Japan 2012: My UVERworld Live Tour 2012 Experience - Fukuoka SunPalace Hall

Actually I started a post on my first few days in Japan but then I got bored so I've decided to dedicate a special post (or two) for the UVERworld live shows I attended for their 2012 tour! :D

This year's tour does not have a name for it, unlike the previous years. Most of the tours were named after their albums - Timeless (2006), PROGLUTION (2008), AwakEVE (2009) and LAST (2010). Last year's tour was called 47/47 Tour 2011.

I bought a flight ticket to Japan during last year's AirAsia sale (October i think) and decided on trying to catch an UVERworld concert, though at that time the tour dates were not released yet. When I found out the dates (thanks to a fellow UVERfan) and how my flight date fell on the first few days of their tour, I was superduperexcited!

I chose to attend the Hiroshima and Kobe shows, partly because I wanted to visit these two places and because I thought attending smaller venues = not so crowded.

Boy how I got my hopes up too high only to have them crashing down. I got help from my uncle's friend to buy me tickets but by the time she tried buying, they were all sold out! *horrified*

Damn sad, hence this emo post.

After that, I changed my flight dates (rash decision made, money spent like water flowing freely but I was too determined to watch the band!) and hoped when the tickets for the 大阪城ホール (Osakajo Hall) go on sale, I will be able to buy.

But damn bad luck lor. They were sold out when my uncle's friend tried buying wtf.

Then I started googling (wah such determination, if only I can pour all this into my work) and found an alternative: www.ticket.co.jp

This is like, where people sell tickets that they've already bought/booked. And usually at a more expensive price.

So without thinking further, I bought tickets to 福岡サンパレス (Fukuoka SunPalace) on the 18th June and 大阪城ホール on the 22nd June shows.

In my opinion, try your best to have someone to buy tickets for you if you're planning to watch concerts in Japan. Make friends with other fans who are going, or make friends with those in the fan clubs, because they get to book their tickets first (but they don't necessarily get good seats according to my intelligence), because the prices on this website will be hiked up.

I bought my 福岡サンパレス for more than double the price and for my 大阪城ホール one, I got it for 9000 yen BUT I had to buy two. And it was the cheapest option at that time. So..

Next time, I hope, I won't have to resort to this again. But knowing how my brain works when I'm desperate..

*looks at empty bank account and sighs*

Oh well, shall we start?

I can't believe I travelled 18 hours to and from Fukuoka for this. And I experienced Japan's rainy season the most here.

福岡サンパレス (Fukuoka SunPalace) is actually a hotel. I wanted to stay there but they were all booked. The concert was held in their hall, which is next to the hotel. It's located in Hakata-ku (or Hakata Ward).

I err.. actually slipped and fell somewhere near here

As early as 9 am, I saw around 5 fans waiting in front of the hall door (!!!!). Such dedication. I didn't join them because I just arrived that morning (a little before 8 am!) and though I could dump my luggage at the hotel, I couldn't check in until 3 pm. -_-

So I walked for hours in the rain, trying to find things to do. But there was nothing much! The area was so so so quiet I wonder why. Then I realised I wasn't in the main part of Hakata.

I hung out behind the hall (because it had shades!) and just sat there all morning. Couldn't walk around much because of the scattered rains. I hope I was not mistaken as a stalker, though I kept hoping to catch a glimpse of the band when they enter/exit the building. XP

trucks carrying the tour equipments

such a flashy truck!

I wandered around, had lunch (Yoshinoya yo!), wandered again until I couldn't take it anymore and finally checked into my hotel.  Left my hotel at 5 pm, half an hour before the door opening time and it was raining heavily. Seeing the long line in front of the building made me panic for a while, I didn't know where to line up and my agitation increased as the line increased.

So bravely, I approached one of the staff, a man dressed in black suit with tie, who was blabbering Godknowswhat using an inhaler, showed my ticket and asked, "Where do I line up?"

In English okay.

He was stunned, but looked at my ticket and just pointed to the ever increasing line. I said "Thank you" and walked to the line when my umbrella flipped.

I think I said "Shit!" out loud. Fucking embarrassing but I got into the line safely.

The rain poured and I frantically tried to keep myself dry. My umbrella was a little fragile one, bought from BEAMS Outlet at Rinku Premium Outlets. Everyone was so surprised by the heavy rain but they just stayed in line and hugged themselves tight to minimise themselves from getting any wetter. Then the line moved and everyone got into the building.

I didn't know where to go so I just followed the crowd, not knowing whether I was heading to the correct side. At that time, I didn't know that my ticket was for the 3rd floor section. I showed my ticket to the staff (all men in black suits, complete with ties! gah! lengchais!) and the one checking my bag said something. I didn't understand anything he said so I said "Sorry?" He was stunned as well, and just gestured with an embarrassed smile for me to go in.

WIN. Cos I had my camera with me and I didn't want it to be confiscated. Haha.

Then I saw the goods booth and did my shopping LOL

most of these are fellow Malaysian UVERfans whom requested my help to buy for them

packaging for the hair accessories, or hair bands

the hair accessories, which i use as bracelets. yellow represent UVERworld, white is Takuya∞, black is Akira while red is Shintarou. I didn't manage to acquire Katsuya's (green) and Nobuto's (blue). Check out the full lineup.

towel

I think I bought the most even the crew was having a hard time calculating that she asked my permission to calculated again!

So I helped her by saying out how many I bought for an item. It was kinda funny - I pointed to an item, and we calculated the price according to the number of items i.e. for 6 pieces of hair accessories she pressed "500" on the calculator 6 times!

They need scientific ones next time I guess. Heehee.

bought this tote bag because they didn't provide any plastic bags when you buy the items. but proved useful! :D

Besides the tour goods, they also had a booth selling their albums, singles and DVDs. But of course, I stopped myself.

The UVERlamps were also displayed!

According to their staff, dR2, these lamps were designed by Stephen Green, who used to work in NASA. Check out his biography.

One thing about the Japanese, they're very discipline when it comes to queuing up. To take photographs of the lamps everyone actually lined up!

Then I figured out my ticket was for the 3rd floor, and since I was one of the early ones who managed to buy the goods before the line became longer, I went to the toilet and looked for my seat.

I didn't know what to expect of the hall but it wasn't humongous like the ones in their DVDs.

sorry sucky quality. i took it with my iPod Touch.

OBVIOUSLY.

But I was so happy that the seats sloped downwards, so the people standing in front of me would not block my view! Yippee!

Show was supposed to start at 6.30 pm, and they were playing some English songs. At 6.30 pm the show still hasn't begun, so the fans started chanting "UVER! *clap clap clap* UVER! *clap clap clap*" Some on the ground floor even danced!

Then after 10 minutes the song grew louder, everyone screamed and the lights went off before the starting music for KINJITO began. Which is the same one from their Premium Xmas Live show.

When Takuya∞ said "Come on!' I screamed.. no, wait, I shrieked! But the curtain only fell after he said, "Everyone's speaking"

And the rest was history.

There they were, the 5 men I adored and admired since rediscovering my interest in them. I'm seeing them live before my eyes! I must be dreaming! Takuya∞ wore a red tee, Akira wore that dyed shirt he always wear (Premium Xmas live, Zepp Tokyo, Zepp Sendai shows), can't remember was it the orange or the blue one. Shintarou was dressed like someone who fits to be a pirate (with the boots and vest) while I can't remember what Katsuya and Nobuto wore. Hmm. I think Nobuto's clothes were very laidback. Not forgetting SEIKA in his ponytail, who everyone cheered/screamed when he played the saxophone!

Then they played 7th Trigger and I swear the whistles were done live by Takuya∞ dammit! I was like *jaws dropped*

After 7th Trigger, there was a short instrumental session which made me dance. Then when I heard the beginning of パニッグワールド (PANIC WORLD) I screamed madly, because I love that song!

Here's the complete setlist, courtesy of someone who posted it on the UVERworld Facebook page:

• KINJITO
• 7th Trigger
• パニッグワールド
• 畢生皐月プロローグ
• BABY BORN & GO
• ace of ace
• 6つの風
• バーベル～皇帝の新しい服ver.～
• ゼロの答
• いつか必ず死ぬことを忘れるな
• 優しさの雫
• MASSIVE
• 一石を投じる Tokyo midnight sun
• AWAYOKUBA-斬る
• GOLD
• NO. 1
• スパルタ
• CORE PRIDE

Looking at this setlist, I couldn't believe they played 18 songs! As you can see they played all their 5 new songs, and most songs off their 6th album with the exception of パニッグワールド [MONDO PIECE single], 畢生皐月プロローグ (Hissei Satsuki Prologue) [AwakEVE - 4th album], 優しさの雫 (Yasashisa no Shizuku) [Timeless - 1st album], ゼロの答 (Zero no Kotae) [BUGRIGHT - 2nd album], GOLD and スパルタ (SPARTA) [LAST - 5th album] and MASSIVE, a new instrumental which will be in their latest single, THE OVER.

I'm a big fan of their instrumentals, expod-digital made me love them while over the stoic comes close behind, followed by 境地・マントラ (Kyochi Mantra). I don't really like Waon. When I first heard MASSIVE at the show, I was so excited to be hearing something which was not released yet. The first few seconds of the drummings were so delightful to hear, and I'm loving how they made the crowd clap rhythmically to the music!

Here's the PV for MASSIVE, which was taken from their Zepp DiverCity show (while it's still available):

I was so happy when they played ゼロの答, one of my favourite songs of their second album. I adore the PV because of Takuya∞'s and Katsuya's short hairstyles. When Akira changed to his guitar which I recognised he used for playing 君の好きなうた　I got so excited! But then they played 優しさの雫 with SEIKA on the saxophone. It was so so so romanticlah! <3 Shintarou's drumming for GOLD was awesome, I think I've never liked any other drummer's skills as much as his! There was an explosion for スパルタ, which got everyone really high! I always love the "Come, Shake! Shake!" line

Out of all the songs, I could sing along to NO.1 and CORE PRIDE the best, while the others I just blabbered hahaha.

Though my understanding in Japanese is close to zero, I could understand some bits and pieces. Takuya∞ said a lot, something about their 7th debut anniversary, and how thankful they are for their fans. Quite funny also this fella. There were only 3 floors in the hall, but he kept mentioning "4階 (4th floor)" as well. When he asked each floor if the audience were having fun, he stopped at 3階 and one of the audience members asked, "4階??" he retorted with, "There's no 4th floor! You stupid or what?" or something like that. LOLOLOL

There were also times when he or Shintarou said something wrong, like getting the band 7th debut anniversary date wrong, and the audience corrected him. In the end he said, "now all of us are afraid to say anything, because all of you will scold/correct us and go "Wiyuuuuuuuuu~"" after that the audience teased him, going "Wiyyyuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu"when he said something wrongly hahaha

Takuya∞'s energy throughout the show was very admirable. He jumped, he ran, he screamed... ohmygod how did he manage all that? Even my dad was quite shocked at how he could jump and run around the stage in the Xmas live DVD. And of course, shirt-lifting happened, up pass his chest *nosebleed* The only thing which appalled me was that he looked so thin. His cheekbones were so obvious that his cheeks look hollowed. :(

I find Akira's character a little bit.. childish? I mean not in a bad way, but he was exactly like how he was in the Xmas live show, bouncing up and down while playing his guitar. While Katsuya's guitar playing is very laidback unless when he was emphasizing on some parts, Akira was.. all bouncy! Haha. Like a little boy. He is after all the youngest. I love his shoes, they glowed in the dark! And his hair! Oh and his smile.. he rarely smiles so when he did.. i think he made a lot of girls (and maybe guys) melt! Sometimes he would sing along to the songs.

Shintarou was the MC for the night. He mentioned about the heavy rain and thanked everyone. Then he blabbered something about Fumakilla so I think he was talking about mosquitoes and then said something about Katsuya, making the latter wave his hand frantically and putting an "X" as if  denying what Shintarou said. Geez リーダさん why you so cute although I have no idea what Shintarou said.

Speaking of the leader, I find him trying to control himself and it looked funny! At some points he would be tucking his hair while grooving to the music or putting his hands into his pockets, trying to act all macho and cool. But of course, fans would know that he has such an addictive laugh. I mean everytime he laughs in a video I would just grin and laugh along automatically! Oh, as usual he wore shorts, and..ugh.. WHY ARE HIS LEGS THINNER THAN MINE???! They're like half of my elephant legs! :S

And UVERjumps - a term coined for the band when they do their jumps - I am amazed how the four members can jump so high!

SEIKA, though not an official member of the band, was also the audience's favourite. I swear everytime he blew his saxophone everyone screamed! 

After CORE PRIDE, Takuya∞ announced that all the members will give short speeches, something they have not done before in their previous tours. Nobuto went after Takuya∞, stood on the platform Takuya∞ always uses when he sings, and placed the mic stand between his legs while speaking. Katsuya went after him, and I could only remember him saying "。。。大好き” When it was Akira's turn, he got the loudest scream. Since he's quite reserved out of the 5, hearing him speak is like.. RARE, even in interviews. He jumped on the platform (little boy alert!) and said the audience were awesome. Funny voice he has.Then Shintarou came, stood on the platform as well, said his speech, bowed and blew a kiss! Such a tease.

He gave his drumsticks to 3 lucky children from the front row aaaahhhh so jealous!

Actually I sorta cried when Shintarou spoke, because it was a sign that the show ended. Even when the crowd chanted "ENCORE", the show ended. Why no encore? =/ Despite the 18 songs played, I thought the whole show was too short!

Time passed too fast I guess. Or maybe I was expecting them to play more of their older songs. Hmmm.

After a little bit less than 2 hours, my first UVERworld concert ended, with the rain still pouring outside.

exiting the hall

some took the opportunity to buy goods after the show

:'(

But then I still had another show to go so.. :D

Oh, dR2 retweeted me!

I didn't expect him to do so it was a surprise! LOL

Stay tune Click here for my post on my next UVERworld show!