I went to a-nation yesterday. Since I live pretty far away and I had to go to a meeting at my University beforehand, I left home at around 8 in the morning. After I attended my meeting, I took a bus to Shinjuku from Shibuya and then took the Keio line to the venue. The stadium was around 10 minutes walk away and it was 1:30 by the time I finally arrived. This was my first time there and it felt a lot like Tokyo dome. Since my friend and I arrived pretty late, we were worried that all the merchandise might have sold out so we quickly hurried over to the stand. There was a really long line and up ahead we saw a sign that said "JYJ T-SHIRT SOLD OUT'. Apparently only the JYJ shirts had sold out, tshirts for other artists were still in stock. As we were waiting to get to the front of the line, I scanned the rest of the crowd. I was in such a hurry on my way in that I didn't really take a good look around, when I did, I realized that almost everyone around me had an orange towel around their necks with 'JUNSU JEJUNG YUCHUN' in big bold print. I felt really happy then because no matter where I went, I'd bump into people with orange towels, even fan boys. Because I was so late, the t-shirts, bows and totes had all sold out and I only managed to buy a towel and a fan. The fan had a cartoon version of JYJ, kawaii.
When I was done buying merchandise, it was 2. My friend and I hurried into the stadium, found seats and sat down. A sudden loud noise shocked us both and we saw that Koda Kumi was first up on stage. People started to get excited as she walked on. Koda Kumi's singing is absolutely amazing, the studio and live versions are exactly the same. The Bigeasts/Cassiopeia that were there cheered really loudly for her, probably because she takes good care of our Dong Bang boys. She sat on a vehicle and went around the stadium once, waving to people along the way. A few singers that I didn't know the name of followed after that. Since it was right in the afternoon, the heat really was quite unbearable so my friend and I decided to go out and wander around for a bit because we were both only here for JYJ anyway, it didn't really matter whether or not we saw the other performances. We bought shaved ice but were still really hot afterwards. We agreed to go back in after the sun set and so we went back in at about 4. More artists we didn't know the names of performed… We waited… and waited… During the break, the cameraman panned the camera on the audience. We saw a few cute kids but then the camera suddenly focused on a few JYJ light boards, they wrote 'JYJ We Love You'. At that moment, a thunderous round of applause sounded throughout the stadium and everyone enthusiastically cheered for the girl holding the board. Then the cameraman zoomed in on even more fans with JYJ signs and merchandise, and everytime he did, the audience would applaud. Looking around, the entire venue seemed to be covered in orange. My friend is a new fan and didn't really know how legit us Cassiopeia/Bigeasts are so she was completely awestruck. DBSK has so many fans it's kind of scary.
People started to get restless at 6:30 and many started taking out their red glowsticks. There even seemed to be more members of staff all of a sudden. One held up a sign which said 'No video/audio recording or photography, even mobile phone photography'. There were lots of staff around us watching our every move so we couldn't take any photos or film anything even if we wanted to. In front of me, a girl took a photo, but then got her camera confiscated and was told that it'd be returned after the concert. Despite this, I still managed to sneak in a few shots.
After a while, JYJ appeared on the big screen. All the red glow sticks came on around the stadium and the screams hit peak. Cassiopeia/Bigeast completely took over the concert. Even though you weren't the focal point of the concert and even though your performance wasn't particularly long, we gave you your red ocean. I wanted to take a photo of the red ocean, but couldn't because the security was so tight.
Then Jaejoong appeared followed by Yoochun and Junsu. My immediate thought was that Junsu had lost some weight and then I noted how cute he looked with his new blonde hair. I'd thought that Yoochun would've cut his hair short by now since filming for his drama was already over. In the end, he still brandished the same long hair and his wide forehead. Jaejoong ah, he was still as handsome as ever.
After the first song was over, it was time for Junsu's solo. His amazing singing and sexy dancing had the audience screaming incessantly throughout his performance. Then it was time for soulmate's 'Colors'. Jaejoong and Yoochun stood on opposite sides of the stage and then swapped positions. In the middle when they were singing "lalala', the sound was completely phenomenal. On the last line, Jaejoong playfully stopped singing and just as Yoochun got ready to sing, he said 'hold on a moment' and then started laughing….
They then performed some songs from their new album. When they were singing 'Get Ready', the fans sang along with them at the 'OK'. When they got to 'W', I really couldn't hold my tears in anymore, the lyrics really brought tears to my eyes, but since I had a friend beside me, I tried to contain myself. Shockingly, my friend started to cry before I did and I burst into tears with her. When their performance was finally over, nearly all of Cassiopeia/Bigeast was in tears. The stadium was completely covered in red. I'm grateful to the Japanese fans, thank you for your unconditional love for them.
As Junsu walked off stage, he turned back longingly to look at the red ocean. His eyes seemed to brim with tears….
My friend and I left after JYJ's performance was over. Even though we felt slightly apologetic to the artists who performed afterwards, I had to leave because I live so far away and I was afraid I wouldnt be able to catch the bus.
Being able to see JYJ had me completely content.
Even though I'm really tired, seeing JYJ made me really happy. My only regret is that I went in heels and now I'm so tired that I'm afraid to walk.
A-nation really moved me. Those of you who haven't seem them live really should go and take a look for yourselves. Seeing fan videos is nothing compared to seeing them live.
Credits: 神起5Always@TVXQBaidu
Trans by: dorfehh@DBSKnights
Shared by: DBSKnights
Kyaa ... Cassi must be so jealous right?
♡
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