I was really taken by surprise because a week before that I already went to Johor (which is just next to Singapore) and now in less than 5 days a sudden announcement was made and they are going to be in Singapore. I seriously thought that it was just a rumour but after a few hours it came up on the official site and I know that I had to go. Took another day off from work and headed over to Singapore
The live was for 2 days and I managed to go to both of them.
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| That feeling when your favorite member waves at you... Priceless |
I'm from Pahang, Malaysia, so I basically took a 7 hours bus ride to Johor before crossing over to Singapore. Reached Takashimaya at around 12pm and the show hasn't started yet but there was quite a number of people, (un)fortunately majority of them aren't there for the show but for the opening ceremony of the Japan Travel Fest.
Day 1 - Show 1
Since there were too many people who came in before hand I couldn't get a good seat for the show, my seat was the 2nd last row. When TGS came out the crowd was responding nicely to them, thanks to the Singaporean idol fans (though majority of them admitted they haven't really listen to TGS but they came there just to support any J-Idol that came to Singapore. You peeps are the best man! I even met a few Idol fan from Indonesia that flew over to Singapore for this) The girls basically introduced themselves in English the only one of any interesting note would be Meitei's English teacher at her school is from Singapore itself.
The show setlist is as follows
Koudou no Himitsu
Lolita
Limited Addiction
Liar
Onnaji Kimochi
I was personally really excited because of Limited Addiction and Liar. There were only about 2-3 people who are copying the dance and everyone was sitting down, I was so excited to stand and just copy the dance move but oh well had to control myself. Aachan sounded really awesome live. During the first live though, it was kind of obvious that the girls were really nervous. I guess the lack of response from the audience during the first show played a huge factor. During Onnaji Kimochi, me and my friends we all danced along to it and it was a whole lot of fun. We were quite worried though at that time and hoped that the girl can let go of their nervousness for the 2nd show. After the first show a lot of people went away to grab food to eat and I managed to grab the front row seat for the 2nd show.
Day 1 2nd Show
Before the show started they took out 5 mic stand and I was really excited already. Tracklist is as follows
Himawari to Hoshikuzu
Love Like Candy Floss
Rock You
Onnaji Kimochi
Ganbatte Itsudatte Shinjitte
This time around, most of idol fans are taking the front row seat and the show is getting on really well. Everyone already know the names of the girl already and and are calling for their names whenever possible. Rock You during this show wasn't very lively yet, I guess its the first time for the audience. The girls however are looking a lot happier this time around, they didn't looked as tensed as they were during the first show. And it really shows during Onnaji Kimochi, they looked like they really enjoyed it and we were all very happy about it. By the end of Ganbatte Itsudatte Shinjitte, they looked quite tired though. Most probably its the effect of the first show?
My friend and I was sitting on the right side of the stage, and we had a lot of time interacting with Yuri and Mei. Yuri is great, she's always smiling and reacting to the audience. At the end of the show, the girls came out to give away printouts of the Budokan Live to the audience. Managed to get some time talking with the girls and Ai-chan the manager XD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imRIAhkWh44
Day 2 - Show 1
This time around all the fans managed to grab all the front seats. The playlist is the same as the 1st show of the 1st day. But the energy this time around is a lot different, the girls definitely looked a lot more relaxed compared to yesterday. This day more people are printing pictures and banners to show and support the girls.
Day 2 - Show 2
This is probably the real highlight of the 4 shows. Before the show started, we discussed among the audience to stand up and dance along during Onnaji Kimochi. This time around everyone is going all out because it is the last show of the day. During Rock you, the hall is filled with everyone screaming "Ichi! Ni! San!" and during Onnaji Kimochi, the girls were surprised that suddenly everyone was standing and dancing together with the girls.
After the show they appeared again to give out the printout of the concert I took the chance to give letters and and presents to the girls at this time and while everyone is busy talking to the girls we were chatting with Ai-chan
and gave present to Ai-chan too.Then after the live we managed to catch the girls at the airport right before they leave.
Overall, it was an awesome set of shows it is just too bad only the 2nd day that everyone is getting used to the songs and could ride on with the flow. But I'm sure that there's some impact left on the locals throughout those 2 days, everyone was absolutely happy with the event.
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All in all, I'm just overly excited at the prospect of how things are going right now. Earlier this year we had Momoiro Clover Z in Malaysia. In October its Tokyo Girls Style in Singapore. November, its Perfume and BABYMETAL in Singapore. Morning Musume came over for an event in Thailand. Scandal is coming to Malaysia this coming Saturday. We have Ebisu Muscat (Singapore) and Berryz Koubou (Thailand) for next year.
It is just so exciting now. If this keeps up we may just have more Idols coming over to ASEAN countries and it'll be a whole lot easier to go to their lives. More importantly, all these visit are only helping out the local interest towards Jpop again. Old Jpop fans are coming back to see these lives and are slowly drifting back towards Jpop and that is ALWAYS a good thing.
I have high hopes for Malaysian Jpop scene and I really hope that it'll flourish.
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