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| Rui Hashimoto (OOR's official photographer) captioned this photo taken right after the concert, "Singaporean audience was splendid!" |
This post is a little bit late in the making, but as they say, better late than never? Though I'm sure a post fresh after the concert would have made me remember all the details better but I will do my best to remember all the nitty gritty details!
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| Breathtaking view on the way there! Singapore ftw! |
When I found out that One Ok Rock was coming to Malaysia as part of their Asia Tour I was over the moon! But work schedules clashed so I ended up going to the Singapore concert instead but I have absolutely ZERO REGRETS. Despite being considerably more expensive, it was an experience well worth it because I got to MEET the boys after the concert! How I achieved this Holy Grail of fandom, you may ask? I was one of LAMC Productions' (one of the event organizers) 10 winners of the One Ok Rock Meet & Greet competition on Instagram! The day I found out I won, I was in a bank, so I had to stifle my excitement but inside, I was doing cartwheels of joy! Anyway, I had to register and pick up the Meet & Greet passes at the concert venue, so with my airplane ticket and backpacker hostel booked, I was off!
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| Concert tickets costed $78 each! |
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| Meet & Greet armband |
Getting around in Singapore was pretty easy, everything is just so clean and organized. Traffic was clear, and it took only 15 minutes to get from Changi Airport to the concert venue at The Coliseum, Hard Rock Hotel Sentosa. (Yes, I arrived in Singapore just 3 hours prior because the Malaysia and Singapore concerts were on consecutive days.) Lockers are readily available at the Forum which is in walking distance from the venue, just downstairs really. I didn't want to attend the concert with all my luggage. I actually went with a friend so we just shared a locker, it was about $20 for 24 hours and we could still use it the next day when we visited Universal Studios Singapore.
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| A very small part of the queue! |
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| Standing up, waiting to go in... |
Back to the concert, when we arrived (2 hours before the concert), we found all the concert goers all queued up and chilling on the floor. Some have been there as early as the wee hours of that morning! Most of them were wearing the black OOR fanmade T-shirts or the official T-shirts (also black) but these were SOLD OUT when we arrived. Now we knew we couldn't bring food or drinks inside so we ate outside before proceeding inside. I think they actually sold drinks inside and they do check your bags before you go in.
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| Rockin' it out! |
Once inside, we listened to some songs and some staff tested out the equipment and pumped up the crowd so when One Ok Rock finally burst out on the stage, the screams were deafening. But the sound of the guitars quickly drowned out the crowd and the rest was pure magic. Unlike the Malaysian concert, Ryota was shirtless after a few songs because he apparently plays with 100% power when shirtless. Haha. The girls went wild of course. More so after Taka cheekily stuffed a red thong given by a fan during the encore into his back pocket, though it was originally meant for Toru.
This was the setlist for that night:
1.Where idiot should go- 2.Ending Story?? 3.Deeper Deeper 4.Nothing Helps 5.C.h.a.o.s.m.y.t.h. 6. Let's take it someday 7. Jibun ROCK 8. Clock Strikes
9. Be the light
10. Liar
11. Answer Is Near
12. NO SCARED
13. Re:make
14. Kanzen Kankaku Dreamer
15. The Beginning
Encore:
16. Wherever you are
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| My clearest shot from where I was standing. Still blurry sadly. |
I was standing somewhere in the middle near the right where I could see Toru, next to some Japanese high school boys and they were really big fans of OOR, though I think I got elbowed in the head a couple of times. =_= There was a bit of moshing but it only got unbearable halfway through the concert when they decided to shine these huge spotlights onto the crowd. Worst. 10 minutes. Of my life. It got really warm and any longer and I might have been one of those girls escorted out because they were close to fainting. When they switched it off, it was as if there was wind sent from heaven. Earlier, I think Taka tried to make more room for everyone by asking us to bend down and leap up when he gives the signal, so everyone had to back up a bit. But after that, they rushed back in front again and I was separated from my friend for a little while, but I scooted back during the Be the Light performance because that's just the kind of song to listen to next to someone close.
Toru seemed surprised when everyone sang along to the intro of Clock Strikes and seemed energized somehow after that. I seriously don't know how these boys can perform the day after a concert because they just sweat buckets during the concert and they don't hold back. Ryota and Toru were leaping all over the stage with their guitars and even had a face-off culminating into an intense showdown inches away from each other. Tomoya has the cutest accent when he speaks English (I heard it was because he wears a noseclip for performances) and I've watched videos of Taka and Tomoya speaking Malay during the Malaysia concert and my heart sort of burst in pride to hear them speak in the local language. They do aim to please and they work hard at it! Taka threw his mike all over the place and caught it every single time. I love their showmanship when they perform. They took a while coming out to perform the encore, maybe the crowd wasn't encouraging enough? But I think most people were completely tired out after a truly rockin' concert, shouting ourselves hoarse.
This was my first rock concert and the headbanging crowd was certainly one of a kind. There were a couple of long haired shirtless guys in the crowd who barged in jumping into people to get to the front. Seriously 'rock kapak'-looking people, girls with hair of all colours, boys with Japanese hairstyles, aunties, otakus, you can find them all here. There was also a girl who was trying to crowdsurf from the back to the front but fell down because nobody caught her at some point somewhere not too far from me.
After the concert, I was told to meet at the lounge area of Hard Rock Hotel, but we lined up with the Sentosa Security near the concert area first. He was a really funny guy, asking what fangifts we got for OOR and saying some Japanese girl popband was coming soon (who caresss, we're OOR fans). The other contest winners were really nice and asked for a photo with me. Some of them were stunned to hear that I flew in from Sabah that day for the concert. You'd think I stayed in Timbuktu or something, to see their faces. I got the boys just a few Sabahan souvenirs, yunnow, just in case they ever wanted to drop by Borneo or anything. If they're reading this, ONE OK ROCK, Sabah has awesome tattoo artists and great diving!! *fangirl craziness*
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| Fangifts from Sabah |
The fanmeet lasted about 15 minutes, the boys had changed from their concert clothes and looked surprising fresh! Such stamina. Only Toru looked a bit tired out, me thinks or maybe he always has that stricken expression on his face? He came off as a really serious guy but I am in awe of him. I got to shake hands with all them and exchange a few words. Taka was so pleasant and had great skin up close. He even consented to give hugs when asked (though I didn't take the opportunity because I was feeling er, self conscious, because man, was I sweaty and stinky after the concert). Tomoya and Ryota gave off a friendly vibe and look genuinely happy to meet their fans! No personal photos allowed as well as autographs, but they accepted everyone's fangifts. I have just a group photo to remember them by, then afterwards I met up with my friend who was waiting outside.
HIGHLIGHT OF MY YEAR! OMFG I never thought I would be there at the start of 2013, because I never even so much as listened to J-rock, but I did watch quite a bit of anime once upon a time. All because of one Rurouni Kenshin movie and it started a chain of events. I wish OOR great success in the future and I will DEFINITELY go to another concert if I have the chance. I'm beginning to feel like A-Pink's Eunji's character in Reply 1997. Not quite sasaeng level though. Oh God no.
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| One OK Rock Meet & Greet at Singapore Live 2013 (LAMC Productions) |
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| My winning entry |