Concert report

Kanjani8 Arena Tour 2008

2 May Osaka Jo-Hall

6pm-9pm

My seat was in the second row from the back.  A little unlucky perhaps, but the place is smaller than expected.  It’s oval in shape and I was on the short side of that oval, which gave me a good view of circular centre stage and the main stage which was across from me.  I couldn’t see their faces without the binoculars, but I could see clearly their performances.

The show started promptly at 6pm, when the screens suddenly came alive with a pre-show interview with the boys, but of course, pre-recorded.  Yasu was shaving while sitting on a toilet bowl, Subassan was bathing and half-naked with a towel around his lower half, which made the girls scream, Hina was in a corridor, Yoko was calling someone, Maru was pointing to a sign that said ‘don’t touch’, Ryo was standing outside wearing a yellow tank-top, showing off his very nice biceps, and the funniest thing was Tacchon, who was hiding in a locker.  It was hilarious seeing him open the locker to reveal himself, with a zoned-out look on his face.  The interview went back and forth among the boys, with some jokes made about Hina’s obsession with money etc, and for some reason Tacchon was made to demonstrate eating a beef jerky, and he did a really funny mime with him cutting the beef, eating it and smiling shyly at the end and saying ‘oishii’.  Adorkable.

The concert opened with them appearing one by one wearing kira-kira boxing wear like preparing for a fight.  Hina was funny, putting on an aggressive look and pushing away the camera a few times.  Then they threw off their jackets to reveal their wahaha suits and launched into wahaha.

Then they introduced themselves, and Ryo said, that today he was Nishikido Ryo and not Sousuke and so there was nothing to be afraid of!  His grin was as bright as ever *hearts* but most importantly, he seemed to be cultivating a stubble (I think, for Last Friends!)  I thought he looked nice with it, although I still prefer him clean-cut. Somewhere in the middle of the concert (during the MC I think) a group of girls from my side of the hall shouted ‘Shave it off, Ryo!’.  Unfortunately I think K8 didn’t hear, since no one made any mention of it.  ‘Someone really did say it.  I thought someone would say it,’ said the girl above me.  

Hina asked different groups of people to say yeah, to gauge how many of each group there were.  He asked the guys in the audience (a small yeah, there was one in the row above mine, with his girlfriend), the tachimi (those who had no seats), and those who were below a certain age (can’t remember exactly how many years old; a small yeah too).  ‘Sonna ni inai darou (there can’t be that many)’ was his comment. 

Then they went into their ‘summer medley’, which was what they called it.  It’s My Soul was the first song and immediately, Tacchon who was singing the first verse sang the wrong lyrics! And he went ‘ah’ when he realized his mistake and everyone laughed.  Actually I think he sang the wrong verse, coz it was a medley and they only sang 1 part of each song.  And then Hina sang the wrong verse for Forward, which made me a little disappointed coz Forward was so cool during 47, but it just ended up being funny coz Hina never recovered from that slip and maintained a sheepish look on his face.  Oh well, at least I got to see his wonderful white outfit, and up close coz he was on our side of the hall.  Maru did Magic Word with his red cape and we all ‘pan-ed’ with him.  During Yasu’s Watashi Kagami he wanted the audience to sing for him, but Yoko snuck on his platform and grabbed his mike to sing.  I love Watashi Kagami.

MC

The boys peeled off the top of their Ranger overalls to reveal their concert T-shirts, and removed their helmets while shaking out their hair.  It must have been very hot under the helmet!

Yoko started off by apologising for the mistakes he had made so far in the performance, like standing in the wrong position etc.  A guy called Hachimitsu-san was in the guest box, and he stood up and bowed.  But I dunno who he is?

Yoko said that they hadn’t performed in Osaka for about 8 months.  The boys said ‘tadaima’ a few times and we replied with ‘okaeri’.

Yoko said that they haven’t seen one another for sometime (since the concerts in Tokyo and other areas, I presume), and asked what everyone was doing. 

Hina said he had dinner with Hamada-san of Downtown.  Everyone was surprised and went ‘ehhhh?’.  Hina explained that during K8’s last appearance on Hey Hey Hey, Hamada-san said he was interesting, said that they should have a meal sometime and asked for his number.  When he actually called Hina did not pick up; when Hina checked his phone he got a shock and called back.  Hamada-san did not pick up, but the moment Hina cancelled the call Hamada-san called him back. 

Yoko asked Maru and Tacchon what they did, since they were the freest.  Maru protested, saying that was a low blow, and said that he returned to his hometown. 

Tacchon said he was leading a healthy lifestyle.  He exercised (Yoko said he lost weight and the audience agreed.  Tacchon said he had actually recovered some weight from when he was the thinnest, but he was indeed slimmer than before), but his diet was not so healthy, since he met Ryo for drinks.

Yasu went to Okinawa (Yasu got bullied a bit, but I din understand the conversation L).

Yoko said he and his 2 younger brothers went to Bali together (‘sankyoudai’ he said, making the rest laugh).  He was surprised that the beaches there were not as nice as the ones in Okinawa.  A little disappointed they decided to go to the swimming pool, where they saw a lady, not Japanese, with big boobs in a very small bikini.  As they passed the lady Yoko just took a look then looked away, but the second brother, who apparently had never had a girlfriend (everyone went ‘ehhh?’), was looking at her from the corner of his eyes all the time.  Yoko’s youngest brother, however, said he wasn’t interested in women for their figures.  And the brothers ended up talking about their love lives.  Yoko said that he had read his youngest brother’s phone messages when they were younger (everyone went ‘ehhhh?’ again), and saw his lame messages with his girlfriend when he was about 18, something like ‘Genki?  I’m genki’.  He asked the youngest during the trip on his recent developments, and he said that there was a girl he liked but had not made a move as he was afraid of being disliked, but it seemed that he had recently kissed the girl! And everyone cheered their approval.

A lot of the MC was focused on Ryo!  Yoko said he was filming Last Friends and had just flown into Osaka for the concert.  Yoko said that Ryo was busy with NewS’ new single too and was probably the busiest Johnnys.  Ryo said firmly said no, he didn’t think so.  Ryo asked the audience, ‘have you been watching Last Friends?’ ‘Yes!’ we replied.  ‘Was Sousuke kowai (scary)?’  ‘Kowai!’ we replied J.

Yoko asked Ryo for future plot points.  Ryo said that there’ll be a rain scene and a turning point very soon.  We went ‘ohhhh’, which seemed to make Ryo think that he had revealed too much and he begged Yoko to let him off.  They also recounted some of the DV scenes, like the scissors scene in ep 2.

Yoko ended by introducing the next segment, saying that Subassan and Yasu would start, followed by Tacchon and Ryo (loud screams from the audience), and ‘the other three are left to do what they can’ *laughs*.

The pair/trio segment rawked.  Subassan scaled such high notes, even higher than usual in his duet with Yasu.  Absolutely powerful.  Tacchon and Ryo did this super sexy dance and tango pair dance thing dressed in red and black (Tacchon was mainly red, Ryo mainly black), they kept grabbing each other’s hands and they ended with Ryo in front of Tacchon with Tacchon’s hand on Ryo’s waist *insert screams*.  Finally Maru, Yoko and Hina did a piece with Hina on the piano.  Very nice.

There were a few dancing tracks like All of Me for You and I enjoyed watching them dance.  All of them can dance!  It’s a grouping with every balanced talents.  And of course we danced to favourites like Sukiyanen Osaka and Osaka Obachan Rock, sang the beginning of Mugendai and drew the infinity sign every time we sang ‘mugendai’ etc.  It’s really something to sing all these songs about Osaka in Osaka.  For Sukiyanen Osaka, Tacchon was suddenly made to talk and he responded lamely *haha*.  The boys also threw signed balls and boards. 

And then, Maru appeared on his bass, playing his heart out, and Tacchon on his drums, swinging his long hair around and now looking very unlike his usual self.  I love his sprees and his energetic drum beating and it was great watching him live.  Yasu was on the guitar, and Hina on the piano, with the rest running around while singing.  I recall doing swinging my penlight madly to Dive and Goujou ni Go.  Finally Subassan and Ryo brought out their guitars, and with the 4 guitar players standing in a row in front, and Hina and Tacchon on the platform at the back, they sang a very moving BJ (I almost cried).  And that ended the main set.

Of course we had to shout for an encore, going ‘eito, eito’ so many times that I feared that they were not going to come out, but they did in the end and we did wahaha again.  Maru ‘pan-ed’ with the audience, and so did Yoko, which ‘irritated’ Maru and he had to run to join Yoko.  Ryo was just grinning and grinning and grinning. 

At the end Hina did the thanking, of the staff, of the shy male audience, of the fans (doing the daiji na daiji na daiji na daiji na eighters).  The fans linked hands (my very nice neighbour extended her hand to me) and we shouted ‘eito’ together.

Then we tried for a second encore.  They came out but said they had no more songs!  But it was still worth it coz they re-appeared in various states of undress… Ryo’s top was off and he was showing off his very fine figure! *hiaks* They said their messages and disappeared one-by-one.  Yoko said ‘yappari Osaka wa saikou (as expected Osaka is the best)’ and asked us to ‘tsuite koi yo (continue to follow/support them)’! Ryo was the third last to go, and he kept reminding the audience to be careful when going home and to beware dangerous men haha.  Tacchon did ‘we are EITO’, with us 3 times, with Yoko making jabs at him each time. 

And that was finally the end of the concert.  Dai manzoku!