Hi guys!
So I figured it was about time I wrote something. Sorry to keep you all waiting but I was very tired after the gig and had to get ready for a full day of work. And now today (I am writing this at work!) I have over 320 exam papers to mark! Still, I am having a break.
First of all, let me just put your mind at ease and assure you that the mission was accomplished. I wasn’t able to give the letters to the band personally (a huge shame, I’m sure you will all agree) but after the show finished, I hung around a little until the crowd had thinned. I then approached one of the venue staff. I told him what I had and if he could give them to the band for me. He said yes, and I saw him give it to a member of Scandal’s staff and then that man left with the package of letters. .clap.
So, I can only assume that he did give the letters to the band, and although I was kind of hoping for an immediate thank you message (I included my email and twitter) I haven’t heard anything about the letters yet. Nor have they tweeted blogged or emailed about it! I just hope they are reading through them all and enjoying them as I imagined they would be.
So, that aside the night was pretty awesome. I’ll try not to go on too much but I just wanted to say first that you can watch a thousand videos of someone and not learn things about them that become instantly apparent when you see them in person. I learned things about the band that I hadn’t realized before. Mami has warmed in my eyes. Haruna is pretty much the same which just shows her strength of character. Rina came across as more of a confident pretty girl than the sweet person who writes all the tweets blogs and emails. I’m sure she’s both though and I don’t mean that in a bad way at all. Though, I felt sorry for her because she was isolated behind her drum set most of the time. It’s a lonely job. The biggest change for me was Tomo. I never realized she was so shy, and if you haven’t seen it before either, believe me, she is. She apologized for not speaking much during the breaks and there were mannerisms that showed it. She always hides behind her hair and she moves like ‘the tallest person in the class’ if you know what I mean; she has a hint of an awkward stoop. But it all made me care about her so much more. I feel like I understand her now. All in all, it may sound strange but they seemed like girls trying to be a rock band, and if they keep that sensibility they should be fine in the future. The irony of course, is that they are a rock band. They can still all play and sing and there’s something about them which keeps them free from the normal expectations of Jpop groups. I hope they continue to evade becoming stale industry icons, because like their early stuff shows, and their lives. They really rock.
Anyway, I’ve already waffled on far too much. Here is the set list for the show. They played the entire TEMPTATION BOX album and a few others. I was very surprised to hear Switch come on, but gutted there was no Spaceranger or SL Magic.
1. Everybody say yeah
2. Girlism
3. Hi Hi Hi
-At this point they briefly stopped to say “Hello” and express their hope that we enjoyed the show. Haruna also taught us a new cheer. When she says “Yakeni Yay!” we shout “Yay!” I may have got this wrong as it was hard to make out because of how loud she screamed it, but there was lots of this (and I think she said she wanted to write a song using it) as well as “Genki?” which each one would scream at us and each other as loud as they could whenever they had the mic to speak. Teimo with her powerful high pitched singing voice almost burst my eardrums. They also asked who was here. Boys. girls. Parents. Students. I wanted them to say “foreigners”, so that me, my friend and one other guy there could jump up and get noticed! Didn’t happen though -
4. Doll
5. 少女S
6. 少女M
-Yes, they played Girl M, in much the same way that they played ‘Tokyo’ in the Best lives. They all marched to the front and did some very lame but cute dancing, while Mami stood behind a fake turntable and sang the song with some improv. At the end Rina ran to the back and played keyboard.
They then stopped to chat again. Haruna pointed out that it was the first time that they had used the keyboard in a live show. Then they talked about the things they did in Sendai before the gig. Haruna had cow tongue for dinner and thought it was delicious. Mami went shopping and I think she said she bought Pokemon Black and white. But she went on about Pokemon for a while. Rina told a funny story about walking down the street and trying not to be noticed, but I didn’t understand it. Teimo introduced us to her brand new bass. Not sure what make it was but it was silvery and glitzy and everyone went “oooh!”
As they got their instruments back on (they stopped to drink and run about the stage during the chats, and they changed guitars so many times. Pretty much for every song.) Teimo and Mami had a brief guitar battle, which was funny. Just making random noise at each other. They stopped far too early though.–
7. Beauteen
8. 放課後1H
9. Switch
10. 涙のリグレット
-They stopped again briefly to talk about the album and the tour. The tried to sell all the t-shirts and stuff. Then they started the last leg.-
11. Playboy pt 2
12. Hello! Hello!
13. Shunkan Sentimental
14. カゲロウ
15. あいたい
16. 太陽と君が描くSTORY
-encore-
They came back wearing some of the orange t-shirts they were trying to sell outside the gig (I got a black one) and talked more about the tour, having fun, lots of thank yous and then…
17. Shining sun
18. Sayonara my friend
19. Scandal Baby
THE END
Before leaving, they said goodbye again. Rina threw her drumsticks, Teimo threw her pick, and there was lots of running around, shaking hands, waving and stuff. They really seem appreciative of their fans. Unfortunately, I was about 10 feet back so I wasn’t within range, but I shouted out to Teimo, after making sure I was making a fool of myself whenever she looked in my direction. Good times.
And that was it! Oh, their uniform. They wore these white cheerleader like skirts with lots of frilly layers. Then on top, they had these black leather, very tight waistcoats over a maroon red top. They looked pretty cool. And just plain pretty. I wanted to take photos and vids throughout but there was a warning before hand, and because no one else did I would have stood out immediately if I tried. Actually, I did sneak a few during the encore, but they didn’t come out at all.
Ok… so, sorry I went on for so long, but at least I am not keeping you waiting any longer. .smile.
If you have any comments or questions you can leave them below and I’ll do my best to answer them. Though I think I covered everything I can think of.
So I figured it was about time I wrote something. Sorry to keep you all waiting but I was very tired after the gig and had to get ready for a full day of work. And now today (I am writing this at work!) I have over 320 exam papers to mark! Still, I am having a break.
First of all, let me just put your mind at ease and assure you that the mission was accomplished. I wasn’t able to give the letters to the band personally (a huge shame, I’m sure you will all agree) but after the show finished, I hung around a little until the crowd had thinned. I then approached one of the venue staff. I told him what I had and if he could give them to the band for me. He said yes, and I saw him give it to a member of Scandal’s staff and then that man left with the package of letters. .clap.
So, I can only assume that he did give the letters to the band, and although I was kind of hoping for an immediate thank you message (I included my email and twitter) I haven’t heard anything about the letters yet. Nor have they tweeted blogged or emailed about it! I just hope they are reading through them all and enjoying them as I imagined they would be.
So, that aside the night was pretty awesome. I’ll try not to go on too much but I just wanted to say first that you can watch a thousand videos of someone and not learn things about them that become instantly apparent when you see them in person. I learned things about the band that I hadn’t realized before. Mami has warmed in my eyes. Haruna is pretty much the same which just shows her strength of character. Rina came across as more of a confident pretty girl than the sweet person who writes all the tweets blogs and emails. I’m sure she’s both though and I don’t mean that in a bad way at all. Though, I felt sorry for her because she was isolated behind her drum set most of the time. It’s a lonely job. The biggest change for me was Tomo. I never realized she was so shy, and if you haven’t seen it before either, believe me, she is. She apologized for not speaking much during the breaks and there were mannerisms that showed it. She always hides behind her hair and she moves like ‘the tallest person in the class’ if you know what I mean; she has a hint of an awkward stoop. But it all made me care about her so much more. I feel like I understand her now. All in all, it may sound strange but they seemed like girls trying to be a rock band, and if they keep that sensibility they should be fine in the future. The irony of course, is that they are a rock band. They can still all play and sing and there’s something about them which keeps them free from the normal expectations of Jpop groups. I hope they continue to evade becoming stale industry icons, because like their early stuff shows, and their lives. They really rock.
Anyway, I’ve already waffled on far too much. Here is the set list for the show. They played the entire TEMPTATION BOX album and a few others. I was very surprised to hear Switch come on, but gutted there was no Spaceranger or SL Magic.
1. Everybody say yeah
2. Girlism
3. Hi Hi Hi
-At this point they briefly stopped to say “Hello” and express their hope that we enjoyed the show. Haruna also taught us a new cheer. When she says “Yakeni Yay!” we shout “Yay!” I may have got this wrong as it was hard to make out because of how loud she screamed it, but there was lots of this (and I think she said she wanted to write a song using it) as well as “Genki?” which each one would scream at us and each other as loud as they could whenever they had the mic to speak. Teimo with her powerful high pitched singing voice almost burst my eardrums. They also asked who was here. Boys. girls. Parents. Students. I wanted them to say “foreigners”, so that me, my friend and one other guy there could jump up and get noticed! Didn’t happen though -
4. Doll
5. 少女S
6. 少女M
-Yes, they played Girl M, in much the same way that they played ‘Tokyo’ in the Best lives. They all marched to the front and did some very lame but cute dancing, while Mami stood behind a fake turntable and sang the song with some improv. At the end Rina ran to the back and played keyboard.
They then stopped to chat again. Haruna pointed out that it was the first time that they had used the keyboard in a live show. Then they talked about the things they did in Sendai before the gig. Haruna had cow tongue for dinner and thought it was delicious. Mami went shopping and I think she said she bought Pokemon Black and white. But she went on about Pokemon for a while. Rina told a funny story about walking down the street and trying not to be noticed, but I didn’t understand it. Teimo introduced us to her brand new bass. Not sure what make it was but it was silvery and glitzy and everyone went “oooh!”
As they got their instruments back on (they stopped to drink and run about the stage during the chats, and they changed guitars so many times. Pretty much for every song.) Teimo and Mami had a brief guitar battle, which was funny. Just making random noise at each other. They stopped far too early though.–
7. Beauteen
8. 放課後1H
9. Switch
10. 涙のリグレット
-They stopped again briefly to talk about the album and the tour. The tried to sell all the t-shirts and stuff. Then they started the last leg.-
11. Playboy pt 2
12. Hello! Hello!
13. Shunkan Sentimental
14. カゲロウ
15. あいたい
16. 太陽と君が描くSTORY
-encore-
They came back wearing some of the orange t-shirts they were trying to sell outside the gig (I got a black one) and talked more about the tour, having fun, lots of thank yous and then…
17. Shining sun
18. Sayonara my friend
19. Scandal Baby
THE END
Before leaving, they said goodbye again. Rina threw her drumsticks, Teimo threw her pick, and there was lots of running around, shaking hands, waving and stuff. They really seem appreciative of their fans. Unfortunately, I was about 10 feet back so I wasn’t within range, but I shouted out to Teimo, after making sure I was making a fool of myself whenever she looked in my direction. Good times.
And that was it! Oh, their uniform. They wore these white cheerleader like skirts with lots of frilly layers. Then on top, they had these black leather, very tight waistcoats over a maroon red top. They looked pretty cool. And just plain pretty. I wanted to take photos and vids throughout but there was a warning before hand, and because no one else did I would have stood out immediately if I tried. Actually, I did sneak a few during the encore, but they didn’t come out at all.
Ok… so, sorry I went on for so long, but at least I am not keeping you waiting any longer. .smile.
If you have any comments or questions you can leave them below and I’ll do my best to answer them. Though I think I covered everything I can think of.
, Rossy Oliver the cute and fluffy 
, Rosa, and Pokey The Cute and Fluffy 
