2015.11.28 PASSPO☆

This was the first major event of my trip, my favorite group PASSPO☆ did two concerts in one day, and I was especially excited about this since they would perform as BAND PASSPO☆ and I never saw them play before.

The concert was held at Shinagawa Stellar Ball which was also a first for me, I got a little lost but I was there in good time and met Clem outside before the first concert, we talked a bit and waited for our numbers to be called out – it was Clems first PASSPO☆ show and as I recall he bought everything, t-shirts, hoodie, towels and probably also some photos, I just got a towel (old design) because I didn’t really like the design of the new t-shirts – come to think of it Clem also bough a glowstick in the wrong color 😉 We got our drinks and went in and waited for it to start.

Before PASSPO☆ started we got a few songs from Puchi PASSPO, they are a pretty cute group and I can enjoy their songs although they are still a bit rough, however compared to how they were a few months earlier they had improved a lot.

PASSPO☆ started off as BAND PASSPO☆ and played “Wanted” which is probably the heaviest song they’ve done as a group it was nothing short of amazing, they proceeded to do four more songs as a band – since Sakotee was on indefinite hiatus Naomin had been promoted to lead-guitar and Yukkii had taken over on rhythm-guitar. After the 5 songs they took a short break and came back and did their “usual” idol performance. At some point the spotlight fell on Yukkii/Naomin and the members took turns to read letters of thanks to the two members for stepping up and working hard to make it possible to perform as BAND PASSPO☆ again, obviously I understood nothing of what was said but I didn’t have to to get the point.

BAND PASSPO

After the first concert Clem wanted to get a 2-shot with Morishi and went to look but it seemed like she was doing handshakes at the time so he would go back later! So Clem and I went to get something to eat before the next show.

The second show again started with Puchi PASSPO, this time there was no BAND PASSPO☆ but overall I liked the 2’nd show better for some reason. They announced that they had signed with CROWN records and their first single would be “Mr. Wednesday” but they didn’t perform the song at that time. My memory is a little off but I think it was in the second show they did a medley of songs each representing a year and it included “Tracks” which they hadn’t performed since Makkochan left, Aipon took over Makkochan’s part in the song and afterwards she talked a bit about Makkochan (again I didn’t understand anything), they also played “Growing Up” again with Aipon taking Makkochan’s part – while neither of those songs are my favorites I got pretty emotional over it (I didn’t cry like Aipon tho).

Aipon during “Tracks”

Clem never got his 2-shot 😦

And that will be the end of the run-sentences for this time.

Other sources:

Natalie report on concert and some great photos

PASSPO☆PHOTO

 

Muto Ayami @ 稲毛K’S DREAM 2015-07-26

This concert was held in Chiba Prefecture however it’s fairly close to Tokyo so it wasn’t really to much of a problem getting there in fact it only took me about one and a half hour to get there.

Because I’m always worried about being late for things I went in good time but it  wasn’t hard to find 稲毛K’S DREAM at all so I was more than an hour early and no one was even there,  so I walked around the neighborhood a bit and eventually headed back to Inage station to find some shade (because it was like 40 degrees). I went into a konbini to get something to drink and eat, I bought some bottled water and a couple of bananas and went outside and started to peel a banana while doing so I must have  dropped my empty bag which made a salaryman that passed by give me the evil eye probably thinking “damn foreigners”.  I will get into this more in a “Japan guide” but for now just remember don’t litter it’s considered very rude. (I obviously picked up the bag and disposed of it properly). Eventually I went back to 稲毛K’S DREAM and some people had shown up and the place was now open.

I went inside and asked if someone spoke English and talked a bit to a young woman about merch and stuff but since the doors weren’t officially open yet I went outside (in the heat) again. More and more people arrived and lined up. I would say compared to the other concerts I had already attended it was generally a bit older guys (like 40-something year old) but ofc there were younger ones and girls as well.

Since there still was a lot of time before we could get in I was getting a bit bored so I thought I could strike up a conversation with someone and I asked without addressing anyone in particular “can any of you speak English?” no one answered I made eye contact with a few people and they waved their hands as in “no”. Suddenly the girl from the club came out and looked at me as if I needed help (apparently some guy went a got her), I told her thanks but I don’t need help. So another failed attempt at being social in Japan.

Ok it was time for the doors to open, the girl from the club started calling out numbers and since I know no Japanese not even the numbers this is always a tricky part at concerts, I had a fairly low number though so I counted how many people got let in and when I knew my number was about to come up I showed her my ticket and she said “wait”, more people were let in and she then asked to see my ticket again and told me to wait again after a couple of more people were let in she pointed at me and I went in. Inside I went straight for the merch I bought everything I didn’t have

There were also some armbands but I couldn’t figure out how to get them you might have needed a merch ticket to get them but I didn’t get any since I didn’t buy any CD’s. Oh well!

I went downstairs where the concert was to take place and it was already pretty crowded I found a place on the left side close to the wall (subconsciously I always seem to do that) it just so happened to be just behind the small women only section, and there in front of me stood Hiyo-Metal all dressed in AYM merch and some woman was with her probably her mother. The place filled up more and more and soon I could barely move.

Eventually a familiar song played on the speakers and suddenly someone was talking, it was DJ-Ayami she played some songs and spoke a bit but since I don’t understand Japanese I have no idea what was going on, at some point the curtains were drawn and we could see the stage it was true to the theme of “traveling alone” suitcases, clothes on hangers and a clothes stand with coats and hats, the background were colored ropes and yarn (similar to that seen on the merch).

FINALLY Ayami appeared and the crowd roared she sang a couple of up-tempo songs and then did some MC, she got off to a good start with “konbanwa” (good evening) and it was like 1:20 pm people laughed and then Ayami laughed realizing her mistake, next thing she took off  some angel wings that she had been wearing and the crowd went “Ooohhhh” (as if she was stripping) Ayami had her back to the audience at the time and turned around kinda perplexed but somehow figured out why people were “oooohhhing” and looked all red and embarrassed and shook her hands as in “no-no”.  After the MC she continued with some more up-tempo songs, I think I already mentioned that the place was absolutely packed and I basically could not take my hands up from my side without pushing people and when I got them up it was the same story getting them down again so I decided not to participating in the cheering, being taller than everyone also meant that people were clapping right next to my face and hitting me in the face with their towels but I survived to tell the story. The tiny Hiyo-Metal had plenty of space in the women only section and she went all bonkers and danced and sang along with Ayami, Hiyo always looks kinda “blank” in her videos but without an audience she was just a happy kid having a great time. The show was ending and Ayami did the obligatory two song encore but after that people were still cheering very loudly and she did another encore that I don’t think was planned, after that the lights went on and it was all over, everyone left in an orderly manner, most people seemed to have saved their drink-ticket so the bar was really busy handing out water bottles.

At the exit they handed out a drawing with the set-list that I assume Ayami did herself.

Bigger (readable) version

All in all a great concert but the venue was way too small for her (that was intentional though she was playing the same places that she did a year earlier).