VIBES

[elenniel]

At long last! Finally, my Vibes con post. XD

* I couldn't cut the image count below 100, so... I suggest you open this in a new tab or something and then come back to in after a while when it finishes loading. 8D
Oh, and some of these are linked thumbnails to the original larger images (just see if there's a thin olive-green border around the pic). ^^

The opening of Vibes was... impressive. It didn't exactly start with a bang nor was it grand and startling, but it was certainly impressive. You don't see V6 for a whole minute (about 1 minute and 20 seconds 8D ) from the instant the lights dim and the anticipation is built solely through the music (which starts off almost sci-fi-ish and turns into a suspense-inducing piece full of bass and electronic sounds) and the video. Then there's a moment of darkness and silence. And finally V6 arrive on the scene - rising up to the second level of the stage, dressed in cool-looking checkered black and white, with white trilby hats~ - and proceed to stun us all with NEXplosion.


I thought the opening both set the tone for the concert and got the audience interested, which is what openings should do - grab your attention, make you want to see more, and tell you what you can expect from the rest of it (like a good movie trailer, hahah). I haven't seen many V6 concerts yet (just 3 so far!) but somehow I got the immediate impression that this was an unusual opening choice for them and that the rest of the concert was going to be really something to watch. Perhaps one day, when I've watched more of their old concerts, I'll find that I'm wrong here, but for now this is my opinion. :)


*fangirl squee* First good close-up of Okada~ I love the outfit. Go-kun did a great job designing them!


I loved this part of NEXplosion. All six in a row, with the fiery spouts coming up behind them at intervals whilst the video on the giant screen behind them displayed water falling down (well, it looked like water anyway.) It just looked really cool. :)

The song ends with a sound like glass breaking, and the video followed it. Just before the end, the water "froze" on the screen and then fell to pieces exactly in time with the audio.

The coolest part was that when it "shattered," the spotlights behind came on so it looked like a curtain was being dropped to reveal the hidden lights.

With a burst of fireworks, dry ice and lights, it was on to Vibes~


"We are - V6!!"


Then it was onto a medley, starting with Believe Your Smile. This was one of those run-around-the-hall-and-wave-at-fans times (which I'm glad V6 didn't do that often - I'll explain later).

Inocchi shaking hands during Good Day!!, which was the next song in the medley and also one of my favourite V6 songs :D

Two more songs finished off the medley, bringing us to the first MC (which I suppose was more of a short break for them to change outfits).

Things we learn during this first MC:
- Wow, there's actually a fair number of guys who attend V6's concerts.
- Go-kun was the costume designer for this concert (good job, Go, really!)
- Early in the tour, the truck carrying the costumes caught fire and that was the end of the costumes. Somehow they managed to have the outfits remade in time. 8D (Actually this wouldn't be new to most V6 fans. hahah)

Kamisen went backstage first to change outfits, leaving Tonisen to hold the fort. Still talking about the costumes, Inocchi showed off his hairy legs and insisted that he often wore shorts like that (more like three-quarter pants, Inocchi). Nagano sounded doubtful and Sakamoto said, "It's fine. The sight of them will last forever on our DVD." lol

Oh, Leader XD

Kamisen soon returned, and Tonisen went off to change. When I first saw Kamisen's outfits, I went D: And when Tonisen came back it was just the same.
From the lovely black and white outfits they'd been wearing, they suddenly changed to glittering, red jackets with roses down the front. @_@ The jackets weren't the major offence though. It was what had been paired with those jackets. Kamisen - pants with rectangle patterns, Tonisen - coloured camoflouge pants. >.< If it had been grey pants or something or even pinstriped pants, it wouldn't have been as bad.

They did continue talking for a while though, and we learn a few more interesting things:
- Go's a little nervous about his solo con.
- Okada was "in charge of a lot of the productions, song choices and footage." (Okada-kun, I'm so proud of you!!)
- "I wanted to try to change the ways we've held concerts in the past a bit..." (Hey, you succeeded.)
- He likes videos, that's why there's a lot of that this time. (Aaaaaah. That explains it.)
- About two of the staff went insane around Okada while making these concerts. XDD
Inocchi: A few of them were wandering around the corridors - was that them? (HAHAHAH)
Okada: Please fix them. (Uh... like how? lol)
- Okada pretty much forced Inocchi to write a song - a rap song. XD

And so they go into Inocchi's song: Erabu Mae ni Tobe
Er, frankly, I didn't like this song. Not my type. Nor was the following song, Don't Forgive. And those mismatched costumes didn't help one bit. @_@ So, no screencaps! :P

After that was Kamisen's Our Place. (And Tonisen ran off to change.) Cute-ish song, but let's move on. Next!
Tonisen reappeared to do Ore Ja Nakya, Kimi Ja Nakya. :D

(Artistic camera shot, just for the heck of it.)


OJN, KJN is seriously adorable. The song, the dance... the PV. XD


Kamisen came back on with new costumes near the end of the song, and Nagano-mama, who sings the final line, gets his face brushed with roses.


They throw the roses to the audience (I WANT TO CATCH ONE) and then with a "1, 2, 3, 4" launch into an absolutely beautiful, pitch-perfect a capella start of I give smile to you.

Because it's V6 I can quite easily believe that that opening part was indeed sung a capella. (Maybe it wasn't, but if it wasn't, there'd be no need for a countdown to start it.) This is so definitely V6's strength. Their vocals, their vocals, their vocals. And their acrobatic abilities.

nostalgie was the next song.

I liked how they started off all on one stage and then broke into two groups and walked down the sides to the middle part, stopped there and continued performing for most of the song. I thought it was a nice way of using the walkways and spreading the performance out instead of only performing on the two main stages at either end or the one in the centre. (Andddd I liked that they put Jun-chan, Nagano-mama and Ma-kun on the same side~ ♥ *bias*)

The music went all 'magical' as the song ended and V6 scuttled off-stage, leaving just Okada there...


... and there appeared a glowing ball of light at the prince's command~

8D
He "guided" it across the screen, and it left little images behind it. Those images expanded and basically it turned into another little video montage that gave them time to prepare for their next piece:

Voltage.

Seriously, when they rose up on the stage in those "cages," the first thing that came to mind was those stereotypical strip bars and pole dancing. -__- And some of the dance moves did nothing to help that impression.

Despite that, the whole performance was interesting enough for me to watch over and over again. The yellow 'bars' were more like elastic strings, which could be pulled and pushed at will.


It looked really interesting when those "cages" started going into a slow spin.

(After several repeats, I managed to figure out that it was the base that moved and not the top part. Yes, I'm that weird. I really wanted to know whether it was the top that was spinning or the bottom because I didn't see how on earth they could have moved the top part only or in a different direction.)

They got some really nice graphic shapes out of it though. :)


Then (still in Voltage), they finally step out of those 'cages.'


Inocchi and Okada, the two topmost ones, move to the middle and jump down. First of all, that's not exactly a small distance to jump. I should think they run the very real risk of spraining ankles or something when they do that. (Thankfully, nothing unfortunate happened.)

Secondly, what were those screens they used?? I want to know! I can't think of a name for the screens or the technology behind this and trivia-hungry me wants to knowwww. They jumped and landed behind this huge screen that both illuminates them and slightly enlarges the image as well. It was SO interesting!


There were several smaller screens of the same type around too.


I basically watched this sequence wide-eyed, wondering how those cool screens worked.


They obviously practiced a lot to get themselves synchronised with the audio and the video at this part. (As they each jumped away from the screens, a glowing ripple appeared exactly behind them, like if the ripples that would form around you if you jumped into a pool.)


Sakamoto snuck away then, and the others carried on.

These costumes are slightly odd, but somehow Inocchi's looks the weirdest. (Ken's and Okada's look the most sane. And now that I look at this pic, Go kind of reminds me of a playing card...)

This part was pretty fascinating in a way. White spheres rose up all around them and then started spinning around - of course, it's just projected video, but it was done in such a way that at certain angles, it looked really convincing... almost as though V6 had made the stars appear and start to orbit them.


Then at the end, the five vanished behind swirling dry ice smoke...


... to be replaced by a lone figure.



Leader! A very kakkoii entrance! =)

At the first close-up of his feet, I gasped. Was he going to tap dance?? Those shoes weren't the usual concert shoes. And there would be no point to focus on his feet if he wasn't going to tap dance.
And he did.

Okay, so it wasn't an extremely complicated dance, but still..!
(Sakamoto cuts such a dashing figure when dressed like that~ )

I should've known from that little tap dance sequence that the next song was Cho.



Shake it, Ken~! XD

A few more of Cho, because I got nice caps out of it :P


Main MC segment!

What we learn in this round:
- Their new choreographer asked AVEX for a copy of all V6's songs because he wanted to get a feel of the group. He expected to get digital copies of the songs, but they gave him the actual CDs and the poor guy had to lug the whole lot back home XDD (I want to be V6's album cover designer. Then I can tell AVEX the same thing too.)
- Nagano asks if all the members have all their own CDs. Inocchi says of course~! "We have all of them... Right, Okada?"


Okada has this rather "ah, yabai!" look on his face and the audience goes, "EHHHHHHH?"
He says, "I think I may have them somewhere...?"

(so cute! that expression)
And he explains that they're at his mother's house, not at his own place. He keeps the digital copies on his computer. 8D

- We also find out that Sakamoto listens to GLAY in his car. Everyone's surprised. XDD Inocchi adds that Sakamoto made his own mixed tape (or CD?) of GLAY and V6 stuff or something. ahahahaha
- They mention Nagano's Ultraman role because he was reprising it in the movie then.
- V6 went to the US for a photoshoot or something when Nagano was doing the Ultraman series then and Nagano, having to rush back earlier than the rest because of his drama and butais, just decided to buy a whole bunch of huge Mickey Mouse candles as souvenirs for people. After that people were convinced that he liked candles and kept giving him candles for presents. XD

This is Inocchi demonstrating Nagano running with bags of Mickey Mouse candles in hand. hahaha

Random shots of Ken, Go and Nagano during the MC~


After the MC, it's Swing!!!!!! First song in another medley~


They dance a bit and then get on the little carts. Huge coloured balls (or balloons?) appear seemingly out of nowhere and the audience starts tossing them around. A big pink one bumps Inocchi. lol


From Swing, they move to Poolside Mermaid (during which they throw those signed plastic balls to the audience) and then Tokunatsu Vibration.

I thought this medley was a really good one in terms of song choices. They all fit together nicely~ A pleasant, summer-y feel. :)

Go comes out after Tokunatsu Vibration - behind a screen, so that all you see is his silhouette.

He pops a few moves and then stops to "have a cigarette."
He lights the imaginary cigarette and tosses the equally imaginary match away.

Then the screen bursts into flames.


Go emerges coolly from behind the now-empty frame, does a few more cool moves and then passes it over to...


Ken, who emerges from under the stage...


... and he can summon fire! XD


He 'conjures' the flames across the stage, and as the flames pass the middle, we see a third figure standing there. Who else but Okada? :D


Okada's brought Ken's and Go's hats for them~ They put on the hats and do a dance that even my imouto (who has been bored with JE dances for a while now) says is pretty cool.


The dance then shifts to Tonisen, who make their appearance on the upper stage.

(mecha kakkoii. honto ni.)

Ken and Okada join them shortly...


and then Go pops up before the others disappear into the dark .


And then he seems to grow many arms. (This sequence was like the talking point of us fans when the DVD came out. 8D)


And he multiplies.


And multiplies.


And so on and so forth.


(I suddenly feel like cracking some Clone Wars joke here...)




I liked this - how the figures all just suddenly went whoosh and sort of "went back" to the Originals.




Again, great positioning. There must have been a serious amount of practice for all these sequences.
I also really liked these suits, especially for the little purple accents in the trim and the colours for each - white, pale grey, light grey, grey, dark grey, black. Nice!

I didn't like it so much when those black streaks behind them turned into coloured streaks because the combination was just... ugh. But it was kinda nice at the end of the song (Crazy World) with the heart-shaped thing.


Next! The lights suddenly flare on and fireworks shoot up from the stage - as well as V6.


Music for the People, yo!


Okada flipping over Nagano~

Following that is a medley of old songs, the highlight of which for me was Thunderbirds - because I like that song lots. :P


Nagano and Okada two-shot! Yaaaay~ *bias again*

way of life was also in the medley... This time they stood on top of those cage-thingys. I liked how they used the same 'stage', but in a different way.


And then there was Darling, theme of the drama Kimi wa Petto.

Kamisen decided to do the Bump (and fangirls in the audience went, "KYAAAAAAAA"),

whilst two of Tonisen decided to bully their Leader a bit by.. er.. giving him a wedgie?
This is poor Sakamoto trying to preserve his dignity. ^^;;


Last song in the medley was Ai no melody, another lovely V6 song.


As a prelude to the next song, Nagano-mama gives a little speech about music and how they're grateful for music~

Nice camera angle :)b

Ken makes a cute face during Thank You! Music! and fangirls squee again XD


V6's written messages appear in a video after they give their verbal thanks~


The last song is: Light in Your Heart.
And this shot is COOL.


But it's not over yet~
Encores!
Starting with Honey Beat.


Fun things happen here~
Like Nagano-mama blowing a kiss to..


a very surprised Ken-chan. XDD


Or Okada deciding that Ken makes a nice place to rest his arms on.


Or Sakamoto taking revenge on Inocchi for Darling.



Nice arms. XDb

During Kokoro kara no Uta (a rather sweet song~) they do the shaking-hands thing again and throw signed boards.

Look! Okada shaking a little kid's hand! Awwww~ *fangirl sigh*

Then they talk about the ending of GeI (that show ran for 11 years, okay!!) and then sing Believe...

(Okada. Why. Are. You. So. Good-looking?)

... and have footage of GeI play behind them as the song's lyrics appear on a (video of a) blackboard above.


A lot of people tear up.

I felt like that too. :(

V6 takes a bow before they go off-stage once more.


But of course, the audience can't let them go just like that. hahaha
And they're back for one more song: Honki ga Ippai
Okada and Inocchi both decided to take cameras for themselves


And the first thing they did was - film each other. -__-" hahahaha


(Okay I don't know why these thumbnails look so fuzzy/jagged, but just click on them to see the larger versions if you want. ^^ )




By right, that should have been the end. But th eaudience was persistent - and it was the final show, after all.
Okada asks Sakamoto what he thinks, and the cheers change from "mou ikkai" (one more time!) to "Leader! Leader!" ahahaha

It pleases him enough to decide that they'll do one more song xD

UTAO-UTAO! (Tiger & Dragon theme song)



Okada tries to take an artistic shot of Nagano...



Aww, a heart~ (I think this is part of the song's dance..?)

I like this shot because of how the background's all blurry from movement and thus Okada is nicely frame there~


At the veeery end, Ken and Go are the last to walk off. Ken decides to give the fans one more present.




Now it really is "goodbye."


And so Vibes ends.

:)


*looks at clock*
It's 4.30 AM.
I took me four hours to write this post. FOUR. No wonder I feel exhausted.
I'd comment a bit more, but I'm too tired now 8D I'll probably add formatting of font colours after I wake up. heh 12.30PM: Formatting done~ Now to add comments...
Hope you've all enjoyed reading this and looking at the pics (even if they are rather Okada-centric) ^^;;

12.30PM Addition:
** "This was one of those run-around-the-hall-and-wave-at-fans times (which I'm glad V6 didn't do that often - I'll explain later"
The explanation - I've found that if I have to spend half the concert watching the artistes run around the hall/arena/stadium and wave to fans, it's boring. And somewhat irritating. And makes me glad that I didn't buy the DVD(s). Because I'm not going to pay several hundred ringgit just to watch a concert where they don't really perform. Yea, they're still singing throughout but y'know... I'd like to actually see some dances and so on. It's nice when they move around once in a while to interact with the fans, but I prefer it when they do that less. *is trying hard to not to mention names*
So I was really glad that V6 didn't do spend that much time on this. They spent more time actually performing, which thoroughly suits me.

** One thing I really liked about this concert was the way they kept the stage gimmicks to a minimum and yet managed to make it look impressive. The synchronisation of those vids with the music and how they spread the videos across 5 or 6 separate screens sometimes was marvellous.
(And I was doubly impressed when I found out that it was Okada who was behind most of the production ideas XD Huh. Yet another Okada-MatsuJun similarity. But even so, I don't think I'd have wanted to be the video editor working on all that footage. If I was, I'd have been one of the two who went insane. I can just imagine the amount of work and stress for it... 8D )

** And the costumes!! I loved most of them. :D (I really liked Voyager's too, but I think the nice ones here really surpass those - primarily because of the colour choices.) Not sure just how many pieces were designed by Go, but if he could come up with those outfits in the opening sequence... He's really not bad. Go, can you design Arashi's concert outfits next time?

Comments

[yupeh.livejournal.com]

Okay.. I said I'll do one as well.. but I wasn't able to do one. Interesting. I love your Okada biasness since I will be too if ever. :D

Good job! *taps shoulder*
Makes me want to watch it again later :P

[elenniel.livejournal.com]

I.. I couldn't hide the Okada-bias XDD

Thanks! ^^

Watch it then XD (I really don't know how many times I've watched this concert already...)

[yupeh.livejournal.com]

I couldn't and shouldn't be hidden! HAHAHA!

I'll watch it again.. tomorrow I guess :D

[ohmiya-sg.livejournal.com]

Good lord. O.O *will come back later, when not on drugs* XD

[elenniel.livejournal.com]

XDD

[enshinge.livejournal.com]

It's all loaded - I'm munching on fries as I start looking XD

[elenniel.livejournal.com]

ahahahah
Friessss
Can I have some? :P

[elsevita.livejournal.com]

I like the hats!

[elenniel.livejournal.com]

Me too~ They really suit the whole look <3

[yupeh.livejournal.com]

I have a similar hat. I'm calling it my Junichi Hat. :D

[duckii-mustang.livejournal.com]

YAY. At my siblings, so your 100+ caps have already loaded *grins*

HATS. SUITS. I love the smart look *__* And whoa, Go designed them?? SO COOL. Maybe they got sick of their designers who would just give them anything to wear xDD Ani looks so funny in that cap. So, idk, dorky/sleazy/random/cute, just everything? =)))

My gosh. TONICEN. I love them. I love Ore ja nakya, kimi ja nakya. 'Nuff said.

LOL. Cages. Not kinky at all =)))))

And Okada looks so cute when he got in his dai-pinch xP Ken can summon fire---the fire in my heart *dramatic pose* Okay, sorry for extremely lameness |D;;

Ahhh, the clone-y thing looks REALLLLY cool *___* *still staring* Nagano and Okada two-shot! Yaaaay~ *bias again* <=== How long did you spend flailing over this bit?? XDD

Again. Tonicen, crack. Giving poor ani a wedgie? *shakes head while laughing* KENKENKENKENNNN. And Hiro blowing him a kiss? sadf;lkj :DDD

If Ken's shoulder is a good armrest for Okada, surely you're a good chinrest for Okada =P

I, I need to dwl this xD Really enjoyed your review :DDD

[elenniel.livejournal.com]

I nearly went mad with so many caps 8D They actually slowed down the LJ Post window as I typed. hahaha

HATS. SUITS. I love the smart look
Me toooooo
Yes! Go designed them - the only ones I'm certain of are the opening outfits and the T-shirts at the end. But the way they talk about it, sounds as though he had a hand in all the costumes~ Who knew he could be a costume designer? 8D

Tonisen deserve more love ♥

I think it was the dance moves that really made it look kinky. The cages were one thing, but the dance was another... ahahaha

Okada was probably trying too hard to fade into the background when Nagano started to ask whether everyone had all their CDs and Inocchi saw it and decided to pick on him XD

Ken can summon fire---the fire in my heart *dramatic pose*
XDD

The clone thing really was cool! I don't think it's been done before in any JE concert. Intriguing idea, and really so cool. :Db

How long did I flail over that? Quite long, but not that long XD There were actually a number of other Okada/Nagano two-shots throughout the concert (which may partially explain the inordinate number of screencaps I took) so... :D

Evil Tonisen, torturing poor Leader like that XD He was happily waving to the audience and then suddenly-! It's indescribable, you just have to watch that for yourself XDD

Ken-chan was so surprised/amused by Nagano's flying kiss. ahahaha Like, "Ehh? What the-?!"

If Ken's shoulder is a good armrest for Okada, surely you're a good chinrest for Okada =P
:3 teehee~

Yes, you do need to download this! It's full of Awesome. Total Awesome. .*nods solemnly*

I'm glad you did!
(Your nice long comment makes me feel like the four hours spent on this wasn't a waste of time 8D Thanks! )

[duckii-mustang.livejournal.com]

Wow, even our super long comments don't measure up to your 100+ screencaps =P

Go designing huh~~ *still in awe* He should knock some sense into Takki's stuffed up, JE costume designer-polluted sense of fashion asdf;lkj xP

Oh. The cage and the dance I could handle. It was the lyrics that fully put me off =)))) That was a completely different matter o__o

So many clones of V6 members!! *claims a Ken & a Hiro*

Um, so you're saying... about 800 screenshots were just--- *speechless*

Watched it~~~ AND HE CENSORED HIMSELF *cracking up*

Ken~~ If you don't want to accept Hiro's flying kiss, I will :DD But you know, he didn't seem to be that surprised by Okada using him as an armrest =P

Ah! That's what I forgot to mention before. FOUR HOURS IS INSANE. Not to mention the time you spent capping, and watching. Emphasis on watching =P

[elenniel.livejournal.com]

It's actually amazing that Go could design non-sparkly, non-extraordinary costumes considering that he's been in JE so long too 8D
(I mean, imagine if you let Yasu or, or Jun design the costumes... -_-" )

I'm so glad I decided not to pay attention to Voltage's lyrics. 8D

Everyone can take the clones. I'll take the originals for myself. XDD

Uhm... Well, at least 300 certainly were just Okada or Nagano or both. *innocent look*

XD Poor Leader... having to censor himself. (Well at least he was that decent. :P )

... *glares at Ken*

I know... four hours... I screwed up my sleeping time again 8D

[evrita.livejournal.com]

Wow...
sooo detailed.. I always love how you watched and review all the con or PV..

I do watch Vibes con everyweeks. as I never get bored of it.. It's just too amazing. But I don't have eyes like you and nice review written ability like you. So, I feel amazed reading this and want to rewatch vibes concert again.. he he

Really, It's so fun reading your review(I haven't finished reading all of it though. still in the half part).

he he.. different from you.. the part where Erabu mae knee tobe untill I don't forgive is my fav. songs of vibes con. often rewatching just only that part..

Btw, I like how you detailed all the video, lights, costums, etc. and your screencaps helps too.. I never think it that way like you write in here. awesome job.

*Ok.. back to read the rest of the review.

[elenniel.livejournal.com]

Oh my, thank you!
I'm really glad that you liked reading this loooong post (and my other reviews as well? eheh). I always worry that I'll bore other people with all my comments and technical talk ^^; But it's a real relief to know that some of you actually enjoy all the fuss I make over the details!

hahah! We really differ there then, on the Erabu Mae ni Tobe part. XD

I hope you enjoyed the rest of the review as well! ^_^

[~afiqah💜hiroshi~ (from livejournal.com)]

can i ask? do you know where to download gakkou e ikou v6 10 aniversary and v6 reaction to inochi's wedding?

[elenniel.livejournal.com]

Try looking in the v6_unlimited LJ comm. I think newshfan has subbed them.

[~afiqah💜hiroshi~ (from livejournal.com)]

ok.tq!!