” were both FiVe songs. Rikiya was the main vocal. Subaru had his guitar and was harmonizing. It was a fresh feeling to see Subaru being in the background and not as the main singer! I wish I remember which song it was (or was it both?) but it was really, really good.
19. EVERYDAY MUSIC - NO WAYYYYYY!!! Hahaha. I think for virtually every song I knew, I was saying “OH MY GOD!” or “NO WAY!” haha. Subaru played the intro with his guitar. I was singing along, not at the top of my lungs but like humming it. It’s been a while since I last heard this song!
20. KNOCK OUT HELL - This was like a “Let’s get noisy!!!” song where we endlessly kept shouting “KNOCK OUT HELL!” and “NOKKATTE (Japanese word that sounds like “Knock out Hell”, lol)!” Subaru kept shouting and telling us to feel their music, ride on (=nokkatte) the sound.
21. WINDOW - Unfortunately I don’t remember what this song was either, but I’m sure it was nice!!! (sorry!) Was this the one where Rikiya was singing a rap or is it a later song?? Either way, the one with Rikiya’s rap song was really nice! The lyrics included some up-to-date issues like “subprime,” haha.
22. GOJO NI GO! - HAHA Are you serious?! YES!!! He sang the full song, which means he sang Hina’s “goal post” part, too!! Hahaha. For the last “AHA!!” Subaru faced the microphone to the crowd and said “You guys say the last AHA!!” so I did, loudly!!! YES!!!
23. TE (Japanese for “Hand”) - This is a FiVe song and this probably was the one with the rap. Subaru sang the rap, too. (Not like a Misetekure rap, but like a Hoshii mono wa rap) They told us to hold hands with the people next to us, so without hesitation (this caught me by surprise, but seriously there was no hesitation!) the whole place held hands and sang along. Rikiya was like “Umm… you guys held hands too quickly… I thought you’d be shy about it! Why don’t we let go for a while and try again, shall we?” Hahaha. I don’t know why I held hands without any hesitation, but I guess the fact that I didn’t have an uchiwa or a penlight in my hands (just the red towel hanging down my neck) it made things easier. They made us raise our hands while holding the others’ hands, so it was quite a workout to be honest, haha! I felt like the whole place became one. It was quite a sight to see everyone holding hands from the top to the bottom!
Before going into the last song, they each said their thank you’s. Subaru’s comment was really, really long (all the while, Gakki and Makino were playing the background music). He talked about how this (the rock band live) is what he really wants to do. Yes, he’s happy that he’s in Kanjan8 and they’re a really important group of people to him… but this rock band is something he’s wanted to do forever. He’s really happy he’s having the opportunity. When I was listening to his comment, which he took time choosing the right words, I was getting teary. I kinda felt sad at first because I felt like Subaru was going to walk away from K8 someday… but, he kept on saying that without K8 he would not have been standing here and that if he works hard in K8 and keep on appealing to the world, then someday, the FLAT FIVE FLOWERS can release a CD and have all-nation tours. He said he’ll be looking forward to that day.
24. PRAY - Heard it live for the first time… just, wow. Was it this song? Rikiya was strumming the guitar like crazy. I hadn’t really listened to this song before, but the lyrics just came sinking in especially after that emotional speech by Subaru. It was beautiful. They all held hands and thanked the crowd before leaving the stage.
EN 1. CAN DO! CAN GO! - HAHAHAHAHA I could not believe what I was seeing!! All of a sudden, I hear this really “J” song and Ryota and Gakki came out in these old, old Junior outfits (pink shirt) and started dancing, and then on the pop-up Rikiya, Subaru and Makino came up and they started dancing to V6’s “We can do! We can go!!! Itsumono!!” Hahahaha. They were dancing up a storm!!! It was hilarious because all of a sudden it was so idol-like. Rikiya and Makino were totally not idol-like in that their bellies were hanging out and stuff, lol, but it was a nice contrast to what we had been seeing for the last what, 3 hours or so? I think them adding this to the set list was really good because it just stressed out how different the FFF live was from a normal idol concert! They threw signboards during this song, and one of them came to the middle of the third floor. Nice throw, whoever it was! They showed the guys on the screen for the first time and my god, Subaru was smiling like the idol he was, haha!! For a moment I thought I was watching chibi Subaru from back in the day!
After the song, they showed a VTR of their dance rehearsal like an end roll. There, they were practicing but Makino just couldn’t get anything right and the word “Kunou” (agony) came on the screen, lol. Everyone was getting annoyed because Makino couldn’t do it (this was all a joke and was so cheesy so I couldn’t stop laughing) but Makino worked really hard and in the end, he did it!! So everyone threw him in the air. Hahaha.
The guys came back out in their normal clothes, and said that they’ll work hard on the dances as well. Subaru said that since they’re a band, they’ll finish with a band song. What did they play?
EN2. OSAKA ROMANESQUE - ARE YOU SERIOUS! Hahaha. Totally did not see this coming. It was a band arrangement so everyone was singing along. We all did the “La la la laaa lalalaaa la la la la la” (different version from usual) together. Nice!
2EN. FULA FULA - They came out for a second encore! They held instruments but Subaru was like “Well, we don’t have instruments or anything so I don’t know what we can do…” and then they started pointing to the guy next to them to do something funny: Subaru pointed at Rikiya (whom everyone was targeting to do something funny), Rikiya to Gakki, Gakki to Makino, Makino to Ryota, Ryota to Subaru. They repeated this a few times, and did the Dacho Club (comedy group) thing where everyone raises their hands saying “I’ll do it, I’ll do it!!” making their target (in this case Rikiya) raise their hand too, and then say “Dozo, dozo” to them. It didn’t work too well so they were like “Hmm, we need to work on this!” Haha.
They sang the “Fula Fula Fulatto Flowers!” song. Subaru first made the third floor sing (I sang loud and proud!) then the second floor then the first floor (the loudest of course, since they had the most people). Then he asked the teenagers to sing. Then the 20’s. Subaru was like “I know there were some liars just now! 20’s, again!!” The voice got smaller so Subaru’s like “Haha, I knew it!” Then we went on to the 30’s, 40’s, 50’s… and then Subaru said “I’m not sure if there are any… but just in case… 60’s! Fula Fula Fulatto Flowers! Hai!” “…….” there was no sound so we were all like yeah, I guess there weren’t any… but then, some girls kept on shouting so Subaru was like “Wait, there was!?” Apparently there was one lady who was singing really hard on the second floor. They did it again and this time we were all able to hear her clearly so the place exploded with applause!!!!! It was such an awesome feeling to see everyone just clapping and becoming one!!!! “WE ARE ALL FULA FULA FAMILY!!!” YES!!!!!
Subaru was hyper as ever. He kept on throwing his guitar picks, touched hands of everyone in the front row, allowing the girls in the front to touch his guitar… something you’ll never see at K8 concerts!! The guys said another round of Thanks and left, and Subaru asked us to be quiet for a moment and then said “ARIGATO!” without the microphone. His voice is too big that I kinda thought that he probably never needed a microphone for this show, lol. It’s an eco thing to do, isn’t it?! Haha.
3EN. FLOWER - They came out for a triple encore!!!! Yay for the last show in Osaka!!! They did the Dacho Club thing again, haha. Subaru said “I think we should stop because Rikiya seriously doesn’t like it, lol!!” Rikiya did the saluting pose and naturally, the whole crowd including myself followed suit. That caught the guys off guard so they were like “HAHAHA That was amazing! Do it again! Do it again!” so we did it a few more times, haha. Yay Rikiya’s got a new weapon! LOL.
They didn’t show the lyrics this time but I was really happy to be able to hear it again because it was such a nice song. Gosh I want to hear it again!!!! Subaru was losing his voice at this point but kept on singing til the end. He said that TV Pia’s crew was at the show, so I know I want an issue or two of that when it comes out!!
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Alright… that I think concludes my 16-page (on Word) report, lol. What the hell!! I didn’t think it’ll turn out to be this long but I really wanted to write it up before I forget things. I’m kind of afraid to write the reports for the K8 summer concerts now because for some shows it’s been over a month…!! I wish I had taken notes for the Mie shows because I haven’t at all…!!
Anyway, I hope you were able to see what kind of thing Subaru did for his solo project. My first thoughts were that I didn’t see the usual Subaru of K8 I am used to seeing… he was a totally different person, more natural and more human. I really felt that he was having the time of his life. I’m so blessed to be able to go to his show… I can never thank the two girls who gave us the tickets enough!!! Thank you girls!!!! (Even though there’s no way they’re reading this, haha)
Thank you Subaru and FiVe for a great show <3
FULA FULA SAIKOU!!!!!