MIYAVI LIVE IN TORONTO 10.30.11 - CONCERT REPORT
AHMAHGAAAAAH MIYAVI CONCERT WAS AMAZING. I already posted this to miyavi_media, but I thought it'd be appropriate to post it on my actual journal, too :') Enjoy reading!
So I got down at around 2:15, and the line was much shorter than I had anticipated. If you know the layout of Phoenix, you'll know that there's a little sheltered area that leads out onto the sidewalk. When I got down at 2:15, there were maybe 20 people under the sheltered area. I don't know if it was my extreme bias for Miyavi coming through, but I expected more people to be there by then. Anyway, I sat around next to a couple of girls, and after about ten minutes or so, two friends of mine arrived and joined me in line.
At around 3, this girl who was near the front of the line with me was like, "Oh my God...-" and pointed down the street at something. I looked in that direction and didn't see anything at first, but then she was like, "Is that him...?" And then I saw MIYAVI FREAKING STEPPING ONTO THE SIDEWALK AND WAVING TO US, AND THEN GETTING INTO A TAXI. By then, the girl had started flipping shet already, and pretty much everyone under the sheltered area had come out to look. The taxi drove by, and Miyavi waved to us from inside. A/asklfhaklg I honestly couldn't do anything... I had my hand raised in a meek, wave-like thing, but it was so unexpected that I was just... in shock. The girl who had first spotted him started bawling ROFL.
Shortly after, maybe around.... 3:30? This taxi came by and it was the same colour as the one that had picked up Miyavi. It was on the opposite side of the street at first, but then for some reason, it did a U-turn and stopped right in front of the concert hall. I saw the driver gesture to me, and I looked around until I realized that he was calling for me to come over. So I went over and was like, "What's up?" because I honestly thought he was a rapist, but then the following exchange happened:
(M)e: What's up?
(D)river: I dropped off your rockstar at a fancy restaurant near King.
M: ...What? o__o
D: He is eating at a restaurant right now called 600, and afterwards, he is going to go shop on Queen and Dundas with his secretary. He is in a very good mood to perform.
M: LOL really? Cool!
D: Yes, and he's going to sneak back and hide in his tour bus before going back into the concert hall. You should tell your friends that he's not going to be back for another hour and a half, so they can go do whatever. I can take you somewhere?
M: Oh, haha. Thank you, but I'll stay here.
D: Is he a very famous rockstar?
M: Yeah, that's Miyavi! He's awesome!
D: Ohh, haha.
M: You should come watch his show tonight!
D: Haha. Kbai /drives away
I have no idea why he chose to tell me of all people, but it was pretty hilarious roflrofl. Afterwards, I think around 5? I found two friends of mine from tumblr. that I've known for a good half year now, and it was awesome meeting them for the first time. They were super friendly and easy to talk to. They introduced me to their group of friends, and we hung around and signed this super awesome, huge flag that they bought for Miyavi. They wrote 雅 382 WHAT'S MY NAME TOUR TORONTO on it, and got everyone in line to sign it ROFL. So awesome! And shortly after meeting them, one of their friends came and brought his group of friends along. It was so much fun talking to them about just... Everything in general haha. Talking a lot about Japan and lives and stuff, and just making me happy to know that there are people out there who love the exact same things I do.
I actually met a lot of cool people. Friends introducing me to other friends, finding people from tumblr., LJ, and FB, and just talking to random strangers in line made things super fun while waiting for the concert to start. Last year, I knew a lot of people going, but this year I ended up meeting a lot more new friends than seeing people there I already knew from before. Awesome.
Okay, then around 7:45, they called out for people to get their tickets ready. They were confiscating water bottles, so I tried sneaking in a bottle under my shirt, but when I got past security and opened the door the bottle fell out LMFAO. I WAS SO EMBARRASSED I JUST KICKED IT AWAY LIKE A DERP AND RAN INSIDE. Also, point and shoot cameras were allowed in, but super exp DSLRs were not, I think. We went in, and I quickly went to the box office to get my VIP pass, and then dashed to the washroom and coat check to get ready. After coat check, I bought my merch and went to the actual hall. The last time I went to Phoenix I was near the left side of the stage. This time, I was on the right with a friend of mine, and we talked until the lights dimmed and Miyavi showed his badass self on stage.
He started off with WHAT'S MY NAME (obviously) and went into a lot of his newer songs, like UNIVERSE, BOOM-HAH-BOOM-HAH-HAH, SHELTER, and TORTURE. He also played Ossan Ossan Ore Nanbo, which made me super ridiculously happy. During the request section, there were a lot of calls for older songs (I called out Ashita, Genki ni Naare an obnoxious number of times) and he ended up playing Itoshii Hito, and Jibun Kakumei. Pretty much for half the live, I was struggling to get a view of Miyavi between the heads of these three tall guys in front of me. It actually wasn't so bad, but this one guy was legit Goliath and NOBODY wanted to stand behind him (who would, seriously.) Also, I was caught behind this one girl for a long time, and her hair smelled like piss and kept entering my mouth, holy. I almost gagged.
After he left the stage, we started calling out his name and "ENCORE," and then after maybe about five minutes he came out and played Subarashii Sekai Kana, SURVIVE, STRONG, SELFISH LOVE and others. He actually had to use his Mac to look at lyrics for Subarashii, and he had sheets for the req. portion of his set. It didn't matter though, because everyone was singing along with him during those songs, like he asked haha. Throughout the set, he was super chill and just spoke casually to the audience about his adventures in Toronto.
"I went to Lake Ontwaro? Ontiweeo... -- Lake Ontario. I went to Niagara Falls... Too many tourists."
"I went shopping on Dun... Dun...? -- I call out Dundas like a derp -- Dundas!"
"Coming up to Canada, we were worried that Toronto would be really cold... But you guys are not cold at all. You're super hot!"
"What songs do you guys wanna hear? -- some girl shouts out Sakihokoru Hana no You Ni LIKE A BOSS -- ふぉおおおおお your Japanese is so good!!"
A lot of people shouted random Japanese at him (guilty... But I shouted stuff like できるよ！！とか俺様！！って(You can do it! and ORESAMA!) ... Not the random 大好き！！(DAISUKI!!) that some girl shouted out whenever there was a quiet moment in his MCs) and he commented like, "Oh, you guys speak Japanese? さぁ、/long string of japanese that I don't remember, but meant "so if I talk like this, will you guys understand?" And then he taught us how to say something in Japanese, but it was really just something in English with a Japanese accent LOL. I don't remember what it was... Something "プロブレム? (Problem?)" Anyway, it nice to hear his English, and just see how much its improved since last year's Neo Tokyo Samurai Black tour. He could even joke around about BOBO the Mexican who was from Brazil, Pepsi who like Coke, and understood when the audience shouted unintelligible English to him. When people called him cute and a badass, he always replied with this cocky little smirk, "I know." He interacted a lot with the audience, taking gifts like the Canadian flag this girl (not Kat's group) made for him, and this sign for BOBO that said, "Those SHORTS." ROFL. He actually reached out and let people touch his hand, which was something he didn't do at last year's live.
Okay, so here's the amazing part.
After the live ended, the people without VIP passes were ushered out, and those of us with passes were instructed to line up along the wall, leading up to the stairs. We were told to get our cameras ready, along with any items that we wanted to be autographed. I ended up being second-last with Kalli, and I was already started to feel really nervous again. When he finally walked in, I felt myself start tearing up, and I knew that it was game over for me. My eyes randomly welled up with tears as we waited in line, and eventually the security guards noticed and were like ... Aw. FYL.
I ended up trading spots with the last guy in line, because I really wanted to be last and spend as much time with Miyavi as possible. The secu actually had to give me a hug, because I was crying so hard LMFAO. And she offered me tissue from behind the bar haha. I already had tissue... I knew it was going to happen. = = then when I got up to the top of the stairs, the secu there asked me if I was going to be okay, and I said yes without crying, but then he was like, "We saved his biggest fan for last, eh?" And then I lost it and started crying again ROFL YOU DON'T SAY THOSE KINDS OF THINGS TO ME WHEN I'M EMOTIONALLY VOLATILE.
So finally, finally, it was my turn. Kalli left, and so did the guy in front of me. I walked up the stairs, and the security guard up there calmed me down, and then sent me to Miyavi. They all knew I was crying by then ROFL. Miyavi saw me, and he was like "Hey!" and stuck out his hand to shake mine, but I already had my hands to my face, trying to stop the tears alskdha ahaha. But he was super sweet about it... I kept apologizing, and he eventually put his arm around me and was like, "Thank you so much... It's okay. Take your time." He told me to take my time... a couple of times rofl, and his secretary kept trying to take the picture, but he was like, "I don't think she's ready to take the picture yet."
Eventually I said something "You saved me so many times... Thank you for changing my life." He thanked me and shook my hand again, and finally we took the picture. He asked me if I was sure I was okay, and then I was like, "うん、大丈夫。" Then we talked a little bit in Japanese... Something like this:
S: 本当にありがとう (Thank you so much)
M: You're welcome. Did you have fun?
S: マジで楽しかった！(It was seriously fun!
M: Ohh, you speak Japanese? 日本語しゃべる？ (You can speak Japanese?)
S: ちょっと、、、下手（笑 (It's a bit... not good haha)
M: 下手？(Not good?)Haha. I'm gonna come back to Toronto, okay?
S: Please come back to Toronto!
M: Okay, I'll see you next time then! /shakes hand again
And I asked him to sign my Ashita, Genki ni Naare single, but apparently he wasn't doing autographs because he had already signed the VIP posters for everyone. Though he did thank me again ROFL. There was a lot of thanking and crying and hugging... I thought he only said no to me because I was the last one, but I found out from Kenward afterwards that he said no to everyone... /relief I barely looked at his face the entire time during the meeting, because I would just start bawling every time I did LOL. I remember looking at his hand a lot rofl.
Anyway, that's pretty much the gist of things. On my way home, this woman saw my outfit and was like, "Are you dressed for Halloween?" and normally, I'd say yes just to avoid the hassle of explanation, but this time I was like, "No, I actually just came back from an awesome concert!"
I don't know, I just found that to be hilarious.
And I'll just end off with this :')
EDIT: Oh, and I forgot to mention in my report that the Canadian flag everyone signed DID make it to Miyavi! My friends (the ones who brought it) gave it to him during the meet and greet. The flag that he took up on stage was NOT the one everyone signed. So congrats and otsukare to all the ko-miyavi who signed! :D
Thanks for reading!
So I got down at around 2:15, and the line was much shorter than I had anticipated. If you know the layout of Phoenix, you'll know that there's a little sheltered area that leads out onto the sidewalk. When I got down at 2:15, there were maybe 20 people under the sheltered area. I don't know if it was my extreme bias for Miyavi coming through, but I expected more people to be there by then. Anyway, I sat around next to a couple of girls, and after about ten minutes or so, two friends of mine arrived and joined me in line.
At around 3, this girl who was near the front of the line with me was like, "Oh my God...-" and pointed down the street at something. I looked in that direction and didn't see anything at first, but then she was like, "Is that him...?" And then I saw MIYAVI FREAKING STEPPING ONTO THE SIDEWALK AND WAVING TO US, AND THEN GETTING INTO A TAXI. By then, the girl had started flipping shet already, and pretty much everyone under the sheltered area had come out to look. The taxi drove by, and Miyavi waved to us from inside. A/asklfhaklg I honestly couldn't do anything... I had my hand raised in a meek, wave-like thing, but it was so unexpected that I was just... in shock. The girl who had first spotted him started bawling ROFL.
Shortly after, maybe around.... 3:30? This taxi came by and it was the same colour as the one that had picked up Miyavi. It was on the opposite side of the street at first, but then for some reason, it did a U-turn and stopped right in front of the concert hall. I saw the driver gesture to me, and I looked around until I realized that he was calling for me to come over. So I went over and was like, "What's up?" because I honestly thought he was a rapist, but then the following exchange happened:
(M)e: What's up?
(D)river: I dropped off your rockstar at a fancy restaurant near King.
M: ...What? o__o
D: He is eating at a restaurant right now called 600, and afterwards, he is going to go shop on Queen and Dundas with his secretary. He is in a very good mood to perform.
M: LOL really? Cool!
D: Yes, and he's going to sneak back and hide in his tour bus before going back into the concert hall. You should tell your friends that he's not going to be back for another hour and a half, so they can go do whatever. I can take you somewhere?
M: Oh, haha. Thank you, but I'll stay here.
D: Is he a very famous rockstar?
M: Yeah, that's Miyavi! He's awesome!
D: Ohh, haha.
M: You should come watch his show tonight!
D: Haha. Kbai /drives away
I have no idea why he chose to tell me of all people, but it was pretty hilarious roflrofl. Afterwards, I think around 5? I found two friends of mine from tumblr. that I've known for a good half year now, and it was awesome meeting them for the first time. They were super friendly and easy to talk to. They introduced me to their group of friends, and we hung around and signed this super awesome, huge flag that they bought for Miyavi. They wrote 雅 382 WHAT'S MY NAME TOUR TORONTO on it, and got everyone in line to sign it ROFL. So awesome! And shortly after meeting them, one of their friends came and brought his group of friends along. It was so much fun talking to them about just... Everything in general haha. Talking a lot about Japan and lives and stuff, and just making me happy to know that there are people out there who love the exact same things I do.
I actually met a lot of cool people. Friends introducing me to other friends, finding people from tumblr., LJ, and FB, and just talking to random strangers in line made things super fun while waiting for the concert to start. Last year, I knew a lot of people going, but this year I ended up meeting a lot more new friends than seeing people there I already knew from before. Awesome.
Okay, then around 7:45, they called out for people to get their tickets ready. They were confiscating water bottles, so I tried sneaking in a bottle under my shirt, but when I got past security and opened the door the bottle fell out LMFAO. I WAS SO EMBARRASSED I JUST KICKED IT AWAY LIKE A DERP AND RAN INSIDE. Also, point and shoot cameras were allowed in, but super exp DSLRs were not, I think. We went in, and I quickly went to the box office to get my VIP pass, and then dashed to the washroom and coat check to get ready. After coat check, I bought my merch and went to the actual hall. The last time I went to Phoenix I was near the left side of the stage. This time, I was on the right with a friend of mine, and we talked until the lights dimmed and Miyavi showed his badass self on stage.
He started off with WHAT'S MY NAME (obviously) and went into a lot of his newer songs, like UNIVERSE, BOOM-HAH-BOOM-HAH-HAH, SHELTER, and TORTURE. He also played Ossan Ossan Ore Nanbo, which made me super ridiculously happy. During the request section, there were a lot of calls for older songs (I called out Ashita, Genki ni Naare an obnoxious number of times) and he ended up playing Itoshii Hito, and Jibun Kakumei. Pretty much for half the live, I was struggling to get a view of Miyavi between the heads of these three tall guys in front of me. It actually wasn't so bad, but this one guy was legit Goliath and NOBODY wanted to stand behind him (who would, seriously.) Also, I was caught behind this one girl for a long time, and her hair smelled like piss and kept entering my mouth, holy. I almost gagged.
After he left the stage, we started calling out his name and "ENCORE," and then after maybe about five minutes he came out and played Subarashii Sekai Kana, SURVIVE, STRONG, SELFISH LOVE and others. He actually had to use his Mac to look at lyrics for Subarashii, and he had sheets for the req. portion of his set. It didn't matter though, because everyone was singing along with him during those songs, like he asked haha. Throughout the set, he was super chill and just spoke casually to the audience about his adventures in Toronto.
"I went to Lake Ontwaro? Ontiweeo... -- Lake Ontario. I went to Niagara Falls... Too many tourists."
"I went shopping on Dun... Dun...? -- I call out Dundas like a derp -- Dundas!"
"Coming up to Canada, we were worried that Toronto would be really cold... But you guys are not cold at all. You're super hot!"
"What songs do you guys wanna hear? -- some girl shouts out Sakihokoru Hana no You Ni LIKE A BOSS -- ふぉおおおおお your Japanese is so good!!"
A lot of people shouted random Japanese at him (guilty... But I shouted stuff like できるよ！！とか俺様！！って(You can do it! and ORESAMA!) ... Not the random 大好き！！(DAISUKI!!) that some girl shouted out whenever there was a quiet moment in his MCs) and he commented like, "Oh, you guys speak Japanese? さぁ、/long string of japanese that I don't remember, but meant "so if I talk like this, will you guys understand?" And then he taught us how to say something in Japanese, but it was really just something in English with a Japanese accent LOL. I don't remember what it was... Something "プロブレム? (Problem?)" Anyway, it nice to hear his English, and just see how much its improved since last year's Neo Tokyo Samurai Black tour. He could even joke around about BOBO the Mexican who was from Brazil, Pepsi who like Coke, and understood when the audience shouted unintelligible English to him. When people called him cute and a badass, he always replied with this cocky little smirk, "I know." He interacted a lot with the audience, taking gifts like the Canadian flag this girl (not Kat's group) made for him, and this sign for BOBO that said, "Those SHORTS." ROFL. He actually reached out and let people touch his hand, which was something he didn't do at last year's live.
Okay, so here's the amazing part.
After the live ended, the people without VIP passes were ushered out, and those of us with passes were instructed to line up along the wall, leading up to the stairs. We were told to get our cameras ready, along with any items that we wanted to be autographed. I ended up being second-last with Kalli, and I was already started to feel really nervous again. When he finally walked in, I felt myself start tearing up, and I knew that it was game over for me. My eyes randomly welled up with tears as we waited in line, and eventually the security guards noticed and were like ... Aw. FYL.
I ended up trading spots with the last guy in line, because I really wanted to be last and spend as much time with Miyavi as possible. The secu actually had to give me a hug, because I was crying so hard LMFAO. And she offered me tissue from behind the bar haha. I already had tissue... I knew it was going to happen. = = then when I got up to the top of the stairs, the secu there asked me if I was going to be okay, and I said yes without crying, but then he was like, "We saved his biggest fan for last, eh?" And then I lost it and started crying again ROFL YOU DON'T SAY THOSE KINDS OF THINGS TO ME WHEN I'M EMOTIONALLY VOLATILE.
So finally, finally, it was my turn. Kalli left, and so did the guy in front of me. I walked up the stairs, and the security guard up there calmed me down, and then sent me to Miyavi. They all knew I was crying by then ROFL. Miyavi saw me, and he was like "Hey!" and stuck out his hand to shake mine, but I already had my hands to my face, trying to stop the tears alskdha ahaha. But he was super sweet about it... I kept apologizing, and he eventually put his arm around me and was like, "Thank you so much... It's okay. Take your time." He told me to take my time... a couple of times rofl, and his secretary kept trying to take the picture, but he was like, "I don't think she's ready to take the picture yet."
Eventually I said something "You saved me so many times... Thank you for changing my life." He thanked me and shook my hand again, and finally we took the picture. He asked me if I was sure I was okay, and then I was like, "うん、大丈夫。" Then we talked a little bit in Japanese... Something like this:
S: 本当にありがとう (Thank you so much)
M: You're welcome. Did you have fun?
S: マジで楽しかった！(It was seriously fun!
M: Ohh, you speak Japanese? 日本語しゃべる？ (You can speak Japanese?)
S: ちょっと、、、下手（笑 (It's a bit... not good haha)
M: 下手？(Not good?)Haha. I'm gonna come back to Toronto, okay?
S: Please come back to Toronto!
M: Okay, I'll see you next time then! /shakes hand again
And I asked him to sign my Ashita, Genki ni Naare single, but apparently he wasn't doing autographs because he had already signed the VIP posters for everyone. Though he did thank me again ROFL. There was a lot of thanking and crying and hugging... I thought he only said no to me because I was the last one, but I found out from Kenward afterwards that he said no to everyone... /relief I barely looked at his face the entire time during the meeting, because I would just start bawling every time I did LOL. I remember looking at his hand a lot rofl.
Anyway, that's pretty much the gist of things. On my way home, this woman saw my outfit and was like, "Are you dressed for Halloween?" and normally, I'd say yes just to avoid the hassle of explanation, but this time I was like, "No, I actually just came back from an awesome concert!"
I don't know, I just found that to be hilarious.
And I'll just end off with this :')
EDIT: Oh, and I forgot to mention in my report that the Canadian flag everyone signed DID make it to Miyavi! My friends (the ones who brought it) gave it to him during the meet and greet. The flag that he took up on stage was NOT the one everyone signed. So congrats and otsukare to all the ko-miyavi who signed! :D
Thanks for reading!