10-11 Tokyo Dome 21/11/2010

[karened]

I'm dying.

Of happiness.

It was 4.40pm.

At Harajuku.

Only 4 tickets left.

One was at the 2nd level stands.
Another pair was also 2nd level stands.
Last was an Arena.
Block C6.
I have no idea where that block is, and I know that Arena doesn't guarantee a good seat.

But I went for it. Like...30% cheaper than my Friday stands seat. The storekeeper said I was lucky coz that ticket really became much cheaper now.

And then, I rushed to Dome, reaching at 530pm. Found the gate (which was really far from the main gate 22). I saw that Gate 11 was right at the side of Dome so I thought that it was a seat very far left. But no.

When I entered the Arena and saw the board with the blocks' location printed, I nearly died. The block was only 3 blocks away from the hanamichi joining the main and center stage. I went to the seat, and then REALLY died. My seat was only 3 rows away from the left hanamichi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Like, so lucky!!!

 

Here're the only 2 photos I managed to take with so many staff-san around. Third row from hanamichi!
 


Knowing that Arashi aways starts their concerts on time, I went to get a drink before rushing back to my seat. To my left were two obaasans who were a little short, so I was quite guilty about blocking their view whenever the guys walk towards center stage. They are Nino fans! My right was also a Nino fan. She was really enthusiastic, which helped me get high too!

And just a while before the start. I heard some cheering. At first I thought some fans were getting excited for the concert, but it seems like it was the boys shouting from backstage!!! Really excited!

The following will be quite brief, because I'm so excited that I've kind forgotten a lot of details! And as usual, not a native speaker + poor memory = not 100% accuracy!

Attack It made me get really high, because Jun walked down the left hanamichi. As he walked past, I held up my jun mini uchiwa, and just then, he turned and saw it!! HE NODDED AND LOOKED AT ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was so happy I that I became just speechless.

T.A.B.O.O is a diferent matter when you see it up close. It's crazy. So full of energy. I wouldn't call it sexy, but it was hot.

Ohno was right in front of me during Let Me Down, and while he was back facing me, I was totally mesmerised. By. His. Hips. Even from afar, my attention was focused on that haha, but it was totally mindblowing when he was right in front of me, jerking his hips. The whole movement was so fluid! Haha you can hear me searching my bag during that part, because I just had to jolt down how hot Ohno was doing his hips thing. XP It was also quite amused by the text he had on his sparkly coat. His was "Switch on!". AIba's was "I love Chiba" and Nino's "Landscape I'm seeing".

As with T.A.B.O.O, Shizuka no Yoru ni is a different matter upclose. Although I still don't find the chereography best, I really see how good a dancer Ohno is. He's very smooth, like liquid....like his limbs are detached from his body! And my favourite moment was when he spun around and the sweat just flew off his forehead! HOT. 

Nino's solo was the same as Friday, very cute. But less of the act cute element this time round. Less killer winks, less obvious Chaplin penguin walk up the steps, less cheeky smile. But still cute! I love his falsetto at the end.

Remember Friday's MC where Sho teased Aiba for being too engrossed in the hands movement at the start of One Love? Well, today he was looking at Aiba all the way as they did that hand movement. Not just looking. He was totally facing the boy! I didn't get to see Aiba's face, but at the end of that sequence, Sho gave him a thumbs up!. And at Jun's solo at the bridge part, Sho once again did the hand introduction thing to direct attention to Jun!

Fight Song was great fun too, because there was a lot of member love at the center stage. Sho did that comedian/duck/bird/whatever dance many times! Jun did the left-right leg sweep along the left hanamichi towards center stage. And when he reached the stage, he and Nino danced in a circle around each other a la caveman. And Sho was kind of chasing Ohno around the stage and Ohno had to put a hand up to stop him haha!

MC was fun. Most parts were similar to Friday's so I won't talk much about those (e.g. Sho being Nino's manager, the pun on GANTZ).

Sho was saying that he was thinking that he stop doing things taken for granted. For example, that he starts the MC after Fight Song. What if someone else does it? It's like sort of decided that Sho will do it, but they didn't formally make that decision ne. And then they started trying out one by one! Sho was asking Ohno to try something other than "yeah!", something that will get the audience excited. But Nino said that Ohno probably won't be able to do that well, so he can just do it his own way.

Then they started with get us to go "hey hey hey" and they humming the melody of the closing of Fight Song. Jun then did the ending beats and Sho whistled. Gosh, why do I find Sho so hot whistling?

And Ohno just started MC with repeated shouts of "yeah!" and then "There's only one 'today'! Please live your life seriously! Ok, the MC has started."

Next was Aiba, with just repeated calls of "washa!".

Nino's was really fun! A simple "Ok, the MC starts." HAHA.. Coz there wasn't a need to get us high, since we're already so high!

Jun's was a loud "Hey yah!"

He then proceeded to the actual MC, asking the ladies to shout, then the guys (quite a few yo! One behind me (right in front of the hanamichi) and a few at the other block!), then everyone else. They then moved back to the main stage.

This time, Nino pointed out Jun's 'mistake'. At the start of the concert when they did the greetings, Jun's greeting was a bit odd, Nino said. Having had his feathers ruffled, Jun headed for Nino, but Aiba stood in front of him to block him from the 'argument'. The thing is, while Aiba said to enjoy the time, to stop getting mad (and not quarrel), he himself continued the topic by asking Nino for the details. =P Apparently, Jun said something to the effect of  "Look, the five of us, we'll make the 50,00 of you happy!" instead of the usual "The five of us will make the 50,000 of you happy!". He did a pause in the sentence. Explaining himself, Jun said that it was because he couldn't catch his breath. Sho was quite cute too, standing at attention to Jun as he repeated Jun's rather authoritative greeting.

Nino, the cheeky boy, didn't let Aiba off too, teasing him about his indecipherible string of words during Fight Song.

Jun got back at Nino, asking what colour his PANTZ was. BLACK! kekekeke....and then the topic went further to his costume in the movie being PANTZ SUITZ! lol. I'm sure Nino fangirls won't mind that huh?

Ohno's Kaibutsu-kun solo. Once again, the dance was really cute and I found myself swaying to him as he swayed! I really love how he's able to sing in a cute voice instead of his usual deep voice.

The same thing happened for the short MC after the song. But there was an additional part where Kaibutsu-kun scolding an underling for not be able to balance properly in the ending pose (standing on one foot with the hands up in a monster-like pose), so he did it to show the guy. Cute moment. And then, Arashi came up. The main part of this exchange was Ohno telling Arashi that he's Kaibutsu Tarou. So Arashi called him Tarou-san. Which our prince didn't like. "What Tarou-san? It's Kaibutsu-kun. Or just Tarou". Arashi then said, "Kaibutsu-san.". Sho said that it was weird that a prince would be called '-san'. Ohno was totally mad at that, even as he turned towards the exit. Nino then teased him that he wasn't yukai tsukai (happy, as in the title of the Kaibutsu-kun song). Our kaibutsu-kun kept insisting that he was though, and before he exited, he declared that he's happy! But without any smile though.

And then, the moment. I noticed Jun taking up a sketchbook and wondered what that was for.

AND THEN! The closeup of the sketchbook showed on the screen. From that point onwards I wasn't paying attention to Aiba, Nino and Sho talk. Jun slowly flipped the sketchbook. It read something like: "We wish for the help of the audience, please keep quiet from now on", "26 Nov is Ohno's birthday and we're giving him a surprise", "we'll sing the happy song for him together", "If you're ok with, please raise up your hands". Then Jun mouthed and put up an 'ok?' hand sign, and everyone just put up their penlights again, waving.

Soon, a tall, 3/4 tier white cake was brought on stage and Arashi gathered around it. The staff started to help light the candles. Meanwhile, Aiba, Sho and Nino continued making conversation so that it won't seem suspicious to Ohno backstage. It was quite funny coz obviously their mind wasn't on the MC, and they had nothing much to say, so everyone was just randomly saying single phrases like "hontou ni ne", "sugoi ne". After a long period of silence, Aiba said, "demo sugoi ne". Out of the blue! And that got everyone laughing. At that, Nino poked fun at Aiba being a boke, saying that we're all laughing at him.

Then, even before the candles got fully lit up, Ohno appeared on stage left, shocked. It was so cute as Jun brought Ohno over to the cake as we sang the birthday song. Ohno's mouth was open wide the whole time and he put a hand to his gaping mouth. He was really surprised, not knowing of the surprise. And he managed to blow out all the candles, place all around the cake, at one go! Amazing!

Arashi had rehearsed this surprise yesterday and this morning! Then Jun brought Ohno to stage left as the other three retreated to the right. There was one more surprise, and Ohno said in a really cute voice, "This is really scary." But it was othing scary at all! Just a "Satoshi no Kioku video + song"! Arashi sang Ashita no Kioku, and a video played on the screens. A lot of photos. Of Ohno from very young, to teenager, to the Johnnys application photo, to his early days in Arashi.... It was really cute!! They also had photos of various Ohno pairings, and then finally a group shoot (can't remember when that official photo was from, but Sho had golden hair, and Jun had long flowy hair and was wearing a green tank. I have that photo I think). And then, at the very last part, each of the 5 panels making up the main screen took turns to  show Ohno's bald childhood photo (the one that appeared in last year's Ashita no Kioku video too)! CUTE!

When the song ended, you could see Ohno's eyes totally brimming with tears!

But that wasn't the last of it. Nino brought out a dvd of the video so that it'll be eternal.

And.

And.

Nino actually took it out from under his...shirt? pants? Just from under his clothes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OHMIYA!

The cover of the dvd box was actually that bald childhood photo!! HAHA. Totally making fun of him huh?

Sho was saying that in a previous interview, Ohno had said that as concerts don't fall on his birthday, they've never celebrated it in a concert before. Nino then said that actually, the surprised had already been decided upon during that interview! Ohno said that it was amazing that they managed to pull it off, that the audience were also amazing. And Nino brought up the fact that when they were talking about their cd releases, no one was listening. HAHA! Very true! Who would be?

Cute Jun moment next! Ohno asked if it was a lie that the tv backstage was spoilt (so they can't see whaat's happening on stage). And Jun said, "It's a lie pyan!", complete with Aiba-chan's trademark one-feet-up-and-two-hands-opening-wide action! Too cute!

Ohno's thank you message was something like "Thanks everyone. I'm turning 30 soon so I think I'll try to live my 30s more seriously."

You can tell how Jun's really excited for the surprisse because he totally forgot to take his bottle to the back! So before the next song started, he apologised, took his bottle from the stage and threw it towards the exit (LOL). Ohno was really excited too, because when Aiba asked him if he was ready to go, he said he was still unable to calm down. But eventually he did, and Don't Stop started!

I finally saw who that graceful person at the other end of the line was during Don't Stop's bridge. Sho! <3

Since I sat nearer to the stage (it's really so near that I didn't need binos to see the general emotions on their faces!), I watched Jun dance in his solo instead of just focusing on the screen. Good dance, very cute actions. My fav part of the 1, 2, 3 finger signs during the "1, 2, 3-----set you free" part.

I couldn't really see Magical Song, because a spotlight was kinda blocking my view. But when he turned towards the main stage, I could see a little. I really love his coat! The lights were beautiful, although it was kinda creepy when the lights went off to allow the coat's lights to shine, but then since Aiba's hat didn't have any lights attached, it looked as if he was headless.

Remember me blogging about how Jun and Nino (who were on the rear stage with Aiba) taunted Aiba about singing the intro to Kotoba Yori Taisetsu Na Mono? They did it again! Only this time, Aiba did sing the part! So we could hear him on top of Ohno's voice during the first line! He was so cute!

I didn't really feel very hyped up over the Accent Dance on Friday, but it was different today. It looked so cool from near!

I only remember a bit here and there. Ohno said that today seemed like his personal concert, but was corrected by Nino that it's Arashi's concert! Continuing, Ohno said that the fans are also (part of) Arashi so today's our birthday too. So in a way, everyone's 30 years old too. Nino teased Aiba during his turn by recounting what each member did in preparation for Ohno's surprise. Sho had gotten excited since yesterday. Jun..helped with the rehearsal? And as for Aiba, well, just skip him coz there wasn't much. Then Aiba corrected him, asking him to say to us that because he was always the first to reach the Dome, it wasn't too different that he reached first (I think to rehearse for the surprise). Which Nino did. Without meaning it. lol........

For the first encore, they entered with the act cool poses again. Sho and Nino were fooling around, jumping in the air with poses similar to that Jun To Be Free one where they threw their arms up as they leaped. Repeatedly!

Sho was the nearest for Kitto Daijyoubu where they got onto that tower thingy, and he really looked at all around him before the tower rised! Eye contact yeah!

After Kitto, I think, al the members gathered at the center stage. Four of them were already at the stage when My Girl was about to start, but Jun was still walking along the right hanamchi. He then quickly ran to join the 4, and then Ohno put a hand on Jun's waist (becauseJun was standing to Ohno's left). And then. And then! I saw Ohno squeeze Jun's butt! Of course, Jun tried to try Ohno's hand off by jerking away. But he looked nothing like he was angry! XD A concession for Ohno since he's celebrating his birthday in advance? And Ohno doesn't initiate such skinship often ne.

During the band introduction, I was totally not paying attention, because Sho and Nino were once again keaping around each other, as graceful as ballerinas! LOL.

Then they left the stage for a while before coming back out with Jun asking, "DId you call us?" Of course we did! He said that this will be the last song, and asked Nino to introduce it. I can't really remember what was actually exchanged, but it was something like:
J: You.
N: It's me?
S: Yeah it's you.
N: It's me?
S: Yeah you, go on.
And Nino introduced the song, theme song for Freeter!

[EDIT] btw, the 'it's you', 'it'sme? conversation was done in ENGLISH!!!!!!!!!!!!

When they exited again, I started packing up because I thought that that was the end of it all. But people were calling for Arashi, so I just joined in while packing. And then, I heard Jun's voice! "Did you call for us?" he asked again. OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

Then he tried to get our tension by doing the repeated "yeah!" call. But he found it not loud enough, and said, "If we're gonna let you be so indulgent, you've gotta shout louder!" And so we did. I shouted the loudest I've ever did during the con! And Sakura Sake came on. My arms were already aching, but I had to do the hand actions! I had too! Nino was leading us on stage!!

After Sakura Sake, they finally left for good. We did our byebyes and mata ne and omedetou. I thought that Ohno was going to say "Everyone's 30 years old" but he just said "byebye" and headed for the exit. Jun, the last one on stage, wouldn't let him go of course. He called for Ohno as he followed Ohno into the exit. Ohno didn't turn back, so Jun went into the exit to get him. And the two came out a bit, with Jun asking Ohno to say a last word. Just like the previous 3 times they left the stage, Ohno said, "Everyone's 30 years old!". And like all those times before, everyone went "yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" HAHA. During the previous times, Jun was like "They shouldn't be saying 'yeah' to that!". But we all did anyway hehe.

Today I got the most fanservice from Sho! He kept looking at our side as he walked along the hanamichi! So, eye contact again! Ohno saw my uchiwa, I'm quite sure, and I'm happy enough. But Jun's direct acknowledgement was saikou!

The only regret I have is that my recorder died halfway, so it didn't get the second greetings except for Sho, Ohno and Aiba's =/

After the con, I went to meet Cass to pass her some concert tees. And then we went to the main gate to take some photos! It really felt different from Friday, because there was someone I could fangirl with after the concert! She was also in the Arena, and apparantly, Ohno's solo was right berfore her eyes! And Sho looked at her guy friend kyaa kyaa kyaa!

Yes, a lot of fanboys. We saw a whole group of fanboys outside and asked to take photos together! Really amazing, because they were each wearing a member's colour checkered shirt and holding a man-made, hand-made uchiwa with the member's face sketched on one side!!! You don't usually expect guys to spend the effort ne. They were commenting how Arashi is so international. One of Cass's friends randomly shouted, "Arashi saikou!" and everyone got so hyped up, shouting "yeah!!" haha. Took photos with a lot of random people with interesting outfits too. Photos when Cass/her friends send them over! (Cass please do! And mind emailing me their lj nicks? haha~) I managed to grab some of the styrofoam paper with the Arashi concert name printed on them. Got Yellow, Red x2, Purple x2 and Blue. So, I took them out to take some photos. But that caught the attention of passerbys and I ended up giving up my Red, Purple and Yellow. =( But well, it's good to share the love ne! ^_^ And make 3 people happpy.



Oh, I do have 1 photo. Love their uchiwas!


I'm really glad I bought that ticket. And chooh lucky too, because I didn't know where the block was and Arena =/= good seat.
 

Concert audio clip, only for friends. Please refer to this post for the password.
Since it's Ohno's birthday soon (and 'my birthday' today), I'm opening up the post to public for 24 hours. But please, please, please DO NOT SHARE/REUPLOAD. It's not exactly legal doing recordings, and I still want to enjoy my future concerts happily. Onegai ne!
MediaFire
Not very high quality and not full because my recorder died halfway =( It's only up to Aiba's part in the second stage greeting.

Brief concert reports from others!
Nanao
Yarukizero 
Jen
Arisa