I have had my ticket to this concert for months, but by this last week, I was no longer looking forward to it. After spending a small fortune to see Gackt's play last weekend, I was already hurting and had no desire to spend more money on even a cheap hostel in Tokyo. So, I decided I would brave the trains, try to make it home on the last one, and if I missed it... find a clean corner to hang out in until 5 am.
As I was begrudgingly getting dressed for the concert, I heard my email ding. One of my Japanese friends from the Okinawa trip, Wako, had sent me a message on mixi, a Japanese community site I joined shortly after returning from that trip. It was just a short message, reaffirming that I would indeed be at the Tokyo concert later that day. We pinged back and forth and she promised to introduce me to some more fellow fans when I arrived. Finally I felt a little sliver of frisson run through me.
On the nearly three hour train ride, I nursed a pounding headache. Trying not to imagine my brain as a sponge being viscously squeezed, I reviewed my language notes and tried to mentally prepare some structurally sound sentences to give as an offering when I met up with Wako. Vocabulary, however, is my biggest problem, and there wasn't a whole lot I could do about that just then.
The venue was in a hotel in Shinagawa. However, finding the "Stellar Hall/Ball" was ridiculous. After following all the signs I could and still being lost, I heard some other girls wondering aloud where it was and decided to follow them (they saw me doing so and kept glancing at me, obviously amused). When they asked an employee where it was, the woman looked a little flustered, "It's a little difficult to find, so if you'll just follow me..." Difficult to find... downright impossible! Through two hotel wings, corridors of shopping, passed a bowling hall, up two escalators, across a movie theater lobby, and finally into a big room with an indoor carousel, where she still had to point out to us which door to enter. Unbelievable.
Almost immediately after I got there, a few people started to recognize me, with shouts of "Lindsay-san! Hisashiburi!" (Long time no see!) I even ran straight into Kaori, the woman we sat next to on the plane to/from Okinawa. It made me feel really good, although I discovered immediately, and much to my embarrassment, how hopeless communication was. Sigh. I saw no sign of Wako, but I texted her to let her know I was there.
Soon enough we discovered the real line for the concert was actually outside (as if things weren't confusing enough). Once we stepped outside, I was shocked at all the people. Way more than any other concert I have been to. There were so many cosplayers (cosplay= "costume play" - people dressing up to look like the Miyavi), more than I have ever seen. Some were pretty damn good, too.
There was a huge line roped off to one side, but there was just as many people standing out of line as in line. Not to over emphasize my importance, but it seemed like people really noticed my presence. There were several curious glances sent my way, and I know I heard someone saying something about "Americans". I looked up and this guy was looking over his shoulder, staring straight at me with this huge inviting smile on his face. I have never been the object of one of those looks before (at least, not outside the "creepy" category of men) so I wasn't quite sure what to do with it. Suddenly, however, I heard a yell and turned to find Wako rushing toward me. She grabbed me in a big hug and a shout of "Hisashiburi!!", and if I wasn't drawing attention before, we certainly were then.
Wako dragged me up the hill, asking me about my ticket number. I had #76, but when she told me she had #600 something, I was so shocked I thought I misunderstood. We found some of her friends and, as promised, she introduced me (as "the American") and there was a brief frisson of excitement while hands were thrust toward me. Unfortunately, I didn't have much time to hang out with them... the door were set to open in not too long. Wako apparently knew someone with a number in the 70s, so we waited around until someone appeared.
I had noticed the cute guy from before had been hovering around just outside our circle, and when the others left, he came over to join us. I was (and still am) a little confused about whether or not he actually knew either Wako or the other girl whose name I never did catch, but I am pretty sure he didn't... As it turned out however, he was #70, so the three of us trotted off together to find our place in line.
I have to say... standing in line with them was actually just a little bit horrible for me, because I could not put a sentence together to save my life. I was totally hopeless and know I had to have looked at least as twice as stupid as I felt, which is saying a lot. I did discovered that the doe-eyed boy's name was Jun, he was 18 (>>;;;), a first year in college studying English, Japanese, and history. Other than being a little young, he seemed like a dead ringer for me, wouldn't you say? Yeah... to bad I couldn't TALK! Ugh, it pains me even now...
Skipping ahead to the beginning of the concert... I was able to snag a place in front of the microphone, in the 3rd (sometimes 2nd, sometimes 4th) row. I was so excited I jumped around with glee and my companions laughed at my silliness. However, once the concert started, I found out what I had not seen before because I am so damn short; There were actually 3 microphones set up center stage... and I was not in front of the main one. A bit disappointing, but honestly... it was just SUCH AN AMAZING concert, I almost didn't care that much.
The sound in the venue was just so good, you could hear everything, not just noise.. and it made all the difference. Miyavi was fantastic, but he always is, so the good sound was really what tipped the scales. He was pretty energetic. He even did a little upside down backward playing-over-the-neck trick that I love so much. Because it was the finale, he also treated us to another new song, called "Super Mother Fucker Bitches". Yeah, I'm not crazy about the name. I definitely rolled my eyes when he said it. The song was super fast, but unremarkable. The only really funny part was how he kept emphasizing the name, saying it once in English, then in Japanese (a.k.a English with a Japanese accent), and then one more time after the song had ended.
I did think it was really cute how he called his little three man band, "a fucking samurai trio." (fyi, he is often called the "samurai guitarist")
After two hours, the show was over. I really wanted to stay and talk/hang out with my friends, but I really had to catch that last train. Fortunate for my quick escape, the hotel was pretty close to the station. More fortunate than that, I discovered, was my own good sense of direction, as I am pretty certain, without it, I could have missed my train just trying to find my way out of the building. As it was, I all but bounded down the stairs and hurried just below a run until I made it safely to my train's platform. The entire ride home, every time I successfully caught a connection, I was repeating in my head like a mantra, "I'm gonna make it home, I'm gonna make it home!" Yeah. I really didn't want to be stranded until the first train.
So, all and all, it was really amazing. I was so so SO glad I went. I glowed the rest of the night, and sang encore in the shower.
kekeke.
Cheers,
382 Baer
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