the 翔 ~SHOW~

I finally finished it. I have meant to do it so much earlier, but I found my life back in reality to be very busy :|

I know there has been many reviews already, but I promised to post mine so here it is.

It's on my blog. It's pretty long. It's pretty old. But I think it's pretty detailed. hopefully you enjoy it!

First of all, I would like to state the obvious: it was simply amazing.

I've subtitled sections so just find what you want to read if you're looking for a certain... thing. (Tickets, Goods, The Concert, The ACTUAL Concert, After the concet)

Tickets

I'll start from the beginning, how I got my ticket. I balloted just like everyone else and didn't get it (I live in the US so I use my grandma's address). But my mom's friend , Mrs. Sakurai (lol what a coincidence), who is a Johnny's fanatic promised to get a ticket for me. The way she got it is unbelievable to me.

First, she had us find as many friends as possible living in Japan to let us sign them up for the FC to ballot. We got about 21 but all of them failed :(. Her friend had a good Playzone ticket and let her trade it for an August 30th Kokuritsu ticket. She traded that ticket for multiple tickets on the 28^th so more people from our group could also go.

Then another friend's friend's daughter had an extra super awesome nose bleed arena ticket for the 28^th because her friend couldn't go (had school or something --I would totally skip). And since it was the 10th anniversary she wanted to go with someone who really loves Arashi, and possibly around her age, so I miraculously got it.

In the end Mrs. Sakurai got an arena seat for herself and a friend, a stand seat for my mom, and a nosebleed arena seat for me on the 28^th. She also managed to get tickets for some of her other friends on other days. O.O

Goods

Mrs. Sakurai told us that the goods were going to be sold on the 27^th at 10 a.m. So my mom and I got there at 9 (sister doesn't care at all for Arashi and left for Harajuku :/ ). There were already a horde of people lined up. One of Mrs. Sakurai's friends had lined up at 6:30 a.m. At first it wasn't too bad, the line was moving since they decided to open early and it wasn't crammed. But then the last half of the line waiting sucked because I got separated from my mom and we would just stand there way too close to each other in the muggy heat for about 40 min at a time.

We finally found each other and went into the goods selling place together. There were about 7 sections where they sold two different items in each section so it would spread the line out. The first section were pamphlets and eco bags, for example. We had a huge order from many different friends of Mrs. Sakurai, so we had to buy like nine pamphlets and six eco bags and basically a big quantity of each stuff. She had given us an envelope of 70,000 yen which is about 700 dollars, but that was all spent on the first three sections. My mom had brought 50,000 yen (500 dollars) just in case and used it all by the end. I used close to 20,000 yen (200 dollars) for myself.

My shopping list:

Pamphlet

Eco bag

Jumbo Uchiwa (Sho, Jun, Aiba)

Mini Uchiwa (all xD)

Towel

T-shirt

Poster (Arashi)

Penlight

Strap w/charm

Note (2x)

Photoset (Arashi, Sho, Jun, Nino)

I hadn't originally wanted the photosets but my mom and Mrs. Sakurai both bought it and so we had double. I sold two to a friend, kept Sho's, and gave one as a gift. Same for the strap, but I'm keeping that one.

(Just a side note about Arashi stuff I got in Japan: I got CxDxG no Arashi vol 1 and 2, Arashigoto photobook, three bagfuls of Arashi magazine page cutouts, Mishiranu Jyoukyaku pamphlet w/ four Nino postcards, and four FC newsletter pamphlets. I found a KKAA LE at a Book Off in Kouchi, but I didn't buy it >____< we had to leave and I couldn't remember if it was LE, but it was only 250 yen!!!)

Dun dun duuuuuuun.......

…......the CONCERT!!!

I got to the venue train station at around 3:45, already swarmed with girls wanting tickets, EVERYWHERE!!! We couldn't get into the venue until about 4:15 because there were so many people. After we got in, we sat down for a bit to rest. Then came the hard part: finding our gate. I got to my seat at a bit past 5 and found the person who sold me the nosebleed ticket for regular price. I was in the middle of the front block two blocks right from the main stage (looking at the main stage). It was heaven.

Ayana is about 20, and a major Sho fan, I learned, so we clicked instantly. I first thanked her for about 10 minutes before talking about who we like, what we bought, what our favorite song is, etc. I also told her about all the fans in America and around the world who wanted to see Arashi in concert and she was surprised. I also told her how crazy the Yatterman Premiere was in NY because there were so many Arashi fans.

She had been to at least one concert per tour since their debut. (I think that's why she got a really good seat, she's been a fan since their debut). More about Ayana later, she has one hell of a fan experience.

I can't tell you how I felt as the clock ticket closer to 5:30, I was the most nervous and anxious and excited as I ever was in my life, even before my races in championship meets. I wanted it to start really bad, but I also didn't want it to begin either because if it starts, then it would end. Ayana and I were seriously all jittery and looking around tripping out from the nervousness. Everyone was trying to figure out how they were going to start. Since we were in the front, we could see some shadows and feet behind/on top/above of the main screen on the front stage.

(Ayana was really nervous for Sho because whenever he flies or goes somewhere high, she gets really worried and says “Ganbatte, Sho-kun!”)

---HERE IS THE ACTUAL START OF THE CONCERT---

Overture – I don't remember if there was an overture...

Kansha Kangeki Ame Arashi – They flew out as we wondered, and they kind of reminded me of angels because they wore white. The bass and music was too loud and we couldn't hear the words very well at first, but they fixed that really quick. They flew all the way across to fire burner and waved to the fans outside.

Step and Go – they did part of the dance in front of the fire burner and then went down the stairs (I can't remember if they walked or used the escalator thing, but they did a really short version of the song and didn't include the rap.

Lucky Man – another moriage song, I think they got on the moving stage that circled the stands. They each did a greeting in the middle and Sho's rap was awesome as always.

We can make it! – Still on the moving stage. The flags came out and by this time, Jun and Ohno came into view (we couldn't see anything that went on in the back half of the venue except if they got on a heightened platform. They are so skinny!

Kaze no Mukou e – they sang on the main stage and I saw Sho's rap raw... with my bare eyes (cuz I forgot my binoculars, but not many people used it).

Crazy Moon – They went to the middle stage and danced the whole dance there. If I got on my tiptoes I could barely see it, so that's what I did the whole song. This dance is one of my favorites and I'm glad they did it.

PIKA☆NCHI (Aiba's solo) – we were all like 'what? Where are the other members? Because we didn't realize that it was a solo until most of the song was done. It was a harder rock version which was great.

HORIZON – this was the start of a bunch of older songs, and I totally loved that they sang them. I think they were in the middle, so I couldn't see them, but Ayana pointed out that an older performance was played along with the live one on the main screen (like the screen was split in three parts, the one in the middle was live of the concert going on now, and the two edge ones were of older performances of the same song in their early concerts)

DANGAN-LINER – same screen thing

Allergy – They danced with vegetables... corn, carrot, etc. Except Sho didn't have one and he pretended to be holding one.

Kokorochirari – same screen thing

CARNIVAL NIGHT Part2 – a super moriage song. I didn't know the hand movements like everyone else, lol. “SHE-A-R-N-I-BUY-A-ERU NAI!”

Kotoba yori Taisetsu na mono (Nino's solo) – Nino came out with his guitar and it was really cool. He messed up the lyrics in the middle and then said “I didn't mess up!!” a few lines later, which was really cute. It was a guitar-heavy version. Really, really awesome.

Everything – Another super awesome performance, they didn't dance but they were at the top of the main stage right in front of the screen. They had silhouettes of people walking by for one shot and a scene of a sunset/sunrise of Tokyo for another, and then they'd have traffic lights to go along with the lyrics. One part of the song was almost a capella.

Hitomi no naka no Galaxy – They came down the stairs for this one, Nino came on our side and did his opening. When he said “kimi ga tsubuyaita... (you said...)” Ohno walked next to Nino and they looked at each other “negaigototte, hakanainokana” it was really cute. The screen was a nightsky full of stars and it was beautiful. I think it got pretty dark by then.

Aozora pedal – great, great song. I loved this performance and song. I told Ayana that this was the first Arashi song I heard.

Typhoon Generation – Nino was on our side of the stage when he said his line. It was really funny because he had this badass face and said it in a funny badass way.

Kumori nochi Kaisei (Ohno's solo) – My favorite solo by far, Ohno wore his Utaoni outfit and sang this. He started from the back of the venue below the fire burner and made his way to the front. On the screen they had that smiley face/sad face tree.

a Day in Our Life – another moriage song, Sho's rap is amazing. I tended to sing along with Sho's rap parts instead of what the rest of the fans were singing to :/

Oh Yeah! – I was jumping the whole time for this song! Another amazing moriage song.

Hadashi no Mirai – They all got onto those tiny solo platforms that went up like 30 meters. Sho was the closest to us so we were pretty excited about that. He did awesome.

Beautiful Days – I couldn't really see it too well from where I was, but they danced it in the middle stage

(MC) – they made fun of Sho a lot XD. How he was all scared and stuff when they flew for KKAA and for the heightened platforms for Hadashi. He claimed that he looked the coolest when they flew, but at the end he admitted that he was terrified. Sho also commented on the irony that his first lines were “sou, sou, ii koto nante nai” (there aren't many good things) and how he gritted his teeth so hard when he wasn't singing because he was so terrified and after they were done flying his teeth hurt. They then made him do a solo Hadashi no Mirai to show that he wasn't a pussy and made him go onto that solo heightened platform again and do it. Sho closed his eyes and grabbed onto the railing and did the song, barely moving his hands, it was really cute. When they started to lower him, he looked back and realized that the members had left him for the main stage. We all clapped for him as he walked back to join them. Then they talked about Aiba's new drama. I don't remember much, but I know that he said that the white sweater he has to wear is really hot and how he's really sweaty everyday while shooting. Ohno commented on how nice the weather was and said the small breeze felt really good. Then somehow Jun got on the topic of how small Ohno's head is. He was able to touch finger to finger with both hands around his head. Then Nino wanted to try it too and he pushed Ohno's eyebrows up and made him have a really funny and cute face. The rest I don't remember, but it was hella funny. Sho left to get ready for his solo. Aiba was once again in charge of getting the fans on their feet. He said: “are you guys ready for more?!?!” (us: yeahhh!!!) “what? Are you guys planning to sit and watch the rest of the time?!?!?” (us: all stand up, laughing) Jun: “Aiba-chan, you're so good at getting them to stand up!”

Tomadoi Nagara (Sho's solo): like a techno version? It was pretty good, I was expecting rap, but that's ok. The dance was pretty cool and he was good at singing it, it was performed in the middle stage.

WISH (Jun's solo) – Jazz version, which was epic. He first came out with formal clothes on in the front stage and the screen had a vid of a curtain opening, like at a show. He then pretended like he was conducting music, which was the WISH melody and it was really creative. Then he sang it and it was also a really good solo.

Attack it! – hyper hyper HYPER!!! This was the new song that noone really knew, and all the members had to concentrate hard to get the fast lyrics. They went around the stands again

truth – I think they did this in the middle stage, but I can't remember. But I do remember that I turned my penlight on to the red setting for this song.

Ashita no Kioku – epic, and I was smiling the whole time, but I felt like crying. They were singing this in the front stage and they showed a bunch of pictures of all the members growing up. At the end they did a collage that formed into the kanji “arashi”

(VTR) – they showed their past and basically showed how hard they worked to get where they were. They worked REALLY hard ;_;

A・RA・SHI – they came out in those suke-suke suits!!! it was really cute and they were so embarrassed!!! at the end, Jun said: “nidoto yaranee karana!!!” (we'll NEVER do this again)

Sunrise Nippon
Kimi no tameni boku ga iru
Jidai
Nice na Kokoroiki
PIKA☆NCHI
Tomadoi nagara
Kotoba yori Taisetu na Mono
Hero
Sakura Sake
WISH
Kitto Daijoubu
Love so sweet
Happiness

• I'm not writing for all these songs because they did short versions for all of them, and they were all good and they did some of the dances

Believe – They did the dance in the middle stage

(Greeting) – All the members did a greeting, and the most memorable were Ohno's and Nino's. Ohno choked up and was really teary, which was adorable. But you can tell that he was really, genuinely, seriously, whole-heartedly thankful for the fans. It tickled me :). Then came Nino and his humor. He said that he'd never done anything seriously for 10 years in his life. He played baseball for 10 years just for fun, he went to school for 15 years just because, and he played (video) games for 20 years just for fun, but never anything serious for 10 whole years. In the middle of his speil, the fireworks went off and he was like “what?!?!?!?” and it went off for a while and he made funny faces the whole time. At the end he was mad because he forgot what he was talking about XD

5×10 – my new favorite song! Part of it was broadcasted on the news a lot. Many of the fans got really teary. There are no words to describe this performance, it just overflowed with their emotion of gratitude towards us and I knew that everyone else felt the same way for them too.

(Encore 1) – Ayana and I were, of course, chanting “A-RA-SHI” the whole time. She didn't tell me until later that she'd never done an encore call before and she's always wanted to but everyone who she came with would just sit down and expect the others to do it for them.

PIKA★★NCHI DOUBLE
Ashita ni Mukatte – I really loved this one the best in the first encore.
Dekiru dake
One Love – They had bajillions of balloons for this one. It was really epic-looking because the wind was blowing a little bit so it all went towards the left of the stage.

(Encore 2) – we did the call again, and this time we were able to get some of the other fans to join the encore call who didn't do it the first time.

Fight Song – was superfun, as expected, but still really fun. I was jumping the whole time!

Gorimuchuu – I was really glad they did this one, but kinda sad that it wasn't raining (lol, like last year's performance when they slid around) we were jumping the whole time for this too.

A・RA・SHI – last song... although I was hoping for a third encore, it was like a rule that everyone except me knew: no third encore unless it's the last day. Right when they ended, everyone sat down. No attempt for a third encore. But then again, everyone was afraid of missing the train.

After it was over (more about Ayana):

It took forever to get out, like 30 or 45 minutes, maybe longer. In this time we talked more about her Arashi experiences. Ayana's been to a VS Arashi show and she was in the very front row! It was when some comedy duo was there, she couldn't remember who they were though, maybe banana-man? If they've ever been on it. During the Cliff Climb, Sho was standing right in front of her and he took a step back so he was really close to her!!! She said she could have died happily right then and there =D. She also said that this was, by far, the best concert she's ever been to (and she's been to every single Arashi tour, some multiple times, except she couldn't get tickets to Sho's solo concert, although she went to Ohno's). But this was the first time she's had an arena seat, she has always had a stand seat before. She is a dedicated fan because ever since their debut, she has joined the FC and paid for everything herself. And she started working as soon as she could for that because her parents refused to. At the end I thanked her a million more times and said our goodbyes.

Sooooo, that's about it.... that's all I've got to share.. It's long, but I hope everyone who reads it can enjoy it!

(oh, and There's a full audio recording done by a generous fan for the whole concert on the 28th up in KMC. Mrs. Sakurai also informed me that she had found a fancam DVD for the 28th too, and she'll be sending it shortly -so if I have time (which I probably won't) and if I can figure out how to make DVD's into video files, I may upload them, but probably not because some other people will most likely post it on the web before me.)

Why? Can someone give me a decent explanation?

Stop obsessing over the Battle of the Pops or whatever it is. Who cares if Arashi is the most popular if fans just go screaming around hunting for votes? Personally, I am satisfied just by the fact that they win everything in my world. All the BEST!

been back for a while, but I had summer hw to finish up and school started and I've been super busy and tired... still updating on Arashi though.

I finally got to spend a full formal Arashi day to myself hogging the TV and watching MMA and concert vids all day today in celebration of their 10th anniversary! (hahaha, my poor family... at least my mom and sister enjoy the variety stuff though)

Tenjostyle has a super awesome 10th anniversary tribute fanvid that she made... I've watched it a bajillion times already. Go check it out.

I have a lot of the concert review written up and saved on my desktop, but I can't find time to finish it... but it's in pretty good detail so... eh, I'll just take my time. In the mean time you should read my 2007 review of the Arashi concert in Ishikawa. It's in this blog somewhere...

So, my friend who got me the August 30th ticket traded it with the August 28th ticket with a waaaaaaay better seat!!!!! Yaaaaaay!!!!!! (Arena B or something).

Change of plans! Im going to go get the goods on the 27th at 10am wearing my bright pink shirt. Not sure about the 28th yet, but Ill be there wearing my neon yellow shirt!!!

Yeahhhhhhhhh! I got the August 30th Kokuritsu Arashi's 10th anniversary concert ticket!

I haven't posted on my own blog for a while. I'm not necessarily busy anymore, I just don't have much to say at this point. Go Arashi? lol... I haven't kept up with their shows at all since the beginning of this year :P

I'm going to Japan in August and I'm hoping to get a ticket to the Arashi concert, wish me luck! And I'm also planning to go see the 24-hour television hosted by NEWS if I can.

Warning: this is a RANT -but it turned out interesting when I was done... This is just my opinion, and what goes on in my crazy head at midnight when I try to do my Calculus homework :D

(Don't get me wrong, I love Jun) but I am tired of 90% of Jun fans. They're not real fans. They're just superficial annoying wannabe's.

The other 10% of Jun fans, I praise. These are the people who weren't "Jun-baited' (I hate the word cringe, but I seriously cringe when I hear this). They are the ones who love all the members, and Jun is their favorite because they understand him and his relationship with the group. Even though Jun is their favorite, they still care for the rest of the members too.

Most Arashi fans have their favorites. Some don't. Whichever is the situation, I think that an "Arashi" fan should like all the members of the group. I don't understand how one could be a "fan" of a group in which there's a person in it that they don't like. It doesn't work in my head.

There's this girl I know, and she recently became an "Arashi fan". She was "Jun-baited" after watching some drama. She said that her number two is Sho, and that she hates Aiba... I think WHAT!?!?!?!? I don't understand her, how can she say she likes Arashi, when she doesn't like Aiba??? I wouldn't be able to stand watching their shows if there was someone always there that I didn't like, or listen to their music hearing his voice.

There was this other fan, that I don't know much about, but she was also a Jun-fan too. I don't know if she was "Jun-baited" though. She kept on going on and on about wanting a Jun drama for a couple months/weeks prior to the announcement of Smile. She kept on saying she's tired of all the other members having drama's and JUN HAS TO GET A DRAMA! or something like that. Jun has had a lot of good dramas throughout, compared to Sho, Ohno, and Aiba (oh gosh!) and I don't know what she's complaining about. Aiba fans must be dying for him to have a drama! (heavy sarcasm), and Ohno fans are just beginning to get their first shed of light with Ohno just starting to do dramas!

Can't she just enjoy the other member's dramas? Isn't she into Arashi and its members at all? I'm a core Sho fan myself, but I'm just ecstatic when any of the members do dramas and I enjoy them just as much. Is that just me? The same fan of course complains when they announced that Arashi wasn't doing the theme song for Smile, but Shiina Ringo was (and also the fact that they were doing one for the Quiz Show). She's like "I still can't see why they didn't just sing for Smile instead. I've waited so long for a Jun drama and Arashi dosen't even sing for it". Can't she just be happy that they are releasing a single (and it's double!) and that Jun and Sho has a drama? Can't she appreciate anything?

I guess this is pretty biased, and I understand that some Jun fans aren't like this. But most of the fans that bugs me are Jun fans. It's kinda like Twilight. I like the book, but I hate the fans. I don't like Akinishi Jin. He's the only person I almost hate. He's so bitchy, mean, and arrogant. So I am nuetral towards KAT-TUN, because the other members are good, but I can never call myself a fan (I did when he went way, for a short period of time). But that doesn't matter.

What I'm saying is, as a fan, I am so grateful that Arashi gets by everyday safely without getting hurt, or worse. I am always grateful of all the work they put out (they work SO MUCH!) and that they don't even at the least show that they are tired of it. Although we can't see how they are doing in their personal lives, I always hope that they aren't hurting inside, ever, that someone didn't hurt their feelings or tear their hearts out.

According to some book I read a while ago, this is a super unhealthy way to live... because if something happens to Arashi, I would probably break down for a while. Maybe a week, a month, or a longer time. But since I have fallen so much in love with this group, I can't undo what has been made. They provide the inevitable smile and the warm feelings in me. The songs I sing in the car. The tv I watch and that makes me smile, laugh, and sometimes cry. The inspiration. They are a big chunk of my life (which overall contains of (family, swimming, journalism(school), and Arashi). I love all of them: Jun, Nino, Ohno, Aiba, and Sho. Sho is my favorite, but Arashi -as a whole, is my favorite.

I tangented off a bit, but what I'm trying to say is, as an Arashi fan, we should like at least all of them. And most of all we should appreciate what all of them do.