Wednesday, 15 June 2016

Tokyo Girls Style One-Man Live & Idolidge @ Taiwan



It all started when Tokyo Girls Style announced that they will be having a one man live overseas tour. Only problem, the countries they're heading to are Hong Kong & Taiwan. The closest country TGS got invited for this year was Bangkok, which sadly I didnt go. After careful consideration, decided to head to Taiwan!



Apart from that, there 'Idolidge Live in Taiwan' and features acts such as Mai Kotone, Idol College, LinQ and even their local dance cover group, CANDYSTAR. Thus it be killing 2 birds with one stone, furthermore this trip will be the first time visit there.

To Taiwan!

Being the fussy traveller, I would try to avoid budget flights for a duration more than 2 hours. After a nightmare encounter with AirAsia, I was adamant on taking economy. That is until the persuasion of my travel buddies that I eventually opt for budget. Booked the same flight as them using Jetstar and off we go!

The flight itself was quite pleasant. Why? 3 rows of empty seats all around me! Beats having obnoxious travellers causing problems and them having to seat beside you. Nothing like the freedom of moving from aisle to window seats and even sleep on the chairs.

Empty seats = bliss


Upon landing in Taoyuan Airport, took the bus to Taipei city. Throughout from Singapore till Taipei its been a smooth and pleasant ride. Taiwan metro network was not that confusing though to buy a rail passcard, you need to get from the Blue Line kiosk. Only blemish was that the hotel advertised having bunk beds but we got mattresses instead. Oh well, at least the toilet not a shared one.

Nice bus ride yo~

GAHHH! NO BUNK BEDS!


TOKYO GIRLS STYLE @ THE WALL. OFF TO MEET PRINCESS HII-CHAN!

Tokyo Girls Style held their one-man live at 'The Wall' performance hall. Friend introduced us to some of the Japanese wotas. They also proceeded to ask us write birthday wishes and also sign the TGS fan banner. It was a healthy mix of local, japanese and overseas fans. There's even Indonesian fans among the group. We managed to nail VIP passes thus we will have a Meet & Greet opportunity and also a signed poster.

Japanese wotas after the event

Get the VIP tix via the 7-11 kiosk

Writing messages for the girls

Its been quite awhile since I've attended their lives. Their last one was way back in 2014 during Japan's SummerStation. Then TGS was a 5 piece group. Thus its was kinda bittersweet to see them again but Ayano is not part of the lineup. Nice to hear familiar songs such as Kodou No Himitsu and limited addiction, it brings me back to the time they visited Singapore. As tribute to the locals, Partition Love was done in Chinese.

One thing I didnt expect was the remix versions of their classic songs like Rock You! and Liar. For the encore segment, everyone were supposed to sing a verse from Kirari. Truly a magical moment when they come on stage afterwards.

Autographed poster


Meet and greet was the most anticipated. Finally! I get to see them face-to-face! Mei and Yuri gave a good response when I mentioned I was from Singapore. Hii-chan kinda switched on to her princess mode, with the 'Oh? Ok, thank you!'. Regardless, shes so adorable! And Miyu was quite nonchalant to response, guess she was too tired.


A video posted by Nakitty Reinya (@nakitty) on


SETLIST:
1. リフレクション
2. 鼓動の秘密
3. Partition Love -中国語ver.-
4. existence
5. Limited addiction
6. 君へ
7. READY GO!
8. ふたりきり
9. Attack Hyper Beat POP
10. Rock you! tofubeats remix
11. illusion TJO & YUSUKE from BLI-SWING Remix
12. Liar REN:DZ REMIX
13. Never ever TJO & YUSUKE from BLU-SWING Remix
14. ヒマワリと星屑 yoshikawa yoshino remix
15. YOU&I FOREVER YUSUKE from BLU-WING Mix
ENCORE
16. キラリ☆
17. A New Departure

Day 1 over, off to the next event!


IDOLIDGE @ TAIWAN! THE MAGIC OF MAI KOTONE!

Next on the itinerary is Idolidge at Jack's Studio. Thankfully our hotel is just around the venue so just bide our time without to worry arriving late. The attendees for Day 2 as followed:

Line Up schedule

Its a diverse mix of local and international idols. The legendary Halku Momoi was even there! And there's freedom to move about in the live i.e. you can come into the venue at any time. I went for both sessions of Idolidge and it was pure goodness.

Scene outside the venue


Flowers and congratulatory messages to the idols


First thing to greet me was group Purpure handing out flyers. After which we entered the venue. My main aim was to see Mai Kotone, though I am interested to see POP and LinQ too. There were some good surprises mainly ULTRAGIRLS. Just watch their video here.

PURPURE flyer!

Another surprise was this Taiwanese solo idol. A friend recommended to me, and she has a really long stage name: Julili Julila Mirai Coro Coro Colony XIII (ジュリリジュリラン未来ゴロゴロコロニー１３世) I attended her buppan during the 2nd session, she's comes out as a cute and nice girl. Incidentally, she is also featured on the CHEERZ app and bulk of our conversation was on that. And yes, we spoke to each other in English. She has her own set of mixes and attracted quite a crowd to her buppan.

Lets just call her Mirai

Experienced the intensity of POP's segment. Though no stage dives and crowd surfing, ex-BiS member Saki Kamiya still delivers her signature aggressive performance. Idol College was another interesting group, with standard mixes and idol performing fare. LinQ was also another group that rallies the crowd to go wild.

AMIHIME!


You Kikkawa was there too. Hello! Project fans will remember her as the one who auditioned for Morning Musume (though she lost to Mitsui Aika). There was no doubt on her vocal prowess and she has good performing aura.

Then comes the main purpose of Idolidge: Mai Kotone! And mark my words, Dreamscape has to be experienced live! It gives goosebumps when everyone formed a big circle and did the calls/mixes. Its no surprise she was once dubbed the Queen of underground idol.

Below is the snippet of their live


Finally! 2-shot with Mainya!


During buppan, I made it clear to do the following: Meet Mai Kotone, Saki Kamiya, Ami Himesaki (LinQ) and Yuka Ebihara (Idol College). First was definitely seeing 'Mainya' and she was glad to see someone far off from Singapore. Saki Kamiya might be potrayed a punk girl but shes really sweet to talk to. LOL, to think this was the very same person that once got suspended from her group. Yuka Ebihara unleashed her high level 'fishing' skill, trying to please whenever I did handshake or 2-shots. Ami Himesaki aka amihime was surprised that I remembered her attending a Fukuoka fashion event in Singapore. Previously she was shown to be stuck-up but this time round, she's an angel. Ever smiling and engaging.

All chekis obtained on that day
So there you have it, my first foray into the Republic of China aka Taiwan. The next time round, I'll write an article on the non-idoru aspect of my trip. In all, the idoru culture there was very welcoming, its similar to Thailand and I ease in  quite easily. I guess from now onwards, Taiwan would be one of the more frequently visited places for my idoru fare.



I give both events -
★★★★★stars

Cheki Attained
1) POP: Saki Kamiya
2) Idol College: Yuka Ebihara
3) Julili Julila Mirai Coro Coro Colony XIII (x2)
4) Mai Kotone

Miscellaneous
Maid Cafes: x3 (I'll be doing an article on Taiwan's maid cafe soon enough ^_^)

Book added with more chekis, I guess it'll take a year before I complete it.
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