Live Journey Station 1: Fukuoka!

Live Journey tour opening day!
Station 1 in Fukuoka!!
Date/time: 5 May 2011 / 18:30
Place: Fukuoka Sunpalace Hall

For each Journey I’ll post travel logs too, feel free to skip it.

Yes it’s damn long. Please enjoy it!

Before Fukuoka..
Arrived on Friday in Kumamoto (south of Fukuoka), since it’s cheaper from Tokyo and lots of tourism spots. The city itself is beautiful, they have city trams!! Reminded me of Melbourne. xD

Suizenji Park and Kumamoto Castle! Btw those are staff not cosplayers.

Visited Kurume on the way. Prayed for Live Journey in Suitengu Shrine.

Reached Fukuoka in the evening and dropped dead until morning for goods queue (details in next post!).

Curry Journey in Fukuoka

Like Nana’s routine, receive power from delicious curry before live!! o(≧▽≦)o♪ Katsu curry from famous Fukuoka-only Taisho Tei!

Live starts!

Everyone was REALLY pumped and impatient. When the “filler song” stopped everyone shouted (“Uooooo!!!”) …just to find another filler song started playing (“Aaa…..orz”). But finally lights dimmed out..

Opening Video. A little boy in a forest knocking on a cottage’s door.. someone opened the door, it’s Nana! The kid gave Nana a letter.. she found a white feather inside. When Nana was about to ask, the kid mysteriously disappeared. And so Nana began her Journey…..

Costume #1. Huuuge skyblue-colored dress.

1. SCARLET KNIGHT
2. ETERNAL BLAZE
3. 十字架のスプレッド (Juujika no Spread)

EPIC start!! Scarlet Knight first!! Everyone rushed to grab red lights! ≡ﾟДﾟ)━!! and while we were still overwhelmed with it, a familiar tune played.. (everyone: “So fast!”). Everyone rushed to grab UO! ≡ﾟДﾟ)━!! .. lol. And Spread turned out to be blue.. I thought it was UO in SP4?

MC. Greetings and title call.
-Nana was glad she could say the title properly since it’s ultra-long this time.. with new friend Joysound x UGA! She said that everyone must know this ultimate karaoke machine for anisongs lols.
-Officially opened “Live Journey, Station 1 Fukuoka, departs!”

Costume #2. Black top/short dance costume.

4. 恋の抑止力 (Koi no Yokushiryoku)
5. HIGH-STEPPER
6. Polaris

-Sang the first KoiYoku line then ran backstage to change costume while Itaruvic’s solo was playing. Here, an epic Nana moment (exclusive to 1F right-area) happened. Nana ran with all her might to back-door on the right, stepped on her dress, and EPICLY fell on her face……. ^^;;;;;; I’m sure she’s fine with many staff back there, but yeah sorry to LOLWUT first before worrying. xD

-Need to review KoiYoku dance. It’s very hard to resist dancing.. xD
-HiSte dance was rather…. ero? But maybe it’s just me. LOVE IT!

-OMG I’ve been waiting for Polaris live for 1 year and 3 months. xD Nana did well, but I guess it’s the sudden change from heavy dance-routine, she was kinda sorting her breath out. But I’m sure she’ll improve!

Cherry Boys. New theme song 「俺たちのJOURNEY」 (Oretachi no Journey). Doesn’t sound as good compared to Arashi-ripoff Dear Princess lol. 7 members crammed in.. Itaruvic (guitar), Tom-kun (key), Yutapon (drum), Martin (drum), Fire (sax), Kenny (guitar), and Ryutan (bass).

Costume #3. Pink mini-dress. Black polkadots in top. Colorful ribbons attached in skirt.

7. ストロボシネマ (Strobe Cinema)
8. Love Trippin’
9. DISCOTHEQUE

-Like this StroCine very much without the weird accent. ^^;
-Love Trippin’!! Unexpected choice from HU album. Nice.
-Chu-lu chu-lu chu-lu pa-ya-ppa!!! （≧д≦）ﾉ

MC. She was very embarrassed about the Epic Fall, then said her New Year fortune-telling result was: “Be careful of injuries” LOL even a fortune-teller said “If you wear high-heels you’ll fall..” but she took it too lightly. ^^;;;

-In MJ Spring SP there was Kinpachi-sensei‘s actor Takeda, so Nana mentioned about a Smile Gang corner when she tried to mimic him, so everyone started the “Kinpachi! Kinpachi!” call… ^^;;; Nana shouted “San-nen, B-gumiiiiiiiiiiiii!” in awesomely funny low-voice LOL. Then everyone shouted “Mou ikkai! Mou ikkai!” asking for more … Nana replied with “Urusaindayo!!!” (Shut up!) Too good.

-Trying Hakata/Kyushu-ben (local accent). From よか～ (“yoka“, flexible yes/no meaning or ending sentences) to and とっとっと～？ (tottotto?, “you took it?” Kyushu-ben uses “to” to end questions).

Next acoustic corner! Been a long while for an acoustic tour. :3

10. STORIES (acoustic ver.)
11. アルビレオ (Albireo) (acoustic ver.)

STORIES didn’t change much, just a bit slower. But Albireo was waaay awesome. Props to starry night set-up (Albireo is a star name).

Team Yoda. Raging Heart’s voice Donna Burke did train announcement in English! I swear I heard her Aussie accent lol. Team Yoda dressed like train attendants! Introducing the usual top 4: Mika, Shizuka, Anna, and Yumeko. Lastly Nana joined.

Costume #4. White shirt + red blazer + necktie, black/white striped mini-skirt, blue hat.. yep a train conductor!!

12. suddenly～巡り会えて～ (Suddenly~meguriaete~)

The calls were pretty scattered, not everyone doing the same thing.. I followed the old/original calls with fuwa-fuwa-fuwa-fuu! (waving penlights in circle). ^^;

MC. From her blog comments, many fans were hoping to see Nana in short hair (ME TOO!!!!!)  so her hair was done to somehow look shorter…. もう、たまらん（*´д`*） I wish she’d cut it for real like in 2006, but longer hair is indeed more flexible for shoots. Finally a Journey-themed costume so Mawatte calls started.. Nana said “Waaait, I’m not that young anymore so we should stop doing this soon, right?” but everyone still shouting Mawatte ^^;; so she asked “No matter how old I’ve become, anyone still want me to turn?” replied with loud “Yeaaaah!” so train conductor Nana granted our wish, twice! ^__^

Next song is a VERY old song since before her King debut…

13. 空と心と (Sora to Kokoro to)

I screamed when she announced the title… ^^;;; Dude beside me had this WTF look at me.. ^^;;;; Seriously, I didn’t think it was possible to hear this LIVE… It’s from Nana’s first CD release in 1998 and the last time she performed it was in 2003 Live Sensation (not recorded). Also her first song to get PV (cute 18-yo Nana!!). She improved too much now it sounded like a different song. ^^;;

MC. Time for Towel Song! It’s been a while for Level Hi! (since Formula 2007). Hisayo-sensei in a cool captain outfit taught us the moves while Itaruvic-sensei sang. It’s much simpler than JUMP! last year so the lesson ended really quick.

14.Level Hi!

The problem was most people did mirrored moves, while a small portion did opposite way. Usually it’s mirrored, but the lesson was NOT mirrored… opposite is correct. But I just followed the crowd so I won’t hit someone else…

Special Video. Nana continued her Journey. On a train, get off in middle of nowhere.. then walk following some lights in a forest.. through lots of trees, stepping stones to cross a river.. while wearing WEDGE SHOES. I was so worried she’d trip -_-;;; She lost the light in riverbank, but then it reappeared near a waterfall, flying up.. Nana looked up to the sky..

Costume #5. White mini-dress with a nun-ish headpiece but also give a “knight” vibe.

15. 囚われのBabel (Toraware no Babel)
16. 残光のガイア (Zankou no Gaia)

Feather falling down from ceiling as Nana performed the godly Babel.. simply too awesome for words. Nana is God. m(_ _m) Followed by just-as-hot Gaia! It’s been a while for YEEEEES! shout. ^^

MC. It will only get hotter from now on! Checking everyone’s stamina from 1F to 3F..

17. Bring it on!
18. Trickster
19. UNBREAKABLE

Extra accessories: megaphone for Bring it on (wo~ow, wo~ow, wo~ow!) then stick for Trickster! :3 These two went really well after each other although it’s the same flow as Diamond. Then finally UNBREAKABLE!!!

MC. Finally the part Nana hates the most in a live: announcing the last song.

20. Pray

Epic start only deserves an epic end.

ENCORE. Instead of shouting “en~core~!” we shouted “Na~na! Na~na!” (related to Nanoha / “Call my name” thing) though actually the tempo is hard to follow… ^^;

Costume #6. Goods Polo shirt, green shorts, green wristband.

21. New Sensation

MC. The usual, “Shassu!!” call from Smile Gang. Spring this year the radio show turns 10 years old!
About the hairstyle survey again, #1 result was ponytail!! So she did it for encore. Somehow another Mawatte calls started.. but Nana said she has a better idea than merely turning around… getting closer to us!

22. POWER GATE

Like Academy, guarded by security Nana high-fived fans along the way. I didn’t get a touch but still extremely close look. There are still next chances! xD

MC. For the first time (I think?) Nana initiated a “1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, NANA!!” call. Yay. But it’s really the last song next. Nana hopes the next song could give us energy as a proclaimed POWER GATE’s brother. Well only one song she hasn’t performed..

23. POP MASTER

MUCH much much better in live!! Diving diving diving! xD PopMa has lots of calls that came naturally. :3

MC. “Thank you!” shout and the usual “Kakatte koi!” before going backstage.. we know she forgot something so.. “MOU IKKAI!” call.

Nana reappeared with a Journey plastic bag. Bait Souvenir time!
For each Journey spots, Nana will personally choose local souvenirs for us. Introducing Karashimentai-kun (からしめんたい君) from Fukuoka! It has somewhat-upset expression so Nana signed right on its face LOL. (PS. Try Googling it and you probably won’t look at it the same way again. It looks like a….. D=)

Bought one in Fukuoka Airport for 420yen. GJ boosting local sales lol.

Another “Kakatte koi!” really ended it.

Thoughts.
-It’s still May but it was burning inside… a guy actually fainted since we saw paramedics carrying him with stretchers… must be the first time I saw that happening. ^^;
-Very satisfied with the setlist. Almost 10 songs she had never performed before!!
-For the following lives, songs that aren’t first-timers might change/rotated between lives? Hopefully we get at least 10 acoustic songs! Heavy-dance (KoiYoku) or towel song might get rotated too. First encore (NewSens) too. Also special encore hopefully starting next week.

Omake…

Free limited phone wallpaper via Animelo’s phone site. After confirming location via phone, only people in Fukuoka area can download it within 1 week! Access link can be sent to friends outside Fukuoka. Will change every week.

Took this randomly in Fukuoka AP’s mini-museum.. who knew Nana will blog that she was in Boeing-777! xD (FYI I was in a cheap budget flight..)

Fukuoka Journey finished. Next Station: Okayama! (≧ω≦)ノ