Last!! And I had an arena seat tonight!!! You honestly might get sick of reading the word “close”, because I use it a million times to describe how freakin’ CLOSE they all were!
Anyway, I met with astrid_974 before the concert and chatted for a while. We went inside separate gates and I was immediately surprised at how good my seat was, even though it was on the very edge of the arena at the back. The back stage was RIGHT THERE!
Also, there weren’t as many cameras as last night, but they briefly mentioned something in the opening announcements about filming, so they might include a bit of the last day in the DVD? Kind of like AraFes maybe? But I’m certain they won’t put the best part of the night in it cuz they never do!!
We could hear the “yeah” cheer clearly from the back with all the staff, juniors, and Arashi. And in the VIP section, I saw Nomura Mansai. He’s from the Shiyagare episode where he made them act like mushrooms and mosquitoes.
The whole of this concert, I wasn’t focused much on writing notes, cuz the members were just TOO close. My brain kept shutting off every time they passed no more than a few feet away!
“Up to You” was great because Nino told us to get pumped up since it was the last day and Aiba stuck his jaw out again, but “Welcome to Our Party” was better because the stage came to the back. So close! Aiba and Jun high-fived at the appropriate spot in the song and Ohno and Nino were half-hugging.
The opening greetings were the same as last night, except that Nino mentioned it was the last day. Aiba shook his shoulders back and forth as the last notes of the song played.
In “Believe”, the large cart with Ohno and Nino passed by. They were so close!! In “Meikyuu Love Song”, Jun did the “too bright” move and pulled us in.
The water screens turned on for “Cosmos” and “Akashi”. “Kaze no Mukou e” was fantastic because when they were moving around the arena on their individual carts, Sho’s went by right as he was singing the rap, which happens to be my favorite part of that song! Still standing so close on the back stage, he did his “Bolt” pose.
“Rakuen” was cute. At the beginning, when he sang about waking up, he hit the back of his head like he was sleepy. He put up his hood for a bit too.
Behind us, we noticed a bunch of staff coming out and kneeling down suspiciously. I discovered that what I thought was white balls the other nights was actually little plastic helicopter things with a light attached to it. At the start of “Fly on Friday”, the dancers and all the staff let them go into the air at the same time. And I caught one!! It doesn’t have a logo on it, but I’ll always remember how cool they looked when they flew in Sho’s solo. I jumped around a ton and sang with the crowd while we marveled at how close he was. The stage moved back to the main part and “Super Fresh” began. I just love the moves for that.
As usual, “A Day in Our Life” was funny. Jun and Ohno leaned in while doing their best impressions of sexy faces. Only tonight, they leaned in really far and it seemed like they might kiss for a moment, but when they petted each other’s cheeks, Jun shoved Ohno’s away and Ohno made a silly “Oh!” face.
Leader hopped onto the moving sidewalk, but several of the dancers stuck their arms out as if they wouldn’t let him pass. He had to wait until they’d let him go each time. Then!! He went by in the small cart. As several of the fans said, he looks very nice up close!
For “Kitto Daijoubu”, he was up in the tower nearest to us, so we were all focused on him and waving as hard as we could. All the members gathered at the center stage for “Kakenukero” and I was happy to be able to really SEE the dance this time.
MC
S: Yeah! (x4) We’re Arashi!
Sho and Nino bowed to each other and laughed.
S: So it’s the last day! Are you having fun?! We can certainly feel the energy from you.
A: Yeah. But it’s pretty hot again in here.
S: Enough that you wouldn’t think is was December. Well, this is the last day.
N: We did concerts for four days here.
S: But you know, I realized something last night. I sure saw a lot of people waving around “Do Rola” fans.
N: To you?
S: Yeah, and it’s not like I’d ever been famous for doing that on TV. That would have been Nino and Aiba. From those impressions you did on Himitsu.
N: Yeah, sorry. That would have been us.
S: And I thought it was Aiba that had done the Rola impression.
He turned to us and asked, “Who here saw that on TV?”
A lot of people raised their hands. “Yeah!”
S: Who didn’t see it and wants to see him do it live?
All the people who had previously raised their hands, raised them again along with a ton of other fans.
Sho smirked. “The fans seem to have understood what we wanted them to say.”
J: You know, they waved those “Rola” fans at me too, even though I’ve never done it before. But they went ahead and waved it really hard at me when I went by.
In the background, Ohno mumbled something and did the “OK” gesture Rola always uses. The members laughed at him because he’d actually done it, but it had been such a toned-down version.
N: On that episode, we did five impressions in a row.
He started listing them off slowly as he tried to remember. “A dog… Antonio Inoki… Kinpachi-sensei… Rola… And what was the last one?”
A few people started shouting the answer to them, but it overlapped and they couldn’t hear.
S: Se~ no~ (Rea~dy).
Us: Ikko!
The fans were shaking their fingers to show who it was they meant. Obviously, they all heard it clearly that time, but they chose to ignore the answer, saying, “No, no. That can’t be it.” They REALLY didn’t want to do that one again.
Jun didn’t let them get away. “It was Ikko.”
N: No, no, no.
Jun shook his finger at them. “The fans even did this for you.”
S: Well, then let’s have Rola be the last one.
N: Let’s just have Aiba do them all.
We cheered, even though it was just Nino trying to escape from doing embarrassing things in front of so many people. Laughing, the members split into their usual two groups and walked around to the main stage, but left Aiba alone on the center stage facing us.
N: First is a dog.
Because Aiba is so obliging, he went along with their request, already chuckling at how the impressions were probably going to turn out. He got down on his hands and knees.
Sho told us, “Make sure you watch him.”
A: Hey! You guys need to watch me too! I’m feeling really insecure by myself over here!
Nino ordered to Aiba, “Make sure you’re acting them as best you can.”
A: I know already!
Aiba took a breath and gave as a weak “Wan!”. We laughed as he tried to get the right tone and barked several more times.
N: Now Inoki.
He stood up, stuck out his jaw and said, “Hyaa! 1, 2, 3, DA!” We joined in for the last “DA!”
N: Ikko.
Aiba shook his finger and said in a high voice, “Dondakke!! Mabushii!” (It’s so bright here!)
N: Kinpachi-sensei.
Aiba pretend to push back long hair over his shoulder in an exaggerated move, even though he didn’t have the hair to do it with.
S: That looks so wrong!!
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