I guess by now lots of very details report about the 5th Aug live has been floating around and everybody have read them all, so I'm not gonna chirping about those details and also by now, I don't remember much also, but one thing for sure, Yamapi just gained 1 more fan after this concert, me LOL...
So from a tourist point of view, also a person who never been to Yokohama Arena before, going to this concert was an excursion to me haha...
First, how do you reach Yokohama Arena from Yokohama line. Yokohama Arena is located near Shin Yokohama station so if you're coming from Sakuragichou direction, like me, be careful to listen to the direction of the train because else you'll be riding a Keihin-Tohoku line going to Tokyo, instead of Yokohama line, and you're sitting at the same train... which was what happened to me. OK, so you've finally reached Shin Yokohama station, but where's Yokohama Arena? You won't see the building when you got out from the station. But fear not, it's concert day, just follow... any cute looking dolled up from head to toe girls and preferably with uchiwa sticking out from their bags. This alone will then later it'll lead you to cute girls carrying EroP bags and when you trace them along, you'll reach...
And when you think the queue for concert goods has slowed down... wrong, the queue was like this...
But what's impressive from Johnny's customer service, concert good counter moves up its queue very very fast, so all those long queuing that i experienced, i
s done in 30 mins, and I soon was able to queue for my concert tickets (yeah another queue). The good thing about being international fans is that this time our queue is nearby the entrance to the venue so by default we already standing there, and all this time I wondered why there're lots of guards around that entrance and lots of fans were squatting there too and it's none other because... Yamapi himself came out there for the news (off course, you've seen Zoom in / ZIP covers on this). So yeah, seeing the real person is different, and off course Yamapi in real life is much much more good looking than the pic LOL....
K so off we go to inside the venue and we have this:
Sadly I can't recognize any names from those all well wishes flowers, But the focus is that giant pink lips ;).
And here's the inside:
My seat is at Arena seat though it's in the corner from Arena seat but we're still seated at quite front. This time they seated all the international fans in 1 section so my left and right are all non Japanese. From this seat, I can see Yamapi up close about 5-7m from the stage, if he pass by this section, yeyyy!
For this concert, most of the time I didn't use the binocolars, only during MC time and when he sings ballads because... his concert was pure visual! I didn't need to see his face up close if the whole show was so pleasing to the eyes. This concert is a totally different style from the V6's Sekubani that I went last year. They really optimized the lighting and laser effects, especially for the up beat songs. Some of my favorite performances are:
Perfect Crime ~ Yamapi didn't even dance for this performance. He just stood and moved a bit at the back of the center stage... but the visual... OMG, it's so kakkoii and beautiful! His background was those huge saphire stones and the laser darts makes is more like a 3D show. I seriously hope that they don't put lots of close up for this performance, you really gotta see it from far to get how glorious this performance was. My heart really moved during this performance haha... yeah, I'm sold! and he didn't even do any dance move hahaha...
Gomen ne Juliet~ For the first time, I got goosebumps hearing Yamapi singing. They re-arranged the song into ballad and for some reason the emotion really showed (makes me wish somebody sing like that for me, can feel the yearning and the pain here). And off course, the lighting was subtle and sad at the same time.
One in a Million ~ The background was all red and the laser beam make it like a 3D show, totally cool! This performance makes me think Wow, Pi worked really hard this year!
Nayami no Mori no Mannaka de ~ I like the background for this song, it's simple, just a forest with a glimpse of light and the song lyrics written out on it. Yamapi sang this after the letter reading stuff, so it's sort of have the emotional play on it. Great line up.
Ero ~ Yamapi sitting on the giant pink lips flying up in the air wearing those furry white coat? Yeah, it's love haha... His voice was a bit shaky at the beginning in here but that's fine, after all, all those sexy lying sideway pose he's sporting when he's on that lips makes up for it hahaha...
I forget which song for the performance that has some props dropped down and the stage looks like a flying maze with Yamapi in the center of it. That performance itself is totally cool.
Karina ~ Actually I was a bit dissapointed for Karina because there's not latin dance here, they did have the carnival girls but, I want to see Pi dance in lust for this song hahah... guess I'm asking too much? haha oh well, this song is also very pleasing to the eyes.
OK aside for the performances, we have the icing on the cakes, Tackey and Toma were there too! I knew something must happen on the last day of the Yokohama concert, that's why I chose the 5th show in the first place, and I was damn right! Tackey in live is much much more handsome than what you see in the pics, gah! Yamapi is good looking but most of the time oozing cuteness, but Tackey is just beautiful... until he started to open his mouth and the Johnny's wackiness all poured out for the MC. The MC was so much fun with Tackey and Yamapi running around the arena seats (not my area obviously LOL). Too bad Toma was late and he's just sitting at the VIP section (way up there).
Watching solo concert is different from watching a group concert. After been into 2 totally different concerts, I can give the pros and cons. Off course group concert means you see lots of things, but that also means which member you'd want to focus on if they all run to all different directions of the stage. My eyes had to dart from 1 end to another all the time to try to catch all and it can be tiring after awhile. Nevertheless, visual is always there and with group concert, you'll see lots of variety and personalities and MC is just like watching a live short variety show. But you don't have all this for solo concert. So what did Yamapi do? He can't just talk by himself the whole time during MC, right? So, you'll see more interaction with fans, which you'll seldom see in group concerts. And also during performances, since it's solo, you just need to dart your eyes at 1 direction and if too far, use your binocolars :d, done.
Now, Yamapi and fan service. I thought Okada and Miyake are quite generous with fan service during the Sekubani con, until I saw this EroP concert. Yamapi is very very generous in fan service. He almost literally does what fans want him to do. From immitating Donald duck, Sugi-chan, to the winks, blow kisses, shake hands, pouting ala Rolla, everything cute, and he'll do it for you. Off course, if asked to repeatedly do the same thing, he'll pout a bit, make a comment, but he'll still do it! I applaud him for that because it shows that he's really treasure his fans and he doesn't need to do this kind of thing in the first place because the fans also don't really expect him to do and are OK if he's not doing it.
And he really smiled... a lot... A LOT... in this concert. Big smiles, all the way, as if he's really really happy to be there and perform for his fans.
And 1 last thing, or maybe 2, his Engrish really improves. His accent is not that very obvious now, much better than when he did Route 66. And did I mention that he's really seriously good looking? Take off all those make up, you'll see a Yamapi from Stand up drama, only chubbier... OMG, it's very difficult for girls not to get a hit on her self-esteem if a man can look that pretty and ageless... really ageless...
Almost forgot... the LOOT!!!!
I love the towel...it's huge! And yeah, the baloon, confetti and that pink lips are the things you fight for when you're sitting at arena LOL...
OK, that's all the rambles, next will be my Arashi excursions... LOL
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