[Live Report] Sundown Festival 2012, Singapore - Alice Nine [3]

Isang fan report tungkol sa kanyang karanasan sa pagdalo sa Sundown Festival 2012 na ginanap sa Singapore. (Alice Nine report) - mula naman kay yami_akyouru



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This is a really detailed report and will mainly highlight Alice Nine. I will update later with pictures and videos. The ones in Italics are optional to read (: Have fun!

Thursday, 29th November – I headed down to the airport with 2 of my other A9 fangirls at about 3pm and reached at about 3:45pm or so. Their flight will only be landing at 5:19pm. When we got there, there were not a lot of people waiting for the boys. I got slightly disappointed. I mean, it is good that I do not need to fight for a good spot to see the boys but at the same time, I do not want the boys to feel like they have very little support here. While waiting for their flight to land, a lady next to me turned and asked who was coming. I looked at her and she had gifts in her hands and so I was like, “Are you not here for the boys too?” Apparently, she was waiting for some theater actors doing the West End Live in Singapore. It seems that she was the only one there who was welcoming her stars. My friend and I felt bad about letting her fangirl alone so we helped her to call out for her stars too. Lucky her being the only fan, she got to shake hands with them, get their autograph, take a picture with them and talk to them really long. By now, the airport was slowly filling up with people - people who were there for the boys and people who just happen to be there.

Since I was standing near their conveyor belt, I was not able to see them when they approach. I just had to rely on fangirls screams. So when the girls on my right side started screaming, I had my camera out and was ready! The first person I saw was Tora. He was in a white shirt, black pants and a camo bag. Since the door in front of us will only open when someone exits, we had to keep hoping that someone needs to exit. Finally, some dude helped us open the door and we were just waving to Tora’s back. It was silly after a while so we shouted out his name but he did not turn. Probably about a minute after that, Nao joined him. Nao had his window-blinds shades on and was wearing a grey shirt with black jacket and black pants. And then Saga joined them; wearing denim jacket over a black and white horizontally striped shirt and black skinny jeans carrying a black totebag. When the doors opened again, my friend and I shouted out for Saga, waved frantically and he waved at us back! It felt so great being able to get him to wave at us. (In the video, it shows Saga lifting up his hand to wave but I was so excited that I moved my hand and I videoed only his feet) I must have taken my attention away from them because I did not see Shou coming. He sort of just appeared there squatting over his bag. He was wearing a dark grey shirt with a colorful skull printed on it and his jacket wrapped around his waist.

I then moved to a different door because I heard one of the officials saying that they will not exit from the door closest to us. See, the good thing was, I knew quite a number of people there and they were spread out allowing me to borrow a little bit of space to get a video of the boys. Unfortunately, the spot I decided to stay at was a bad one. Saga was blocked by the security guard for most of the time. And while I was trying to get him on the video, I missed Tora.

Friday, 30th November – I remember sleeping quite late the night before because I had a school report to finish. The plan was to wake up at 4am, get ready and leave the house by 5:30am to queue for the fanmeet. But because I got so little sleep and I was already sick, I did not queue with the rest of my friends. Although I was sleep-texting, I managed to ask a couple of friends to help me queue for the fanmeet as only the first 50 fans will get the chance to get up-close and personal with the boys. So when I finally got up, I was kind of grumpy but I knew the boys will cheer me up. I got ready and my dad drove me to their hotel for the Press Conference. My partner, Valerie was already there waiting for me - I was late thanks to the traffic jam. We were representing Japan Maniak Lover (Jamanlo) from Jakarta, Indonesia. I was dressed in a Laura Ashley dress with dark grey leggings, black cardigan and Mary Jane shoes. My fringe was held up with a flower clip and I had red lipstick on.

There were 2 media tables set in front of the Aquarius and Pisces room at Marina Mandarin. The tables were labeled with “Media A” and “Media B”. We were pretty confused about which table to queue at because there was no pre-announcement to let us know anything so we queued at table “Media A” but was told to collect our sticker and tickets at table “Media B”. Basically, all we got was a sticker labeled “Alice Nine” and 2 tickets for the Sundown Festival event.

Valerie and I were the last few to enter the room thanks to the confusion so by that time, all the other media were already setting up their tripods and getting all the good spots. We started setting up too, found a pretty good spot only to be told that we were not allowed to be in the “Media A” section and had to move to “Media B”. We did not want to complain but “Media B” was right at the end of the room and at the furthest corner. Thank goodness for other friendly media, they were nice enough to give us some space to record and do photography for the conference.

During the conference, BTOB (Born to Beat) a boyband group from Korea came on first. The seven boys were seated according to their age (or so I heard). They were really cute, all bright-eyed and ready for the media. It was a really good start. The media was almost climbing on top of each other to get a good shot of the members of BTOB. Next was Liu Li Yang from China. She had a pretty good command of English and boy was I impressed. I felt bad for her when no one wanted to ask her anything though. She had the shortest time in the conference room. Anthony Neely was after her and I thoroughly enjoyed his presences. He was comfortable and was just a really nice, laid back lad. After Anthony, the media was given a 15 minutes break before the next artist came. We were actually expecting Raymond Lam but unfortunately (or fortunately) he was busy filming and could only make it on the day of the event itself. This meant the next artist to come was Alice Nine. My heart was thumping so hard I could taste my pulse in my mouth.

The host was already introducing the band when someone ran into the room and said, “Wait, they are stuck in the lift” and the whole room just started laughing. They arrived not long later and because they did not remove the chairs in the room, there were 7 chairs at the table. Tora walked in, the host said hi and greeted them ‘good morning’ but only Nao said ‘morning’ in the cutest voice ever, followed by Saga who just nodded. Shou was still not there yet. Tora, Nao and Saga was not sure where to sit. They took out one chair, put it back in, pick another chair and kept looking at each other. Finally when Shou arrived, the interpreter told them that they should seat according to the label on the table; Tora, Nao, Shou, Saga. Hiroto was not there because he was still in the hospital in Japan recuperating for the event. At this point of time, Saga was behind Nao, ready to seat next to Tora like usual but he had to move to the other end instead. (My ToraSaga feels)

*watch the press conference video to find out what happened*

After that was over, they were shown out of the room and the media started packing up. We got outside and still could not quite believe we saw the boys that close. We were going to ask the people at the counter outside about the event the next day but all we got was vague instructions so we gave up. Then they started calling for media doing the ‘group interview’ or the people with the ‘Alice Nine’ sticker to reenter the room. The boys were already seated, waiting for us. (Now, was there a secret passage we did not know about? … There probably was) What I can tell you is, the boys looked more relaxed than they did during the press conference. They were seated in the same sequence but some chairs have been removed. I was so close to Saga I could have just reached out and touch him. Shou was in the middle of 2 tables so he managed to stretch out his legs and we saw his big pair of shoes sticking out the other end. Made Valerie and I giggle. We were setting up our camera and all but were told we were not allowed to grab anymore footage of them. There were only 2 other media in the group interview with us. Honestly, I was not paying attention much to the other media because their questions were just general ones. I mean, the only person who was talking was just Shou and the rest of them were just sitting there. So I decided to ask my question. When I put up my hand, another media beat me to it and she got to ask her question first. So when her question was done, my hand was kind of bobbing up and down. Shou looked at me reassuringly and nodded, so I asked my question. (I am sorry but I am not allowed to release the information of the group interview here until Jamanlo decides to release it themselves) But what I can tell is I got trolled by Saga, twice. From the first question, his answer did not really relate to my question. Second question, he asked me back my question and made me answer my own question. After which he and Shou exchanged a look and nodded.

Valerie and I then had to rush back down to JCube for the fanmeet. We were told by our friends who were helping us queue, the security there will be bringing up the queue to the official location by 3pm. We got there at 2:30pm but we were still rushing like mad because we did not want to lose our spot. But in the end, they only brought us to the official location after 4pm. Given starting time of the fanmeet was 6:30pm but you cannot really trust event organizers. It only started at about 7pm.

The first artist to greet us at the fanmeet was the boys. I do not know if it was a good thing that the other fandoms found them attractive enough to cheer for them too or should I be angry at these shallow beings? Anyway, thankfully I did not lose my spot and was among the first 50 fans to meet the boys.

Seeing how the band was incomplete, they would not be signing the given posters. Instead, we will just be able to shake hands with them, exchange greetings and collect the poster at the end. I must have been like the final 10 fans to go up. I think I pretty much stood out at the press conference thanks to my red lips. While everyone was screaming their lungs out, I thought I should calm down for a bit before we were allowed on stage to greet them. That was when I was looking between Saga and Tora and met Tora’s gaze. I waved and smiled and he acknowledged me with a nod. Maybe he remembered me from the press conference. Gosh, I thought I would flip. Also we were not allowed to take pictures of or with them when we were up on stage to “save time” for the other artists. Thankfully we made friends with some of the media people we met at the press conference and we managed to ask one of them to help us take some pictures.

They were standing in this order – Shou, Nao, Saga, Tora. Like I mentioned earlier, I was the last few to people to get up the stage so I was patiently waiting as well as getting more and more nervous as the line got shorter in front of me. The moment I was out of the waiting area and standing by the stage, I just could not think anymore. Well, it was not like I have never met or seen them prior to this but this is my first time in contact with them as a fan! We had to leave our gifts with the manager before greeting them and the manager who happens to be collecting the gifts was the one from Sundown. At first, I did not have a good impression of her because she had this really arrogant look. I could not stand looking at her ushering the boys and all. But after meeting her at the press conference and now at the fanmeet, she smiled at me and asked if the bag I was holding was for her. I said it was and she took it nicely from me. She said she was shocked that I queued for the fanmeet and I told her that I am a fan and I would definitely want to take advantage of such opportunities.

So I was then allowed to approach Shou, he offered his right hand, I took it and he clasped his other hand over mine. I was not expecting a two-handed hand shake but it was a pleasant surprise. I said, “Ashita no raibu wa ganbatte ne~” and he replied, “Ganbarimasu” with a little fist pump with his right hand. Then I went to Nao and said, “NAAAOOOO~~~!” and he must not have seen that coming. He replied, “HAAAIIII! NAO DESU!” and then it got awkward. I was just standing there shaking his hand and nodding away and him doing the same. Until finally he said, “Arigatou ne” and I replied the same to him before moving on. Next was Saga. My insides felt like it was about to either turn to mush or tied up in knots. I looked at him (I wish he did not have his shades on), took his hand and finally said, “Saga, daisuki. Honto ni daisuki” I am guessing that he might have remembered me because of my red lipstick because he snorted and said, “oh~ arigatou”. Tora already had a smile on his face before I even said anything. Maybe he overheard what I said to Saga? I took his hand and said, “Tora, I love you, man” and his smile got even wider before he said, “oh~ Sankyuu!” And finally, I collected the poster from the PSC manager-san or something. It all went by too quickly. My brain did not even have time to process it before it was over. I mean, right after I got off the stage, I was questioning myself, “Did that really happen?”

After the fanmeet, I met up with a couple of other fangirls to go and queue for the event overnight. We were about halfway there when we saw another girl who was already at the venue tweeting about them rehearsing. Of course the rest of us still on the train felt bummed and was hoping really hard that they would take a little longer to rehearse. When we finally got there, we could still hear drums and so we ran to the location. True enough, they were still doing sound check and everything and it was an amazing experience. I mean, how often do you get to hear or see your idols or stars prepare for the show ‘live’? So we sat in the queue and enjoyed the light works and sound check that was happening. After they were done, one of the girls there was asking me if I will be buying a bra to throw at the event. I did not think they were serious at first but apparently, one of them had actually asked Saga if they could do it and he said, “COME ON! COME ON!” So, that was all the permission we fangirls needed.

To my surprise and delight, all the people in the queue were Number Six! Fans of the other artists performing for the event only arrived at about 6am after I woke up from my sleep (3am – 6pm). Remember I also mentioned I was sick? So when I woke up after that mere 3 hours of sleep, my throat hurt even more, I was coughing and my nose was runny. I could not wait to go home and sleep some more but I had to wait for another friend to come and take over my spot before I could leave. Unfortunately, my phone died and I did not she had sent me a text saying that she would be late. So she got there at about 8am and I finally reached home at about 9am only managing to fall asleep at 9:30am. I woke up at 12:30pm.

Saturday, 1st December – I woke up, showered and scheduled my meeting with yet another friend to get back to the queue at the event. By now, I already felt like dying thanks to being sick. I hopped on the train at 3pm and reached back at the event location close to 4pm. It started raining when we were still making our way to the queue but the moment we joined the queue, it got heavier and thunderstorm ensued. The thunderstorm eventually quieted down just minutes before we were let into the location.

Prior to letting us in, the guy who was going to check out tickets told us that we had to go between the stalls to get to Category 1, Moshpit A. We were not allowed to walk along the yellow path (which was a shorter path) Nonetheless, when we were let in, people were still seen running across the yellow path to get to Category 1, Moshpit A. I guess I should learn not to take instructions properly the next time. Nonetheless, I was still able to get to stand by the barrier. According to my calculation at that time, I was just in the right spot to be in front of Saga.

They had a lot of filler acts in the beginning before the sun finally set and the festival began. The first act to open was BTOB. I am not a fan so I all I did was to watch them and be entertained. So far, my impression of KPop fans has not been good since the very first Sundown that I attended in 2010. The girl on my right was no exception. She was screaming the entire time, trying to get her idol to pose for her so she could take a picture of them on her instax (polaroid, cheki, etc) I do not get how she is enjoying the performance at all. The moment BTOB was done, she and her group got the hell out of there and more Number Six filled in the spaces. But after BTOB it was Anthony Neely and then Liu Li Yang. Alice Nine was going to perform 4th for the night.

Because Alice Nine required more preparation before their performance, the MCs of the festival came out with posters and t-shirt to giveaway. I felt really bad (not really) for them because I think all the Number Six there was screaming every time an A9 staff tunes an instrument. At one point of time when we were chanting ‘Alice Nine’, the male MC was chanting ‘Patience’. I think that 5 minutes or so seem to have taken longer before the introduction screen for Alice Nine was shown.

The lights dimmed and the screen got brighter with streaming colors before fangirls in Moshpit B started screaming and we saw Tora walking towards his guitar. Nao quietly went to his drums, I did not notice him at all during the day itself but when I watched fancams, I saw him. Then it was Saga and then Hiroto. When Hiroto came out, I swear everyone was calling out to him. It felt really good to hear a sea of people calling out Hiroto’s name. Out of nowhere, something shot to the stage. Of course I knew what that was but people who were not aware must have been wondering what it was. Saga got Tora’s attention and pointed to the thing – a bra! And finally, Shou makes his grand entrance with arms spread wide like wanting to embrace the crowd. Shou said, “Here we go!” Heart of Gold started and even before the first verse they already had fireworks on stage. At the end of the song, Saga picked up the bra and started twirling it around before putting it down.

After Heart of Gold, they performed Rainbows. Shou said random things like, “Thank you” (which in my opinion sounded like f*ck you), “make some noise” and “I am glad to see you, Singapore” In Rainbows, there was a part where Tora went over to the other side and started leaning against Shou. So for some time, they were both leaning against each other before Shou placed an arm across Tora’s shoulder. What happened next totally weakens my heart, Tora turned to face Shou with very little space left between them and he played his guitar. Shou leans in and makes Tora says the “Oh” part of the song (But Tora said “Jump” instead) But during the actual occurrence, I did not notice this because Hiroto was on my side. He was doing body waves and making faces to the crowd. He even shook his butt at us.

After Rainbows, it was Fantasy. Shou introduced Fantasy and said that it was his favorite song. Fantasy was our cue to turn on our flashlights. I wonder what it looked like from the stage, looking at all the hands waving the flashlights. Well, throughout Fantasy, the crowd was singing along with Shou. If you watch the fancam, you can really hear the fans. Then one of my cheeky fangirl friends threw a leopard printed bra on the stage but missed. It fell in front of the cameraman’s tripod. My friend asked the cameraman (woman, actually) to pass it to her and she threw it back on stage. When Saga saw that one, it immediately caught his attention and he was fighting not to laugh. He looked away from the bra but he still could not conceal his smirk. Towards the end of Fantasy, Shou walked up the stage with Tora behind him. Saga picked up the bra with his back towards us so we could not see his face and walked over to Hiroto. Hiroto thought Saga was going to tell him something but instead got handed a bra. Hiroto laughed, twirled the bra and threw it back in the crowd. Fantasy ended and the music faded to Blue Planet.

Blue Planet was a fun song to jump to and Hiroto came back to my side for a bit while Saga went over to the other side. Before they played Tsubasa, Shou did a little more MC-ing. He said, “Are you guys having fun?” we screamed and he responded with an “oh yeah” To me, that was probably the most awkward “oh yeah” I have ever heard before. After that, I guess he got tired of thinking up English phrases and started to engage the crowd in Japanese, which of course felt more natural.

He asked “Are you ready?” about 3 times before starting Tsubasa. In Tsubasa, some point before the 2nd chorus, Hiroto went to Shou, pouted and nudged his head towards Shou. I do not know if that was an attempt for fanservice but Shou showed Hiroto a fist and nudged Hiroto back with his shoulder. It was too adorable. Tora was also pleasantly playful thus far. Towards the end of Tsubasa, Saga came to edge of the stage. 1 leg propped on top of a speaker and he was scanning the crowd. I called out to him many times but his eyes were still looking beyond me. When he finally looked down at my direction, I held up my hand and made a heart sign. He kind of smiled and nodded while walking backwards to his original spot. I cannot be sure if he responded to me or just smiled and nodded generally to the crowd.

The last song they played was Shunkashuuto. This song brings back so many memories. I guess while we were having fun with the song, we were also dreading that this was their last song. They ended with a bang and I was grateful and thankful that I was there to enjoy every minute of it.

We did not wait for the finale where all the artists who performed today comes back out and say goodbye because we knew we had to rush to the airport if we wanted to catch them for their departure. All the Number Six was rushing out and trying to call a cab because the queue was too long. So while we waited for the cab, my friend and I thought we should have 1 cigarette before we leave. I turned to speak to another friend, turn back and she was gone. I later found her squatting by the corner of the street with 2 ladies. They happen to be 2 Alice Nine fans from Japan! They flew in from Japan to Singapore just to watch Alice Nine! Now that is dedication. We told them we were going to the airport to send off Alice Nine and they wanted to tag along.

Sunday, 2nd December – At the airport, there were a good 50 or so fans waiting for the boys. We got there at about 11:45pm and waited till 12am but there were still no sign on the boys. Once again, my friend and I decided that we should smoke because it was cold inside the airport that there was nothing else to do. While we were outside, we met the friends we made at the press conference. They were flying back to Indonesia already. Not long after they left, a familiar white van approaches. We saw the staff alighting from the vehicle one by one to help with the luggage. Usually, the artist would be in a different van but my friend was already squealing that she see Tora in the van. We got up from our spot and got closer to the van. And then I saw the Sundown manager again. She laughed and said, “You, I don’t know whether you’re always here or you’re just really fast”.

The manager then conveyed a message to one of the photographer there; they will not be accepting anymore gifts, you cannot take their picture and no asking of autograph. The boys had to wait in the van for a while. From where my friend and I were standing, we could see the back of Saga’s head. He actually opened the curtain of the van quite big to see what the hold was but quickly closed it back because he saw the 2 rows of fans waiting. Then suddenly, we saw Nao popping up next to Saga. He took out a black and white striped shirt and used it like a scarf to cover his head. But I guess Saga said something so he took it off. That was when he noticed my friend and I looking directly into the van. We waved and he shyly waved back at us and bowed. When their passports were turned to them, and their luggage was already checked in, the boys can now enter the airport.

They got out of the van and you can tell that Tora was not really in the mood for fans. There was a line of girls on their right and it was just my friend and I on their left. Tora nodded to them and then nodded to us. Saga also nodded to them, turned and we said, “Byebye” which he replied with a “Byebye” to us too. Nao said “Otsukare” to them and to us. Shou just nodded and wave to them and to us too. Hiroto was not there.

Finally when they were in the airport, going to check in, I approached another media person and asked if he knew why Hiroto was not with them. All he told me was, “Hiroto will not be on this flight with them. He will be taking a later flight”. We did not see the boys check in but we waited for the staff. I mean, the staff worked pretty hard too. So when they went through the gates, we waved goodbye to them too. The next morning, Hiroto tweeted saying bye to Singapore. I thought he was going to stay a little while longer but I guess he has to go back to Japan to prepare for their live.

I regret nothing. I am still sick and broke but the experience is priceless.




Source: yami_akyouru @ LJ