Thursday 30 January 2014

My November Concert Parade: ONE OK ROCK Who Are You?? Who Are We?? Tour 2013

My 2nd concert in November. I already posted the news and the ticket before, so this time I'm gonna share my experience on the concert day. Yeay!

To be honest, I don't know where to start since I had one of the most memorable moments in my life that day. I think I should start with me after office hours rushed to the venue by taxi. The traffic was awful! I promised my friend to be there on time but it didn't work that way. I finally reached the venue at 5-ish PM. After I exchanged my e-ticket at the ticket box, my friend's mom took me into the venue. I heard a song or two were played from the stage inside, I was like, "soundcheck time?" and what I thought was right...
ONE OK ROCK were there on stage, it was really.........soundcheck. I tried to behave normally but it only lasted for 2 mins. I started to jump and stuff and almost forgot that I was not allowed to do that during soundcheck (sorry not sorry, I couldn't resist). My friend also cheered crazily on her wheelchair. We were that crazy hahaha. 
It was the moment when Om Ricky approached the two of us and asked, "do you wanna go there?" and by there he meant in front of the stage. We were waiting in a booth, about 20 metres from the stage but it's located inside the stage area. I was like, "seriously, Om? are we allowed? Is it OK?" cause I didn't believe him. Then, he said, "why not? it's OK. You guys are with me."

So I pushed my friend's wheelchair and we ran to the stage. You see the thin white line on the pic above? I stopped there. I didn't wanna cross the limit cause being that close to the stage and watched them played on soundcheck was more than just OK to me. It turned out that Om Ricky was the promoter. He was the one who brought Metallica here recently. WOW. Thanks to him, he was not only brought ONE OK ROCK here but also brought me in front of them. :)

The members were all checking stuff on stage. Until........ Taka turned his back and recognised us. I can tell that he was surprised. He said, "how do you feel today?" and I cried, "more than OK! Amazing!" then he replied, "good..." and smiled.
Well, I was more surprised because he suddenly jumped off the stage and came to us. HE REALLY DID. My friend Ilma whom I met on Loka's concert was the reason why he jumped off the stage :') 

Taka was so..........hmmm, can't say he's short (but he really was), uhm let's say cute? hahaha. and he was sweet indeed. 
He said, "thanks for coming," and before he continued, I said, "no, we THANK YOU for finally having your 1st ever concert here. I hope this won't be the last." Taka smiled and said, "no, it won't be."
Taka: so do you like us?
Me: yes, my friend here, she's a big fan of Toru. And me, well, consider me as your fan. :)
Taka: thank you. :) 
I was trying so hard to resist myself in front of him. I really wanted to take a picture with him. I mean, Man... I was THIS close. But then I looked at his face. He looked tired. So I pulled myself back. We chatted for about 10 mins or so then he went back to the stage. Meanwhile, we tried to manage our estrogens as we ran back to the booth.


We waited again, and while we were inhaling-exhaling... another surprising moment happened. This time, the guitarist, Toru called us to come to him. I grasped my friend's wheelchair and ran into Toru's arms (kidding!). Last time I checked, I liked Alex Ramon (OOR's ex-guitarist) and not so into Toru. That day changed me. I started to like Toru more. He was sooo nice. I mean, really nice. It turned out that Taka went back to tell the other members to sign a paper for Ilma. Toru brought it and gave it to her. How thoughtful, Toru-kun. :')



Ilma who lost her words, couldn't say anything but "I like you." I told Toru that she's a big fan of him and she's very very nervous. I was glad that Toru could understand English. I think other Japs bands must do this too. It's hard to communicate with fans who don't speak fluent Nihongo. Thank God, ONE OK ROCK speak English a little. I also said the same thing to Toru, that they must come back again some other time. He nodded. 

I didn't know why but I asked him this: CAN I HUG YOU?... surprisingly he said, "sure." then we hugged, People. IT HAPPENED. Ah. Toru. O! We took some pics later. 
Last week, somebody told me that there's an odd version of my pic with Toru. Speaking of odd, that somebody (I believe it's a girl) edited the pic and changed my face. HA HA HA. No matter how desperate I am, even when it comes to Martin Kelly or Hyde, I never did such thing. Whoever you are, just stop stealing my pic from Instagram :)

The gate opened at 6:00PM. A few minutes before that, I set myself on a mini stage where the videoman stayed. It was prepared for Ilma. Thank you Mas Reza, Om Ricky and Nada Promotama for being so thoughtful.

That was the view from where I stood, about 10ish metres away from the stage. Oh, I forgot. The setlist was exactly the same like the ones in Bangkok and Singapore. There was no All Mine and Et Cetera, sobs sobs. Et Cetera was the song which made me like ONE OK ROCK. Probably Alex's factor. Hahaha. Alex, genki? Miss you, Boy!
As you can see, it's like Jinsei x Boku album playlist hahaha. The way they put Kanzen Kankaku Dreamer before The Beginning, well... I kinda liked it. I was full of excitement since the very beginning (how could I not??? *hugging Toru again*) til the end of the show. I should highlight these songs: Ending Story??, Deeper Deeper, C.h.a.o.s.m.y.t.h., Clock Strikes, Be The Light, Liar (I screamed from the top of my lungs! Deep song!), Answer is Near, Kanzen Kankaku Dreamer and The Beginning (again, SCREAMED!)

 Why did I put some highlight on certain songs?
This is why.
This happened when they played Answer is Near. Fans must know about the famous oooh~ in the beginning and in the middle of the song, right?
Or some have watched it on the DVD. Well, I must tell you that the live version of it was TOTALLY INSANE!
 Taka jumped off the stage and led us with that famous line of oooh~
Man, that was intense!

I lost words to describe how crazy that moment was. Seriously, the crowd and the band were in a deep bond, you could see that strong chemical reaction was seen in this pic.

HANDS UP!
The only break they took was maybe just for drinking and stuff. Their showmanship was undoubtedly exceptional. The audience were more than just fans as what Taka said to us.

What I love from Japs musicians is, whenever they had concerts here... they always prepared some Indonesian convo on stage. Yes, ONE OK ROCK spoke in Bahasa Indonesia. I enjoyed every single pronunciation. They were cute, especially when Ryota told us about his fave Indonesian food. Ah, you guys were too adorable!



ONE OK ROCK's management and the band themselves set some strict rules in every concert. The list were too long, you guys better read it on their official page (I'm that lazy). BUT... the rules were totally worthed every single song. No this, no that, at first I was "WTH?" but then after the 4th song, I knew why and I was like, "aaah... saikyou!"

Before the encore, Taka came up with the Indonesian flag. Now that gave me instant goosebumps. As they promised to come back again in the future, I will keep them in mind and heart as one of the best memories in my life.
ARIGATOU... :')

So Long, 2013.


It's been too long. 2014 already. Time flies. I had too many splendid memories in 2013. I left home, moved to a whole new place, broke up with the boy who's been with me for almost 6 yrs, Martin Ronald Kelly, met a lot of strangers; some of them became my close friends, months of concerts, and ended with another heartbreak.

I'm glad I survived 2013. Now I have 2014 to deal with. The NYE was the worst. The first week was the worst. The second week was awesome. I guess I know what this year would be. Another roller coaster I must ride. I wish I could bear a lot better this time. Amen.

Well, bring on, 2014!