SMAP LIVE IN NIIGATA: August 5, 2006(Part1)

SMAP LIVE IN NIIGATA: August 5, 2006
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I went last night!!! It was everything I had dreamed of.. There are no words to describe how awesome the experience of a first smap concert ever was!! I have wanted to go so badly for 5 years. I was a young teen when I first joined the fanclub about 3 yrs ago through my grandparents in Japan. (I don't live in Japan). But the concerts were always at the wrong timing and very difficult to just fly over there for just the concert because it's far. But I kept believing that one day... it will happen. And I felt that 2006 was going to be one of my last chances. (because of college, work, money..) We had already planned our once in 2 years trip to Japan (to visit relatives) in the fall and I was praying that concerts would fall in the same month we're there.

The concert schedule came out.. And the only concerts while in Japan were Sapporo and Niigata. I was a little disappointed but I still had hope.. But the second my mom saw the schedule, she told me it's impossible. You can imagine how much I wanted to scream! My mom wanted me to go as much as I did.. But logically, Sapporo is WAY too far from where we're staying in Tokyo and Niigata is a hassle.

I am so glad I convinced her!!! So we made plans for Niigata.. Booking shinkansen bullet train, looking up hotels.. But all the hotels were fully booked a month in advance just for that one night!!! Ahhhh the power of smap.. So we booked a 5-hour nightbus back. Then came the applications and the numerous calls to my grandparents and the waiting and the call to Johnny's too see if we won the ballot. I was so nervous that day! I couldn't relax.. Then my grandpa called to let me know if I had gotten the tickets. At first he sounded so calm and serious and my heart dropped. But then he told me I got them!!! I couldn't believe it. I was soooo happy but I couldn't imagine really going to a smap concert because for all these years, it felt so impossible!!! It took a couple of days for it to sink in. I kept thinking.. I'm going to see SMAP!! No that can't be!!! The real smap?!!! The idea felt so foreign.

Niigata is really a miracle. Because in the fall, when we were booking flights to Japan, we were first going to leave on the 4th. But then we changed our flight to leave on the 8th instead because we wanted to fly ANA back. And because of that, August 5 was possible. Ohhh I would have died if we had stuck with leaving on the 4th!!!

THE NIGHT BEFORE THE CONCERT

I had already pretty much memorized the songs in the new album and I was freaking out listening to them because the next time.. It will be LIVE! What would it be like? What would the stage look like? What am I going to buy? I'm actually going to see the 5 people I'm so crazy about!!!?! I went for karaoke on this day with my sister.. Of course I sang old smap songs!! It made me anticipate the show even more. I had so much trouble falling asleep and I woke up at 5 the next morning.

THE CONCERT DAY IS FINALLY HERE!!

I couldn't help grinning the whole day!! Today is the day I will be partying with smap at the concert! It's my dream day and it will be beautiful... We (my mom, sister, and I) almost missed our shinkansen by 4 minutes!!! phew! Because we had to change local trains a couple of times and buy lunch and drinks.. But we were safe. The 2 hours felt so short because I was busy daydreaming!! This is the train to smap! There were two people who sat in the seats in front of us..bound for smap too!! It was a mother and her daugher, who was about 12 years old. They were talking about smap and concert goods-- I could tell they've been to past concerts because they were calmer than us about it!

We reached Niigata station and lined up for the shuttle buses to the stadium at around 10:45 AM. There were so many fans there already!! I had never been around so many smap fans before. It was really cool! Niigata Stadium is really beautiful. It's surrounded by trees and it's right beside a little (man made) strip of water/lake. There were little open-air shops selling food outside, and of course there was the long line for goods. It was the hottest day of summer so far. Everyone had sun umbrellas but I wasn't that smart. So I stood in the sun in line and sweat and smiled goofily because I knew I was in the same park as smap! I could hear the echoes of them rehearsing from the stadium!!! First was shingo.. his solo! The beat of the music really mounts the excitement!!! Then Nakai, Tsuyo, and Goro rehearsed their solos. I took about 1 and a half hours lining up and buying goods. It didn't feel that long at all, even in the heat. I didn't even notice the time passing because there was so much to look at and marvel at. I think it feels MUCH longer waiting just 20 minutes in line for a ride at Disneyland than lining up for 1.5 hrs in the sun for smap goods!! I bought more than I calculated for hahaha! But I don't regret it at all because this is a once in a lifetime experience! (after the concert though I badly wanted to go again in the future..)

I bought: pamphlet, shopping bag, Takuya uchiwa, cap, black sunglasses, penlight, group poster, and some goods for my sister. And a Takuya uchiwa for my mom. My mom was a Takuya fan +dorama fan WAY before I knew about smap. Well, she's Japanese.. of course she loves Takuya's doramas!! But she tries not to show it much and she's not a crazy, dreamy fan like me at all.

We found some shade under the trees and had a picnic. It was really a summery mood with everyone bustling around buying goods or lying down in the shade and eating lunch. And chatting about our darling smap!!! Everyone was in such a good mood. There were so many different people there.. Toddlers to teens to young women and old couples and men who are fans themselves.. and a group of blond-haired americans (or russians..?) Many had cool costumes and bright colors to stand out.. Some were decked out in Pop Up goods gear and some had t-shirts with photos of their favorite member on them. There were two little girls- sister- who had smap stickers and logos pasted all over their tanktops! How cute!! My mom, sister, and I weren't very creative and just matched with light/lime green tops. I wore my cap and sunglasses on the cap too. All that smap-ness and happy fans walking around made me feel so proud to be there and even more thrilled.

It was soo exciting! Takuya started his solo rehearsal and we could hear his beautiful voice echoing right next to us. I couldn't believe the real Takuya was right there inside the stadium!! I'm listening to his voice LIVE!!! Every hour, more and more fans came piling in to the park. It was crazy. Everyone had their Pop Up shopping bags and it was really cool to be surrounded with people who love smap like me.

We tried to figure out which side the stage would be judging from the rehearsal voices.. We knew that we'd either be directly opposite (the long way) from the stage or on the curve right next to it. Smap started rehearsing Mayonaka no Merry Go Round, Kansha Shite, and Sekai ni Hitotsu Dake no Hana. The voices were loudest on our side.. the S Gate. So that was the encore stage.

After lunch, my sister and I decided to go buy ice cream and cold water because it was so hot. I just took a 1000 yen bill and some water we already had and we started to walk towards the food stands.. Suddenly, some lady comes up to me and taps me on the shoulder. She shows me a 1000 yen bill and asks "Did you guys just drop this?" I immediately replied "No no I'm sure we didn't.. We weren't carrying any money." The lady asked us if we were sure and then she turned around and started to walk away to look for whoever could have dropped the money. My sister turned to me and said, "that was the money for the ice cream!" I didn't get it for a few seconds and said "what ice cream?.. OH YEAH our ice cream!!!!" So I ran back to the lady and said "Yes that was our money we dropped.. I totally forgot I even was holding any money!" I am usually not that stupid.. But I swear, during those few moments I was a total BLUR. HAHA! I knew we were going to buy ice cream, but when the lady came up to us, I forgot that we even had money.. I don't even remember dropping anything. This is what smap does to you. They fry your brains and make you go crazy!

Another interesting thing happened when I went to buy water alone.. I ended up having a long conversation with the guy working at the water stand. Haha! He looked about a year older than me and the conversation just started with him asking me where I was from, blah, blah.. He was actually pretty hot. And then when he handed me my change he said "enjoy the show!!" Yes, of course I will!!! Hey, meeting a random guy before the concert of your dreams starts is a nice bonus to the day! Especially when I was in such a blurred, dreamy state of excitement.