Super late fan report of Jin Akanishi's Japonicana concert in Vancouver!
This would be more like a personal fan report kind of thing. So anyways, to start of, I haven't been posting lately in my livejournal. I'm more into tumblr and facebook for the past few days or I should say months. I just troll on my livejournal when I have time. Anywho, last March 10, I flew from New York City to Los Angeles to Vancouver, Canada so I can watch Jin Akanishi's Japonicana concert there. My friend, Nhixxie, who I love and adore a lot won the Sun Burns Down Video Contest and she chose me as her other friend who she'll bring there. So there I was, flying my ass off everywhere so I can spend some good time with her there, watch Jin's Japonicana concert and do the meet and greet with him.
This was taken when we got at our room in the Sandman Hotel at Downtown Vancouver. We were just about to go out and explore downtown..of course, after I took a quick shower since I've been flying off pretty much the whole day. It was quite funny when we saw each other. When I was getting out of the departure gate after going through the customs, I couldn't see where she was cause I have a bad eyesight. I was squinting my eyes over the crowd looking for her but then I noticed someone who was smiling at me so I figured that was her.Then we were giggling, squealing and pretty much going crazy and hugged each other. Her grandfather drove us to a Filipino restaurant where we had so much fun talking and laughing then we went off to our hotel. :D Pretty much after that, we went to the Pacific mall (I believe that was the name of the mall) where we got lost and all that. It was quite raining that night and freezing so we were sharing her small umbrella.
The next day was the concert day but of course in the morning we got ready and we watched KAT-TUN's Queen of Pirates concert on her laptop. Must I tell you that her laptop is legit so pink and that just shows how girl she is! Nhixxie's cellphone is even bling/embelished with so much girly stuff. I want to snag her Takaki Yuya pin cause that's how much I love him! We met up with some of her friends name Caite and Yvonne. We went around Vancouver where we stalked Jin's Japonicana posters and pretty much stole them. We went to eat at a Korean restaurant, had some desserts at a Japanese parfait place and went karaoke. Pretty much it was a blast!
Around 5 p.m. or so we went back to our hotel to get ready. We were so excited! An hour or so later, me, Nhixxie and Caite went to the concert hall. I forgot the name was but when we got there. There were already people waiting in line. We also met some new friends of Caite which I adore a lot :D
Around 7 p.m. or so, we got into our seats. We waited there for quite a while where we met a person named Andrew who just went there because his friend was a fan of Jin. Surprisingly, I saw a lot of old woman who were quite a fan of Jin and pretty much new most of his songs. I even saw an old couple who was sitting next to me. It was really surprising. At 8 p.m. Emeline Estrada came to stage. At first, I was like who's that?! "Is that Meisa?" LOOL because she had the straight long hair. Then I find out that she was a local? singer in Vancouver. She's a great singer and all that. :D Then at 8:30 p.m. Joseph Vincent came along. Oh my god, I started freaking out. I had love him ever since I found out he was gonna be the opening performer in Jin's concert so I stalked most of his youtube videos. When he introduced himself, I guess no one really know of him except for me? SO I screamed "I know you!" then he acknowledged me. Everytime he talked, I would answer him back and he was like "We have a talker here!" Then I guess he noticed me. He even said that he'll try to throw the shirt that he's giving away towards my direction so I can catch it but it didn't reach me. Pretty much, it was me and him talking back and forth for most of the time during his performance. I guess I was overly excited and just started flailing over him.
At around 9:15 p.m., JIN CAME OUT! He performed Sun Burns Down first and pretty much everyone went crazy. Most of us were dancing, screaming his name and party-ing it out. He was so hot and all that. I can't even explain it! His performance of Sun Burns Down was great. The lighting was kinda blinding me but I didn't care anymore.
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After that, some of the concert staffs asked us to stop taking pictures. At first we were like, "I thought its okay as long as there's no flash" but I guess that was only for the opening performers. But when it comes to any Johnny's, I guess the rules of no photos still applies.
After Sun Burns Down, he performed "Tell me where" at this point of the concert. The concert staff became so strict that they will literally hunt your ass down to tell you that there are no phones allowed. I tried to sneak in a few pictures but I got so scared that they'll take away my camera. "Set Love Free" was next. I FUCKING LOVE THIS SONG. It's amazing. I like the live performance more than the "song" itself from the album. I felt all the emotions through his voice.
"Body Talk" was next. I started freaking out. At first, I thought it was "Fifth Season" but I was wrong. But oh well. I was waiting for his infamous "hip roll" in this song in which he did. I kinda saw that on his Yellow Gold Tour DVD and I was expecting that he'll do it. HE DID DO IT! :D
"Like you" is quite a catchy song. This is where he took off his glasses and I'm pretty sure the crowd went wild. I kinda like the glasses on him but seeing his eyes are better. :)
"Pin Dom!" My favorite song from the Yellow Gold Tour concert. It was definitely a dance-able song. The crowd's fist were pumping. All I see was the dancers gyrating all over the place. It was quite amusing.
15 minutes break.
~During the break, Nhixxie and I were just all over the place. We tried going to our friend's seat but we couldn't go through the crowd. :(
"That's What She Said". He didn't came out for the first half of it and all I saw was some kind of S&M thing going on with the girl performers but it was great! He then came out with a cup hanging off his mouth and with his iphone. I guess he was recording it. Everyone went wild! He threw the cup to the crowd but then later on, I found out that the cup didn't even reach the crowd. It just went down straight to the floor which was like 2 feet away from the audience.
After "That's What She Said", he performed "Aphrodisiac" with a cane. It looks amazing. I just stared at him with the cane all through the time. When the part "You're my aphrodisiac" came, I started singing and dancing.
"Test Drive" was next. I kinda didn't pay attention to the song since I've been listening to it a lot of times but all I noticed was he kept wiping his mouth seductively. And boy, I should tell you.. that kinda made me go gaga. Haha :D
"Yellow Gold" was next. I'm glad he performed this song. The audience were so into the song and all I see was their hands pumping in the air. Even the old people/couple. I guess his songs are really that catchy. I wish he performed I.N.P but oh well. It's better than not performing anything from his Yellow Gold Tour concert.
Next was "Oowah", personally I'm not into this song but it was a great performance. The dancers were so happy performing this song. All I like from this song was the "equation" part. I think this was the song where he kinda bumped into the dancer with the curly hair and he just smiled at her. At the end of the song, they were like "leaving" him and I like it when he had this "long pause" before he ended the song. :D
He then performed "Club Mix". To tell you the truth, I don't really know what's up with this song but it was quite catchy.
"California Rock" was the next and last song. This by far, is one of the amazing songs that I like from his Japonicana album. I love the part where he says "Sex on the beach" LOOOL. I like the chorus part of this song... A LOT. Then he just said "goodbye" and bowed down with the dancers. The curtains were down but then it came back up not even a minute later in which he performed "Seasons" as the encore song. I think during the chorus part of this song, it was lip-synced since all I noticed was he kept rubbing his throat. But other than that, he tried to sing it as much as he can. When the chorus part comes, the audience were singing along with him :D
DADAAAAN!
Then the meet and greet part comes now! Me and Nhixxie had to ask where our VIP pass were. I'm not sure what happened but she told them that she was the one who won the contest. With that, we were bumped up at the front of the line for the VIP thing. While waiting for Jin to come out, Nhixxie and I started talking to this nice staff. More like, Nhixxie was and I was thinking what to say when Jin comes out. The nice staff said that the concert was amazing but he also said that he feels like there were so much intermission number and all those things. We agreed with him.
About a good 20 or so minutes later, Jin finally came out. I guess they were just waiting for a table for him so he can sign the posters and all those things. The staff told us that since Jin is so tired that he won't be able to sign our personal stuff. He'll just have to take a picture with us, give us his signed poster and shook his hands. Before that, we were asked to write our name on a post it so he can copy it clearly. When he came out, he was wearing a beanie hat, a jacket and a sweat pant. He looks so normal but I noticed his face. He looks so tired. I could tell. Nhixxie went first and she gave him her own English fanmade version of Eternal. She took a picture with him and then it was my turn. We said hi to each other and I told him that I'm a big fan of him. He said "Thank you" then we took our picture. When he was trying to write my name, he was kinda looking back and forth from the poster to the post it. I guess he was really trying to write it perfectly but then I end up spelling it out for him. He just smiled at me. I noticed that the pen he used to sign my poster was running out so he was deliberating to use a new pen or not.
Nhixxie and I then walked out of the concert hall. We were squealing and screaming when we got out. While we were walking out, we met these 2 fangirls. Their name was Lulu and Betty. Lulu asked us if we went to the meet and greet thing and she took a picture of the poster. Then we all started talking about our JE biases. We started hugging each other and jumping together when we found out that we have the same biases. People were giving us weird looks but we don't care. Oh god, how I love them!
Me and Lulu :D
Me and Betty!
That's pretty much it. Up until now, it's still kinda surreal for me but I'm really thankful that Nhixxie gave me the chance to meet him. I'm really thankful for that and I know that she wants me to stop saying "thank you" to her but I just can't. I really do appreciate it. I might say that this is one of the best things so far in my life. I know that I could have gone to his NY concert which was held last March 15. I already had the ticket for it for months but I chose the Vancouver over it. I don't regret any of it at all. :D