Tomomi's side was rocking last night!! When Tomo sang her parts in Departure I thought the crowd was gonna loose it!  I sure did. Koe was also a highlight. Everything was truly magical and just as great as I thought it would be. Great to meet some fellow Scandal fans. First time I've ever been able to talk to someone that had actually heard of my favorite band.

@nosferous
It was great meeting you, too.  Glad to hang out for two shows.

@3mania
Yes, Tomomi side was excellent.  She was especially lively which was great to see.  I stood in front of Mami at SF and kept looking over to Tomomi and so often in the show she looked tired or distracted.  She must have finally beat the jet lag because her spirit was on fire.

I had a great view this time of Rina (and Haruna).  At times it was difficult to choose where to look especically in "Take Me Out" when Tomomi and Haruna are bouncing all over the stage in different directions from each other.  Rina wore her hair in pigtails, and the two stems were flopping over and around her face all night.  I love seeing that.

As some have said the overall show was even better than SF.  I did not do the M&G this time, but did do the "Front Of The Line" pass, which was an additional $30 over the GA ticket that allowed us to enter after the VIPs.  There were over 200 VIPs this time around (according to the security guard that checked our IDs outside), and judging by the line that walked past me to get into the venue I believe it.  

We were let in about 30 or 40 minutes after the VIP line went in, but we could not enter the main concert hall until the VIPs finished with the M&G even though it was being handled in a different room (one of the smaller performance rooms).  I bought another T-shirt during this time, which was good since it was one that was sold out at the SF show.  The wait wasn't that long, but it was long enough to finish a 24oz beer.  I talked to the security guard while waiting, and she really liked all the merch but was disappointed she wasn't allowed to buy any (HOB rules).  The SCAFES concert was playing on all the screens in the main bar/wait area.  The guard was excited to hear the band live because they looked "so cute and so good" in the video.  She was impressed by the number of M&G fans.


Since I'm going to mention songs in the set list I'll put in a spoiler:

Spoiler:

Could you pay for merch with Credit Cards?  Or Cash only?

In Japan at Arena Concerts - they took CCs, but at Kanazawa it was cash only.

Alxa wrote:Could you pay for merch with Credit Cards?  Or Cash only?

In Japan at Arena Concerts - they took CCs, but at Kanazawa it was cash only.

There were two lines for payment.  One was Cash Only, and the other was Cash and Credit Card.

It was hard for me to take my eyes off Tomomi, but the few times I did and checked out Rina she looked super intense (not the usual smiley  face) and was really banging the hell out of that drum set. Also am i wrong or did Mami play her Mamicaster the whole time?

That's the question I wanted to ask, does she use only her "mamicaster" during the whole show?

At SF & Anaheim she used the Mamicaster the whole time.
At SF I believe I recall seeing a tech with another guitar at her rig, I suspect that is just a backup if the Mamicaster has any issues during the show. Seemed like Mami & Haruna had 2 guitars and Tomomi 2 basses for this tour. But Haruna and Tomomi can be seen playing both of their respective stringed instruments during the course of the set.

thoseguiltyeyes wrote:On another note, the M&G "check-in" was an absolute joke. They let us through the doors, scanned our tickets, and then for some reason made us "check-in" to the will call counter where we were supposed to give them the ticketholder's name in order to receive wristbands to distinguish us from the regular ticketholders (they didn't even use them to ID us later). So that was a total, utter disaster.

Also, we had to do the M&G on a little stage in front of everyone. Talk about embarrassing lol

I agree. This didn't make sense to me either. They had already scanned my ticket and checked my ID when I was outside. Then, they make us line up at will call and show our IDs AGAIN for some reason! Why couldn't they have just given each person a wristband after scanning our ticket? It made no sense. I also agree that it was kinda embarassing to do the M&G in front of everyone on a stage. After seeing how everything was organized, I kinda miss the old HOB location when it was in Downtown Disney, instead of the Garden Walk.

Aside from those things, I enjoyed the overall show. The band had lots of energy, as well as the crowd.

tomorocks! wrote:

thoseguiltyeyes wrote:On another note, the M&G "check-in" was an absolute joke. They let us through the doors, scanned our tickets, and then for some reason made us "check-in" to the will call counter where we were supposed to give them the ticketholder's name in order to receive wristbands to distinguish us from the regular ticketholders (they didn't even use them to ID us later). So that was a total, utter disaster.

Also, we had to do the M&G on a little stage in front of everyone. Talk about embarrassing lol

I agree. This didn't make sense to me either. They had already scanned my ticket and checked my ID when I was outside. Then, they make us line up at will call and show our IDs AGAIN for some reason! Why couldn't they have just given each person a wristband after scanning our ticket? It made no sense. I also agree that it was kinda embarassing to do the M&G in front of everyone on a stage. After seeing how everything was organized, I kinda miss the old HOB location when it was in Downtown Disney, instead of the Garden Walk.

Aside from those things, I enjoyed the overall show. The band had lots of energy, as well as the crowd.

The worst part was that the started selling vip upgrades too.

200+ vip's is too much. I felt bad for them having to stand there for nearly 2 hours. 
Yeah its good so many people got to "meet" them
But the organization was terrible 

Usually m&g are supposed to be relaxed and more vip like. 
They should do a fan sign instead. Where you actually get to talk to them individually for a short time. 

Also, SCANDAL'S band manager or whoever is in charge should get better venues with seating

Too many tall people obstructed the view of the people behind them. 


Cue the dictator mod to tell me why im wrong


[Dictator] mod edit: lol WOW, how did I not see this until now? You're really going to call me a "dictator" just because I won't let you sell your shit on here? You've earned yourself a ban, kid.

@astoriasky Gomen nasai  .shy. I saw when Tomomi threw her pick and I literally thought I had no chance of getting it but once I saw it landed right in front of me, I did my best to get the pick. Mamitasu is most favorite so that's why I was on Mami's side but I was having a real hard time deciding if I should have gone to Mami's side or Tomomi's side because I actually play bass guitar and Tomomi is my hero for bass playing. I literally thought Tomomi would throw her pick on her side of the stage but when I saw she threw it on our side, I knew I had to try to get it.  .sweat. I didn't get to meet Scandal and take pictures with them getting Tomomi's pick made my night  .love.. I will make sure not to use the pick and keep it safe.

Devon4 wrote:

tomorocks! wrote:

thoseguiltyeyes wrote:On another note, the M&G "check-in" was an absolute joke. They let us through the doors, scanned our tickets, and then for some reason made us "check-in" to the will call counter where we were supposed to give them the ticketholder's name in order to receive wristbands to distinguish us from the regular ticketholders (they didn't even use them to ID us later). So that was a total, utter disaster.

Also, we had to do the M&G on a little stage in front of everyone. Talk about embarrassing lol

I agree. This didn't make sense to me either. They had already scanned my ticket and checked my ID when I was outside. Then, they make us line up at will call and show our IDs AGAIN for some reason! Why couldn't they have just given each person a wristband after scanning our ticket? It made no sense. I also agree that it was kinda embarassing to do the M&G in front of everyone on a stage. After seeing how everything was organized, I kinda miss the old HOB location when it was in Downtown Disney, instead of the Garden Walk.

Aside from those things, I enjoyed the overall show. The band had lots of energy, as well as the crowd.

The worst part was that the started selling vip upgrades too.

200+ vip's is too much. I felt bad for them having to stand there for nearly 2 hours. 
Yeah its good so many people got to "meet" them
But the organization was terrible 

Usually m&g are supposed to be relaxed and more vip like. 
They should do a fan sign instead. Where you actually get to talk to them individually for a short time. 

Also, SCANDAL'S band manager or whoever is in charge should get better venues with seating

Too many tall people obstructed the view of the people behind them. 


Cue the dictator mod to tell me why im wrong

My first experience with the band live was a Chicago, the energy level of the girls is awesome, I love the band, however I sensed management wasn't that great.  I had nothing to base my opinion on but it always bugged me.  I figured they do things differently in Japan.  It didn't help ACEN was a joke, but things got way better the two times we've been to their concerts in Japan.  However they didn't have VIP at either concert I have been to.

So we are blessed that they are willing to do VIP on this tour, It's nice that they will do 200+ so more fans get the opportunity, however it stinks of greed considering how much extra we had to pay for VIP tickets and what everyone is reporting we get.

Was there any gift bag, that's listed on my ticket.  And it seems you can still buy VIP tickets for dallas as of this morning (not checked recently).

Anyway I absolutely love Scandal - I discovered them via the CD Standard in a CD store in Japan, and came home with 3 CDS so it wasn't 1 song from any anime but this awesome band who makes music I like. I've been to a few other concerts but not enough to really know how off all this is.

It could easily be a classic lost in translation moment between the Japanese Management and the tour company here in the states. But we may never know.

Oh and RE: tall people in front of you - in Japan you have seats, but the moment they get on stage everyone stands up, it works better because it's on a slope but you can still have problems with tall people in front of you if there's a big height difference, I was on the isle in Kanazawa so anyone behind me could have just stepped out a bit more. Dallas should be interesting since it's the largest of the USA Venues I believe. But if it's just standing room only does everyone bunch up at the front?

@RitsuTainaka29
T_T

Its k...

Im glad another member got it though! It was honestly surreal seeing her look directly at me, smile, and tried to give t to me. That made my night honestly.

Wow! You were both blessed for life by Tomomi! Good job  .clap.

Hi guys, I'm not sure if this is the right place to post but unfortunately I won't be able to go to the live in Dallas (stuck in Canada while doing international student paperwork).
Anyways, I have a VIP ticket and I was wondering if anybody would like to buy it...

Devon4 wrote:


The worst part was that the started selling vip upgrades too.

The VIP upgrades being sold were not for Scandal, they were for the House of Blues. This is standard at this venue and they do it before every show.  The upgrades allows you to go to the balcony where there are seats.  You did not get to meet the band.

Don Dio wrote:

Devon4 wrote:


The worst part was that the started selling vip upgrades too.

The VIP upgrades being sold were not for Scandal, they were for the House of Blues. This is standard at this venue and they do it before every show.  The upgrades allows you to go to the balcony where there are seats.  You did not get to meet the band.

Still. 200 vip guests?

@Devon4

That's how many it was at both SF and NY, and I expect the same in Dallas.  What can I say, they're very popular.  I am willing to bet that well more than half are the same set of fans in each city.

Devon4 wrote:
Usually m&g are supposed to be relaxed and more vip like. 
They should do a fan sign instead. Where you actually get to talk to them individually for a short time. 

Yeah, I've organized about half a dozen of these myself for a similar number of people; I wouldn't call what Scandal's doing a meet & greet. It's cool, and I'm happy to have had the time I had and end up with a photo, but it's a lot of money for a *very* short event. I would love it if they could take an extra day in each location and do a standalone event somewhere where they could spend a little more time with each fan. Obviously that's more time + money for them, though.

Devon4 wrote:Too many tall people obstructed the view of the people behind them. 

Well that's just a show at a rock club/live house...

I'm tall myself so never have a problem but I do feel bad for anybody behind me... but unfortunately there's nothing I can really do about it other than stand in the back, which I'm probably not gonna do after paying $150 for a ticket. (I did stand at the back of the VIP crowd, though. I tried not to block anyone who paid as much as I did.)

Alxa wrote:My first experience with the band live was a Chicago, the energy level of the girls is awesome, I love the band, however I sensed management wasn't that great.  I had nothing to base my opinion on but it always bugged me.  I figured they do things differently in Japan. 

There's the Japanese management and then there's the US management, which are not all the same people. Sony has a few people who are in charge of all the US stuff for their Japanese bands. I've met a couple of them. (My company did a M&G for another Sony Japan artist.)

I think there can sometimes be miscommunications, maybe requests that don't get translated properly (either literally or figuratively, because what an artist's Japanese management wants may not really be possible in the US), or whatever. I don't think it's necessarily bad management as just the difficulty of matching expectations for everyone across cultures. We were somewhat lucky dealing with the one Sony artist we did do a M&G for because we knew her from before she was signed. So we didn't really have to deal with multiple layers of bureaucracy; we just dealt with her directly until the day of the M&G, when the Sony people showed up with her. But Scandal probably does need to go through the regular multi-layered process with all the venues, although they're probably also dealing with some of the same people they did a few years ago.

Alxa wrote:Oh and RE: tall people in front of you - in Japan you have seats, but the moment they get on stage everyone stands up,

Not every Japanese venue is like that. Most venues they play in Japan are like the venues they're playing here. "Live houses" with no seats, standing room only.

I've been lucky enough to see them in every type of venue they normally play in except for a giant summer festival (which I have no desire to go to). You are right about concert halls and arenas. But more often they play live houses, aka rock clubs, with no seats.

Alxa wrote:Dallas should be interesting since it's the largest of the USA Venues I believe.  But if it's just standing room only does everyone bunch up at the front?  

Generally yes, although in NYC there was a railing slicing the room in half, and some people chose to lean against that rather than bunch up in the front. That's been the case at a couple of the Japanese live houses I've been to as well (both Zepp Tokyo and Zepp Diver City; I think Zepp Tokyo actually has about 10 railings spaced evenly throughout, if I remember right, which helps disperse the crowd). I don't know if Dallas has something like that. If it's just one big room, most people just stand as close as they're comfortable in getting.

For those who attended the Anaheim live - Did they allow photos there since someone said they weren't allowed at SF?

eternalblue8 wrote:For those who attended the Anaheim live - Did they allow photos there since someone said they weren't allowed at SF?

No dedicated HD cameras or cameras with interchangeable lenses. Phones were ok so people used those to take pictures.

I don't know whether the band or management was at fault when clearly no sound check was performed in San Fran. You could tell because the music was too loud and the crew were testing instruments at the last minute and the concert ended up starting 15 minutes late.

Feel like San Fran was the worst concert.

nosferous wrote:If there is a Darren/Darrin on here that gave the gift of VIP at SF, still speechless and forever grateful. That day was like a dream.

Haha, I had to make an account just so I could reply.  No problem, glad it went to a big fan!

HarunaHasBigEars wrote: You could tell because the music was too loud and the crew were testing instruments at the last minute and the concert ended up starting 15 minutes late.

They always do a final sound check right before the show. That's normal. And Scandal is LOUD. That's normal too.

I wasn't in SF, but the sound in NYC wasn't perfect either. Some people earlier said the sound in SF was actually better. I have a feeling it just depends on where you were in the venue, and these particular venues probably don't have the greatest acoustics.

VIP tickets, yes it seems there were 200 tickets for each of the venues, I spoke to one of TEAM Scandal about this, they also mentioned they didn't allocate enough goods for the NY show but for San Francisco / Anaheim much more goods were available.

Sound, you have to remember, audio is usually tuned for the sound for the middle of the venue, just like in a cinema/movie theater. If you want better audio you probably want to be in the middle of the room.

Cameras: NO DSLR type camera, pocket camera/cellphones ok. NY: No videos/audio recording permitted. SF: No camera/smartphone pictures/video allowed, I suspect re: NY everyone started to upload videos. Anaheim: No announcements, but venue staff said we could take our cameras to take photos etc.

(I'm not attending the remaining dates, so have to get info from other attendees when it happens)

I don't know whether the band or management was at fault when clearly no sound check was performed in San Fran. You could tell because the music was too loud and the crew were testing instruments at the last minute and the concert ended up starting 15 minutes late.

That's not accurate, they did a soundcheck. And they are a rock band, which intended to be loud. And soundcheck doesn't mean music isn't loud. It means they get the input levels for all the mics and instruments at the board to a generally balanced starting point for the venue acoustics. At that point the overall volume level is not soundcheck related and is at the discretion of who is running the board. Your experience will also differ if you're close to the stage say near Mami's side where she has a 4x12 Amp and you're getting more live stage sound + mixed venue sound.


I was at the steps of the Regency and heard them doing soundcheck. And they played A LOT of songs during soundcheck. More than I'm used to hearing at the many live shows I've been to for other bands. 


The techs doing one final sound-check/tune-up before the band comes on is also standard for every show I've been to for numerous bands and genres.


The one part I found different when it comes to SCANDAL's tech checks is that they do one before the encore as well. Most shows I've been to the techs might come out to do a sweep inspection quickly before the encore, but not to the extent that SCANDAL's techs check things out before the band comes back on.


The shows starting late (both SF and Anaheim that I was at) probably has more to do with the band spending a long time doing M&G with how many VIP they sold, and then allowing the band to have minimal warm up/prep time before they hit the stage. I'm really impressed the band did that long of M&G with little time between M&G and Stage. American bands are known for "the singer needs two hours alone in their dressing room before they hit the stage to feel prepared and warmed up." So huge applauds for SCANDAL's quick minimal transition time.

Sound, you have to remember, audio is usually tuned for the sound for the middle of the venue, just like in a cinema/movie theater. If you want better audio you probably want to be in the middle of the room.

^ Yep, absolutely. If the audio mixing board is near the center or 3/4 back of the floor, that is where you will usually get the best mix [standing next to the mixing desk] if you want a nice audio mix.