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Just came back from the MoMusu Concert in Saitama. Headed there straight after a Cheki 2shot with Country Girls and had a CG live in Tochigi on Saturday so it's been a busy weekend. Still have Haruna's birthday event left tomorrow so it's not about to end yet.
So Saitama is right next to Tokyo and the concert hall was maybe like 25 minutes from Shinjuku so it was a very convenient location. After going to the CG live (which was lovely, but the live hall was so small!) I kind of forgot what a Morning Musume concert felt like. As soon as you arrive at the station you'll see fans with MoMusu shirts walking around, and the area in front of the concert hall is incredibly busy with fans and people selling their goods. Didn't buy anything so just waited for the doors to open up and went to my seat. Now my ticket was 10th row, 10th seat from the left, which wasn't very good. It placed me at the left-most area, and the speakers even covered part of the stage so you couldn't see properly. Now I got really really lucky about 5 minuted before the show started. A Japanese fan approached me and started talking in English, asking if I wanted to exchange seats; he said something about his friends sitting there. I was a bit wary so I asked him where his seat was; DUDE BROUGHT ME TO THE 5th ROW 12TH SEAT which was very close to the stage and provided a straight view on the left part of the stage. That's an expensive seat! So I was like 'Yeah, sure!'. Such a nice dude!
So I won't get into the setlist, but it was incredible. It's just straight up high-energy songs that pump up the crowd one after another up 'till the very end. Ai no Gundan, One, Two, Three, Saturday Night, Tokyo to Iuu Katasumi, What is Love, etc. The energy was incredible and I think only Morning Musume would be able to pull this off because they have such a long history, so it's no wonder their concerts are so packed. Totally forgot that it was Kudou's hometown concert btw, but it explained the large amount of orange glow sticks and female fans, lol. She said she felt very nervous since there's the pressure of not being able to fill up/liven up a concert despite it being your hometown. There were so many people though, that she said there wouldn't be any problems regarding that! During the first MC Kuduu and Ayumi talked about what kind of venues they would and wouldn't want to perform in. Kuduu mentioned how Up Up Girls performed at the top of Fuji and was like, 'I'd probably collapse the moment I'd reach the top. The only one who might still have energy left is Ikuta.' Ayumi talked about having a show in space, and how each of their moves would probably take ages to perform because of the lack in gravity. 2nd MC was quite funny, it was basically Ogata, Ikuta and Mizuki playing shiritori with words or sentences that would 'Fire you up'. Ogata really proves herself as the joker in the group as she was just putting out nonsense and when she was given 'ru' just said stuff like 'Ru, ru, ru, ru, ru~!' while spinning around. Mizuki remarked 'Ogata, are you even taking these concerts seriously?' jokingly. Haha, scary leader. Ikuta worked in her Ganbatte Ikuta somehow and said one word very sexy, which lead to an applause in the audience. Then Mizuki said the same thing and the applause was even louder, lol. Then Ogata did it and the audience just went silent due to her saying it in the least sexy way possible. She has an entertaining character within the group and MoMusu needs people who they can play off of, but I'd like to see Ogata do even more with her Kansai-ben. In the Country Girls' MC yesterday Funakki went full-on Osaka granny mode on Yamaki and just kept aggressively spouting out sentence after sentence in the thickest Osaka dialect possible. It was absolutely hilarious to watch and even though I enjoy how Ogata uses her dialect normally, she could utilize it some more for variety pieces/MCs.
Now Morning Musume has a LOT of members when performing on stage compared to other groups, and there are some good and bad things about that. The bad things are that it can become quite chaotic and you'll have no idea where your oshi went to. Also, it's very difficult to change penlight colors and show your support to another member (whether it's because their singing part or just since they're performing in front of you) because there are just too many damn colors. The good thing is that every part of the stage is somewhat filled up and you will often have multiple members performing in the area you have the best view of. With so many people it's also easier to get at least one member you like to notice you and get eye contact with.
Chapter 1: Rules of obtaining eye contact:
1. Make sure you are waving their member color or they might very well ignore you
2. Do not attend their Birthday Event and give them false hope that they're your oshi or after seeing that you're not waving their color they will doubly ignore you and treat you like a rock, lol (IM SORRY NONAKA PLZ DONT HATE ME UR AWESOME BUT DAT MASAKI AND HARUNAN THO)
3. Wave the color of a member who isn't super popular; they'll probably appreciate seeing their color in a sea of orange (jk, I just happened to be surrounded by Duu's fanclub) and look over to see who is supporting them. Side note: Because you're the only one waving their color in a certain area and they have a proper view of you this might get very embarrassing because they could keep looking back at ya.
4. Keep track of which direction the members are facing and whether you are in their potential point of view. Show your allegiance the moment they stop doing difficult moves so you actually give them a chance to look for more than just half a second.
Chapter 2: Members and eye contact (a totally subjective observation from someone who wasn't even trying to grab certain members' attention in the first place)
Mizuki: Mizuki seems to be more into performing than looking at people. Judging by the way she looks into the audience she doesn't seem to fixate on any one point. Maybe she's more subtle at it? If you're a Mizuki fan, do let me know.
Ikuta: Ikuta is pretty stoic, but I'm pretty she's secretly scanning the audience for green penlights. I'm not sure if you'll get eye contact for more than a second if you are waving green, but she'll definitely notice you and glance over shortly from time to time. Just judging from her personality alone I think she wants to know exactly who is supporting her in the audience with so much competition.
Ayumi: First person I noticed who was actively looking at people. If you're an Ayumi fan congratulations, every one of her smiles and moves pretty much screams 'LOOK AT ME!!!'. She's really cool about it and will smile at you brightly even if you're not waving her color. Very good sport.
Iikubo: Well...I waved yellow quite a lot since she's my 2nd favorite, and Iikubo just straight up stares at you for seconds if you wave yellow and she catches you looking at her when she's performing in a fixed position (dancing in one spot, with few dance moves; in the My Vision tour there are points where she dances on the pillars at the sides of the stage for a while), to the point where it becomes embarrassing. I often just glanced to another person and then back again because it's just too intense. There aren't that many people waving yellow and she's a very accommodating person to begin with so there's a large chance she will react to you, especially if you are foreign I guess.
Kudou: Didn't try to grab her attention but Kudou is pretty smiley and I saw her looking at random people in the audience a lot, so she seems very open to it. Our little narcissist enjoys sharing her smile shortly with a lot of different people, I'd say.
Masaki: So obviously I waved emerald green a lot and Masaki definitely grins at you if she catches you looking at her and waving emerald green, but I'm not sure if she'd actually do it for anyone who doesn't wave her color, lol. She's very much into the performance and isn't actively scanning the audience. Doesn't seem to make eye contact unless it's obvious you're specifically paying attention to her and then she'll cheekily smile at you for a bit. Thing is, her eyes are pretty small so often it's not obvious where she's looking, lol.
Nonaka: Ah~if you're waving her color and are foreign she'll definitely look at you! It's just that because of where I was sitting she happened to perform in front of me quite a lot and I'm pretty sure she caught on that I was waving emerald green and yellow, rather than purple, so yeah...-.-;. During the birthday event Nonaka showed a lot of eye contact though, so just show her that you like her and you'll definitely get more looks than a Japanese fan. Bonus points if you wear a 'MURICA shirt.
Akane: Ya know, as much as I like Akane, she doesn't really seem to make contact with audience members. I tried waving orange, but I'm not even sure if she knows how to differentiate between Kudou's and her own fans. During Nonaka's BD event she was also kind of ignoring the audience, but there was one point where she did grin while staring, so if you keep waving orange and she eventually does incidentally look over you'll probably receive a smile. It's just difficult to make those opportunities.
Ogata: See, here's the advantage if you're both a Maachan and Haachin fan; as long as you just wave the penlight in their direction they'll think you are waving their color and supporting them, lol. Here's the disadvantage if you're a fan of them; they have small eyes and you're never 100% sure if they're looking straight at you. Haachin is similar in that she probably won't react much if you're not waving her color, but she'll stare back if you make it clear you're cheering her on. Her expression doesn't really change though, since she's always kind of smiling.
Maria: She is really, really into the performance but I honestly have no idea since I wasn't waving pink and didn't pay much attention. Knowing Maria's personality though, she'll definitely react to her own color, as long as you catch her at a moment she isn't crazy into the music/dance and calms down.
Things that stood out to me is how great Nonaka's voice is and how much energy Ishida puts into her performance. It was quite incredibly to see her. The performance of course ended with a loud Kudou call and, even though I had just seen the show, I wanted to attend the evening one too, which was of course impossible since I didn't have a ticket for it. But that's how exciting the whole thing was!
All in all, I would definitely recommend going to a Morning Musume concert even if you like other groups better, simply because their songs keep you pumped throughout the entire concert and there's always something on stage to see with so many members. Other groups do not have that same advantage.
So Saitama is right next to Tokyo and the concert hall was maybe like 25 minutes from Shinjuku so it was a very convenient location. After going to the CG live (which was lovely, but the live hall was so small!) I kind of forgot what a Morning Musume concert felt like. As soon as you arrive at the station you'll see fans with MoMusu shirts walking around, and the area in front of the concert hall is incredibly busy with fans and people selling their goods. Didn't buy anything so just waited for the doors to open up and went to my seat. Now my ticket was 10th row, 10th seat from the left, which wasn't very good. It placed me at the left-most area, and the speakers even covered part of the stage so you couldn't see properly. Now I got really really lucky about 5 minuted before the show started. A Japanese fan approached me and started talking in English, asking if I wanted to exchange seats; he said something about his friends sitting there. I was a bit wary so I asked him where his seat was; DUDE BROUGHT ME TO THE 5th ROW 12TH SEAT which was very close to the stage and provided a straight view on the left part of the stage. That's an expensive seat! So I was like 'Yeah, sure!'. Such a nice dude!
So I won't get into the setlist, but it was incredible. It's just straight up high-energy songs that pump up the crowd one after another up 'till the very end. Ai no Gundan, One, Two, Three, Saturday Night, Tokyo to Iuu Katasumi, What is Love, etc. The energy was incredible and I think only Morning Musume would be able to pull this off because they have such a long history, so it's no wonder their concerts are so packed. Totally forgot that it was Kudou's hometown concert btw, but it explained the large amount of orange glow sticks and female fans, lol. She said she felt very nervous since there's the pressure of not being able to fill up/liven up a concert despite it being your hometown. There were so many people though, that she said there wouldn't be any problems regarding that! During the first MC Kuduu and Ayumi talked about what kind of venues they would and wouldn't want to perform in. Kuduu mentioned how Up Up Girls performed at the top of Fuji and was like, 'I'd probably collapse the moment I'd reach the top. The only one who might still have energy left is Ikuta.' Ayumi talked about having a show in space, and how each of their moves would probably take ages to perform because of the lack in gravity. 2nd MC was quite funny, it was basically Ogata, Ikuta and Mizuki playing shiritori with words or sentences that would 'Fire you up'. Ogata really proves herself as the joker in the group as she was just putting out nonsense and when she was given 'ru' just said stuff like 'Ru, ru, ru, ru, ru~!' while spinning around. Mizuki remarked 'Ogata, are you even taking these concerts seriously?' jokingly. Haha, scary leader. Ikuta worked in her Ganbatte Ikuta somehow and said one word very sexy, which lead to an applause in the audience. Then Mizuki said the same thing and the applause was even louder, lol. Then Ogata did it and the audience just went silent due to her saying it in the least sexy way possible. She has an entertaining character within the group and MoMusu needs people who they can play off of, but I'd like to see Ogata do even more with her Kansai-ben. In the Country Girls' MC yesterday Funakki went full-on Osaka granny mode on Yamaki and just kept aggressively spouting out sentence after sentence in the thickest Osaka dialect possible. It was absolutely hilarious to watch and even though I enjoy how Ogata uses her dialect normally, she could utilize it some more for variety pieces/MCs.
Now Morning Musume has a LOT of members when performing on stage compared to other groups, and there are some good and bad things about that. The bad things are that it can become quite chaotic and you'll have no idea where your oshi went to. Also, it's very difficult to change penlight colors and show your support to another member (whether it's because their singing part or just since they're performing in front of you) because there are just too many damn colors. The good thing is that every part of the stage is somewhat filled up and you will often have multiple members performing in the area you have the best view of. With so many people it's also easier to get at least one member you like to notice you and get eye contact with.
Chapter 1: Rules of obtaining eye contact:
1. Make sure you are waving their member color or they might very well ignore you
2. Do not attend their Birthday Event and give them false hope that they're your oshi or after seeing that you're not waving their color they will doubly ignore you and treat you like a rock, lol (IM SORRY NONAKA PLZ DONT HATE ME UR AWESOME BUT DAT MASAKI AND HARUNAN THO)
3. Wave the color of a member who isn't super popular; they'll probably appreciate seeing their color in a sea of orange (jk, I just happened to be surrounded by Duu's fanclub) and look over to see who is supporting them. Side note: Because you're the only one waving their color in a certain area and they have a proper view of you this might get very embarrassing because they could keep looking back at ya.
4. Keep track of which direction the members are facing and whether you are in their potential point of view. Show your allegiance the moment they stop doing difficult moves so you actually give them a chance to look for more than just half a second.
Chapter 2: Members and eye contact (a totally subjective observation from someone who wasn't even trying to grab certain members' attention in the first place)
Mizuki: Mizuki seems to be more into performing than looking at people. Judging by the way she looks into the audience she doesn't seem to fixate on any one point. Maybe she's more subtle at it? If you're a Mizuki fan, do let me know.
Ikuta: Ikuta is pretty stoic, but I'm pretty she's secretly scanning the audience for green penlights. I'm not sure if you'll get eye contact for more than a second if you are waving green, but she'll definitely notice you and glance over shortly from time to time. Just judging from her personality alone I think she wants to know exactly who is supporting her in the audience with so much competition.
Ayumi: First person I noticed who was actively looking at people. If you're an Ayumi fan congratulations, every one of her smiles and moves pretty much screams 'LOOK AT ME!!!'. She's really cool about it and will smile at you brightly even if you're not waving her color. Very good sport.
Iikubo: Well...I waved yellow quite a lot since she's my 2nd favorite, and Iikubo just straight up stares at you for seconds if you wave yellow and she catches you looking at her when she's performing in a fixed position (dancing in one spot, with few dance moves; in the My Vision tour there are points where she dances on the pillars at the sides of the stage for a while), to the point where it becomes embarrassing. I often just glanced to another person and then back again because it's just too intense. There aren't that many people waving yellow and she's a very accommodating person to begin with so there's a large chance she will react to you, especially if you are foreign I guess.
Kudou: Didn't try to grab her attention but Kudou is pretty smiley and I saw her looking at random people in the audience a lot, so she seems very open to it. Our little narcissist enjoys sharing her smile shortly with a lot of different people, I'd say.
Masaki: So obviously I waved emerald green a lot and Masaki definitely grins at you if she catches you looking at her and waving emerald green, but I'm not sure if she'd actually do it for anyone who doesn't wave her color, lol. She's very much into the performance and isn't actively scanning the audience. Doesn't seem to make eye contact unless it's obvious you're specifically paying attention to her and then she'll cheekily smile at you for a bit. Thing is, her eyes are pretty small so often it's not obvious where she's looking, lol.
Nonaka: Ah~if you're waving her color and are foreign she'll definitely look at you! It's just that because of where I was sitting she happened to perform in front of me quite a lot and I'm pretty sure she caught on that I was waving emerald green and yellow, rather than purple, so yeah...-.-;. During the birthday event Nonaka showed a lot of eye contact though, so just show her that you like her and you'll definitely get more looks than a Japanese fan. Bonus points if you wear a 'MURICA shirt.
Akane: Ya know, as much as I like Akane, she doesn't really seem to make contact with audience members. I tried waving orange, but I'm not even sure if she knows how to differentiate between Kudou's and her own fans. During Nonaka's BD event she was also kind of ignoring the audience, but there was one point where she did grin while staring, so if you keep waving orange and she eventually does incidentally look over you'll probably receive a smile. It's just difficult to make those opportunities.
Ogata: See, here's the advantage if you're both a Maachan and Haachin fan; as long as you just wave the penlight in their direction they'll think you are waving their color and supporting them, lol. Here's the disadvantage if you're a fan of them; they have small eyes and you're never 100% sure if they're looking straight at you. Haachin is similar in that she probably won't react much if you're not waving her color, but she'll stare back if you make it clear you're cheering her on. Her expression doesn't really change though, since she's always kind of smiling.
Maria: She is really, really into the performance but I honestly have no idea since I wasn't waving pink and didn't pay much attention. Knowing Maria's personality though, she'll definitely react to her own color, as long as you catch her at a moment she isn't crazy into the music/dance and calms down.
Things that stood out to me is how great Nonaka's voice is and how much energy Ishida puts into her performance. It was quite incredibly to see her. The performance of course ended with a loud Kudou call and, even though I had just seen the show, I wanted to attend the evening one too, which was of course impossible since I didn't have a ticket for it. But that's how exciting the whole thing was!
All in all, I would definitely recommend going to a Morning Musume concert even if you like other groups better, simply because their songs keep you pumped throughout the entire concert and there's always something on stage to see with so many members. Other groups do not have that same advantage.
