五月天 2010 DNA World Tour Los Angeles Concert Review
This concert review is less about the songs and more about the general feel of the concert that I experienced. I think I will do a song review later and include their set list for their LA concert. But feel free to listen to my ramblings... Warning, post is picture heavy!
Mayday descended upon us once again in Los Angeles and left as quickly as they came. Tonight's concert venue was at the Gibson Amphitheater right outside the entrance of Universal Studios. I thought this was a big improvement from their last venue, the Shrine Auditorium, when Mayday last played here in LA three years ago. For all those who are not aware of the area around the Shrine Auditorium... well, it's pretty sketchy. Despite being across the street from USC, my friends and I were followed by a homeless man until we entered the venue so that was not a pleasant memory. Anyway, I liked whoever decided to play at the Gibson this time around. Right when we exited the parking structure, it was the Universal Studios Citywalk. It was kind of confusing at first because there were so many visitors going to and from from the theme park so we weren't sure where to go at first but thankfully, we have these guys to help point us in the right way.
Since I pre-ordered my tickets with Starzone Entertainment, I picked them up at the box office right outside the Gibson entrance where I was also promised some free concert t-shirts. Awesome right? No, not really because these concert t-shirts were from three years ago, from their LAST TOUR.
Right when the lady handed me the t-shirts, I asked her why they were giving me concert t-shirts from Mayday's last tour, she said that, "They're still using these t-shirts for this tour." Really? Hm, skeptical. My theory is that they ordered way too many of the last tour's t-shirts and needed a way to get rid of them. I mean, it says "2007" on it. Well, I wasn't sold on the t-shirts but at least they were free and now I have two, since I bought the last one three years ago. I didn't pay nearly as much for them as what the real concert t-shirts were going for.
The farthest left t-shirt with the gold text was listed as $40 and the others were $35. Ouch... The ticket already put enough of a dent in my wallet so I took a picture of the tour goods as a souvenir. Anyway, after everyone met up and ogled at how expensive the tour goods were, we all entered the amphitheater and took our seats. $148USD got us in the orchestra seat in row four, which was relatively close to the stage.
Sadly, we were sitting on the right side so we got little action from Stone. A lot of Monster, Masa and Ashin so it was still good. My impression fo the Gibson was that it was really big, which made me kind of excited for just how many people were showing up and the impending concert.
The concert began with the usual movies which highlight the themes of their tour, which is DNA this time. The video began with the Mayday guys all cramped into a taxi and speeding away from several police cars. There were explosions, gunfire, lots of dodging and by the way, Guanyo's driving! Lol. They seem to be running away from some bad guys and the camera pans to a sixth passenger of the now beaten up taxi. In the backseat with Masa, Monster and Stone is a young boy dressed in white and in his hands, he's holding pedant with a helix structure in it. The scene then zooms into the pendant and shows some cells and the curtain finally drops and the concert begins! Fyi, the background music to this first movie was 軋車 so guess what the first song was? :)
*UPDATE* Here is a video that my friend took of the beginning video. It does way more justice than my description. Credit to lilkubixa
Yay, finally! :3 A lot people stood up right when the curtain dropped which made me happy because at their last concert in LA, many of the audience members just sat there and had to be pried up by the guys during songs like 戀愛Ing because that was when everyone stood up. In any case, I stood up right away, glowstick in hand, and had a blast... I did have to pry my boyfriend from his seat though... haha. Can't win at everything. ^^; From here on, Mayday pretty much played song after song and it was until the third or fourth one that they briefly greeted the audience before continuing. There were at least two more "shorts" from them when Mayday did a outfit change and from the movies, it was revealed that the young boy in the backseat was a reincarnation (I could be wrong) of John Lennon and needed the original's DNA so the Mayday guys decided to break the monotony of their lives and help the young boy. Their alternate lives reminded me of the MV for 九號球 where they all had different jobs besides being musicians. In the DNA version, Ashin is a teacher (return of the blocky looking glasses!), Guanyo is a taxi driver, Monster is a bored businessman, Masa is a mascot (specifically a teddy bear, fits his snappy personality, no? :D), and Monster is a dry cleaner (I wonder what bet he lost to do that role). Even though all the voice overs were provided by Ashin, I doubt that he also provided the subtitles. ^^
Ah~ Ashin in glasses is love.
After this, he runs into the teddy bear mascot (Masa), Monster spills coffee on him, which in turn leads to Masa going to the dry cleaners (Stone)
I just love this scene. :D
Stone looks so depressed here. :(
Since their movies focused on stealing back the DNA of John Lennon, they sang many songs songs from the 神的孩子都在跳舞 album, but 垃圾車 was not played so I was a little disappointed. After about an hour and a half into the concert, Mayday did their greet and thanking the sponsor part. I especially enjoyed this part because when Guanyo was speaking, Ashin snuck behind the drumset and when Guanyo finished his greetings, he turned around and Ashin begins drumming and forces Guanyo to sing... Stone, Monster and Masa seemed ready for the prank because they all put on their instruments once they saw Ashin walk behind the drums. ^^ Here's a video I took of it. I apologize for the quality, this camera is well over four years old. If you focus on the big screen, you can see the interactions between Ashin in Guanyo.
A funny note, when Ashin was thanking the sponsors, he said that we were cheering too softly and asked us if we were attending other concerts and that our hearts are too indecisive. Also, since some of the sponsors such as Hard Rock and State Farm were written in English, Ashin had a hard time pronouncing them. He tried, which is always valiant. Haha. He struck out with State Farm and had to have Masa come save him. XD
阿信：你怎麼念這個...*squints at paper* Ha- Ha- Hard Rock. 啊，太難了...
Here are some more pictures of them performing. Well, mostly Monster and Ashin... Sorry, I was a little biased. Hehe.
And lastly, confetti! I left my purse open under my seat but it was still half full of confetti when I picked it up. ^^;
The last song was 溫柔 (還你自由版) and the girl next to my friend was pretty much bawling when I looked over and I admit, I was getting a little teary eyed when they said it was the last song and they were leaving right after. :(
Overall impressions: I thought this concert was a lot shorter than their last LA concert and played a lot of older songs instead of ones from their newest album. I was sad that 噢買尬, 夜訪吸血鬼, and 如煙 wasn't played. I was really looking forward to those songs... but nevertheless, Mayday still delivered an awesome show. I can tell they sincerely care about their fans and want to come back and play whenever they can, but traveling overseas is expensive... I can tell from the prices of the tickets. Hopefully they will come back soon because I can never get tired of them.
Some memorable highlights included them playing 离开地球表面- Jump! because that song is so fun live. I recall everyone standing up and jumping. ^^ There was a middle age couple in front of my friends and I who sat down for most of the concert, which was good cause they didn't block our view, but the husband looked like he thoroughly enjoyed the show. I will probably update more pictures from my friend's camera since hers took better quality ones.
Mayday descended upon us once again in Los Angeles and left as quickly as they came. Tonight's concert venue was at the Gibson Amphitheater right outside the entrance of Universal Studios. I thought this was a big improvement from their last venue, the Shrine Auditorium, when Mayday last played here in LA three years ago. For all those who are not aware of the area around the Shrine Auditorium... well, it's pretty sketchy. Despite being across the street from USC, my friends and I were followed by a homeless man until we entered the venue so that was not a pleasant memory. Anyway, I liked whoever decided to play at the Gibson this time around. Right when we exited the parking structure, it was the Universal Studios Citywalk. It was kind of confusing at first because there were so many visitors going to and from from the theme park so we weren't sure where to go at first but thankfully, we have these guys to help point us in the right way.
Since I pre-ordered my tickets with Starzone Entertainment, I picked them up at the box office right outside the Gibson entrance where I was also promised some free concert t-shirts. Awesome right? No, not really because these concert t-shirts were from three years ago, from their LAST TOUR.
Right when the lady handed me the t-shirts, I asked her why they were giving me concert t-shirts from Mayday's last tour, she said that, "They're still using these t-shirts for this tour." Really? Hm, skeptical. My theory is that they ordered way too many of the last tour's t-shirts and needed a way to get rid of them. I mean, it says "2007" on it. Well, I wasn't sold on the t-shirts but at least they were free and now I have two, since I bought the last one three years ago. I didn't pay nearly as much for them as what the real concert t-shirts were going for.
The farthest left t-shirt with the gold text was listed as $40 and the others were $35. Ouch... The ticket already put enough of a dent in my wallet so I took a picture of the tour goods as a souvenir. Anyway, after everyone met up and ogled at how expensive the tour goods were, we all entered the amphitheater and took our seats. $148USD got us in the orchestra seat in row four, which was relatively close to the stage.
Sadly, we were sitting on the right side so we got little action from Stone. A lot of Monster, Masa and Ashin so it was still good. My impression fo the Gibson was that it was really big, which made me kind of excited for just how many people were showing up and the impending concert.
The concert began with the usual movies which highlight the themes of their tour, which is DNA this time. The video began with the Mayday guys all cramped into a taxi and speeding away from several police cars. There were explosions, gunfire, lots of dodging and by the way, Guanyo's driving! Lol. They seem to be running away from some bad guys and the camera pans to a sixth passenger of the now beaten up taxi. In the backseat with Masa, Monster and Stone is a young boy dressed in white and in his hands, he's holding pedant with a helix structure in it. The scene then zooms into the pendant and shows some cells and the curtain finally drops and the concert begins! Fyi, the background music to this first movie was 軋車 so guess what the first song was? :)
*UPDATE* Here is a video that my friend took of the beginning video. It does way more justice than my description. Credit to lilkubixa
Click to viewYay, finally! :3 A lot people stood up right when the curtain dropped which made me happy because at their last concert in LA, many of the audience members just sat there and had to be pried up by the guys during songs like 戀愛Ing because that was when everyone stood up. In any case, I stood up right away, glowstick in hand, and had a blast... I did have to pry my boyfriend from his seat though... haha. Can't win at everything. ^^; From here on, Mayday pretty much played song after song and it was until the third or fourth one that they briefly greeted the audience before continuing. There were at least two more "shorts" from them when Mayday did a outfit change and from the movies, it was revealed that the young boy in the backseat was a reincarnation (I could be wrong) of John Lennon and needed the original's DNA so the Mayday guys decided to break the monotony of their lives and help the young boy. Their alternate lives reminded me of the MV for 九號球 where they all had different jobs besides being musicians. In the DNA version, Ashin is a teacher (return of the blocky looking glasses!), Guanyo is a taxi driver, Monster is a bored businessman, Masa is a mascot (specifically a teddy bear, fits his snappy personality, no? :D), and Monster is a dry cleaner (I wonder what bet he lost to do that role). Even though all the voice overs were provided by Ashin, I doubt that he also provided the subtitles. ^^
Ah~ Ashin in glasses is love.
After this, he runs into the teddy bear mascot (Masa), Monster spills coffee on him, which in turn leads to Masa going to the dry cleaners (Stone)
I just love this scene. :D
Stone looks so depressed here. :(
Since their movies focused on stealing back the DNA of John Lennon, they sang many songs songs from the 神的孩子都在跳舞 album, but 垃圾車 was not played so I was a little disappointed. After about an hour and a half into the concert, Mayday did their greet and thanking the sponsor part. I especially enjoyed this part because when Guanyo was speaking, Ashin snuck behind the drumset and when Guanyo finished his greetings, he turned around and Ashin begins drumming and forces Guanyo to sing... Stone, Monster and Masa seemed ready for the prank because they all put on their instruments once they saw Ashin walk behind the drums. ^^ Here's a video I took of it. I apologize for the quality, this camera is well over four years old. If you focus on the big screen, you can see the interactions between Ashin in Guanyo.
A funny note, when Ashin was thanking the sponsors, he said that we were cheering too softly and asked us if we were attending other concerts and that our hearts are too indecisive. Also, since some of the sponsors such as Hard Rock and State Farm were written in English, Ashin had a hard time pronouncing them. He tried, which is always valiant. Haha. He struck out with State Farm and had to have Masa come save him. XD
阿信：你怎麼念這個...*squints at paper* Ha- Ha- Hard Rock. 啊，太難了...
Here are some more pictures of them performing. Well, mostly Monster and Ashin... Sorry, I was a little biased. Hehe.
And lastly, confetti! I left my purse open under my seat but it was still half full of confetti when I picked it up. ^^;
The last song was 溫柔 (還你自由版) and the girl next to my friend was pretty much bawling when I looked over and I admit, I was getting a little teary eyed when they said it was the last song and they were leaving right after. :(
Overall impressions: I thought this concert was a lot shorter than their last LA concert and played a lot of older songs instead of ones from their newest album. I was sad that 噢買尬, 夜訪吸血鬼, and 如煙 wasn't played. I was really looking forward to those songs... but nevertheless, Mayday still delivered an awesome show. I can tell they sincerely care about their fans and want to come back and play whenever they can, but traveling overseas is expensive... I can tell from the prices of the tickets. Hopefully they will come back soon because I can never get tired of them.
Some memorable highlights included them playing 离开地球表面- Jump! because that song is so fun live. I recall everyone standing up and jumping. ^^ There was a middle age couple in front of my friends and I who sat down for most of the concert, which was good cause they didn't block our view, but the husband looked like he thoroughly enjoyed the show. I will probably update more pictures from my friend's camera since hers took better quality ones.