2011 Tours - Part 3
Oh snap, I accidentally pressed backspace and deleted my entry again.
Considering NICO lives kinda had me mixed up with their set-list, I will be consolidating them into one post. So picking up from where I left off....
Concert Day 4: Osaka for ONE OK ROCK. A few months ago, roler and I bought the singles to get the codes to apply for the concert. aerianta had warned me before that it might be very difficult to get tickets for this show due to the band's popularity as well as the city they're playing in. So we wanted to double our chances if possible. Thankfully, Laura was able to hit for tickets. At that time, all she told me was we got good numbers because she applied really early. I didn't ask more details as "good" was more than enough for me. Well, a few days before I left for Japan, she dropped the most wonderful news. We got numbers 2 and 3! I kinda blanked out as I read her email. I was really left in shock. Teehee, I knew I would eventually share her luck/good karma, but I didn't really expect to get that lucky. Thanks Laura♥ Finally, a chance to see every members clearly without anyone blocking my view. I was determined to feast my eyes on Toru.
Laura had work that day so we agreed to meet around 1630 at the station closest to ZEPP Osaka. As I waited for her, I was panicking as there were a LOT of kids rushing out, and I knew exactly where they were headed to. The whole time I thought doors open at 1700. As soon as Laura arrived, she reassured me we were very early, something she doesn't do often. She was also worried since she saw some of her students on the train. She did tell her work that she had to accompany a foreigner friend who doesn't speak Japanese to an event... and it's all true. But then, I would also be worried if I were in her shoes. Gotta admit, it was a little funny to see her stumble upon her students on the line and then surprise them with our numbers. Yeah, when we got there, there was already a very long line..... for the goods. So that's what they were all running for. 30 minutes or so later, the line tripled in size and length. Still, when we got to the goods table, all t-shirts were out. THey had two designs for that event and I liked both designs. Bummer. I still want at least one. T__T Well, we got our towels and wrist band. Their goods were really cheap...and not as flimsy as flumpool's. At least the towel is. By that time, we had only like less than 10minutes till doors would open. So we looked for our spot and positioned ourselves in front of everyone else. Mr. Number 1 arrived just a couple minutes before doors opened. XDDD So I got to savor every moment of being in front looking at the very long line extending down the stairs and along the riverwalk past the next bridge. The excitement was really killing me. So doors finally opened and we got to get our drink coin. BUT we still had to stay in line. As soon as we entered the venue there's this huge guy telling everyone to form 2 lines and to not break those lines. He guided us ONE STEP at a time all the way from the front door to inside the hall then to the front of the stage, while we were in those lines. Seriously, we were crawling at that rate, and he kept on repeating to stay in two lines. He looked really tough, not the kind of guy you'd mess around. I was about to explode with excitement yet we were moving so sloooooow. I felt I need to do something to have an outlet to release that excitement...but when you're moving at that rate, it's like hard to not burst. Imagine entering the empty hall still in our lines and still walking so slow. I felt like I was back in grade school on a field trip. It was slow motion until we got to position ourselves in front center and finally got hold of the bar.
Setlist. Oh dear, I cannot remember the setlist for that night. But thanks to other fans and the power of internet, someone else posted it up.
01. Riot!!!
02. Never Let This Go
03. 混雑コミュニケーション
04. 未完成交響曲
05. じぶんROCK
06. アダルトスーツ
07. アンサイズニア
08. エトセトラ
09. Wherever you are
10. アンサイズクリア
11. Liar
12. NO SCARED
13. 恋ノアイボウ心ノクピド
14. 完全感覚Dreamer
15. 独り言ロンリーナ
16. 内秘心書
Encore
01. 努努
02. NOBODY'S HOME
Yes, they played their new song!
So Toru came out... with a very weird wavy and spiky hairstyle, which sorta reminded me of Medusa. He was wearing a kinda tight, buttoned-down silk-like shirt and black pants. It made me giggle, but the man is still unbelievably hot while just standing there. We had a very looooooong eye-contact some time during the show. Of all eye-contacts I've had during lives, I'm most certain of this one. I regretted throwing that opportunity with Daisuke, so with Toru, I stared back as long as I can. It was my only eye-contact during this live, which is weird since we wre already in the front row. The more sweat that dripped off his body, the hotter this guy gets. Okay that just sounds sorta gross, but he has that very manly kind of hotness.... not the cute, ikemen, cool hotness, he's just sexy. And when he smiles, it has that player feel but the one that would make your heart flutter so fast you're fighting hard not to faint from it.
Tomoya's drums were sky blue! I think they covered the "E" on the first word so it would read "O-SAKA ONE OK ROCK". Tomoya is more adorable than I had ever imagined him to be. I get so excited watching him play and sing with Taka... you can't hear him but the kid was full of energy. I think they all are, but there's something different and more fun in watching him perform. I'm so happy I got close enough to see the drummer this time... especially if it's Tomoya. No one was calling out his name, for real? So I did. I think it was my first time really yelling out loud alone. If that was even considered yelling at all. The kid's smile, unlike the others, is contagious that it makes you smile along and feel so happy. At the end of the show, he yelled out loud "Arigatou"... I think I was about to explode from all of his cuteness.
Ryota... Ryota...you handsome boy. Why do you even bother growing that goatie of yours? I came to a conclusion that he's not very photogenic. Those photos doesn't do him justice. He's very attractive in person, especially when he smiles. As expected he was shirtless probably halfway through the show. I failed to read what brand of boxers he was wearing.
Taka is crazy about his penis, according to Laura. XD I guess I'm just used to seeing him gesture/point at it... but he actually talked about it. Apparently, during one of the MCs he talked about sweat... but it ended up to a talk about him wanting to secrete fluids out of every whole on his body. Well, not just secrete but spray the fluids on everyone. Like, eeeew. I had a feeling he said something along those lines when he asked the girls if they understood what he was saying... but didn't understand everything until Laura explained it later. While talking about the earthquake, he somehow managed to insert the word "masturbation", which most of the audience didn't pick up. Confusing I know, but that's how his talk went. He never looked at the people in the front row. Never. Sorta disappointing, but at least we get to see him anytime. His mic and the entire cord were covered with red electrical tape. I guess it's to prevent it from breaking since he tends to swirl it around, throw it up in the air and then catch it. If that broke off and flew all the way to the audience, probably no one would mind getting hit by it. XD They'd be proud they've been hit by Taka. Maybe not. When it comes to bands, I find it more entertaining to watch them play an instrument. Well, Takawasn't playing anything, but he was damn entertaining doing his "dance" and sliding across the floor.
There's a lot of head banging on this show... well, more than the other shows during the trip. There's a lot of pain too. As I mentioned previously, we were almost injured during the live. I think we made the wrong choice to position ourselves directly in the center. The hall was vertically divided into two sections, the right and left side, by huge bars. Then, it's horizontally divided into sections with other set of bars. Since the vertical division is right in the center, Mr. Number 1 was standing right by it in the beginning. Next to him was Laura, and then me. As the concert progressed, the pushing from the back and the right side got worse and worse. And the ones that suffered most was the one standing in that corner, Mr. Number 1's spot. He was later pushed away from his spot, ended up in 2nd row and even further back later on. Laura was then squeezed into that spot, then pushed back. As she emptied the spot, I tried so hard to stay on my spot so she can come back to it. Her hand was still holding the front bar, and I can feel her purse with my left hand. But then, the inevitable happened, and I found myself in that spot. The front bar and the vertical bar doesn't exactly meet, So there's that space in the corner. It's like part of my body is in that space, and it does hurt. It was so tight that you can't reposition yourself even just a centimeter to get just a bit comfortable. The shoving and crowd must be worse on our side, since the girls on the other side of the vertical bar were tiny, and they seem to be doing just fine....while I was dying. I really feared I would pass out. How tight was it? I felt the hip bone (correction: it's not called hip bone but pelvic girdle) of the guy on my right. When I told Laura this during the show, she gave me a really strange look... later I did confirm she did not hear "hip bone" but something else. XD
I was a tad disappointed that the skinny, Atsushi-looking staff and the cute looking jail-bait one weren't ones of the people standing in the front. From the beginning of the show, a different set of staff positioned themselves in the space between the bar and the stage. They had a very important mission: to catch the crowd-surfers and get those who aren't feeling well out. Laura warned me that unlike the US, their crowd surfers come from the back and land in the front. I still got hit in the head, but at least it wasn't some huge ass boots right into my face. Since there's barely any space to even turn around, I depended on the staff to warn me of an incoming attack. The scary looking staff right in front of me was very quick to see someone coming. He jerks instantly at the sign of a crowd surfer. As soon as he does that, I duck right away to prevent getting injured. He's very quick at getting them out too. It's unbelievable how many people crowd surf in one song. At one point there were three people being pulled out within a minute....all landing right on my spot. ZEPP Osaka had a really wide stage, but there were more people coming through within 1 meter of me than anywhere else. Surprisingly, there were just as much people fainting being pulled out as well. It was weird, in one song, they came out one after another. It's kinda scary, but I felt relieved to see them bounce back up. The audience were very considerate too. They'd yell out loud that someone has to go through. So even in that really tight crowd, space magically appears for that person. There was just this one person who did not bounce back up. She was probably at least in her 40s, and she was totally out as she was being picked up by the audience. Usually it takes only that one tough staff to get the person out, but this time, they needed more people to pull her out. After the staff got her out, she did not even wake up at all. Even more surprising, the band did not stop playing. I saw them catch a glimpse of what's going on at the front, and still continue on. They would even move onto the next song while someone who had fainted was being pulled out. It was an awkward feeling.. to feel worried for a fellow fan or to get excited about the live.
For most of the second half of the concert, Laura was out of sight. She mentioned about feeling badly squished from early on the show. When I couldn't see her, I even grabbed her arm, to shake it and find out if she's okay. But immediately, I realized it doesn't have her mark. I was holding someone else's hand! /headdesk. So by the last song, I heard someone yell out someone has to go through. As I turned around, I saw her head. After that lady fainted, I was dead worried about her condition. As we were helping her out, she managed to turn to me, signal me and tell me we'd meet at the door after the show. WHAT? Woman, you're being pulled out for crying out loud.. and you still managed to reassure me in that position?!! Seriously! It was so sweet of her to let me know she's alright and to just enjoy the remainder of the live. But she could've done that when she landed on her feet, not while she's mid-air. XD She didn't miss much since it was the last song. Unfortunately, they played her favorite song "Yume yume" as the first encore song.
It sure was an explosive live. I really like parts of the song when it's hardcore rock, then there's a portion where it's a bit slower, and you can listen to the gentleness side of Taka's voice. Even without understanding the lyrics, I felt as if my chest was about to burst from all the emotions I can feel from them. I think at one point I cried.... I just forgot which song. Taka's really crazy, he makes really crazy faces... sometimes it's funny, but other times it's just because of the songs.
It was an amazing live, and I'm glad to get such awesome tickets. After they did their bow and said goodbye to the audience, they scanned the front row and touched our hands. All I could care about was touching Toru, so imagine my luck when the Tomoya and Ryota also passed our way to touch us. There was someone in front of us, so Taka just skipped us and went to the other side. That didn't really disappoint me for some reason.
Hmmm... I'm not sure how much of a report that is. I wish I can remember and describe it more in details. My memory just simply sucks.
-edit-
I'm afraid I might have painted a very bad picture of Taka. It's not actually as bad as it seemed. At least to me. The earthquake talk was in a very serious tone. I assume, he's trying to lighten up the mood by telling people there's more important things than masturbation...or something along that line. I need Laura to actually make a report since she actually understood what was being said.
I also forgot that at the start of the encore, he started talking about dreams. I guess all artists do that kind of talk? But it was adorable since he made a blunder during his talk. He got a bit embarrassed, so I think he was told to start all over again. Alone, he went backstage and made another entrance.. it was too cute. He started his little speech again, and emphasized the portion he made a mistake on with the proper grammar/pronunciation. He mentioned about his dreams, about it coming true, so everyone should aim towards theirs too.
Watching him at that time was probably a bit emotional for me... I mean, he went through a lot. He's a bit of an attention whore, but I could feel his passion towards their music and performance. After all the challenges, he's still doing music, and that night, they were performing in a venue packed to the brim. (According to Laura who went to the back later, the venue must have been over its capacity of 2,180) Literally moving people with their music. I felt proud of them, especially of him, to finally reach that point in their careers. To witness that is somewhat of an honor for me. Though I'm not sure if I want to be in the front row like that again. XD
Considering NICO lives kinda had me mixed up with their set-list, I will be consolidating them into one post. So picking up from where I left off....
Concert Day 4: Osaka for ONE OK ROCK. A few months ago, roler and I bought the singles to get the codes to apply for the concert. aerianta had warned me before that it might be very difficult to get tickets for this show due to the band's popularity as well as the city they're playing in. So we wanted to double our chances if possible. Thankfully, Laura was able to hit for tickets. At that time, all she told me was we got good numbers because she applied really early. I didn't ask more details as "good" was more than enough for me. Well, a few days before I left for Japan, she dropped the most wonderful news. We got numbers 2 and 3! I kinda blanked out as I read her email. I was really left in shock. Teehee, I knew I would eventually share her luck/good karma, but I didn't really expect to get that lucky. Thanks Laura♥ Finally, a chance to see every members clearly without anyone blocking my view. I was determined to feast my eyes on Toru.
Laura had work that day so we agreed to meet around 1630 at the station closest to ZEPP Osaka. As I waited for her, I was panicking as there were a LOT of kids rushing out, and I knew exactly where they were headed to. The whole time I thought doors open at 1700. As soon as Laura arrived, she reassured me we were very early, something she doesn't do often. She was also worried since she saw some of her students on the train. She did tell her work that she had to accompany a foreigner friend who doesn't speak Japanese to an event... and it's all true. But then, I would also be worried if I were in her shoes. Gotta admit, it was a little funny to see her stumble upon her students on the line and then surprise them with our numbers. Yeah, when we got there, there was already a very long line..... for the goods. So that's what they were all running for. 30 minutes or so later, the line tripled in size and length. Still, when we got to the goods table, all t-shirts were out. THey had two designs for that event and I liked both designs. Bummer. I still want at least one. T__T Well, we got our towels and wrist band. Their goods were really cheap...and not as flimsy as flumpool's. At least the towel is. By that time, we had only like less than 10minutes till doors would open. So we looked for our spot and positioned ourselves in front of everyone else. Mr. Number 1 arrived just a couple minutes before doors opened. XDDD So I got to savor every moment of being in front looking at the very long line extending down the stairs and along the riverwalk past the next bridge. The excitement was really killing me. So doors finally opened and we got to get our drink coin. BUT we still had to stay in line. As soon as we entered the venue there's this huge guy telling everyone to form 2 lines and to not break those lines. He guided us ONE STEP at a time all the way from the front door to inside the hall then to the front of the stage, while we were in those lines. Seriously, we were crawling at that rate, and he kept on repeating to stay in two lines. He looked really tough, not the kind of guy you'd mess around. I was about to explode with excitement yet we were moving so sloooooow. I felt I need to do something to have an outlet to release that excitement...but when you're moving at that rate, it's like hard to not burst. Imagine entering the empty hall still in our lines and still walking so slow. I felt like I was back in grade school on a field trip. It was slow motion until we got to position ourselves in front center and finally got hold of the bar.
Setlist. Oh dear, I cannot remember the setlist for that night. But thanks to other fans and the power of internet, someone else posted it up.
01. Riot!!!
02. Never Let This Go
03. 混雑コミュニケーション
04. 未完成交響曲
05. じぶんROCK
06. アダルトスーツ
07. アンサイズニア
08. エトセトラ
09. Wherever you are
10. アンサイズクリア
11. Liar
12. NO SCARED
13. 恋ノアイボウ心ノクピド
14. 完全感覚Dreamer
15. 独り言ロンリーナ
16. 内秘心書
Encore
01. 努努
02. NOBODY'S HOME
Yes, they played their new song!
So Toru came out... with a very weird wavy and spiky hairstyle, which sorta reminded me of Medusa. He was wearing a kinda tight, buttoned-down silk-like shirt and black pants. It made me giggle, but the man is still unbelievably hot while just standing there. We had a very looooooong eye-contact some time during the show. Of all eye-contacts I've had during lives, I'm most certain of this one. I regretted throwing that opportunity with Daisuke, so with Toru, I stared back as long as I can. It was my only eye-contact during this live, which is weird since we wre already in the front row. The more sweat that dripped off his body, the hotter this guy gets. Okay that just sounds sorta gross, but he has that very manly kind of hotness.... not the cute, ikemen, cool hotness, he's just sexy. And when he smiles, it has that player feel but the one that would make your heart flutter so fast you're fighting hard not to faint from it.
Tomoya's drums were sky blue! I think they covered the "E" on the first word so it would read "O-SAKA ONE OK ROCK". Tomoya is more adorable than I had ever imagined him to be. I get so excited watching him play and sing with Taka... you can't hear him but the kid was full of energy. I think they all are, but there's something different and more fun in watching him perform. I'm so happy I got close enough to see the drummer this time... especially if it's Tomoya. No one was calling out his name, for real? So I did. I think it was my first time really yelling out loud alone. If that was even considered yelling at all. The kid's smile, unlike the others, is contagious that it makes you smile along and feel so happy. At the end of the show, he yelled out loud "Arigatou"... I think I was about to explode from all of his cuteness.
Ryota... Ryota...you handsome boy. Why do you even bother growing that goatie of yours? I came to a conclusion that he's not very photogenic. Those photos doesn't do him justice. He's very attractive in person, especially when he smiles. As expected he was shirtless probably halfway through the show. I failed to read what brand of boxers he was wearing.
Taka is crazy about his penis, according to Laura. XD I guess I'm just used to seeing him gesture/point at it... but he actually talked about it. Apparently, during one of the MCs he talked about sweat... but it ended up to a talk about him wanting to secrete fluids out of every whole on his body. Well, not just secrete but spray the fluids on everyone. Like, eeeew. I had a feeling he said something along those lines when he asked the girls if they understood what he was saying... but didn't understand everything until Laura explained it later. While talking about the earthquake, he somehow managed to insert the word "masturbation", which most of the audience didn't pick up. Confusing I know, but that's how his talk went. He never looked at the people in the front row. Never. Sorta disappointing, but at least we get to see him anytime. His mic and the entire cord were covered with red electrical tape. I guess it's to prevent it from breaking since he tends to swirl it around, throw it up in the air and then catch it. If that broke off and flew all the way to the audience, probably no one would mind getting hit by it. XD They'd be proud they've been hit by Taka. Maybe not. When it comes to bands, I find it more entertaining to watch them play an instrument. Well, Takawasn't playing anything, but he was damn entertaining doing his "dance" and sliding across the floor.
There's a lot of head banging on this show... well, more than the other shows during the trip. There's a lot of pain too. As I mentioned previously, we were almost injured during the live. I think we made the wrong choice to position ourselves directly in the center. The hall was vertically divided into two sections, the right and left side, by huge bars. Then, it's horizontally divided into sections with other set of bars. Since the vertical division is right in the center, Mr. Number 1 was standing right by it in the beginning. Next to him was Laura, and then me. As the concert progressed, the pushing from the back and the right side got worse and worse. And the ones that suffered most was the one standing in that corner, Mr. Number 1's spot. He was later pushed away from his spot, ended up in 2nd row and even further back later on. Laura was then squeezed into that spot, then pushed back. As she emptied the spot, I tried so hard to stay on my spot so she can come back to it. Her hand was still holding the front bar, and I can feel her purse with my left hand. But then, the inevitable happened, and I found myself in that spot. The front bar and the vertical bar doesn't exactly meet, So there's that space in the corner. It's like part of my body is in that space, and it does hurt. It was so tight that you can't reposition yourself even just a centimeter to get just a bit comfortable. The shoving and crowd must be worse on our side, since the girls on the other side of the vertical bar were tiny, and they seem to be doing just fine....while I was dying. I really feared I would pass out. How tight was it? I felt the hip bone (correction: it's not called hip bone but pelvic girdle) of the guy on my right. When I told Laura this during the show, she gave me a really strange look... later I did confirm she did not hear "hip bone" but something else. XD
I was a tad disappointed that the skinny, Atsushi-looking staff and the cute looking jail-bait one weren't ones of the people standing in the front. From the beginning of the show, a different set of staff positioned themselves in the space between the bar and the stage. They had a very important mission: to catch the crowd-surfers and get those who aren't feeling well out. Laura warned me that unlike the US, their crowd surfers come from the back and land in the front. I still got hit in the head, but at least it wasn't some huge ass boots right into my face. Since there's barely any space to even turn around, I depended on the staff to warn me of an incoming attack. The scary looking staff right in front of me was very quick to see someone coming. He jerks instantly at the sign of a crowd surfer. As soon as he does that, I duck right away to prevent getting injured. He's very quick at getting them out too. It's unbelievable how many people crowd surf in one song. At one point there were three people being pulled out within a minute....all landing right on my spot. ZEPP Osaka had a really wide stage, but there were more people coming through within 1 meter of me than anywhere else. Surprisingly, there were just as much people fainting being pulled out as well. It was weird, in one song, they came out one after another. It's kinda scary, but I felt relieved to see them bounce back up. The audience were very considerate too. They'd yell out loud that someone has to go through. So even in that really tight crowd, space magically appears for that person. There was just this one person who did not bounce back up. She was probably at least in her 40s, and she was totally out as she was being picked up by the audience. Usually it takes only that one tough staff to get the person out, but this time, they needed more people to pull her out. After the staff got her out, she did not even wake up at all. Even more surprising, the band did not stop playing. I saw them catch a glimpse of what's going on at the front, and still continue on. They would even move onto the next song while someone who had fainted was being pulled out. It was an awkward feeling.. to feel worried for a fellow fan or to get excited about the live.
For most of the second half of the concert, Laura was out of sight. She mentioned about feeling badly squished from early on the show. When I couldn't see her, I even grabbed her arm, to shake it and find out if she's okay. But immediately, I realized it doesn't have her mark. I was holding someone else's hand! /headdesk. So by the last song, I heard someone yell out someone has to go through. As I turned around, I saw her head. After that lady fainted, I was dead worried about her condition. As we were helping her out, she managed to turn to me, signal me and tell me we'd meet at the door after the show. WHAT? Woman, you're being pulled out for crying out loud.. and you still managed to reassure me in that position?!! Seriously! It was so sweet of her to let me know she's alright and to just enjoy the remainder of the live. But she could've done that when she landed on her feet, not while she's mid-air. XD She didn't miss much since it was the last song. Unfortunately, they played her favorite song "Yume yume" as the first encore song.
It sure was an explosive live. I really like parts of the song when it's hardcore rock, then there's a portion where it's a bit slower, and you can listen to the gentleness side of Taka's voice. Even without understanding the lyrics, I felt as if my chest was about to burst from all the emotions I can feel from them. I think at one point I cried.... I just forgot which song. Taka's really crazy, he makes really crazy faces... sometimes it's funny, but other times it's just because of the songs.
It was an amazing live, and I'm glad to get such awesome tickets. After they did their bow and said goodbye to the audience, they scanned the front row and touched our hands. All I could care about was touching Toru, so imagine my luck when the Tomoya and Ryota also passed our way to touch us. There was someone in front of us, so Taka just skipped us and went to the other side. That didn't really disappoint me for some reason.
Hmmm... I'm not sure how much of a report that is. I wish I can remember and describe it more in details. My memory just simply sucks.
-edit-
I'm afraid I might have painted a very bad picture of Taka. It's not actually as bad as it seemed. At least to me. The earthquake talk was in a very serious tone. I assume, he's trying to lighten up the mood by telling people there's more important things than masturbation...or something along that line. I need Laura to actually make a report since she actually understood what was being said.
I also forgot that at the start of the encore, he started talking about dreams. I guess all artists do that kind of talk? But it was adorable since he made a blunder during his talk. He got a bit embarrassed, so I think he was told to start all over again. Alone, he went backstage and made another entrance.. it was too cute. He started his little speech again, and emphasized the portion he made a mistake on with the proper grammar/pronunciation. He mentioned about his dreams, about it coming true, so everyone should aim towards theirs too.
Watching him at that time was probably a bit emotional for me... I mean, he went through a lot. He's a bit of an attention whore, but I could feel his passion towards their music and performance. After all the challenges, he's still doing music, and that night, they were performing in a venue packed to the brim. (According to Laura who went to the back later, the venue must have been over its capacity of 2,180) Literally moving people with their music. I felt proud of them, especially of him, to finally reach that point in their careers. To witness that is somewhat of an honor for me. Though I'm not sure if I want to be in the front row like that again. XD