[Concert Report] Tegomass no Uta (090722, 14:00)
I went to yesterday's 2:00pm concert, which was the first of the tour. I'm very proud to have finished this the day after the concert. Really. I'll get the Kanjani8 one out someday, hopefully before the end of the weekend cause I don't want to get the Kumamoto one mixed with the Osaka one.
Warning you now. It's long. Longer than my KAT-TUN one was I think.
I think this concert report will turn out to be a little different from my other reports. I say this because I think I remember less details than normal and mostly just remember what I felt during the different parts of the concert. I’m actually really glad I recorded the whole thing (yay mini voice recorders!) because I can’t quite remember the order of things.
And sorry Tegoshi fans… Massu’s one of my favorite Johnny’s so needless to say, I was watching him basically the whole time. Honestly, out of NEWS, Tegoshi is probably one of my lesser favorite members, but there’s something about the time that it’s just him and Massu that I seem to like him a lot more. I wonder why that is. I’ll try to include him the best I can in this report.
So, um… I only started listening to the album for the first time the morning of as I was getting ready? I know, I know… terrible fan. I bought it the day it came out… I just didn’t open it. My problem with albums is that I usually don’t feel a wanting to listen to songs on an album if I’ve never seen a PV or performance of it. I like having a visual image in my head when I listen to things. But anyway. Listened to all the new songs on repeat all the way up until the concert. No offense to the album or anything, but I liked the Tanabata Matsuri single songs more. Like, all of them. They’re, to me anyway, much more appealing than the album songs.
Goods started at around 9am according to the Johnny’s website, but I didn’t get there until 10:30-ish. I was going to the 2pm concert so I figured that would be more than enough time. I was actually surprised at the line. Since they started the new system for selling goods (different lines for different goods), I really haven’t had to wait in line to get into the selling area. (KAT-TUN doesn’t count cause I waited in line before the goods line opened.) I think the line was about the same length as the Gackt one. I didn’t have to wait too long, but was pleasantly surprised to see that the line stayed about the same length, people continually coming to refill it.
Most girls were dressed in yukata, RUSS-K shirts, and head-to-toe costumes (like Pikachu or Thumper from Bambi). There were also lots of people dressed in bright yellows. And, well, surprise, surprise… most Osaka fans are Massu fans (I could see them carrying his uchiwa). I laughed though. He does seem to fit in with what Osaka girls like.
I was only going to buy the pamphlet, photosets, and maybe the t-shirt for myself, but they were sneaky! As I was leaving the train station, I saw the shopping bag. Online, it only said that the bag was 900yen, so I assumed that it might be a paper bag or one of those plastic ones. Nope. Same material as the Pacific Concert SMILE bags… and these had lots of drawings on it, both sides. It was really obvious really fast that Massu drew the main image (the back side of the bag had lots of little drawings but they were little and I couldn’t see them well). Anway. Bought the bag and the t-shirt. The drawings were on the face towel too, but I couldn’t bring myself to spend 1800 yen on a towel that I would never use.
Oh yeah. So point being… if you’re still wondering if you should buy goods, the bag, towel, t-shirt, and the pamphlet all have the drawings in/on them. And the pamphlet has a lot of really nice pictures (better than the photosets, posters, and clearfiles).
I didn’t want to have to carry the goods around with me all day, so I caught the train to Namba to leave things in a locker. That was the smart idea. Walking around Namba/Shinsaibashi after was not.
I need to really stop doing this, but, um… I was late for this concert too. (._. ;) Not by a lot, but I did miss the first song. As I was running down the hallway (because they were mean and made everyone enter from the back side of the hall), I could hear them singing Miso Soup. It’s not that I don’t like the song, but if I was going to miss a song, I’m kinda glad it was Miso Soup. Again. Not because I don’t like it, but more so because I’ve seen it before… many times.
I managed to get to my seat right at the end of Miso Soup. My seat wasn’t too bad. Osaka Jo Hall isn’t one of the bigger places to have a concert so from wherever you are, you can see pretty well. If you’re facing the stage, I was on the right, along the middle stage, 16th row. I could see them no problem, but there was no chance of getting either of their attention from there. That’s ok. Still got 2 ½ hours of Massu. ^-^
There were 5 stages: the main one in the front (which had an upper and 2 sides), one in the middle, 2 either side of the middle, and then the one in the back. For this report (similar to my others) I’ll be referring to them as the main stage, the upper-main stage, side-main stages, middle stage, side stages, and back stage. I hope it doesn’t get too confusing.
I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of seeing all the penlights when you look over an audience of a Johnny’s concert, all doing the same motions. It’s like you can feel the presence of everyone there.
Marui Chikara was their second song. They were still on the upper-main stage, but came down the center steps to the main stage. Massu was on the right side and Tegoshi on the left… and I guess that’s basically how it stayed for most of the concert. Not that I minded of course. (^-^) Massu was very bouncy and there was lots of smiling and hip swaying going on. They stayed front and center on the main stage throughout the song.
After that, they performed Bokura no Uta. They moved to the side-main stages which were raised (there were stairs. Not electronically raised) so that they were level with the stand seats. Well… nice for those sitting right there, but not so good for the rest of us, cause they became a little hard to see.
For both songs so far, the main backdrop and all the lighting were bright yellows and happy colors. I thought it matched Tegomass well. I personally think that a lot of thought should go into the stage design. Not just where the band goes or where the singers go, but the visual should match the feel of the music. I felt like the stage was very open and the usage of the circular patterns that looked like bubbles was a really good choice.
They did their introductions at this point. Tegoshi desu~! With the open faced palm. Masuda desu. With a little… rectangle? He made a rectangle with his pointers and thumbs (like how movie directors do sometimes). And then they were like, “When you put them together, (!#*$#* desu!” Sorry. They were kinda laughing as they said it and I didn’t catch the name squish. They announced that it was their first time introducing themselves this way and that they would work on it. Haha….
Tegoshi explained a little that they have a live band so that everyone can enjoy the music better and that he hopes that everyone will enjoy themselves.
Tanabata Matsuri. I know that there are people who don’t really like this song because it sounds like country, but in Japanese and it’s different, but I really like it. Haha… And I love the music video, which was playing on the main VTR screen. Was hoping a little for the yukata, but that’s ok. They were still cute.
Like I mentioned before, I really like the songs on their recent single, especially the b-side tracks. Hanamuke is probably my favorite. The melody is so pretty and interesting… The music mixed with the visuals of white flower bouquets and candles on the VTR screen were all very nice. I thought Massu was going to start crying. I’m glad they chose to perform it.
Oh my god. And then they did something that seriously, only Tegomass can ever get away with doing. The lights went out and when they came back on, they were sitting on swings. It was so cute. They were singing Ame Nochi Hare and it matched so perfectly. Massu was swinging his legs happily with the music. It was really, really cute. As the song progressed, the swings moved them over the audience to the middle stage. It was kinda weird, but as they were lowering to land, walkways that connected the main and middle stages appeared. Umm… I’m pretty sure they were inflatable… which was actually kind of funny. You could hear them appear. Haha… Too bad they were a boring gray color.
Now on the middle stage, they performed POWER OF EARTH. The images on the main VTR screen were (*shock*) videos of trees and aerial shots of wide spreads of fields and nature. Tegoshi was outdone a little by Massu ‘cause, I think just in general, Massu moves around a bit more and makes good use of space. And Tegoshi has a tendency to scan over the crowd while Massu looks at individual faces. I like that a lot about him (and Yamapi, ‘cause he does it too.) ^-^
They talked a little bit next, asking if everyone was watching and if everyone could see them. Then Massu says, “We can see you all too! ♥” They asked everyone if they listened to the album and if they liked it, saying that they themselves like the songs a lot. Tegoshi says that because they got to have a live band, it allows them to do things a little differently and he wants everyone to freely enjoy the next song, whether sitting, singing, maybe jumping (everyone laughed a little bit).
They did Kushami acoustic, just them and the 2 guitarists sitting on stools, all facing each other. There were spherical street lamp-ish things on each corner so the atmosphere changed a little bit into what felt like a street performance, which was nice because it was much more intimate. Everyone clapped at the end.
Sayonara Boku no Machi was the next song, and they basically stayed in the same formation, but facing out towards the audience this time. I think my favorite part of this song might be the soprano sax solo at the end. There really is something about having a live band there.
Apparently, Massu really likes Kushami, saying that even though it’s short, there are a lot of emotions that go into it. Then Tegoshi says that he likes Sayonara Boku no Machi a lot too, but he made a mistake while singing it and Massu tells him, well, since it’s Tegoshi… indicating that it was ok. Tegoshi’s like, “Really? Thanks.”
Tegoshi says that it’s their first time performing this way and asks the audience what we thought. When we all clapped again, Tegoshi said how happy he was to hear it and Massu adds that they don’t normally get rounds of applause. For some of you reading this, this probably sounds strange and I don’t think people usually mention this in reports. At Japanese concerts, especially Johnny’s concerts, people don’t really clap. People will yell and scream, but because people usually have an uchiwa in one hand and a penlight in the other, it’s kinda hard to clap. Everyone usually waves penlights instead.
Then Tegoshi announces that they’ve discovered side stages and that they will be going there now. On carts, Massu went to the one further away from me while Tegoshi came to the one right in front of our section… but because of the height difference, we couldn’t see him (but I was watching Massu, so… ^^;) But part of the side stages rise so we could see them. It rose a little into Sunadokei and it was really nice. I haven’t heard this song in a really long time and then to hear it live was just so pretty.
They sang Moshimo Boku ga Pochi Dattara next and they mostly remained on the side stages, waving at everyone. It made everyone really happy.
When they performed Tatta Hitotsu Dake, they made motions for everyone to clap along with the beat, so throughout the audience, you could see everyone clapping (well… you could see the penlights.) They moved back to the main stage on the inflatable pathways and although Tegoshi was doing the normal thing of just walking, Massu was jumping up and down all the way there. Since it’s inflated and not solid, it looked like he was bouncing on springs. Haha… On the main VTR there was a cell phone screen typing out the lyrics of the song.
They disappeared from sight for a little bit towards the end of the song, but on the main VTR, another cell phone showed up. The one on the left was Tegoshi’s and the one on the left was Massu’s. They were having a ‘conversation’ but I have terrible eyesight and couldn’t read it too well (thank god I wasn’t more towards the back). But from what I could see, they were saying really cute things and telling the audience to say things. Like, “Who do you like better?” (people were screaming out names) or “Do you love us?” (Hai~!), then “We love you all too!” Those were all Tegoshi’s, btw. Haha… And then on Massu’s one it said to say “Gyoza~!”, then “Sui gyoza~!” haha… Always thinking about that food I see.
They were gone for a while (so you could kinda tell that it was so they could change clothes) but when the opening of Boku no Cinderella came on, everyone died screaming. I think I might have squealed. >.> They were on carousel horses. No joke. In replacement of the carts they’d ridden to the side stages, there were carousel horses (Massu’s was yellow and Tegoshi’s was pink) and they rode all around the hall. When he wasn’t singing, Massu made like he was trying to get the horse to go faster or covered the horse’s butt while looking at the audience as if telling them not to stare at his butt. It was ridiculously cute. Seriously guys… only Tegomass.
Click here for Part 2
.
Warning you now. It's long. Longer than my KAT-TUN one was I think.
I think this concert report will turn out to be a little different from my other reports. I say this because I think I remember less details than normal and mostly just remember what I felt during the different parts of the concert. I’m actually really glad I recorded the whole thing (yay mini voice recorders!) because I can’t quite remember the order of things.
And sorry Tegoshi fans… Massu’s one of my favorite Johnny’s so needless to say, I was watching him basically the whole time. Honestly, out of NEWS, Tegoshi is probably one of my lesser favorite members, but there’s something about the time that it’s just him and Massu that I seem to like him a lot more. I wonder why that is. I’ll try to include him the best I can in this report.
So, um… I only started listening to the album for the first time the morning of as I was getting ready? I know, I know… terrible fan. I bought it the day it came out… I just didn’t open it. My problem with albums is that I usually don’t feel a wanting to listen to songs on an album if I’ve never seen a PV or performance of it. I like having a visual image in my head when I listen to things. But anyway. Listened to all the new songs on repeat all the way up until the concert. No offense to the album or anything, but I liked the Tanabata Matsuri single songs more. Like, all of them. They’re, to me anyway, much more appealing than the album songs.
Goods started at around 9am according to the Johnny’s website, but I didn’t get there until 10:30-ish. I was going to the 2pm concert so I figured that would be more than enough time. I was actually surprised at the line. Since they started the new system for selling goods (different lines for different goods), I really haven’t had to wait in line to get into the selling area. (KAT-TUN doesn’t count cause I waited in line before the goods line opened.) I think the line was about the same length as the Gackt one. I didn’t have to wait too long, but was pleasantly surprised to see that the line stayed about the same length, people continually coming to refill it.
Most girls were dressed in yukata, RUSS-K shirts, and head-to-toe costumes (like Pikachu or Thumper from Bambi). There were also lots of people dressed in bright yellows. And, well, surprise, surprise… most Osaka fans are Massu fans (I could see them carrying his uchiwa). I laughed though. He does seem to fit in with what Osaka girls like.
I was only going to buy the pamphlet, photosets, and maybe the t-shirt for myself, but they were sneaky! As I was leaving the train station, I saw the shopping bag. Online, it only said that the bag was 900yen, so I assumed that it might be a paper bag or one of those plastic ones. Nope. Same material as the Pacific Concert SMILE bags… and these had lots of drawings on it, both sides. It was really obvious really fast that Massu drew the main image (the back side of the bag had lots of little drawings but they were little and I couldn’t see them well). Anway. Bought the bag and the t-shirt. The drawings were on the face towel too, but I couldn’t bring myself to spend 1800 yen on a towel that I would never use.
Oh yeah. So point being… if you’re still wondering if you should buy goods, the bag, towel, t-shirt, and the pamphlet all have the drawings in/on them. And the pamphlet has a lot of really nice pictures (better than the photosets, posters, and clearfiles).
I didn’t want to have to carry the goods around with me all day, so I caught the train to Namba to leave things in a locker. That was the smart idea. Walking around Namba/Shinsaibashi after was not.
I need to really stop doing this, but, um… I was late for this concert too. (._. ;) Not by a lot, but I did miss the first song. As I was running down the hallway (because they were mean and made everyone enter from the back side of the hall), I could hear them singing Miso Soup. It’s not that I don’t like the song, but if I was going to miss a song, I’m kinda glad it was Miso Soup. Again. Not because I don’t like it, but more so because I’ve seen it before… many times.
I managed to get to my seat right at the end of Miso Soup. My seat wasn’t too bad. Osaka Jo Hall isn’t one of the bigger places to have a concert so from wherever you are, you can see pretty well. If you’re facing the stage, I was on the right, along the middle stage, 16th row. I could see them no problem, but there was no chance of getting either of their attention from there. That’s ok. Still got 2 ½ hours of Massu. ^-^
There were 5 stages: the main one in the front (which had an upper and 2 sides), one in the middle, 2 either side of the middle, and then the one in the back. For this report (similar to my others) I’ll be referring to them as the main stage, the upper-main stage, side-main stages, middle stage, side stages, and back stage. I hope it doesn’t get too confusing.
I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of seeing all the penlights when you look over an audience of a Johnny’s concert, all doing the same motions. It’s like you can feel the presence of everyone there.
Marui Chikara was their second song. They were still on the upper-main stage, but came down the center steps to the main stage. Massu was on the right side and Tegoshi on the left… and I guess that’s basically how it stayed for most of the concert. Not that I minded of course. (^-^) Massu was very bouncy and there was lots of smiling and hip swaying going on. They stayed front and center on the main stage throughout the song.
After that, they performed Bokura no Uta. They moved to the side-main stages which were raised (there were stairs. Not electronically raised) so that they were level with the stand seats. Well… nice for those sitting right there, but not so good for the rest of us, cause they became a little hard to see.
For both songs so far, the main backdrop and all the lighting were bright yellows and happy colors. I thought it matched Tegomass well. I personally think that a lot of thought should go into the stage design. Not just where the band goes or where the singers go, but the visual should match the feel of the music. I felt like the stage was very open and the usage of the circular patterns that looked like bubbles was a really good choice.
They did their introductions at this point. Tegoshi desu~! With the open faced palm. Masuda desu. With a little… rectangle? He made a rectangle with his pointers and thumbs (like how movie directors do sometimes). And then they were like, “When you put them together, (!#*$#* desu!” Sorry. They were kinda laughing as they said it and I didn’t catch the name squish. They announced that it was their first time introducing themselves this way and that they would work on it. Haha….
Tegoshi explained a little that they have a live band so that everyone can enjoy the music better and that he hopes that everyone will enjoy themselves.
Tanabata Matsuri. I know that there are people who don’t really like this song because it sounds like country, but in Japanese and it’s different, but I really like it. Haha… And I love the music video, which was playing on the main VTR screen. Was hoping a little for the yukata, but that’s ok. They were still cute.
Like I mentioned before, I really like the songs on their recent single, especially the b-side tracks. Hanamuke is probably my favorite. The melody is so pretty and interesting… The music mixed with the visuals of white flower bouquets and candles on the VTR screen were all very nice. I thought Massu was going to start crying. I’m glad they chose to perform it.
Oh my god. And then they did something that seriously, only Tegomass can ever get away with doing. The lights went out and when they came back on, they were sitting on swings. It was so cute. They were singing Ame Nochi Hare and it matched so perfectly. Massu was swinging his legs happily with the music. It was really, really cute. As the song progressed, the swings moved them over the audience to the middle stage. It was kinda weird, but as they were lowering to land, walkways that connected the main and middle stages appeared. Umm… I’m pretty sure they were inflatable… which was actually kind of funny. You could hear them appear. Haha… Too bad they were a boring gray color.
Now on the middle stage, they performed POWER OF EARTH. The images on the main VTR screen were (*shock*) videos of trees and aerial shots of wide spreads of fields and nature. Tegoshi was outdone a little by Massu ‘cause, I think just in general, Massu moves around a bit more and makes good use of space. And Tegoshi has a tendency to scan over the crowd while Massu looks at individual faces. I like that a lot about him (and Yamapi, ‘cause he does it too.) ^-^
They talked a little bit next, asking if everyone was watching and if everyone could see them. Then Massu says, “We can see you all too! ♥” They asked everyone if they listened to the album and if they liked it, saying that they themselves like the songs a lot. Tegoshi says that because they got to have a live band, it allows them to do things a little differently and he wants everyone to freely enjoy the next song, whether sitting, singing, maybe jumping (everyone laughed a little bit).
They did Kushami acoustic, just them and the 2 guitarists sitting on stools, all facing each other. There were spherical street lamp-ish things on each corner so the atmosphere changed a little bit into what felt like a street performance, which was nice because it was much more intimate. Everyone clapped at the end.
Sayonara Boku no Machi was the next song, and they basically stayed in the same formation, but facing out towards the audience this time. I think my favorite part of this song might be the soprano sax solo at the end. There really is something about having a live band there.
Apparently, Massu really likes Kushami, saying that even though it’s short, there are a lot of emotions that go into it. Then Tegoshi says that he likes Sayonara Boku no Machi a lot too, but he made a mistake while singing it and Massu tells him, well, since it’s Tegoshi… indicating that it was ok. Tegoshi’s like, “Really? Thanks.”
Tegoshi says that it’s their first time performing this way and asks the audience what we thought. When we all clapped again, Tegoshi said how happy he was to hear it and Massu adds that they don’t normally get rounds of applause. For some of you reading this, this probably sounds strange and I don’t think people usually mention this in reports. At Japanese concerts, especially Johnny’s concerts, people don’t really clap. People will yell and scream, but because people usually have an uchiwa in one hand and a penlight in the other, it’s kinda hard to clap. Everyone usually waves penlights instead.
Then Tegoshi announces that they’ve discovered side stages and that they will be going there now. On carts, Massu went to the one further away from me while Tegoshi came to the one right in front of our section… but because of the height difference, we couldn’t see him (but I was watching Massu, so… ^^;) But part of the side stages rise so we could see them. It rose a little into Sunadokei and it was really nice. I haven’t heard this song in a really long time and then to hear it live was just so pretty.
They sang Moshimo Boku ga Pochi Dattara next and they mostly remained on the side stages, waving at everyone. It made everyone really happy.
When they performed Tatta Hitotsu Dake, they made motions for everyone to clap along with the beat, so throughout the audience, you could see everyone clapping (well… you could see the penlights.) They moved back to the main stage on the inflatable pathways and although Tegoshi was doing the normal thing of just walking, Massu was jumping up and down all the way there. Since it’s inflated and not solid, it looked like he was bouncing on springs. Haha… On the main VTR there was a cell phone screen typing out the lyrics of the song.
They disappeared from sight for a little bit towards the end of the song, but on the main VTR, another cell phone showed up. The one on the left was Tegoshi’s and the one on the left was Massu’s. They were having a ‘conversation’ but I have terrible eyesight and couldn’t read it too well (thank god I wasn’t more towards the back). But from what I could see, they were saying really cute things and telling the audience to say things. Like, “Who do you like better?” (people were screaming out names) or “Do you love us?” (Hai~!), then “We love you all too!” Those were all Tegoshi’s, btw. Haha… And then on Massu’s one it said to say “Gyoza~!”, then “Sui gyoza~!” haha… Always thinking about that food I see.
They were gone for a while (so you could kinda tell that it was so they could change clothes) but when the opening of Boku no Cinderella came on, everyone died screaming. I think I might have squealed. >.> They were on carousel horses. No joke. In replacement of the carts they’d ridden to the side stages, there were carousel horses (Massu’s was yellow and Tegoshi’s was pink) and they rode all around the hall. When he wasn’t singing, Massu made like he was trying to get the horse to go faster or covered the horse’s butt while looking at the audience as if telling them not to stare at his butt. It was ridiculously cute. Seriously guys… only Tegomass.
Click here for Part 2
.