The anticipation was building up and when I looked at the set, it was simple. One the right side of the stage, there was a structure that looked like a “big top” of a circus to the left there was a huge scaffolding structure about 2-3 storeys in height. They had the standard 3 hanamichis, one long and 2 short at the sides.  

 

Opening - The concert started about on time and the first person to appear was Aiba-cha, appearing on the top of the scaffolding structure. Then each appeared one by one and when Ohchan appeared there was a noticeable shriek across the whole dome because he looked so different and kakkoi in his new hair style. Nino spotted a new hairstyle and was very similar to his ONE hairstyle and he looked very good. The opening dance was fantastic, with lost of oomph and pyrotechnics, and I was really expecting them to start off with Step and Go, but they started with “Move Your Body” and then went on to Happiness , Life goes on before they moved down the main hanamichi and launched into Step and Go.

 

Sets - The segment of the concert after Step and Go centered around the “carnival and circus” theme, and they had dancers decked out in colourful circus like costumes and a couple of juniors or was it MAD guys doing a few backflips here and there. All this was cover I guess for the preparation for the next part of the concert. What was the theme of that part, I really didn’t know and couldn’t tell.  They came out on a myriad of structures and techicolour costumes that I think raised many eyebrows. Jun was on a horse with a cape or something on him, Nino was decked out in flowers, Aiba was dressed like a present on a structure that had a live feed below him (like at the NEWS dome con), captain was on a structure with lots of longish looking balloons and Sho in a grossly shiny goldish purple costume on top of a structure with lots of balloons housed in a casing shaped like a heart. I felt it was a bit kiddish. They continued like that for a couple of songs before launching into the first part of members solos.

 

Members solos – “Take me faraway” is my personal favourite in this whole album and so I was looking forward to it. Capt was first and he did look kakkoi and all but I was hoping that he danced more. Its been 3 years since I saw him really dance, so I really wanted some sleek captain-ish movements but it was not forthcoming.

 

Banbi’s solo – It was cute. He didn’t move a lot, many because of his alleged injury or something, but it was very very very Sho. He was in all rapper mode, but it was not that Hip Hop Bad Boy look, it was (I don’t know how better to describe it than) a CUTE HIP HOP look. He wasn’t wearing a cap like he always does, he was wearing a broad rimmed hat, and in a 2-colour puffy vest. He entered from Stage left, from the 3 story steel structure, and worked his way to the main stage and down the main hanamichi, where he did the dance which he and Yaracchi choreographed. It was very clear that that part of the song was the part which he was talking about in his diary.

 

Aiba-chan – Like last year’s , Aiba chan’s number was kawaii. He was in pink checked shorts and a hoodie with the words “HELLO GOODBYE” and a multicolour wallet chain.

The words were a bit takky but it was cute because it was Aiba chan. The hand movements was also cute, especially the”HELLO GOODBYE” part.

 

Nino – Contrary to other people’s comments, I liked it. I think he was the only member that really danced. His costume wasn’t too bad either and he ended the song with lick of his finger or something which sent the audience screaming.. erm ... ok that was a bit .... off...Nino trying to be sexy like Jun. XD

 

Jun – As predicted he went naked. (only the top). He started from back stage and did his number barefooted, in line with the theme. He had a harem of about 6 dancing girls with him at first which then increased to more later during the song. I liked the part where he was dancing barefoot and his costume, (flowly pants) but when he stripped that part onwards was a bit bimyou for me. He was really skinny!! Of course, Jun fans were in seventh heaven, but for me, I would have preferred a bit more meat.

 

Female dancers – This is the first time I have seen female dancers in an Arashi concert. The jimusho is paying money to hire female dancers and not using just the juniors. I guess its Dome so it’s a scale up. For me, I have only seen female dancers in Kinki and SMAP cons up till now.

 

MC highlights– They talked about Aiba chan and captain’s visit to Disneyland (with their manager) XD. Aiba was in the shop buying omiyage when someone quite old and which he didn’t know at all tapped him on the shoulder and went “Yo! Aiba-kun!” So they asked him – what kind of ‘Yo!” Was it? So Aiba went “it was a Yo! in Japanese” XD XD

 

Then Jun mentioned that went they arrived at the airport in Osaka on Thursday night, there were some high school kids and they recognized Aiba chan when he walked past them. So they went “ Ah!! Ah!! Isn’t that Aiba!!!” (they forgot to add the chan or kun) at the back. XD So they asked the audience- how we would address Aiba-san, and by a raising of hands, the majority of the people said they preferred to address him by “Aiba-chan” whilst a minority said “Aiba-kun” and a surprising large number of people went “AIBA!!” (I remember he was also complaining that during the Asia concert, a large number of people addressed him as Aiba! Only)

 

The return of Omiya SK –After the main MC , Sho, Aiba and Jun were left and they starting talking about “revial”… So everyone started stirring around going OMG are they going to come back?!! REALLY!!?? REALLY!!??? And they did!!! KYAAAAA~~ It was so nice to see Omiya SK back again after about one year of so. The red and blue feathers, the sunglasses…. 懐かしい～～～The last time I saw them was in the first Osaka dome concert in April 2007. As usual there was the heavy breathing and funny accented Japanese talk and they appeared!! They had the juniors carry a Mikoshi (a portable shrine) and then they flashed a huge picture of Tegoshi on the screen and blacked off his eyes like in magazines if they did not want a person recognised, and emphasized, NOT TEGOSHI, OMIKOSHI!!

 

Encore – The encore was my favourite part of the concert. Why? Because of the chipmunk. Again, it as obviously a Jun idea, they came floating out, from backstage on this HUGE contraption which was Jun’s idea I guess. You had this huge big floating contraption that had 5 cylindrical vessels joined together floating across the dome, with cables extending from the contraption. They were about 2-3 stories high I estimate, and they “floated” across the dome in that. Shochan was terrified. Everyone was spinning around and waving at the audience, but you could see that Shochanwas terrified. When I saw that I was wondering, “Shochan, daijyoubu?!” He was so stiff, Jun, nino and aiba were having a ball of a time spinning around in their harnesses but Sho remained upright, with his hands firmly gripped on to the supporting cable. But he had to look like an idol, so he smiled at the audience and waved at them with his free hand, but you could see his other hand was gripping tightly to the cable with a death-like grip!!めちゃ 面白かった！も一回びびる翔ちゃんを見たい！XD XD XD It was hilarious to see the chipmunk frozen. They started with Do My Best as the 1^st song for the encore before proceeding to Fight Song. Sho was so scared he didn’t even sing his part - he “talked” rather than sang through his part. When they finally landed safely on back stage, the rest got out of their harness pretty quickly, but the chipmunk was so stiff, it took him quite some time to get out of the harness, which then earned him some ribbing from Nino. XD

I was already ROFL by that time.

 

New songs – 1) Dream – They sang a song called “Dream” which they five of them had written. It about saving the earth and doing a little of what we can to protect the environment (Thus the ecobag in the goods list) I have a feeling this will be the 24 hours song.

2) One Love – they sang “One Love”, the theme song from Hanadan Final.Its a catchy enough tune and bubble-gum teenybopper enough to match the theme of the movie. 

 

 

Things I hope that they would improve.

 

Of Moving Stages, carts and dance – This is my main complaint about the concert. I think there is something major lacking ;- DANCE. Compared to concerts of yesteryear, I didn’t leave the concert thinking that I had gone to concert, as I felt that there was no true performance. I came to see a show, with snazzy nice choreographed dance movements, but what I got was a lot of fan service with them being pushed through the audience and doing a lot of waving. Where are the lightsaber dance movements from 'Right BACK to you?" or the cute backflips in "Love Situation" or the cool dance movements in "Die for you" or the catchy uptempo moves in "Yes?No". I didnt see anything anywhere close to this at all. Also they didn’t use the moving stage as much. What I find impressive is to see them dancing, on the moving stage, as it passes across the arena. There was no such things this time, because they were all separated. I know that they really want to get close to the audience and all and that is all good, but seriously, I paid money to come to see them perform, not to see them being wheeled through the audience and waving around. Compared to previous concerts, there were very few instances of the 5 of them dancing together.  Come on guys, ちょっと踊ってもらいたいだけどさ! 踊らないと面白くなちゃいますよ！

 

Sho’s hair – that is my pet peeve. He started off good enough but was the concert went on, his hair went flatter and flatter , until it was totally flat!!! OMG, Shochan, put more hairspray next time otherwise you look so nerdy. XD XD..

 

A theme – This concert doesn’t seem to have a clear theme. There are issues about saving the earth, interspersed with sets and dance reflecting a Carnival/Circus/Pantomime theme. I cant see the connection between Dream A Live and all these stuff.