Finally one of my dreams came true!
For people who follows me on my twitter, you may already know this, but on August 9…. I finally fulfilled one of my lifelong dreams after moving to Japan. That is to go to Nine Stars Release Event and watch their live performance in person!
Actually, I felt really sorry because it took me a month to finally write this! 😭 I quickly wanted to share my experience with you guys but sadly work and real life hangout plans got really hectic after I return from my trip, so… finally today I have some free time to write!
To be honest, at first I just have plan for a short trip to Fukuoka to visit my friend who lives there. But suddenly Nine Stars also announced that they’re finally going to hold a release event again after it was all cancelled since March due to Corona outbreak. So like a destiny, their first comeback event is on the day I planned to go to Fukuoka! Of course I won’t miss this chance!
Thankfully, I was going there with my friend, Delhia (@aidorudream) who was also a big fans of Nine Stars and veteran in their live events! So I didn’t have to worry about the know-how because she taught me all I have to do for my first ever release event!
By the way, I came to Fukuoka at August 8, but since Delhia is working and I wanted to see around Hakata station, I decided to just come to the Sunday event . Turns out it’s a good choice since I can enjoy my trip leisurely and can meet Chihiro, another Naisuta friends and we all had a fun dinner together🥰
Anyway, I will talk about the event day!
So usually in one day Nine Stars hold the performance twice, in the afternoon and evening. That day, they were having two sessions, one at 12p.m and 5.p.m. But before the live, we have to line up to buy CD,etc and the sales started from 10.30 p.m. But of course, we have to go before that time so we can get into the front line to buy the CDS!
Due to Corona, the number of people who could watch the performance is limited, and they hold lotteries to decide who can go in. I was very worried at first because I might not be able to go watch it if there are many competitors and if I lose the lottery even if I bought many CDs.. it will be really disappointing, and it was my first time too. So with the possibility of can’t go in, me and Delhia came really early, at around 9 p.m. haha!
That day the event was held at a hall in the most upper floor in Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, it was really easy to get by as there’s a direct subway station below it and it’s infront of Kawabata shopping area.
At the elevator, we can found a poster about the Naisuta event that day, and turns out before the actual purchase upstairs, we have to scan the QR code on those posters to fill in our CD orders so later we just have to pay! If not for Delhia with me I won’t know about this huhu (though later when we lined up the staff are reminding and asking us one by one if we already fill in the order forms). Oh, and since now there’s a Corona issue too, there is also another poster with QR code for our contact information forms and condition check just in case something happened.
Granted, as we came really early, we got to be the first and the second place of the line! Lol. They asked for our names and measured our temperature. Then they also asked what names will we would like to get called by the members at the attraction event, and write our preferred name on a white label that we can put on our chest later so members can see it! After that, we can just go and come back again later at the sales time as they also write our line number on the white label. So we went for a quick breakfast at a cafe across the street and came back an hour later.
This time there are more people already lined up, though they said it’s far less than the normal number of people usually there before Corona. We got to the first line, and when it starts, we went to the counter and show them our QR code that we got after filling the order forms before for them to scan and confirm our orders. We can even pay with credit card! After that, we went to the next counter to get the lottery number (picked by staff) and our attraction tickets.
By the way, for release events, you will get an attraction tickets according to how many CDs you buy. One tickets equals 1,000yen or one CD. I bought 6 CD to get the 6 tickets (like all the members version and the normal ver haha). For lottery, I don’t know if it’s pure luck or they were being kind to us who came first as I got 16 and 19 for each session.
Now, since the live starts at 12p.m., we still have an hour so again we look for some cafe to kill time. So after that we came back again and.. line up again as our lottery number. The event is not started yet and I already lined up three times lol Japanese and their obsession with lining up.. But finally!! We were let in into the hall that has chairs with some spaces between and free to take whatever seat we wanted. For the sake of social distancing, only 25-ish people are let in to the hall. They also forbid us from using lightstick and we can’t put our bags o the floor (have to held it close while sitting) due to Corona.
To be honest, I was really nervous back then!! I mean it will be my first time seeing them up close, and it was really exciting but also nerve-wrecking lol. And finally, the performance began!!
Honestly, I was really really amazed by their performance!! Firstly, they look sooo handsome and tall on stage their photos on SNS can’t do justice!! And I expected them to be lip syncing as I heard many idols do that but halfway through I realized it’s all of their real voices singing while dancing??? It was really, really good that I didn’t realize it at first!! That time they performed the new single, I.P.You and Again, and One Star for first session and Flash for second session..
Mizuki is the most active on stage, he kept making cute expressions and gesture, also jumping here and there haha. So it’s really interesting to watch him! Yabu also kept making cute expressions but in a clam way, different than Mizuki. Also Yabu’s singing voice is the most noticeable and stable among them! Masaki is quite shy, so his dancing is kinda…well, soulless, but as time goes by, he became more confident and seemed to enjoyed performing so it made my heart goes ‘kyunnn~’ and I ended up cheering for Masaki throughout the performance (“Masakiii! You can do it!!”). Huhu, watching him will make you want to support him so it’s quite a unique charm! And Takuya.. for me he is the best! He’s really energetic, so powerful and confident, nice expression and good voice and singing, like he was born to be an idol! More importantly, he is the one who seemed to enjoy their performance the most, and it’s a quality I love the most from idols! The four of them has their own different charms, and truthfully it’s quite hard to follow all of them at the same time haha.
After each song, they had a five minute talking sessions, and it was interesting too! By the way, they use a face shield in this session but not on the performance.. so when the performance ended, they rushed to the backstage to wear the faceshield, and when the talk sessions ended they also hurriedly put it down backstage. Since it’s been a month, I kinda forgot what they talked about but I just remembered that I laughed a lot 🤣🤣. I remember Masaki is saying that it’s raining hard when he’s on the way to the venue but no one else experienced it, so we all tease him that it’s just him that actually got the rain. And Mizuki is wearing a vest as an inner to their suit costume, but at the first performance he forgot to button them up. In the second session, he almost forgot again if not for Yabu reminding him before they got on stage. They also talked about Mizuki and Yabu who got a lot closer lately as they also went home together, even though they’re usually fighting a lot. Mizuki was confused since Yabu seemed to have two personalities, the cold Yabu and the kind Yabu, and Yabu said both of them are him🤣 They also always told us that they’re happy they could get to perform again after a long time!
As the performance ended, we were guided to go out of the hall again to prepare for the attraction. And we lined up…again! lol. As for you who doesn’t know about this attraction things, it’s an event where we could interact with members! It differs among the groups and singles, but this time the attraction is : getting our name called (1 ticket), get a random member cheki photo (2 tickets), and taking videos of two member saying phrases to us (3 tickets). First people who want to get the 1ticket attraction comes in, and after everyone finished (many come in again after they buy more CD to get more tickets), then the people who want to use their 2 tickets get called in and so on. Since the fans who were present are less that day, it doesn’t really that much time (though maybe, if you are a three tickets wielder, it will take you more than thirty minutes to wait for your turn).
I was screwed the first time I did the attraction, though. I choose the 3-tickets attraction for the first session, to take a video of Yabu and Takuya. But since I was the first in line, I didn’t quite get the explanation of how two so I just stood there and start recording but I was somehow wrong huhu so I took the video once more. They all seemed worried about me so I kept apologizing since this is my first time. Takuya was especially nice, after hearing it he kept saying that they’re sorry too huhu Takuya is so kind😭The staffs are also kind too, asking me if I was okay and I said it’s okay it’s because it’s my first time and I didn’t understand the rule (fvk my broken nihongo). The staffs also asked me to delete the first failed video and I did, she also made sure I really delete it. But turns out it’s not just me who failed because Delhia who also took the third attraction for Mizuki-Masaki pair, also failed with the video since the explanation is kinda confusing. I still have the video but since they forbid us from sharing it, I can’t put it here, sorry.
For the second session I decided to just try the chekis because I want it for a memento from my experience of the event, lol. I actually still have one ticket left, but it’s too tiring for me to go back in again, so I just not use it . Turns out I failed the chekis session too because they stood kinda far at the stage and we have mask so it’s hard for us to talk with the members if not shouting. And we got the cheki at the start so usually we show it to the members who lined up (we got to talk to each of them for a bit), but it’s hard for them to see it from afar too. As luck woyld have it, I got Yabu, my oshi, in my random cheki!!! I was really happy and show it to him, he said let’s play fireworks together. Masaki was disappointed that I didn’t get his, and Takuya, well, I just said to him in broken Nihongo (I mean, my head went blank and forgot all my Japanese because they’re all too handsome huhu) that he was so cool! And when I talked to Mizuki, I mistook the signal to move up the line, but actually it was still not the time but I already went from my spot so.. sorry, Mizuki, it’s not that I hate you or anything that I just went of quickly and coldly like that… It’s just because I mistook the signal and too embarrassed to go back!😭😭
Well, it’s a really amazing experience for me! Sadly, this would be my first and last event for the year since I hardly can go to Fukuoka again this year. But I’d love to come back to their event again maybe next year if they hold one! I wish if I went to their event again, I won’t embarrass myself again and failed like today, lol. And they said the attraction before Corona is really interesting too! Like you can get a photo together with them and talks a lot with them closely! The staffs are all also nice! There was one person who mistook the time and came after it ended, and despite it was her own mistake, the staffs kept comforting her and talk to her as she cried. There was also a male fan who came that day so even if you’re a guy, don’t hesitate to come to the event! And since there’s Corona, they held the event with such prevention method! They kept spraying our hands with alcohol, checking our temperature, the social distancing with lining ups and viewing seats.. so it’s quite safe! I think the third attraction I was disappointed with was improved at the second sessions tho, as my friend was finally enjoying it when she took the attraction again. But well, it was actually hard for the managements to old events like this since the cost is higher than the profit they get at the day. So I just want to appreciate their efforts to continue doing it despite of that! And it was really worth it since the members seems happy too to finally meet us fans again!
Wow, sorry it ended up this long.. thank you if you’re reading till the end! I wanted to just write a short review but I wanted you guys to know about the technical experience too so I wrote in a bit of too much details. I hope it can actually helps if you want to attend the event as other idols have kind of similiar method too! Or maybe help you imagining it easier, hehe. I hope you can also get to watch their live performance too someday or even better, I hope we could watch it together!🥰
p.s btw if there are infos or pics that are actually forbidden to post here, please tell me so I can delete it because I don’t really know about Japanese’s rule! >-<
Anyway, Nine Stars’ going to release their new single, I.P.You at November 11th 2020!
I hope you guys can support their comeback, or even better, stream or buy their CDs because it’s so worth it!! The songs are really good and as always I fell in love with theB-tracks.. I really love Again! So I hope you guys can enjoy the song too!
You can see I.P.U trailer below, as I also added english sub to it!
Rainbow Pudding 