Morning Musume ’14 Live in New York
On October 5, 2014, Hello! Project’s flagship group, Morning Musume。’14, held their first U.S. headlining concert at the Best Buy Theater in New York.
Depending on how long you have been a fan of the group, you are either on the side of having your 5 years of agony ended with this return to American shores, or you were excited to go to your first idol concert finally.
Regardless, it was an exciting event for all the fans who made their way to New York.
Pre-Concert
Of course, this would not be an idol concert without a few hiccups along the way. I have heard and read various complaints before and after the concert and would l like to address those that I feel are valid and universal for everyone attending a concert of this nature.
The first thing newcomers and veterans must learn is that the lineups will suck.
You may be asked to move several times to different locations if the mob of unruly fans gets too large or the barriers that define the line are finally set up. Lining up is half the battle; if you don’t like lining up, you go to the wrong concert type.
Second is merchandise, hereby referred to as “merch,” to save me from typing the entire word repeatedly. From what I heard from some of my friends in the VIP line, there was a mad dash into the building to get to the merch table. Like the 100-meter dash, Usain Bolt sprints to be first in line.
If you don’t want to get trampled by wota screaming, “TAKE MY MONEY!!!” you are best served to hang back and let natural selection take out the weaker of the herd. Honestly, merch will always be a bit of a disaster zone at these events.
From what I saw when I entered the Best Buy Theater, all sense of orderly conduct was thrown out the window at the merch table. I would not blame the staff as they tried to get to everyone. It’s just that some of you are like vultures on a fresh carcass when it comes to merch.
I guess I’m more accustomed to tents outside the venue instead, where people can queue up and get their goods before going to the concert. It seems more orderly than the feeding frenzy I saw at the merch table in the Best Buy Theater.
Main Event
On to the concert itself. Since I was a general admission plebian, I did not have the luxury of getting into wota row to party it up. The VIP folks and their peeps already took many of the prime spots. Instead, I sat in the balcony section (only a few rows up from Tsunku and company) and had a good view. I could see everything, and there were no tall people before me. A TV was also mounted in front of my row in case I needed to see everything up close, but my natural view was enough.
The only real distractions were the Japanese dudes a row ahead of me with their DSLRs & video cameras filming the entire concert. I found it funny since I figured those guys would upload the show on YouTube after it ended. How these guys managed to get such obvious rule-breaking equipment past the staff at the doors was beyond me, but I’d like to learn their secret ways.
Above, it looked like the pit was packed with glow sticks of various colours. As show time neared, the standing room area extended further back until people were closer to the railing area separating the pit from the rest of the venue, almost to the soundboard.
As the concert started, a female voice gave intros for each member as they made their way out. People in wota row could not hear these intros, but everyone else above them could. I’m unsure if that was because it was so loud down there or if there were no speakers to relay the audio.
Of course, Sayumi’s intro was the best, perfectly matching her character.
The set list for the concert was as follows:
- One Two Three
- Help me!!
- Wagamama Ki no Mama Ai no Joke
- MC
- TIKI BUN
- Wakuteka Take a Chance
- The Matenrou Show
- Brainstorming
- MC
- I WISH (Updated)
- Lalala ni Pipipi (Sayumi Solo)
- Shabondama
- Kimagure Princess
- Souda! We’re ALIVE
- LOVE Machine
- The Peace!
- Love Revolution 21
- MC
- Password is 0
- Kimi no Kawari wa Iyashinai
- What is LOVE?
- Encore
- Toki wo Koe Sora wo Koe
- MC
- Happy Daisakusen
As you can see, they did not dip into the well of past classics and stuck closely to their current sound found on their remake album and recent singles. It was the correct thing to do for a live house show, as the crowd was kept hyped the entire hour and a half.
It’s no secret that I have not been the most dedicated supporter of Hello! Project recently, and I’ve been off trying to complete the trifecta for another idol organization for the past few years. But I do have loyalty to Michishige Sayumi, and since I cannot go to her graduation concert in November, this was my last opportunity to see her live.
That said, I was very impressed with this current Musume group of Musumes.
Other than the performances themselves, the highlights for me were the first MC, where the girls introduced themselves in English and, later, the sea of pink. Regarding the MCs, I think Oda Sakura probably has the most comprehensible English out of all the current members. Not to say that the others were completely speaking Klingon, but she seemed to have a stronger grasp of the language than the others.
It probably also helped that she sounded cute speaking English, so there’s a bit of a bias there.
Suzuki Kanon got a lot of love from the American crowd. So much that she forgot what she was supposed to say due to being overwhelmed. When she composed herself, she could say she had a big breakfast. Funny stuff.
As for the sea of pink. There was a project to light the Best Buy Theater in pink if Sayumi either had a solo song or after the encore chant. These instructions were difficult to understand for some, but thankfully, the sea of pink showed up both times. So yay, people, for following instructions. It looked great from above.
But boo to the people with orange and red glow sticks up in the pit during the Sayumi solo.
Post-Concert Handshake
When the concert ended, there was a handshake event that I would like to go over briefly. I was not expecting a lot of time with the members because the staff were kind of inconsistent and somewhat pushy.
Were the staff managing this portion of the event rude? I didn’t necessarily experience the rudeness that other fans did. I can only assume people were mad at those handling the management of the handshake lines because they had higher expectations of this portion of the event.
I was in one of the last rows to get a handshake, and I just watched to see how much time I would have. My calculations were 2 – 3 seconds at best before I got the tap on the shoulder or, as some have stated, “MOVE IT, PEOPLE!!”
It was very similar to my NMB48 and AKB48 handshakes last year. A blur of quick greetings and then getting shoved out of the door. I managed to tell Oda at least her English was very good and got to look all the other members in the eye for a good couple of seconds to say thank you before getting to Sayumi.
I congratulated her on her upcoming graduation in Japanese before being pointed toward the exit. That’s all one can ask for when there are 800+ people to go through, and my handshake experience was rewarding in that sense.
Final Impressions
My first Morning Musume。 the concert was way back at Anime Expo 2009. When I compare that experience to this recent one, New York wins. The venue was much better; fans were there to see the group (instead of wandering in for a free concert and a break from Anime geeking), and the concert wasn’t near an anime convention. (Fandoms colliding and all that)
I had fun from up in the peanut gallery and am inspired enough to keep an eye on Morning Musume。’14 after Sayumi graduates. I’m not completely back in the fold, but I may add one of their concerts to my list of things to do when I return to Japan next year.
And that ends my whole concert experience. Ultimately, it was a good time, and maybe I’ll show up at the next Hello! Project concert in America. Hopefully, it is C-ute coming over since they are the only group of the big 3 I am missing from my Hello! Project concert bucket list.
Morning Musume。’14’s Official Sites
http://www.helloproject.com/morningmusume/
https://www.facebook.com/Morningmusume.Official
