2011/09/17 - ALL TIME LOW, We Are The In Crowd (Acoustic In-store Event) | BOARDERS FACT Harajuku
I was going to write a live report of both the in-store event at Harajuku, and the fan Meet & Greet session, but since photos and videos were allowed at both the events, what better way for you to experience it than to be able to see it for yourself!
So I got to know about the acoustic in-store event that both We Are The In Crowd (WATIC) and All Time Low (ATL) we having, and I decided to check it out.
My gear for the day. Well, including the camera of course XD Got there about half an hour before the event started, but the store was already packed. Not bad for something which wasn't really advertised. They asked the people in front to sit down, and everyone sat down until the people two rows in front of me :/ Didn't have THAT good a view, but oh wellz. At least I wasn't any further behind.
WATIC were up first. I have videos, but uploading them to Youtube is a bitch at the moment, so I'll be upping them later when I can.
Setlist
01. Rumour Mill
02. Calendar Pages
03. Both Sides of the Story
04. Never Be What You Want
05. For the Win
Taylor waving to the people behind: "Do you know these people? Wave to those people outside! Hi!!!" That was sweet of her :)
Individual shots of Taylor and Jordan, because they were the only two I could really see in between the heads of the people standing in front of me. They asked who was there at the show the previous night, announced the release of their EP (I think) on Oct 5th, and asked all of us to hang out with them at HMV at night. Unfortunately, I couldn't go because it was at 7pm, and totally clashed with my ATL Meet & Greet :(
After "Calendar Pages", Taylor said that they had a little surprise for us and asked if we knew Taylor Swift's song "Love Story". They sang that for a bit, and blended it into their next song "Both Sides of the Story". It was a really nice transition, after the line "Baby just say yes", although it ended something more like "Baby just say... yes?" XD
I wasn't too familiar with their songs yet, so I couldn't really sing along. "That was the quietest 'I hate you' ever!" commented Jordan. Well compared to yesterday, definitely haha. There was extra time (I suspect the other artistes were running late), so they asked us what song we wanted them to play. The crowd didn't really respond, so Taylor went, "We'll play Justin Bieber!" and sang the chorus to the "Baby, Baby" song. Someone has the "Bieber Fever" XD
I had read something about BACK-ON appearing, and I thought that they would be doing an acoustic set as well (don't ask me how I thought that was possible). Anyway it turns out that 3 dudes from the band were here!
There was a Shu, but I don't know which one he was/who the other guys were. Anyway they were there because apparently Glamour Kills was supporting some local bands as well, and they were one of them. Actually, they were kinda a filler before ATL came on, because ATL had left their hotel late, had only arrived, and were only soundchecking now. They asked if there were any people who came from far away places (the girl beside me was from Kagoshima), and if there were any foreign people who flew in for ATL's show. Everytime bands ask that question, I'm conflicted if I should go "ME!!!" because while I'm foreign, it's not like I flew in specially to watch shows... I happened to already be here :/ Oh well.
ATL finally came out. Thankfully there was no pushing. Lots of squealing from both girls AND guys.
Setlist
01. Time Bomb
02. Damned If I Do Ya (Damned If I Don't)
03. I Feel Like Dancin'
04. Weightless
"I think I'm in love with all of you," said Alex, and launched into "Time Bomb". I love the song :)
Alex: JACK! Are you ready?
Jack: YES!!!!
Alex: How're you feeling?
Jack: A~maaa~~zing!
Alex: Are you excited to be here?
Jack: Yes.
Alex: Did. You. Shave today?
Jack: Not my face, just my body.
Alex: So this next song, we have a video up for it right now. And I got to dress up like Katy Perry and cover myself with cotton candy. That's always been a dream of mine, so thank you for sharing that dream with me. I'll be going out right after this performance and covering myself with cotton candy yet again. And maybe if you're lucky, you can eat some of it off my body. I would do the same for you guys. I would, it's the kind of lover I am. Who feels like dancing tonight?!
Alex: So we have one song left to play for you. Are we signing? Yea, and we're gonna sign, and meet all of you. I'm super excited to shake your hands and kiss your faces...
Jack: YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED, YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO TOUCH ALEX'S BUTT. *Alex turns around and Jack slaps his butt* NO! But you can touch my butt. *Slaps his own butt*
Alex: Alright this song's called "Weightless". Thank you so much for coming. Are you quite ready? Let's do it!!... (To Rian) Stop looking at the shoes.
After the acoustic set was the signing session for both bands. I had brought my CD booklet to be signed (for ATL) and a flyer (for WATIC). Apparently what was planned was that they'd sign generic band posters. Ohwell, I don't have their posters anyway so I'm not complaining.
Rolled up the posters, said bye to the new friends I made (two girls who happened to be passing by and came into the store just to see what the fuss was all about), and made a mad dash towards the Universal Music offices in Akasaka.
Basically, I had won a lucky draw held by Universal Music. You have to buy the Japanese version of their CD (i.e. the more expensive one -_-), and mail them the sticker on it. There was Prize A (30 people would get to meet the band) and Prize B (50 - or was it 100 - people would win a band t-shirt). After some debate with myself, I decided to go for Prize A (since, you know, Prize B would technically be easier to get since people would want to meet the band. But then everyone might think this way and go for Prize B instead... those kind of debates where you try to second-guess everyone and the debate never ends). Went for Prize A not harbouring any hope of winning at all. But boy, am I so glad I went for Prize A.
The postcard I received said that the doors opened at 6pm, gathering time was 6.30pm, and that the session would start at 7pm. I was wondering why there would be "doors open", and also why the gathering time was later than the time the doors opened D: But being early is never a bad thing. By the time I got there, there was already a line.
They played ATL's "I Feel Like Dancin'" video while waiting. I lol-ed every time they appeared on screen in the Lady Gaga outfit. The staff had everyone write a question to the band, and they'd pick some people to ask their question directly to the band. They asked how many of us were there at the other events, and the whole place was clearly full of die-hard fans, since about two-thirds the room (there were about 50 of us) had gone to both the Tower Records and Harajuku events. The two tech guys came in carrying guitar cases, and started tuning the stuff. Apparently, they were going to play an acoustic set for us as well!! That came as a really nice surprise, because we had only been told that it was a talk/sign/photo session. The staff had also initially told us that it was going to be everyone getting their signatures first then taking the individual photos after, but later said that ATL wanted to sign and take a photo with each fan at the same time because that's just how they roll, and it gave them a bit more time with each fan. Don't you love them already <3
The boys appeared on time, and the barrage of camera flashes started. It had said on the postcard that we couldn't take videos and whatever, but since everyone was having a field day without the staff stopping them (the band might have given the go-ahead, I don't know), I figured I'd be fine.
Well, I say they did a "set", but it only consisted of one song. But considering that we weren't expecting one in the first place, I was grateful for anything. Also, my favourite song off their new album <3 As you can see from the video, Rian was bumming away in a corner because he didn't have the cahone there.
After the acoustic set was the talk session. About 10 lucky people got to go to the front to ask the band a question, but I wasn't one of them (although the girls on the right and left of me both got to go up). Not sore about that, because I think I'm lucky enough to be even sitting in the room. Those people got a "Dirty Work" poster though, so I was a little meh (haha).
The sign and photo session was after that, and my brain died when it was my turn. Lots of people brought gifts for them, but I didn't. I don't know.. I felt strange buying something from Japan for them since it's not like I'm Japanese anyway. But then I don't have access to anything from Singapore either. Sigh. Told you I'm fail at all these band/idol chasing stuffs. The only things I've ever given bands are pineapple tarts (because they are AWESOMESAUCE and I think the whole world should know about them) and Tiger Beer (because I knew the dude liked it), both brought over from Singapore :/ I never know what to buy either. SIGH.
It was goodbye after the sign/photo session. I looked at my watch and realised that it had been exactly an hour, but it really felt much longer than that. The guys were really friendly. Rian was so smiley. Jack's apparently the most perverted in the band (that was one of the questions asked, and it was a unanimous decision of the band). I'm amused at his goofiness. When asked what Japanese words they picked up, Alex said he used "sumimasen" a lot because he tended to bump into people, shoving Jack to demonstrate what he meant. He repeated it 2 more times after that, though XD Zack, unfortunately, seemed pretty uninterested the whole time (from his body language). I'm guessing that he's either an introverted dude who doesn't like all these fan-meeting stuffs that comes with being a star, or he's just really tired, which wouldn't be surprising since they've had a packed schedule ever since they landed, and have to deal with jet-lag at the same time. Or maybe he's both. Don't know their personalities enough to make a definite comment on that.
Whatever it is, I'm really glad I had the chance to meet the band in a smaller, up close and personal event :) Although I'm still killing myself over how I decided not to wear my Mario shirt there, considering how they're all gamers. Didn't know they'd actually notice what people wore. I wore my white Hurley shirt because I didn't want to look green from head to toe :( Zack had a Hurley jersey on though.
Souvenirs from the Harajuku event, and...
Souvenirs from the Meet & Greet session :)
Next live: 2011/09/18 - TOTALFAT 「THE HERO IS DAMNED TOUR 2011」 | 渋谷AX
So I got to know about the acoustic in-store event that both We Are The In Crowd (WATIC) and All Time Low (ATL) we having, and I decided to check it out.
My gear for the day. Well, including the camera of course XD Got there about half an hour before the event started, but the store was already packed. Not bad for something which wasn't really advertised. They asked the people in front to sit down, and everyone sat down until the people two rows in front of me :/ Didn't have THAT good a view, but oh wellz. At least I wasn't any further behind.
WATIC were up first. I have videos, but uploading them to Youtube is a bitch at the moment, so I'll be upping them later when I can.
Setlist
01. Rumour Mill
02. Calendar Pages
03. Both Sides of the Story
04. Never Be What You Want
05. For the Win
Taylor waving to the people behind: "Do you know these people? Wave to those people outside! Hi!!!" That was sweet of her :)
Individual shots of Taylor and Jordan, because they were the only two I could really see in between the heads of the people standing in front of me. They asked who was there at the show the previous night, announced the release of their EP (I think) on Oct 5th, and asked all of us to hang out with them at HMV at night. Unfortunately, I couldn't go because it was at 7pm, and totally clashed with my ATL Meet & Greet :(
Click to viewAfter "Calendar Pages", Taylor said that they had a little surprise for us and asked if we knew Taylor Swift's song "Love Story". They sang that for a bit, and blended it into their next song "Both Sides of the Story". It was a really nice transition, after the line "Baby just say yes", although it ended something more like "Baby just say... yes?" XD
I wasn't too familiar with their songs yet, so I couldn't really sing along. "That was the quietest 'I hate you' ever!" commented Jordan. Well compared to yesterday, definitely haha. There was extra time (I suspect the other artistes were running late), so they asked us what song we wanted them to play. The crowd didn't really respond, so Taylor went, "We'll play Justin Bieber!" and sang the chorus to the "Baby, Baby" song. Someone has the "Bieber Fever" XD
I had read something about BACK-ON appearing, and I thought that they would be doing an acoustic set as well (don't ask me how I thought that was possible). Anyway it turns out that 3 dudes from the band were here!
There was a Shu, but I don't know which one he was/who the other guys were. Anyway they were there because apparently Glamour Kills was supporting some local bands as well, and they were one of them. Actually, they were kinda a filler before ATL came on, because ATL had left their hotel late, had only arrived, and were only soundchecking now. They asked if there were any people who came from far away places (the girl beside me was from Kagoshima), and if there were any foreign people who flew in for ATL's show. Everytime bands ask that question, I'm conflicted if I should go "ME!!!" because while I'm foreign, it's not like I flew in specially to watch shows... I happened to already be here :/ Oh well.
ATL finally came out. Thankfully there was no pushing. Lots of squealing from both girls AND guys.
Setlist
01. Time Bomb
02. Damned If I Do Ya (Damned If I Don't)
03. I Feel Like Dancin'
04. Weightless
"I think I'm in love with all of you," said Alex, and launched into "Time Bomb". I love the song :)
Alex: JACK! Are you ready?
Jack: YES!!!!
Alex: How're you feeling?
Jack: A~maaa~~zing!
Alex: Are you excited to be here?
Jack: Yes.
Alex: Did. You. Shave today?
Jack: Not my face, just my body.
Alex: So this next song, we have a video up for it right now. And I got to dress up like Katy Perry and cover myself with cotton candy. That's always been a dream of mine, so thank you for sharing that dream with me. I'll be going out right after this performance and covering myself with cotton candy yet again. And maybe if you're lucky, you can eat some of it off my body. I would do the same for you guys. I would, it's the kind of lover I am. Who feels like dancing tonight?!
Alex: So we have one song left to play for you. Are we signing? Yea, and we're gonna sign, and meet all of you. I'm super excited to shake your hands and kiss your faces...
Jack: YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED, YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO TOUCH ALEX'S BUTT. *Alex turns around and Jack slaps his butt* NO! But you can touch my butt. *Slaps his own butt*
Alex: Alright this song's called "Weightless". Thank you so much for coming. Are you quite ready? Let's do it!!... (To Rian) Stop looking at the shoes.
After the acoustic set was the signing session for both bands. I had brought my CD booklet to be signed (for ATL) and a flyer (for WATIC). Apparently what was planned was that they'd sign generic band posters. Ohwell, I don't have their posters anyway so I'm not complaining.
Rolled up the posters, said bye to the new friends I made (two girls who happened to be passing by and came into the store just to see what the fuss was all about), and made a mad dash towards the Universal Music offices in Akasaka.
Basically, I had won a lucky draw held by Universal Music. You have to buy the Japanese version of their CD (i.e. the more expensive one -_-), and mail them the sticker on it. There was Prize A (30 people would get to meet the band) and Prize B (50 - or was it 100 - people would win a band t-shirt). After some debate with myself, I decided to go for Prize A (since, you know, Prize B would technically be easier to get since people would want to meet the band. But then everyone might think this way and go for Prize B instead... those kind of debates where you try to second-guess everyone and the debate never ends). Went for Prize A not harbouring any hope of winning at all. But boy, am I so glad I went for Prize A.
The postcard I received said that the doors opened at 6pm, gathering time was 6.30pm, and that the session would start at 7pm. I was wondering why there would be "doors open", and also why the gathering time was later than the time the doors opened D: But being early is never a bad thing. By the time I got there, there was already a line.
They played ATL's "I Feel Like Dancin'" video while waiting. I lol-ed every time they appeared on screen in the Lady Gaga outfit. The staff had everyone write a question to the band, and they'd pick some people to ask their question directly to the band. They asked how many of us were there at the other events, and the whole place was clearly full of die-hard fans, since about two-thirds the room (there were about 50 of us) had gone to both the Tower Records and Harajuku events. The two tech guys came in carrying guitar cases, and started tuning the stuff. Apparently, they were going to play an acoustic set for us as well!! That came as a really nice surprise, because we had only been told that it was a talk/sign/photo session. The staff had also initially told us that it was going to be everyone getting their signatures first then taking the individual photos after, but later said that ATL wanted to sign and take a photo with each fan at the same time because that's just how they roll, and it gave them a bit more time with each fan. Don't you love them already <3
The boys appeared on time, and the barrage of camera flashes started. It had said on the postcard that we couldn't take videos and whatever, but since everyone was having a field day without the staff stopping them (the band might have given the go-ahead, I don't know), I figured I'd be fine.
Well, I say they did a "set", but it only consisted of one song. But considering that we weren't expecting one in the first place, I was grateful for anything. Also, my favourite song off their new album <3 As you can see from the video, Rian was bumming away in a corner because he didn't have the cahone there.
After the acoustic set was the talk session. About 10 lucky people got to go to the front to ask the band a question, but I wasn't one of them (although the girls on the right and left of me both got to go up). Not sore about that, because I think I'm lucky enough to be even sitting in the room. Those people got a "Dirty Work" poster though, so I was a little meh (haha).
The sign and photo session was after that, and my brain died when it was my turn. Lots of people brought gifts for them, but I didn't. I don't know.. I felt strange buying something from Japan for them since it's not like I'm Japanese anyway. But then I don't have access to anything from Singapore either. Sigh. Told you I'm fail at all these band/idol chasing stuffs. The only things I've ever given bands are pineapple tarts (because they are AWESOMESAUCE and I think the whole world should know about them) and Tiger Beer (because I knew the dude liked it), both brought over from Singapore :/ I never know what to buy either. SIGH.
It was goodbye after the sign/photo session. I looked at my watch and realised that it had been exactly an hour, but it really felt much longer than that. The guys were really friendly. Rian was so smiley. Jack's apparently the most perverted in the band (that was one of the questions asked, and it was a unanimous decision of the band). I'm amused at his goofiness. When asked what Japanese words they picked up, Alex said he used "sumimasen" a lot because he tended to bump into people, shoving Jack to demonstrate what he meant. He repeated it 2 more times after that, though XD Zack, unfortunately, seemed pretty uninterested the whole time (from his body language). I'm guessing that he's either an introverted dude who doesn't like all these fan-meeting stuffs that comes with being a star, or he's just really tired, which wouldn't be surprising since they've had a packed schedule ever since they landed, and have to deal with jet-lag at the same time. Or maybe he's both. Don't know their personalities enough to make a definite comment on that.
Whatever it is, I'm really glad I had the chance to meet the band in a smaller, up close and personal event :) Although I'm still killing myself over how I decided not to wear my Mario shirt there, considering how they're all gamers. Didn't know they'd actually notice what people wore. I wore my white Hurley shirt because I didn't want to look green from head to toe :( Zack had a Hurley jersey on though.
Souvenirs from the Harajuku event, and...
Souvenirs from the Meet & Greet session :)
Next live: 2011/09/18 - TOTALFAT 「THE HERO IS DAMNED TOUR 2011」 | 渋谷AX