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

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Takuya comes on stage!!!! The crowd chants, "Takuya, Takuya!!" We think it's his solo next. But Shingo appears too!! And we yell his name.. Next is Moai!! Shingo and Takuya duet!!! They are both on the higher platform on the stage. Takuya is sitting at the top of the steps, strumming his guitar!!! Ohhh so sexy!! And Shingo is sitting on the step one below him beside Takuya. They look peaceful together.. Like they are two friends on the beach at night. Takuya was wearing aviator sunglasses, I think. Shingo starts singing.. Ohh I love this song! And Takuya joins.. "Say you trust meee..." I love it! Then Takuya's turn comes and he takes over. I'm melting at this point. The video keeps showing close-ups of his fingers working that guitar! Then Shingo stands up beside Takuya and they start singing the ending chorus together. Takuya takes the higher note just like in the album and their voices blend so well together. I wanted them to keep singing like that forever. There's nothing more I could have wished for.. I've always wanted to be there to hear a Takuya-Shingo duet!!! I found out later that Takuya was playing that guitar with an injured middle finger.. He had twisted it in a weird position during the dance segment at Sapporo. And he was playing for us because he didn't want to let us down.. Awww. Thanks Takuya.

The Goro's turn- L-O-V-E!! The video screen shows 4 models wearing pretty dresses.. holding the letters L, O, V, E. It's really cute. They come up on screen everytime the song goes "I love you.. I love you" I really like the jazzy feel to this solo! And as Goro is singing, the stage dancers come out and they are wearing red foam blocks on their heads with the letters L,O,V,E. Then 4 more dancers come out with G,O,R,O. Those letters all dance and intermix on stage. It looked pretty cool! My favorite part was where Goro sang "Jazz.. wa Kusanagi Tsuyoshi jya nai no da!!" (Jazz doesn't fit Kusanagi Tsuyoshi's image) and the video screen shows Tsuyoshi with earphones rocking out to music that is definitely not jazz!

Now is Takuya's turn.. I've been waiting and waiting for his part. Of course I called out his name before the song!! Kimi ga Iru.. Defintely a sweet and calming slow song. It sounded fantastic with Takuya's voice surrounding the whole stadium and the slow tunes throbbing in the air!! The penlights were especially beautiful here. Ahhh his voice is still ringing in my ears.. This is the real Kimura Takuya- so far away from me that I can barely make out his face, but sexy nontheless. I looked at the big videoscreen a lot in this one because it showed DROOL-WORTHY close-ups of his face. The best word to describe his solo.. Passionate. He walked over to the grand piano where the pianist was playing.. and stood on it! He was really singing his heart out. And then near the end where Takuya's part builds up.. he put even more of his heart into it. His eyes were so passionate!!! And then while singing he sank down to squat on the piano and squeezed his eyes as he sang.. ahhhhh!!!!! I think I stopped waving my penlight right there.. I couln't move!! And he finished oh so beautifully and pointed straight at us (and the camera..it showed on the big screen) and flashed a grin!! Did my heart stop right there or what! The lights dimmed and he disappeared. I died. Ahh!

3D glasses on!!! (I am getting mixed up about what happened in this one and what happened in the previous 3D one.. sorry!!)

Daijoubu!!!!! Upbeat song!! Deafening!! Yesss! Rock-style. Takuya starts off great! His voice is amazing.. It can suddenly change into rock-mode after all the passion and gentleness it had just a few minutes before in his solo! He runs across the mainstage..His hair swaying!!! This is really the song to get everyone going! But then this was the song where they said their first "Domo Arigatou, Byebye!!" while singing. Ahhh I knew there was still the encores but I wasn't ready for "byebye" yet!!!!! No.....

Then.. Kokoro no Kagami! A classic! The we pump our penlights into the air and the whole stadium looks alive! I think 2 members went up on the cranes for this one.. Big streamlines burst out into the arena!! (was it streamlines in this song..?? Maybe it was the big spray of sparks that flew up from the stage..) At this point, I'm enjoying myself 100%, knowing that the number of minutes I have left with smap is getting less and less.. I felt a bit sad too and desperate to have more.. But at the same time I forgot everything and let loose and sang along with smap! I was really losing my voice.. haha! The music was so loud and I couldn't even hear myself. I felt ALIVE!

They sang a new song next. A bit calmer but it had a good beat. I don't know the title but they said "arigatou" a lot in the chorus. Maybe it will be the next new single!!! I liked the sound of it.. but I really was sad to hear them say "arigatou".. as in "goodbye" ahhh I didn't want the concert to end!!!!! They left the stage, saying goodbye. Nooo.... But I was also excited for the encore to come so they could sing right in front of my eyes and I can stare at them close-up!!

The crowd chanted.. Encoru, Encoru, Encoru!!! We all knew they'd come out for sure. haha!

And yes!!!! 3D time again!! This time it's time to choose the 5 lucky-sans who get to dance with smap and hug them!!! AHHHHH!!! I kept thinking.. "please let it be me!! what if it is me?! what am I going to do?!" The chance was so slim but I wanted to imagine it while I could!! On the 3D screen all the members were shown playing cards.. Each of them had to choose a card. They went one by one and the card they chose will flick out towards us and show us the seat number of the lucky-san on the face. The third one that was chosen was in the same block as where we were sitting!!! Ahhh just a few feet away!!!!!!!!!! Then Takuya went last.. My last chance.... He took his time picking a card in the video. Then.... NOOO!! Oh well.... Even though I knew it was almost impossible.. I felt disappointed haha..

SMAP comes out!!! Bang Bang Vacance! On the carts that go out the sides of the arena towards the encore stage!! Towards meee!!! Takuya and Tsuyoshi I think were on the left and Goro, Shingo, and Nakai were on the right. Right here, I kept staring at Takuya non-stop thinking.."he's getting closer..ahhh!" I think I had a heart attack. They were busy entertaining the fans on the stands.. they were right in front of them!!! At one point the carts stopped moving at the halfway point between the mainstage and the encore stage. Those fans in the 1st floor stands right where smap stopped were so lucky.. Smap stayed there for quite a portion of the song! Ahh I was jealous. Shingo was almost touching the fans in the first row. They were flapping their uchiwas and hands crazily at him. Ahhh I want to do that!!!! One thing though.. This was the 2nd time they sang Bang Bang Vacance.. even though I LOVE that song, I was hoping they'd sing Original Smile or Hadaka no Ousama or DYNAMITE.. they missed all three of those concert classics!!! or Gambarimashou. Oh well. When Shingo sang "Otokomae dane Kimura kun!", Takuya couldn't give him a kiss since they were on the carts, so he blew a kiss!!! I stole it from Shingo. haha!

And at the end of their song they reached the encore stage...Ahhhh finally I can see them!! I can see their faces! Their eyes! Their sweat. Woah.. Smap is standing right in front of me!!! We are here together!! It was really mind-baffling. Even though I had been staring at them from afar the whole concert, now that they were here up close, I saw them at a whole new level. It was bliss. I wish I could have gazed at them from this close the whole concert. ahhh... They looked so real. So different from the tv. DUH! Because they were the real stars!! The living and breathing smap! Oh man.. my voice was gone by that time. I screamed my lungs out!!! They sang Mayonaka no Merry Go Round!! And danced with the 5 lucky-sans!!!! Argh. The hugs to the lucky sans were very casual.. Not like smap lined up and hugged them one by one like I thought before. Just while rocking out to the song, they would hug. Hug for quite a few seconds, but it didn't look awkward at all because they were dancing. Ahhh Takuya.. The stage dancers were there too, smiling and dancing in a big oval around smap and the lucky-sans. One of the lucky-sans was a little girl!!! About 2 years old! She was with her mother. (later I found out that the real lucky san was the mother, who brought her child) Takuya was soo sweet.. Just like what others say about him. I witnessed his sweetness. He squat down during the song while singing and played with the little girl, holding her arms and helping her dance. He was smiling and grinning so widely. Just watching that was enough of a lucky gift to me. The encore stage was like a big party!! The members were all enjoying themselves with the lucky-sans.. Ahh it was touching.

When the song ended, the lucky-sans exited the encore stage and the members each stood on their square on the stage to get ready for Sekai Ni Hitotsu Dake no Hana.

The squares they were standing on started to rise up and a metal bar came up to support them so they won't fall.. Goro was gripping on it tightly hahah. And the beats of Sekai ni Hitotsu Dake no Hana rang through the stadium. Takuya stood in the middle, Shingo on the far right closest to me. Ahhh this was the most moving song in the whole concert. Such a beautiful song with such a deep meaning.. I can see their faces clearly..They were facing us for the most part of the song!! I stared and stared... Wow it was just like on tv.. I thought I was watching tv or something or dreaming. Really, the shock of seeing smap that close singing Sekai killed all my braincells. It was amazing!!! The hand movements to Sekai.. I did them with smap, at the same time as smap, with all the thousands and thousands of fans in the stadium. All the hands swaying and circling.. it was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. And Takuya's arm doing the hand movements, holding his mic.. Singing beautifully just like on tv and in concert videos.. It really was like a dream. But it felt so real at the same time. I kept staring at his hand.. and his face.. and when he turned around to face the mainstage, I stared at his beautiful hair, praying he'd turn around to us again. Oh yes and I made sure to scream "I love you!!!!" at them. I couldn't hear my voice at all over the crowd, and it was half gone already.. But how often do you get to scream "I love you" to smap?!! At this point I really felt like I would support them forever, no matter what. When they came over to sing Merry Go Round before this song, I had already stood up on my chair. (it is NOT allowed, but my row was the last row on the first floor so it was ok. everyone in the back row was standing barefoot on their seats too!!) I got a good look at smap. Right in front of me.... I'm surprised my heart didn't stop.. It was beating soo fast. Sekai ni Hitotsu Dake no Hana is such a powerful song. Especially with all those people, in love with smap just like me, with those hand movements.. The stadium was really filled with love at that point. We were all gazing at smap with love, and the night felt really alive.. That's how powerful such a song can be! Takuya was soo into it and he was standing on the edge of his square platform, not holding on to the bar. I was scared that he'd fall. Really, he wasn't even worrying about falling. He was just there on the edge, as close to us fans in the stands as possible.. Singing with the rest of smap.