That's right! More Johnny's! Today I'm going to write about my first time seeing Hey! Say! JUMP! It was so incredible! It was over three months ago and yet still I can't stop smiling when I think about it.
I'm actually going to start with the ticket lottery. I've been a fan of Arashi for a long time and their tickets are next to impossible to get. The only reason I got to see them in Hawaii is because for some unknown reason they sold some of the tickets on Ticketmaster?! Anyway, I'd always assumed all Johnny's tickets were that difficult to get and applied for JUMP tickets convinced that I wouldn't win, but just because I had nothing to lose. But with that being said I still tried my absolute best to up my chances. I made this crazy spreadsheet with all of the locations, venue capacity, local population, special dates (birthdays, anniversaries) etc. to try and determine which date would be the easiest to win. I even bet on superstitions like you're more likely to win your first time applying and/or your second year being in the fan club, both of which applied to me this time. They also say you're more likely to win when applying for only one ticket because you can fit in the gaps left by groups of four? Idk. Also, it was my zodiac animal year which in Japanese culture is supposed to be a good year for you. Lol
I remember the day the ticket results came out I didn't know what time they were announcing them so I kept checking the fan club and my email every hour on the hour and every time I went to check I got so nervous I thought I was going to throw up. When they finally came out I couldn't believe my eyes. I actually logged out. Killed the app. Reopened it and logged in again to double check. When it finally registered in my brain I started shaking and crying. Lol Anyway, moving on...
Sunday October 7th, 2018 5PM @ Toki Messe Niigata Convention Center
So, I flew from Osaka to Niigata the morning of the concert and, first of all, let me ask you this: Why are JUMP fans so pretty?! I'm a simple girl, but I did put in a little effort since it was a special day, but like half my plane were JUMP fans and they were all so pretty I felt stupid for even trying. But at the same time I'm kind of glad I don't look like them because they're like clones. They all have the same hair style with same little pearls in their hair, the same pastel coat with the fur on the cuffs, and the same brand bag with the ribbons on the sides. It's a little creepy.
Anyway, skip to actually arriving at the concert venue and boy have I got a gripping seating tale for you! Just kidding. I don't think anyone finds this story nearly as exciting as me, but I'm going to tell it anyway because this is my blog and I can write whatever I want. Lol
So, for Johnny's concerts, to try to prevent ticket scalping, you don't know where your seat is until you actually get inside the venue. About three days before the concert you can login to your fan club account to see an animated QR code and your gate of entry. That's it. You present this QR code at the door and they scan it and print your ticket with the seating details.
My ticket said Block A5 Row 3 Seat 16. I had no idea how the blocks were arranged, but for absolutely no reason I assumed that the letters were columns and that the numbers were rows. So I thought I would be at the far left, maybe halfway back? Maybe I'd have an okay view of the center stage? To be honest, I was just so happy to be there at all that I really didn't care where my seat was. When I entered the room I was about where I imagined my seat was, but the nearest sign said block C1. They didn't have a little map like at the domes, so I just started walking and trying figure how the place was set up. I’m following the signs and getting closer and closer to the front and this pit is slowly starting to form in my stomach and I keep telling myself, “This can't be right. I must be misunderstanding the signs." But for once in my life I wasn't misunderstanding! A5 was the front block, just to the right of the catwalk! And the front stage was curved, so there was no row 1 for this block. So row 3 was actually row 2! And seat 16 was the last seat in the row. I ended up being in the "front row" when they went by on the little carts!
I feel like I had one of the absolute best seats in the house! They spent so much time on the front stage and they were so close, I was just staring in awe. I don't know if it's just because I was paying extra attention to them, but I feel like my favorite members were on my side of the stage a lot? And every single one of them except Yabu went by right in front of me on the little carts! I thought they were close when they were on the front stage, but this was a totally different level! I remember taking notes of the most random things like how Hikaru's hair was cut at the base of his neck. LOL Before the concert started I just sat there shaking. Everyone who walked past was saying the same thing I was thinking, "This can't be right. I'm scared!"
The heart logo hangs in front of the main screen and the concert starts with the sound of a heartbeat, slowly gaining speed as the logo rises. The opening video is so cool! They're all making sounds with different items. Like, IIRC, Yuto is playing drums on some overturned buckets, Inochan is making beats with his hands, a plastic cup, and the tabletop etc.
BANGER NIGHT
They came up from below the center stage. Johnny's feel so distant that sometimes my brain treats them like TV show characters or something? I had one of those “Oh my god. They’re actually real people and I’m really standing just feet away from them really looking at them with my actual eyeballs.” moments.
Precious Girl
OLE!
I love this choreography so much! They stand in a line for most of it and there're parts where they put their hands on each others' shoulders and walk like a little train or where they put their arms around each others' shoulders and they're constantly looking at each other and smiling and you can really feel how well the get along and it's just so cute!
Journey
They shoot a rainbow of confetti towards the end. I got so much of Yabu's color. It was literally just falling into my bag.
Virtual Butterfly - 7
They mimed playing the violin during the interlude and Yuto looked so elegant. I would say he should pick up the violin if I didn’t know how much he loved the drums.
Bubble Gum - Arioka
Pure sugary sweetness. Is he an angel? I will never get over how cute his voice is. He comes out of a giant bubble on the catwalk and then moves to the front stage. He uses lasers in his performance and little stick figures with the members' faces were doing different things on the screen behind him and the choreo kind of interacted with what they were doing. Like Hikaru? hit him on the head with a hammer and then Daichan pushed him out of the way. Yamada's bubble gum gets popped by Chinen's water gun and goes flying away. At the end Daichan "steps on it". He's got some sort of pink fabric hooked to bottom of his shoe to look like it and he does his cute little sheepish laugh.
Jouken Hansha - Inochan
The outfits were like Kaitou y-ELLOW-voice 2.0. Loose dress shirts and tight pants, but this time they also had chains and stuff. Yuya did backup dancing and I swear this man is out to get me. It was Inochan’s solo, but I couldn’t take my eyes off Yuya.
The rest of BEST came out in giant, light up heart shaped headdress and spandex and were blending into the background video.
When the song ended they complained about the other two getting to look cool and told them to change into the heart outfits too. They brought out one of those circular curtains like they use in disappearing acts and made them change on stage. They kept lowering the curtain while they were changing and dammmn Yuya’s back muscles. Thank you.
While they were changing they threw something out from inside the curtain. Hikaru picked it up and it was BEST's モテたい (I want to be popular) T-shirt that they used in previous skits. I didnt' know this at the time, but it's almost always a fundoshi or clam shell bra, so I was lucky to see this!
Sunda Dance
The choreography is like para para dance and they used fire.
159 - Chinen
Starts off with a clip of tall things like Mt. Fuji and Tokyo Sky Tree, gradually getting shorter and shorter until Chinen walks out on stage. The clip changes depending on what city they're in. For Niigata they added some sort of local TV tower?
Yabu and Hikaru were backup dancers. When Chinen sings about people giving him clothes and food Yabu is posing with his jacket and Hikaru is pretending to eat rice or something. Their facial expressions were priceless. Also, Chinen did Blouson Chiemi’s thing where Yabu and Hika get down on one knee and Chinen uses them as a chair. I died. I love his solo. It's so funny.
Jealous Guy
Yuya strikes again. They were using these like rolling partition things in the shape of the Roman numeral II. Most of them were just leaning on them or stepping through them. Simple stuff. But I swear Yuya was pole dancing. He even admitted that was his intention during a later MC.
Yuya was nearby for a lot of the dance numbers and just... oh my god. I can't believe it. He's even more handsome in person. I love Yuya’s gap moe though. He can act so cool, but then the next moment he’s laughing and covering his face in embarrassment.
One & One Makes Two
Yuya was giving instructions for a penlight dance. Yuto was right in front of me, guiding our block. He had the biggest smile on his face. He looked like he was having so much fun which made me really happy.
Swinging Days
They broke into pairs and Daichan and Yuto came and stood right in front of me! They were so cute playing around together!
Kimi Attraction
They used new, new lines for the speaking part!
You’re #1. → I’m okay with being #2.
Daichan, "You shouldn’t try to put an order on things in the first place!"
Yamada, "JUMP’s #2 and you’re all #1."
Chinen, "On second thought, I want to be #1 after all!"
Mae wo Muke
Yuya tickled Hikaru when they were holding the ending pose and he just went boneless and fell to the ground.
MC
They talked about the new group that had just been announced at the time. Daichan said they should do something for them as their senior group and the others were jokingly like, “You should pay for them to take a trip to Hawaii and say it’s from all of us. That would make you look really cool!” There’s going to be 40 people in the new group. Lol They also talked about the kid's show? Inochan's doing voice acting? for...? I don't really know the details. Sorry, Inochan.
So, one side of my uchiwa says 釣って (Fish for me) which is originally Ohno Satoshi of Arashi's thing because he loves fishing. He points at the person and then mimes reeling in a fish. Chinen loves Ohno so he does it sometimes and Chinen's love for Ohno was the reason I got into JUMP, so I had to make this uchiwa. Chinen stopped in front of me when they were about to exit the stage at the end of the MC as someone else was saying a few words before the second half started and I swear he was staring holes into it, but he wasn’t supposed to do fan service at the time. That seemed to happen a lot. There weren’t many fan service songs and they were dancing a lot when they were on the main stage. I’m pretty sure Daichan, Yuto, Yuya, and Hikaru saw the other side which is a US flag though. Hikaru saw it when he was on the far side of the stage and when he moved closer he did like a triple take. Lol
Daimei no Nai Monogatari - Takaki
Inochan played the grand piano which was nice because he usually uses a keyboard. They used smoke and purple lighting to make a dreamlike atmosphere. It was too short. I wish he could have sung the whole thing. But I feel so fortunate to have listened to him sing such a beautiful song up close. My ears are blessed.
Ryuusei no Uta - Yabu
Chinen did a really beautiful dance.
Jo'oubachi
They did JUMP Band for this and the next song. Yabu was playing guitar in front of me and I felt so lucky because he doesn't always play. I did miss Keito a little though. Yamada was wearing glasses.
FLASH
Chocolatta
Wo I need you
Asu he no YELL
Do it again - Yamada
So extra. I love it. He had a chaise lounge and was rolling around in feathers, then it started raining glitter and he ripped his shirt open.
PINK - Yaotome
Waiting for the rain - Nakajima
Yuto did tap dancing.
TO THE GALAXY
They came out wearing sunglasses, took them off and tossed them partway through. The center stage rose up and tilted. They slid down it towards the end.
Dance The Night Away
They stopped doing this song for the dome tour, so I'm really happy I was able to hear them sing it live once!
White Love
Weekender
I GOT FAN SERVICE FROM YAMADA RYOSUKE! It was when he was right in front of me on the little moving stage. I got his attention and at first he was just waving, but then he saw the US flag and gasped and started smiling really widely and pointing excitedly at it. In that moment, I almost switched biases. Lol He definitely shot up in my ranking though. I always liked him, but was never that big on the ace/center/leader type. They have enough fans. I want to support the others. But I have a newfound appreciation for him. He’s the most famous, most popular member. Do you know how many fans there were holding his uchiwa? Yet he takes the time to read and react to handmade uchiwa even of those who aren’t. Also, there’s a rumor that some Johnny’s idols only give fan service to pretty girls, but I can confirm that Yamada Ryosuke is not such a shallow man because I am ugly af.
During the interlude Yuto quizzed Hikaru on the days of the week in English.
Maji SUNSHINE
COSMIC HUMAN
Mata Kono Basho De
Encore
Arigatou Sekai no Doko ni Ite Mo
We Believe
Streamers! I caught FIVE!
On the way out I walked past the tour semi trucks and one of them had a bunch of Jump’s mascots in a little window!
