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Arashi Marks 2008 Dream-A-Live: Tokyo Dome, 6/14/08 + 6/15/08
Someone on a Japanese message board wrote that Jun said at some point that one of his future goals for Arashi was to finally have many songs that surpassed A-RA-SHI, because he felt they sometimes relied on A-RA-SHI as a crutch during concerts, and he wanted to reach the point that it wasn't needed anymore.
I think this is the first explanation that makes sense. With Around Asia 2008 on the horizon and the Dome tour just ten shows, if there's a time for them to meet this goal of learning to survive without it for a tour, this would be it.
(General description is still at the Osaka report, this is more talking about what changed and the MCs, not describing stuff all over again.)
Arashi Marks 2008 Dream-A-Live: Tokyo Dome, 6/14/08
This was a good night. I was significantly cheered after Osaka, but now that I'm writing the report later, it's all really dim in comparison to Sunday. Saturday was just average in terms of the crowd and their reactions in terms of the whole time (make no mistake, after Osaka, average was more than enough to make me happy!), but Sunday was EPIC.
Saturday was good for different reasons to me too though, just since I wasn't alone and that was nice, and this is the only time I really got a view of the whole setup, since we were in the stands.
Pre-concert: commercials aired for Dream-A-Live album, Time DVD, Hanadan Final, Yatterman, Sho's Olympics segments, Maou, and (best of all!) 24 JIKAN TEREBI!
They played footage from Aiba's letter intercut with text saying, "It's been four years since then. Arashi is back!" Then they showed messages from each member discussing their goals for the show. Jun said, "I want us to do things we couldn't do four years ago, this time around." Ohno said, "Well...we'll all try to stay awake."
Then finally the interviewer asked each member, "Which of you do you think will cry?" and everyone responded, "Aiba, duh." Hee! Aiba was last and said, "It's not a question of crying or not crying!" The interviewer told him, "All the other members said you'd cry," and Aiba was like, "Dammit!!"
The lights went out. The Dome lit up with the penlights. The music started and each member appeared one by one...and everyone screamed their lungs out as they saw Sho was okay.
Move your body, Happiness, Life goes on, Step and Go
The greetings were sooo energetic. Sho showed off his hand minus the cast and declared that he was doing great, to many screams of glee from the audience.
Parade: LOVE PARADE, Love so sweet, Everybody Zenshin
Oh, fug costumes. So fugly. So sparkly. Nino's was almost as epically fug as the "Taiyou no Sekai" TIME costumes (which have pretty much been unversally agreed upon as the most fug costumes ever made). I don't think there was an inch of that costume that didn't have a fake sparkly flower pinned on. His "LOVE PARADE" solo went, "I'm covered in flowers but not embarrassed about it at all!"
CARNIVAL NIGHT (part 2)
I got my friend to tutor me on the dance three weeks ago, but already forgot the beginning of it. The girl sitting next to me tonight showed me again before the concert started, so I was able to mostly do it this time. *v*
Hip Pop Boogie
Why did I hate the outfit for this before? It's cute! D: The dance for this was fantastic, I was so happy to get to see it this time finally!!
Flashback
The girls in back of us were making catty comments about the female dancers. Apparently this is still a sticking point, I guess ;P We couldn't see who did the bit before the song with the female dancer, and the girl in back said, "Who was it?" and the other girl said, "I couldn't see which member it was, but I don't even want to knooooow!"
Hello Goodbye
I forgot the furi to it already. But in Osaka I couldn't see Aiba at all and was just watching M.A.D., so it was great to see it properly this time. :D He rode his truck from the middle catwalk to the back stage, but for some reason the truck couldn't get all the way up to the back stage, so he made this wild FLYING LEAP off the truck and onto the stage.
MC
When the concert started, because the days are getting so long, even when they turned the lights out in the Dome, the outside daylight was still shining through the top of the Dome. Aiba said, "After all, it's a tent!" and Nino was like, "No, it's a dome, no matter which way you look at it..."
Aiba said he got so excited for Tokyo Dome that he fell asleep the previous night at 7PM. Everyone said, "Isn't that the opposite, to fall asleep early when you're excited?" Unfortunately, he woke up at 4AM that morning, and everyone teased him saying that they thought he looked tired and the reason had made itself known.
Aiba continued the thread from the Nagoya MC with him fawning all over Sho, opening Sho's water bottle for him so Sho wouldn't have to grip it.
They talked about "Maou" a bit. Ohno said, "I'm playing a lawyer!" a peace-signed at the camera cutely while grinning. Then Nino announced that he would be making an appearance in it, to much screaming!
Then, out from the main stage came Tomaaaaaaaaa!!!!!! With glasses on!!!!!!! Toma is probably my favorite non-Arashi JE boy, so the combination of both on stage was enough to make me die of happiness. \o/
Sho asked Toma what Ohno was like on set. Toma said Oh-chan was as silent and spacey as ever, which was causing problems since the staff is now in a constant state of freaking out about Ohno's health; thinking since he's silent that he must be exhausted or sick. Ohno protested that because his character is the bad guy and he doesn't have anyone on his side in the show, he finds it difficult to get along with the other actors, since it's hard to switch from chatting in a friendly way to the intensity of the scenes.
Toma said, even so, there's one thing he wants Oh-chan to stop doing: going fishing. XD "He's playing a lawyer!! And yet his skin is SO DARK!! Look at how tan he is, much darker than me!!!" Everyone else said that they couldn't imagine having enough free time while headlining a drama to go fishing at all. Ohno said that it had been pouring so much lately that location shoots had needed to get cancelled. So he keeps his fishing gear with him, on the chance that if locations get cancelled and then it clears up later, he can go fish. Which has apparently happened. *g*
Toma and Ohno both talked a bit about their characters, not much more than what we already knew from the synopsis, but kept saying, "Is it okay for us to say this much??" Nino chimed in, about to talk about his role, but then wondered, "Can I say it...?" and then didn't say anything, just saying, "Well, I'll be playing a guy." Jun answered, "If you were playing a girl, it would be upsetting."
Ohno and Nino disappeared to change for Ohmiya SK, and the rest of the group walked up to the main stage. Sho said he was happy to see Toma there, since "finally the two Takemoto-kuns are together, riiight!" SO CUTE.
Jun and Sho commented that Ohno and Toma had been together since West Side Story, so they should be fine for the drama. Jun added that in West Side, Ohno and Toma were in one gang, and Jun was in the other, so during all the fight scenes, Jun and Toma were always fighting it out...while Ohno just sort of stood off to the side watching them beat on each other. ;P
Toma talked a little more about "Maou," and Jun wasn't saying anything, so Toma yelled teasingly at him in the style of someone being pissy with Doumyouji in Hanadan, "YOU, WITH THE PERM, TAKE A LITTLE MORE INTEREST IN WHAT I'M SAYING!" XD
Toma left, and there was talk with Aiba, Sho, and Jun about the current ad campaigns everyone was doing. Aiba said he was drinking Shabadaba all the time, and Sho was like (re: the "Shabadaba shinai?" tagline), "So you're doing Shabadaba, then," and Aiba was like, "I am DEFINITELY doing Shabadaba." Sho noted Jun had his Pepsi NEX thing going on, and Jun gazed straight into the camera and said as seriously as possible, "OISHII TOKORO GA II." Hee!!
Sho noted there had been an earthquake, and asked if the audience from the area in question had trouble reaching the concert. A small number of people screamed, and he said, "You did?" and they screamed again in confirmation. He asked them to please enjoy the concert, and said they were all hoping that all areas affected by the earthquake would get back to normal as soon as possible. (I heard later that people couldn't get to the concert anywhere near on time as a result of the quake, and people were trickling in late the whole night, up until the very end.)
Bit more talk about Jun's movies. Aiba said he'd gotten to see the Hanadan photobook and really liked it, but he didn't realize that the book had already come out, and was talking about it like he was impressing the audience by his ability to get an OMG SNEAK PREVIEW of the book:
"And when does the book, which is packed with much exciting content that everyone will enjoy, come out in stores, Matsumoto-kun?!"
"...it's already out. It came out this week."
"...oh."
Jun said "One Love" is playing at a good moment in the movie, though he couldn't say where. Aiba said he'd really liked the opening sequence for "Love so sweet," and acted out the opening shot himself of everyone posed lying down on the ground.
For some reason, someone brought up purikura, and Aiba said, "Purikura, like the purikura they have on the walls at the Johnny's Shop." (Not there anymore, obviously.)
Sho and Jun stared at him and said, "...you went to the Johnny's Shop?!"
Aiba said indignantly, "Yes, I lined up at the Johnny's Shop! Got a problem with that?!"
"YOU LINED UP?!"
"Of course I lined up! What, you think you can cut in line just 'cause you're a Johnny's? If you think that, you've got another think coming!"
"YOU LINED UP?!!!"
"Yes, it was back when I was in third year of middle school, okay? I wanted to see what all the fuss was about!"
I DIED.
Then, Ohmiya SKOSHI! It was much shorter than Osaka. :( Probably only half as long, it didn't go much past the Mikoshi song... I wonder if everyone will be able to sing along with it by the end? It's starting to stick a bit: "Samurai nante mou inai yo, demo mikoshi wa aru yo!" "Ohmiya SK, Ohmiya SK, Ohmiya SK, wasshoi! Ohmiya SKOSHI da yo~~~~"
Naked
Jun yelled out this time, "Hanasanai!" to many shrieks.
Green
Zzz. Doesn't do anything for me. If they had to make a song about the environment, it's good, but...on the whole, too obviously preachy...
theme of Dream-A-Live
Aiba fell on his flips again, is it on purpose? Nino's card trick: awful to the point of being hilarious. Ohno crossed his eyes again. Jun licked his finger. Sho rapped with the text showing up on the screen, and the audience joined in!
Kotoba Yori Taisetsu na Mono
Had been cut down to half-size for Osaka, and at the Kotoba no Chikara finale it was half-size too, so I was happy to finally hear it in full for the first time live, since the "kono natsu dake wa kimi to tomo ni!" is my favorite part of the song.
YOUR SONG
The "lalalalalala" bit with the audience was great.
ENCORES
Only a double, but with the same amount of songs as they'd been doing triples with up until now, just without a break between "One Love" and "Pikanchi Double." The call was reasonably loud afterwards though, despite people sitting down, and I was honestly surprised they didn't come back out... Someone said they thought Jun had work that night and had to leave, though...
OTHER TIDBITS PICKED UP FROM OTHER PEOPLE'S REPORTS
Oguri was at the concert and was sighted by fangirls outside, resulting in screams and general hysteria, apparently? I don't know, wasn't there, but later people who saw/heard it from a distance said the hysteria level was such that they thought it was Nino trying to enter the Dome through the front door. ;P
Ooshima-san was at the concert, and queued for goods along with everyone else. :D AWESOME.
Arashi Marks 2008 Dream-A-Live: Tokyo Dome, 6/15/08
The girl next to me that night had a fairly old Sho uchiwa...and kept waving it way too high, right in front of my face. From the very beginning. I was so pissed. I thought, "If she's been a fan for that long to have an uchiwa that old, how the hell can she not know the keep-it-at-shoulder-level rule?!" I tapped her on the shoulder repeatedly during the first set, and she ignored me. Finally I managed to get her attention between songs, and said, "Excuse me, I can't see because of your uchiwa," and she didn't respond at all, just glared at me and KEPT ON DOING IT! :/ I can even understand getting carried away when the members come close, but she was waving it at eyeline level even when they were on the other side of the Dome...!
This was, however, my only problem with the entire evening, because the concert was perfect. *v* The Dome completely came together tonight.
I was seated at almost the back of the arena, plus I was right on the truck aisle. The parade floats came within about ten feet of me, soooo close. I could definitely see a lot more interesting moments from the stands the night before, but the crowd tonight was so amazing that I got frequently carried away just watching the Dome and dancing.
People started doing the call before the concert, and then the lights went out. I still couldn't get used to it still being light outside at the start, though... And then the music started...
First set: Move Your Body, Happiness, Life Goes On, Step and Go
I was at the back so I could only see the screens. I was way too far away to register anything special/different going on, if anything ^^;
Member greetings
Same as yesterday. Ohno asked, "Are you all sweating?!" and Jun asked, "Are you ready to become happy with us? Then follow the five of us and have fun!" Sho was showing off his hand again at the greeting, but the camera on him was close-up on his face so the point was a little bit moot. ;P
Parade: LOVE PARADE, Love so sweet, Everybody Zenshin
The floats were right in front of me. *_* So, so, so close. They spent more time waving to the stands, but there are of course worse things in life than a close-up view of Arashi from the back.
Sho and Jun both commented in amazement at how intense the audience was. :D
CARNIVAL NIGHT (part 2)
There are few Arashi songs better than this song live when the crowd is into it. :3
Take me faraway
The performance is growing on me more every time I see it. At Osaka, I swear he wasn't dancing to the prerecorded footage, he was just standing on the stage, though. D:
Hip Pop Boogie
Since Sho started out on my side of the stage, I got a much, much better view of the dance than the day before. It really is amazing. I continue to adore the prerecorded footage of Arashi singing and dancing along, I'm absolutely crazy over everyone's outfits there!!
Flashback
Couldn't see yesterday who did the setup bit with the girl dancer, it was definitely Nino this time though. Sho's rap for this song seriously is hot. I don't actually care for this song much on the whole, but the rap...!!!!
Sirius
I really like the falling star backdrop on the stage for this.
Hello Goodbye
UGH HOW IS HE SO CUTE?!!!! I got the better view of this last night. I wish I could register the furi better, I could do it perfectly the first show but I haven't been able to do it since.
We can make it!
Trucks. Jun and Sho were on my side of the arena, but Sho was the one who came closer, drawing to a stop about fifteen rows ahead of me.
Kitto Daijoubu
Got to see Sho rapping the beginning at that close distance~~~
MC
+ Everyone sat down without being asked at the first two concerts, but this time they had to ask us~~ I like it when they have to ask, you can tell the audience is totally into it when they won't sit down!
+ Sho discussed laughing at inappropriate moments in the concert. Apparently Aiba is constantly late on one part of the "Step and Go" choreography, and Sho always gets thrown off when Aiba messes up. But tonight Aiba finally nailed it, and both of them were apparently giggling with glee at each other as they danced it tonight. They reenacted the moment for us, as all of Arashi danced "Step and Go" from the beginning, with Jun counting off the steps as the rest sang it, and the audience clapping out the rhythm. Sho and Aiba started laughing, "HAHAHAHAHAHA!" at each other in this way-too-loud, over-the-top way at the key moment. ADORABLE.
+ Aiba realized here that he had torn his costume a giant hole in the seam. I can't remember who pointed it out, and he started poking at the seam and wailing, "I tore it! I tore it! The tour's not over yet and I tore it!!"
+ Ohmiya fanservice during the MC too. Nino was reenacting a scene they did in Maou together, and he was riiight in Ohno's face. Ohno broke into giggles as Nino was seriously yelling out the line, and everyone started scolding him, "Why are you laughing!! You didn't laugh during this scene, did you?" Ohno was like, "But, he's soooo cloooose...<3" and held up his hand in front of his face to demonstrate how close. WE NOTICED, OHNO. They spoke about Maou some more, mostly just repeating things they'd said when Toma was there the night before, like how antisocial Ohno is with Toma now. Sho asked, "But haven't you guys been friendly since long before this? Don't you go to lunch together now or anything?" Ohno said, "Oh, we'll go eat, but even then it's still totally silent..."
+ Hey!Say!JUMP and Kazama were there: they weren't invited onstage, but they put the spot on them during the MC. I couldn't see, but apparently Chinen had an Ohno uchiwa. WHAT, CHINEN LIKES OHNO? WE ARE ALL SHOCKED AT THIS SUDDEN AND UNEXPECTED DEVELOPMENT
+ Ohmiya SKOSHI was the full act that night, rather than the cut-down one from the night before! They opened with Yuuji saying, "Taka~! My mommy came to see the concert last night. She said, 'You're working hard, huh.' Taka, has your mommy come yet?" Taka mournfully admitted she hadn't. Yuuji cackled that since this was the last night at Tokyo, she wasn't coming at all then, huh?
+ Sho talked about Yatterman a bit, and said, "There's a ton of wire work in the movie." Aiba and Jun were like, I bet that went over well considering your issues with heights. Sho swore up and down that he was extremely good at it. Aiba was like, if you're so great at it, then why are you so awful at the wire work we're doing at the concerts?
But the wire part is after the MC, and Aiba clapped his hand over his mouth, realizing he'd spoiled it for the people there for the first time: "OOPS!! FORGET WHAT I JUST SAID, EVERYBODY!!"
Sho kept acting out, "And then I would go BOUUUUUUUNCE on the wires!" Jun was like, "But what do you do when you get up there after going BOUUUUUUNCE? Please do your lines for everyone and demonstrate." Sho was like, "Oh, well I have my kendama, so it's like...BOUUUUUUUUUNCE..." and then he mimed his Yatterman kendama move and roared out his battle cry. All of them were cracking up.
+ Sho commented on the 24 Jikan Terebi promo before the concert, "Satoshi-kun said, 'We'll try to stay awake,' right? Doesn't 24 Jikan Terebi frown on it if the hosts fall asleep on the job? I don't think we have a choice..."
+ Back to Jun's movies again: Sho asked about the movies, and Jun said you could still see Kakushi Toride, and said Hanadan would be out in two weeks. Sho asked, "Wait, so if Kakushi Toride is still playing, doesn't that mean you can go see Hanadan, come out of the theater, and go right back in to see Kakushi Toride?!" Jun said that most theaters that were planning to keep running Kakushi Toride were different from the theaters who wanted to open Hanadan the first day. Sho was like, "Oh, so people can't go have their own personal Matsumoto Jun movie marathon, too bad..."
+ The caterpillar video: the audience's clapping to the rhythm was amazingly unified and wonderful.
Sakura Sake / Fight Song
When Sho was on the wires, he was just as freaked-out and frozen with fear as always. He called out at the finish, "I SWEAR I'LL DO IT RIGHT IN YATTERMAN, EVERYONE!"
WISH / a Day in Our Life
Back stage, was too occupied with dancing my heart out and the call responses to pay much attention to the members: my view was poor to start with, and uchiwa girl kept blocking me.
Gimmick Game
I'm slightly concerned that if/when this comes out on DVD, I will waste away in front of the screen, watching this on loop as my brain slowly melts from hotness. I really, really like the part when he walks down the catwalk on, "Nande machi no iro ga kirei ni mieru no?" and puts his hands above his face as if to shield himself from the light.
Naked
I really didn't care for this song on the album much, but I really like this live, and I like it more every time I see it. The whole staging and choreography is lovely, and it's just slow-paced enough for Jun's dancing to fall more on the "graceful" side of the line rather than the typical "hilariously spazzy." I really like how he's not trying too hard this time in the performance. Both "Take me faraway" and this had the audience quiet in a focused way (except for the shirtlessness and the, "Hanasanai!" bit again, which both resulted in screams).
Green
I was really bored by this the first two concerts, but the tune had finally started to stick with me and the crowd was chiming in here, it ended up really working nicely.
Once Again
Hot, hot, hot. Sho keeps totally going all-out on the rap here, I love it.
theme of Dream-A-Live
Aiba stuck his flips tonight, maybe wiping out both times before was unintentional, then??? No idea. Nino's magic trick was the same one, but even more badly-done than previously, yet the cheers were like twice as loud as before because it was (almost) his birthday and the crowd was obviously particularly affectionate. XD Same stuff as previous for everyone else.
Lucky Man
Fun, fun, fun, fun, fun. The audience was so loud.
Hadashi no Mirai
Nino's truck halted RIGHT NEXT TO ME. He was literally five or six feet away from me.
Oh yeah!
Osaka Dome banned jumping, so it was lame there (I thought then it was going to be like the Tokyo Dome X Japan concert, where we were told not to jump and not a single person in the Dome paid any attention...but nobody was moving that day anyway much less against the rules). But~! This time? WE JUMPED. I love this song.
Kotoba Yori mo Taisetsu na Mono
The fans were just louder and louder and louder, singing along...
YOUR SONG
This is the song that's grown on me the most live. The audience was always invited to sing the "lalalalalala" part, but by this point we were so loud that the whole thing was sung along by the Dome at an incredible volume. It was so unified and amazing...
FIRST ENCORE
The call was instantaneous and loud. People were not sitting down during the calls much, even though they had previously at the other concerts. This crowd was clearly in it for the long haul. Definitely not leaving the dome without a triple encore unless they had confirmation that Arashi had left the building! It was great.
Do my best / One Love
The spotlights on the moving stage were shining right in the eyes of everyone in my area of the arena. Everyone was desperately trying to shield their eyes and see, but we were totally blinded for almost the whole thing.
Kansha Kangeki Ame Arashi
Sooo great. So amazing doing the "ARASHI!" call response at that level of unity and volume.
At the close, Jun once again did the, "Oretachi no namae wa....nandattakke?" in an adorable way, feigning forgetfuless. Sho and Ohno continued their cute poses at the exit from the night before.
DOUBLE ENCORE
The call was still loud as hell.
Gori Muchuu
LOUD. "RAINY CLOUDY FINE TODAY! DIZZY CRAZY VAIN TODAY!"
Pikanchi Double
ALSO LOUD. The audience responses were not really even registering on the scale except visually with the corresponding penlight motions, because by this point we were singing along so loudly that the call responses weren't any louder than our normal volume level. Nino left out his solo here to listen to the Dome sing in his place. I think here is where the main screen broke: a big section of it shorted out and became snow, but at least it waited until the end to break! Sho and Ohno continued to exit cutely.
TRIPLE ENCORE
They came back out fast, almost immediately: the first time this tour they'd gone past "Pikanchi Double." And, to my amazement, when they came out, an isolated section of the stands screamed out, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NINO!" just as Jun began to speak (how did they organize that?!!!). Jun said to them, "Excuse me, but I'm the one talking here!" but then relented and said, "Well, since we're all here, then let's sing it!" and the whole Dome sang happy birthday to Nino. Nino thanked everyone ("Thank you all for coming here tonight, just for me and only me..." Jun yelled, "OI!!!") and then laughed, "I'm getting on in years, huh. :D;;"
Jun thanked the audience, saying in a very heartfelt way that this was their third round doing Tokyo Dome, and he had never even imagined back when they'd debuted that they would be singing in front of this many people. He asked everyone else, "Did you guys think this would happen, this many people?" and Nino answered, "Well, considering we debuted across the ocean, you know..." Sho chimed in, "Yeah, nobody was really there when we debuted, right, so we weren't even thinking about audiences in terms of scale at the time..."
Then Jun said sincerely, "Please, all of you, come meet with us again..."
The audience cheered, and we took up the A-RA-SHI call yet again: clearly not calling for the boys, this time, but a chant for the song. I think Sho said mock-wonderingly here, "You know, I think they're calling something to us. I wonder what they want!"
Jun smiled and said deliberately, "Well...there is one song I want us to sing: a song that should always be sung with all of us together..."
Everyone screamed even more, the audience clearly convinced we'd finally achieved victory at long last.
Jun laughed and said teasingly, "No, no! Wait a sec! What I'M thinking we should sing, and what YOU'RE thinking we should sing, are two totally different things!"
Everyone around me wailed as if to say, "STOP BEING A TEASE, JUN, WE'RE ALREADY BEGGING YOU!" and continued to chant in the hope of surrender. XD The rest of the members were lined up looking at Jun, acting as if they weren't sure which way it was going to go themselves. But Jun wouldn't break and insisted firmly, "We already discussed it beforehand, and agreed unanimously which song it would be, if we were to go to a triple!"
Then Jun finally yelled, "Okay... HERO!"
In response, Aiba and Sho (?) toppled over and hit the floor like they were just as shocked as the audience, in a perfect imitation of my feelings. *g*
Just that whole bit seemed to lighten the mood, though, since this was the first time I think they acknowledged the "A-RA-SHI" situation even indirectly. It was clear they're more than aware that we want to hear it, they showed they want to be singing it too, but we just need to wait.
And singing "Hero" with the Dome in unison was a perfectly good consolation prize. This was the first concert that really felt "finished" to me so far: "Pikanchi Double" is still just too wistful-sounding for me as a closer, as much as I love it. I don't like it as the note to end on, the concert doesn't feel like it's over when they finish with it. I always felt like the audience was assuming they'd come out again after Pikanchi Double both times previously...
But after they walked offstage after "Hero," there was no more calling, everyone gathered their stuff and got ready to leave, totally satisfied.
I heard complaints early on that the concert didn't seem tight enough in terms of its theme. I felt that a bit the first round at Osaka, but on the second round, it all somehow clicked for me what they were trying to do here. I just wish they had communicated a bit more with the audience about it, so that everyone hadn't been going for the past month thinking they were being punished due to all the changes going on from the typical standard. This felt like a tour where they were were trying to set various hurdles for themselves personally within the context of the concerts, but would it have killed them to talk a bit more about that, rather than confusing the fans...?
I remember Jun said he thought the meaning of "Dream-A-Live" as a theme was "the gap between dream and reality; the Arashi you see on TV, and the Arashi that really exists." At Osaka, I was like, "Wha...? I don't get it." But after Tokyo I was like, ahhh, okay, I see it now.
I'm really looking forward to Around Asia, though, because Dream-A-Live seems like the tour for Arashi to try to prove how they're capable of changing as they mature and move towards the future, but Around Asia going on during the anniversary will probably be about going back to their roots.
Still Sapporo left to go...!
I think this is the first explanation that makes sense. With Around Asia 2008 on the horizon and the Dome tour just ten shows, if there's a time for them to meet this goal of learning to survive without it for a tour, this would be it.
(General description is still at the Osaka report, this is more talking about what changed and the MCs, not describing stuff all over again.)
Arashi Marks 2008 Dream-A-Live: Tokyo Dome, 6/14/08
This was a good night. I was significantly cheered after Osaka, but now that I'm writing the report later, it's all really dim in comparison to Sunday. Saturday was just average in terms of the crowd and their reactions in terms of the whole time (make no mistake, after Osaka, average was more than enough to make me happy!), but Sunday was EPIC.
Saturday was good for different reasons to me too though, just since I wasn't alone and that was nice, and this is the only time I really got a view of the whole setup, since we were in the stands.
Pre-concert: commercials aired for Dream-A-Live album, Time DVD, Hanadan Final, Yatterman, Sho's Olympics segments, Maou, and (best of all!) 24 JIKAN TEREBI!
They played footage from Aiba's letter intercut with text saying, "It's been four years since then. Arashi is back!" Then they showed messages from each member discussing their goals for the show. Jun said, "I want us to do things we couldn't do four years ago, this time around." Ohno said, "Well...we'll all try to stay awake."
Then finally the interviewer asked each member, "Which of you do you think will cry?" and everyone responded, "Aiba, duh." Hee! Aiba was last and said, "It's not a question of crying or not crying!" The interviewer told him, "All the other members said you'd cry," and Aiba was like, "Dammit!!"
The lights went out. The Dome lit up with the penlights. The music started and each member appeared one by one...and everyone screamed their lungs out as they saw Sho was okay.
Move your body, Happiness, Life goes on, Step and Go
The greetings were sooo energetic. Sho showed off his hand minus the cast and declared that he was doing great, to many screams of glee from the audience.
Parade: LOVE PARADE, Love so sweet, Everybody Zenshin
Oh, fug costumes. So fugly. So sparkly. Nino's was almost as epically fug as the "Taiyou no Sekai" TIME costumes (which have pretty much been unversally agreed upon as the most fug costumes ever made). I don't think there was an inch of that costume that didn't have a fake sparkly flower pinned on. His "LOVE PARADE" solo went, "I'm covered in flowers but not embarrassed about it at all!"
CARNIVAL NIGHT (part 2)
I got my friend to tutor me on the dance three weeks ago, but already forgot the beginning of it. The girl sitting next to me tonight showed me again before the concert started, so I was able to mostly do it this time. *v*
Hip Pop Boogie
Why did I hate the outfit for this before? It's cute! D: The dance for this was fantastic, I was so happy to get to see it this time finally!!
Flashback
The girls in back of us were making catty comments about the female dancers. Apparently this is still a sticking point, I guess ;P We couldn't see who did the bit before the song with the female dancer, and the girl in back said, "Who was it?" and the other girl said, "I couldn't see which member it was, but I don't even want to knooooow!"
Hello Goodbye
I forgot the furi to it already. But in Osaka I couldn't see Aiba at all and was just watching M.A.D., so it was great to see it properly this time. :D He rode his truck from the middle catwalk to the back stage, but for some reason the truck couldn't get all the way up to the back stage, so he made this wild FLYING LEAP off the truck and onto the stage.
MC
When the concert started, because the days are getting so long, even when they turned the lights out in the Dome, the outside daylight was still shining through the top of the Dome. Aiba said, "After all, it's a tent!" and Nino was like, "No, it's a dome, no matter which way you look at it..."
Aiba said he got so excited for Tokyo Dome that he fell asleep the previous night at 7PM. Everyone said, "Isn't that the opposite, to fall asleep early when you're excited?" Unfortunately, he woke up at 4AM that morning, and everyone teased him saying that they thought he looked tired and the reason had made itself known.
Aiba continued the thread from the Nagoya MC with him fawning all over Sho, opening Sho's water bottle for him so Sho wouldn't have to grip it.
They talked about "Maou" a bit. Ohno said, "I'm playing a lawyer!" a peace-signed at the camera cutely while grinning. Then Nino announced that he would be making an appearance in it, to much screaming!
Then, out from the main stage came Tomaaaaaaaaa!!!!!! With glasses on!!!!!!! Toma is probably my favorite non-Arashi JE boy, so the combination of both on stage was enough to make me die of happiness. \o/
Sho asked Toma what Ohno was like on set. Toma said Oh-chan was as silent and spacey as ever, which was causing problems since the staff is now in a constant state of freaking out about Ohno's health; thinking since he's silent that he must be exhausted or sick. Ohno protested that because his character is the bad guy and he doesn't have anyone on his side in the show, he finds it difficult to get along with the other actors, since it's hard to switch from chatting in a friendly way to the intensity of the scenes.
Toma said, even so, there's one thing he wants Oh-chan to stop doing: going fishing. XD "He's playing a lawyer!! And yet his skin is SO DARK!! Look at how tan he is, much darker than me!!!" Everyone else said that they couldn't imagine having enough free time while headlining a drama to go fishing at all. Ohno said that it had been pouring so much lately that location shoots had needed to get cancelled. So he keeps his fishing gear with him, on the chance that if locations get cancelled and then it clears up later, he can go fish. Which has apparently happened. *g*
Toma and Ohno both talked a bit about their characters, not much more than what we already knew from the synopsis, but kept saying, "Is it okay for us to say this much??" Nino chimed in, about to talk about his role, but then wondered, "Can I say it...?" and then didn't say anything, just saying, "Well, I'll be playing a guy." Jun answered, "If you were playing a girl, it would be upsetting."
Ohno and Nino disappeared to change for Ohmiya SK, and the rest of the group walked up to the main stage. Sho said he was happy to see Toma there, since "finally the two Takemoto-kuns are together, riiight!" SO CUTE.
Jun and Sho commented that Ohno and Toma had been together since West Side Story, so they should be fine for the drama. Jun added that in West Side, Ohno and Toma were in one gang, and Jun was in the other, so during all the fight scenes, Jun and Toma were always fighting it out...while Ohno just sort of stood off to the side watching them beat on each other. ;P
Toma talked a little more about "Maou," and Jun wasn't saying anything, so Toma yelled teasingly at him in the style of someone being pissy with Doumyouji in Hanadan, "YOU, WITH THE PERM, TAKE A LITTLE MORE INTEREST IN WHAT I'M SAYING!" XD
Toma left, and there was talk with Aiba, Sho, and Jun about the current ad campaigns everyone was doing. Aiba said he was drinking Shabadaba all the time, and Sho was like (re: the "Shabadaba shinai?" tagline), "So you're doing Shabadaba, then," and Aiba was like, "I am DEFINITELY doing Shabadaba." Sho noted Jun had his Pepsi NEX thing going on, and Jun gazed straight into the camera and said as seriously as possible, "OISHII TOKORO GA II." Hee!!
Sho noted there had been an earthquake, and asked if the audience from the area in question had trouble reaching the concert. A small number of people screamed, and he said, "You did?" and they screamed again in confirmation. He asked them to please enjoy the concert, and said they were all hoping that all areas affected by the earthquake would get back to normal as soon as possible. (I heard later that people couldn't get to the concert anywhere near on time as a result of the quake, and people were trickling in late the whole night, up until the very end.)
Bit more talk about Jun's movies. Aiba said he'd gotten to see the Hanadan photobook and really liked it, but he didn't realize that the book had already come out, and was talking about it like he was impressing the audience by his ability to get an OMG SNEAK PREVIEW of the book:
"And when does the book, which is packed with much exciting content that everyone will enjoy, come out in stores, Matsumoto-kun?!"
"...it's already out. It came out this week."
"...oh."
Jun said "One Love" is playing at a good moment in the movie, though he couldn't say where. Aiba said he'd really liked the opening sequence for "Love so sweet," and acted out the opening shot himself of everyone posed lying down on the ground.
For some reason, someone brought up purikura, and Aiba said, "Purikura, like the purikura they have on the walls at the Johnny's Shop." (Not there anymore, obviously.)
Sho and Jun stared at him and said, "...you went to the Johnny's Shop?!"
Aiba said indignantly, "Yes, I lined up at the Johnny's Shop! Got a problem with that?!"
"YOU LINED UP?!"
"Of course I lined up! What, you think you can cut in line just 'cause you're a Johnny's? If you think that, you've got another think coming!"
"YOU LINED UP?!!!"
"Yes, it was back when I was in third year of middle school, okay? I wanted to see what all the fuss was about!"
I DIED.
Then, Ohmiya SKOSHI! It was much shorter than Osaka. :( Probably only half as long, it didn't go much past the Mikoshi song... I wonder if everyone will be able to sing along with it by the end? It's starting to stick a bit: "Samurai nante mou inai yo, demo mikoshi wa aru yo!" "Ohmiya SK, Ohmiya SK, Ohmiya SK, wasshoi! Ohmiya SKOSHI da yo~~~~"
Naked
Jun yelled out this time, "Hanasanai!" to many shrieks.
Green
Zzz. Doesn't do anything for me. If they had to make a song about the environment, it's good, but...on the whole, too obviously preachy...
theme of Dream-A-Live
Aiba fell on his flips again, is it on purpose? Nino's card trick: awful to the point of being hilarious. Ohno crossed his eyes again. Jun licked his finger. Sho rapped with the text showing up on the screen, and the audience joined in!
Kotoba Yori Taisetsu na Mono
Had been cut down to half-size for Osaka, and at the Kotoba no Chikara finale it was half-size too, so I was happy to finally hear it in full for the first time live, since the "kono natsu dake wa kimi to tomo ni!" is my favorite part of the song.
YOUR SONG
The "lalalalalala" bit with the audience was great.
ENCORES
Only a double, but with the same amount of songs as they'd been doing triples with up until now, just without a break between "One Love" and "Pikanchi Double." The call was reasonably loud afterwards though, despite people sitting down, and I was honestly surprised they didn't come back out... Someone said they thought Jun had work that night and had to leave, though...
OTHER TIDBITS PICKED UP FROM OTHER PEOPLE'S REPORTS
Oguri was at the concert and was sighted by fangirls outside, resulting in screams and general hysteria, apparently? I don't know, wasn't there, but later people who saw/heard it from a distance said the hysteria level was such that they thought it was Nino trying to enter the Dome through the front door. ;P
Ooshima-san was at the concert, and queued for goods along with everyone else. :D AWESOME.
Arashi Marks 2008 Dream-A-Live: Tokyo Dome, 6/15/08
The girl next to me that night had a fairly old Sho uchiwa...and kept waving it way too high, right in front of my face. From the very beginning. I was so pissed. I thought, "If she's been a fan for that long to have an uchiwa that old, how the hell can she not know the keep-it-at-shoulder-level rule?!" I tapped her on the shoulder repeatedly during the first set, and she ignored me. Finally I managed to get her attention between songs, and said, "Excuse me, I can't see because of your uchiwa," and she didn't respond at all, just glared at me and KEPT ON DOING IT! :/ I can even understand getting carried away when the members come close, but she was waving it at eyeline level even when they were on the other side of the Dome...!
This was, however, my only problem with the entire evening, because the concert was perfect. *v* The Dome completely came together tonight.
I was seated at almost the back of the arena, plus I was right on the truck aisle. The parade floats came within about ten feet of me, soooo close. I could definitely see a lot more interesting moments from the stands the night before, but the crowd tonight was so amazing that I got frequently carried away just watching the Dome and dancing.
People started doing the call before the concert, and then the lights went out. I still couldn't get used to it still being light outside at the start, though... And then the music started...
First set: Move Your Body, Happiness, Life Goes On, Step and Go
I was at the back so I could only see the screens. I was way too far away to register anything special/different going on, if anything ^^;
Member greetings
Same as yesterday. Ohno asked, "Are you all sweating?!" and Jun asked, "Are you ready to become happy with us? Then follow the five of us and have fun!" Sho was showing off his hand again at the greeting, but the camera on him was close-up on his face so the point was a little bit moot. ;P
Parade: LOVE PARADE, Love so sweet, Everybody Zenshin
The floats were right in front of me. *_* So, so, so close. They spent more time waving to the stands, but there are of course worse things in life than a close-up view of Arashi from the back.
Sho and Jun both commented in amazement at how intense the audience was. :D
CARNIVAL NIGHT (part 2)
There are few Arashi songs better than this song live when the crowd is into it. :3
Take me faraway
The performance is growing on me more every time I see it. At Osaka, I swear he wasn't dancing to the prerecorded footage, he was just standing on the stage, though. D:
Hip Pop Boogie
Since Sho started out on my side of the stage, I got a much, much better view of the dance than the day before. It really is amazing. I continue to adore the prerecorded footage of Arashi singing and dancing along, I'm absolutely crazy over everyone's outfits there!!
Flashback
Couldn't see yesterday who did the setup bit with the girl dancer, it was definitely Nino this time though. Sho's rap for this song seriously is hot. I don't actually care for this song much on the whole, but the rap...!!!!
Sirius
I really like the falling star backdrop on the stage for this.
Hello Goodbye
UGH HOW IS HE SO CUTE?!!!! I got the better view of this last night. I wish I could register the furi better, I could do it perfectly the first show but I haven't been able to do it since.
We can make it!
Trucks. Jun and Sho were on my side of the arena, but Sho was the one who came closer, drawing to a stop about fifteen rows ahead of me.
Kitto Daijoubu
Got to see Sho rapping the beginning at that close distance~~~
MC
+ Everyone sat down without being asked at the first two concerts, but this time they had to ask us~~ I like it when they have to ask, you can tell the audience is totally into it when they won't sit down!
+ Sho discussed laughing at inappropriate moments in the concert. Apparently Aiba is constantly late on one part of the "Step and Go" choreography, and Sho always gets thrown off when Aiba messes up. But tonight Aiba finally nailed it, and both of them were apparently giggling with glee at each other as they danced it tonight. They reenacted the moment for us, as all of Arashi danced "Step and Go" from the beginning, with Jun counting off the steps as the rest sang it, and the audience clapping out the rhythm. Sho and Aiba started laughing, "HAHAHAHAHAHA!" at each other in this way-too-loud, over-the-top way at the key moment. ADORABLE.
+ Aiba realized here that he had torn his costume a giant hole in the seam. I can't remember who pointed it out, and he started poking at the seam and wailing, "I tore it! I tore it! The tour's not over yet and I tore it!!"
+ Ohmiya fanservice during the MC too. Nino was reenacting a scene they did in Maou together, and he was riiight in Ohno's face. Ohno broke into giggles as Nino was seriously yelling out the line, and everyone started scolding him, "Why are you laughing!! You didn't laugh during this scene, did you?" Ohno was like, "But, he's soooo cloooose...<3" and held up his hand in front of his face to demonstrate how close. WE NOTICED, OHNO. They spoke about Maou some more, mostly just repeating things they'd said when Toma was there the night before, like how antisocial Ohno is with Toma now. Sho asked, "But haven't you guys been friendly since long before this? Don't you go to lunch together now or anything?" Ohno said, "Oh, we'll go eat, but even then it's still totally silent..."
+ Hey!Say!JUMP and Kazama were there: they weren't invited onstage, but they put the spot on them during the MC. I couldn't see, but apparently Chinen had an Ohno uchiwa. WHAT, CHINEN LIKES OHNO? WE ARE ALL SHOCKED AT THIS SUDDEN AND UNEXPECTED DEVELOPMENT
+ Ohmiya SKOSHI was the full act that night, rather than the cut-down one from the night before! They opened with Yuuji saying, "Taka~! My mommy came to see the concert last night. She said, 'You're working hard, huh.' Taka, has your mommy come yet?" Taka mournfully admitted she hadn't. Yuuji cackled that since this was the last night at Tokyo, she wasn't coming at all then, huh?
+ Sho talked about Yatterman a bit, and said, "There's a ton of wire work in the movie." Aiba and Jun were like, I bet that went over well considering your issues with heights. Sho swore up and down that he was extremely good at it. Aiba was like, if you're so great at it, then why are you so awful at the wire work we're doing at the concerts?
But the wire part is after the MC, and Aiba clapped his hand over his mouth, realizing he'd spoiled it for the people there for the first time: "OOPS!! FORGET WHAT I JUST SAID, EVERYBODY!!"
Sho kept acting out, "And then I would go BOUUUUUUUNCE on the wires!" Jun was like, "But what do you do when you get up there after going BOUUUUUUNCE? Please do your lines for everyone and demonstrate." Sho was like, "Oh, well I have my kendama, so it's like...BOUUUUUUUUUNCE..." and then he mimed his Yatterman kendama move and roared out his battle cry. All of them were cracking up.
+ Sho commented on the 24 Jikan Terebi promo before the concert, "Satoshi-kun said, 'We'll try to stay awake,' right? Doesn't 24 Jikan Terebi frown on it if the hosts fall asleep on the job? I don't think we have a choice..."
+ Back to Jun's movies again: Sho asked about the movies, and Jun said you could still see Kakushi Toride, and said Hanadan would be out in two weeks. Sho asked, "Wait, so if Kakushi Toride is still playing, doesn't that mean you can go see Hanadan, come out of the theater, and go right back in to see Kakushi Toride?!" Jun said that most theaters that were planning to keep running Kakushi Toride were different from the theaters who wanted to open Hanadan the first day. Sho was like, "Oh, so people can't go have their own personal Matsumoto Jun movie marathon, too bad..."
+ The caterpillar video: the audience's clapping to the rhythm was amazingly unified and wonderful.
Sakura Sake / Fight Song
When Sho was on the wires, he was just as freaked-out and frozen with fear as always. He called out at the finish, "I SWEAR I'LL DO IT RIGHT IN YATTERMAN, EVERYONE!"
WISH / a Day in Our Life
Back stage, was too occupied with dancing my heart out and the call responses to pay much attention to the members: my view was poor to start with, and uchiwa girl kept blocking me.
Gimmick Game
I'm slightly concerned that if/when this comes out on DVD, I will waste away in front of the screen, watching this on loop as my brain slowly melts from hotness. I really, really like the part when he walks down the catwalk on, "Nande machi no iro ga kirei ni mieru no?" and puts his hands above his face as if to shield himself from the light.
Naked
I really didn't care for this song on the album much, but I really like this live, and I like it more every time I see it. The whole staging and choreography is lovely, and it's just slow-paced enough for Jun's dancing to fall more on the "graceful" side of the line rather than the typical "hilariously spazzy." I really like how he's not trying too hard this time in the performance. Both "Take me faraway" and this had the audience quiet in a focused way (except for the shirtlessness and the, "Hanasanai!" bit again, which both resulted in screams).
Green
I was really bored by this the first two concerts, but the tune had finally started to stick with me and the crowd was chiming in here, it ended up really working nicely.
Once Again
Hot, hot, hot. Sho keeps totally going all-out on the rap here, I love it.
theme of Dream-A-Live
Aiba stuck his flips tonight, maybe wiping out both times before was unintentional, then??? No idea. Nino's magic trick was the same one, but even more badly-done than previously, yet the cheers were like twice as loud as before because it was (almost) his birthday and the crowd was obviously particularly affectionate. XD Same stuff as previous for everyone else.
Lucky Man
Fun, fun, fun, fun, fun. The audience was so loud.
Hadashi no Mirai
Nino's truck halted RIGHT NEXT TO ME. He was literally five or six feet away from me.
Oh yeah!
Osaka Dome banned jumping, so it was lame there (I thought then it was going to be like the Tokyo Dome X Japan concert, where we were told not to jump and not a single person in the Dome paid any attention...but nobody was moving that day anyway much less against the rules). But~! This time? WE JUMPED. I love this song.
Kotoba Yori mo Taisetsu na Mono
The fans were just louder and louder and louder, singing along...
YOUR SONG
This is the song that's grown on me the most live. The audience was always invited to sing the "lalalalalala" part, but by this point we were so loud that the whole thing was sung along by the Dome at an incredible volume. It was so unified and amazing...
FIRST ENCORE
The call was instantaneous and loud. People were not sitting down during the calls much, even though they had previously at the other concerts. This crowd was clearly in it for the long haul. Definitely not leaving the dome without a triple encore unless they had confirmation that Arashi had left the building! It was great.
Do my best / One Love
The spotlights on the moving stage were shining right in the eyes of everyone in my area of the arena. Everyone was desperately trying to shield their eyes and see, but we were totally blinded for almost the whole thing.
Kansha Kangeki Ame Arashi
Sooo great. So amazing doing the "ARASHI!" call response at that level of unity and volume.
At the close, Jun once again did the, "Oretachi no namae wa....nandattakke?" in an adorable way, feigning forgetfuless. Sho and Ohno continued their cute poses at the exit from the night before.
DOUBLE ENCORE
The call was still loud as hell.
Gori Muchuu
LOUD. "RAINY CLOUDY FINE TODAY! DIZZY CRAZY VAIN TODAY!"
Pikanchi Double
ALSO LOUD. The audience responses were not really even registering on the scale except visually with the corresponding penlight motions, because by this point we were singing along so loudly that the call responses weren't any louder than our normal volume level. Nino left out his solo here to listen to the Dome sing in his place. I think here is where the main screen broke: a big section of it shorted out and became snow, but at least it waited until the end to break! Sho and Ohno continued to exit cutely.
TRIPLE ENCORE
They came back out fast, almost immediately: the first time this tour they'd gone past "Pikanchi Double." And, to my amazement, when they came out, an isolated section of the stands screamed out, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NINO!" just as Jun began to speak (how did they organize that?!!!). Jun said to them, "Excuse me, but I'm the one talking here!" but then relented and said, "Well, since we're all here, then let's sing it!" and the whole Dome sang happy birthday to Nino. Nino thanked everyone ("Thank you all for coming here tonight, just for me and only me..." Jun yelled, "OI!!!") and then laughed, "I'm getting on in years, huh. :D;;"
Jun thanked the audience, saying in a very heartfelt way that this was their third round doing Tokyo Dome, and he had never even imagined back when they'd debuted that they would be singing in front of this many people. He asked everyone else, "Did you guys think this would happen, this many people?" and Nino answered, "Well, considering we debuted across the ocean, you know..." Sho chimed in, "Yeah, nobody was really there when we debuted, right, so we weren't even thinking about audiences in terms of scale at the time..."
Then Jun said sincerely, "Please, all of you, come meet with us again..."
The audience cheered, and we took up the A-RA-SHI call yet again: clearly not calling for the boys, this time, but a chant for the song. I think Sho said mock-wonderingly here, "You know, I think they're calling something to us. I wonder what they want!"
Jun smiled and said deliberately, "Well...there is one song I want us to sing: a song that should always be sung with all of us together..."
Everyone screamed even more, the audience clearly convinced we'd finally achieved victory at long last.
Jun laughed and said teasingly, "No, no! Wait a sec! What I'M thinking we should sing, and what YOU'RE thinking we should sing, are two totally different things!"
Everyone around me wailed as if to say, "STOP BEING A TEASE, JUN, WE'RE ALREADY BEGGING YOU!" and continued to chant in the hope of surrender. XD The rest of the members were lined up looking at Jun, acting as if they weren't sure which way it was going to go themselves. But Jun wouldn't break and insisted firmly, "We already discussed it beforehand, and agreed unanimously which song it would be, if we were to go to a triple!"
Then Jun finally yelled, "Okay... HERO!"
In response, Aiba and Sho (?) toppled over and hit the floor like they were just as shocked as the audience, in a perfect imitation of my feelings. *g*
Just that whole bit seemed to lighten the mood, though, since this was the first time I think they acknowledged the "A-RA-SHI" situation even indirectly. It was clear they're more than aware that we want to hear it, they showed they want to be singing it too, but we just need to wait.
And singing "Hero" with the Dome in unison was a perfectly good consolation prize. This was the first concert that really felt "finished" to me so far: "Pikanchi Double" is still just too wistful-sounding for me as a closer, as much as I love it. I don't like it as the note to end on, the concert doesn't feel like it's over when they finish with it. I always felt like the audience was assuming they'd come out again after Pikanchi Double both times previously...
But after they walked offstage after "Hero," there was no more calling, everyone gathered their stuff and got ready to leave, totally satisfied.
I heard complaints early on that the concert didn't seem tight enough in terms of its theme. I felt that a bit the first round at Osaka, but on the second round, it all somehow clicked for me what they were trying to do here. I just wish they had communicated a bit more with the audience about it, so that everyone hadn't been going for the past month thinking they were being punished due to all the changes going on from the typical standard. This felt like a tour where they were were trying to set various hurdles for themselves personally within the context of the concerts, but would it have killed them to talk a bit more about that, rather than confusing the fans...?
I remember Jun said he thought the meaning of "Dream-A-Live" as a theme was "the gap between dream and reality; the Arashi you see on TV, and the Arashi that really exists." At Osaka, I was like, "Wha...? I don't get it." But after Tokyo I was like, ahhh, okay, I see it now.
I'm really looking forward to Around Asia, though, because Dream-A-Live seems like the tour for Arashi to try to prove how they're capable of changing as they mature and move towards the future, but Around Asia going on during the anniversary will probably be about going back to their roots.
Still Sapporo left to go...!