Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra!!!!

Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra!!
does arashi medley!!!!
oh my god!!
is so nice when it heard!!
and oh my god!!
tomorrow is schooling!!!
no!!
so best of luck!!!

ANGELA AKI!!!!

love angela aki!!
the new single album!!
ai no kisetsu!!!
in english is season of love!!!!

HOLIDAY!!!

YEAH!!
SELAMAT HARI RAYA!!!
happy holiday everyone!!!
wah i did'nt notice days past so fast!!!!
today is the 1st day of holiday!!!!
19/9/2009 saturday!!!
coming soon is mooncake festival !! on 3/10/2009 !!!!
yeah!!!
holiday!!!
love holiday!!!
and on monday got a lot of my dad friends coming to my house !!!
i need to clean up my house before monday!!!
so much thing to do!!!
yesterday night,
me and dad and mom with my dad friend
go market!!
the main market!! in serdang i think so...
the market is so big!!!
my dad and mom bought so many vegetable!!
all because for the monday and our family!!!
monday we will cook steamboat!!!
coming soon my dad friend getting marry !!!
but i don't have any dress to wear!!!
because i'm FAT!!!!
............. is not funny ok!!!
no shoes or dress or anything.....
so i must DIET!!!
gambateh!!!

part 4...

アンコール
PIKA★★NCHI DOUBLE
明日に向かって
できるだけ
One Love

They came out in their tour shirts, except for Jun, who was wearing his disco ball jacket as Aiba had demanded. I was happy since he was easy to pick out even across the stadium! Mostly these were the moving stages moving around the stands, I think?

For One Love, they did thank-yous to the juniors, band and staff, and then added in specially: "And one more thank you: to all of you guys, who stuck it out in the rain!" And then once more, again, Jun repeated: "Thank you to all of the people listening outside!"

They lined up (Sho slid up on the stage through the water, and coasted up to hug Aiba from the side before everybody linked hands for the bow) and Jun called, "Okay now... What's our name? Se--no..."

"A-RA-SHIIIII!"

They bowed, and then filed offstage waving goodbye. Sho and Ohno were last, they exchanged a look, and they did their silly exit again. PLEASE tell me someone is going to catch this on a DVD sometime this CENTURY. It's so damn cute.

The call continued...


ダブルアンコール
ファイトソング
五里霧中
A・RA・SHI

Everyone back out again in their tour shirts. Jun took his off almost immediately. Right after he took it off, he realized it had stopped raining. Opposite of last year: the rain STOPS at the very end.

For Fight Song, they all gathered on the main stage at the beginning of the huge catwalk, and everyone in turn handed off their microphone to Nino, who would announce them to the audience as they did the slip-n-slide routine one by one down the catwalk. Jun was first. Sho went second and did a terrible job and got no distance. Ohno did very well. I didn't see Aiba one way or the other. Nino was left holding all the microphones. All the members went their separate ways on the catwalks, slipping and sliding, and Nino said from his spot, "Oh crap, you guys gave me all your microphones, so I'm the only one who can sing?!"

So, everyone gave up on the lyrics and they just led the audience in the "hoi, hoi, hoi!"

For Gorimuchuu, they reconvened on the back stage, retrieved their microphones, and got on the escalator stage up to the torch platform again. Total blast. I love this song live.

And then from the top, Jun called out, "Okay, last song!"

"NOOOOOOO!"

"Nope, come on, it's the last one! Let's go!"

And then the A.RA.SHI intro rang out, as they rode the stage back down to the bottom as the audience all went nuts dancing and screaming along.

All five of them walked down the catwalk singing back up to the main stage. Instead of going out the door again, they stood on a descending platform together as the music finished, waving to the audience.

Cutest moment EVER: as the platform descended to take them down below the stage, they were all waving normally...but Aiba and Sho started hopping up and down as the platform descended, so you just saw those two popping out below stage like jack-in-the-boxes, first their heads, and as they went lower and lower, you just saw their hands popping in and out of view coming out of the stage until the very last second.

The crowd wouldn't stop the call. The staff was trying to seriously get us to shut up and start leaving but nobody budged and we all kept screaming.

And it paid off...

トリプルアンコール
season

They came out and said thank you over and over again. The rain had stopped, yay!

But they looked behind them and saw the band was gone. Aiba said, "Even if we wanna, we can't do anything without them, so..."

Jun said, "I'm really worrying about you guys catching colds anyway..."

The crowd screamed for him not to.

"No, really. I'm serious, I don't want you guys sick."

The crowd yelled at him again. He put on his Doumyouji face and tone, and said sternly, "You idiots! Don't you kn..." and then trailed off as he was searching for a camera to speak into. It went on a second too long, so he broke character, cracking up, and he was like, "Oh, forget it, I'm not gonna do it."

Crowd: NOOOOOO! DOOOOOOO IIIIIIIIIIIT!!!!

Jun, dramatically, in Doumyouji-mode: "You idiots! Don't you know I'm only saying it because I'm WORRIED about you?"

Crowd: OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG<3333

Then he looked up and right there, the skies had opened up again. "Oh crap, it's raining again. Okay. We really need to get you guys home safe."

Everyone screamed no, we wanted another song. The band reappeared, and Jun said, "Okay, but you are only getting ONE and then you have to go home, okay?" The crowd whined, but he said, "No, no, no. We talked it over, the five of us, and we agreed this was the song we would end on if we did a triple. So this is it. Please listen to the final song we chose together... season."

They sang it standing on the main stage and it was great.

As it ended, they walked off the main stage, one by one yelling like teachers scolding students: "Now, all of you get home safe, okay?"

"OKAY!"

"Now, don't catch cold, okay?"

"OKAY!"

"Be sure to keep warm, okay?"

"OKAY!"

Jun: "Aishiteru yo!"

"OMGGGGGGGG!"

The other four started wolf-whistling at Jun's *~love confession~* to the audience, and the camera closed on Sho and Ohno slipping backstage still giggling at Jun together. XD

It was grand. It was fun. I might catch pneumonia and die.

IN CONCLUSION IT WAS GREAT.

Also, serious snaps to security and the subway staff this year. Last year, getting home from Kokuritsu was a nightmare brought to life. Staff directed us to a dead end when we were trying to get out to the gate, and then once I hit the subway, I spent nearly two hours trapped inside trying to get to the platform, sandwiched completely that whole time just trying to make it down four flights of stairs. So this year I've been freaked out for a while, thinking I wouldn't get home tonight at all this time.

Instead we got guided out of Kokuritsu rather quickly, and the subway was a breeze. Crowded, yeah, but we were constantly moving and the security did an amazing job guiding people through and separating the crowds.

By the way, while I did not repeatedly keep saying through the whole report, "AND THEN IT KEPT POURING" it was basically pouring the entire show from the start until that tiny lull in the encore, and then started pouring ALL OVER AGAIN from there.

I was soaked to the skin. My fingers actually pruned. My hair was soaked. My dress was soaked. The one stroke of genius I had was that I had kept my Arashi bath towel in its plastic. So I was able to sit down on my final long train ride home, since I laid that on the seat so I wouldn't get the seat wet. ;w; I really hurt all over now but feel surprisingly less terrible than I thought I would after that many hours of getting rained on!

Dome results are still unknown, so this might be the end of the line for me this tour (and probably is). But if that's how it goes, I can't complain. It was a great night, despite the rain! Really because of it, a little.



(edit: Wow. I don't think my con posts last year ever got over thirty or forty comments. When I woke up and saw all of these, I was stunned. Thank you so much, you guys! I'm trying to reply to people who had questions about the con now, but I know there's no way I'll end up replying to all of these because it's so overwhelming. But suffice to say I hugely appreciate all of the comments that have been left. Thank you!

I'm also still slowly editing things in and revising as I remember stuff, by tomorrow I'll probably arrive at the final version if any of you wanna check back.)

part 3...

明日の記憶
(ＶＴＲ)

For "Ashita no Kioku," all five stood on the main stage, and above each of them on the big screen was their photo for the tour. As they sang, each member (oldest to youngest) would have their main "current" photo fade out in turn, and baby photos of them would be shown instead as their birthday flashed above the stage. Then elementary school, middle school photos...

They went through all five of them in order individually, and then the screens started flashing all at once: photos of everyone from the debut, photos of everyone at various ages matching up, photos of all of them throughout the years. The backdrop turned gradually into a big collage of photos, and the view of the photos shifted until the final image: the kanji for "Arashi" written by making a collage out of their childhood photos.

Then, lights went down, and the VTR.

I really can't pull together specifics from the VTR because I was basically just crying the whole time. They played the instrumental version of Ashita no Kioku, and we got another scrapbook setup on the screen. Each "page" showcased a single year of Arashi, with photos of key events. On the screen, running text scrolled by picking out the big events on that year's timeline (concerts, dramas, movies, etc) while each member narrated in turn.

First old debut footage of them on the yacht. Jun saying he's not really nervous, not exactly. Nino saying he's grateful to be there. Ohno looking off the boat saying he hopes the weather holds up.

I remember Sho spoke about their first concert: "Our first concert. I wonder, is anyone who came to that concert here tonight now, ten years later...?"

Kisarazu Cats Eye. Gokusen. Kimi wa Pet. Stand Up!

Aiba: "24 Hour Television. I wrote my first letter to the members..."

Jun: "Hana Yori Dango. I feel like many more people were introduced to Arashi because of it..."

Shimura Doubutsuen: Aiba vs tiger. Letters from Iwo Jima. News Zero. The Asia tour. The first Dome con. FREESTYLE. Maou. 24 Hour Television again. So many other things.

Then the scrapbook pages flipped backwards and we moved back in time, until...


A・RA・SHI
SUNRISE日本
君のために僕がいる
時代


A.RA.SHI. As the intro began...out rose the five of them from beneath the center stage, in all their glory in the transparent costumes.

OBVIOUSLY FUCKING AMAZING, I DON'T NEED TO TELL YOU. They broke up the big screen again to show the real time footage against the original performance.

As he dashed offstage to change, Jun turned around and grinned, "I figured it out just now on the third night: the transparent costumes are way convenient for rainy weather!"

Sunrise Nippon I don't remember. Kimi no Tame ni Boku ga Iru, I only remember dancing and having fun doing it. I thought Jidai's arrangement seemed slower-paced and did not like as much.


ナイスな心意気
PIKA☆NCHI
とまどいながら
言葉より大切なもの

Nice na Kokoroiki was on the main stage. The members did the thumbs-up sign posing dorkily a la the single cover.

Pikanchi: yeah, definitely sounds better as a group. Tomdadoi Nagara and Kotoba Yori mo Taisetsu na Mono were both shortened versions, I think?

For Kotoba Yori mo Taisetsu na Mono, Ohno's truck came by us. I thought he was waving at me for just a second, but realized it was actually my friend behind me. *laugh* I think this is the first time I've seen Ohno really up close, though, and same as the care he showed at his butai last year, I was so touched at the kindness he shows to fans. More than anyone else, you can feel him trying to look at every single face.


Hero
サクラ咲ケ
WISH
きっと大丈夫

For Hero, all the members were raised on giant elevating platforms through the arena that put them on equal eye level with the stands.

Sakura Sake: I LOVE THIS SONG

WISH: I don't remember it at all.

Kitto Daijoubu: They were back on the center catwalk for this, I couldn't see anything so we were just screaming the call responses for all we were worth.


Love so sweet
Happiness
Believe

Love so sweet was on the moving stages. Jun didn't sing the right lyrics for his solo part, he was looking down at the audience from the stage and sang instead, "Even though it's raining, we won't worry about it!"

Happiness was from moving stages as they moved back to center stage. By the way, from the Kokuritsu DVD, the audience looks like a giant blur of uchiwa and I thought, "I'm sure they can't really see the uchiwa at all when the view looks like that!!" I had been in the stands last year so I didn't know, but to my surprise, even though I was near the center of the arena, I could read some uchiwa all the way at the top on the far side. If I could see them, they definitely could too.

Believe was danced center stage again. The rap was really cool.


(挨拶)
5×10

Friday final speeches were a total teary lovefest, I heard, but here there was no actual crying, though both Jun and Nino seemed to be on the edge.

They played instrumental of Kansha Kangeki Ame Arashi. I can't remember everything everyone said, but something like...

Sho said, "Thank you to all of you, especially everyone sitting up at the very top. Ten years ago, we put on our first concert. And I remember saying then: 'We want to become an Arashi that people will be proud to be fans of.' Now, I wonder, have we accomplished that?" The audience cheered in response. "Thank you very much. We keep mentioning the rain, but I think it's amazing that all of you are here in this weather and came determined to have fun with us. And I believe that these concerts, where everyone can join in with that fun, are truly our pride and joy as a group. So thank you, all of you, who are here tonight. And...I'm sure they don't want me saying this, but..." He took a deep breath, and yelled: "All of you people standing outside the stadium listening tonight, thank you to all of you, too!"

Ohno: "Thank you all. I never thought, ten years ago, even in my dreams, that I would be standing here in this place now."

Aiba: "Thank you, thank you, thank you. You know, ten years ago on that first day of our debut... No matter what question anyone asked me at the press conference, I would answer, 'I want to raise a storm throughout the world.' The truth is... Though I kept saying that over and over, I don't think I ever understood what that meant. 'Raise a storm throughout the world.' But now I finally do know what it means, standing here tonight." (He was smiling hugely and had it pulled together one hundred percent, I was surprised.)

Nino turned around and immediately said mockingly, "'I wannaaaaa raise a stooooorm throughout the wooooorld!' None of us had a clue then what the hell he was talking about, and now he says ten years later that he's only just figured it out himself?!" Aiba turned around and butted in there briefly, I didn't catch what he said but he was really cute.

Then Nino turned more serious and all jaw-clenchy, obviously working to hold it together. "Ten years ago, I think had given up from the start. I was a very unfair person, I think... Ah, well, of course I was! I'm human, after all. But if Arashi had not been these other four members with me, I feel sure that I would have quit. I definitely would not have made it to ten years. But Arashi isn't something we do alone. Arashi is something we make together with all of us. A lot of things have changed among us in these past ten years, of course. But some things have stayed the same. The transparent costumes, for one."

That got a whooping reaction from the crowd, and he said teasingly (most everyone in the audience was wearing transparent ponchos), "Hey, you guys are wearing the same thing, don't forget!

"...but, you know, I really think there's a lot of value in that. I think it's very special for us: that some things will never, ever change. That's why you can still see us now dancing in our transparent costumes, dancing with vegetables, even in our tenth year! So let's all keep going together into the eleventh and the twelfth year and on..."

Jun turned around. They were all so soaked it was hard to tell, but he looked like he'd been crying at Nino's words. He said, "Thank you. Thanks to all of you. We keep going back to the rain, but... I am so touched at how in this weather, none of you have moved from your seats to go home. You guys all chose to stay with us and stick it out through all of this weather. I really don't like to say it out loud, but... It's during concerts, more than anything, that I feel how much I value the other four members. How much I value everyone around me here. Moments like that, where I really feel how important everyone is, will hit me all of a sudden. And now... I'm having one of those moments right now."

His expression there was so cute, like he couldn't decide whether to laugh or cry, and the audience cheered at it, and he broke into a grin: "Thanks. This was the best birthday ever! Now, it's time for us to go to the last song, filled with our feelings of thanks to all of you. Please listen to it: 5x10."

They stood on the center stage and sang it standing in a line, with the stage mostly dark. The audience sang along loudly for the, "Honki de naite, honki de waratte, honki de nayande, honki de ikite..." part as Sho's voice rang out over us.

At, "Arigatou, korekara mo..." the music cut off completely there for a few seconds. They stood there unmoving, and then the music swelled to a huge crescendo and the lights flooded the stage brightly as they sang, "Arigatou!" Seeing the news footage, apparently the other two nights that was where they released the balloons, but in the rain it was impossible, so they did their best by turning up the lights and really making the music arrangement in that moment have impact.

The stage descended again and they disappeared, waving goodbye...

And then the call began...

part 2.....

曇りのち、快晴 (Ohno solo)
a Day in Our Life
Oh Yeah!
ハダシの未来
Beautiful days

Kumori Nochi, Kaisei: Ohno in the Utaonii costume, with juniors dancing backup. My angle of this was really bad, couldn't see anything. The screens showed a backdrop of cartoons of all the mascot character costumes from Utaonii.

a Day in Our Life: standard awesome fun with lots and lots of screaming. Jun and Ohno with their arms around each other.

Oh Yeah! is still one of my ultimate concert favorites. I love the, "Jump, jump, jump, jump!" part. Arena seats for this song are the best since you can jump like crazy!

Hadashi no Mirai: Kokuritsu seating is annoyingly narrow, not enough space to dance this nicely.

Beautiful days was done on the center stage as it rotated, with Nino standing alone on the top platform. There had been problems with the microphones all night with them fading in and out and fucking up because of the rain, but just as Nino was singing his solo, his microphone completely died!

Not to worry, Jun to the rescue: Jun instantly jumped up on the top with Nino to share his microphone with him. They pressed their cheeks together as they sang into the same mic together, and then Nino pecked him on the cheek. After the song ended, they pulled away and were laughing together.



MC: It was seriously beyond pouring at this point. Sho said, "This should be the point where we make a joke about Arashi calling up an arashi. See, because it's us, it's okay that it's storming, riiiiight?" The audience cheered, but he was like, "No, but really, this rain is past the point where we can make cracks about it." He began to tell us to sit down as usual, but as he realized our seats were all puddles, he paused and said laughingly, "I'm really not sure which is better at this point, standing or sitting." Everyone opted to stay standing up.

Last year Aiba asked speculatively, "Do we get umbrellas for the MC if it rains?" It turns out they don't, lol. I actually wondered why nobody gave them any since it would have solved a lot (though maybe they thought it was unfair since the fans aren't allowed to have them?). The staff kept throwing them towels, and Jun was like, "In rain this heavy, towels are pretty pointless..." They kept wrapping the towels over their shoulders and the towels just got soaked in quick order.

They sort of hung around awkwardly for a few minutes just talking about the rain because there was just nothing else that could drive the conversation as they were getting TOTALLY SOAKED. Jun asked, "Don't you guys wish we could have windshield wipers here?" and did a wiper motion in front of his eyes with his fingers. "I've got contacts in so it's terrible, my vision's a total blur."

It was really awkward with them getting rained on, and Nino burst out, "Well, how lucky we were, to be blessed with three straight days of perfect weather!" They asked Ohno for his thoughts on the matter, and Ohno replied that he thought what Nino said was right even though he had said it sarcastically: "Isn't it kind of memorable to have it rain on the last day like this? This is a live I'll never forget for the rest of my life, that's for sure."

As they were talking, their microphones kept getting messed up from the rain. Jun asked the staff for smaller towels to wrap the mics in to see if that would help. They got them, but realized the towels were too thick and you couldn't hear anything if they were wrapped around the mics. They asked Aiba to wrap his mic up and try talking into it, which he did, and it didn't work, and Nino was like WE CAN'T HEEEEEEAAAAAAR YOUUUUUUU

Their costumes had really long fringe on the sleeves. Jun was adjusting his as everyone else was talking. Sho said, "Wait, everyone, we must wait for Matsujun to fix his soumen sleeves!"

"They're not soumen!"

"Reimen, then?"

"Not that either!!"

"He says they're not reimen either~~"

Shortly afterward, someone from the staff brought plastic wrap for the mics and that worked like a charm, so they were all wrapping up their mics in plastic. The mic problem fixed, they still couldn't really bring the conversation past the rain, so Nino was like, "...shall we just give up on talking and go on to the next thing? We would love to stand here and tell you guys all kinds of funny stories, but it's just not gonna happen in this situation, so let's move on." XD

They all began walking back up to the main stage. Jun exclaimed, "But this rain... Isn't it totally drama rain?" (Plz to imagine the Rain Scene from Hanadan, where clearly Jun and Mao had a full water tank being emptied on top of them at max pressure. I thought that scene looked ridiculous because it just doesn't rain like that, in real life. WELL IT WAS RAINING LIKE THAT TONIGHT.) Sho said, "I was just thinking that! I'm feeling quite F4, actually. This whole time I've been like, oh, so this is what it's like to be Doumyouji in the rain."

Jun said, "I can't remember it ever raining this hard on my birthday before."

Sho said, "If it had rained this hard on your birthday before, why would you have been out in it like this?!" Jun realized that was true.

They switched the topic to Aiba's drama.

AIBA: I'll be doing my first drama lead.
NINO: First...and last!
AIBA: Nooo!
NINO: Oh, so you think you'll keep going after this one, then?
AIBA: Nooo, I'm just saying it hasn't been decided yet!

Then he pimped the drama timeslot. Nino chimed in to promote Tenkimi. They asked him what time and date. He said, "September...24th...and it's on at.............um, I have no idea, let's just say 'turn your TV on around eight PM and it should come on sooner or later'??"

They turned to Ohno and asked him to please promote something, since they were doing it. Ohno was like, "What have I got to promote?"

"You could talk about fishing! ...don't say you're going tomorrow. You're not, are you?"

Ohno complained, "Who could go out on the sea in this weather?!"

Then Sho said there was something else they had to promote that day: Matsujun's birthday! The juniors wheeled out a MASSIVE cake and the whole audience sang happy birthday.

The cake was covered up from the rain in a giant plastic dome that was also covered in plastic wrap. Jun said it was a waste not to show off something so pretty, so they unwrapped it super fast and got the camera in there. It was white with brown lettering and a bunch of really pretty fruit toppings that looked way fancy!

Then they were like OKAY CAMERA OUT!! And started covering it back up again before it got rained on, and Jun was like, NO WAIT, and shoved his hand in right as they were closing it and took a HANDFUL of cake and ate it. He said it was yummy.

Aiba then popped up with a bag and said it was Matsujun's present from all of them, and they'd bought it together in June (Nino was the one to pick it out?). He said, "We want you to wear it tonight. During the encore!"

Jun was like, "Thanks! ...oh wait a sec, I need to wash my hands!" Then he ran downstage to a giant puddle and washed his cake-covered hand in it. XD

Nino yelled, "Very nice! Very eco-friendly!"

Sho said, "What's eco-friendly about it?!"

Jun ran back up for the bag to open it up, then stopped and asked, "Is it something okay to get wet?"

Nino said, "Totally."

Jun started opening it, and Nino added, "...because it's your gift, not ours, so if you wanna get it soaked it's not our problem." <3

Jun peeked in as it was half-opened, and made this FACE. "YOU HAVE GOT TO BE FUCKING KIDDING ME." He didn't say it, his FACE said it. It was SO funny. He stared at Aiba incredulously. "You BOUGHT this?"

He pulled out a jacket covered with giant coin-sized dangly gold sequins. "You couldn't have bought this, they don't SELL things like this!" JE needs to make things that ridiculous by hand! But he turned it over and it had the Adidas logo on it! Jun started to pull it on, and Sho said, "Matsujun is the only person ever who could come in to work wearing something like that and say casually, 'Morning!' like it's totally normal."

Nino said, "We have no idea how it's supposed to be laundered, so figure it out yourself." XD

Jun wore it for a little while. It was fabulous. Aiba said, "Matsujun's become a disco ball!!"

After wearing it a while and getting soaked, Jun then concluded, "I don't think this thing is supposed to get wet, actually," and they helped him get out of it. XD

And then back to the music...

During the MC I put my uchiwa down, and it got soaked and ruined... ;w; まあ潤の誕生日のために作ったうちわだったから、今回のツアーでまた入れる事になったとしても、使わなかったけどね。でも…頑張って作ったのにぃ… ORZ



とまどいながら (Sho solo)
WISH (Jun solo)
Attack　it！ (5×10 secret track)
truth

Tomadoi Nagara: Sho came out in a green sequined hoodie. I wondered if it was from an old performance from a long time ago. Either way, the hoodie had a magical effect that made him look years younger. He looked almost the same age as the debut footage. I asked my friend if she thought he looked way young and she agreed, so it wasn't just me.

WISH: this was magnificent. The special arrangement of this song was absolutely ace. Jun was wearing black pants, suspenders, white shirt, and a black hat. Very retro-looking. The new arrangement seemed to have a bit of swing influence, maybe?? I don't know if that's right, but anyway it was ADORABLE.

As he performed on the main stage, there was a scrapbook-type setup on the screen. In one scrapbook "window" it showed his real-time performance, and in another it showed old drama scenes from him. I was watching the real-time part over the drama window, but the drama clips shown had the proposal scene from Hanadan Returns (shot of him in the dark, smiling reaction to Tsukushi saying she forgot the dress he sent), cooking scenes from Bambino~!, and the last shot was the panning shot of Doumyouji in his white suit from Tsukushi's POV at the wedding in Hanadan Final.

At a point, the fountains started up. I didn't mention them before because I can't remember which songs they were used for (...in that rain, it's not like I was thinking, "OMG *~WATER~* THAT IS NEW AND EXCITING"), but they were in a different location this year, set up all around the moving stage track right next to the stands. So they formed a huge arc around the tracks, and it looked like a fountain show. Reminded me of the Hanadan shoot outside the Bellagio (for that reason??).

Anyway, I loved absolutely everything about this. The new music arrangement was just SO GOOD. WISH actually isn't a big favorite of mine, but I thought this was way better than the original. Adorable.

Attack it!: So that's the title of the hidden track! Big laser show going on, totally wild. All five on trucks being raced around near the stands at the back. I wasn't into this song on the album but predicted I'd go crazy for it live, and I was right. My friend and I both caught each others' eyes as we were singing, "Kokoro nusunda orera wa hannin~?" together and burst into grins. After all, it's good to go with like-minded fans. XD The responses for this were really fun and they got very into getting the audience to scream along and jump.

truth: Center stage, dancing. Pyrotechnics again, you really can feel the heat even when they're super far away!

in written by nyonyo

irst, on my way to the concert, I was on the train from my town with my Arashi tote bag carrying my uchiwa and stuff. A mom and her middle-school-aged daughter sat next to me. After a few minutes, the mom asked, "Excuse me, are you going to see Arashi's concert?"

I said that I was. I asked if they were going too.

The daughter said, "No. We couldn't get tickets."

Then she burst into tears.

And cried ALL THE WAY TO THE STATION FOR THIRTY FULL MINUTES. OMG.

I was like, "...I have no idea what to even do with that."

Anyway. Got there early again this year. It began pouring as we came in...and just as soon, it stopped! Everyone looked up in amazement at the sky: you could see blue peeking through the clouds! The sun was shining through! COULD A MIRACLE HAPPEN?!?!?!?!?!?! A MIRACLE BROUGHT ON BY THE TERUTERUBOUZU MADE BY ARASHI FANS THERE THAT DAY?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

No. It didn't, lol.

As soon as the con began, the skies opened up. I actually had brought my AAA poncho, but it turned out it was hard to move my arms in it, so I just opted to get rained on, optimistically hoping it would clear up again. By the time I realized that was really a dumb choice and I should have kept the poncho on, it was waaaay beyond too late. I got soaked to the skin. I've never been soaked like that EVER in rain. OMG. It was part of the fun, though.


OVERTURE
感謝カンゲキ雨嵐
Step and Go
Lucky Man


OVERTURE: as the music started, on the giant screen, up popped the first Arashi single cover. It moved on to show the covers of every single released throughout the years, in order, working our way up to Everything...

And then the opening tune of Kansha Kangeki Ame Arashi began. Arashi appeared on the screen. I couldn't figure out where they were for real at all! And then finally I saw them on wires hanging above the main stage. *_* It was already raining like crazy, right away, but they flew over our heads waving down at us as we all yelled the, "ARASHI!" response.

They touched down by the torch platform and I think went into Step and Go from there. They did the short version of it without the rap as they came down to bottom. Then for Lucky Man they got on the moving stages and went around the stands on those.

Introductions during Lucky Man: Jun yelled at us not to lose to the rain. "７万人、みんな幸せにしてやるよ！" or something close to that. *w*

Nino did his usual irasshaimase, and then:

NINO: ARE YOU GUYS READY
AUDIENCE: YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAH
NINO: ARE YOU GUYS WET
AUDIENCE: YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAH
NINO: WELL WE'LL BE SURE TO MAKE YOU EVEN WETTER
AUDIENCE: YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAH
AUDIENCE: ...
AUDIENCE: (Wait! DIRTY!)

Ohno's was normal. Aiba's was normal and he said at the end like last year, "This is the best!" sort of giggling to himself. Sho did his usual thing but closed at the very end with, "...naaaaaaaanttsutte~~~!" and did the Kamiyama pose.


We can make it!
風の向こうへ
Crazy Moon

They made their way back to the main stage eventually and moved onto the center one. They spread out over the catwalks from there. Jun came on our side and started out from the center taking a runner's starting pose, and then dashed down at top speed to the end, splashing through the puddles like crazy and sliding through the water. Then he almost fell flat on his face at the very end, and the fans all screamed, and he made this hilarious, "OH NOES!" face and posed.

We can make it! was shortened too with no rap.

All five joined back up at the center for Kaze no Mukou he. Sho called for everyone to clap their hands, super fun. The rap lyrics were flashed on the screen and a lot of people seemed to join in.

Crazy Moon was danced all five on the center stage. There the skies had totally opened up, the stage was one big puddle. Every dance step they took sent water flying everywhere. They went offstage after that, and...


PIKA☆NCHI (Aiba solo)
HORIZON
DANGAN-LINER
アレルギー
ココロチラリ
CARNIVAL NIGHT part 2


...Aiba sailed out of the main stage on a wire zip line, which dropped him on the center stage. I don't think everyone caught on to the fact that it was his solo until a while in, I was like, "Why is everyone else taking so long to come onstage??" and then realized. I can't lie, I did not dig it. XD; This song sounds really weak with only one person singing it solo, and Aiba's cute dancing style doesn't match the song for me.

Then everyone else returned to the stage, and we kicked it oldskool for a while! I had listened outside for a while on Friday but you couldn't hear much, and I was so sad when I could hear Kokoro Chirari. "Dammit! I wanted Allergy! If they're gonna go for the first album, why would they do Kokoro Chirari instead of Allergy?!"

SO IT WAS SO MUCH BETTER THAT THEY DID ALLERGY AND I JUST DIDN'T KNOW IT, BECAUSE YOU COULDN'T HEAR IT ON FRIDAY. BEST SURPRISE EVER. SO HAPPY. They broke out their veggie props, and on the big screen they played the oldskool footage matched up against the concert. Dangan Liner and Kokoro Chirari are also in my top four from the first album so I was basically as happy as a clam. But. ALLERGY <3333

CARNIVAL NIGHT was fab as always. I love watching the crowd go wild for it and dancing.

...hrm, I didn't say this until now, but actually we had arena seats on the hanamichi aisle. Though I don't remember which songs they were using the hanamichi for at all. But sometime in the first half of the show, Sho came down our way first very slowly, but turned around and faced the opposite side right when he came to our row. Then Aiba came down the opposite way, and did the exact same thing. No luck! But super closeup views of Aiba and Sho from the back: there are worse things in life.

Around here, Jun apparently had gotten sick of pushing his wet bangs out of his eyes so he pulled them back on top of his head with a hair tie, where they were sticking straight up. So cute.

Oh, and at some point when they were going around on the moving stages early on, Nino had yanked his jacket over his head with his arms still in it, trying to keep dry while looking absolutely ridiculous. <3


言葉より大切なもの (Nino solo)
Everything
瞳の中のGalaxy
アオゾラペダル
台風ジェネレーション

Nino came out and played electric guitar for Kotoba Yori mo Taisetsu na Mono. The arrangement for this was very nice, his playing was fantastic, his voice was good, but more than anything else, he looked so happy and like he was having a blast being there. The electric guitar arrangement was amazing. I loved this so much.

"Everything" was absolutely jaw-dropping in terms of the production, simple as it was. They put together a KILLER music video for the screens. I really can't explain it, and it sucks because though I heard there was DVD taping the second day, the screen stuff never translates to DVD well. :( But the video was timed to the second with the rhythm and very fast, showing streetlights flashing red and green depending on the lyrics, stunning cityscapes of Tokyo, and gorgeous silhouettes of people. Unbelievably cool with how great the timing was.

Hitomi no Naka no Galaxy was a first for me and I ended up tearing up for it. The screens had a backdrop of an eye illustration with stars inside it. Ohmiya were singing together with their arms around each other. Then when the cameras focused in on them, Nino slid up closer to him meaningfully, and the audience cheered them on as they moved their faces closer and closer together. Nino leaned in Time-style for the kiss, but stopped just short of the real thing, and they giggled together cutely as they moved apart. <3

Don't remember much about Aozora Pedal, I know the screens showed something cute but I can't remember for the life of me. I was thinking they said this song was special for Kokuritsu because it's outside, but this time the blue sky was nowhere to be seen. XD

Typhoon Generation: Nino changed the spoken intro and I totally missed whatever he said because I was reading the text on the screen with the proper text, instead of watching him. I'll look it up and edit this post later when I find out what it was. It must have been something sexy because it got a wild reaction from the crowd.

(edit: He said, "Ja, ittekuru..." like normal, then changed it to, "Oh, you've been waiting all this time in the rain just for me, haven't you?" and then winked!)

arashi concert in kokuritsu!!!!

Arashi 5x10 Anniversary Tour: 8/30/09 at Kokuritsu Kasumigaoka Kyougijou




SETLIST

OVERTURE
感謝カンゲキ雨嵐
Step and Go
Lucky Man
(挨拶)
We can make it!
風の向こうへ
Crazy Moon
PIKA☆NCHI (Aiba solo)
HORIZON
DANGAN-LINER
アレルギー
ココロチラリ
CARNIVAL NIGHT part 2
言葉より大切なもの (Nino solo)
Everything
瞳の中のGalaxy
アオゾラペダル
台風ジェネレーション
曇りのち、快晴 (Ohno solo)
a Day in Our Life
Oh Yeah!
ハダシの未来
Beautiful days

(ＭＣ)

とまどいながら (Sho solo)
WISH (Jun solo)
Attack　it! (5×10 hidden track)
truth
明日の記憶

(ＶＴＲ)

A・RA・SHI
SUNRISE日本
君のために僕がいる
時代
ナイスな心意気
PIKA☆NCHI
とまどいながら
言葉より大切なもの
Hero
サクラ咲ケ
WISH
きっと大丈夫
Love so sweet
Happiness
Believe
(挨拶)
5×10

アンコール
PIKA★★NCHI DOUBLE
明日に向かって
できるだけ
One Love

ダブルアンコール
ファイトソング
五里霧中
A・RA・SHI

トリプルアンコール
season

sry long time no blog......

02 September 2009 - Arashi reaches 1 million



SMAP managed to come out on top of the weekly charts with their newest single, "Sotto Kyutto / Superstar." The song ended its first week with close to 105,000 in sales, overcoming the early lead taken by girl group AKB48's "Iiwake Maybe." The girls were not far behind at #2 for the week, with 91,000 copies sold.

For SMAP, "Sotto Kyutto" is their 11th consecutive (22nd overall) #1 single. It is also their 44th consecutive top ten single, which puts them one ahead of B'z. Ayumi Hamasaki has also released 44 top ten singles, though hers are not all consecutive.

Three "K-On!" character singles ranked highly, occupying the #3, #5, and #6 spots. Spitz came in at #7, while abingdon boys school took #8 and Buono! took #10.

On the album charts, Arashi kept the #1 seat with their "All the BEST! 1999-2009," which sold an additional 233,000 copies for the week. On the daily charts of August 31, in the album's 13th day on sale, the album reached 1 million in total sales, making it Arashi's first million-seller. It is also the first album of 2009 to break 1 million.

Acid Black Cherry's new album charted at #2 with 78,000 copies sold. A pair of best albums by Vocaloid virtual idol Miku Hatsune ranked #4 and #5. Other new releases in the top ten were a drama CD for "Hetalia: Axis Powers" (#6), a best album by capsule (#7), a soundtrack for "PLAYZONE 2009" (#8), and a mini-album by Hiroshi Kamiya (#9).