holy shit were there no restrictions on cameras in London?!
AND DAMN h&A look even closer to the crowd! YA'LL SOUNDED AWESOME! I feel like rockin' out to the video.
And yay! New hairstyle for Yossy!
Alright here's my report for the actual concert day in Berlin:
SUNDAY May 23 - CONCERT DAY IN BERLINIt was time. DUN DUN DUNNNNNN! I met up with Kue, almond and our other new friend, Kevin and we headed over to the Columbia Club. There was a small crowd lounging about on the steps in front. We first saw Mika and the other J-wota and we greeted each other. I haven't seen them since Chibi Japan Expo in Paris!
Then we saw the folks we hung out with the previous night, Sven, Anja, Chiko, etc. Then Kristen eventually came by, and more and more ppl. OH! It was pretty funny when we finally met the famed Matthecat. I shook his hand, thanked him for all the torrents and did the whole "WE'RE NOT WORTHY!!" bit.
Had a nice time chatting with everyone while waiting. At one point, there was screaming and rushing over to the side of the club next to the fenced off area. Apparently, Yossy had stepped outside and people standing up on the wall next to the fence had saw her. And APPARENTLY Yossy waved at them! LUCKY!
As showtime drew near, there was some activity going on behind the front doors. People then started to get up and crowd around the door, so we followed suit. We stood there for quite a while, still, but passed the time chatting. Kevin, almond, Aqua and Chris amused themselves by constantly poking me in the back. ;__;
When the doors finally opened, I was bummed to see that they had security doing bag checks and that they were actually holding cameras. I slipped the memory card from my camera into my pocket in case they lost it. The pics I had taken up to that point were WAY more valuable than the camera itself. So I went in the venue and checked in at the merch table, as instructed, since I was to ask h&A a question.
The point of contact turned out to be Yaz! So while the rest of us question askers gathered at the merch table, Yaz explained to us that we would ask the questions after the end of the show. We were to report to the right side of the stage where there was a mic propped up for us to use. To my dismay, we weren't going to be ON STAGE as previously informed, but still, it was another chance for some interaction with h&A.
After checking in with Yaz, almond, Paul and I made our way to the stage and got as close to the rail as possible. I was right behind alienpyon, and next to us was Golem, the gigantor J-wota. I was thinking... this should be interesting. Hehe. Poor almond was actually standing next to him.
Finally, someone started the hANGRY! ANGRY! chant and we joined in. Following Golem's example, I yelled as HARD AS I POSSIBLY COULD for hANGRY. I didn't care if I lost my voice or got sick, I flew all the way to freakin' Berlin to see and support h&A, I was gonna go all out!
Then the intro show started. It was very cute. It had interviews with TakaGaki and Tsuji-chan. The clip was done quite humorously. Like when TakaGaki were talking about Rika's high voice, the vid did a quick cut to Rika's screaming from... Shabondama? LOL And with Yossy, I think the Tsuji said that Yossy can sometimes get scary, and then the vid cut to Yossy going "Uruhe~" from the JKM PV.
Other fave part of the vid was Tsuji talking about how it's probably not a good idea to give Yossy alcohol... LOL HMMMMMM. With Yossy being in the land of free flowing beer, I wonder how Yossy handled that.
The intro vid continued to show clips from h&A's past activities in Seattle and Paris. I screamed when they showed Seattle's stuff.
The clips eventually led up to the European tour and then h&A came onto the stage. Awwwwwww shiiiiet.
They started with TOP SECRET and everyone got into it from the get go, screaming out the girls' names as the song started. Everyone sang along with memorable/easy parts like "DOSVIDANYA", "YES NEVERMIND" and of course, the title "TOP SECRET!!!"
After TOP SECRET, they jumped right into Sadistic Dance (FUNNEST SONG TO ROCK OUT TO). We were all jumping cuz it's so effing catchy and energetic. Yossy was just as energetic and hyped as in the mall mini-live. She was jumping, and getting everyone jumping along with her. It was AWESOME.
Then it was Mr. Monkey. WOO! I really like this song off the album, so I was excited to see their performance of the song. I surprised and highly amused by the simple, and cute choreography, wherein you throw up the double rockfists and move them up and down alternately along with the chorus. Stupid, silly, cute. I looked at almond and was like, "Srsly?" But I did the stupid dance along with h&A cuz again, I WAS GOING ALL OUT.
I screamed out for Rika when she hit her epic solo line (that starts at 1:02 in the song). Best part evar. And again for Yossy when it was her turn. In addition to seeing Yossy, it was euphoric hearing her singing voice. *__*
During Mr. Monkey, I believe the choreography included a sort of Ishiyoshi-ish bit where during the bridge, they circled the stage while looking and pointing at each other. This, of course, garnered more screams from the audience. (Lotsa girly screams. heehee)
Oh right, I just remembered, earlier during a song break (before Mr. Monkey?) Rika noticed Yossy had eyeliner/dark makeup stuff smeared on Yossy's forehead. In a very adorable and touching moment, Rika got a towel off the DJ table and wiped Yossy's face clean. We were all AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!! but then DevilRika emerged and as soon as she finished wiping Yossy off, she pointed and laughed at Yossy "hahahahaha!" it was so evil and hilarious!
After that less intense performance, it was back into overdrive with Romantic ni Violence. Lotsa OI! OI! OI! and jumping during the chorus. And a lot of singing along. So fun.
I think it was at this point there was an extended break? MC time? The lights went out and the girls when to get a drink of water. During the "silence" I screamed out "MARRY ME YOSSY!!!" Bwahaha.
I think here Yossy and Rika said stuff in German (so cuuuute) and they introduced the DJ for the evening DJ... something. Yossy said "Sexy body!" and did a little shimmy.
I don't remember too much of the MC... I'm sure other ppl got down more of the details. OH YEA!
I do remember how h&A noticed that most of the crowd didn't understand what they were saying anyway, but would respond if either of them threw up the rock fist and went WOOO~ So Yossy said something then suddenly went WOOOOO \m/ and like Pavlov's dogs, we reacted and did the same thing back.
It was so funny. Yossy seemed to get a kick out of that.
Then we got more time to rest a bit as they performed GIZA GIZA, the Crash Berlin version. It was dope.
Shake Me was up next. This featured the twirling hand-motion. According to almond, when I did the choreography, it looked like I was smackin that ass from behind. ^_^;; Now that I think of it, this was the only "crowd choreo" we did that did NOT use the rock fist.
WALL FLOWER was next. This had more arm-waving and whatnot. I thought to myself, "Huh, they really want to give us all a workout!" I was thankful I wasn't next to Golem, otherwise I would've been like almond, praying to not get hit by Golem's elbow as we all did the choreography.
Angelia was next and of course everyone sang along... During this song (well, for most of the songs anyway) we chanted out the girls' names after their lines. Good times. They enjoyed it.
Oh snap, then h&A went back to the DJ table to get their fans. We knew they were going to perform Lady Madonna. We waved our imaginary fans along with h&A.
I was slightly bummed they didn't toss out their fans into the crowd like they did in Seattle. Ah well.
Ah... Kill Me Kiss Me. The crowd went nuts. EVERYONE was jumping and singing along. Yossy pointed her mic out at us so we could sing back. It was awesome. AHHHH so intense!
After that, they left the stage and we immediately started chanting for the encore. AFter a few minutes, they came back and started THE PEACE! Again, the crowd when nucking futz. We were singing the intro along with them "HO~ HORA YUKOZEE~!" Then afterwards, it was some major rockin out and headbanging.
We chanted the girls' names out again, as always... The tension rose as we approached the chorus, and exploded after they sang "LET'S GO~ LET'S GO~ LET'S GO LET'S GO LET'S PEACE PEACE!!" The entire crowd jumped and fist pumped in unison while singing those all too familiar MM lyrics. "Suki na hito ga..." RIDICULOUS. We were all drenched in sweat after the performance ended. My calf muscles were on FIRE from jumping and bouncing around for nearly the entire set.
Random shit that happened that I can't exactly place:
Yossy with her her leg up on the monitor several times.
Yossy doing a high kick.
REALLY AWESOME ISHIYOSHI MOMENT when Yossy had her arm around Rika and they sang together. Then, from my POV it looked like Rika leaned around Yossy to kiss her on her right cheek. It was like ZOMGAH. But from the perspective of those who were in front of them, Rika didn't kiss Yossy on the cheek, but was just singing into her ear or something. Still... the moment looked awesome from where I stood.
Lotsa eye contact with Yossy. <333
AH, then it was time for me and the others to get ready to ask questions! almond and I were DYING so we went tot he back of the venue where they had a bar so we could get some water. I wanted to be able to speak clearly when talking to Yossy, ya know?
So we all reported to the side of the stage as instructed. Meanwhile, the Nolife clip was being played. I paid no attention to it.
When it was the Q&A time, we were directed to line up in FRONT of the crowd barrier, so we were betweent he barrier and the stage. I asked my question first cuz folks were being nervous/scared.
I asked them how they found out about their international fanbase and if they were going to go global regardless. They replied that they knew abuot their European fans via the hits they got on MySpace.
OH OH OH, but first, Yaz, who was interpreting as usual, told us to introduce ourselves and say what site we were representing. So I got up to the mic and said "Hi! My name is Kim." and the memory's blurred for me at this point. Either *I* first added "Kim-san" or Yaz or Yossy... or all my friends in the crowd, but basically Yossy said my name. Hee hee "Kim-san!" Then I continued and said that I represented JPHiP!!! More cheering.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe h&A repeated me and were like "Jeh-pii hippU!" SO CUTE. SO AWESOME.
After I finished asking my question I was unsure as to where to go. I just went to the back of the line of Q&A reps. To my surprise and delight, h&A's Euro liason motioned for us to sit down. So while h&A answered questions, the rest of us sat on the step in front of the barrier and looked up at h&A up close and in awe. *___* I probably had a stupid ass grin the entire time.
I think almond went up next? She introduced herself and also got a large reaction from the crowd (Thanks Kue and company!). h&A were surprised and remarked that almond had her own fan club.
(The rest is kind of me quoting myself from the last time I wrote about the Q&A period... but I did correct and add something to Aqua's question.)
almond asked if h&A had any plans to have songs done in another language, like English or something.
Yaz (their manager/interpreter) asked the audience if we wanted h&A to sing in another language. One dude from H!O (alienpyon) was like NO!!! and Yaz was like, NO??? But then the rest of the crowd started yelling YESSSSS!!! Then Yaz asked what languages should they sing.
The crowd was yelling out languages for them to use. I heard English, German, Spanish... Then Yaz said, "How about making a song with many different languages??" And Yossy and Rika were like That's hard...
Sarah went up next and said something to the effect of, "I know you're used to having people always asking you questions, but do YOU have any questions for us? We'll answer!"
This threw the girls for a loop. It took them a moment, but Rika finally asked where Sarah was from, and Sarah replied that she was from London (I may have mixed up the sequence of events here. If that wasn't the question Rika asked, someone plz correct me). They then explained they always answer questions for people, so for them to now think of questions to ask makes them nervous. LOL I believe Yossy started explaining this, and so she never really came up with a question.
CORRECTION: Rika asked Aqua had she ever visited Japan, to which she replied "Yes, for Yossy's graduation."
The girls were like ooooohhh and Yossy thanked her for attending.
GOOD SHOW!
Paul was the last and asked which H!P or h&A song represented them (individually).
They didn't exactly answer his question, but instead said that when they're in their h&A costumes, they're in punk rock mode, but when they're out of character... they still feel like rocking out. I think I missing some other details here...
After the Q&A period, we exited the pit and went to the back to watch the results of the photo lottery. Of course I was bummed I didn't win, but whatever. It was still fun to watch Yossy and Rika and Yaz attempt to pronounce the winners' names. And before each drawing, Yossy had us do the drumroll for them.
After the lottery ended and all was said and done, I wandered over to the merch table to see if there was anything I hadn't already bought previously from the Hello!Store. As I looked at the photocards, I felt someone pat me on the back. I turned and saw that it was Yaz, as she went behind the merch table. She said I did a good job and thanked me again. I was like, "No, thank YOU!" Then she went over to the other table to get something and she came back and handed me a sheet of paper. She said "Here you can have this." I looked at it and realized IT WAS THE SETLIST!!! I thanked her profusely again. We chatted a bit again... she asked me if I'd be in Helsinki, and I said yes. So we wished each other a safe journey and parted ways.
After the show, we reunited with our friends and gushed about the performance. Eventually we went outside and hung out more and took more pictures. (Epic group pics from in front of the Columbia Club to come soon on FB, BTW).
Then of course, it was time to see the girls off, so we waited near the delivery gate. After forever and a day, we saw Rika and Yossy emerge from the back door. What caught my eye first was the fact that Rika was wearing these grey SNUG exercise shorts. Not sure how to explain... Just click on this link to see a pic of the style of shorts she wore:
http://yfrog.com/6pchampion20cotton20blendjYeah, sooo... I saw the awesomeness that is Rika's ass and legs with my own eyes. >_____> I couldn't even tell you what top she was wearing. Goddamn. oh, and Yossy was wearing her damn bright tangerine sweats.
We waited for their van to pull out. The majority of the crowd was on one side of the driveway. I opted for more space and went to the opposite side (I kinda regret it now). When the van pulled out and was stopped in the driveway. Rika was on my side, so I videotaped her and waved at her. Yossy was on the other side... and the folks who were on that side told me that Yossy was videotaping THEM. T___T </emo> Anyway, we gave them a nice sendoff. I hope footage of the fans waving goodbye makes it to the internets.
Quick Blurb about the AfterpartyWe went to... some other part of Berlin that was part of some cultural street festival. The streets were literally strewn with trash and broken beer bottles. The roads were closed for pedestrian traffic. Drunk partiers EVERYWHERE. Lemme tell you, those Germans know how to PARTY! We stopped at an Italian joint for pizza and drinks. Great times.
h&A Entourage Sighted!The next morning I went to Tegel Airport to head off to Helsinki. As I made my way to my checkin counter, I noticed in front of me freakin Yaz, h&A's stylist, the whole entourage and of course, YOSSY AND RIKA. I FLIPPED OUT internally.
I thought, "OMGAH WHAT IF WE'RE ON THE SAME FLIGHT?" But I stayed cool and went straight to my counter cuz there was no line. I barely looked back. All I noticed really was Rika talking to her manager. Yossy was hiding somewhere in the crowd. I quickly checked in and moved onto security.
After clearing the security check, I sat in a spot where I could see the security check area. After a while, I finally saw h&A's folks come through. I watch Rika and then Yossy pass the check. Yossy was wearing her big celebrity sunglasses, a thin, white, hoodie with some blue and something else design on the front, and a black jacket over top. She went straight to the gift shop next to me and perused the perfume section. Dunno where Rika went.
Still at this time, I was convinced that we were on the same flight. It didn't dawn on me that we were in COMPLETELY DIFFERENT CHECK IN LINES. So even when I saw people lining up at my gate, I decided to hang back and wait for Yossy, Rika and co. to make their move. I peeked behind me and noticed the manager and... maybe the photographer? Sitting at the cafe/bar. I turned back and saw my gate had emptied and an airport staff walking towards me. He asked me "Prague?" I was like ... yeah. HOLY SHIT I nearly missed the shuttle to my plane that was boarding!! All because I was super distracted by h&A.
(BTW, my flight to Helsinki had a layover in Prague.)
I think... that is all for now. I will continue with my account of Helsinki's events another time.
Mucho thanks to all the people I met, hung out with and added to the awesome experience. Let's see if I can get all the names... Kue, Natty, Kevin, almond, Peti, Dodo, Krumel, Paul, Chiko, Anja, Mareika, Tomo (interpreter), Sumiko-san, Masako-san, Aqua, Chris, Sven, alienpyon, nimrod, Matthecat, the two German rail hoppers (
), our topless waiter Mike, our other Italian waiter who also took care of us, Golem, Tomo (Yossy fan), Mika-chan, Kristen, Yaz, the rest of the h&A entourage, and of course THE AWESOME YOSSY AND RIKA!
Extra special thanks to everyone back at the forums posting pics, vids and feedback! <3
Topic: [5/23 - 5/29] HANGRY & ANGRY European Tour 2010 (Germany, Finland, France, UK) (Read 205496 times)