I do crazy things to keep myself sane (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} faith_alive) wrote,@ 2009-01-17 17:12:00 |
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NewS Winter Party Diamond 31 Dec 08 Full Concert Report
I finally got around to typing it up and it's a MONSTER... close to 6,000 words!
Disclaimer/Warnings (PLS READ):
1. This is a very detailed report containing everything I remember about the concert coz I essentially intend it to be a personal record/diary of the concert. If you'd like to avoid spoilers for a possible DVD release, pls do not read.
2. This is chock-full of personal feelings and observations, and who is my ichiban is VERY OBVIOUS in there. But rest assured that I love all the boys and to me they can do no wrong lol.
3. I do not remember everything, and I did not understand everything coz my Jap is half-baked. So pls forgive any factual mistakes in there.
Date: 31 Dec 08
Time: 5.30-8.15pm
Venue: Tokyo Dome
Well, I must say, that I completely underestimated the scale of a TOKYO DOME concert. Misled by how I was able to get my merchandise within 1 hr at Kyocera Dome in Osaka for Kinki Kids Kinkiyou in Osaka, I arrived at Dome at about 4.30pm. There wasn’t any need to look at the map coz all I needed to do was to FOLLOW THE GIRLS haha. As expected there was a line of girls asking for tickets; I wonder if any of them ever managed to get any!
It was very windy and the sun was already setting and it was getting really cold… the first thing I did was to search for the end of the goods line and the more I looked the demoralised I got coz the end of the queue was so far away! I ended up downstairs from Dome, and the staff behind me was shouting that the current end of the queue was at least an hour from the goods stalls and there was a possibility of missing the concert if I continued to queue. But I was still hopeful and anyway there was nothing else to do but to queue! I also found out from the sign the staff was holding that they were selling both countdown and NewS concert goods, which explains the length of the queue! He also said that there was a dedicated queue for countdown goods… what about a dedicated queue for NewS goods?!
The sun set and it became increasingly cold… I calledaishahsun and I must have sounded helpless, coz she offered to come and look for me. When she arrived it was 5.00pm; she asked me where I was and I said I was on the bridge across from Tokyo Dome. She asked me to raise my hand; which I did and I think I must have surprised the other girls by blabbering into the phone in English then sticking up my hand violently haha. She said I was still quite far from the goods stalls and I wailed: “I only want a penlight!” coz I stupidly left all my neon lightsticks in the hotel, expecting that I would be able to buy a penlight at Dome. It ended up being the best thing I said all day, coz she said she had a Johnnys penlight. And that was the best thing I’d heard all day too! I gratefully skipped out of the meandering queue, ran past all the girls, realized that I was indeed very far from the goods stalls, and headed towards the gate where aishahsun was waiting. Even then there were so many people and the gate was so big that we couldn’t see each other… I called her and stuck up my arm (again!) and finally! she saw me. I took the penlight from her and ran helter-skelter to my gate. Ah I’m so grateful to dear aishahsun for the johnnys penlight! If you’re reading this aishahsun, thanks so much!
I was headed to arena but I didn’t know how… in desperation I asked the staff there who advised me to head towards and down the stairs, so I joined a horde of running girls headed for arena and passed by the goods stalls that were within Dome along the way. Ah I shd have queued there instead of outside! At least it would have been warm! But no time to hesitate… I ran past girls spilling out of both guys and girls toilets (hahaha I dunno what fanboys/hapless boyfriends/fathers would/could have done if they needed to go)… I made a quick evaluation that I din need to go (or more accurately I had no time) and headed down into….
ARENA.
It was freaking amazing. Dome just opened up in front of me and I stopped to take a breath. Staff had placed a map in front of the arena entrance and I checked my block and realized that I was pretty close to the round stage in the centre. Some of the arena blocks on the outer fringes were not close to any of the stages and I counted my blessings coz I had bought my ticket not knowing where the block was going to be. Trying not to grin like an idiot I raced to my block, checked with staff where my seat was and found that they had stuck seat numbers on the back of the seats which made checking for seat numbers freaking difficult and slightly embarrassing since I practically had to bend over to check that I was on the right seat. I couldn’t even tilt the seat forward to have a better look coz, I realized later, that the seats were tied together.
But finally I was there! I was in Dome, in arena and I was armed with a penlight, binoculars, and a self-made uchiwa that said Yuu (for Yuuya) in kanji hee. A typical Johnnys fangirl! I was glad that I made an uchiwa coz I never got to the end of the goods queue for Tegoshi’s official uchiwa. The kanji on my uchiwa was bright pink coz Tegoshi’s colour is pink! Hee
There was a seat mix up on my right and I ended up with 2 enthusiastic high school girls, in uniform to boot. I tried adjusting my binos but couldn’t get them to focus coz I never learnt how to do so properly! I was a little upset but well I could always look at the big screens.
A loud shout came from backstage prompting screams from the people who heard… the boys were doing their call backstage! The concert was going to start and my mind started going blank, then the lights dimmed and everyone screamed and the intro video by Takki started to play.
The intro was cool (but I thought the smap ones were better hee). But anyway it featured them doing a lot of cool running and leaping (in their white suits! Why were they doing so much physical activity in white suits? lol). Towards the end the members faced the camera one by one so obviously the fangirls were going to cheer for their favourites… I cheered for everyone (I love all of them anyway) and as expected Yamapi attracted the craziest response (not least from the high school girls beside me :D), but I was pleasantly surprised by the decibel level when Tegoshi appeared. It could just be my area (which had a lot of Tegoshi uchiwas), or mebbe it’s because he was generously blowing kisses (as usual) but I thought he attracted louder than average screaming! Is he getting more popular? His concert uchiwa was also surprisingly sold out at Osaka Johnnys Shop (the only one of NewS boys to be sold out) and I later heard that it was sold out at the Harajuku shop too.
But anyway he was followed by Massu who was hilariously holding food in both hands (ice cream in his left and dunno-what in his right) and happily munching into them and looking completely incongruous in his white suit. He attracted a mixture of screams and laughter lol. I screamed and giggled too.
And finally the diamond opened up and the boys emerged in their white suits doing Happy Birthday and walked down the stairs. On the front stage they looked tiny to me so I had to look at the big screen and I was pleased to note they all looked excellent. Ryo seemed to have styled his slightly overgrown hair a bit, made it a little wavy?
For Happy Birthday there were lots of twirling of penlights during ‘ichinen ichido no mahou tokubetsu na hi’ :) I love songs with lots of action… jumping during Weeeek (‘ashita kara mada nichigetsuka hora suimoku mawatte kindou nichiyou’); at first I was just shaking my penlight violently then I realized people were actually jumping, just as Kei-chan was telling us to ‘tobe!’ and I jumped along. I can’t remember when the boys came off the front stage but I remember Massu being closest to my area when they did Gan-gan-ganbatte. Lots of actions with that song too and it’s always fun watching Massu during concerts coz he’s got such fluid grace and a bright smile! And he is so cute with his new hairstyle I really like it! MASSUUUUUU
And as usual we went ‘DONG’ after each line for Hadashi no Cinderella Boy.
They performed Summer Time on the centre stage and I was now seeing them up close and I thought I was going to get a heart attack and I wished I could take photos. Not my first time seeing it but the choreography for Summer Time is very cute although I was hugely distracted by my ichiban XD. The front part where they are in a line with their fingers on their lips was especially cute (and a little sexy hee). But I had to ignore the incongruity of the boys in elegant white suits singing about being on a beach AT A WINTER PARTY. Hahahaha
Then they said their hellos… I thought Massu, Shige’s greetings were pretty ordinary, and then it was Yamapi’s turn. Can’t remember exactly what he said, but something like at first he told us to take care and not get sick/faint, but if we did then… he paused and I took a deep breath… he’ll take care of us. We dutifully screamed and Yamapi looked embarrassed saying that he stumbled over his words a little and Kei-chan laughed. Think Kei-chan said something about how happy he was that we were here with them on New Year’s eve (oomisoka) and then it was Ryo-chan’s turn and he was so high he rambled and rambled and stumbled over his words and I couldn’t catch 95% of what he said haha. Sorry Ryo-chan!
Tegoshi’s turn. I loved his turn. He said that we were here with NewS on New Year’s eve and asked whether that meant we really liked NewS (daisuki). And we screamed ‘daisuki!’. Then he asked whether we really loved NewS (aishiteru) and we screamed ‘aishiteru/aichiteru!’ Then… then… I can’t remember what exactly he said! But I remember that he daichuki-ed us and we daichuki-ed him and NewS. It was so thrilling doing his infamous ‘daichuki’ with him! HAHAHHAHAH. His turn was probably the longest. He is so ADORABLE.
WHY – to be honest my least favourite recent NewS song coz it sounds so weird. I would have preferred Rainbow but I guess it din fit in with the ‘high class’ theme of the concert. Anyway, Massu and Shige appeared first in bartender-like suits but pants with their respective signature colours, playing billiards. Massu was supposed to start the game off. I’ve read fanreports of Massu sometimes failing at the billiard table, so I paid attention to the big screen… and he sent the white ball into the hole. HAHAHAHHA but I was the only one in my area who went ‘ehhhh?!’ so I’m guessing lots of people didn’t notice. Then Kei-chan and Yamapi appeared stage-right at a ‘bar’, followed by Tegoshi and Ryo stage-left on the couch. A pity Ryotego din do anything cheeky this time ne. Awwwww
They then moved to the centre stage for Bambina. Oh my freaking goodness. I believe I DIED RIGHT THERE AND WENT TO FANGIRL HEAVEN. The stage rose and they were up there facing different directions and I was craning my neck. The dance was so yummy (although I still preferred the Ai no Matador dance regardless of the dorky ‘ima wa’) and when Tegoshi thrust his hip/crotch in my general direction I was KNOCKED OUT *DED*. I sang Tegoshi’s part for the song then suddenly realized that I was singing very ero lyrics and was embarrassed for a moment :p.
Followed by Say Hello I can’t remember how the chairs appeared on the circular stage! But anyway they were prancing around with hats and sticks and chairs, while the stage was rotating and I stared hard at each of the boys as they rotated towards my area, as if trying to burn their images into my brain. It was reminiscent of their Shounen Club performance of the song in 2005 (with 8 members) and I think they stepped on their chairs, which was what they also did in 2005, but otherwise I think the choreography is very much changed. Then Party Time where they moved to the narrow corridor in front of the centre stage and danced in a line with Tegoshi up front (I realized that when NewS dances in a line Tegoshi tends to be in front, must be coz he’s the shortest!). From my seat though, they formed a row (instead of a column) so I couldn’t really see the formation. By that time Shige had disappeared, must be because he was preparing for-
Shalala Tambourine. Tbh, I don’t understand why a law student wrote a solo called Shalala Tambourine lol. Anyhoo he was on front stage with a tambourine and a few juniors prancing behind him all holding tambourines. I was hugely amused when he looked like he was using his hip to hit the tambourine XD gosh dancing to Bambina must have greatly strengthened the boys’ hip power lol.
After that a marvel-style comic strip appeared on screen; it flashed ‘what happen’ and I burst out laughing. It was the intro for Massuperman, and Massu burst out dancing, as usual, like his life depended on it, dressed in a bright yellow cardigan with green underneath. LOL. The outfit was very Massu. It was great watching him in full-fledged dancing gear, although I was a little amused by his choreography coz at certain parts it looked like he was trying to fly. He also did an impressive back flip. A pity I din understand the lyrics.
Massu was followed by Tegoshi, who did Ai no Matador… I wanted to watch him dance but I really really wanted to hear Kesenai live. I was also a little disappointed that it wasn’t the original Ai no Matador choreography coz I like that so much, but still it was cool watching him dance like a star, flanked by juniors, wearing an outrageous red jacket with leopard print XDDDD. And the fact that he was on the centre stage was even better and once again I got KNOCKED OUT by his hips. O.o
Then it was izanaizuki…. Yamapi emerged from the back and did his wonderful opening dance for the song *hearts* he’s a really good dancer :) but all eyes were on Shige, he was far away from me and facing the stands so I had to rely on the big screen. He did his kuchizuke ohhh but what was cuter was that he kinda gave an embarrassed smile after doing his move so cute. The boys were now wearing red jackets over black T shirts and blue jeans, my favourite outfit of the concert :)
Then Taiyou no Namida on the centre stage… my sis calls it the Bollywood dance but I think it’s a cool dance and we waved our penlights with the chorus. Towards the end of first stanza where Ryo and Tegoshi sing together they ended up leaning on each other back-to-back and Tegoshi was grinning (ohhhh so pretty his eyes are so bright), couldn’t see Ryo’s expression from where I was standing though.
They did Hoshi wo Mezashite on the stage at the back on raised platforms; learning from the lesson of my first concert in Taiwan I made sure to pay attention to the crowd during the song and it was AMAZING to see so many lights moving in tandem even fans at the very top of Dome were moving their penlights along. Ahhhh prettier than all the Xmas lights and fireworks I’ve seen in my life and absolutely moving :)
Followed by Fiesta and Easy Come Easy Go, the latter was a personal favourite and I enjoyed listening to it live. The boys ran around and ended up at the front stage where they started the MC.
[MC is below]
Then FiVe appeared and Ryo did a very fanboyish introduction of them. He said FiVe would be performing a hatsuhinode (first sunrise of the year) live at JCB hall and he would be there (and everywhere ehhhhed in surprise). They did a song for us and we were asked to stand up to cheer them along, and NewS went off-stage. I was a little amused at how the atmosphere seemed to cool now that NewS was missing, but there were also a few obvious fans who waved their eito penlights in the air and clapped along. I’m guessing FiVE consisted of kansai juniors? Somewhere in the middle Ryo came out with his guitar and Tegoshi with a tambourine (Shige’s? hhahahaha) and we screamed happily. Tegoshi was grinning and very BRIGHT-EYED and looked good in his pink T-shirt just the way I like him @_@
Next the screens started to flash images of what I presume to be Ginza and Yamapi appeared in a classy black suit (woohoo!) for Ginza Rhapsody. I din really read concert fanreports for fear of spoilers so I only know that the song’s about a doomed romance between a yakuza and a hostess? So I thought it was a ballad haha but it turned out to be a dancing track. And it’s a very NewS track coz it’s got lots of easy hand actions that I had learnt by the time they got to the end of the song. So Yamapi danced and sang and danced, then Kei-chan appeared in a shiny silver suit, so good-looking *covers face*.
I especially liked the part where they were dancing in a line, with Kei-chan in front on the narrow stage in front of the front stage and Yamapi standing directly behind Kei-chan at the edge of the front stage. Then while doing their hand movements they walked to the centre stage (yay!) and danced some more. The song was nice and the dance was wibble-worthy although unfortunately I wasn’t too sure if they sang live.
Then Aiaigasa (ohhh my Tegomasu). They were on errr I dunno what to call them… but the crane-like things that Tegoshi was on for Stars back during the 2007 Spring concerts, so that they could reach out to fans on the higher stands. They were now wearing white winter jackets with furry hoodies. They were very far away, one on each side of Dome, so I just enjoyed their singing and they sounded wonderful :)))))) Followed by Mafuyu no Nagareboshi on the stage at the back of Dome; I started wishing that they did Towairo no Koi instead but I guess one must not be too greedy :p
Snow Express was next and the excited screams when the music started were testament to its popularity. They did it on centre stage and I watched their beautiful dance :) For the chorus fans started doing the hand actions and I did the same… thank goodness I learnt the steps before leaving for Japan hee. Followed by Forever, I screamed so hard for this one, one of my favourite songs on Color. Tegoshi started it off beautifully I could practically feel his ‘forever---‘ sailing over my head. At first I thought they might dance to this one but they didn’t… I can’t really remember but I think they were in a row on front stage and they had removed their white jackets. I also giggled a little when ‘I can’t believe in love like a mom’ appeared on the screen hee.
Next is Cherish and once again Dome was beautiful with lights moving all in tandem… and here is where it gets really hazy for me coz somewhere among Cherish, Kibou Yell and Teppen the boys started to travel around arena on carts. My area started going nuts when we realized that Massu was coming on the narrow hanamichi behind us and I was just 1.5 metres from the hanamichi. He passed us, waving and making peace signs and I made the peace sign back at him. And he is adorable and fair-skinned and all grinny and I love his hairstyle, and after he passed we realized that Tegoshi was traveling on the cart towards Massu. Just as we were wondering whether Tegoshi was coming (the excitement was so palpable that you could poke it with a needle), the 2 carts met and THEY EXCHANGED CARTS and we SCREAMED as the cart WITH TEGOSHI started traveling towards us. There were quite a few Tegoshi uchiwas in my area and girls instantly started waving them at him. I noted with amusement that the back of the one of those uchiwas said ‘ero’ although the girl was waving the other side at him.
As for me, my mind WENT BLANK. When he passed I forgot everything and I just gaped and waved at him. I forgot even to wave my uchiwa at him but I (or my demented fangirl mind) think he saw me. He had one of my favourite Tegoshi expressions; a grin so wide that his eyes disappeared into it (so I saw his teeth and not his eyes lol). He’s lovely and shiny and not that dark and has perfect skin, and I DIED AGAIN and WENT TO FANGIRL HEAVEN LEVEL THREE.
Along the way he suddenly did the ‘tegoshi desu’ pose and I wondered why- until he passed this girl near me who had a ‘nagechuu shite’ (flying kiss pls) uchiwa and HE BLEW HER A KISS. She wasn’t even really waving it at him but he saw it and simply obliged her. She was so in shock that she din even scream- she had a hand over her mouth and her eyes were as round as saucers. Hee, so cute although I am HORRIBLY JEALOUS OF HER and WISH DESPERATELY THAT I MADE AN UCHIWA LIKE THAT. So probably earlier he spotted a ‘tegoshi desu yatte’ (pls do tegoshi desu) uchiwa and that’s why he did it!
But anyway I just hope that he saw my uchiwa so that he knows he’s very well-supported even if he’s the most junior in NewS :) And now I have an image of him burned into my brain and I HOPE IT STAYS THERE.
When I finally came to my senses it was because people were raising their hands for Teppen… I tried to follow but slipped up and gave up lol.
Think it was somewhere around there when Shige spotted a girl somewhere near me who had a hand-made Shige uchiwa that said ‘Shige’ in hiragana… he looked straight at her, pointed to her and waved at her. Her resulting scream was earth-shaking XD
AND THEN, THESE WORDS APPEARED ON THE SCREEN:
小山慶一郎
加藤成亮
コヤシゲ – I was screaming so hard here it was the loudest I screamed for the whole concert. I was jumping too. So it seems that I really do love them a lot! I hadn’t read concert reports for 30 Dec so I din know that they would do Muraristo in Dome. There was quite a lot of screaming all around…
とい言えば… and we all started to laugh
ムラムラ – these words are in pink and they wibble. I just kept screaming like a crazy fangirl.
Koyashige appeared in the same outfit as in Chirarizumu except that they were in pink. The choreography was hilarious and slightly more complicated than the Chirarizumu one. Somewhere in the middle they begged the audience to ‘pls show them’ and went down on all fours, once towards the left and once towards the centre. I was laughing so hard that I kicked my chair and just as I bent down to check that my chair was not out of position something happened on stage and when I looked up again Shige had a hand on his head and Koyashige had sheepish looks on their faces and people were laughing. I think what happened was that Shige stood up too quickly and hit his head against Kei-chan, but why must it happen just when I was not looking?! T_T
After that Yamapi came out from the back of Dome in a black suit with a bunch of roses, flung it into the audience (whom I believe must have pounced on the roses), and did Mola on the back stage, so the audience at the back of Dome had a treat. It was a pretty complicated dance with a lot of small actions, and Yamapi was very cool and danced very well, supported by juniors.
Then FiVe played a long intro, before Ryo appeared on the front stage with his guitar and mic stand and launched into Ordinary which I screamed at coz I like the song very much.
And now we entered the final stage of the party, where the boys reappeared from the diamond in the colour-codes clothes they were wearing for Vibration in the Pacific concerts. And finally I understood why the Johnnys boys always wear sequins… they reflected light and made the boys SHIMMER like the ocean on a sunny day. They did Change the World first but the infamous Koyatego topping was missing… in fact they were all spread out and KoyaTego weren’t even close to each other. Awwww… Followed by a lot of arm waving in Beach Angel, Stardust and finally they did Fly Away on the centre stage where I could see them up close again. In fact by that time my neck was aching coz I had to crane my neck to see them when the centre stage was elevated.
The main set ended and we chanted for NewS to return; they came out wearing their concert T-shirts in their big ‘cars’ that traveled along the hanamichi in front of the stands, so from arena we simply gawked at the boys and/or the big screens. They introduced and thanked the juniors and FiVe, and FiVe’s drummer (who had a deadpan expression all the time) was wearing a mask on the side of his head. He moved the mask to cover his face when he was introduced and the mask said ‘シゲ命’(means something like Shige’s supporter). LOL. It was a three-song encore and after the boys formed their line and said their thanks Shige was left on stage. He faced the camera with a resigned expression on his face (again!), did a very half-hearted Shigelujah chance [pls refer to MC], and hurriedly left the stage hahahahah.
Then we tried to get them to encore again the irritating men-in-black (sorry, I know they were just doing their job and it’s not their fault, but I couldn’t help but find them irritating) appeared to ask the audience to sit down and wait for our turns to be ‘evacuated’ from the venue, and although we persisted a bit we soon felt that the boys would no longer appear and gave up. My block was one of the last to be asked to leave; we walked up the steps through the stands and out into the gate. And the last interesting thing to happen that day at Dome was how I was swept through the gate (apparently, by the pressure difference between the inside and outside of Dome… wow Physics!).
And thus ended my first Dome concert! :) Tanoshikatta :) And I headed back to my hotel for Kouhaku and Johnnys Countdown on TV.
MC
Kei-chan expressed his amazement that so many fans had gathered to watch them on New Year’s Eve. This is one of those times I’m glad I’m not Japanese coz my parents would have killed me if I skipped out of New Year’s Eve reunion dinner to watch a BOYBAND hahahha. Maybe this is why black market ticket prices for the 31/12 concert were slightly lower since people presumably needed to be at home for New Year’s Eve. He thanked us and we cheered :) Massu said that it was hard getting the 6 of them together since they have their own appointments, but at the concert 55,000 people had exactly the same appointment (I really liked that observation. A little dorky but so true. MAASSSUUU)
Kei-chan went around the members asking what was memorable about 2008. For himself he had his Lost Time Life drama and stage. Ryo said he acted in 2 dramas, and Kei-chan said ‘oh last friend and ryuusei no kizuna ne’ and Ryo protested ‘it’s last friendSU and not last friendo’ and Kei-chan apologized then Ryo said it was a common mistake. Ryo added that in an Oricon poll, the top 2 dramas were Last Friends and Ryuusei no Kizuna (I can’t remember which was first) and thanked every one for their support. We clapped and cheered. He then said he wasn’t sure if he had anything to do with it, and Kei-chan asked him not to be so modest.
Yamapi talked about acting in Code Blue and about the upcoming special episode, and he talked about saving people and Massu cut in saying that that was his job. At first I thought he was referring to Massuperman! Hahhaaha, but it was actually Rescue (we clapped to show our support; Jap fangirls are cute in that way). Kei-chan said that he saw a lot of posters for Rescue and FOR ONCE Massu looked cool (kakkoii). Massu protested the ‘for once’ lol. Kei-chan tried to impersonate Massu’s serious expression in the posters and the cameras closed up on him. He beckoned the cameras to zoom in more and the audience started to scream and he happily hogged the cameras for while, while still trying to look mock-serious at the camera. :)
Then the focus shifted to Massu; he talked about getting his hair cut for the show and how it was unsettling for both him and Nakamaru since they were the types that din really change their hairstyles, and they had to counsel each other through it. I can’t remember how the topic got there but Massu got it in his mind to do an ‘impersonation’ of Nakamaru doing a Music Station version of Rescue (M Sta version, he said), he ended up looking like he was trying to do hip hop and limbo rock at the same time, I din really get it but it was hilarious.
Kei-chan said that Massu should probably apologise to Nakamaru for that. Lol
Then Massu was asked to do something from the drama. He ended up barking orders which had every one going ‘ehhhhh???’ coz it was incomprehensible except for the first few words. He did it again and nobody understood, so he then said it slowly and the members reacted that it did not sound like what it actually is.
Then Yamapi talked about doing ‘hallejujah chance’ for Proposal Daisakusen and we of course called out ‘yatte yatte’ (please do it) and he not only did hallejujah chance he went ‘ahhhh’ with one hand covering the face at the end as well. Then what was even funnier was that he did it without facing the camera, and Kei-chan grabbed him by the shoulders and turned him to face the camera and he had to do it again. Then someone said he had something for Nobuta wo Produce as well and we went ‘yatte yatte’ again. He seemed to be preparing himself to do it, then suddenly bent over and said it was too embarrassing. But we continued to call and he did a half-hearted one with an embarrassed look on his face. NewS is SOOOO OBLIGING :) Yamapi later said that he had thought of the moves himself. “In your sleep?” Ryo/Kei-chan asked, and Yamapi said yeah he woke up doing the hallejujah chance pose. HHAHAHHA Yamapi can be crappy when he wants to be.
Then Shige-bullying started (no concert would be complete without one) and someone said it would be interesting to see Shige do hallejujah chance and we went ‘yatte yatte’. Shige had a resigned look on his face and Kei-chan added salt to the wound by saying that Shige’s version should be ‘shigelujah chance’, and we all guffawed. But he din do it and the members let him off. FOR NOW.
Then Tegoshi piped up and said that hallelujah chance may be easy to impersonate but not Oikawa Sousuke and WE LAUGHED. Yamapi once again complained that he had done so much for his girl in Proposal Daisukusen (ran for miles, went back to the past) only for her to be beaten up by Ryo. Tegoshi said ‘an impersonation of Sousuke would probably look like this’ and threw punches into the air.
Kei-chan asked about Shige’s year and he mentioned Hokaben and his solo stage. Kei-chan said Shige was cool in Hokaben and Shige protested that Kei-chan din even watch it! Kei-chan defended himself saying that it was a little irritating seeing Shige play a lawyer and Shige asked what the heck was that.
Kei-chan he introduced Share, saying that the song’s music and lyrics were written by the members and each member wrote the lyrics to his own part. I completely din know about this so I was very pleasantly surprised. Kei-chan asked us to listen to it sitting down.
The boys stood in a row and the stage started rising beneath them; each member was standing on a separate platform. So they sung and it was very pretty and very touching and I shd probably get my hands on the lyrics very soon coz it’s bound to be very meaningful. Somewhere in the middle the screen started showing images of NewS through the years… Yamapi with poodle hair and very thin circa 2003/4, pale Tegoshi with jet black hair looking lost circa 2004, Yamapi, Kei-chan and Massu making funny hand signs at the camera, Shige with flat hair, the boys enjoying one another’s company at the 2006 concerts, and the images moved through time to more recent periods, the 2007 Spring concerts, the 2007 Taipei concert (I recognized it by the image of the burning paper box magic trick haha) and the Pacific Dome concerts. Girls were going ‘kawaii kawaii’ at earlier images of the boys, myself included. Ah so nice.
At the end of the song we clapped our appreciation, and the platforms came down back to earth. Apparently Shige’s part has a line about thanking the person next to you, and during the performance Shige turned to his right and sang ‘arigatou’. On the ground Ryo complained that Shige had turned in the direction of Tegoshi, and asked why Shige din turn towards him! Shige simply gave an embarrassed grin.
Then there was a bit more talk, and someone mentioned that Tegoshi is typical Johnnys type (and he so is lol). He smiled and we screamed kawaii and Kei-chan said Tegoshi probably intends to use his smile to help him navigate the entertainment world and he just kinda grinned (mock-)innocently. Then Shige said something which suggested that NewS was very popular, and the members started going ‘iia iia iia’ (no no no) at him, probably coz it’s too arrogant. Someone said that because he said that, he now has to do ‘shigelujah chance’ as punishment. We went ‘yatte yatte’ and Shige looked at the camera like he was about to do it, then Kei-chan suggested for Shige to do it right at the end of the concert.
End of MC
I finally got around to typing it up and it's a MONSTER... close to 6,000 words!
Disclaimer/Warnings (PLS READ):
1. This is a very detailed report containing everything I remember about the concert coz I essentially intend it to be a personal record/diary of the concert. If you'd like to avoid spoilers for a possible DVD release, pls do not read.
2. This is chock-full of personal feelings and observations, and who is my ichiban is VERY OBVIOUS in there. But rest assured that I love all the boys and to me they can do no wrong lol.
3. I do not remember everything, and I did not understand everything coz my Jap is half-baked. So pls forgive any factual mistakes in there.
Date: 31 Dec 08
Time: 5.30-8.15pm
Venue: Tokyo Dome
Well, I must say, that I completely underestimated the scale of a TOKYO DOME concert. Misled by how I was able to get my merchandise within 1 hr at Kyocera Dome in Osaka for Kinki Kids Kinkiyou in Osaka, I arrived at Dome at about 4.30pm. There wasn’t any need to look at the map coz all I needed to do was to FOLLOW THE GIRLS haha. As expected there was a line of girls asking for tickets; I wonder if any of them ever managed to get any!
It was very windy and the sun was already setting and it was getting really cold… the first thing I did was to search for the end of the goods line and the more I looked the demoralised I got coz the end of the queue was so far away! I ended up downstairs from Dome, and the staff behind me was shouting that the current end of the queue was at least an hour from the goods stalls and there was a possibility of missing the concert if I continued to queue. But I was still hopeful and anyway there was nothing else to do but to queue! I also found out from the sign the staff was holding that they were selling both countdown and NewS concert goods, which explains the length of the queue! He also said that there was a dedicated queue for countdown goods… what about a dedicated queue for NewS goods?!
The sun set and it became increasingly cold… I called
aishahsun and I must have sounded helpless, coz she offered to come and look for me. When she arrived it was 5.00pm; she asked me where I was and I said I was on the bridge across from Tokyo Dome. She asked me to raise my hand; which I did and I think I must have surprised the other girls by blabbering into the phone in English then sticking up my hand violently haha. She said I was still quite far from the goods stalls and I wailed: “I only want a penlight!” coz I stupidly left all my neon lightsticks in the hotel, expecting that I would be able to buy a penlight at Dome. It ended up being the best thing I said all day, coz she said she had a Johnnys penlight. And that was the best thing I’d heard all day too! I gratefully skipped out of the meandering queue, ran past all the girls, realized that I was indeed very far from the goods stalls, and headed towards the gate where aishahsun was waiting. Even then there were so many people and the gate was so big that we couldn’t see each other… I called her and stuck up my arm (again!) and finally! she saw me. I took the penlight from her and ran helter-skelter to my gate. Ah I’m so grateful to dear aishahsun for the johnnys penlight! If you’re reading this aishahsun, thanks so much!I was headed to arena but I didn’t know how… in desperation I asked the staff there who advised me to head towards and down the stairs, so I joined a horde of running girls headed for arena and passed by the goods stalls that were within Dome along the way. Ah I shd have queued there instead of outside! At least it would have been warm! But no time to hesitate… I ran past girls spilling out of both guys and girls toilets (hahaha I dunno what fanboys/hapless boyfriends/fathers would/could have done if they needed to go)… I made a quick evaluation that I din need to go (or more accurately I had no time) and headed down into….
ARENA.
It was freaking amazing. Dome just opened up in front of me and I stopped to take a breath. Staff had placed a map in front of the arena entrance and I checked my block and realized that I was pretty close to the round stage in the centre. Some of the arena blocks on the outer fringes were not close to any of the stages and I counted my blessings coz I had bought my ticket not knowing where the block was going to be. Trying not to grin like an idiot I raced to my block, checked with staff where my seat was and found that they had stuck seat numbers on the back of the seats which made checking for seat numbers freaking difficult and slightly embarrassing since I practically had to bend over to check that I was on the right seat. I couldn’t even tilt the seat forward to have a better look coz, I realized later, that the seats were tied together.
But finally I was there! I was in Dome, in arena and I was armed with a penlight, binoculars, and a self-made uchiwa that said Yuu (for Yuuya) in kanji hee. A typical Johnnys fangirl! I was glad that I made an uchiwa coz I never got to the end of the goods queue for Tegoshi’s official uchiwa. The kanji on my uchiwa was bright pink coz Tegoshi’s colour is pink! Hee
There was a seat mix up on my right and I ended up with 2 enthusiastic high school girls, in uniform to boot. I tried adjusting my binos but couldn’t get them to focus coz I never learnt how to do so properly! I was a little upset but well I could always look at the big screens.
A loud shout came from backstage prompting screams from the people who heard… the boys were doing their call backstage! The concert was going to start and my mind started going blank, then the lights dimmed and everyone screamed and the intro video by Takki started to play.
The intro was cool (but I thought the smap ones were better hee). But anyway it featured them doing a lot of cool running and leaping (in their white suits! Why were they doing so much physical activity in white suits? lol). Towards the end the members faced the camera one by one so obviously the fangirls were going to cheer for their favourites… I cheered for everyone (I love all of them anyway) and as expected Yamapi attracted the craziest response (not least from the high school girls beside me :D), but I was pleasantly surprised by the decibel level when Tegoshi appeared. It could just be my area (which had a lot of Tegoshi uchiwas), or mebbe it’s because he was generously blowing kisses (as usual) but I thought he attracted louder than average screaming! Is he getting more popular? His concert uchiwa was also surprisingly sold out at Osaka Johnnys Shop (the only one of NewS boys to be sold out) and I later heard that it was sold out at the Harajuku shop too.
But anyway he was followed by Massu who was hilariously holding food in both hands (ice cream in his left and dunno-what in his right) and happily munching into them and looking completely incongruous in his white suit. He attracted a mixture of screams and laughter lol. I screamed and giggled too.
And finally the diamond opened up and the boys emerged in their white suits doing Happy Birthday and walked down the stairs. On the front stage they looked tiny to me so I had to look at the big screen and I was pleased to note they all looked excellent. Ryo seemed to have styled his slightly overgrown hair a bit, made it a little wavy?
For Happy Birthday there were lots of twirling of penlights during ‘ichinen ichido no mahou tokubetsu na hi’ :) I love songs with lots of action… jumping during Weeeek (‘ashita kara mada nichigetsuka hora suimoku mawatte kindou nichiyou’); at first I was just shaking my penlight violently then I realized people were actually jumping, just as Kei-chan was telling us to ‘tobe!’ and I jumped along. I can’t remember when the boys came off the front stage but I remember Massu being closest to my area when they did Gan-gan-ganbatte. Lots of actions with that song too and it’s always fun watching Massu during concerts coz he’s got such fluid grace and a bright smile! And he is so cute with his new hairstyle I really like it! MASSUUUUUU
And as usual we went ‘DONG’ after each line for Hadashi no Cinderella Boy.
They performed Summer Time on the centre stage and I was now seeing them up close and I thought I was going to get a heart attack and I wished I could take photos. Not my first time seeing it but the choreography for Summer Time is very cute although I was hugely distracted by my ichiban XD. The front part where they are in a line with their fingers on their lips was especially cute (and a little sexy hee). But I had to ignore the incongruity of the boys in elegant white suits singing about being on a beach AT A WINTER PARTY. Hahahaha
Then they said their hellos… I thought Massu, Shige’s greetings were pretty ordinary, and then it was Yamapi’s turn. Can’t remember exactly what he said, but something like at first he told us to take care and not get sick/faint, but if we did then… he paused and I took a deep breath… he’ll take care of us. We dutifully screamed and Yamapi looked embarrassed saying that he stumbled over his words a little and Kei-chan laughed. Think Kei-chan said something about how happy he was that we were here with them on New Year’s eve (oomisoka) and then it was Ryo-chan’s turn and he was so high he rambled and rambled and stumbled over his words and I couldn’t catch 95% of what he said haha. Sorry Ryo-chan!
Tegoshi’s turn. I loved his turn. He said that we were here with NewS on New Year’s eve and asked whether that meant we really liked NewS (daisuki). And we screamed ‘daisuki!’. Then he asked whether we really loved NewS (aishiteru) and we screamed ‘aishiteru/aichiteru!’ Then… then… I can’t remember what exactly he said! But I remember that he daichuki-ed us and we daichuki-ed him and NewS. It was so thrilling doing his infamous ‘daichuki’ with him! HAHAHHAHAH. His turn was probably the longest. He is so ADORABLE.
WHY – to be honest my least favourite recent NewS song coz it sounds so weird. I would have preferred Rainbow but I guess it din fit in with the ‘high class’ theme of the concert. Anyway, Massu and Shige appeared first in bartender-like suits but pants with their respective signature colours, playing billiards. Massu was supposed to start the game off. I’ve read fanreports of Massu sometimes failing at the billiard table, so I paid attention to the big screen… and he sent the white ball into the hole. HAHAHAHHA but I was the only one in my area who went ‘ehhhh?!’ so I’m guessing lots of people didn’t notice. Then Kei-chan and Yamapi appeared stage-right at a ‘bar’, followed by Tegoshi and Ryo stage-left on the couch. A pity Ryotego din do anything cheeky this time ne. Awwwww
They then moved to the centre stage for Bambina. Oh my freaking goodness. I believe I DIED RIGHT THERE AND WENT TO FANGIRL HEAVEN. The stage rose and they were up there facing different directions and I was craning my neck. The dance was so yummy (although I still preferred the Ai no Matador dance regardless of the dorky ‘ima wa’) and when Tegoshi thrust his hip/crotch in my general direction I was KNOCKED OUT *DED*. I sang Tegoshi’s part for the song then suddenly realized that I was singing very ero lyrics and was embarrassed for a moment :p.
Followed by Say Hello I can’t remember how the chairs appeared on the circular stage! But anyway they were prancing around with hats and sticks and chairs, while the stage was rotating and I stared hard at each of the boys as they rotated towards my area, as if trying to burn their images into my brain. It was reminiscent of their Shounen Club performance of the song in 2005 (with 8 members) and I think they stepped on their chairs, which was what they also did in 2005, but otherwise I think the choreography is very much changed. Then Party Time where they moved to the narrow corridor in front of the centre stage and danced in a line with Tegoshi up front (I realized that when NewS dances in a line Tegoshi tends to be in front, must be coz he’s the shortest!). From my seat though, they formed a row (instead of a column) so I couldn’t really see the formation. By that time Shige had disappeared, must be because he was preparing for-
Shalala Tambourine. Tbh, I don’t understand why a law student wrote a solo called Shalala Tambourine lol. Anyhoo he was on front stage with a tambourine and a few juniors prancing behind him all holding tambourines. I was hugely amused when he looked like he was using his hip to hit the tambourine XD gosh dancing to Bambina must have greatly strengthened the boys’ hip power lol.
After that a marvel-style comic strip appeared on screen; it flashed ‘what happen’ and I burst out laughing. It was the intro for Massuperman, and Massu burst out dancing, as usual, like his life depended on it, dressed in a bright yellow cardigan with green underneath. LOL. The outfit was very Massu. It was great watching him in full-fledged dancing gear, although I was a little amused by his choreography coz at certain parts it looked like he was trying to fly. He also did an impressive back flip. A pity I din understand the lyrics.
Massu was followed by Tegoshi, who did Ai no Matador… I wanted to watch him dance but I really really wanted to hear Kesenai live. I was also a little disappointed that it wasn’t the original Ai no Matador choreography coz I like that so much, but still it was cool watching him dance like a star, flanked by juniors, wearing an outrageous red jacket with leopard print XDDDD. And the fact that he was on the centre stage was even better and once again I got KNOCKED OUT by his hips. O.o
Then it was izanaizuki…. Yamapi emerged from the back and did his wonderful opening dance for the song *hearts* he’s a really good dancer :) but all eyes were on Shige, he was far away from me and facing the stands so I had to rely on the big screen. He did his kuchizuke ohhh but what was cuter was that he kinda gave an embarrassed smile after doing his move so cute. The boys were now wearing red jackets over black T shirts and blue jeans, my favourite outfit of the concert :)
Then Taiyou no Namida on the centre stage… my sis calls it the Bollywood dance but I think it’s a cool dance and we waved our penlights with the chorus. Towards the end of first stanza where Ryo and Tegoshi sing together they ended up leaning on each other back-to-back and Tegoshi was grinning (ohhhh so pretty his eyes are so bright), couldn’t see Ryo’s expression from where I was standing though.
They did Hoshi wo Mezashite on the stage at the back on raised platforms; learning from the lesson of my first concert in Taiwan I made sure to pay attention to the crowd during the song and it was AMAZING to see so many lights moving in tandem even fans at the very top of Dome were moving their penlights along. Ahhhh prettier than all the Xmas lights and fireworks I’ve seen in my life and absolutely moving :)
Followed by Fiesta and Easy Come Easy Go, the latter was a personal favourite and I enjoyed listening to it live. The boys ran around and ended up at the front stage where they started the MC.
[MC is below]
Then FiVe appeared and Ryo did a very fanboyish introduction of them. He said FiVe would be performing a hatsuhinode (first sunrise of the year) live at JCB hall and he would be there (and everywhere ehhhhed in surprise). They did a song for us and we were asked to stand up to cheer them along, and NewS went off-stage. I was a little amused at how the atmosphere seemed to cool now that NewS was missing, but there were also a few obvious fans who waved their eito penlights in the air and clapped along. I’m guessing FiVE consisted of kansai juniors? Somewhere in the middle Ryo came out with his guitar and Tegoshi with a tambourine (Shige’s? hhahahaha) and we screamed happily. Tegoshi was grinning and very BRIGHT-EYED and looked good in his pink T-shirt just the way I like him @_@
Next the screens started to flash images of what I presume to be Ginza and Yamapi appeared in a classy black suit (woohoo!) for Ginza Rhapsody. I din really read concert fanreports for fear of spoilers so I only know that the song’s about a doomed romance between a yakuza and a hostess? So I thought it was a ballad haha but it turned out to be a dancing track. And it’s a very NewS track coz it’s got lots of easy hand actions that I had learnt by the time they got to the end of the song. So Yamapi danced and sang and danced, then Kei-chan appeared in a shiny silver suit, so good-looking *covers face*.
I especially liked the part where they were dancing in a line, with Kei-chan in front on the narrow stage in front of the front stage and Yamapi standing directly behind Kei-chan at the edge of the front stage. Then while doing their hand movements they walked to the centre stage (yay!) and danced some more. The song was nice and the dance was wibble-worthy although unfortunately I wasn’t too sure if they sang live.
Then Aiaigasa (ohhh my Tegomasu). They were on errr I dunno what to call them… but the crane-like things that Tegoshi was on for Stars back during the 2007 Spring concerts, so that they could reach out to fans on the higher stands. They were now wearing white winter jackets with furry hoodies. They were very far away, one on each side of Dome, so I just enjoyed their singing and they sounded wonderful :)))))) Followed by Mafuyu no Nagareboshi on the stage at the back of Dome; I started wishing that they did Towairo no Koi instead but I guess one must not be too greedy :p
Snow Express was next and the excited screams when the music started were testament to its popularity. They did it on centre stage and I watched their beautiful dance :) For the chorus fans started doing the hand actions and I did the same… thank goodness I learnt the steps before leaving for Japan hee. Followed by Forever, I screamed so hard for this one, one of my favourite songs on Color. Tegoshi started it off beautifully I could practically feel his ‘forever---‘ sailing over my head. At first I thought they might dance to this one but they didn’t… I can’t really remember but I think they were in a row on front stage and they had removed their white jackets. I also giggled a little when ‘I can’t believe in love like a mom’ appeared on the screen hee.
Next is Cherish and once again Dome was beautiful with lights moving all in tandem… and here is where it gets really hazy for me coz somewhere among Cherish, Kibou Yell and Teppen the boys started to travel around arena on carts. My area started going nuts when we realized that Massu was coming on the narrow hanamichi behind us and I was just 1.5 metres from the hanamichi. He passed us, waving and making peace signs and I made the peace sign back at him. And he is adorable and fair-skinned and all grinny and I love his hairstyle, and after he passed we realized that Tegoshi was traveling on the cart towards Massu. Just as we were wondering whether Tegoshi was coming (the excitement was so palpable that you could poke it with a needle), the 2 carts met and THEY EXCHANGED CARTS and we SCREAMED as the cart WITH TEGOSHI started traveling towards us. There were quite a few Tegoshi uchiwas in my area and girls instantly started waving them at him. I noted with amusement that the back of the one of those uchiwas said ‘ero’ although the girl was waving the other side at him.
As for me, my mind WENT BLANK. When he passed I forgot everything and I just gaped and waved at him. I forgot even to wave my uchiwa at him but I (or my demented fangirl mind) think he saw me. He had one of my favourite Tegoshi expressions; a grin so wide that his eyes disappeared into it (so I saw his teeth and not his eyes lol). He’s lovely and shiny and not that dark and has perfect skin, and I DIED AGAIN and WENT TO FANGIRL HEAVEN LEVEL THREE.
Along the way he suddenly did the ‘tegoshi desu’ pose and I wondered why- until he passed this girl near me who had a ‘nagechuu shite’ (flying kiss pls) uchiwa and HE BLEW HER A KISS. She wasn’t even really waving it at him but he saw it and simply obliged her. She was so in shock that she din even scream- she had a hand over her mouth and her eyes were as round as saucers. Hee, so cute although I am HORRIBLY JEALOUS OF HER and WISH DESPERATELY THAT I MADE AN UCHIWA LIKE THAT. So probably earlier he spotted a ‘tegoshi desu yatte’ (pls do tegoshi desu) uchiwa and that’s why he did it!
But anyway I just hope that he saw my uchiwa so that he knows he’s very well-supported even if he’s the most junior in NewS :) And now I have an image of him burned into my brain and I HOPE IT STAYS THERE.
When I finally came to my senses it was because people were raising their hands for Teppen… I tried to follow but slipped up and gave up lol.
Think it was somewhere around there when Shige spotted a girl somewhere near me who had a hand-made Shige uchiwa that said ‘Shige’ in hiragana… he looked straight at her, pointed to her and waved at her. Her resulting scream was earth-shaking XD
AND THEN, THESE WORDS APPEARED ON THE SCREEN:
小山慶一郎
加藤成亮
コヤシゲ – I was screaming so hard here it was the loudest I screamed for the whole concert. I was jumping too. So it seems that I really do love them a lot! I hadn’t read concert reports for 30 Dec so I din know that they would do Muraristo in Dome. There was quite a lot of screaming all around…
とい言えば… and we all started to laugh
ムラムラ – these words are in pink and they wibble. I just kept screaming like a crazy fangirl.
Koyashige appeared in the same outfit as in Chirarizumu except that they were in pink. The choreography was hilarious and slightly more complicated than the Chirarizumu one. Somewhere in the middle they begged the audience to ‘pls show them’ and went down on all fours, once towards the left and once towards the centre. I was laughing so hard that I kicked my chair and just as I bent down to check that my chair was not out of position something happened on stage and when I looked up again Shige had a hand on his head and Koyashige had sheepish looks on their faces and people were laughing. I think what happened was that Shige stood up too quickly and hit his head against Kei-chan, but why must it happen just when I was not looking?! T_T
After that Yamapi came out from the back of Dome in a black suit with a bunch of roses, flung it into the audience (whom I believe must have pounced on the roses), and did Mola on the back stage, so the audience at the back of Dome had a treat. It was a pretty complicated dance with a lot of small actions, and Yamapi was very cool and danced very well, supported by juniors.
Then FiVe played a long intro, before Ryo appeared on the front stage with his guitar and mic stand and launched into Ordinary which I screamed at coz I like the song very much.
And now we entered the final stage of the party, where the boys reappeared from the diamond in the colour-codes clothes they were wearing for Vibration in the Pacific concerts. And finally I understood why the Johnnys boys always wear sequins… they reflected light and made the boys SHIMMER like the ocean on a sunny day. They did Change the World first but the infamous Koyatego topping was missing… in fact they were all spread out and KoyaTego weren’t even close to each other. Awwww… Followed by a lot of arm waving in Beach Angel, Stardust and finally they did Fly Away on the centre stage where I could see them up close again. In fact by that time my neck was aching coz I had to crane my neck to see them when the centre stage was elevated.
The main set ended and we chanted for NewS to return; they came out wearing their concert T-shirts in their big ‘cars’ that traveled along the hanamichi in front of the stands, so from arena we simply gawked at the boys and/or the big screens. They introduced and thanked the juniors and FiVe, and FiVe’s drummer (who had a deadpan expression all the time) was wearing a mask on the side of his head. He moved the mask to cover his face when he was introduced and the mask said ‘シゲ命’(means something like Shige’s supporter). LOL. It was a three-song encore and after the boys formed their line and said their thanks Shige was left on stage. He faced the camera with a resigned expression on his face (again!), did a very half-hearted Shigelujah chance [pls refer to MC], and hurriedly left the stage hahahahah.
Then we tried to get them to encore again the irritating men-in-black (sorry, I know they were just doing their job and it’s not their fault, but I couldn’t help but find them irritating) appeared to ask the audience to sit down and wait for our turns to be ‘evacuated’ from the venue, and although we persisted a bit we soon felt that the boys would no longer appear and gave up. My block was one of the last to be asked to leave; we walked up the steps through the stands and out into the gate. And the last interesting thing to happen that day at Dome was how I was swept through the gate (apparently, by the pressure difference between the inside and outside of Dome… wow Physics!).
And thus ended my first Dome concert! :) Tanoshikatta :) And I headed back to my hotel for Kouhaku and Johnnys Countdown on TV.
MC
Kei-chan expressed his amazement that so many fans had gathered to watch them on New Year’s Eve. This is one of those times I’m glad I’m not Japanese coz my parents would have killed me if I skipped out of New Year’s Eve reunion dinner to watch a BOYBAND hahahha. Maybe this is why black market ticket prices for the 31/12 concert were slightly lower since people presumably needed to be at home for New Year’s Eve. He thanked us and we cheered :) Massu said that it was hard getting the 6 of them together since they have their own appointments, but at the concert 55,000 people had exactly the same appointment (I really liked that observation. A little dorky but so true. MAASSSUUU)
Kei-chan went around the members asking what was memorable about 2008. For himself he had his Lost Time Life drama and stage. Ryo said he acted in 2 dramas, and Kei-chan said ‘oh last friend and ryuusei no kizuna ne’ and Ryo protested ‘it’s last friendSU and not last friendo’ and Kei-chan apologized then Ryo said it was a common mistake. Ryo added that in an Oricon poll, the top 2 dramas were Last Friends and Ryuusei no Kizuna (I can’t remember which was first) and thanked every one for their support. We clapped and cheered. He then said he wasn’t sure if he had anything to do with it, and Kei-chan asked him not to be so modest.
Yamapi talked about acting in Code Blue and about the upcoming special episode, and he talked about saving people and Massu cut in saying that that was his job. At first I thought he was referring to Massuperman! Hahhaaha, but it was actually Rescue (we clapped to show our support; Jap fangirls are cute in that way). Kei-chan said that he saw a lot of posters for Rescue and FOR ONCE Massu looked cool (kakkoii). Massu protested the ‘for once’ lol. Kei-chan tried to impersonate Massu’s serious expression in the posters and the cameras closed up on him. He beckoned the cameras to zoom in more and the audience started to scream and he happily hogged the cameras for while, while still trying to look mock-serious at the camera. :)
Then the focus shifted to Massu; he talked about getting his hair cut for the show and how it was unsettling for both him and Nakamaru since they were the types that din really change their hairstyles, and they had to counsel each other through it. I can’t remember how the topic got there but Massu got it in his mind to do an ‘impersonation’ of Nakamaru doing a Music Station version of Rescue (M Sta version, he said), he ended up looking like he was trying to do hip hop and limbo rock at the same time, I din really get it but it was hilarious.
Kei-chan said that Massu should probably apologise to Nakamaru for that. Lol
Then Massu was asked to do something from the drama. He ended up barking orders which had every one going ‘ehhhhh???’ coz it was incomprehensible except for the first few words. He did it again and nobody understood, so he then said it slowly and the members reacted that it did not sound like what it actually is.
Then Yamapi talked about doing ‘hallejujah chance’ for Proposal Daisakusen and we of course called out ‘yatte yatte’ (please do it) and he not only did hallejujah chance he went ‘ahhhh’ with one hand covering the face at the end as well. Then what was even funnier was that he did it without facing the camera, and Kei-chan grabbed him by the shoulders and turned him to face the camera and he had to do it again. Then someone said he had something for Nobuta wo Produce as well and we went ‘yatte yatte’ again. He seemed to be preparing himself to do it, then suddenly bent over and said it was too embarrassing. But we continued to call and he did a half-hearted one with an embarrassed look on his face. NewS is SOOOO OBLIGING :) Yamapi later said that he had thought of the moves himself. “In your sleep?” Ryo/Kei-chan asked, and Yamapi said yeah he woke up doing the hallejujah chance pose. HHAHAHHA Yamapi can be crappy when he wants to be.
Then Shige-bullying started (no concert would be complete without one) and someone said it would be interesting to see Shige do hallejujah chance and we went ‘yatte yatte’. Shige had a resigned look on his face and Kei-chan added salt to the wound by saying that Shige’s version should be ‘shigelujah chance’, and we all guffawed. But he din do it and the members let him off. FOR NOW.
Then Tegoshi piped up and said that hallelujah chance may be easy to impersonate but not Oikawa Sousuke and WE LAUGHED. Yamapi once again complained that he had done so much for his girl in Proposal Daisukusen (ran for miles, went back to the past) only for her to be beaten up by Ryo. Tegoshi said ‘an impersonation of Sousuke would probably look like this’ and threw punches into the air.
Kei-chan asked about Shige’s year and he mentioned Hokaben and his solo stage. Kei-chan said Shige was cool in Hokaben and Shige protested that Kei-chan din even watch it! Kei-chan defended himself saying that it was a little irritating seeing Shige play a lawyer and Shige asked what the heck was that.
Kei-chan he introduced Share, saying that the song’s music and lyrics were written by the members and each member wrote the lyrics to his own part. I completely din know about this so I was very pleasantly surprised. Kei-chan asked us to listen to it sitting down.
The boys stood in a row and the stage started rising beneath them; each member was standing on a separate platform. So they sung and it was very pretty and very touching and I shd probably get my hands on the lyrics very soon coz it’s bound to be very meaningful. Somewhere in the middle the screen started showing images of NewS through the years… Yamapi with poodle hair and very thin circa 2003/4, pale Tegoshi with jet black hair looking lost circa 2004, Yamapi, Kei-chan and Massu making funny hand signs at the camera, Shige with flat hair, the boys enjoying one another’s company at the 2006 concerts, and the images moved through time to more recent periods, the 2007 Spring concerts, the 2007 Taipei concert (I recognized it by the image of the burning paper box magic trick haha) and the Pacific Dome concerts. Girls were going ‘kawaii kawaii’ at earlier images of the boys, myself included. Ah so nice.
At the end of the song we clapped our appreciation, and the platforms came down back to earth. Apparently Shige’s part has a line about thanking the person next to you, and during the performance Shige turned to his right and sang ‘arigatou’. On the ground Ryo complained that Shige had turned in the direction of Tegoshi, and asked why Shige din turn towards him! Shige simply gave an embarrassed grin.
Then there was a bit more talk, and someone mentioned that Tegoshi is typical Johnnys type (and he so is lol). He smiled and we screamed kawaii and Kei-chan said Tegoshi probably intends to use his smile to help him navigate the entertainment world and he just kinda grinned (mock-)innocently. Then Shige said something which suggested that NewS was very popular, and the members started going ‘iia iia iia’ (no no no) at him, probably coz it’s too arrogant. Someone said that because he said that, he now has to do ‘shigelujah chance’ as punishment. We went ‘yatte yatte’ and Shige looked at the camera like he was about to do it, then Kei-chan suggested for Shige to do it right at the end of the concert.
End of MC
