SO. There was a concert I went to. This band was the turning point for me to get permanently interested in Japanese back in the day and so, once again, the bond between them and us cafekkos had to be witnessed live at Tavastia. Of course I bought the ticket right away and some time later we received the craved and also feared e-mail from NeoTokyo: VIP upgrades we're going to be sold this time around too.
Then.. at 13:20 or so, I spotted the VIP tickets to the concert in Finland and holy shit did I act fast. I almost felt my veins popping out of my skin because I was so nervous and hadn't slept that night at all. But it paid off! I stared at the screen furiously, fingers crossed and hoping for the best. And BAM! The order had gone through and when I tried to move somewhere else on their site, it wouldn't load. So, once again NeoTokyo's site was overloaded with all the traffic by cafekkos, surprise surprise.
When it calmed a little and the site decided to co-operate and load again, I checked for the third time, that my order actually went through. After that it was about a week of waiting to receive the actual VIP e-mail and then print it out. Then.. it was time to wait - once more.
More about that later~
So, a bunch of time passes and I arrived to Helsinki, stayed couple of nights at my sister's place in Espoo and the next morning was going to be THE day. It was about 10 am I took my spot in the line in front of Tavastia club. The weird thing is, there never really were security watching over the line up. Maybe they've finally learned that the rule of lining up starting at 3 pm is not working here in Finland if there's no line numbers handed over in the order people arrive at the venue. But enough about that.
At some point during the first hours the members of An Cafe themselves just walked by us and in to the club. Teruki and Yuuki were looking energized and said "hi! nyappy" to the first ones in line before going inside. Others kinda smiled with their eyes and went inside (yu-ki's hot without his wig btw!). Oh well, can't really blame them for the cold weather. What I'm glad about, is the fact that cafekkos behaved! It's no surprise though, the screaming little girls were us back in the day after all and I guess we've matured a little since then :'D Still faithful fans, though!
The time went by gathering regards and messages from all the cafekkos on a sheet that I had painted. Another cafekko gave away sheets of lyrics from the song we had planned to sing after encore. Rest of the time was shuddering in a cold wind and drinking whatever kept us warm.
The VIP line had 30 or so people and couple of my friends and I were the first ones. I was unbelievably happy, when the staff came out to call the VIPs in, and I saw my name as the first name on the list (that means I made the very first purchase XD). After simple checking, we were inside with our laminates and gifts to the members of An Cafe.Behind the final door, inside the stage hall, we were given a poster and a face towel(? to me it looks more like a tiny microfiber cloth you sweep dust with xD). Then, in a neat row, we waited for a short while to meet our idols. And right before we knew it, they were before our eyes.
But this was not the first time I've met the members face-to-face (first time 2011 at kanonxkanon live, the second time 2012), so I wasn't THAT nervous, but still nervous. Does that make sence? lol
First, An Cafe thanked us for being there. Then, of course, they didn't want to keep it that short, so somehow they had came up with Moomin names for each of the members and by the loudness of clapping they wanted to know how popular each member was and is among the VIP cafekkos. Of course, the classic winners were Miku and Kanon.
After that the VIP cafekkos were allowed to ask questions. There were couple of non-questions too, like "I just want to thank you for being you. Your music has kept me going" etc. There was even a letter read out loud. Communicating was easy for all of us, because there was a Japanese-English-Japanese translator and so, those who didn't speak or know any Japanese were at ease. For me, though, it was good that she was there, so I could be sure I understood correctly anything the members were saying :3
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| This is the third picture with you, Kanon-sama, and you don't even realize it XD |
Anyways, I gave a Fazer's blue chocolate bar for each of the members in different kinds of wrapping paper. Then it was time for that god damn sheet I painted.. once again, they were surprised by the size of it (lol). After the picture I was given, by Kanon himself, the European press of Higakyaku Ziprock with all of their signatures on the cover.
With 30 VIP, it took a little time, but everyone had their photo taken separately! Every VIP got an individual picture! Some cried some laughed and most of them got hugs. (TuT envious.) The final picture they took was on stage and it was with their staff.
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| The translator is that woman on the right with the hoodie with golden text :3 The guy on the far left with the same kind of hoodie took the VIPs' pictures~ |
Almost right after that, the rest of the cafekkos started to pour in. Waiting didn't feel to take that long this time around, because it was warmer than outside and before we knew it, we were banging our feet to the floor and clapping, demanding the band we came here to listen to on the stage. I laughed at some point so hard, because some of their warming-up songs choises, that were playing in the background before the live, were hilarious. The one I couldn't keep myself laughing at was ABBA's Does Your Mother Know? Something tells me, that they realize that their audience is mostly young teens and the band members themselves are mostly in their 30's (Kanon turns to 30 this July btw) XD Funny thing is, I just sang that song a couple of days before the live.
The intro (this one is only used during lives.. it has never been on CD or anywhere else for that matter for sale) started and one by one, the band members made their appearance behind the smoke.
To all of us surprise, the set started with Smile Ichiban II Onna, which is mostly known to be the very last song during encore. The spirit was all high up in the air as the smiles were reaching up on cafekkos' faces. It seems, that An Cafe wants to finally move on and come up with something as or maybe even more appealing than this piece. It'll be hard, though!
The speeches between almost every three songs weren't that interesting really, since they re-used the Moomin-thing. Oh well, at least they tried to speak some Finnish, but mostly they communicated with English. I'm not disappointed, but the speeches never change. All the artists say the same things because of the limitations of the language barrier xD At the live it felt different, though. Maybe it had something to do with that hype every concert has in it (lol).
One thing is worth of mentioning, though: Miku apologized for not giving a show within a year as he had promised the last time they had a show in Finland. We were happy that you eventually did give us a show, though! So don't sweat it XD
The old-skool fans were treated with old classics, like Wagamama koushinkyoku, Snow Scene, Tekesuta Kousen, Escapism and Maple Gunman (the first song I ever heard from them ;_;).
The show just kept going and going and it started to feel like that I was underpaying for the concert! There was always a song going and the list felt like it could have kept going for eternity. The hype and happiness never faded and the bond between An Cafe and their cafekkos was so clear, that everyone would have been able to see it by bare eyes.
Every cafekko was dancing along the songs with furi that Miku and Yu-ki demonstrated. It really felt like the band was giving their everything and moving, not just emotionally, but physically as well! I mean, whew! It got hot in there!
And oh my, when it was time for Natsu Koi Natsu GAME, I couldn't keep the dirty thoughts at bay at all! Of course they danced the choreography! I don't know if they realize this, or is it on purpose, that one move, that is part of the para para choreography, has actually the meaning of "fuck" in sign language. Or is it just me? Am I misinformed? You tell me:
More speeches etc occurred and the final stretch began for me in a form of Maple Gunman. I know the furi, lyrics, the song in its entirety in the back of my head!
After Cherry Saku Yuuki, it was time for An Cafe to retreat to backstage. Of course, there was an encore still to come, but only if we demanded with feet and clapping accompanied by shouting "Encore!" and "mou ikkai!"
The demands were answered to and the boys stood on stage, one more time. Miku was even wearing a t-shirt he got from one of the VIP cafekkos. She had written on it "I'm sexy and I know it" and even I thought it was hilarious! Though, he IS a sexy guy.
With a little bit of depressed voice, Miku had to say, that the next one was going to be the last song for that night. With melting hearts, cafekkos listened to MY HEART LEAPS FOR "C".
But it wasn't going to be over yet. Cafekkos had one more thing up in their sleeve. It was time for a twist.
Like I said, it wasn't original, but the audience started to sign the first verse of YOU.
Miku recognized the song right away and started to sing along without rest of the instruments. Somewhere people lost pace and started to giggle in the middle of it. I thought to myself that "NO! We WILL do this! COME ON!" and I started to sign with a louder voice, trying to be the driving force. And somehow we managed to sign the chorus without a fail. A couple of us in the front row started to demand one more song: BondS -Kizuna-
..by yelling repeatedly "BONDS BONDS BONDS!"
AND HOLY TITS BIT IT WAS WORTH IT!
Miku asked if others were willing to perform the song and of course they were! It was the last show on the European tour, for god sakes! And so, with the last of their energy, they performed the song, sealing together the bond between us cafekkos and them.
Set list
Smile Ichiban II Onna
ROMAN ~Let's make precious love~
Wagamama koushinkyoku
Snow Scene
Ryuusei Rocket
Amazing Blue
Tekesuta Kousen Anti aging ver.
Escapism
Kimi no machi
Bee Myself Bee Yourself
Natsu Koi Natsu GAME
Kakusei Heroism
Itai Onna ~NO PAIN, NO LOVE? JAPAIN GIRLS in LOVE~
Maple Gunman
Cherry Saku Yuuki
ENCORE
MY HEART LEAPS FOR "C"
ENCORE 2
BondS -Kizuna-
You don't even know how good it feels to see that last one on the list...
A couple of lucky cafekkos got the set lists the boys had in front of their feet as a reminder what to play next, because the boys handed them away by themselves. We girls really want every tiny bit there is on the stage so we can have at least something that they have touched at least once, don't we? XD
But, the show was over, though it seemed to be never ending happiness.
The last thing boys wanted to do was the tiramisu-routine. And then.. An Cafe was gone. They brought light to the dark spring of Finland. With the bond we share, they brought Nyappy to our hearts.
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| There's a fan-made Finnish flag too ;3 |
I didn't buy anything, because all that VIP nonsense (was not nonsense at all, missy!! >8O) was expensive after all. And traveling doesn't come cheap either. Though, that tour shirt always teases me T_T
They did promise to come back... I hope the nyappy shines brightly in me until then!
I had to catch a train on the next morning so I could make it to the kanji test which was going to be on the same day.. You could tell it didn't go as smoothly as planned, but I will score next time!
But now..
..here's a picture of the physical memories~
Next up will be a RANT about MIYAVI's VIP meeting in Helsinki... so, until then: I'll see you next time! Have a good one.
THREE - TWO - ONE - TIRAMISU -TIRAMISU
Yaay! It's nice to hear, that my blog is enjoyable :3
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