Smileage Concert Tour 2011 Fall ~Gyakushuu no Cho Miniskirt~ Shibuya 9/18

So today was the day that I would get to see just what the new Smileage was turning out to be.  With tickets in hand, boyfriend and I set out in the morning at 9am in order to get a chance to meet the new members.  When we arrived at about 9:45 there was quite a line waiting to handshakes with the new members.  

 

Well, no rush so we got our tickets out, ready to be stamped upon entry (as well as the back of our hands) to show that you had already participated in the handshake.  The handshake was surprisingly slow, too slow almost.  We came into it expecting it to be the usual release event style of light-speed line movement but when we actually got up to them, it was so slow that you ran out of things to say.  All four of the girls are adorable and very polite.  To Rinapu and Kanana I just said to do their bests today, added a bit more about how I was looking forward to it to Akari and then the kicker came when I made Meimi squeal.  How, you may ask?  I told her I had gone to the Shugo Chara musical.  She seemed really pleased at that, and I must say as much as Kanon keeps telling people to not Oshihen (change favorites) it is hard not to with how adorable and sweet Meimi is. But don't worry Kanon you are my number one in Smileage.  The new members made a great first impression and left me feeling happy and giddy as we headed to a coffee shop for breakfast.

The Concert

The set list can easily be found online so I won't post that here, but will post my overall thoughts.  

First off, this is probably the best Hello!Project concert I have been to in a long time, and that's saying a lot since my Number 1 group is Morning Musume.  After the fail that was the last Buono concert due to completely inept sound guys, well it was refreshing to go to a hall concert.  And to top it off CC Lemon has to be one of the most well-ventilated halls I have been to, you barely sweated even dancing throughout the whole concert.  Although the music was a bit too loud for the first and last songs, the rest of the time the balance was perfect and besides Dawa's mic cutting out for one phrase, none of the girls missed any lines.

Things that made this concert great: 

• The setlist: a great mix of all the Smileage singles and most (if not all) album songs.  Since they did most songs, you can't say it was the songs they picked that made it great, rather it was the order.  Started with Tachiagirl - Otona ni Naru, a great mix of the new and the older to kick the fans into full drive.  Then after introductions they went into sets of two songs each featuring the 3 main members and 1 sub member.  Then a perfect set of songs by the sub-members only: Ama no Jaku and Yume Miru 15 to represent Smileage's beginnings.  Then another set of main + sub member.  Finished off with two songs with all members, then the encore of the coupling to Tachiagirl (love it, perfect for all the fall festivals, and so pervy to think of a Smileage Rice Bowl Meal) and finally Suki-chan.  Just... you couldn't ask for a more perfect arrangement.

• As I mentioned previously, the arrangement of members.  The 3 +1 format worked well at showing off each sub-member without overshadowing the main members.  Also, as one sub member left from one side of the stage, the next member came on from the opposite side.  If I can say one thing about AKB that I like, it was that they always have smooth song transitions and I am glad to see it used in a HaroPro concert. 

• The surprise announcement made in a letter written by Tsunku and read by Goro (that guy who has narrated at several of Smileage's events)  that the sub-members would indeed be put through the same trial as the main members of having to gather smiles.  Except, there is one major catch.  People do not merely submit the smiles.  No no.  The sub-members have to take pictures of people, with the random person's cell phone, and then get said random-person to upload that picture to his/her blog or twitter and post that they have done to using the Smileage twitter tag.  So these girls have to summon all their courage and approach strangers on the street with what will probably sound like the sketchiest scheme ever.  And this will be a major factor in Tsunku's decision of who if any become full members (TBA at October 16 release event).  Boyfriend and I plan to lurk around Shibuya to see if they area actually taking advantage of the holiday tomorrow (the 19th) in the most obvious area.

What can I say, it was just a great concert and makes me confident in all of the sub-members.  Each girl has great personality, and while Meimi is the obvious fit for Smileage's image, the other three also have something important to offer.  All 7 girls seemed to interact well, and yes I know of course they will they are performing, you could see genuine chemistry forming through their interactions.  I am hoping I can make it into the release event and see history in the making.

And I leave you with a picture of my goods, didn't buy much as I am saving for the 9th gen FC tour in 2 months time.

An Update

Before I say anything I have to point out something Sayu posted on her blog yesterday:

Yep, there I am.  Sure it's only my back, but I am the short one in the Kanon shirt.  A couple of my wota friends noticed too, because we were all on the Hawaii tour together, and excitedly commented on my mixi last night.  It might only be a small thing, but it's amusing to me ^^

In other news, last Sunday the boyfriend and I attended Rock N' Buono 4 at Yokohama Blitz.
The performances themselves were great, though Partenza and Frankinsense were completely lipsynced.  Partenza just does not work as a live song, though it is a good album opener.  The talk was also really good, they were all really amusing.  The song choices that weren't from the mini-album were great.

But the concert overall was complete crap!!! Why do I say this?  Because the sound quality was so horrible.  Rewatching the youtube stream, it sounds so great.  At the venue, the speakers were turned up so loud they hurt your ears and you could barely hear the girl singing over the blasting music.  Seriously, whoever has been the sound mixer for the last few concerts (not just live house but halls too) needs to learn how to use mixers.  The loudness of the music was even messing up the girls, as you can see clearly in My Boy where they were having a really hard time keeping pace.

There were several fans who walked out before the encore, and I understand their feeling.  We had high numbers so chose to stand in the back, so yeah I knew I wouldn't be able to see perfectly (though it wasn't horrible) but I could barely hear many of the songs which did piss me off.  I feel like this is a recent development in the HP world and hope they get their act together soon because I love going to concerts.

Coming up in 2 weeks (after my B-day in one week, yay!) is the Smileage live.  It will be strange seeing 8 girls but our seats are pretty decent so we are really looking forward to it ^^