The live took place in Seven Park Ario, a large shopping mall in Kashiwa. Thankfully there was a bus from Kashiwa Station that stopped directly outside the venue so we managed to get there without too many problems. When we actually got inside the venue though was when I had to properly break out my rusty Japanese for the first time on our trip (other than saying the odd word to people on the street giving us directions and the like) because we had trouble finding the stage so we ended up having to ask a group of giggly young girls holding SUPER★DRAGON uchiwas the way and they told us in a mix of Japanese and English.
Once we found the stage there was still a while before the live was due to start and on our search we'd noticed that there was a TOWER RECORDS inside the shopping mall so we decided to check that out in the meantime. In there I found a copy of the event edition of M!LK's "Ousama no Gyuunyuu" which I've been after for a while so of course I bought it.
We wandered around the mall for a bit more after that and it was then that I started to wonder where everyone had gotten the SUPER★DRAGON uchiwas from. I really wanted one as I thought it would be a great way to remember the event so I asked a couple of fans who were standing nearby and they explained that if we'd have gotten there early enough and bought a copy of "SWEET DEVIL" then we would've gotten a special ticket with it which could have been exchanged for either a picture with the group or an uchiwa. I was a little disappointed we hadn't gotten there in time but I was happy I'd managed to purchase M!LK's album at least and I still had the live to look forward to.
It was almost time for the live to start then so we went outside to the stage. People who had certain ticket numbers were allowed to go closer to the front but since I didn't have a ticket I was near the back but it wasn't overly packed so my view wasn't too bad. I felt sorry for the girl next to me though because she was smaller than me and could barely see so she had to keep jumping all through the live! My dad wandered off to sit on a wall nearby because it was hot, haha.
After an announcement from the staff, the live started and SUPER★DRAGON came running onto the stage to the sound of screaming fangirls. I think Jean was the first member I noticed and I swooned a little when I saw him. He's had blonde hair recently but it was back to brown now which I think suits him better and he had earrings in. He looked so handsome ;-;
They kicked off with their debut song "Pendulum Beat!" and during the intro Tsuyoshi started calling out, "Say 'Supadora'!" to which the audience happily responsed. He also asks the crowd to shout out "SweDevi" and "final" and of course we all do, growing in enthusiam each time. I think I was a bit star-struck during this song as I don't remember much of it, I just remember staring at Jean and thinking, "Wow, he's even cooler in person.", haha.
They then went straight into "Mada' Mada'" and I have to say that this is definitely one of my favourite songs to hear them perform live. The wotagei routine is really fun to do and Jean was so cool in this one; I couldn't take my eyes off him.
After the first two songs they paused to introduce themselves. I can't remember everyone's introductions exactly so I'll just mention the ones that stood out to me. Koki showed off his beat-boxing skills and Sougo our beloved train otaku had memorized the announcement that the train announcer gives when you arrive at Kashiwa Station and recited it for us word for word, even including the English translation. A lot of people were impressed with his English pronunciation (myself included!). Sweet and thoughtful little Raku was very aware of the hot weather and told us all to make sure we were taking care of ourselves, and I'm like 99% sure I made eye contact with Jean during his introduction. I may have misheard him but I'm sure he said, "Do you like Japan?" in his introduction as well, haha. I don't know what that was about. Maybe it was a joke about the hot weather.
The next two songs were "Summer Breeze" and "Ringing, Love", the coupling songs from Type-B and Type-A of the "SWEET DEVIL" single respectively. This was actually my first time hearing both of these songs. "Summer Breeze" was pretty good albeit nothing special in my opinion, but "Ringing, Love" I fell in love with instantly. While Tsuyoshi was singing the "I love you so bad" lines in English I was literally staring up at the stage with my mouth wide open just thinking 'wow', haha.
After a short break for talking and Jean explaining the "devil fingers pose" to us (and taking his jacket off because he was probably so hot, bless him!), it was time for the last song which was none other than "SWEET DEVIL". This song is so catchy and I love the choreography and wotagei routine for it. I couldn't tell who it was (I feel like it was Tomoya but I'm not sure) but if you listen to the song one of the members does this really creepy kind of "screamo" noise just before the bridge but I wasn't expecting them to actually do that live as well. I was thinking, "Poor baby, is that hurting your throat?", haha.
Finally, they said their thank yous and goodbyes and left the stage and I felt like it was over way too quickly but I had fun. I went over to find my dad then while people who still had tickets were rejoining the queue to get more uchiwas.
I was sitting on the wall with my dad (having a rest after standing up in the heat for all that time, haha) when a girl who I think had to leave the event early for some reason so therefore couldn't use her tickets went over to one of the girls sitting next to me and gave them all to her. I was kinda hoping I could have one too but I didn't want to be rude but my dad (having no shame lol) also saw the exchange and he went over to them and asked them if they had any spare. The conversation was very awkward (It mostly consisted of one of them continuously repeating "SUPER★DRAGON?") because they didn't speak much English and my brain went completely blank and I couldn't think of how to ask them in Japanese but they eventually figured out what I wanted and were kind enough to give me one of their tickets.
I then got in the queue and after more awkward encounters with the staff that didn't speak English and me failing at Japanese I managed to buy Type-A of "SWEET DEVIL" and got a Sougo uchiwa. I wanted Jean or Raku but I thought I was already extremely lucky to get one at all and I do love Sougo too so I just left it at that. When I opened the CD I found out I got Raku's photocard though.
I would have to say that this was the second best part of my trip to Japan. What was the best part you're probably wondering? Well, you'll have to wait and see but if you're following me on social media you've probably already guessed with how much I've been posting about it, haha.
Have you ever seen any of your favourite Jpop artists live? What was it like? Tell me in the comments!
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