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moirica · 8 years

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Aoi Shouta WONDER lab. ~prism~ Part 2: Tokyo

Warning – While I did my best to talk about what happened in the live, this is hella personal. I did my best to put my experience into words here and because of that it’s probably more personal than it needed to be.

We are back with the second report on Aoi Shouta’s 4th Live, WONDER lab. ~prism~! This time in Tokyo! Like I said last time, go check out @aishiteruitsumo6 for their report as well because it will probably have more specific details that I’m unable to convey. While I understand a lot of what is said I have a hard time quoting specific things. I hope you enjoy my take on things though!

Buying the goods

In the report on Osaka I wrote about how crazy the goods line was. I was wrong. Osaka was tiny and tame. The line at Tokyo was ridiculously long. I have rarely seen people line up like that. Because I wasn't intending to buy many goods, I didn’t get there at the crack of dawn. Rather, I showed up at around 9am to see a crazy line. Thankfully I was able to find @aishiteruitsumo6 and another friend in line and join them.

See that massive line of people hiding in the left corner there?

On that point though, I felt kinda shitty doing that because they had been waiting in the cold all morning and I hadn’t. So if you do this, at least bring your kind friends things like hand warmers or warm drinks as penance (or cold things if it’s a summer event I suppose). I’m really thankfully that they let me join them in line and they forever have my love for that. I ended up caving and buying a few more goods as well, things that I didn't get last time. I also bought another light because I was paranoid of mine dying, it didn’t. Having two lights ended up being way more fun than having one though, so I would highly recommend it. Some fans can handle even more, having five or six lights, but I am not that skilled at light waving yet. And it is most definitely a skill. My main goal for the goods line was to complete my set of the badges. This was something that I really should have done at Osaka but I didn’t and so I was scrambling to complete it at Tokyo. Thankfully I managed to win all the ones I was missing from the gatcha machines so I didn't have to worry about trading too many. After buying everything we wandered around meeting people and badge trading for a little while. It was really cool to see the vast amount of people that were actually there. Yoyogi National Gymnasium is quite a large venue, it fits around 13000 people I think. There were a lot more costumes as well, which was super fun to see. Maybe I’ll give it a go next year. I really like the artist Shoutan costume.

Break Time

Everyone went their separate ways after this for a few hours. I spent my time wandering around Harajuku, which was super crowded but still fun. I almost bought a beret to match my outfit but I decided against it at the last minute. I wandered and ate for a few hours and then headed back to the venue about an hour before the doors were set to open.

Also, I tried the rainbow mountain of cotton candy. It’s delicious and bigger than my head.

I was able to find my friends again pretty fast, which is a little surprising with how many people were there, and we were able to hang out for a little while longer before going into the venue. We were also interviewed again for the making video. I think it went both better and worse this time. We were able to hear the questions a lot better this time, though they were a little different. I ended up being a lot quieter than I wanted to be. There is so much that I wanted to say but I don’t have the Japanese skill to articulate it the way I want to. I guess that right there is the motivation I need to improve though. Anyways, keep an eye out on the making of dvd for some friendly foreign faces!

The Live

There was definitely a huge rush of people to get into this venue. There were a ton of flower stands on display as well, including one from the other members of Quartet Night. Those bonds, man. I tried to get some pictures but they were all quite far away because it was really crowded.

My seat this time was up on the second floor of the stands. I had been really worried that it would be really far away but it wasn’t half as bad as I had thought it would be. I had nice people around me too which was really nice. The nice things about my seat was that I had a really great view of all of the stage and one of the large screens. The screens were so nice to have because I could see more details of Shoutan’s costumes this time around as well as his beautiful expressions. The stage also extended out into the audience this time as well which was really nice. Large venues definitely have some benefits.

The set list was exactly the same as in Osaka, so the show opened with the artist video and then ‘north star’, ‘DDD’, and ‘Zessei Stargate’. It was really nice to have the screens for these songs because I could see more details of the costume as well as his expressions. I also found that on the whole I was able to enjoy the songs more this time because I was less concerned about whether my light was the right color and whether I was moving it in the right way. His first talk section was after those songs and he welcomed us all to the live. I don’t remember the details of what he said but his voice was just super warm and happy. There were definitely a lot of emotions in the air at the Tokyo live. There was a difference in the atmosphere of this show that I just don’t know how to describe. He finished up this section with ‘Innocent’ and then ‘Unlimited’. This part wasn't too different from Osaka so I don’t know what else to say about it. Unlimited was super fun with the large audience. I really need to learn that song better because out of all of the songs there are a lot of fan parts to this one in particular. Next up was the artist Shoutan video with the ocean drawing. I definitely had this air of excitement through the videos this time around because instead of the unknown I knew exactly what was coming and so the anticipation was just as good as the mystery. This next section is one of the parts where the large venue really makes a difference to the show. The ocean sounds filled the air and then the lights came on and Shoutan was there floating in the air. It definitely had a similar effect as the swing that they used in Smile Mermaid to give the look as if he was a mermaid swimming. I’m not sure if his outfit had more longer flowing parts than it did in Osaka. Maybe it was just more noticeable with him flying. He sang ‘Endless Song’ and he was flying for most of it, from the main stage forward to the centre of the extension into the audience and then back. It was beautiful. If there was one thing about the Tokyo show that I remember it was this one. I was shook. There were a few technical difficulties after that song. Everything went super quiet and I expected the next song to start but everything just stayed silent. I think the flowing parts of his outfit might have ended up tangled. Eventually Shoutan’s voice came on quietly with an apology and there was a bit of a mini talk session before the next song started. He sang ‘Ai no Sasameki Goto’ and then ‘Sora wa Tomei na Chikai’. ‘Ai no Sasameki Goto’ had the same cool bird cage effect like in Osaka. They were both just super fun an beautiful songs. He went into a talk session after again. The one part that I remember really clearly about this section was that he suddenly noticed something on the floor of the stage and he became really intent on picking it up. He was super cute about it too and the audience was just laughing with him the whole time. We also got a nice close up of his hands and his nails were painted super beautifully. Everyone was really curious as to what he was trying to pick up. I thought it might have been a small jewel or something from his nails or outfit or something but in the end it turned out to be a bug I think? Either way it was a super cute little interlude of the chat section and one that was unscripted and super sweet. He did make a brief comment about looking like a princess in this outfit but it wasn’t quite the same as in Osaka. He then jumped into his more ‘manly’ songs ‘Murasaki’ and ‘Ai Uta’. ‘Murasaki’ was super pretty and while he didn't fly for it like he did in the Budokan live, they did attach the long flowing bits to his outfit which gave it a similar kind of look. ‘Ai Uta’ was another song where the stage effects really blew me away at this live. He was down on the extension into the audience with the dancers for most of it. The floor of that stage had the prism design on it and at one point in the song he and the dancer lay down on the stage and it started to spin. They did a really cool top down view of it on the screens and they had glitter falling down onto them. It was really pretty and unique, I really enjoyed it. The introduction of the dancers and the band came next. One thing I noticed about the Tokyo show was that there was a lot less interaction between Shoutan and the band and dancers as there was in Osaka. I’m not sure if this was because of technical difficulties or something like that. There seemed to be a few of them, although none of them really major except the delay after ‘Endless Song’. The next song was ‘Run!!Run!!’. I think they might have actually had some issues with the sound with this song actually because it didn't sound quite right. Not bad but definitely not the same as Osaka. Maybe it was the volume of Shoutan’s mic or something else like that I’m not sure. They seemed to fix it for ‘Start!’ though which was nice. That was a really fun song to sing along with as well, I need to listen to that one more. In the talk section after he showed off his outfit and talked about how the idea for ‘Run!! Run!!’ being a cheer squad. He also made the audience guess why the number on it was 29. It’s his age of course. He think he said something along the lines of even though he’s getting older he still wants to be everyone’s prince. I think, don’t quote me on that one. Then he sang ‘Zutto..’ I love this song, words cannot express how much I love this song. It was a little different than normal this time as well. Normally, because the last few times he’s sang it with a smaller audience I suppose, the fans sing some of the responses in the second verse. This time though we sang the responses in the first verse as well. He went to the right side of the audience for the first part and then the left for the second part. He really went to a lot of effort in this live to include everyone. The next song was ‘Touch to take Trico’ and I scrambled to put down one of my lights and grab the flag. When I looked back at the stage at first I was confused because I couldn’t see Shoutan but then I realized that he was on one of those carts, traveling along the outer edge of the area seats. I wasn’t expecting him to use something like that for his live but it was really cool that he did. Like I said before, he went to a lot of effort this time to be close to his fans. After that song was the transition video to the prince outfit. It was just as magical as the last time I saw it. He sang ‘Kimi No Kotoba’ next, the ballad version. It still strikes me as a super princely song. They had a mini technical hiccup afterwords where another voice came on for a second, I think it was the que for the next song maybe, but it confused a lot of the fans for a second. Then he jumped into ‘Himitsu no Kuchidzuke’ and ‘S’. I really like that they paired these songs together because they definitely get the audience going. His talk section after this one was another cute one. He showed of his outfit again, which he actually had not done much of this time. Then he talked about he wanted to be every girl’s prince. I think we assured him with our cheers and yells that he was. He then joked to his male fans that he wished he could be their princess but it would never happen. It was super cute and funny. Then he announced that it was time for the last songs. Wait, what? My dreams of a longer show were crushed. Oh, well. He then sang ‘Checkmate’ and ‘flower’. I really appreciated his dancing this time around for both of these songs. I saw it in Osaka of course but whether it was because of a better nights sleep or less concern about waving my light properly, I was able to pay better attention to it this time. Then he was gone and the crowd was chanting for an encore. It was a little all over the place though, I wish the crowd had been able to coordinate it a little better. The wait seemed much shorter this time than it did at Osaka but there was a surprise waiting for us in the encore. When the music for the medley of ‘Shot of love!’, ‘True Hearts’, and ‘Summer Dreamin’ ‘ came on Shoutan appeared again on one of those carts that circles the outside of the arena space, except this time the cart wasn’t between the area seats and the first floor, it was between the first and second floors! He was so close! Only for a little bit but he was there and close and he smiled and it was wonderful. It was definitely unexpected, especially for those of us on the second floor. I guess that’s why they put fan club seats up there after all. After the medley he came back to the stage and we all yelled a million thank you’s his way. He said how he had wanted to do his best to be close to everyone in this live and he had truly made it come true. Then there was a whole bevy of announcements that we didn't get at the Osaka show. The first was that there’s going to be another fan club event in the summer! Yay! Stay tuned for that one! He also teased us all a little there by saying the event would be held on August ‘jyuu---- ni nichi’ or basically the twelfth and not the tenth (his birthday) that he was teasing. The other super big announcement was that he’s going to be releasing a second album! I am so overly excited for this! Think of all the new songs! Not just one or two but a whole album full. Of course, some of the songs on the album will probably be his singles, but it’s still a whole new album for us to enjoy! After that it was time for the picture and then ‘Melodia’ and the final goodbye. He was super cute running around the stage to wave goodbye to everyone at the very end. I don’t think I can put into words the kind of emotions that were in the air at the end there. This live ended up being so much more than I ever could have imagined, especially after having seen it once already. Thank you Shoutan.

After the show

I came out of the Tokyo live filled with much more emotion than the Osaka show had given me. I don’t know what made my reaction so different for this show, I only know that that’s how it was. Before the Tokyo show I had been stressing a little over money, because for me getting to Tokyo is a big expense. Especially when it is to see something that I had technically seen before. After having experienced that live I have no regrets. I wouldn’t have traded that experience for anything. It was more than I ever could have imagined and then some. I hope I get the chance to feel this was more and more. After the show I found my friends again and we gushed over the show. I think we were all a little in awe over everything. We went and got food somewhere and just talked about the show, not wanting the experience to end. I really wish I could have bottled the feelings from that live, Shoutan’s and everyone's, because it truly was amazing.

I’m so glad that I became a fan of Shoutan. I am so grateful that I had the chance to experience one of his lives. I’ve made so many friends and had some amazing experiences.

Thank you, Shoutan.

#Aoi Shouta #WONDER lab. ~prism~#live report #wonderlab 2017

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