tofu wrote:Did we ever find where that picture was taken from? I mean, we spent a good 10 minutes searching for it.....
We found the angle Tomo's twitter pic was taken from, and then realized it was taken from high up, not from the ground. That meant we were possibly inadvertently all standing around under their room/balcony which was definitely not our intention so we moved to the parking lot to talk about lunch.
@USG I know in a lot of cases staff had to take flak from people because of things ACC / CURE was making them do. Are the AM2 forums the best place to send our thanks for the times when staff went above and beyond or is there an email address we could use to make sure the people who worked all weekend know they're appreciated?
Yes, the forums would be a good place to post thanks/feedback. There is so much negativity on there right now towards us that its really hard to read without feeling disappointed... I am Maki on there by the way
I do hope that we can bring SCANDAL back in the near future as they really had a lot of fun and enjoyed their time.
Cool, I'll post as soon as I can. If anyone else had really good experiences with AM2 staff it sounds like they can really use some cheering up. I'd maybe try to write something focusing on the staff and not so much about Scandal since hearing about our awesome experiences in that area isn't going to help calm down attendees who are disappointed by their experience.
Since Neil is passed out right now .whistle. he was nice enough to let me use his computer before he slept, I'll post some stuff now. July 30th
so 10fingersmikey (Matt) Arrived at my place around 5 or 6pm and we chilled for a bit and woke up at 5am to leave for California, we both went to sleep around 1am so we made the trip on 4 hours of sleep. Sometime around 7am on the 30th we got into California Upon getting into California my GPS took a turn for the worse and I ended up getting sent into a bad part of town to say the least. Thankfully Matt and I came into the hotel at the same time, but that time was 2:30pm. The press junket started at 2pm After Matt and I hustled over to the convention center I ran around looking for the interview places. Sadly after running around a little bit I got upstairs only to interrupt on going interviews due to my stupidity
I picked up my Pass Port was shocked to read, Rossy Oliver, The Cute and Fluffy for the name. I thought it was a joke lol.
My first interview was with Kanon x Kanon (I'll post stuff regarding the interviews later) I told them how nervous I was and I apologized for making noise when I came in. At the end of the interview, as per Koide's request because he is my hermano and part of the team in spirit (like saku) Kanon made Koide a happy birthday sign, and I couldn't stop laughing when they asked "guy or girl" .lol.
My second interview was with Sadie, which as I can tell more than half the people here know about already . I walked up and again apologized for making noise and they said it was fine, then I said I was nervous and here is where I plan on Trolling some Sadie forum in the future. "oh, you are nervous, come here" The whole band gave me a bro hug, but the drummer slapped my butt and grabbed my berries .silence. I asked if I should greet the drummer the same way...
Afterward they bro hugged me goodbye and I couldn't get any more interviews because of how late I was... Afterwards I grabbed some Starbucks, and I met Sadie again... more bro hugs were exchanged. After grabbing a drink I met up with Matt and we waited for Jade, Erich, Neil and Alan to arrive.after waiting a long time (and me sleeping) they all showed up. Jade was rocking the Shoujo S and you can all see the picture a few pages back. We all grabbed some food and went home afterwards. July 1st
First day of con. Everything here is kind of blurry lol. So we all arrived at Con with Jade sporting Haruka that day. Everyone had their passports, but Jade and I forgot to get our Press Passes the day before So Jade and I waited in line when they caught a picture of us doing a weird pose lol. Afterwards we went to the opening ceremony where Erich and Neil should up in a Canta and Doraemon suit respectively. They made the AM^2 facebook, without noticing, so did Jade and myself lol. After that we all walked around a little and checked out the panels for Sadie and Kanon x Kanon. And both groups remembered me for the day before! Sadie just started at me a little and waved, I was shamed of course.
The Sadie panel was interesting to say the least lol. I was worried that the other panels where gonna be ruined because of some of the questions asked during the Sadie panel, but lucky for us the SCANDAL panel ran the same way. Sadie was asked what their favorite English words were.
In order: Kiss **** *** ** ******
good luck guessing what I censored lol.
Afterwards, Jade and myself moved from the press side of the opposite end to get better photos of Kanon x Kanon. During the 30 minute break, I ran into Sadie in the bathroom, where 3 of the member who were present... bro hugged me... Words can't describe the walk of shame nor the awkwardness when I came back into the room and had an extreme Sadie fan girl hug me... after I used the restroom...
Kanon X Kanon followed and they had a so-so panel, it was interesting and a little on the silent side. At the end of the panel they had a trivia game. Neil got screwed out of a signed shirt when he said Kanon-san ate Chips and Salsa when it was Nachos.They used my question of "how did Kanon x Kanon start collaborating?" for the last question. When I realized this I stood up and said "oh, I know this one." Kanon x Kanon said "you can't answer" lol.
Afterwards we checked out the halls were they were selling stuff and I bought some SCANDAL things like Best SCANDAL and a T-shirt. Then we all went to see what was left of the Heidi concert and waited for Sadie. Sadie was a standing concert which forced Jade and myself to stand up while we took pictures and what not. We all rocked out a little to Sadie lol. I believe we called it night after running into Tenjou.
Day 2
We all woke up early for this day as well. I can't remember why at the moment. Jade was wearing the Cute! outfit this day and we found a Cinnamon Roll she could take a picture with We all waited in line to get autographs of Kanon x Kanon and Sadie. Sadie bro hugged me at the autograph signing... We chilled around a bit in the area and got everyone together for Purikura photos, with 9 people in the booth lol.
Afterwards I remember we walked a lot of places. Thai, Jade and myself almost got into the Kanon x Kanon meet and great, but we got cut off right before we could go in. So we waited for the Kanon X Kanon concert.
uhhh am missing some stuff, so I'll just post it later
Also known as: Ross , Rossy Oliver the cute and fluffy , Rosa, and Pokey The Cute and Fluffy
Wat- who said i was joking, be prepared to sit down with Luarahara tomorrow One Word Story - "TOMOMI, surprisingly tomorrow, will thoseguiltyeyes with HARUNA kick snypershot in his crotch and punched his solar plexus that is hurting him everywhere."
Ghost of Snypershot wrote: "oh, you are nervous, come here" The whole band gave me a bro hug, but the drummer slapped my butt and grabbed my berries .silence. I asked if I should greet the drummer the same way...
They used my question of "how did Kanon x Kanon start collaborating?" for the last question. When I realized this I stood up and said "oh, I know this one." Kanon x Kanon said "you can't answer" lol.
Now I know why everyone was saying you guys were such great friends. .lol.
@Ross: The kanon x kanon + Sadie M&G party was on Day 1. :P
@KoiMoyou: I'm not exactly sure why, but I had a feeling it was you, for some reason haha. And you're right about the favorite artists part/MAMI said hers was RHCP and The Strokes (I think). And yeah, TOMO said "hobo," but in Japanese that actually means daycare worker. XD And the answer to the kanon x kanon question is that they're both named Kanon. It's not really an original question either because there is a video interview where they were asked that same question. haha.
I'll also definitely post on the AM2 forums when I can. The staff really was great and that does need to be known.
Last edited by thoseguiltyeyes on Tue Jul 05, 2011 9:13 am; edited 1 time in total
2011.7.3 AM2 2012.3.28 SCANDAL vs BUDOKAN 11.3+4 QAT Tour @名古屋 11.10 Happy MUSIC Live 2012 2013.3.3 SCANDAL OSAKA-JO HALL 2013 2014.6.1 HNL Ekiden & Music 2014 6.2 Fan Meeting 2015 HELLO WORLD @ Paris - London - Essen - Chicago - MEX - LA - Anaheim 2016.1.12+13 PERFECT WORLD 5.21 Welcome Fan Meeting 5.22 HNL Ekiden & Music 2016 5.23 Farewell Fan Meeting 8.21 SCAFES 2017 47 Prefecture Tour @ 茨城 - 水戸 - 東京 2018 Special Thanks @ NY - SF - Anaheim - MTY - MEX - Dallas 2022 MIRROR @ Toronto - NY - Boston - Atlanta 2023 UU @ 福岡 - 東京 08.21 Sekai Ichi 2024 LUMINOUS @ 名古屋 - 横浜 - 大阪 - 奈良 10.06 PARASITE DEJAVU 10.08-09 Light & Shade @ 大阪 - 名古屋
Introduction: Each member noted that it has been 3.5 years since their first time in the US.
Moderator Questions
Q: Since AM2 is an anime convention, what are the band members' favorite anime? H: Hetalia, Kuroshitsuji R: Ribbon (likely Hime-chan no Ribbon), Sailor Moon T: One Piece, Sailor Moon M: Bleach, Naruto, K-ON! (audience cheers). I watch a lot of anime and love pretty much everything I see.
Q: What is your favorite American band? H: Jonas Brothers (crowd chuckles) R: Taylor Swift T: Red Hot Chili Peppers (crowd oohs impressed) M: Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Strokes
Q: What would you like to do in America? H: Shopping and eating (laughter) R: Swimming in the pool (according to twitter, they did this) T: IHOP Strawberry pancake, since I couldn't eat it before M: A lot of things I want to do, but just would like to take a walk around LA
Guest Questions (paraphrased)
Q: If you were not in a band, what would you be doing? H: Never really thought about it, but because I'm a music lover, it would have to be something music-related. R: Baker T: Care-taker / day-care worker (some confusion since Tomo said "hobo-san" not knowing it sounded like the English word for homeless, so it sounded like a joke until translator clarified) M: Designer
Q: Any plans to release live performances / PVs from indie days? H: No plans to.
Q: Can you describe your writing process for your songs and how it works? R: I usually start by playing on the piano. Then I gather the other band members to figure out lyrics and complete the song. Then we work on the musical arrangement in the studio. Lastly, we record in the studio.
Q: Since you are playing in LA, are there any plans to do another US tour? T: Not for now, but we really love LA.
Q: Tomomi, in Namida no Regret PV, you are the only one crying over a girl. Why is that, and is that how you feel about the other band members? T: My character in the PV was crying over a close friend. I am close friends with the other three members, but definitely not romantically. I am interested in boys. (lots of awkward laughter over this)
Q: What was it like recording the cover to ZONE's Secret Base? M: We all love the song, and all grew up listening to it. We wanted to record a cover and chose it. It was fun to record, but we were a little worried about negative reaction to it since it was such a well known song.
Q: I'm from the East Coast and wonder what you thought of the East Coast, New York in particular. M: I love New York, it has a real glimmer / glitter look to it.
Q: Who is the better dancer, Haruna or Tomomi? T: I have to say Haruna.
Q: Do you ever play each other's instruments? H: During rehearsals we often play around and play each other's instruments. But since it's hard, we usually can't finish a song.
Q: Your songs are often about relationships. Are they based on any specific relationships or experiences you've had? T: *nods* Yes M: I often "fantasize" or think about what such a relationship would be like.
Q: In the Shoujo S PV, what is the Janitor laughing about? R: The Janitor is a famous comedian. He's laughing because the band is playing around without paying attention to him, even though they got caught. So it's like they're just laughing it off.
Q: Have you ever considered doing a collaboration concert with Morning Musume M: I'm a big fan of them, and in a magazine interview we mentioned it'd be nice to play at each others' concerts. We also text each other regularly.
Q: Mami, what guitar strings do you use? M: Ernie Ball 10-gauge in a yellow package.
Q: What is your favorite song to play, and the song you want fans to enjoy? H: Play - Space Ranger. Enjoy - Scandal Baby R: Play - Shunkan Sentimental. Enjoy - Everybody Say Yeah T: Um... (*thinks) Play - Shoujo S. Enjoy - Shoujo M. M: Play - Hi Hi Hi. Enjoy - Um... (Rina interjects) Hi Hi Hi
Q: Rina, why did you choose to play drums? R: Why, I wonder? (laughter) When forming the band, it was a girl's band, and drums seemed to be a cool and suited instrument for me to play. Also, a good female drummer is pretty rare, so it was a unique position.
Q: Do you like any K-Pop groups? H: Kara, SNSD R: *describes appeal of K-Pop groups T: (while Rina was describing, has a funny moment by dropping her straw completely in her water bottle. Mami and audience tries to hold back laughter while Tomo comedically tries to pull the straw out.)
Q: Are you still influenced by classic bands such as the Stones e.g. I Can't Get No Satisfaction and the song Satisfaction? R: We enjoy doing covers, and that song is a good song. We also love the Stones and classic rock bands. However, I'm not sure about direct influences, as we still like to write the songs we want to write.
Q: Tomomi, why did you pick bass over guitar, when you could see the other two guitarists? T: I tried learning the guitar, but since it has six strings, it was difficult so I gave up. Since the bass has just 4 strings, I thought it would be easier.
Q: Before forming the band, did you think that you would ever be in a band? H: None of us were thinking we would.
Message to attendees before the live: H: Please enjoy the live and be loud and dance. It's been 3.5 years since our last show in America, so we want to make this live fun. Please don't be shy. T: *makes several unbelievably cute faces*
Overall, the questions were pretty clear and the band seem to appreciate them. I will say it was difficult to write notes while getting trapped in the band members' gazes from the front row. .wow. I'll add the Meet & Greet Q&A later once I get the other SH members' recollections and my notes straightened out.
Last edited by Mercurius on Tue Jul 05, 2011 10:15 am; edited 1 time in total
shuythuyshuy wrote:On a brighter note, I wanted to let everyone know that the band members LOVED you guys, they did receive the gifts, and they got some of their wishes.
@Robert: Dude, that's awesome that you got all that for only writing notes; listening to the audio I have from the panel, everything that you wrote down is pretty much perfect haha. Here's a few corrections where you have question marks...
- RINA said "Ribbon," and Kelly thinks it's probably "Hime-chan no Ribbon" - MAMI also listed K-ON! as one of her favorite animes - Pretty sure MAMI said The Strokes as one of her favorite bands - For strings, MAMI said she uses Ernie Ball 10-gauge in a yellow package
And here are two more photos from the panel (this one's a little too blurry, but a little too funny not to share; you can probably guess what question was just asked):
And this is from the end of the panel...
2011.7.3 AM2 2012.3.28 SCANDAL vs BUDOKAN 11.3+4 QAT Tour @名古屋 11.10 Happy MUSIC Live 2012 2013.3.3 SCANDAL OSAKA-JO HALL 2013 2014.6.1 HNL Ekiden & Music 2014 6.2 Fan Meeting 2015 HELLO WORLD @ Paris - London - Essen - Chicago - MEX - LA - Anaheim 2016.1.12+13 PERFECT WORLD 5.21 Welcome Fan Meeting 5.22 HNL Ekiden & Music 2016 5.23 Farewell Fan Meeting 8.21 SCAFES 2017 47 Prefecture Tour @ 茨城 - 水戸 - 東京 2018 Special Thanks @ NY - SF - Anaheim - MTY - MEX - Dallas 2022 MIRROR @ Toronto - NY - Boston - Atlanta 2023 UU @ 福岡 - 東京 08.21 Sekai Ichi 2024 LUMINOUS @ 名古屋 - 横浜 - 大阪 - 奈良 10.06 PARASITE DEJAVU 10.08-09 Light & Shade @ 大阪 - 名古屋
@USG: Thanks as always for the clarifications even after the con is over. It definitely seemed that the AM2 staff was caught in a tough position between demanding management and antsy attendees. Both security and staff went out of their way to reassure us about our place in line and kept everything upbeat. And we will always be grateful to AM2 for giving us this opportunity to meet our beloved band and interact with them.
It's my last night in Anaheim, and despite all the exhaustion from the past four days, I'm having trouble falling asleep, like a reverse dream I never want to end. I am definitely afraid of the post-con depression that is sure to come, and will have to figure out how to return to the daily routine after such an experience. One thing that will definitely help the process is the new friendships and bonds with the other SH members as we continue to reflect on the events of AM2 / SCANDAL-CON.
Well now that I finally stopped crying, its awesome that Tomomi's favorite anime is One Piece.
@ghostofsnypershot Thanks for the share of kanonxkanon, and lol at what happened to you in the bathroom. Like I said earlier, you can never trust someone that names themselves sadie. .uhuh.
@mercurius Thanks man, now it doesnt seem as bad that I didnt get to go (Nahh Im still broken inside)
@Everyone ! Thanks for all the postings on AM2, it is almost as good as being there but only almost ! But I think many of us want to know who this Sadie was who molested ghostofsnypershot ? Do you think they will apply to be a member of SH, or are they one already ???
so much to be said, but for now ill just report what i put on the fb event. no time now cause ive gotta study for a quiz cause im back in the real world now.. lame lol.
"hey all, i just wanna say thanks to everyone for coming and making this weekend so memorable.. im definitely starting to feel withdrawals haha. but anyways way to put SH on the map all! we showed SCANDAL what were all about, im so proud of everyone!"
big props to erich for organizing the fan stuff + tshirts (tofu too!) and for help with doraemon, glenn and peter for the banner, jade and ross for press, sam and robert (shirt-giving team w/ erich ftw!), Anson for the glowsticks (most memorable part of the concert they said!), matt (TOMO fans unite!), alan for filming the epicness at the airport and finding the am2 ppl at the right gate haha, tenjou, jade and toshiko for translations, kelly and lale for the much-needed shirt after i was drenched in sweat from rocking out at the concert haha, (also kelly for the lollipops which were a complete success!) and EVERYONE else! so many to name but im so thankful to have met you, you know who you all are. i definitely meant it when i said we should do this everytime they come to the US, no matter what city. i can even see us all making a trip to japan in the (not-so-near?) future hahahah.
the best weekend of my life. hands down. i hope we dont have to wait another 3.5 years for another one like it. some of you saw me in very strange states throughout the weekend, to name a few: tripping out in general, screaming like a crazy fangirl at the concert, getting teary-eyed and even crying after SCANDAL events, sleeping on my doraemon head, spacing out completely after shaking TOMO's hand (still havent washed my right btw LOL), and many more. im just so glad i got to share all the memories and emotions of the weekend with all of you. itll be hard being back in the real world now, but i know this isnt the last time we'll experience something like this.
and last but DEFINITELY not least, a big thanks to Maki/USG and all your staff. I am eternally grateful to all of you for providing the opportunity to have the best weekend of my life. It goes without saying that I am a firm AM2 believer now, first ever con for me and i couldnt have asked for more. I'm glad to have gotten to meet you in person, and thanks again. i will definitely express my thanks on the am2 forums soon. and im glad the band loved being with us! we couldnt have asked for a better reaction from them. cant wait to see them again when they come back! oh also, any idea when the SCANDAL concert pics will be uploaded by am2? thanks
wow, this post ended up being longer than i thought... will post more later. study time now
On the 4th of July, 2011, I held Tomomi's hands in mine... FIREWORKS!
so much to be said, but for now ill just report what i put on the fb event. no time now cause ive gotta study for a quiz cause im back in the real world now.. lame lol.
"hey all, i just wanna say thanks to everyone for coming and making this weekend so memorable.. im definitely starting to feel withdrawals haha. but anyways way to put SH on the map all! we showed SCANDAL what were all about, im so proud of everyone!"
big props to erich for organizing the fan stuff + tshirts (tofu too!) and for help with doraemon, glenn and peter for the banner, jade and ross for press, sam and robert (shirt-giving team w/ erich ftw!), Anson for the glowsticks (most memorable part of the concert they said!), matt (TOMO fans unite!), alan for filming the epicness at the airport and finding the am2 ppl at the right gate haha, tenjou, jade and toshiko for translations, kelly and lale for the much-needed shirt after i was drenched in sweat from rocking out at the concert haha, (also kelly for the lollipops which were a complete success!) and EVERYONE else! so many to name but im so thankful to have met you, you know who you all are. i definitely meant it when i said we should do this everytime they come to the US, no matter what city. i can even see us all making a trip to japan in the (not-so-near?) future hahahah.
the best weekend of my life. hands down. i hope we dont have to wait another 3.5 years for another one like it. some of you saw me in very strange states throughout the weekend, to name a few: tripping out in general, screaming like a crazy fangirl at the concert, getting teary-eyed and even crying after SCANDAL events, sleeping on my doraemon head, spacing out completely after shaking TOMO's hand (still havent washed my right btw LOL), and many more. im just so glad i got to share all the memories and emotions of the weekend with all of you. itll be hard being back in the real world now, but i know this isnt the last time we'll experience something like this.
and last but DEFINITELY not least, a big thanks to Maki/USG and all your staff. I am eternally grateful to all of you for providing the opportunity to have the best weekend of my life. It goes without saying that I am a firm AM2 believer now, first ever con for me and i couldnt have asked for more. I'm glad to have gotten to meet you in person, and thanks again. i will definitely express my thanks on the am2 forums soon. and im glad the band loved being with us! we couldnt have asked for a better reaction from them. cant wait to see them again when they come back! oh also, any idea when the SCANDAL concert pics will be uploaded by am2? thanks
wow, this post ended up being longer than i thought... will post more later. study time now
funny tidbit to end this post: its been very difficult recently to listen to songs like SAKURA Goodbye, Sayonara My Friend, Namida no Regret and Haruka right now hahahhah. withdrawals... sighhh lol
On the 4th of July, 2011, I held Tomomi's hands in mine... FIREWORKS!
wow everyone had such awesome posts! haha it was fun being there though i didnt get to see you guys. haha i ended up just wandering. haha but i did pass you guys couple times and was like wow. haha. and yeah the concert was awesome! nothing can replace it for me.
Yes now i have hope! Haruna said she would like to come to Hawaii! and Tomomi said that they are planning to come and have a concert in the islands. yes i was sohappy to hear that. that made my day and the managament even nodded in agreement. ah i gotta go. post later if i get the chance
SCANDAL is the Most Powerful Japanese Girl Rock Band
HARUNA, MAMI, TOMOMI, RINA!!
''If there's no Rina, there won't be SCANDAL anymore.''- Ono Haruna
"You can go anywhere. You can choose the way to go on your own The answer is for sure not just one
During the Panel on Sunday, I sat in the front row, all the way to the Right (left from SCANDAL view). Mami sat closest to me, or us, the SH members in that part. Mami is my favorite, but sad that most of the time Mami was either looking straight ahead or diagonally to her right, talking to Tomomi and generally that's where all the action was. I couldn't get Mami to notice. I however got Tomomi to notice me sometimes, I was a guy on my hand-waving trigger, as soon as I spot one of the girls looking towards my direction, I immediately wave. I got a couple of Tomomi since she's looking diagonally to her left to talk with Mami. I got a couple of Rina glances as well.
(note: I’m going to forget a lot of names since I am terrible at remembering names. There are a few that stick in my head. If I talked to you a lot during the con and still can’t recall, I’m sorry I just have poor instantaneous memory recall. Actually feel free to put your name/handle in to help boost my memory)
2:00 AM
So before I went to bed, I decided to read stuff on the SCANDAL Heaven AM2 thread before I went to sleep. Instead of meeting in the lobby as previous days, they said to meet in front of the room where the panel would be and tweet SCANDAL_Heaven on twitter to secure a place in line. On Day 0 I couldn’t meet with any of the members since I left with my passport at 6:00 PM while everyone else arrived at 7:00 PM. I also missed the airport adventure the next day because I was working on something at AX. So before I headed to the convention center I printed out a sign that said
“SCANDAL Heaven members, Say hi to me”
I arrived at 6:14 AM to see Sam (320x220) was the first to arrive. Eventually an hour later, Matt, Jade, and Ross arrived. Around my non SCANDAL friends, I seem pretty crazy and obsessed. With SCANDAL Heaven I look tame and feel like I am part of something so much bigger. So sitting outside, we were talking about which piece of merch we wanted to get signed. I really wanted my “BEST SCANDAL DVD” signed since it was one of the last ones from CDJapan in which I had expedited to my house. That cost me a nice 80-90 dollars just to get it in time for the con.
SCANDAL Panel 10:00 AM
So after camping for 4 hours outside of the room, we were told since we were in the front of the line and were passport holders, we were allowed to have any choice of seat that we wanted. Now here’s where a LOT of the disappointment came in. First of all I’m not trying to be a downer but giving you a general feeling of everyone. I’m trying to find every positive within every negative. When we first went in, since I was second in line, we tried to sit in the center of the first row so we could roll out the banner in front for the girls to see. Then security told us that we had to sit in the fourth row behind the press. After some confused looks they let us sit in the front, but made us fill in completely from right to left. I was pretty much on the far wall where I could only see the girls hair since the translator of the panel was to the left of the room. My positive for this is that I saw the girls in the back room every time someone opened the door. Every time one of the girl would turn their head I would yell something. Well more like I would yell out “Tomo!!!”. She turned to me, smiled, and waved both her hands DIES
All of us were hoping that we could take photos at the panel. I brought of my telephoto lens since I am an event photographer. I was hoping to get some great headshots and share on the forum but no. We were only told that press could take photo and video. I’m pretty sure Jade got some awesome footage. The whole photography thing was so annoying because they told us, or people like me with the expensive gear “Cap your lens, put in your bag, and slide it under your chair”. The rules, which I perceive more as threats, made it feel very unfriendly. The whole if you take a photo, your gear will be confiscated and you will be kicked out of the con. And they had AM2 staff taking pictures of the panel and also of the crowd if someone is suspected of sneaking photos.
For me the panel was very emotional because we could see a side of SCANDAL most don’t. I’ll admit it that I got teary eyed during a good amount of it. The highlight for me was when they said how ZONE was such a big influence on them and how nervous they were to do a cover of Secret Base. FYI, I am a huge ZONE fan. It’s actually through the ZONE forum is how I discovered SCANDAL. Comical points for me was when Tomomi got so fixated on the SCANDAL Heaven banner on the floor and when she said that if she wasn’t doing music, she probably be a baby sitter. We all heard her say hobo-something. In my head “Why would you want to be a hobo?”
SCANDAL Autograph Session 11:00 AM
“This is going to be the great” I thought in my head. The girls obviously saw all the stuff we brought and we hope they could sign it. Then it was announced that we could only get an autograph if we bought a t-shirt for $30. My heart sank and I wanted to cry and curse out whoever decided to make this last minute change. I mean I had some money on me but that was intended to buy lunch. In my mind was, if I don’t buy the shirt, I’ll never get their autograph. I swallowed my pride and bought the shirt. I really wanted my BEST SCANDAL DVD signed but we were given a 5x5 piece of paper with the record companies label on it. This paper is not thicker than card stock. I mean I know Japanese artist usually sign the autograph boards, but the one’s I have are a lot sturdier than this. So not only did I pay for $45 passport, but also a $30 piece of index card. I gave each of the girls the biggest Arigato and bow as they signed my cards. I stared each of them in the eyes and made sure we made eye contact. Haruna was the end of the line and I accepted the autograph with both hands, and gave the deepest bow I could. I’m in a moment of shock.
SCANDAL Meet and Greet 2:00 PM
So we were told that we could do another meet and greet with the girls later in the day. After what most of us perceived as a semi fail/semi win panel, we had no idea what to expect. They took a group of 20 of us into a room. To our surprise the girls were in the room sitting across from us. Between us and the girls were two circular tables. I’m sitting in disbelief because even though I was in the second row, I was 10 feet away from Tomomi. I was so stunned I couldn’t speak and just stared into her eyes. And if you’re wondering, yes she stared back to, smiled, and waved at me. So Nate asked the greatest question and did the best action in which no one could top. It went down like this. He asked the girls are they are still fans of Sum 41 since they said they were in an interview years ago. They said they used to watch Sum 41 videos to learn how to pump up the crowds. So basically what he did was got Sum 41 to autograph a cd for them. “This a gift from someone who inspired you given to us whom you expire”. Tomo’s jaw dropped and we all got a little teary.
SCANDAL Concert Line Up
So yes a lot of camped outside for 5 hours waiting for the concert to start. As we were lining up outside, we heard the sound check. We knew exactly what they were going to play and made the assumption that the opener was going to “SCANDAL No Theme”. With glowsticks in hand we coordinated how we were going to light up the show. We tweeted on the SCANDAL_Heaven twitter that after Haruna counts to 4, everyone crack their glowsticks. We were pumped and ready to go
SCANDAL Concert 8:00 PM
We were allowed inside the room at 7 PM. We were told that the line was so long it wrapped around the first floor and went down to the second. The stage was T shaped much like a cat walk. All of us sat based on who our favorite members were. Since myself, Nate, and Matt were TeamTomomi we walked, not ran cuz we would have been kicked out, to stage left. I was in the front row with Jade and Matt. I am 15 feet from the edge of the stage. Perfect sight of Tomomi. In front of us we had the SCANDAL Heaven banner and would flash it during the little talks or whenever we though that all the girls would look at it. Lights cut dark and we heard The Ramones “Rock And Roll High School” play. And I know when they play the Ramones, the girls are going to come out on stage. Stage light cues and here come the girls.
1. SCANDAL no Theme 2. Hi-Hi-Hi 3. EVERYBODY SAY YEAH 4. Shoujo S 5. Hoshi no Furu Yoru ni 6. DOLL 7. LOVE SURVIVE 8. Hikare 9. Haruka 10. Shunkan Sentimental 11. Kagerou 12. Space Ranger 13. SCANDAL BABY
Encore: 14. Pride
Here are the highlights from my perspective. This is my first Japanese show ever. I come from the Southern California punk scene. I’m used to mosh pits, slam dancing, and throwing up devils horns. As expected they started off with SCANDAL no Theme. 1. 2. 3. 4. CRACK. The room lights up with glowsticks. Well the side of the stage where Tomomi performs. I see Tomo walk up to her microphone stand and grab her pick. I know she never uses the pick unless it’s going to be something awesome. As Hi-Hi-Hi gets half way through, she throws her pick to the ground and slaps out that solo. For any bass player out there like me, this is pure *oooops bad word detected* and to see it live and that up close will forever be engraved in my memory. In the panel she said her favorite American band was Red Hot Chili Peppers and you can totally she the influence Flea had on her. “Everybody Say Yeah” …. Well we sure did. Watch Mami jam out and doing it in a way here you knows she grooving it into her head without and care in the world. SCANDAL BABY, I don’t know why but it seemed that everyone jumped up Super Mario style and yelled “Let’s Go”. That’s when you know it’s a pure fusion of band and audience. They feed off of us and we feed off of them. My favorite moment was that everyone singing along to every song, yelling out Hey!, and chanting for the encore.
This concert is unbelievable to me. You watched the YouTube videos, play the DVDs, have those CDs on repeat and they can’t come close to what happened that night. Being 8 PM I haven’t eaten in 14 hours and I sung out to every song. Threw my voice out by the second song and didn’t care. We all raised those glow sticks with pride. For every hard down beat or guitar strum, you saw synchronization with the sticks. I was personally air drumming since I semi play drums. Yea would of seen me do fills, hit hat, snare, crash and toms with my invisible drum set. My dreams came true when they played Hi-Hi-Hi, Doll, Shunkan Sentimental, Kagerou, and Space Ranger. I rocked out so hard, my shoulder blades and back are all knotted up. My hearing still hasn’t returned and my voice is still torn up. I would do it all over again.
When the girls were doing their introduction to the audience, you know they practiced that quite a bit to do an entire segment in English.
Tomomi: In Japan red bull (hand gestures small size) Tomomi: In America red bull (hand gestures gigantic size) Tomomi: Why? (With head tilt and cutest smile ever)
Maybe it’s just me, but in every clip I’ve seen of Mami speak, I never seen her use her cute voice. When she talked about the surprise at the airport when she arrived, we all went down and pulled up the SCANDAL Heaven Banner. After the show, Nate and I were trying to grab the setlist off the stage. I pointed out “Dude look, it’s freakin Tomos pick!!!” Now you can guess who owns what now. Go TeamTomomi, you’re life is complete. After the concert we cheered and showed that banner all over the place. We went down to the first floor and decided to spell out the girls names without glowsticks. The last name we spelled out was SCANDAL. Maybe it was fortune, fate, or someone in the universe really loves us, but SCANDAL walked right behind us. I pulled out my camera and recorded them as their team rushed them away. The girls waved to my camera. A piece of me believe it was all for me. Greedy I know. Haha.
Monday July 4, 2011 Anaheim, CA SCANDAL at AM2
So we came back for the special meet and greet for passport holders. As we expected same old dumb rules of no photos and no videos. To my surprise after talking with the girls for 7 minutes, we were told to line up and get a handshake with each of them. HANDSHAKES!!!!!! We cleaned our hands with hand sanitizers and went forward. I don’t know about everyone else, but I shook with both of my hands firmly, but not to tight, bowed as low as I could, and said Arigato in a way in which it sounded like I’m not worthy to be in their presence. I looked in their eyes and they looked back and smiled. Held Tomomi’s hands for about 3-5 seconds. How do hands that small and soft provide such rocking sounds. As we exited the building, we were all feeling how our heart were beating and relocated to the lobby. We were all in shock. It was such a great family and bonding moment. We took our group pictures and made a pack, if SCANDAL comes back to the US, we’re so doing this again.
My final thoughts:
I’ve been part of many online communities of interest groups, but none as close as SCANDAL Heaven. I mean honestly if we didn’t do the whole “let’s camp out and stick together the whole day”, it wouldn’t have been as memorable as it should have been. Sure I could of not said hi and done it by myself but that would have been overwhelming for me. It’s only been a day and I miss everyone already. I want to get to know everyone better. It’s so nice to finally put a face with the name. You guys are amazing, and for those who are local to me, we should meet up everyone once in a while and just kick it.
To the AM2 staff, after reading, we know it’s not your fault for what happened. You were just victims like the rest of us. Quite honestly I really liked the staff because they treated us with so much respect it’s unheard of at cons. They made the road to seeing SCANDAL a dream come true. I’m still on my high and I really don’t want it to die. But now every time I play on of those CDs, I will forever remember July 3rd.
Last edited by NuCLearSounds on Tue Jul 05, 2011 7:25 pm; edited 1 time in total
@NuClearSounds That posting was so cool I had to read through it 3 times ! It was almost like being there and it brought tears to my eyes at times and I am not easily moved ! Domo arigato gozaimasu !
this is my videos I took of them at the airport. It's not as good as the others, but better than nothing. I got a great shot of Tomomi and Haruna while checking their bags just outside the gate. I got a wave from her. I only wish I could have gotten a longer shot of Mami and Rina, but I wasn't in position. ENJOY.
reading every ones post i wish i had joined up with you guys. but for some reason i felt like i would be intruding since i didnt get to buy the scandal heaven shirt and that im a fairly new user here and whatnot. its was cool seeing you guys there out and about representing the U.S. scandal fans and also rocking out waving the glow sticks in the concert. i really think if they were ever to come back to California, you guys would be a big part of why. you guys made me proud to be a scandal fan.
like everyone said, that whole event was very surreal. finally seeing scandal in person made me realize how the thousands of pictures and videos out there on the internet (or whatever hast been taken down yet) really doesn't do them justice. they really are much more beautiful, much more sincere and sweet person. walking around the convention on the last day, you can tell the only reason why people were there was because of scandal. my cousin and i joked, and not to diminish AM2 or anything, but AM2 pretty much became scandal-con on that day.
Sometime around 7am on the 30th we got into California Upon getting into California my GPS took a turn for the worse and I ended up getting sent into a bad part of town to say the least. Thankfully Matt and I came into the hotel at the same time, but that time was 2:30pm. The press junket started at 2pm 
After Matt and I hustled over to the convention center I ran around looking for the interview places. Sadly after running around a little bit I got upstairs only to interrupt on going interviews due to my stupidity 
. I walked up and again apologized for making noise and they said it was fine, then I said I was nervous and here is where I plan on Trolling some Sadie forum in the future. "oh, you are nervous, come here" The whole band gave me a bro hug, but the drummer slapped my butt and grabbed my berries .silence. I asked if I should greet the drummer the same way...
, Rossy Oliver the cute and fluffy 
, Rosa, and Pokey The Cute and Fluffy 
Here's a few corrections where you have question marks...
SCANDAL is the Most Powerful Japanese Girl Rock Band 
