Woke up at 3AM Friday morning to get ready to line up for the concert. Carlos had been on his computer for a while already when Steve and I woke up, and found out that the session the day before was actually open (so you could cheer for the members, wave, etc - which was unexpected, since the sign sessions at Anime Expo were closed events)...and he found out that Morning Musume took a picture with all the fans afterward. Upsetting that we missed it, to say the least, but we couldn't have known...
Photo 17
Anyway, everybody got showers, packed stuff we'd need in line and at the sign session for that day if we made it, and took a shuttle to the con center. Arrived about 5:30AM? To convention center grounds that were literally COMPLETELY empty. It was bizarre being somewhere so, so busy less than a day before and then walking back into an essential ghost town.
Photo 18
We spent a while trying to figure out how we'd get to the concert venue. Carlos and I had scoped out its location the day before, as I said, so we knew how to get there from inside the con center...but there were like a half-mile of barricades, placed to guide people into lines for getting their con passes checked once the con opened, between us and the convention center entrances. We spent a couple minutes wandering around before noticing signs directing people to the venue.
Photo 19
And thus began a long, LONG walk. Following the signs, we were led around the corner of the con center through some trees, down a long road, up some stairs, down some stairs, past rows and rows of (mostly empty, I think O.o) event halls, past storage for equipment to assist in setting up said event halls, down another road...we ran into a sign around there that said 'E3' on it, which was of significance to the guys I ran around with during the con, so I ended up taking a pic for them...
Photo 20
Then we continued on, rounded a corner and finally arrived at the concert venue. It was 6AM almost exactly (the concert was at 7:30PM - only 13 1/2 hours left ;D), and we were, literally, the FIRST people there...not a soul around (quite proud of that actually, first people to show up for Momusu's first European concert~). However, the area the lines would eventually be in was fenced off...so we just kind of made our own line at the entrance to that area haha
Photo 21
From there...lots, and lots, and LOTS of waiting. Listened to music, stood around and chatted to pass the time. Maybe an hour after we showed up, a French girl arrived...then maybe 30 minutes after that, some more French fans arrived. At this point the sun had come over the horizon...and was shining RIGHT on where we decided to place the temporary line lol, so we moved to the street while French fans opted to sit in various places near the building across the street.
Photo 22
And then even more waiting...Jim took quite a few photos of us during this if anyone is interested, not going to bother uploading all of them otherwise though. Carlos had an exhibitor's ticket that could get him into the convention an hour early (10AM instead of 11AM)...since the chances of getting a ticket in the drawings for sign sessions were better the earlier you arrived (winning tickets obviously disappeared over time, decreasing the chances that you'd get one...), he left around 9AM to line up for the convention and get there earlier for the draw.
Our plan was for Carlos to go, do his draws for the sign session, and come back. Since he had an exhibitor's ticket he could enter and leave the convention as much as he wanted (normal tickets only got you into the convention center once per day - if you entered the con with a normal ticket, then left, you couldn't reenter with that ticket until the next day), and we wanted him to go first so he could scope out the line and let us know how things looked...the sign session wasn't until 2PM, so we had plenty of time for him to go and come back. After Carlos returned, we planned to leave in groups of 2 or 3, putting one person with a cell phone in each group so we could contact the others in line if needed (surprisingly, people with working cell phones were rare...at least among who I knew). Whoever didn't get a ticket for the sign session, and didn't want to stick around for the sign session, in each group would return immediately after doing their draw so the next group could leave. This way, we had people there to hold everyone's spot in line, and not so many people gone at once that we'd attract attention to ourselves. Or, at least, that was the plan :P
Sometime after Carlos left, one of the French fans came up and told us that he heard they'd be opening the gate for the line at noon...so we decided that, if Carlos didn't show back up by the time they moved the line inside the fenced-off area, we'd go ahead and start sending people to the sign session drawing anyway. A while after that, another group of people I know (mostly, or possibly all, folks from England - this included Paul, Lampshade, and Hexi) arrived...they placed their stuff in the line of bags/etc holding people's spots lol, then came and stood/sat with us. The sun had risen enough by then that we had resorted to standing near the building across the street...eventually everyone was hunched up against it trying to stay in the shade haha
Photo 23
Soon, however, that didn't work to keep us out of the sun...and we moved down to the end of the building where there was a large covered open area, always shady. Honestly I got a little aggravated and said we should just deal with the sun to keep our spots in line (idols work hard for us, we should do the same for them, blah blah cfb blah blah blah - Musume friends will know what I'm talking about :P), but I seemed to be the only one who was overly concerned about that, so there we stayed. Some of the French fans ended up in that area as well, actually. Soon we decided to start sorting our glowsticks...which we had TONS of - not even kidding, between everybody there were well over 100 glowsticks for maybe 20 people, at the most? We were prepared for the concert, to say the least haha. Anyway, we started sorting glowsticks (some of the ones I bought came in packs of 5 different colors, and we wanted all the same colors together...so yeah lol, basically re-sorted the packs to be sets of 4 same-colored glowsticks)...
Photo 24
As we sorted, a couple French fans showed interest and asked if they could buy some glowsticks from us....we had more than enough and were more than happy to sell haha. I figured 0.50 euros (maybe 75 cents? I think the packs of 5 were $1 each) for a set of 4 glowstick bracelets was fine, and said "50 euros" as I held up a set of 4...then everyone burst out laughing, 50 euros for 4 glowsticks was obviously just a bit high :P So I corrected to 50 cents...the French fan who bought them from me handed over 2 euros, 0.50 per glowstick...which I knew at the time was too much, but we had a difficult enough time with our exchange already that I decided to deal with it later. After sorting glowsticks...more waiting...
Over the course of all this waiting, expo staff people kept popping out of the venue and setting up barricades inside the fenced off area, obviously getting ready for the MM concert line. I think some of the people in line may have talked to them at one point, but it was in French and I had no idea what they were saying haha
Anyway, eventually convention center staff arrived to open the gate (I think around 11:30?)...but he apparently had nothing to do with the expo itself, because as everyone ran over, gathered up their stuff and made their way into the fenced off area...he said he had no idea on how the line would be handled and drove off. So...everyone did their best to rebuild something resembling a line after the mad rush to get inside the fenced off area and got around to yet more waiting lol
At this point I tried to explain to the French fan who bought glowsticks from me that he gave me too much money. It took a bit, but he eventually understood...and said it didn't matter, just told me to keep it haha. For the bad rap France gets, there are actually some really nice people there ^^
Shortly after that, a couple expo staff guys arrived to get the line organized...one of them started to move everyone into the same queue, but those of us who had MM Pack Tickets (the special ticket I mentioned earlier that got you early entrance the venue and goodies~) spoke up and asked him where we should go. Clearly he didn't expect people with MM Pack Tickets to be already lining up haha (there were only 100 of them, if that gives you an idea...), so he got a bit confused and said something to effect of "well...yeah, I mean...come over here, I guess..." and lead us to our line. You'd think people would eventually learn that Momusu fans don't kid around ;D
After both lines were organized, Carlos still hadn't returned...so we started figuring out who would be in the first group. We asked one of the expo staff about leaving the line...he told us that if we left we wouldn't be allowed back to the front (no surprise), but at this point there were seriously only 8-10 people in the MM Pack Ticket line at most (half of which were people I knew lol), so my friends and I confirmed with everyone who was there that we had been there since 6AM and were in front, and that they would keep our spots. No opposition at all, everybody was cool with it...which was super nice of them, especially the French fans who we could barely talk to in the first place...
However, Ed was in the normal ticket line (he was the one I got my pack ticket from, I had a normal one first but he was willing to switch with some compensation...thanks again orz), which was already pretty large. We knew if he went to the sign session people wouldn't let him back to the front and he'd probably end up like halfway toward the back of the concert venue...so it was decided, through some yelling back and forth between the lines, that he would be staying. Sorry Ed >.<
After a bit more discussion, the first group would be Paul Thomas (who I'd be staying with in London), Paul Elliott (who took the pictures of Aichan I've posted, my profile pic included...and many other pictures at the convention), and myself. Paul Thomas actually just had to go the bathroom haha (which turned out to be quite the ordeal for people in line, no bathrooms ANYWHERE near...the staff even just kind of laughed and shrugged when we asked if there were any close by lol), so he tagged along with the intention of pretty much returning right away.
After a long walk back to the convention center grounds entrance, we made our way through the labyrinth of barricades I mentioned earlier and got into a decent-sized line. Since it was earlier in the day than when we arrived the day before, there were lots of people still making their way into the convention...but the line moved at a decent pace anyway, and we basically just walked straight through. When we got into the building itself where they were checking tickets, Carlos was waiting by the front of the line for us. When I saw him, I signaled to him thumbs up/down inquiring if he got tickets, to which he gave a thumbs up, then one or two fingers asking how many (since he had two tickets - one exhibitor's and one normal - he went through the sign session drawing line twice...if he got an extra it would go to one of the guys in our hotel rooms), to which he just held up one finger. Darn...I nodded in response.
After we had our tickets checked, Carlos frantically told us the line was HUGE (he had literally just gotten out of his second time through)...and we should hurry if we were going to make it through the line and into the sign session before it started at 2PM (I remember checking my watch at this point and it being 12:15 or so, if that says anything). So I called the other guys in the concert line (I think? I hope I did lol) and told them to just come get in line if they wanted to try for the sign session. Paul Thomas went ahead to the bathroom, and Paul Elliott followed me to the sign session drawing booth since I knew the way...it was pretty hectic, as we were in a hurry and quickly working your way through crowds of people at Japan Expo was NOT easy, to say the least...
Photo 25
Anyway, we bolted over to the back of the line, which took a good few minutes to get to...and waited again lol
We ended up with a big blond-haired German guy behind us named Pascal. Poor guy was the personification of deer in the headlights haha, totally didn't expect this kind of frenzy...and he was even more shocked when I showed him the back of my outfit, told him I came from America, also went to Anime Expo, bought 10 copies of Aichan's latest photobook to get a personalized signed one (>.> I'll sell the extras eventually...maybe...)...and so on lol. All he could do for most of the conversation was just laugh and shake his head haha. The girl closest to the camera in the picture below (you can only see the back of her head), from France, was also a bit shocked to hear about all that :P
Anyway, apparently Pascal was at Japan Expo last year for AKB48 (-___-) and he said it was NOTHING like this...pretty much just show up, wait a bit and you were in...not sure how accurate a report that was, but I thought it was kinda funny (Musume friends will know why ;D). I warned him to head STRAIGHT to the concert venue after the sign session and get in line if he wanted a decent spot.
Photo 26
After about an hour and half in line (maybe a bit more...can't recall exactly...), I got to the front and did my draw...no luck. Pascal and Paul, however, BOTH got winning tickets lol...I offered to buy Pascal's from him for 120 euros (desperate times, desperate measures...) but he laughed and shook his head, same as before, then told me "sorry, the chances were just too slim...". Worth a shot :P
At this point the session was about to start, so I made my way over to watch it...
*phew*
Second half of Friday, including the concert itself, in the next post.
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