After the sign session I was pretty much on cloud nine...just interviewed by a former MM member, managed to get lots of good interaction with Aichan, found out that the sign sessions are still awesome even if you can't make it in...things were going fantastically, to say the least. The second I got outside the con center I called my friend Cal haha, left a message along the lines of "CAL, THIS IS COSTING A LOT OF MONEY BUT I HAD TO TELL SOMEBODY...I WAS JUST INTERVIEWED BY NAKAZAWA YUKO...NAKAZAWA FREAKING YUKO...THIS IS INSANE...ANYWAY, BYE" lol...I had hoped to tell him directly but oh well. And, once again, the long walk to the concert venue...
While I was walking, a group of Japanese guys dressed up in fancy clothes with their hair all done up (bunch of pretty boys, to be frank - visual-kei-esque, for those who know what that is, only not as extreme) were walking the opposite direction. They all kind of gave me a weird look, and one said "samuuuuuuii~" (which, in this context, meant "laaaaaaaaame~" haha), then they all laughed. I must admit...I was kind of speed-walking, quickly fanning myself, in full gear in the sweltering heat (it was HOT, like hellish outside, and I was sweating up a storm lol)...so to most people I probably would have looked pretty lame :P
But I just ignored them...at this point I was in full wota pride mode lol, just came out of one of my best experiences as a MM fan and nothing could get me down. It's not like they could have understood anyway~
Back at the venue (maybe 4:00 or so, 3 1/2 hours until the concert~), once within hearing distance of the MM Pack Ticket line I shouted "Guess who was just interviewed by Nakazawa Yuko!" (although I managed to stutter on her name, somehow...) and most everybody was pretty surprised lol...asked how it happened, what all she asked, etc.
Met a French-Canadian girl who had moved to France...she explained to us that you could borrow con tickets from other people and use them to go through the sign session drawing line again (apparently she had gotten several tickets for other people that way...wish we'd met her earlier >.<), which was good advice. Sneaky, but you do what you have to...
I had also heard from a friend earlier in the trip that Canadian French (the language) was pretty well indecipherable to people in France, so I asked...and she said when she moved here it wasn't too bad (or something along that line...can't remember her answer exactly). Interesting to hear that from somebody who experienced it first-hand.
At one point in line we mentioned that we'd be camping out overnight for the next day's sign session, and she let us borrow her umbrella in case it rained. Again, so many nice people on this trip...
At this point I opened up my backpack to pull out a change of shorts (apologized beforehand to the French-Canadian girl, and everyone else in line, for changing right in front of them lol)...then saw that I forgot to bring them -___-
So I laid out the towel Natsugaya brought us the day before, sat down and accepted the fact that I'd be wearing my nice yellow pants during the concert D:
Photo 1
And thus began even more waiting haha...eventually they started running the sound check and we all got our first taste of what the concert setlist would be like. Every new song was like "YES!!!" hahaha, honestly almost any Momusu songs would have gotten me excited but it turned out the France setlist was very similar to the setlist for MM's spring tour, which was great since that was an awesome setlist and I was familiar with it from listening to fan recordings of the Japan concerts (and was therefore fully prepared to do the chants MM fans do at concerts...this was EXACTLY what I had hoped for :'D). Soon we started to hear singing from inside, and everybody got excited...then realized they were just doing sound checks on the pre-recorded background vocals (some of which are sang by the members themselves, hence our excitement :P).
BUT...eventually, we heard what was clearly the members themselves. Everybody flipped, jumped over the barricades and crowded around at a spot by the door which had just barely enough open window to see inside...and there, on stage, were the girls!
Photo 2
Didn't get much of a chance to look though, as security didn't take kindly to several people outside the line all crowded against the window lol...one of them came over and said "no no no..." while motioning us back to the line...but honestly it didn't do much good, a few people still stayed and watched (it was Momusu, RIGHT THERE...the temptation was too much haha). Soon enough a security guy walked in this other door nearby and all of a sudden the curtain was closed lol...everybody moaned and shuffled back to the line :P
I think there were curtains open at the normal ticket line as well, cause there was a big commotion over there at the same time...but their curtain stayed open a bit longer, we were pretty sure. My friends and I called it compensation for them not getting the awesome tickets like we had~
But we could at least still hear the girls rehearsing inside, which was so, so cool. Every time Aichan sang I melted a little haha...so awesome to be able to hear her singing just right inside the building I was next to, and knowing I'd be able to see MM performing soon ;__________;
Eventually I decided to pull out my concert gear and start getting it ready. Pulled all the bigger glowsticks out of their wrappers (3 for each hand) and tied them together at one end so I could hold them between my fingers without dropping them, got the bracelet glowsticks out and in my pocket so I could easily put them on later (didn't want to put them on yet since they only last so long, and wrapping them around my wrists would break and "activate" them :P), pulled my Aichan muffler towel (to wipe my face during the concert...would be moving around a lot, didn't want sweat in my eyes~), normal shoes and socks out of my backpack and laid it all out for when we had to get up, which I knew would be soon.
Photo 3
Then, all of a sudden, it looked like rain. And I mean, HARDCORE rain haha, one side of the sky was pretty much clear and the other was a huge ominous mass of darkness lol...so I put all the stuff I didn't need to have for the concert in my backpack. Soon enough the line had gotten big enough that it had to be compressed down, so we all stood up and scrunched in together (still right in front~)...only an hour or so until the concert :O
By this point the crowd was really riled up...there were a couple security guys in suits who'd shown up and were standing near the other line making sure nobody did anything stupid. One of them was actually really cool, MM was still rehearsing at this point...and he'd open one of the doors to the venue a bit, all the fans would cheer and scream, then he'd close it and give them a big thumbs up lol...did that several times that I saw.
There were also some people there with cameras...turns out they were with NoLife (a French channel that broadcasts all Japanese stuff), got lots of shots of the crowd etc. Eventually an older Japanese reporter-looking lady with a cameraman came over to where we were and started talking to the fans in our line. Asked where everybody was from...I said America (she went o.o), Carlos said Mexico (she went O.O), Jim said Canada (she visibly gasped now lol, her mouth was just hanging open), and Steve said China. She was absolutely baffled..."you came here just for this!?", she asked. We all agreed, and I said "well, this and the autograph sessions...all the Morning Musume events, really...". She just shook her head, clearly she couldn't believe that we'd all come from so far just for MM, but...as I've said many times, we don't kid around~
At the end they asked us to all say "We love Morning Musume!" into the camera, we all did that and then they thanked us and off they went haha
(NoLife's report on Momusu at Japan Expo here, lots of good concert footage and a certain guy in yellow near the beginning ;D http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPAlXBArkx4 Carlos in there too...)
Somebody in the guys I ran with (can't remember who...) brought Red Bull for everybody. I started to drink mine right away, then Steve (I think? or Carlos...) said they'd save theirs until right when the concert started...which made more sense, and thus began the process of trying to save an open can of Red Bull for later haha
I knew I couldn't just put the can in my backpack cause we'd be rushing the stage for spots up in front soon and it would spill everywhere...first I borrowed some tape from Jim and covered the top of the can, but that didn't work at ALL haha. Then I took an empty bottle a friend had and poured the Red Bull in that...ended up spilling some, almost got it on the French-Canadian girl lol (I was like a bull in a China shop for a second there -___-)
But in the end it was all good, had my Red Bull (or what was left of it lol) ready for the concert ;D
Soon enough it started raining...so we pulled out the umbrella and crowded 3 or 4 of us under it as we continued to wait.
Photo 4
At this point, I pulled out my glowstick wristbands and had a friend help me put them on so I wouldn't have to worry about fumbling with them in the venue. Eventually the dudes who would let us in the venue showed up...first they scanned our tickets and gave us our merch vouchers (the MM goods that came as part of the ticket would be distributed after the concert) and the last little stretch of waiting began. Soon enough the doors to the venue opened...but everyone was RIGHT up against them, and they opened outwards, so we had to keep slowly scooting back and pushing together until the door opened, then it was an INSANE rush to the stage. They had security guys who were supposed to stop that, but everyone would get close to one, slow down until past him, then start right back up again. I ended up with a seat kind of middle-right side of the stage right in front...as in, leaning on the barricade lol
Photo 5
Everyone up front put their backpacks on the ground in front of the barricade so we wouldn't have to step on them the whole concert, but security quickly shot that down and we had to make them fit under our feet...AFTER we had piles of people behind us, of course -___-
Photo 6
And then, even MORE waiting haha, as they moved everybody into the concert venue. It got hot REAL fast, as I expected, but that was fine. Drank my Red Bull, Aichan muffler towel over my neck/shoulders, got my glowsticks ready...realized I had these long strings hanging from the bigger glowsticks where I tied them together, which definitely wouldn't work. Ended up tying the strings to my wristbands, which worked out awesome because if I somehow dropped them they were still hanging from my wrists and would be easy to grab again.
After a while, the lights went down and the opening video started...
Okay, ANOTHER post until the concert itself. My bad...again...
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