Japan 2012: My UVERworld Live Tour 2012 Experience - Osakajo Hall

WeeN's note: I wrote about the UVERworld live tour 2012 show in Fukuoka Sun Palace Hall, which was held on the 18th June here! :)

It was a Friday. I checked out of my 3rd hotel, located in Shinsaibashi and took the subway to  大阪ビジネスパーク駅 (Osaka Business Park Station).

Got out of the station when I saw the exit of my next hotel, which I thought was the only hotel near to the hall (it wasn't by the way -_-). What greeted me after coming out from the escalator was this sight:

Haha I didn't expect the hall would be right there!

i know, selca is not my thing

Then I saw my hotel.

Then I look at the distance between my hotel and the hall.

So near! Less than 5 minutes walk! From hotel, cross a road, cross a bridge, walk a bit, climb some stairs and tada! Reach the hall already.

So I went to check out the goods booth first, which was located outside the hall. Bought some more *coughs* goods - the hooded micro fiber towel and bought 4 more hair accessories because I was so dissatisfied that I didn't get Katsuya's and Nobuto's colours. Hmmph.

That booth is selling UVERworld iPhone cases

Finally I got Katsuya's colour! The others were another one of Shintarou's and another two of Akira's (aww he must have loved me that much LOL). But I have no Nobuto. :( Nobuto's colour is a pretty shade of blue.

the sky was so blue! there's no editing whatsoever for this picture besides some cropping fyi

information board of the hall

Had to wait until 2 pm for my room to be ready when I inquired at.. 1.30 pm. They offered me a smoking room which was available, but since I wanted a non-smoking room I opted to wait. Maybe I should have taken the smoking room, if the band was staying there they would be staying on the smoking floor! Haha

After checking in I dilly-dallied in the room, because I got a room with a view of the hall and the castle! :D And was able to see the situation at the hall so that I could decide when to go down.

the microfiber hooded towel

here they come!

go! go! go!

スパルタ！ (SPARTA!)

meanwhile I was lalalalala-ing in the room

I went down after the door-opening time, because I figured that, since my seat will be there, I don't have to fight with anyone, so I should just go nearer to the show time. I went down at around 6 pm, and got stuck outside with the crowd before going in. Luckily it wasn't raining that day. Unlike the Fukuoka show, they didn't check any of the bags.

Got pass the doors to my section and was awed at the size of the hall. Arguably 4 times the size of the SunPalace hall I believe. I had trouble looking for my place. Thankfully a staff of the hall approached me. She was dressed in a red formal wear, complete with black ribbon. So I showed her my ticket and in English said, "I don't know where" She gladly led me to my seat and asked, "Japanese no?" and I said "No, Malaysia" She was like, "Wahhhhhh". I thanked her and she left. I felt proud haha.

from the F section view

I was lucky I got the スタンド (stand) seats, because these sloped downwards as well, compared to the arena seats, which were same level. Just further from the stage lohhhhhhh. BUT, the were monitors on the top sides of the stage, so at least I could see the members' faces better.

The show started 10 minutes late as well, and the same song was playing over and over, until the volume increased and everyone screamed. After a few minutes the lights were off, and the same starting for KINJITO played. Of course the curtain dropped after "Everyone's speaking"

Bigger hall, bigger stage. More lights! There was a disco ball hanging in the middle of the hall. I thought it would pop open releasing confettis. But no. Haha. Just for reflecting lights LOL

And I find the sound system better at this one.

Setlist:

• KINJITO
• GOLD
• パニッグワールド
• 畢生皐月プロローグ
• BABY BORN & GO
• 6つの風
• ace of ace
• バーベル～皇帝の新しい服ver.～
• AWAYOKUBA-斬る
• 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
• 魑魅魍魎マーチ
• 7th Trigger
• NO. 1
• スパルタ
• CORE PRIDE
• UNKNOWN ORCHESTRA 

The differences of this setlist with the Fukuoka one on the 18th was they changed the order of some songs and played 魑魅魍魎マーチ (fun song! in English it's roughly translated as "The March of the Evil Mountain and River Spirits" hahahaha) and UNKNOWN ORCHESTRA as an additional song. But what was awesome was, the was another set of drums which appeared in the middle (something like the Tokyo Dome show) and Shintarou came to the front to play. When they played ace of ace it was such an awesome view - five of them rockin' out their stuffs in the middle. 

During バーベル～皇帝の新しい服ver.～ Shintarou cheekily curved up his arm and flexed his biceps. Of course Takuya∞ lifted up his shirt a few times. Now can you please let the others show their abs as well?

For MASSIVE, Takuya∞ left the stage for the other four to play their thangs, then another set of drums appeared behind SEIKA, and Takuya∞ went up to play! IT WAS SO DAMN AWESOME watching Shintarou and Takuya∞ play side by side, matching and syncing into each other's drummings! Then Takuya∞ threw the drumsticks and keyboards appeared, he played some keys to accompany Asami's vocals for the beginning of 一石を投じる Tokyo midnight sun. Asami has a very nice voice! I like how she didn't do the same thing that she did in the album.

AWAYOKUBA- 斬る was done beautifully. They actually gave a string quartet a short session (not available when I was watching at SunPalace), playing the strings part of the song. The girls played so well that everyone stayed quiet, just enjoying the music. After they stop, they accompanied the band on the full song. The girls even gestured the crowd to pump up their fists, and they were sitting down! Haha I love the green lasers used during the song. Was so mesmerised by them.

UNKNOWN ORCHESTRA will always be the UVERworld song which got me interested in the band even more. I first watched a live performance of it and was misled by the title, thinking the performance would have an accompanying orchestra or something.

Boy I was wrong. Turns out to be a techno-heavy party rock song! The lyrics don't make sense but I love dancing to it. So it was a really high song to end the setlist with. Coupled with the lasers lights bouncing off the disco ball, it was a night to party hard!

those aircrafty thingies behind the band moved accordingly during the show. can you spot the disco ball? somewhere at the top left in this photo! lasers were blasted on it and it reflected lights which made the show felt like a party!

for those interested to know, the green writing spells out UVERworld. the lasers in the show were also green. green is Katsuya's head accessory colour, which he wore on his left wrist, with another green bracelet. i can safely assume that it's leader's favourite colour?

buying goods after the show

these boys must have dashed to the hall from school

spotted a westerner!

bravely asked someone to help me take this photo. can never forget her reaction to my request. she must have been thinking, "who is diz girl and why iz she speaking in English????!!!"

the view from my room at 10 pm

 Went back to my room and slept well that night. :)

The next day:

Okay. So I am supposed to only watch two shows right?

this is at around 9 am. they were lining up for the goods

Then how did I end up watching the third one?

took these two photos on my way to the castle

:D

I guess choosing to meet a twitterfriend paid well.

you're welcome

I am actually not fond of meeting new people, because I have this fear of conversations turning awkward.

it was a nice Saturday, so everyone just hung around near the hall area

But this twitterfriend, Vicky, who's from Taiwan, found out that I was in Osaka and she was in Osaka as well to watch the concert on both dates. I asked if she was interested in meeting up (wow! I can't believe I did) So she asked if I would like to join her to meet another UVERfan, and told me to wait in front of "the crab" near Tsutaya Ebisubashi.

After visiting Osaka Castle, I took the train from 大阪ビジネスパーク駅 (Osaka Business Park Station) to なんば駅 (Namba-eki = Namba Station) and stood looking at the huge crab in front of Tsutaya when I notice a girl in the UVERworld live tour 2012 t-shirt standing nearby.

Tsutaya!

Turns out not to be Vicky, but a girl whom Vicky is supposed to be meeting! Since we stood side by side and when Vicky turned up she waved to both of us, I got so confused til I had to say, "Which one of you is Vicky??"

THE CRAB. which belongs to the Kani Doraku restaurant

The other girl is a Malaysian on a student exchange programme with Kanazawa University, Yinghui! I was so surprised to meet a Malaysian that I went, "*gets excited* sorry ah but I never expect to meet a Malaysian here!"

Vicky and Yinghui

We went for an awesome okonomiyaki lunch, brought by Vicky, which I don't think I remember its location anymore and then I followed them to the hall.

the way the waitress squeeze out the mayo made our jaws dropped. she squeezed from quite a distance and waved the bottle up and down to create a sinusoidal pattern

Now that I found friends, I felt like watching the band again! And they told me there will be people selling tickets, but of course, the prices would be jacked up high.

walking along the crowded 心斎橋筋 (Shinsabashi-suji) to get to the 心斎橋駅 (Shinsaibashi-eki = Shinsaibashi Station)

We met another Taiwanese, Vicky's friend at the train station, and the four of us went to the hall, while Vicky went back to her hotel to get her UVERworld towel haha. That's when I found out there is another hotel behind my hotel wtf

That's when I felt so lucky to have met these girls. Both Yinghui and Chia Chen, who understands Japanese helped me to look for tickets. We found two uncles selling for 15000 yen and both of them told me not to buy.

Chia Chen and Yinghui

By that time, I thought I shouldn't be so greedy, and just hope the three of them enjoy the show.

Then Chia Chen offered me her ticket.

*teary eyed*

She couldn't speak English but I understood her as she told Yinghui, "She came so far, she should go. I've watched them so many times so I'm quite satisfied so it's okay"

I told her to reconsider but she wanted me to have the ticket.

So touched I teared.

Wtf I think I'm older than them.

see that smoking uncle? he's the one trying to sell the ticket at 15000 yen to us!

And thus, thanks to Chia Chen, it was the 3rd UVERlive for me. And I was with Vicky. Too bad Yinghui's seat was not together with us.

Found out Chia Chen attended their Tokyo Dome live! So lucky. I wish I was an exchange student in Japan. Maybe I should try applying. I'm not.. too old for it right? Eh wait have to become student back again LOL

Vicky was also so nice for translating whatever the band was saying to me. I felt so bad because I wanted her to enjoy the talks.. Something about Shintarou going for some massage, and how their staff said that their 7th album will be successful because of the number seven..

AHHH so gan dong!

Setlist:

• KINJITO
• GOLD
• パニッグワールド
• 畢生皐月プロローグ
• BABY BORN & GO
• 勝者臆病者
• ace of ace
• バーベル～皇帝の新しい服ver.～
• AWAYOKUBA-斬る
• いつか必ず死ぬことを忘れるな
• 志 -kokorozashi-
• Massive
• 一石を投じる Tokyo midnight sun
• 魑魅魍魎マーチ
• 7th Trigger
• NO. 1
• スパルタ
• CORE PRIDE
• MONDO PIECE

19 songs as well. They didn't play 6つの風 but swapped it with 勝者臆病者. There's this part after the second chorus where Takuya∞'s voice is manipulated and he said these lines:

「いや、なんか　おかしいな～と思ったんですけど
恩返しをしたいと言われて…ふすまを開けるなって言われたんですよ
んで～　色んな物が無くなってることに気づいたのは鶴が帰った後でしたね」

i think he changed it because he mentioned Shintarou's name and made everyone laughed!

優しさの雫 was swapped with 志 -kokorozashi-, a coupling track for their 恋しくて single. I preferred the former though. When they ended with CORE PRIDE, my heart sank and thought, "Okay, the end." But Takuya∞ talked too much for it to be an ending speech and in my heart I kept chanting, "MONDO PIECE, MONDO PIECE, MONDO PIECE..", Then like magic, the strumming for MONDO PIECE began and I screamed and cried!

I sobbed through the first part of the song (I'm not sure if Vicky was horrified! :O), but after that I sang along. And it was a great song to close my UVERworld concert experience. Because it's such a sweet song! I love it how that it's not only a form of gratitude to the fans, but it is also from Takuya∞ for the other members.

The last line is so cute! It goes like this:

言葉にするとちょっと恥ずかしいけど

本当に出会えてよかったと思ってるよ

(Although it's a little bit embarassing to say this, but I'm very glad we met)

Something like thatlah.

:')

Then off with the speeches again.

For the first show in Osaka, Katsuya was so cute. Well, he's known as the shortest of the band, and his turn to speak was after Nobuto's. Nobuto placed the mic slanting upwards when he spoke so when it got to Katsuya's turn, he had a hard time trying to slant the mic downwards to a level which he's comfortable at. It took him quite some time to adjust and everyone laughed because it was so cute seeing him like that. I think he gave up and had to tiptoe a little. Hahaha. Then when it was Akira's turn, he coolly dislodge the mic off the stand and jumped on Takuya∞'s platform. Everyone went, "Ooooooo" Hahaha

The second night Katsuya jokingly fiddled with the mic again (gah i love it when he smiles!), much to the audience amusement.

Truthfully I find the second night better. The lights were merrier and the stage didn't look as crowded as the first night. Takuya∞ played drums and keyboards as well.

these boxes are for the fans to put gifts for the band. i gave them Malaysian postcards and wrote them messages in English! Good luck in having them read the messages and good luck to them in reading!

Left the hall with Vicky to wait for Yinghui near the entrance when we spotted a friend of the band. I saw him the previous night but I thought I was imagining him so when I saw him again, I told Vicky, and she confirmed. He's a designer for grandcanyon, a Japanese label which has collaboration tees with cartoons like Hello Kitty, and Snoopy and Sesame Street designs. Katsuya designed some stuff and modelled for the Sesame Street line (2010 Spring Collection) for the label before. We call him Hello Kitty guy because he was wearing a Hello Kitty grand canyon tee!

all photos belong to Hello Kitty guy = Nakayama Yoshihi. Visit his yfrog account for more pictures!

omg this is just too cute i feel like biting both of them! i want the tees as well! check out the official ameblo blog for grandcanyon for more images

Cute kan? I mean the tees. LOL. I really like the Hello Kitty ones! I was planning to look for the T-shirts but when I got to Japan, I kinda forgot about them.

-_-

After dinner with the girls I actually walked back to the hall to absorb the night when I saw Hello Kitty guy talking to some fans. I wanted to approach him but I was too shy! He actually looked up at me when I pass him to go to the subway (he was buying something from one of the vending machines at the parking lot beside Theater BRAVA! with his two friends/companions), I should have approached him, because later that night he tweeted this photo (got the info from Vicky after she found out):

source: hello kitty guy's twitter

W.T.F.

If I followed him I might have met Katsuya!

ARGH. ARGH. ARGH. So wasted!

T_T

Oh well. *cries*

As much as I am happy to be able to see UVERworld thrice, (I wonder if I sound ungrateful for this) there's a little dissatisfaction over the fact that I couldn't hear Akira's and Katsuya's guitars well. Even Shintarou's drummings and Nobuto's bass sounded better! I'm not sure why, maybe it was the speakers.. :(

I mean, as I've mentioned before, I love how the two of them play their guitars. They complement each other with their sounds, sometimes Akira taking the main parts and sometimes Katsuya. I love it when they fiddle with the necks of their guitars. Something that I like to do when watching their live videos iss trying to differentiate Akira's and Katsuya's guitar sounds. Using earphones, Katsuya's sounds can be heard with the left side while Akira's on the right. Normally, Akira plays the main parts which can be heard more obvious, but if I focus on the left earphone, sometimes I would get so surprised at the sounds Katsuya makes.

And partially because I wanted to hear the songs that made me a fan: CHANCE. But I guess it's too old, and they will randomly play it depending on their setlist choice. Also the song that would make everyone go "awww" - 君のすきなうた. I really love the Tokyo Dome version, and I really want to watch them play it!

:(

And all the fun songs like energy, シャカビーチ〜Laka Laka La〜, 神集め, SHAMROCK as well.. I wanna hear バーレル as well, because the part, "Just because I know you're a liar, liar, oh what a crap!" is just so nice to sing along to! :P

But of course, they have to promote their new songs, don't they? Yinghui mentioned that "current UVERworld songs are very hard to sing along to" which I have to agree. Their current songs have lyrics which Takuya∞ sings at a very fast speed. I could only sing along to NO.1 (whenever Takuya∞ started saying "俺達が.." automatically I screamed "NO.1!!!" before he could say it hahahaha), CORE PRIDE (although not the urm.. fast parts) and MONDO PIECE while the others I would mumble along or just do the "yeahs" or the "nos" or the "ohs"

So I really want to watch them again. And I won't stop until I get to watch them perform CHANCE and all the songs above. I wanna try going for their livehouse shows, where there's no seating and you just MOSH.

The band will go on an arena tour this autumn, and hopefully they will hold something on Christmas which is broadcast live! If they show it in Singapore I AM DEFINITELY GOING.

TODAY, August 22nd, they will be releasing a documentary film titled THE SONG, which will broadcast in cinemas in Japan, and most of the oversea fans are superjealous that we hope it would be released in DVD, though dRII mentioned that he is thinking of ways of how to show the movie to oversea fans. The trailer makes me wanna watch the film even more!

Latest single, THE OVER will be released on August 29th, but you can catch a snippet of it now since it is used as the ending song for the Japanese drama, 黒の女教師 (Kuro no Onna Kyoushi) starring Eikura Nana. And you can find some radio edit and full versions on YouTube while still available! :D

Out of the six songs released leading up to their 7th album, I must say I am emotionally attached to THE OVER the most. The other five songs are good in their own ways, but THE OVER is a style that UVERworld has never done before. I've ordered the single from CDJapan and hope to receive it on the release date itself, just like how I got BABY BORN & GO/KINJITO and 7th Trigger together with Premium Live on Xmas DVD.

:)