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This past Saturday I went to a Bigbang concert in Nagoya! It was soooooo much fun! Last month I posted a picture of an ad for their tour and said I was sad that I couldn't go. Well, that was because Jonathan and I were going to go to Sapporo for Christmas, but those plans fell through because we thought we had made plane reservations but we actually hadn't. But now I'm happy that happened because it meant I had money to buy a ticket!

If you don't know who Bigbang is, they're a Korean boy band and they're awesome. Here's an example of their awesomeness:




The night before the concert I made a fan, which I had seen in videos and pictures of people at Bigbang concerts. I hadn't really planned on making one but I just happened to see some awesome paper at Daiso (100 yen store) and wanted to make one.


 Extremely conspicuous extra large size, hahaha!


 
The concert was at 5, but I arrived in Nagoya a little after 11 to do some shopping. I read online that the Sakae are was good so that's where I went.


I had read about a place called Oasis 21 that's right outside Sakae station so I went there first. I did a loop around one area of the shops and then tried to find where the rest of the stores were. I looked at a map and realized I had already seen it all. Not impressive. Though there was a cute store with a lot of Studio Ghibli stuff. I saw a cute Jiji teacup (the cat from Kiki's Delivery Service) but it was expensive. 


So then I headed out towards Loft. It was really nice and was similar in size to the ones I've been to in Tokyo. I spent a while there but I really wasn't in the mood for shopping. I was too excited about the concert and just felt kind of restless.


 I stopped in a Starbucks to kill some time and enjoy some delicious Cafe Mocha cake and a Gingerbread Latte. Yum!

After that I headed to Nagoya dome. I arrived a little after 3, which is when the doors opened.


I walked around outside for a little while. There was a long line to the merchandise booth but I could see from the pictures that they were all sold out of the special lights! That was really disappointing because I had planned on buying one. I had considered digging my light stick out of my closet that morning but had decided not to bother since I wanted a special Bigbang one. 

I wandered around outside for a little while just looking at people's costumes. I would have walked around a little longer, but it was really cold and I was curious to see where my seat was.




A lot of the pictures in this post are from Bigbang's facebook page, including the one above. I saw the girls in the bottom left corner and really liked their outfits. They had made crown headbands and had decorated jackets. They had done a good job!

I went into the arena and then had my bag searched. They said it was a "camera search." I had my camera with me and they took it and gave me a ticket to get my camera back later. I knew I couldn't take pictures during the concert but I had wanted to take some pics inside the arena before it started. :(

I went to my seat and was happy to find out that it wasn't in a bad spot! I put a star on the next picture to show about where I was.


I didn't want to sit there for over an hour so I walked around a bit and looked at the merchandise booth inside, which was also sold out of lights. They were also sold out of a towel I liked and the fragrance mist set which I had received an ad for in my seat. They really should have been better stocked. I was wanting to buy something, but they were out of everything that I wanted!

After buying some fries I returned to my seat and waited for the concert to start. They were playing their music videos so there was at least something to watch.

Right before the concert people started pulling out their lights and I saw some people with light up rings. I hadn't seen those at the merchandise booths! I really really wanted at least some sort of light but it was too late for me to go look for one. Then when Fantastic Baby started playing everyone started waving their lights and singing along. I was jealous of the people with lights, which was probably at least 90% of the people there. Oh well, it was still pretty to see all the lights!

A group called Winner was the opening act of the concert. They were pretty good and their song Go Up was catchy, but I was just ready to see Big Bang.


Then the concert started! :) They came out on a stage being lowered from the ceiling singing Haru Haru, one of my favorite songs. I was confused though because I saw them on the screen but couldn't figure out where they actually were. Then I realized that since I was off to the side my view was partially blocked. Luckily they really only used that area of the stage at the very beginning.

Next they sang Blue, Bad Boy, Gara Gara Go, and Hands Up. Blue is one of my favorites and their performance of Gara Gara Go was super energetic and so much fun!!!

Then Seungri, in the picture below, performed a few of his solo songs. I had listened to some of his solo songs when I had read the setlist before the concert, but I thought they were just ok. He did a really good job though and I liked them better live. And now that I've listened to the songs again after the concert I really like them!


Next Daesung sang two of his solo songs, Wings, which I really like, and Joyful. Joyful is from his recent Japanese solo album, which I don't really like even though his voice is my favorite in Big Bang. The songs aren't bad, but I find them a bit boring. However his performance of Joyful was super fun and well... joyful!

Then the rest of the members came back out and together they sang Tell Me Goodbye (yay!!!) and Love Song (another yay!!!). As they sang Love Song the stage lifted up and went across the floor, over people!

When they reached the other side of the arena, they talked for a little bit and someone (Taeyang I think) started singing Billie Jean and T.O.P started dancing like Michael Jackson. Haha!

Then they did a medley of LaLaLa, BIGBANG, and Shake It, which are all older songs.

Next was Taeyang's solo performance. So far that night they had stuck to the setlist I had found online (from their concert in Fukuoka). I thought that he would sing Ringa Linga, Breakdown, and Superstar. I like those songs, but my favorite solo song of his is Wedding Dress. But the music started and I was like what song is this? It sounded really familiar but I couldn't remember the name of it. It was Only Look at Me, which I really like but sort of forgot about. Nice surprise! Then he sang Ringa Linga which was really good. Then the next song started and I was sooooooooo excited because it was Wedding Dress! I remember when I first heard the song and watched the song over and over again in my apartment in Toi.




Then G Dragon performed Crayon and Crooked. I don't like Crayon, but the performance was really fun and good in concert even though I still don't like the song otherwise. I had just heard Crooked before the concert after looking at the setlist and really really liked it! So it was really great to hear it in concert!

Next T.O.P did his solo performances, Turn It Up and Doom Dada. I really like him as a member of Big Bang because his deep voice really stands out and adds a lot, but I don't care for his solo stuff. He performed really well, but I still don't like those songs.


After that the members all talked for a little while and I was able to understand quite a bit of it (they can speak Japanese, though a couple of them seemed to struggle a little bit) During this time they made fun of each other a bit. It was really funny when they made fun of T.O.P singing Doom Dada. They walked around the stage kind of zombie like and sang the chorus from that song. Daesung hit the edge of the stage and just kept walking into it over and over again. They also made fun of G Dragon and just all danced around spastic, lol.

I think it was then that we also sang Happy Birthday to Seungri because his birthday had been a couple of days before the concert. He then started singing Justin Timberlake's Sexy Back which was really funny. I think quite a few people had no idea what he was singing though.

Then they sang Tonight, Feeling, Last Farewell, Fantastic Baby, Lies, and My Heaven. I wasn't very familiar with Feeling, but I love all of those other songs, especially My Heaven!

Then they left the stage but I knew they would come back out for an encore. The fans all sang the chorus of My Heaven over and over again.

They came back out on these cars that went around the edge of the arena. So I got to see them a bit closer! While on the stage I couldn't really make out their faces, but I could see them then! They sang Sunset Glow as they made their way back to the main stage. I thought they would then sing Fantastic Baby, Feeling, and Bad Boy again, but before that they sang Koe wo Kikasete!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! When looking at the setlist I had been sad to not see that song on there, but they sang it!!! It's my all-time favorite Bigbang song and I think it was the first song I ever head of theirs. It was the best part of the concert for me!




Overall the concert had lasted about three and a half hours! It had gone by so quickly! SO MUCH FUN!!!!!!! I hope they come back next year and I can see them again! Next time I will take a light for sure!!!!!

On the way back to the station I saw a booth selling the light up rings but I was a bit worried about how crowded the subway station would be and didn't want to get further back in the crowd. It's probably good that I didn't stop because the subways were getting backed up and the train I got on was the second to last one I could take to get back to Iwata that night. I arrived back in Iwata on the last train a little after midnight.

I didn't get a picture of me at the concert because my camera had been taken away so I took one once I got home. My outfit wasn't very Bigbangish haha. Though no one around me really dressed in costumes or anything. Those were the really big fans who had bought their tickets earlier and had closer seats. Though if my best friend had been here we definitely would have had to do costumes no matter where we sat!


I got several fliers at the concert including this ad for some fragrance sprays. I wonder what they smell like. I would have bought them if they hadn't been sold out! Though I wonder if they're meant for men or women. One is called "Sorry I'm a Bad Boy" so I don't know. 


I was disappointed about a lot of the merchandise I wanted being sold out and not having a light, but the concert itself was amazing and so much fun! :) I  haven't been to many concerts, but now in the past few months I've seen two really awesome ones! :)

This past weekend I went to a Backstreet Boys concert in Hamamatsu! I bought the tickets back in early July and knew about it for a while before then so I had been looking forward to it for a long time!

Earlier this year one of my roommates from college posted about going to a Backstreet Boys concert in her city in the US. I knew that when BSB toured they usually went to Japan so I checked online for tour dates. I got really excited when I saw one in Nagoya, a city less than two hours away from Iwata (an hour with shinkansen). It was on a weeknight, but it would work out. I figured that had to be the closest one but then I scrolled down and saw one in Shizuoka. Only about an hour away! Then I saw the details of that concert and saw that it was actually in Hamamatsu! It was Shizuoka prefecture, not Shizuoka city! I looked up where the concert would be held and saw that it was really close to my boyfriend's apartment! It just kept getting better and better! :)

I was super excited! I loved the Backstreet Boys when they were really popular but I never went to a concert. This was a really great chance to finally see them. All five members are back together and it's their 20th anniversary year. Despite their cheesiness, I still think they're great! I was so excited about the concert that even when I found out that tickets were 9,500 yen (almost $100!) I still HAD to go.

The concert was held at 5:00 on Saturday in Hamamatsu Arena. As we set out on our bikes Jonathan said, "Let's take the back streets." He didn't even mean to make a joke, but I was amused.

It was less than a half hour bike ride to the arena and Jonathan and I arrived a little after 4:00 when they had started letting people in.


Jonathan was also attending the concert (I paid for half of his ticket because I didn't want to go by myself) and we wondered how many guys would be there. It turned out there were quite a few guys. It looked like many other girls had also made their boyfriends and husbands go with them. I didn't see any younger people there and I was a bit surprised by that. I thought that some of the women would drag along their kids or something. But it turns out that all the Japanese concerts were only 18+. I have no idea why. The US concerts don't have any age restriction.

Seating was assigned so there wasn't a rush to get in so we took our time and I looked at the merchandise for sale. I had seen several people with towel scarf things and I bought one, too. I wanted a t-shirt with all the Japanese tour dates and cities on the back, but the t-shirts were 4,000 yen so I passed up on that. The towel was 1,500.

We then waited in a line for a few minutes which ended up being the wrong line, but there was plenty of time so it didn't matter. When we were let into the arena we were given fliers with all the tour dates on it. It's an awesome souvenir! I always love seeing American things with Japanese writing so this is just perfect.


Jonathan was so excited for the concert! Hahaha.


The arena was small so there weren't any bad seats. Actually, I think our seats were better than some of the more expensive ones. The ones in the lower area were more expensive, but the seating was flat so it may have been a bit harder to see. 

The concert was really good! They had a lot of energy and their voices were great live. They mostly did older songs and did a few songs from their new album. I enjoyed all of them. It was so much fun! I was really amused every time they spoke Japanese. They didn't speak much, mostly just greetings and "arigato" and counting, but the audience loved it. I was excited when they would yell "Hamamatsu!" Between some songs each member had a chance to speak. They spoke English so most people didn't understand too much. Brian had the best idea. He didn't say anything and just held up a bunch of cards with Japanese on them. It was cute. Haha.

At one point, I forget which song it was, they told us to get out our cell phones and use the lights on them. It took a while for people to understand that haha. Anyways... photography wasn't allowed, but I took the opportunity to sneakily take a picture. It didn't turn out well, but at least I have something. Other people had the same idea, but I saw one girl near us get caught.


I found a video from the concert on Youtube though! It's from when they did I Want it That Way. That was one of my favorite songs of the evening. It was a lot of fun because the crowd was really into it and knew the words and stuff.

I have no idea how someone was able to take video without getting caught and I hope it doesn't get taken off Youtube. Anyways... here's the video:



Here's another video that's not very good quality, but oh well!



It wasn't completely crazy like videos I've seen from their concerts back when they were really big, plus I've heard Japanese concerts are calmer, and the US ones probably are now too, but there were still plenty of people really into it. There was a girl near us who knew all the words to every song and even a lot of the dance moves. The girl in front of us had a sign for Kevin, but was told she couldn't have that. There was an older woman sitting next to me who was by herself. Before the concert started I saw her wave to someone down below so I guess she was with someone with a more expensive seat. So I thought she might just be with them and not really into the Backstreet Boys because she seemed a bit old. But she was just as into it as everyone else.

The concert lasted about an hour and a half so it ended around 6:30 or a little after that. I would have liked to get a better picture with this sign, but there were so many people trying to do the same thing. Here I am pointing to Hamamatsu! Sold out! 


I'm really glad that they came to Hamamatsu. It's really kind of random because it's not nearly as big as the other cities in their Japan tour. It was their first time performing in Hamamtsu so it's the perfect time for me to be living here!


They didn't do this song at the concert, but here's a video that BSB made in Japan. Maid cafes, karaoke, arcades... yay. :) It's making me excited to go to Tokyo next month for a three day weekend!