CNBLUE 2014 Arena Tour: WAVE… in Nagoya

The first week of December 2014 is a wonderful, wonderful, time to be an Arashi & CNBLUE fangirl in Nagoya. When we were planning the trip, the concerts weren’t really the “main” event, since (a) the Nagoya leg of thw “CNBLUE 2014 Arena Tour: Wave” was originally scheduled sometime October or November. And the odds of us scoring Arashi tickets were, well, very low, indeed. And then, it happened. The CNBLUE cons were moved to December 3 and 4. Our flight home from Nagoya is on December 7. AND THEN Arashi’s Nagoya concert was set for the 5th. Right there and then, we just knew WE HAD TO GO TO ALL THREE. It’s a good thing Peach is a member of the Japan FC, so she was able to get tickets for two nights.

From Kyoto, it was a mad scramble to get on the shinkansen to Nagoya then check in to the hotel, freshen up (as best as we can), then head off to the venue to buy some con goods, then meet up with a couple of Japanese ladies who are buying two extra con tickets from Peach. (To cut a long story short, Peach had 4 extra tickets and she sold them – at cost, if I may say so – to other fans). We also, completely by accident bumped into Yam (@purpleyam on Twitter), who was Slow from Singapore in front of the Hall.

Before the Concert

The venue is the Nippongaishi Hall. Capacity: 10,000 people. The concert starts at 6:30pm, but the gates open at 5:30pm.

The red circle in front of the main entrance serves as a meeting point of sorts. Spot Yam and Slow. Haha! Peach and I were just taking photos of the facade, and Yam was like, “Hey~!”Go down one level to get to the con goods area. The queue wasn’t long on the first day.

By the way, on the first day, we met Satomi-san, who bought two tickets. She gave us soap with a Christmas card as a present. The packaging of the soap has Jonghyun’s face in it.

The next day, we met another Japanese girl, who bought the remaining extra ticket. She gave us a small coin purse with a CNBLUE pin (clothespin). Her friend gave us each a pouch containing Gateau Chocolat chocopie and a bottle of energy drink! WHOA. (I brought the energy drink with me – I don’t really drink energy drinks – and it sits by my laptop as I draft this post.)

The Concerts

On our first night, we got arena seats. 8th row. The thing is, the ladies seated in front of us are quite leggy. To top it off, they’re wearing platform heels. So… err. Yeah. Still, our view was good and close. Too bad I couldn’t get a photo, because we were by the aisle, and the staff toting the No Photography signs are walking around us. We didn’t want to risk being kicked out of the venue before the fun has even started.

The lady seated beside me, who was in her 40s, was smiling at me, like, “Ok? Daijoubu? Miteru? Can you see?” I’m, like, “Pfft, yeah, I’m totally fine~”.

The stage was a revolving one, and we’re lucky that the first set was performed facing us.

Time to rave.

THEY LOOKED SO DAMNED FINE. Just like in Arashi, I loved all their hair! None of those curly long locks on Yonghwa; I think he looked even younger with his hair shorter. I also liked Jonghyun’s hair color. Is it called ash blonde? Anyhow, the way the lights reflected on his hair is pure. gold. Again, just like in the Can’t Stop concert in Manila, Minhyuk’s hair has a life all its own. His fringe is so long and bouncy, reaching down to his nose as he whacks away at the drums.

I found it refreshing how Jonghyun was the talkative one in the concert (both nights), whereas he spoke only two or three lines in the concerts in Manila while Minhyuk and Jungshin took the lead. I suppose that is because, among the four, he is the best Japanese speaker. Many times, his bandmates defer to him when they don’t know how to say something in Japanese and he helps them out.

It was funny, though, when Jungshin started speaking in Japanese, paused, then turned to Jonghyun and, in Korean, asked him how to say something. Jonghyun went, “Sore wa hontou muzukashii (that’s too difficult). Just say ‘dozou yoroshiku onegaishimasu’.

Yonghwa was his ever energetic all-amped-up self, flirting with the audience left and right, going all self-deprecating when he has to speak Japanese (I think he’s the poorest one among them in the language). This guy delivers very well when it comes to fan service. I liked how, many times, he singled out fanboys from the audience and gave them time to “shine”.

Several times during the concert, Yonghwa would shush the audience. And, to my delight, they did. See, this is one marked difference I noticed from concerts in Japan and in Manila. I couldn’t be sure, but some friends said it’s the same in other Southeast Asian countries. The Philippine audience is quite a passionate one, and has no qualms about screaming their hearts, lungs and guts out, I wonder if they don’t damage their voiceboxes doing so. I, with my laryngitis, am not predisposed to screaming – nay, SHRIEKING – to express how much I enjoy the concert.

But here, I love how I can actually hear the music. It’s absolutely perfect for when Yonghwa plays those sweet melodies on the piano, or when Jonghyun croons soulfully into the microphone. A couple of times I just closed my eyes and savored the sound, unencumbered by screaming.

It is clear how much these four love what they are doing. Two, three songs in, and they were all sweating. Minhyuk could easily join a wet T-shirt contest; that’s how much they were revved up. It was an especially jumpin’ show on the second night, which is the show to wrap up their whole WAVE tour.

On the first night, Yonghwa said that his family is in the audience, and he has no idea where they are seated. Later info leaked that his folks were seated at the arena, close to the lights and sounds operators. He then went on, in his halting Japanese, to talk about how much he loves tebasaki and miso katsuo, two dishes that are associated with Nagoya. (Needless to say, afterwards, when we went to a bar, we asked for miso katsuo. I didn’t catch how Yonghwa said the first dish, and so I kept searching terasawa, terasaki but didn’t come up with any.)

After the concert on the second night, on the train back to Sakae, a Japanese girl approached us, asking tentatively what country we’re from. We’re so impressed with her English, halting though it is, and we exchanged Twitters. Her name is Mariko-san and we met up for breakfast the next day. That was when she told us that it was tebasaki, and it is chicken wings. Which we actually had at the bar the first night when we also ate miso katsuo. Unmei, you think?

Just like in the previous CNBLUE cons I’ve caught in Manila, the lightwork was mesmerizing. I suppose they bring the same stage and effects team with them everywhere they go on their tour.

Other randomness:

– Yonghwa kept going “matto mori ageru!” and “matto matto mori agaritai” when he was asking the audience to be more hyped up. I had a feeling he was saying the wrong word, and Jonghyun corrected him in an aside. It should be motto (more) instead of matto. What did Yonghwa do? He went “Matto, motto, matto, motto, matsumoto”.

This prompted Yam to go, “I’m telling you, guys, MatsuYong is REAL!” (MatsuYong is an OTP of Arashi’s Matsumoto Jun and CNBLUE’s Jung Yonghwa, I suppose)

– The performances of RADIO, LONELY NIGHT and CAN’T STOP stood out for me. Also LIKE A CHILD. They did an encore on the final concert, and I was disappointed that it was not another song. Instead, they performed RADIO again.

– On their second set in the second night, just after they changed into their concert T-shirts, Jonghyun went on the drums and did some beats. Yonghwa took over and also showed his “skills” on the drums. The beatmeister Minhyuk simply sat down on the side, watching indulgently, giving the obligatory applause. But wait, Yonghwa refuses to get up and returns the drumsticks to Minhyuk. He even pulls out a petulant pout.

Yonghwa then went, “Kang Minyuk desu. (I’m Kang Minhyuk.)” in a small voice, supposedly imitating their youngest. He then turns to Jonghyun and, in English, says “Hey, Jonghyun. I’m sorry but, are you ready?”

So the boys launched into an impromptu (?) performance of their song “I’m Sorry”, with Yonghwa on the drums, and Minhyuk on lead vocals. They pretty much did around 75% of the song before Minhyuk wrested control of the drums back. I had so much fun watching this interplay. (I guess it helped that the song had simple drumworks, haha!)

It was a fun two nights with this band. I certainly wouldn’t hesitate from seeing them again when they come back to Manila next year (and I have a feeling they will), although I will definitely miss the concert atmosphere in Japan. (There is also the fact that the concerts here only have ONE PRICE for the tickets and the seat assignments will be random, so the seating won’t depend on who has more money to burn. Just sayin’.)

Photography was prohibited. Our arena seats during the first night put us close to the staff walking around checking for cameras. It was worse on the second night when we were on the stands, since the staff are walking directly in front of us. That explains the ninja-shots using my crappy point-and-shoot. But, oh well, better than nothing, eh?

I leave you with this shot of the standee of the band at the Con goods area.