It seems that all my hard work and overtime has paid off as I will be attending the Nine Smile tour final, which just so happens to be Koharu’s graduation concert *sob sob* At the moment I have no concert ticket because my ￥75,000 budget won’t stretch to what I want and I haven’t even booked my flight. The latter will be done tomorrow. So with that in mind it’s a bloody good job that I’m one of those strange people who enjoys working under the pressure of leaving everything to the last minute because…I will be flying out next Wednesday. Some of you may be thinking ‘￥75,000 for a ticket?! WTF? The original price is only ￥6,000′ but in the grand scheme of things ￥75,000 is not a lot. Tickets for the first 5 rows are changing hands for well over ￥100,000 a pop and a front row seat recently sold for ￥800,000!!! Ticket prices are insanely high due to the fact that the venue – Tokyo Welfare Pension Hall – doesn’t have a large seating capacity, plus Koharu is probably the 3rd most popular member of the group and as such many fans want to say goodbye to her. Even though Koharu comes in around the middle of my Morning Musume member rankings when I heard the news I immediately decided that I had to attend this show as it’s the first graduation since I became a fully fledged fan of the group. If I don’t go I know I’d regret it for a long time. Sadly there are other fans that need / deserve to be there more than me, but as they can’t go I will embody their appreciation and sadness for the graduating member, and will endeavour to express their support through ‘KO-HA-RU’ chants as much as I can. I know that this is going to be a very emotional experience for me and as such I’ve managed to persuade TerryXX to get a seat next to me (if we can), so when I’m crying like a fool I can actually spout incoherent crap in English and have somebody understand me lol. I don’t think he knows what he’s getting himself in too!!!
I already making myself all emotional just by writing this post, so as this event hasn’t even happened yet I’m going to try and make this a bit less glum. I’ve been working and planning this trip so much I actually forgot what songs were on the Nine Smile set list so after trawling through the thread on Hello! Online I found them and now I’m going to give my thoughts and expectations on each song.
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01. 3,2,1 BREAKIN’ OUT – I enjoyed this at the anime expo in L.A so I’m glad I’ll see it performed again here. I’m kinda thinking it won’t be used much after this concert although I could be wrong. It could become the new Mikan!
02. How Do You Like Japan? ~Nippon wa Donna Kanji Dekka?~ – My all time favourite MM/H!P song!!! This song is Risa’s baby and she always performs it with her OTT reaction queen enthusiasm – even when she’s ill. Very much looking forward to this d(^_^)b
03. Kimagure Princess – Boob Pumping and Butt Rubbing. What more could you ask for?
04. Nanchatte Renai – I’ve seen this song performed 3 times already so the only thing I’ll be looking out for here is Risa rubbing her hands down her boobs lol. What? >_> <_<
05. Genki+ – YES! YES! YES! Best song on Sexy 8 Beat (Shanimuni Paradise is a very close second) and I can’t wait to see it performed by the group without Yossi and Miki. In my opinion it’ll be much MUCH better then the original :P
06. Ame no Furanai Hoshi de wa Aisenai Darou? Chinese version (All members) – I can’t wait to hear everyone singing in Chinese just for the lol factor. Hopefully it won’t sound as bad as I imagine it will <_<
07. Sukiyaki (Niigaki Risa and Kusumi Koharu) – My most anticipated song of the concert. I love Sukiyaki and having Risa sing it as a duet with Koharu means the performance should be a laugh. I’m actually just as excited about this song as I am about attending the concert itself ^^;
08. Haru Beautiful Everyday (Kamei Eri and Mitsui Aika) – I quite like the song but it’s not amazing. Hopefully having Eri on stage will stop me from wanting to stab myself when Aika is singing her lines…
09. Kioku no Meiro (Takahashi Ai and Tanaka Reina) - Awesome song which should look and sound great being performed by these two. Hopefully it isn’t lacking without the rest of High-King.
10. Aruiteru (Michishige Sayumi → Morning Musume joins in halfway) – Sayumi’s singing skills aren’t amazing but I’m willing to give her the benefit of the doubt as her version of Lemon Iro to Milk Tea was my favourite out of the three Rokkies from the Resonant LIVE tour. One performance to look out for.
11. Aki Urara – Not a fan of the song but as something has to blow during this concert it’ll probably be this. Hopefully I’ll be pleasantly surprised *LMAO – when I started writing about this song Aki Urara started playing on my iTunes. Spooky!
12. Shouganai Yume Oibito – I wanna see this live just for the ‘pumping’ parts. Pity they won’t be wearing the same cream outfits as they wore for the PV but meh, can’t have everything.
13. Sakura Mankai (Takahashi Ai, Niigaki Risa, Kamei Eri, Mitsui Aika and Linlin) - I prefer the other Sakura Gumi song over this one but I’m still interested in seeing it. Just a pity they put Aika in there but then she suits this more than Otome Gumi.
14. Yuujou ~Kokoro no Busu ni Naranee!~ (Michishige Sayumi, Tanaka Reina, Kusumi Koharu and Junjun) – To be perfectly honest I’ve not heard this song before o_O I just watched a small part of it on You Tube (so can save my cherry popping for Japan) and from that little listen I prefer Ai no Sono ~Touch My Heart!~ over this. I can see it making for a lively performance though and I’m glad that Jun Jun’s been put in this group as she suits this style of song more than Sakura Mankai.
15. Dekkai Uchuu ni Ai ga Aru – Whenever I hear this song I think of the 24 hour TV show which is kinda like Britain’s Children in Need <_< Although I do like the song it always make me feel sad lol. This is probably where I’ll start crying about the graduation…
(Start of Coupling/with medley)
16. Bonkyu! Bonkyu! BOMB Girl – Awesome song to start a medley with! I wanna see Sayumi running backwards whilst singing the “ichi-ni-san-shi…” part so I hope they use the first half of the song here and the second half at the end!
17. Please! Jiyuu no Tobira – I’m really not a fan of this song and as such I’m glad that it will only be partially performed. I can’t say anything more really.
18. Handmade CITY – Holy Hentai Batman! Why the hell is this a medley song??? Hopefully the way it’s set up will make up for this fact, but god I love this song and it’s seems like an injustice to not play it in it’s entirety >_<
19. Odore! Morning Curry – Once again another awesome song put in to a medley. I have my fingers crossed that these two songs are incorporated together in some incredibly clever way *prays*
(Coupling/with medley ended with Bonkyu! Bonkyu! BOMB Girl again)
20. Joshi Kashimashi Monogatari (Full version, Junjun → Linlin → Mitsui Aika → Kusumi Koharu → Michishige Sayumi → Kamei Eri → Tanaka Reina → Niigaki Risa → Takahashi Ai) – Another YES YES YES! song! I’ve wanted a version of this with Jun and Lin for some time now and I’ve always hoped to see it performed live. It’s one of the few songs which makes me wish I could understand Japanese T_T
21. Naichau Kamo – Grrr! I dislike this song with a passion although I must admit that I say “COME ON COME ON COME ON COME ON” in a Kamo way in work lol. Maybe seeing it live will make it grow on me.
22. Resonant Blue – I like the song but I don’t like the fact that Risa and Eri got shafted in it (although not as shafted as Sayu, Aika, Jun and Lin). Highlights should be Ai-chan’s random leg shaking thing and Eri’s spazzy dancing XD
ENCORE
23. SONGS – The opening to this at the Platinum 9 Disco concert was amazing so I’m wondering what they’re going to do here. I’ll probably be slightly disappointed but I shouldn’t jump to conclusions.
24. Love Machine – Old faithful like Berryz Kobo’s Special Generation. I’m glad this is in here as it’s another song I’d like to see performed live and I also think it’ll be a pretty good song to end the concert with. I wonder if Koharu will get her wish to do the opening “DEIAA” part instead of Risa. As it’ll be her last concert as a Hello! Project member I hope she gets to do this *fingers crossed*
Roman ~MY DEAR BOY~ was on the set list I got from Hello! Online as song number 22 but was not on the recording I downloaded of the Chiba concert. I didn’t listen to the whole fan recording so if it’s performed or not I don’t know. I suppose I’ll find out once I’m in Japan.
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All that’s left for me to say now is that I hope nothing goes drastically wrong so that I can’t attend this concert at all. The only thing I can see going wrong is that because of my fussiness I miss out on buying a ticket through Yahoo Auctions. If that happens I’m gonna have to go through a re-seller and that could be majorly costly, but I do have a back up plan in place for this, I think… All that stands between now and then is 60 hours of work, a 4.5 hour coach journey to London Heathrow and a 13 hour indirect flight via Munich. Hello boredom! It’ll be worth it in the end though ^^
GANBARORI!
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I wondered whether you were still going or not. I was going to say you are lucky, but I think luck has nothing to do with it, I know you’ve put a ton of hard work into making this happen, so you deserve to go. Of course, I’m still mega jealous. I hope you’ll do a full write up when you get back, I’ll be interested to see your take on the whole thing. And don’t forget to wear/hold something easy to recognize, you might show up on the DVD then (if you’re going to the one they film at anyway).
Good luck and have fun, hopefully Risa will spot you :)
Aaaah!
Awesome!
But JEEZ that is expensive… I felt myself pale a bit when I read the cost… @____@
I’ve listened to the first performance recording and I won’t spoil anything (even though you have a recording too?), but hand made CITY is AMAAAAZING (in my opinion) in the medley. Likeomg. I hope you won’t be disappointed. And, because I listened to the first recording, Ame no Furanai was… embarrassing to hear LOL. I assume it’ll be a lot better by the final performance, but yeah, LOLOLOL.
Hope you get your ticket! :O
[...] Where There’s a Will… (Lolli’s Love Lunch) [...]
Do you need a place to stay in Tokyo?
Also why not just try to find a ticket to the afternoon (that was the only one I got in fanclub lottery and it’s fine with me though my seat is kinda far back) since they do mini grads at the afternoon show as well (atleast they did when I went to to Yossi’s.) You can probably find a ticket for the afternoon a little bit more reasonably. Not much, but a little.
Let me know when you’re in Japan ^^
wow, thats a lot of money… good luck
hope to hear a recap sometime. cause going to a grad concert is some major stuff.
but really… 800,000 yen… thats like approaching 10,000 USD. God, i dont think ive even sold enough tickets in my lifetime to total that much….
again, wish you the best of luck!
~Siggy
@ zorrander – Yeah, I think it is all down to me working my ass off and not luck. I will try my best to get a blog post out, but I think I better finish writing about our trip to Japan in August lol. I’ll get on to that ASAP because I only have tonight and next Tuesday night before I leave! I’m going to take my Kirarin Revolution tambourine but I can guarantee that most people will have them. Hmm…what can I take. Maybe something inflatable…or I could make something out of glowsticks.
If Risa spots me I’ll die of happiness!!! I don’t think I’ll be close enough for her to see me though :(
@ wendy – The only songs I’ve listened too on the recording I’ve got are – Sukiyaki, Aruiteru (beginning) and parts of Naichau Kamo, Resonant Blue and SONGS because I was trying to find Roman ~MY DEAR BOY~ lol. Is Roman ~MY DEAR BOY~ on your recording? If it is, which recording have you got?
I’ve stopped myself listening to the other songs because I want to be blown away by them at the concert. If you say Hand Made City is good, then I believe you and as such I’m going to be anticipating that one a lot now! Ame no Furanai should be a laugh even if they’ve perfected their Chinese because well, it’s being sung in Chinese!!! Any song sung in a different language to the original sounds funny apart from Dschinghis Khan! That song was just amazing ^^
I’ve raised my budget up to 100,000 yen but I hope I won’t have to spend that much. Fingers crossed I get something decent soon!
@ Alita – I’m rooming with a guy from Hello! Online for free as I’m short of cash for anything other then tickets and food. Because it’s free I’m sleeping on the floor which should be an experience within itself lol! I’ll probably be going to the afternoon concert as well as the evening but I’m gonna get a ticket from a re-seller for that one. Unfortunately I may end up having to use a re-seller for both tickets as Yahoo Auctions is proving to be crazy. I really don’t want to do that though incase I can afford anything they have when I get there. I would try and haggle but there’s no way my crappy Japanese skills will extend that far XD
I’ll be in Japan from the 4th December and the guy I’m rooming with wants to organise a meet up before the evening concert for a meal, so if you’d be interested let me know.
Will be good to meet up with as many English speaking Hello! Project / Morning Musume fans as I can.
@ Siggy – Thanks for the luck ^^ I will write a blog post once I’m back in the UK as I doubt I’ll take my laptop with me.
800,000 yen is freaking crazy but I’ve just bumped my budget up to 100,000 yen, yet that’s still not enough for something closer than 11th row – at the side. This is crazy shit and is making me stressed… >_<
Should be worth it in the end though!
@ Alita – I wanted to post a comment on your blog but I can’t without having an LJ account T_T Until I make one I was just wondering, where in the shop did they write 3,2,1 BREAKIN’ UP? Hopefully it’s still there when I come over so I can lol at it.
Oh it’s not in the shop, it’s on the Shouganai promo card that you can get if you’re in the fanclub whenever you buy something at the store. It’s… it’s pretty special that they messed up something that bad. I have the card so…
Well next weekend I have my work’s adult christmas party on saturday but I’m off on Friday.
I’m pretty sure resellers will be crazy for any seats since it’s a very small venue and a very popular member graduating. When I went to Yossi’s afternoon concert, barely getting tickets on normal sale, it was at Saitama arena and it still seemed like the grad tickets were going high.
I have that card too… *looks* OMFG that’s so freaking funny XD I’ve never looked at the card before, just stuck it at the corner of my TV screen. LMFAO!
So if you show your FC card in the shop you get freebies? If we do I better make sure I remember mine!
Ok, hopefully we can get hold of each other once I’m in Japan and arrange a meet-up. I’ll ask Krotch what time he wants dinner before the final concert as we might ba able to sort something then. I don’t have much else to do other than attending the concert so I’m free all the other days that I’m there.
Still trying Yahoo Auctions as the prices are starting to calm down a little. Problem is the guy who has the majority of my money isn’t online at the minute so no bidding is going on >_<
It's kinda stressing me out now…
Well good luck with finding stuff. Yeah you get a promo card anytime you have your FC card with you. Which is now getting hard for me as i can’t always remember which cards I do and don’t have.
Send me a message at alita87 [at] gmail dot com I’m almost always on, then I can give you my cell address for when you’re in Japan.