Arafes 2013.09.21 Saturday
First night of Arafes ! =D
I arrived at Kokuritsu around 4 pm, and took some time to be able to take a correct picture of the objet lol It took around 15 minutes I think, but I was able to take a proper one ~
Got to my seat around 4:45 pm before my friend, and was like OMG OUR PLACES ARE AWESOME *w* 6 rows away from the horizontal alley, not far from a tower, we could see well the main stage and center stage… The Kokuritsu also felt smaller than in my memories x) Or at least, the arena felt smaller. But that may just be because I was on ground level.
Before the concert, we got on the screens promotions for the next Shiyagare, VS Arashi, Ima kono kao ga sugoi, Aiba Manabu (we got the NG version then the real take, so cute x)), Nino-san, Hidamari no Kanojo and Hajimari no uta.
A few things before the actual report :
-There are most likely mistakes, because I don't take notes and my memory is far from perfect... Also, I'm still studying Japanese, so I may have misunderstood some stuff.
-English isn't my native language, so pardon any English mistake !
-Thanks to yarukizero for her fast and very detailed reports, it's always good to have another report in case my memory fails =)
It was a few minutes late but finally... The concert started ! =D
Video
It had a kind of pop feeling. The Arafes 13’s logo started speaking, making us getting hyped up with heys scream heys and such. There was a mention how this festival created by us, and they appeared on stage jumping with fireworks, while the big logo which was on the main stage was raised above the stage. It was sometimes used as a screen for effects during the concert ^^
Face Down
They appeared on the main stage on blue and gold costumes with red baskets, and started dancing Face Down. The title appeared in white on a black screen (the main one), while the smoke from the small fireworks was slowly disappearing.
Crazy Moon ~ Kimi wa muteki ~
They started dancing on the main stage, but moved to the center stage at some point.
Truth
The center stage was elevated, and they danced there.
Welcome to our party
We got so hyped ! ^o^ They started spreading, and Jun followed by Sho came to our side >w< Jun went to the end of the alley while Sho rode an individual hanamichi on my left to the main stage (under the right screen) to finally go up in a tower at the end of the right side of the main stage. On the other hand, Jun went back towards the center, but on his way back, I think he read an uchiwa asking him to do it or something like that in the bloc on my left because he stopped in his tracks while seemingly reading something, and slapped his butt with his right hand x)) So while Jun left, Aiba-chan came to our side ~ Thus it’s Aiba who rose in the tower in front of us, in the middle of the right alley ^^ I think Jun was in a tower at the backstage (or was it center ?), Nino on the opposite side of Aiba and Ohno on the main stage’s left.
While in their towers, they did the greetings.
Greetings
Jun’s one was pretty much the usual stuff (yay’s, that he had wanted to meet us), except that he said “I swear ! (with his right hand up) We’ll make these 70,000 people happy !” in a really cute way, and he made us all die x) He asked us if we were ready to be happy as well and to follow them ~
Nino started with “irasshaimase” of course, and said that Arashi’s summer won’t end. He hyped us with “Ikeru no kai ?”s, and said “saigo made yoroshiku”
Aiba said his usual “moriagatte n no ?” and hyped us like that ^^
Oh-chan greeted us with “hai”s, saying they were also doing it this year and that it was a Kokuritsu festival, ending with a “Kokuritsu !”.
Sho started with a “How are you feeling Tokyo ?”, asking successively stands and arena. He said they were ready, what about us ? We started screaming Arashi after Sho, and the song started again.
Happiness
Nino : “Moriagatte iku zo !” (Let’s get hyped up !)
Towards the end of the song, I think they got back to the center stage, while Oh-chan and Sho-chan just disappeared under the main.
Video
The members characters appeared on screen with a beach background, and welcomed us to Arafes. Around 290,000 persons had voted ~ (I was a bit surprised, I thought more people would have voted since we had around three weeks… Last year, it was around 230,000 votes if I remember correctly ?) Then they announced that this year, every member had produced a corner ^o^ When Aiba asked Riida what kind of feeling these corners had, he answered “ienai” (I can’t say it) lol Aiba was the first corner, and said it had something to do with time, since it was currently sunset time (actually it had passed just a bit before ><). They talked a bit about rain (like it could actually be falling at that time, and the girls behind me were like “don’t talk about bad things !” lol), then Aiba announced “sunset song” (in English) as his theme while the characters put on Arafes’ glasses ~ What started playing was…
Hello Goodbye
Aiba-chan appeared at the back stage in white, and moved towards the main during the song. He played the harmonica there ^w^ Of course he was really cute all the way ~ The members appeared after the harmonica part, singing each a line and then dancing the chorus =)
On the main screen, Aiba’s character was walking on half an earth (it was ground rather than Earth actually), while different sceneries passed ~
Subarashiki sekai
Okay, this is probably my favorite Arashi song, and the one I’ve wanted to hear live the most, so… I got pretty emotional. On the main screen, the video was really pretty : someone was drawing in the sand (the sand was in black and the ground beige), drawing and erasing drawings right after completion quickly. The visuals really suited this song, and the drawings were sometimes in accordance to the lyrics.
They were on the main stage’s stairs wearing white (Aiba had a black tattoo of the Arashi logo on his right wrist, so cute x)), and the song was beautiful of course >w< Oh-chan messed up twice though, once at “itsu no hi ka boku no soba ni”, he started singing at the “ka”, and the second one was his solo line for the last chorus, where he started singing belatedly as well. I wonder what happened to him ? There's a good chance these mistakes were a mic problem though, I’m not sure. But what was certain is that (I don’t remember if we had noticed it before already or not) Oh-chan’s voice wasn’t really good tonight, he was probably sick ><
By the end of the song, they had already bypassed the center stage and separated in two groups on the horizontal alleys, with Juntoshi on my side !
Love Situation
I didn’t see it, but my friend saw Oh-chan coughing before the song started, poor him ._.
I was lucky for this one, since I got to see Juntoshi dancing it in front of me *w* They did some fanservice between them during it as well, they were so cute >w< They danced in two places, first before the bloc on my left and second just a bit on my right. Also, the alley rose up, and they had screens on theirs sides, showing “Love situation” there ~ An elevated long alley was a good idea I think, the effect was pretty !
They went back to the center during the song, and Jun was making hands movements to Oh-chan to come, while Oh-chan was making grand arm gestures, in a “I’m comiiiiing” way LOL
At least the solo parts, with the famous “chikazukitai”, were on center stage. Don’t remember exactly when they moved there.
Festival Night
So much fun !! =D
Nino went to our side to ride an individual hanamichi leading him to backstage ~
At the end of the song, Sho and Nino got on one knee facing each other haha
Video
Oh-chan said he was next, and his corner had “atmosphere” (funiki). It was also made of songs which he had choreographed, and which we could dance with him. His theme : “mysterious” lol
Take me far away
Oh-chan appeared on the main stage in black and red (red shirt), and danced there. There were women back dancers as well. During the song he moved to the center (which got elevated), and considering his voice tonight and how it sounded so pretty there, I guess it was playback… But anyway, his dance was good <3
Tokei Jikake no Umbrella
Members joined Oh-chan on an elevated center stage, and they danced there. The visuals on the screens were the same as last year, notably the rose petals members. The song was cut right before Sho’s rap though… The clock ticked until midnight, so I guessed where this was going ~
Monster
The Arashi logo had turned into a monster for this song x) Triangle eyes and fangs haha
They used fire, danced on center, and backdancers were around the center stage as well and on alleys.
Fight song
Such a fun song ~ ^o^
In the beginning, Oh-chan’s mic did something weird lol His voice came out really weird, like completely artificial, and I guess a voice modulator was used too much x) Oh-chan smiled a bit at his weird voice, while Nino looked at him singing and tried to suppress a laugh XD
Also, I think Jun came to our side a bit again, or was it Aiba-chan ?
Towards the end they were going back to the main, and Nino and Riida were late haha Jun and Aiba were waiting for them, so Jun made hand gestures or them to hurry while they were running x) Nino reached first, with Jun making a kind of “goal !” hand gesture, and then Oh-chan followed a bit afterwards. Both fell down on the floor after that lol While they disappeared backstage, Jun said “Uchi no Riida” while pointing to an exhausted Oh-chan walking backstage haha
Video
Sho announced his theme as “hip na pop”, and started talking in a foreign voice, it was funny x) The background had the Taj Mahal, Chinese towers… The ending pose was a rapper’s one, with their arms crossed diagonally ~
Hip Hop Boogie
He started his solo saying lines rather than singing, and was on center stage. During the first chorus, while Sho was shown in the middle of the main screen, images of members wearing the Arafes t-shirt appeared beside Sho (the screen was cut in five long rectangles) and they were doing funny faces x)
The Arashi logo had sunglasses on ~
He went back to the main during the song.
Cool & Soul
Tables with mics and chairs appeared on the main stage, and the other members were slumped in their chair before the song started.
Lots of fanservice during it, like Nino taking Jun by the shoulder ~ Overall, they were all so kakkoii *w* During the talk portion, Sho talked about albums, but couldn’t grasp it well. They also got on the tables near the end, at the usual part, starting with Sho, and Jun (wearing sunglasses or this song of course x)) sat with his back on us too. In this position, we saw that his purple and white jacket had “I think therefore I am” in purple sequins x)
A day in our Life
They sang on center stage, and the singing allocations were exchanged ! So it was Juntoshi rapping on the left of the center and the three other members doing the other part on the right x) Juntoshi made quite a few rapper poses, they were so funny ~ It was also cool to hear a different version of this song with Ohno rapping ^w^
Lucky Man
They had walked previously so were already on the stage in the stands at that time ~ Again, a really fun song to do ^^
Meikyuu Love Song
They got down the stands stage during it. At the last chorus, we had them dancing and of course, we screamed when they got down on one knee ~
MC
It started around 7:40 pm.
Aiba mentioned how hot it was, and they teased him because he had some fur on his collar x) (Sho’s doing haha) So Jun said he should undress a bit, and even mentioned he would do it as well. Thus he got rid of his own jacket, Oh-chan too, and Aiba started getting rid of his but put it back, because he had a pink tank top LOL
They talked about the produced corners, and when Oh-chan was talking about his, at some point he complained how no one seemed interested in what he was saying haha Also, they talked about the requests, how danced songs were quite in, and Oh-chan asked us if we wanted to see their painful expressions while dancing HAHA (The others : No, surely because we’re kakkoi ! lol) They surveyed who had voted, who couldn’t (I didn’t see raised hands but it seems like there were a few). Then they talked about the rap part, with Jun saying “I didn’t think I would hear Satoshi’s rap !” (yeah, he said Satoshi ^w^).
Then the topic moved to the Olympics, with Sho mentioning he felt happy while seeing images of Kokuritsu on screen and stuff, since they’re able to perfom there =) Nino said they/we were “saigo no hito” (the last persons), with Sho commenting this sentence had a romantic vibe to it ~
They talked about the 2020 Olympics announcement, and when Oh-chan was asked to enter the conversation, he made a kinda surprised face which made us laugh and then mentioned how he was happy when he heard the news. He started speaking about seeing pictures of Kokuritsu on TV, but Nino cut him saying they had already talked about that before but he wasn’t following haha
Sho also presented some of tonight’s guests, like the president of the Japanese Olympic Committee and some athletes.
Afterwards they walked back to the main, and talked a bit pushing their mic aside (mostly Sho, Jun and Nino), Nino mentioning they were having a little meeting lol Oh-chan : “Because it’s the first day ~” And behind the meeting trio, Aiba put his arm on Oh-chan’s shoulders >w<
Sho, Ohno and Nino were left on stage, and wanted to start promoting. They made Oh-chan start his, and he stuttered (il a eu un blanc violent, c’était tellement drôle XD “Eh… Eto… Eh…”), so we all laughed and Sho and Nino teased him, Nino doing his usual “owari !” and getting in front of Oh-chan to hide him. Sho proposed to do it, but Oh-chan said he’d do it again, and this time he promoted Kagiheya’s SP properly. Sho asked him if he had already remembered his line, and Oh-chan’s “Eh ?” answered everything haha Then they talked about Enomoto, Nino joked that he thought the character's name was Enoki XD Sho countered he had seen uchiwa with Enomoto written on it (they pointed toward the right arena between the main stage and the alley leading to center stage), and Nino was like “Ah, so that’s what it was !” lol Sho also made us laugh, saying there was no Enomoto in Arashi XD (Implying there souldn't be an uchiwa for him x)) Then Ohno commented that Nino had seen everything, and Nino replied that he did ~
Afterwards Sho did Kamisama no Karute’s promotion, and passed the promotion baton to Nino, calling him “Nino-san” (Nino was like “Eh ?” at first but picked on the second time x)). While Nino was promoting, Jun reappeared so it was like the claps we were doing for Nino-san’s promo were for Jun’s entry XD Aiba-chan was following Jun, and they were wearing pastel colors suits, so Sho commented it did feel like a congratulation lol He made Oh-chan mention the Kagiheya SP again, and Jun and Aiba replied “Congratulations” in unison, then Sho talked about Kamisama no Karute 2 and they wished him “Congratulations” again, with their right arm bent up (bras droit levé avec paume à la verticale) haha
Jun lead Aiba Manabu’s promo, saying he was watching it, and Sho commented locations suited him ~ Jun : You love locations right. Aiba said waking up early and going to town was fun, but the studio was fine as well. Afterwards he hinted to Jun’s promo (the other members had left to get changed), so on to Hidamari no Kanojo promotion. Aiba said he would go around doing Damakano’s promo, Jun countered it was Hidamari no Kanojo, but Aiba replied it’d be good to have a catchy name, like Nazodi x) Jun gave his okay for Aiba-chan to use Damakano lol Then Jun explained a bit the contents of the movie, saying it was a love story, something Aiba-chan likes ~
Sho-chan reappeared, saying “Congratulations”, and Ohno and Nino followed. Sho wanted to go into the second half, but Nino said they should talk some more ^^ But Sho couldn’t find a topic to talk about lol He finally asked Jun which TV programs he would go to to promote, and he mentioned Tunnels no Minasan no Okage deshita he had filmed just a bit earlier (it’s the kuwazugirai corner, yay =D), Sekai Banzuke and Shabekuri 007. We “ehhh”ed at the last one, since it was the first time a member was appearing in it (apart from the 24h TV apparition that was a special one). He also talked about appearing Hanamaru Market. Then he asked the members to go and watch his movie, he’d give them presale tickets, and Oh-chan was surprised that with one, you could just go in for free lol Sho asked the other if they could watch a member’s movie, and Nino said that recently, he felt it was fine. Aiba-chan started saying something, so Nino asked him if he had listened to what he had just said, and Aiba-chan put his right arm around Nino’s shoulder, apologizing >w< Aiba then talked about he had been with Riida to see Nino’s movie, and it had been completely fine (Oh-chan : “We went, cried and left” lol) So they concluded they should be fine seeing Jun’s movie in theatres x) Sho also remembered having seen Gantz, and it had been okay ~ Thus they said they should watch Damakano, and Sho-chan warned that this nickname shouldn’t be used too much or it’ll end up in pamphlets hahaha Aiba expressed his wish to have a Nazodi pamphlet, and Sho told him he would give him one x)
Then they moved on to the second part, and Sho asked them to come on stage (onegaiiiitashimasu), saying it wasn’t scary. Children came out, placing themselves on the main stairs and on its sides (they were also teenagers on the stage right above with a conductor). Jun talked about N Con 80 (the children had participated in it), Hajimari no Uta, and the concert started again.
Furusato
The children on the stairs had lights in their hands (we noticed only when they were leaving a black stadium that the candles colors were AMNOS), and Arashi went among them to sing.
On the screens, various pics of Japan were shown. The mosaic at the end which faded was beautiful ~
Your Song
We were surprised to have it !
During the whole song, children and Arashi would go slightly from right to left with their body.
For the long “Your Song” at the beginning and the end of the song, Sho sang it longer than others, I dunno why x)
Kaze no mukou e
Still with the choir, and the visuals on screens were old ones, the version with half of the earth shown, the sky and different things involving plants and such.
Video
Jun was missing in the video (Paris in the background ^w^), so we knew his corner was coming. The DJ table had come up on the moving stage on the right side of the main during Kaze no mukou e actually, so it wasn’t a surprise at all x) The theme : “remix”. The characters had headphones at the end !
DJ
The Arashi logo had sunglasses again ~
It started with Come back to me, and then various songs were used, like “We wanna funk we need a funk” was written on the main screen at the beginning.
Members appeared at Jun’s side, and he launched the next song while the moving stage started moving ~
Step and go
They danced around the DJ table, that was a new scene ~
Kitto Daijoubu
Still on the moving stage going around the stadium and Jun remixing when songs change ^^
Love so sweet
They had almost reached the middle of the stadium when it came to Love so sweet ~ Was a bit disappointed we would only get an extract of it T_T
Yes ? No ?
For this song, they went to the stands stage ~
Re(mark)able
Jun had a green laser which he pointed out to the main screen, which had the Olympics rings in Arashi colors with 2020 Tokyo written below it. At some point, the Arashi logo appeared inside the rings, the image faded and… Re(mark)able started, with the Olympic flame being lit up ! =)
The lyrics were changed to ARASHI13, and at the talk part, of course Sho talked about the Olympics, saying something along the lines of “In 1964, Tokyo Olympics were held. And then, it has been decided that the 2020 Olympics would be held in Tokyo again”.
Troublemaker
They had got back on the moving stage and went around the dome again, and the visuals for the song were also old ones.
At the end of the song, the moving stage was on the middle of the left part of the stadium.
Hadashi no Mirai
It was only a short instrumental of it during the remix, they didn’t sing or anything.
Again, disappointed we wouldn’t get it T_T I wanted to dance along this song ._.
Believe
We got Sho’s rap ^w^
Up to you
They danced it a bit.
The moving stage had reached the main at that time, and for the final pose, everyone took a rapper pose (arms crossed diagonally), with Jun standing on the left and the other members kneeling down.
Shake it
The members disappeared doing the dance, and afterwards Jun danced it alone, going from the left of the main stage to its upper part, then down the stairs towards the end (notably when he ripped his shirt off x)). There were men and women backdancers, dancing in pairs at some points. Fountains were used on the main stage at the end, with water being thrown diagonally.
Video
Nino’s theme : outdoor night.
Breathless
They reappeared on the main for it, and we got all pretty excited ~ On the main screen, the PV was used with water images inserted in it (the effect was so kakkoii !), while the side screens were in black and white. The fountains were also used ^^
When it was time for Nino’s solo line towards the end (definitely live ~), they were already on center stage.
Calling
They had spread on the horizontal alley, and Nino was in front of us !! On our right, I think it was Sho. Nino was really cute, singing without his mic when it wasn’t his line, waving at us and being cute for us >w<
Also, the alleys were raised for the song ^^
Still
The song started with a solo of Nino, and since the instrumental and rhythm used were different, I didn’t remember right away the title of the song, but I knew I liked it and screamed anyway when it started ~ Having Nino doing it right in front of us was such a big bonus <3 We ended the song with another solo part of Nino on an elevated center stage, but the middle of it wasn’t elevated yet, so we didn’t know what was coming (personally hoping for a piano, I wanted Niji >w<). Nino announced his solo, and it was...
Himitsu
For his solo, Nino had the members in his back in animal costumes ! x) We laughed and cheered so hard for them ~ From left to right, there were a raccoon (which ended being Jun, but we got to know that only towards the end of the song), a green kappa (Oh-chan), a lion (Sho), and a giraffe (Aiba-chan) which had a red net on its neck.
During the song Nino went to them individually, with Jun walking a bit to the left while waving and messing with Nino, Nino making Oh-chan wave to us, then Sho and him did something but I can’t remember (it wasn’t big though), and finally, Aiba and Nino bowed to each other lol
Nino was laughing quite a lot, and at several point ended up laughing rather than singing, looking at the members XD So cute !
For the ending, Nino had some cool dancing, he even went on the floor ~ Then members were on one knee, presenting Nino as the main star with their hands towards him.
They got rid of their headpiece in turns, and were all pretty sweaty, poor them it was already so hot… Nino was making surprised faces when they took off their headpiece x) But he really cracked up for Aiba, because instead of Aiba-chan’s face being revealed… A tiger mask appeared XDD Nino asked if it wasn’t Aiba, but Aiba replied no in a low voice and said it was a secret (himitsu). They talked while returning to the main stage, and Aiba made us laugh by saying he couldn’t see anything with the mask and the headpiece lol Sho commented he was glad it was September haha (Nino has thanked them before for wearing such a costume when it’s so hot) They teased Aiba-chan again, asking him who he was, and he insisted on it being a himitsu x)
Video
They announced the top 10 single ranking ^w^
10. Happiness
9. A.RA.SHI
8. Crazy Moon ~ Kimi wa Muteki ~
7 Pikanchi Double
6. Monster
Nino teased Oh-chan, saying it was (Che) Hou Man’s drama lol
5. Face Down
4. Wild at heart
Jun’s character got changed to Sugi’s sleeveless jean jacket while doing the “Wild da ze” pose, so cute x)
3. Truth
2. Breathless
Jun said that since he could probably only do it here, he’d like to try it and asked for Nino’s permission, which he got. So… He did the “Platina Data” line, his character of course doing it while turning around and wearing glasses, so we obviously screamed !
1. was…
Endless Game
Definitely playback, the singing was way too perfect, and stood out even more considering the sound problems ^^"
They danced it on the main, and flames in several colors (red, green, white) were used ^w^
Summer splash
They went in towers for this song, and Oh-chan was in front of us, with Jun being on the tower on the right of the main stage ~ Fountains were used of course, and we got pretty wet ; I laughed at how much water Oh-chan had received XD
Oh yeah
I think they partly sang it in the towers, but I can’t remember properly ><
It might be here or elsewhere, I’m not sure but at some point, when they were all going back to center stage, Nino sang belatedly for quite a few seconds, so the ensemble was thrown off.
Energy song
Jun rode an individual hanamichi from his tower to the end of the horizontal alley on my side (it was either at this moment or during the latter half of Oh yeah), and he stayed with us for quite a long time, jumping with us ^o^ I got sooo hyped =D Everyone was jumping crazily, it was so much fun >w<
At some point, on his way back to center stage, Jun stopped and moved his butt from side to side, slapping his right hip from time to time (every three beats, so the music rhythm ~). He really was cute ~
Towards the end, they presented the band, Mountain Blast, and S.P.A.D were the dancers ^^ Then they presented the members individually, with Jun blowing us a kiss (with his eyes tightly closed, so cute >w<), Aiba-chan making a kind of wiping kiss (think his solo in Popcorn), Sho the Endless Game pose (thumb and index under his chin) and Oh-chan made us laugh with a funny face x)
Wild at heart
It started with Jun screaming “Kokuritsu last da !”, and they sang on the main, without stand mics. The visuals used were also old ones.
Towards the end, there was a pause and I knew what was coming… Indeed, we got hanabi ^O^ For the last fireworks, there were fireworks from the center stage (which they had reached by now) as well ! ^w^
Thank you speeches
Sho talked about dreams, like it was a dream to perform in Kokuritsu, and even more so six times. He asked us to show them more dreams, and that they wanted to dream with us =)
Oh-chan said it was a concert done with our requests, and that he had thought “how nostalgic” several times tonight while doing some songs =) He finished asking us to keep on following them ^^
Aiba-chan talked about how amazing it was that it was their sixth time in Kokuritsu, and mentioned how many memories he had from there, like his pants getting ripped LOL He said it was thanks to us, requesting songs and such, if they were able to stand here =) Then he said that even after Kokuritsu’s renovation, he’d like to do concerts again here ^^ He made us laugh with a kind of “that’s just my personal feelings though” x) Sho made him repeat the “personal” part as well lol
Nino said he had felt he had become an adult for this concert. Since everyone was producing something this time, he was really looking for it, and especially intrigued by Aiba-chan’s one. Riida and Sho have done solo concerts, J is usually in charge of Arashi concerts, but when Nino and Aiba had tried to help with the concert, only 2% was done lol So he was really worried. But that they had pulled it through, he thought they had become adults. He also mentioned the tiger mask, how Aiba-chan had thought really hard about it ~ Then he talked about how, when he became 30 and danced in front of the mirror (referring to the dance training for his solo), he thought “kawaikunai” (you’re not cute) hahaha But we reassured him with “kawaii” screams x) He then said there was also a concert tomorrow, but tonight was the last night, that’s what he had thought. And because of that, he could have cried. Just like Aiba, who said it was personal, Nino also thought he’d like to come back here after the renovation. He made us laugh by saying that they would get older, but we would also haha He finished by mentioning how doing concerts with us was so much fun, and thanked us.
Jun mentioned how he had felt happy once again, having fun with us in Kokuritsu =) He also said he was really grateful for being able to perform there for six years, and commented that the Olympic flame was beautiful. He talked about having entered their 15th anniversary because we supported them, that tonight we had fun together, had direct communication, and that he would like to do it again.
5x10
On the main screen the lyrics were written in a handwriting police. The background was a blur of pastel colors with songs titles written on it, it was very pretty =)
They sang on the horizontal alley (elevated), and from left to right : Sho, Nino, Jun, Ohno, and Aiba-chan before us ^^
Sho changed the first line from “kizukeba 10 nen” to “haya 14 nen” (fast 14 years) =)
Balloons were released during the silence before the last chorus (they were all on center stage at that time), they were white with the Arafes 13 logo in orange ~ They all escaped on the right, and the night sky filled with white balloons was so beautiful…
This performance was definitely live <3
They disappeared through the center stage, their hands being the last thing we saw, and a member (Jun ? Oh-chan ?) was making a peace sign =) That was the last image shown.
First encore
Love Rainbow
They reappeared on the main stage wearing the concert t-shirts (with sequins on the back x)), and split in hanamichis. Jun and Sho took the left one, and Ohno, Aiba and Nino the right one. The stage was lit up in rainbow colors, notably the stairs, it was so pretty ~
A.RA.SHI
They had reached the middle part of the stadium’s sides at the beginning, and the hanamichi crossed each other at the backstage around the end of the song ^^
At the last “For dream”, Ohno did a bit of a tenor voice at the “for” with a funny face, so he made us laugh x)
Gori Muchuu
Such a fun song ! =D
Second encore
Pikanchi Double
We finally got Sho on the alley before us ^o^ By the end of the song, we got Jun again <3 He had reached the end of the alley by the time Pikanchi Double was over.
Sakura Sake
We got Jun and Aiba for this song =D
At the end, when they had reached the main stage, they did the usual jump, with Jun being like a conductor on the stairs just before getting a bit down for the jump ^^
They thanked us again, and while disappearing, Oh-chan was kinda pushed by Sho to do something, so he made some “oh” with a funny face to make us laugh x)
General impressions
-Have to admit, I preferred last year’s setlist. I checked afterwards and the thing is not even that many songs changed, but the atmosphere was completely different, at least to my friend and myself. So while yeah, the songs used were pretty much the same, the arrangement gave away a different vibe from last year’s concert ~ Kudos for that, because it’s not an easy stunt.
But of course, setlist “disappointment” aside, I still had a blast x) And heard Subarashiki Sekai live, so for that alone, I can’t complain !
-The sound was pretty bad… ^^" I was hearing back voices much more than Arashi O_O During the whole concert… If they were singing alone it was okay, but once they were at least two to sing, the whole voice volume was getting down and I couldn’t hear them properly. We had problems hearing Oh-chan and Nino’s voices for example >< I wonder why ? But well, in that sense, distinguish playback from live was really easy lol Also, it may have something to do with my arena seat, since we were really close to the speakers.
I arrived at Kokuritsu around 4 pm, and took some time to be able to take a correct picture of the objet lol It took around 15 minutes I think, but I was able to take a proper one ~
Got to my seat around 4:45 pm before my friend, and was like OMG OUR PLACES ARE AWESOME *w* 6 rows away from the horizontal alley, not far from a tower, we could see well the main stage and center stage… The Kokuritsu also felt smaller than in my memories x) Or at least, the arena felt smaller. But that may just be because I was on ground level.
Before the concert, we got on the screens promotions for the next Shiyagare, VS Arashi, Ima kono kao ga sugoi, Aiba Manabu (we got the NG version then the real take, so cute x)), Nino-san, Hidamari no Kanojo and Hajimari no uta.
A few things before the actual report :
-There are most likely mistakes, because I don't take notes and my memory is far from perfect... Also, I'm still studying Japanese, so I may have misunderstood some stuff.
-English isn't my native language, so pardon any English mistake !
-Thanks to yarukizero for her fast and very detailed reports, it's always good to have another report in case my memory fails =)
It was a few minutes late but finally... The concert started ! =D
Video
It had a kind of pop feeling. The Arafes 13’s logo started speaking, making us getting hyped up with heys scream heys and such. There was a mention how this festival created by us, and they appeared on stage jumping with fireworks, while the big logo which was on the main stage was raised above the stage. It was sometimes used as a screen for effects during the concert ^^
Face Down
They appeared on the main stage on blue and gold costumes with red baskets, and started dancing Face Down. The title appeared in white on a black screen (the main one), while the smoke from the small fireworks was slowly disappearing.
Crazy Moon ~ Kimi wa muteki ~
They started dancing on the main stage, but moved to the center stage at some point.
Truth
The center stage was elevated, and they danced there.
Welcome to our party
We got so hyped ! ^o^ They started spreading, and Jun followed by Sho came to our side >w< Jun went to the end of the alley while Sho rode an individual hanamichi on my left to the main stage (under the right screen) to finally go up in a tower at the end of the right side of the main stage. On the other hand, Jun went back towards the center, but on his way back, I think he read an uchiwa asking him to do it or something like that in the bloc on my left because he stopped in his tracks while seemingly reading something, and slapped his butt with his right hand x)) So while Jun left, Aiba-chan came to our side ~ Thus it’s Aiba who rose in the tower in front of us, in the middle of the right alley ^^ I think Jun was in a tower at the backstage (or was it center ?), Nino on the opposite side of Aiba and Ohno on the main stage’s left.
While in their towers, they did the greetings.
Greetings
Jun’s one was pretty much the usual stuff (yay’s, that he had wanted to meet us), except that he said “I swear ! (with his right hand up) We’ll make these 70,000 people happy !” in a really cute way, and he made us all die x) He asked us if we were ready to be happy as well and to follow them ~
Nino started with “irasshaimase” of course, and said that Arashi’s summer won’t end. He hyped us with “Ikeru no kai ?”s, and said “saigo made yoroshiku”
Aiba said his usual “moriagatte n no ?” and hyped us like that ^^
Oh-chan greeted us with “hai”s, saying they were also doing it this year and that it was a Kokuritsu festival, ending with a “Kokuritsu !”.
Sho started with a “How are you feeling Tokyo ?”, asking successively stands and arena. He said they were ready, what about us ? We started screaming Arashi after Sho, and the song started again.
Happiness
Nino : “Moriagatte iku zo !” (Let’s get hyped up !)
Towards the end of the song, I think they got back to the center stage, while Oh-chan and Sho-chan just disappeared under the main.
Video
The members characters appeared on screen with a beach background, and welcomed us to Arafes. Around 290,000 persons had voted ~ (I was a bit surprised, I thought more people would have voted since we had around three weeks… Last year, it was around 230,000 votes if I remember correctly ?) Then they announced that this year, every member had produced a corner ^o^ When Aiba asked Riida what kind of feeling these corners had, he answered “ienai” (I can’t say it) lol Aiba was the first corner, and said it had something to do with time, since it was currently sunset time (actually it had passed just a bit before ><). They talked a bit about rain (like it could actually be falling at that time, and the girls behind me were like “don’t talk about bad things !” lol), then Aiba announced “sunset song” (in English) as his theme while the characters put on Arafes’ glasses ~ What started playing was…
Hello Goodbye
Aiba-chan appeared at the back stage in white, and moved towards the main during the song. He played the harmonica there ^w^ Of course he was really cute all the way ~ The members appeared after the harmonica part, singing each a line and then dancing the chorus =)
On the main screen, Aiba’s character was walking on half an earth (it was ground rather than Earth actually), while different sceneries passed ~
Subarashiki sekai
Okay, this is probably my favorite Arashi song, and the one I’ve wanted to hear live the most, so… I got pretty emotional. On the main screen, the video was really pretty : someone was drawing in the sand (the sand was in black and the ground beige), drawing and erasing drawings right after completion quickly. The visuals really suited this song, and the drawings were sometimes in accordance to the lyrics.
They were on the main stage’s stairs wearing white (Aiba had a black tattoo of the Arashi logo on his right wrist, so cute x)), and the song was beautiful of course >w< Oh-chan messed up twice though, once at “itsu no hi ka boku no soba ni”, he started singing at the “ka”, and the second one was his solo line for the last chorus, where he started singing belatedly as well. I wonder what happened to him ? There's a good chance these mistakes were a mic problem though, I’m not sure. But what was certain is that (I don’t remember if we had noticed it before already or not) Oh-chan’s voice wasn’t really good tonight, he was probably sick ><
By the end of the song, they had already bypassed the center stage and separated in two groups on the horizontal alleys, with Juntoshi on my side !
Love Situation
I didn’t see it, but my friend saw Oh-chan coughing before the song started, poor him ._.
I was lucky for this one, since I got to see Juntoshi dancing it in front of me *w* They did some fanservice between them during it as well, they were so cute >w< They danced in two places, first before the bloc on my left and second just a bit on my right. Also, the alley rose up, and they had screens on theirs sides, showing “Love situation” there ~ An elevated long alley was a good idea I think, the effect was pretty !
They went back to the center during the song, and Jun was making hands movements to Oh-chan to come, while Oh-chan was making grand arm gestures, in a “I’m comiiiiing” way LOL
At least the solo parts, with the famous “chikazukitai”, were on center stage. Don’t remember exactly when they moved there.
Festival Night
So much fun !! =D
Nino went to our side to ride an individual hanamichi leading him to backstage ~
At the end of the song, Sho and Nino got on one knee facing each other haha
Video
Oh-chan said he was next, and his corner had “atmosphere” (funiki). It was also made of songs which he had choreographed, and which we could dance with him. His theme : “mysterious” lol
Take me far away
Oh-chan appeared on the main stage in black and red (red shirt), and danced there. There were women back dancers as well. During the song he moved to the center (which got elevated), and considering his voice tonight and how it sounded so pretty there, I guess it was playback… But anyway, his dance was good <3
Tokei Jikake no Umbrella
Members joined Oh-chan on an elevated center stage, and they danced there. The visuals on the screens were the same as last year, notably the rose petals members. The song was cut right before Sho’s rap though… The clock ticked until midnight, so I guessed where this was going ~
Monster
The Arashi logo had turned into a monster for this song x) Triangle eyes and fangs haha
They used fire, danced on center, and backdancers were around the center stage as well and on alleys.
Fight song
Such a fun song ~ ^o^
In the beginning, Oh-chan’s mic did something weird lol His voice came out really weird, like completely artificial, and I guess a voice modulator was used too much x) Oh-chan smiled a bit at his weird voice, while Nino looked at him singing and tried to suppress a laugh XD
Also, I think Jun came to our side a bit again, or was it Aiba-chan ?
Towards the end they were going back to the main, and Nino and Riida were late haha Jun and Aiba were waiting for them, so Jun made hand gestures or them to hurry while they were running x) Nino reached first, with Jun making a kind of “goal !” hand gesture, and then Oh-chan followed a bit afterwards. Both fell down on the floor after that lol While they disappeared backstage, Jun said “Uchi no Riida” while pointing to an exhausted Oh-chan walking backstage haha
Video
Sho announced his theme as “hip na pop”, and started talking in a foreign voice, it was funny x) The background had the Taj Mahal, Chinese towers… The ending pose was a rapper’s one, with their arms crossed diagonally ~
Hip Hop Boogie
He started his solo saying lines rather than singing, and was on center stage. During the first chorus, while Sho was shown in the middle of the main screen, images of members wearing the Arafes t-shirt appeared beside Sho (the screen was cut in five long rectangles) and they were doing funny faces x)
The Arashi logo had sunglasses on ~
He went back to the main during the song.
Cool & Soul
Tables with mics and chairs appeared on the main stage, and the other members were slumped in their chair before the song started.
Lots of fanservice during it, like Nino taking Jun by the shoulder ~ Overall, they were all so kakkoii *w* During the talk portion, Sho talked about albums, but couldn’t grasp it well. They also got on the tables near the end, at the usual part, starting with Sho, and Jun (wearing sunglasses or this song of course x)) sat with his back on us too. In this position, we saw that his purple and white jacket had “I think therefore I am” in purple sequins x)
A day in our Life
They sang on center stage, and the singing allocations were exchanged ! So it was Juntoshi rapping on the left of the center and the three other members doing the other part on the right x) Juntoshi made quite a few rapper poses, they were so funny ~ It was also cool to hear a different version of this song with Ohno rapping ^w^
Lucky Man
They had walked previously so were already on the stage in the stands at that time ~ Again, a really fun song to do ^^
Meikyuu Love Song
They got down the stands stage during it. At the last chorus, we had them dancing and of course, we screamed when they got down on one knee ~
MC
It started around 7:40 pm.
Aiba mentioned how hot it was, and they teased him because he had some fur on his collar x) (Sho’s doing haha) So Jun said he should undress a bit, and even mentioned he would do it as well. Thus he got rid of his own jacket, Oh-chan too, and Aiba started getting rid of his but put it back, because he had a pink tank top LOL
They talked about the produced corners, and when Oh-chan was talking about his, at some point he complained how no one seemed interested in what he was saying haha Also, they talked about the requests, how danced songs were quite in, and Oh-chan asked us if we wanted to see their painful expressions while dancing HAHA (The others : No, surely because we’re kakkoi ! lol) They surveyed who had voted, who couldn’t (I didn’t see raised hands but it seems like there were a few). Then they talked about the rap part, with Jun saying “I didn’t think I would hear Satoshi’s rap !” (yeah, he said Satoshi ^w^).
Then the topic moved to the Olympics, with Sho mentioning he felt happy while seeing images of Kokuritsu on screen and stuff, since they’re able to perfom there =) Nino said they/we were “saigo no hito” (the last persons), with Sho commenting this sentence had a romantic vibe to it ~
They talked about the 2020 Olympics announcement, and when Oh-chan was asked to enter the conversation, he made a kinda surprised face which made us laugh and then mentioned how he was happy when he heard the news. He started speaking about seeing pictures of Kokuritsu on TV, but Nino cut him saying they had already talked about that before but he wasn’t following haha
Sho also presented some of tonight’s guests, like the president of the Japanese Olympic Committee and some athletes.
Afterwards they walked back to the main, and talked a bit pushing their mic aside (mostly Sho, Jun and Nino), Nino mentioning they were having a little meeting lol Oh-chan : “Because it’s the first day ~” And behind the meeting trio, Aiba put his arm on Oh-chan’s shoulders >w<
Sho, Ohno and Nino were left on stage, and wanted to start promoting. They made Oh-chan start his, and he stuttered (il a eu un blanc violent, c’était tellement drôle XD “Eh… Eto… Eh…”), so we all laughed and Sho and Nino teased him, Nino doing his usual “owari !” and getting in front of Oh-chan to hide him. Sho proposed to do it, but Oh-chan said he’d do it again, and this time he promoted Kagiheya’s SP properly. Sho asked him if he had already remembered his line, and Oh-chan’s “Eh ?” answered everything haha Then they talked about Enomoto, Nino joked that he thought the character's name was Enoki XD Sho countered he had seen uchiwa with Enomoto written on it (they pointed toward the right arena between the main stage and the alley leading to center stage), and Nino was like “Ah, so that’s what it was !” lol Sho also made us laugh, saying there was no Enomoto in Arashi XD (Implying there souldn't be an uchiwa for him x)) Then Ohno commented that Nino had seen everything, and Nino replied that he did ~
Afterwards Sho did Kamisama no Karute’s promotion, and passed the promotion baton to Nino, calling him “Nino-san” (Nino was like “Eh ?” at first but picked on the second time x)). While Nino was promoting, Jun reappeared so it was like the claps we were doing for Nino-san’s promo were for Jun’s entry XD Aiba-chan was following Jun, and they were wearing pastel colors suits, so Sho commented it did feel like a congratulation lol He made Oh-chan mention the Kagiheya SP again, and Jun and Aiba replied “Congratulations” in unison, then Sho talked about Kamisama no Karute 2 and they wished him “Congratulations” again, with their right arm bent up (bras droit levé avec paume à la verticale) haha
Jun lead Aiba Manabu’s promo, saying he was watching it, and Sho commented locations suited him ~ Jun : You love locations right. Aiba said waking up early and going to town was fun, but the studio was fine as well. Afterwards he hinted to Jun’s promo (the other members had left to get changed), so on to Hidamari no Kanojo promotion. Aiba said he would go around doing Damakano’s promo, Jun countered it was Hidamari no Kanojo, but Aiba replied it’d be good to have a catchy name, like Nazodi x) Jun gave his okay for Aiba-chan to use Damakano lol Then Jun explained a bit the contents of the movie, saying it was a love story, something Aiba-chan likes ~
Sho-chan reappeared, saying “Congratulations”, and Ohno and Nino followed. Sho wanted to go into the second half, but Nino said they should talk some more ^^ But Sho couldn’t find a topic to talk about lol He finally asked Jun which TV programs he would go to to promote, and he mentioned Tunnels no Minasan no Okage deshita he had filmed just a bit earlier (it’s the kuwazugirai corner, yay =D), Sekai Banzuke and Shabekuri 007. We “ehhh”ed at the last one, since it was the first time a member was appearing in it (apart from the 24h TV apparition that was a special one). He also talked about appearing Hanamaru Market. Then he asked the members to go and watch his movie, he’d give them presale tickets, and Oh-chan was surprised that with one, you could just go in for free lol Sho asked the other if they could watch a member’s movie, and Nino said that recently, he felt it was fine. Aiba-chan started saying something, so Nino asked him if he had listened to what he had just said, and Aiba-chan put his right arm around Nino’s shoulder, apologizing >w< Aiba then talked about he had been with Riida to see Nino’s movie, and it had been completely fine (Oh-chan : “We went, cried and left” lol) So they concluded they should be fine seeing Jun’s movie in theatres x) Sho also remembered having seen Gantz, and it had been okay ~ Thus they said they should watch Damakano, and Sho-chan warned that this nickname shouldn’t be used too much or it’ll end up in pamphlets hahaha Aiba expressed his wish to have a Nazodi pamphlet, and Sho told him he would give him one x)
Then they moved on to the second part, and Sho asked them to come on stage (onegaiiiitashimasu), saying it wasn’t scary. Children came out, placing themselves on the main stairs and on its sides (they were also teenagers on the stage right above with a conductor). Jun talked about N Con 80 (the children had participated in it), Hajimari no Uta, and the concert started again.
Furusato
The children on the stairs had lights in their hands (we noticed only when they were leaving a black stadium that the candles colors were AMNOS), and Arashi went among them to sing.
On the screens, various pics of Japan were shown. The mosaic at the end which faded was beautiful ~
Your Song
We were surprised to have it !
During the whole song, children and Arashi would go slightly from right to left with their body.
For the long “Your Song” at the beginning and the end of the song, Sho sang it longer than others, I dunno why x)
Kaze no mukou e
Still with the choir, and the visuals on screens were old ones, the version with half of the earth shown, the sky and different things involving plants and such.
Video
Jun was missing in the video (Paris in the background ^w^), so we knew his corner was coming. The DJ table had come up on the moving stage on the right side of the main during Kaze no mukou e actually, so it wasn’t a surprise at all x) The theme : “remix”. The characters had headphones at the end !
DJ
The Arashi logo had sunglasses again ~
It started with Come back to me, and then various songs were used, like “We wanna funk we need a funk” was written on the main screen at the beginning.
Members appeared at Jun’s side, and he launched the next song while the moving stage started moving ~
Step and go
They danced around the DJ table, that was a new scene ~
Kitto Daijoubu
Still on the moving stage going around the stadium and Jun remixing when songs change ^^
Love so sweet
They had almost reached the middle of the stadium when it came to Love so sweet ~ Was a bit disappointed we would only get an extract of it T_T
Yes ? No ?
For this song, they went to the stands stage ~
Re(mark)able
Jun had a green laser which he pointed out to the main screen, which had the Olympics rings in Arashi colors with 2020 Tokyo written below it. At some point, the Arashi logo appeared inside the rings, the image faded and… Re(mark)able started, with the Olympic flame being lit up ! =)
The lyrics were changed to ARASHI13, and at the talk part, of course Sho talked about the Olympics, saying something along the lines of “In 1964, Tokyo Olympics were held. And then, it has been decided that the 2020 Olympics would be held in Tokyo again”.
Troublemaker
They had got back on the moving stage and went around the dome again, and the visuals for the song were also old ones.
At the end of the song, the moving stage was on the middle of the left part of the stadium.
Hadashi no Mirai
It was only a short instrumental of it during the remix, they didn’t sing or anything.
Again, disappointed we wouldn’t get it T_T I wanted to dance along this song ._.
Believe
We got Sho’s rap ^w^
Up to you
They danced it a bit.
The moving stage had reached the main at that time, and for the final pose, everyone took a rapper pose (arms crossed diagonally), with Jun standing on the left and the other members kneeling down.
Shake it
The members disappeared doing the dance, and afterwards Jun danced it alone, going from the left of the main stage to its upper part, then down the stairs towards the end (notably when he ripped his shirt off x)). There were men and women backdancers, dancing in pairs at some points. Fountains were used on the main stage at the end, with water being thrown diagonally.
Video
Nino’s theme : outdoor night.
Breathless
They reappeared on the main for it, and we got all pretty excited ~ On the main screen, the PV was used with water images inserted in it (the effect was so kakkoii !), while the side screens were in black and white. The fountains were also used ^^
When it was time for Nino’s solo line towards the end (definitely live ~), they were already on center stage.
Calling
They had spread on the horizontal alley, and Nino was in front of us !! On our right, I think it was Sho. Nino was really cute, singing without his mic when it wasn’t his line, waving at us and being cute for us >w<
Also, the alleys were raised for the song ^^
Still
The song started with a solo of Nino, and since the instrumental and rhythm used were different, I didn’t remember right away the title of the song, but I knew I liked it and screamed anyway when it started ~ Having Nino doing it right in front of us was such a big bonus <3 We ended the song with another solo part of Nino on an elevated center stage, but the middle of it wasn’t elevated yet, so we didn’t know what was coming (personally hoping for a piano, I wanted Niji >w<). Nino announced his solo, and it was...
Himitsu
For his solo, Nino had the members in his back in animal costumes ! x) We laughed and cheered so hard for them ~ From left to right, there were a raccoon (which ended being Jun, but we got to know that only towards the end of the song), a green kappa (Oh-chan), a lion (Sho), and a giraffe (Aiba-chan) which had a red net on its neck.
During the song Nino went to them individually, with Jun walking a bit to the left while waving and messing with Nino, Nino making Oh-chan wave to us, then Sho and him did something but I can’t remember (it wasn’t big though), and finally, Aiba and Nino bowed to each other lol
Nino was laughing quite a lot, and at several point ended up laughing rather than singing, looking at the members XD So cute !
For the ending, Nino had some cool dancing, he even went on the floor ~ Then members were on one knee, presenting Nino as the main star with their hands towards him.
They got rid of their headpiece in turns, and were all pretty sweaty, poor them it was already so hot… Nino was making surprised faces when they took off their headpiece x) But he really cracked up for Aiba, because instead of Aiba-chan’s face being revealed… A tiger mask appeared XDD Nino asked if it wasn’t Aiba, but Aiba replied no in a low voice and said it was a secret (himitsu). They talked while returning to the main stage, and Aiba made us laugh by saying he couldn’t see anything with the mask and the headpiece lol Sho commented he was glad it was September haha (Nino has thanked them before for wearing such a costume when it’s so hot) They teased Aiba-chan again, asking him who he was, and he insisted on it being a himitsu x)
Video
They announced the top 10 single ranking ^w^
10. Happiness
9. A.RA.SHI
8. Crazy Moon ~ Kimi wa Muteki ~
7 Pikanchi Double
6. Monster
Nino teased Oh-chan, saying it was (Che) Hou Man’s drama lol
5. Face Down
4. Wild at heart
Jun’s character got changed to Sugi’s sleeveless jean jacket while doing the “Wild da ze” pose, so cute x)
3. Truth
2. Breathless
Jun said that since he could probably only do it here, he’d like to try it and asked for Nino’s permission, which he got. So… He did the “Platina Data” line, his character of course doing it while turning around and wearing glasses, so we obviously screamed !
1. was…
Endless Game
Definitely playback, the singing was way too perfect, and stood out even more considering the sound problems ^^"
They danced it on the main, and flames in several colors (red, green, white) were used ^w^
Summer splash
They went in towers for this song, and Oh-chan was in front of us, with Jun being on the tower on the right of the main stage ~ Fountains were used of course, and we got pretty wet ; I laughed at how much water Oh-chan had received XD
Oh yeah
I think they partly sang it in the towers, but I can’t remember properly ><
It might be here or elsewhere, I’m not sure but at some point, when they were all going back to center stage, Nino sang belatedly for quite a few seconds, so the ensemble was thrown off.
Energy song
Jun rode an individual hanamichi from his tower to the end of the horizontal alley on my side (it was either at this moment or during the latter half of Oh yeah), and he stayed with us for quite a long time, jumping with us ^o^ I got sooo hyped =D Everyone was jumping crazily, it was so much fun >w<
At some point, on his way back to center stage, Jun stopped and moved his butt from side to side, slapping his right hip from time to time (every three beats, so the music rhythm ~). He really was cute ~
Towards the end, they presented the band, Mountain Blast, and S.P.A.D were the dancers ^^ Then they presented the members individually, with Jun blowing us a kiss (with his eyes tightly closed, so cute >w<), Aiba-chan making a kind of wiping kiss (think his solo in Popcorn), Sho the Endless Game pose (thumb and index under his chin) and Oh-chan made us laugh with a funny face x)
Wild at heart
It started with Jun screaming “Kokuritsu last da !”, and they sang on the main, without stand mics. The visuals used were also old ones.
Towards the end, there was a pause and I knew what was coming… Indeed, we got hanabi ^O^ For the last fireworks, there were fireworks from the center stage (which they had reached by now) as well ! ^w^
Thank you speeches
Sho talked about dreams, like it was a dream to perform in Kokuritsu, and even more so six times. He asked us to show them more dreams, and that they wanted to dream with us =)
Oh-chan said it was a concert done with our requests, and that he had thought “how nostalgic” several times tonight while doing some songs =) He finished asking us to keep on following them ^^
Aiba-chan talked about how amazing it was that it was their sixth time in Kokuritsu, and mentioned how many memories he had from there, like his pants getting ripped LOL He said it was thanks to us, requesting songs and such, if they were able to stand here =) Then he said that even after Kokuritsu’s renovation, he’d like to do concerts again here ^^ He made us laugh with a kind of “that’s just my personal feelings though” x) Sho made him repeat the “personal” part as well lol
Nino said he had felt he had become an adult for this concert. Since everyone was producing something this time, he was really looking for it, and especially intrigued by Aiba-chan’s one. Riida and Sho have done solo concerts, J is usually in charge of Arashi concerts, but when Nino and Aiba had tried to help with the concert, only 2% was done lol So he was really worried. But that they had pulled it through, he thought they had become adults. He also mentioned the tiger mask, how Aiba-chan had thought really hard about it ~ Then he talked about how, when he became 30 and danced in front of the mirror (referring to the dance training for his solo), he thought “kawaikunai” (you’re not cute) hahaha But we reassured him with “kawaii” screams x) He then said there was also a concert tomorrow, but tonight was the last night, that’s what he had thought. And because of that, he could have cried. Just like Aiba, who said it was personal, Nino also thought he’d like to come back here after the renovation. He made us laugh by saying that they would get older, but we would also haha He finished by mentioning how doing concerts with us was so much fun, and thanked us.
Jun mentioned how he had felt happy once again, having fun with us in Kokuritsu =) He also said he was really grateful for being able to perform there for six years, and commented that the Olympic flame was beautiful. He talked about having entered their 15th anniversary because we supported them, that tonight we had fun together, had direct communication, and that he would like to do it again.
5x10
On the main screen the lyrics were written in a handwriting police. The background was a blur of pastel colors with songs titles written on it, it was very pretty =)
They sang on the horizontal alley (elevated), and from left to right : Sho, Nino, Jun, Ohno, and Aiba-chan before us ^^
Sho changed the first line from “kizukeba 10 nen” to “haya 14 nen” (fast 14 years) =)
Balloons were released during the silence before the last chorus (they were all on center stage at that time), they were white with the Arafes 13 logo in orange ~ They all escaped on the right, and the night sky filled with white balloons was so beautiful…
This performance was definitely live <3
They disappeared through the center stage, their hands being the last thing we saw, and a member (Jun ? Oh-chan ?) was making a peace sign =) That was the last image shown.
First encore
Love Rainbow
They reappeared on the main stage wearing the concert t-shirts (with sequins on the back x)), and split in hanamichis. Jun and Sho took the left one, and Ohno, Aiba and Nino the right one. The stage was lit up in rainbow colors, notably the stairs, it was so pretty ~
A.RA.SHI
They had reached the middle part of the stadium’s sides at the beginning, and the hanamichi crossed each other at the backstage around the end of the song ^^
At the last “For dream”, Ohno did a bit of a tenor voice at the “for” with a funny face, so he made us laugh x)
Gori Muchuu
Such a fun song ! =D
Second encore
Pikanchi Double
We finally got Sho on the alley before us ^o^ By the end of the song, we got Jun again <3 He had reached the end of the alley by the time Pikanchi Double was over.
Sakura Sake
We got Jun and Aiba for this song =D
At the end, when they had reached the main stage, they did the usual jump, with Jun being like a conductor on the stairs just before getting a bit down for the jump ^^
They thanked us again, and while disappearing, Oh-chan was kinda pushed by Sho to do something, so he made some “oh” with a funny face to make us laugh x)
General impressions
-Have to admit, I preferred last year’s setlist. I checked afterwards and the thing is not even that many songs changed, but the atmosphere was completely different, at least to my friend and myself. So while yeah, the songs used were pretty much the same, the arrangement gave away a different vibe from last year’s concert ~ Kudos for that, because it’s not an easy stunt.
But of course, setlist “disappointment” aside, I still had a blast x) And heard Subarashiki Sekai live, so for that alone, I can’t complain !
-The sound was pretty bad… ^^" I was hearing back voices much more than Arashi O_O During the whole concert… If they were singing alone it was okay, but once they were at least two to sing, the whole voice volume was getting down and I couldn’t hear them properly. We had problems hearing Oh-chan and Nino’s voices for example >< I wonder why ? But well, in that sense, distinguish playback from live was really easy lol Also, it may have something to do with my arena seat, since we were really close to the speakers.