So, I dont' think I've ever done this before, but first time for everything, ne? I wrote a report on the Kagrra, concert!! It's long~ish, but if you feel like you could maybe be interested, please feel free to read thru!
SORRY FOR NO FANCY LJ-CUTTING, LJ WON'T LET ME DO IT D:
Kagrra, live in Helsinki 2008-08-18 I’ve always liked Kagrra,, well ever since I first got into the scene they’ve been really high on my “list” :D I have my periods when I forget they even exists, but then again, I have those periods with every artist, so it’s nothing big :D When I first learned they’d be coming to Finland I was already buying the tickets ‘cos I didn’t want to miss them! Besides, it’d be the first concert after we’d move to the Helsinki Metropolitan area and getting to the club would cost us practically nothing compared to what we had to pay to get from Rovaniemi to Helsinki and back (even with the discounts it was almost 80€/person and there‘s two of us >_<)
Well, I ended up not buying the tickets as soon as they went on sale since we didn’t have any extra money, let alone 2x36€ but luckily for us, the Finnish scene kids don’t recognize good music and there was still lots of tickets when we got money (aka my student loan XD) and we got our precious tickets. Along with tickets for Dio’s concert in November and LM.C’s concert in February, but hey! You need to be prepared and buy tickets when you still have money to do so (and LM.C is now sold out, so aren’t I happy I already bought tickets? XD)
So, then it was just a lot of waiting and hoping it’d be The Day already, I’m sure you’ve all had those times :D Finally Monday came and I, bad as I am, skipped school in order to get to the venue a little earlier than usual, but alas! we slept in and were out of the door and on our way to the station at little past 3.30PM >_< So very us, that is, so I shouldn’t be surprised, but still, I was a little disappointed :< And as it’s just our luck our train was late, and then we had to change train after Leppävaara since there were some “technical difficulties” and we had to wait like 5min for the next train >C I was pissed, mostly because we were already running late and then that just had to happen! It usually takes roughly 30min from Tuomarila (nearest station) to Helsinki but thanks to the blahblahblah it took almost 50min this time! After we got to Helsinki, we walked to Tavastia and there weren’t as much people as I expected! Wonders will never cease I guess :P I spotted Julia and her friend and we went to wait with them. There were some people behind them that had went to get something to eat or something like that and they came back after we had been there a while. Two girls, Laku and Sari, and a guy called Niklas. They were really nice and when Julia and her friend (sorry can’t remember her name >_<) went to grab something to eat as well, we started talking and kinda goofing around being all excited about the concert. Julia came back with her friend after a while and we continued inching forward with the rest of the line. They were supposed to open the doors at 6.00PM and for once I think they opened right on time!
We got in and left our stuff at the cloakroom and headed for the merchs. They had the European version of Core, an (ugly) strap (like what you can see
here), two different posters, two shirts with different designs (the other one actually pretty
cool :D but I didn’t have enough money/wasn’t willing to pay for a shirt I’d never wear ^^” I‘m pretty sure they sold it at J-Rock Invasion in Köln back in 2007? And the other was their
tour shirt with a print of a samurai and the kanji for Kagrra,), the fan and… I think that’s about it. I bought one of each poster and the fan, ‘cos I think it was kinda gorgeous :D It was still outrageously expensive, 20€ :O
Eves :D
Mine!!
The front of the fan. It's actually black though...
The back of the fan. Gorgeous, isn't it?
The hall itself has been renovated since I last went to a concert there (which would be Dir en grey in October. God, I’ve missed the place!!). There was plenty of room even though the balcony was off limits, so we got to pretty much decide where to go without being forced like before. We ended up around the middle, in front of where Isshi would soon be. There were still lots of time before show time, so me, Eve and Laku chatted some, trying to get the time go faster. Sari and Niklas were somewhere else, they got into the hall before us (‘cos me and Julia were buying stuff… :,D) and Julia and her friend were somewhere near~ish, I think. And I saw Kata which was nice ‘cos it’s always nice seeing her but we haven’t seen since Dir en grey >_< And we realized that we actually live “right nezt to each other” aka one train stop away. That’s neat :>
The lights went out and everybody started screaming, though for once, it wasn’t ear-splitting. I noticed there was a lot more guys in the audience than usually and in general, the audience seemed to be more mature. There were lights on the stage and cherry blossoms fluttered down from the ceiling when Kagrra, came on stage one by one. Everyone came to the front and greeted the audience. They were all wearing their clothes from Uzu PV (which is on YouTube now, by the way), the red-black-white ones and they looked really good! Nao’s hair was tied back though, what a let down >_< And Isshis fake tattoo… XD It looked really good, though!
They started of with Kotodama. That song is pure awesomeness, I love it. But then again, I don‘t really have any no-go-songs from Kagrra, :D Everyone had their fans up in the air and we tried to wave them in unison with Isshi. After Kotodama came Shigatsu Tsuitachi followed by Isshis first MC. He fiddled a while around the drumset before producing a list (made of two A4s glued together…) of Finnish sentences, and I mean sentences, not just ’Onko hauskaa?’ (Are you having fun?) ^u^ His Finnish was really good with dots on ä’s and everything! Impressive! He laughed a little when the audience giggled at him but it was all good-natured :D
After the MC they played Guilty followed by their ‘uushi biishi‘ (‘the njuu shong‘, a little bit of extra s‘s there, Isshi!) Uzu. It sounds like a really nice song, can’t wait for the single to come out! Then came Sai and Kamikaze. Sai is such a funny song with the drums! Just makes you want to jump around and smile a whole lot \^o^/ I love Shin and his koto. He must have been born with it ‘cos it’s just breathtaking! For the whole concert there were these two girls around me. The other girl was wearing yukata and her friend was wearing a traditional Chinese styled outfit. They both looked like die-hard Kagrra, fans but when they saw Shin play his koto they were like ‘OMG!! I didn’t know he plays the piano!’ or something like that… C’mon, piano?! PIANO?!! Sheesh, get your facts right. You must have seen a koto before, or at least you must have seen a piano before and know how they don’t really sound like each other >_<“
Anyway, after Kamikaze it was time for some MCing again and there was Isshi again with his papers :D He told us how he was happy to be there that day and how, despite a lot of Japanese bands being in Finland before them they were there to show us the real Japan and then they played Nue no Naku Koro. After that came (these days) my favorite song, Boukyaku no Hate no Kogoeta Kodoku. I’m surprised I didn’t cry :P I was just so much in awe that I just stared and hummed along with my hand over my heart. If that wasn’t beautiful, I don’t know what is. I don’t think I would have noticed the walls coming crashing down during the song, it was just me and them. They seemed so pleased to be there on stage in front of us, Nao having his little solo and Akiya taking his time with the audience right after.
After Boukyaku Isshi told us that next would be their favorite song from Shizuku and then came Utakata. I swear that was the song I had been waiting for! I told people again and again that if they play Utakata and Boufura I leave happy. Okay they didn’t play Boufura but I always lie when I say I’ll be disappointed if they don’t playa particular song, but Utakata… Here we go again with the breathtaking, but you have to understand, the whole audience sang along, at least it seemed like it was the whole audience. It’s the one Kagrra, song I know by heart and to sing it with them, Isshi watching us with smile in his eyes like he was so, very proud of us… I have to see them again, no matter what. It was like ’this is it’ moment and I was just happy. Everything was perfect.
After Utakata it was Naos turn to brash with his Finnish… He was… endearing :D He started out but stumbled on his words and coughed a little to clear his throat while the whole audience kinda laughed at him :D He went all ’shhh’ on us but it wasn’t really that convincing since his smile was like :DD He got himself together however and said something like how he was happy to be there and that Finland was the best, yay \o/
Rin was followed by Genei no Katachi and then, sadly, Isshi announced that the next song would be their last. Urei was as beautiful as one would expect and they made us sing along. It was all over too quickly when they left the stage >_<
Almost before they got into the backroom of Tavastia people started the encore-chant. Some sound guys came on stage to fiddle around with Akiyas guitar and Izumis drums and something else and after some more waiting, the guys came back as well. They were wearing their tour shirts and pants-whatever from before. They played Uzu again and Kotodama, how nice :D By the way, I kinda stole the setlist from _pavla_’s live report from the Finnish JaME, but only ’cos I couldn’t remember all the songs :D Thank you, though!
After that, it was really over :< They threw a whole lot of stuff to the audience, I almost caught Akiyas pic, but no such luck >_< Niklas managed to get both Izumis stick and Naos pic, that bastard :<
They left the stage with huge smiles and promises of coming back sooner than later and we were left in the hall to assembly in some kind of a line for the autographs. There we stood and shuffled for at least an hour, which went by really fast ’cos me and Laku were spying on the boys behind their backs while they signed peoples stuff :,D
When it was my time, I was surprisingly calm, like usual. I don’t know what happens to me, but I don’t feel nervous at all. Ever. While we wait to get to the boys I’m nervous, but when I get to the first guy, it’s all gone and I’m like ’Hi, what’s up?’ written up all over my face :D Shin, Nao, Isshi, Izumi and Akiya was their line-up and I waited while Shin signed the poster and shook hands with him while thanking him and marveling how soft his hand was! Nao, my love, my one and only ♥ He was so pretty I couldn’t help but smile. He signed and looked straight into my eyes and thanked me, like what? I should be thanking you, not the other way around! Isshi was all Isshi with his cool hair and crooked teeth (the teeth are really bad, have you noticed? XD). He signed with his twirly thing and took a GRIP of my hand, shaking I and looking STRAIGHT into my eyes going all ’kiitos’ on me :,D I was just like ’Eh, kiitos? Arigato, thank you!’ and he laughed a little before releasing my hand and I went on to Izumi, the cutie. He’s so short! And adorable! He scribbled down his sign and said ’kiitos’ and he was just so.. I dunno, I blushed and shook his tiny hand :P Akiya was the last one with his cool-ass shoes!! He took the longest with his thing and the little grinny man drawing :B He also said ’kiitos as we shook hands and I was all ’arigato’ blergh, blushing :D and that was it.
I left to get my bag from the cloakroom and found Eve, Laku, Sari and Niklas somewhere on the way. Long story short, we went out to ponder what to do next and after a few hours (an hour and half? I dunno) and some shivering around we came by Isshi :D Laku the Brave asked if we could possibly take pics and drunken, cute as a button Isshi asked their manager if pics were OK. The manager seemed to think about it for a while before going all stern looking and saying no. Gah, stupid manager >_< We all (as in me, Eve, Laku and two other girls since Niklas and Sari had to leave earlier) went like ’aaw’ and I guess it struck a chord in Isshi since he started going ’Handshake, handshake’ and took Eves hand and shook it, then mine and I said how happy I was that they’d come to Finland and he shook hands with Laku and Laku the Brave was like ’Hug?’ and Isshi was all ’Yeah, sure’ and hugged Laku and then the other two girls. Eve asked if they could hug as well and I had to hug him too, duh!, so I reached forward and he come towards and dropped Eve’s posters :D He started apologizing but everything was OK and I got my Isshi-hug ♥ He had a cool hoodie, a black one with some army-looking print-thingy in front and ghetto-jeans like down his ass XD But dudes, his teeth are the worst XDD I dunno if he has a a stopping on both of his canines or if they were just rotten but it was scary XD After we had hugged one of the sound guys (a whole bunch of people came out while we had our Isshi-moment) asked Isshi if he could have a hug as well and then they hugged XD Stupid, grown men XD
We thanked them a lot for coming and having a great show and told them to have great time during the rest of the tour and then we… left :D
Nothing interesting about walking back to the train station and getting back home, so this is it, my Kagrra, report :D Mainly for x_kyo_sama_x since she was interested and told me I should update more often :D So here you go, I hope you enjoyed reading it :D I dunno why I never write live reports, I usually have so much to say about everything :D Maybe I’ll start being more productive from here on now?
Here’s the setlist, I think there’s everything but don’t quote me :D
Kagrra, live in Tavastia 2008.08.18
01 - Kotodama
02 - Shigatsu Tsuitachi
00 - MC
03 - Guilty
04 - Uzu
05 - Sai
06 - Kamikaze
00 - MC
07 - Nue no Naku Koro
08 - Boukyaku no Hate no Kogoeta Kodoku
09 - Utakata
00 - MC
10 - Rin
11 - Genei no Katachi
12 - Urei
ENCORE
E1 - Uzu
E2 - Kotodama
Pictures from Kagrra, Oneman Tour in Europe 2008
in France in Sweden a live report from Finland (in Finnish but with some nice pictures) _pavla_ s live report on JaME (also in Finnish but with nice pictures) a live report on the French JaME (in French but, surprise! With nice pics :D) Okay, that's about it then. Tomorrow were gonna see some fireworks at Töölönlahti possibly with Laku or if she's with her friend, with Sanna and Wang and some of Sannas friends. It's actually pretty cool, I love fireworks! :D It's the battle of who's gonna be the Finnish Champion in fireworks, I've always wanted to go there! I hope I'll get some nice pics to share :D
Before I forget, thank you lisinwonderland and x_kyo_sama_x for the birthday wishes *hugs* They meant a lot to me ^-^
Speaking of birthdays, Sanna managed to get us on a cruise to Stockholm as a b-day gift :D We'll (we being me, Eve, Sanna and Wang) be going over the Gulf of Finland in two weeks time, on 17th to be precise. Can't wait to see dear old Stockholm again! I guess it's not gonna happen, but I kinda hope MIQUEL would still have those on the rocks glasses we bought the last time :,D And I need to go to Sun Ai to stack up our magazines :D And drinking on board, woohoo!
Well, anyway, I better stop here and head to bed.
This has been [noora], one per household :D
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