KinKi Kids' 2010-2011 Concert: ~君も堂本Family~ (Kimi mo Domoto Family) - PART 1

Yeah!  I have just returned from my annual pilgrimage to Tokyo for KinKi Kids' concert!  Actually, this is only the second time I have been to KinKi Kids' concert but I definitely hope for many many many more to come!!!

I attended their concert at Tokyo Dome for all 3 days - 30 & 31 Dec 2010 and 1 Jan 2011.  There are just so many special moments that I want to record down.  In fact, though I just touched down this afternoon, my memories are already getting all muddled and I thought I'd better start writing all these down before I forget. 

So for this Part 1, I will set out the design, technical and logistics aspects of the concert!  Hahahahaha!  Afterall, one half of KinKi Kids is a musical stage director and producer, F1 fan who knows all about chassis, etc and the theory of relativity, etc etc etc.  So, we must give due acknowledgement to these important aspects of a concert!  Fufufufu!  I'm sure the two of them put a lot of thought into conceptualising these technical and aesthetic matters, especially Koichi.

Concert Tickets
First of all, for overseas fans like me who can't join KinK Kids' fanclub because we don't have a Japanese residential address, Johnny's Entertainment opened up for the first time an online application for 30 and 31 Dec con tickets for overseas fans.  Each person is allowed to apply for only 1 night and max of 2 tickets.  I applied for 30 Dec whilst my friend R applied for 31 Dec.  We succeeded on the 30 Dec application.  So that means 1 night down and 2 more nights to go.  The tickets for the other 2 nights were subsequently purchased though Yahoo Japan Auction using the English proxy engine -Shopping Mall Japan and you pay a commission for the successful bid.  We got the tickets for bid price of 10,000 yen each which is quite reasonable as the original price is 7,500 yen and these tickets we got were for the 1st level stand.  When we reached Tokyo and went to the shop in Harajuku that sells concert tickets, there were also available tickets at the 1st level stand at reasonable prices.  You can see from the Tokyo Dome map below where my seats were.  I watched the concert from 3 different angles! Sankaku!!! :P

Concert Logo in front of Tokyo Dome
KinKi Kids had this special event where the fans were asked to send in photos that go with the Family theme and a motif would be made out of these photos.  The concert logo in front of Tokyo Dome was the heart motif made up of all these photos sent in by the fans.

We saw a KK fan carrying this fan with very kawaii KK faces on it and asked her to let us take a photo of it!  Anyway, I've "borrowed" the fan to cover my face, so that you all can see the Tokyo Dome banner behind me as well as the kawaii fan!  Heeheehee!

Concert Goods

Below are the concert goods that I have bought!

パンフレット Pamphlet - ¥1,500

ミニうちわ (個人/2種類) Mini Fan (Individual / 2 types) - ¥300 each

携帯ストラップ Mobile phone strap - ¥2,000

トランプ Trump - ¥1,200

ブレスレット (ハート・音符/2種類) Bracelet (Heart ・Musical Note / 2 types) - ¥1,800 each

ペンライト Penlight - ¥1,300

クリアファイル (集合・個人/3種類) Clear File (Group・Individual / 3 types) - ¥500 each

Tシャツ (T-shirt) - ¥2,500

オリジナルフォトセット (個人/2種類) Original photo set (Individual / 2 types) - ¥600 each

フリースマフラー Fleece Muffler - ¥2,000

ボールペン [フリクション] Ballpen [Frixion] - ¥300

ショッピングバッグ Shopping Bag - ¥1,000 

And for the Johnny's Countdown 2011, the concert name is "Johnny's Family"!  How convenient! Last year, they used KK's "J" Con for "Johnny's" and this year, they use KK's "Family" theme! Hahaha!  Anyway, this year, there is only 1 blue scarf (¥1,200) for all groups; I guess that's because they are all in the Johnny's Family.

Heart-Shaped Arena
When I walked into Tokyo Dome, to my surprise, the arena seats have been shaped into a heart shape, with the heart outline being formed by walkway stage that looks like those that the fashion shows have.  This means that KinKi Kids would have easily sacrificed a few thousand seats in order to create that unique heart shape for the arena. 

Video footage source:  YouTube - chamarudive7

Stage Design

This time round, the stage was really really impressive! I though J Con's moving stage was already superb and it's unlikely they can surpass it this time, but KK proved me wrong!

There were 2 semi-circle tracks (red lines) in the arena and I was trying to figure out how the stage was going to move, but I just couldn't see how the stage can move from the front to the back with 2 semi-circles that don't connect. Right at the start of the concert, the answer was revealed and it was awesome. Those of you who have watched the Johnny's Countdown would have seen it when KinKi Kids sang Family ~ひとつになること. There are 2 side plank stages (pink) at the front that can swing inwards to connect the front stage to the center stage, and likewise at the back (pink). And the answer is out, the front stage, the center stage (blue) and the back stage (green) are all connected!

So imagine when the lights went dark, everybody started screaming, and the spotlights came on and Tsuyoshi was standing at the edge of the LHS plank stage and Koichi at the other edge of the RHS plank stage, and all 4 plank stages lit in yellow lights started swinging inwards! It was really like those Star Wars sci-fic type of futuristic feel!  The 2 of them walked from the front to the back stage and they sang Family, starting acapella with these 2 lines below.  It was a beautiful moment!  I managed to find a photo below taken by since1997★ of this scene.

Koichi:  君がいるから  (kimi ga iru kara) (Because you exist)
Tsuyoshi:  僕がいるから (boku ga iru kara) (Because I exist)

Photo Source: since1997★

Apart from these 4 swinging plank stages, the front stage had this very interesting slide design.  Yes, it was a slide!  And during the concert, the dancers like MA and MAD were sliding down the slide stage as part of their dance choreography!  On 1 Jan con, Koichi ran halfway up to slide down and then he exclaimed that his pants became very hot!  Our Koichi playing baka as usual!  Fufufu! 

The amazing thing about this slide design was that it created a 3D effect, like the omni-max theatre.  There are 3 separate stage panels that can move up and down the slide stage.  During the concert, when Kinki Kids were singing, the whole backdrop was the universe and the stage panel they were standing on was near the stop of the slide stage.  It really felt like they were standing in the middle of a universe and singing their hearts out to us!

Ribbons
For the last few concerts, Johnny's has been exploding these gold/silver ribbons with the group name and concert name printed on it, and they were usually exploded above the arena.  I was fortunate enough to have an arena seat for J con last year and got a silver ribbon.  This year, even the 1st level stand had a chance at these ribbons.  They had about 4-5 big ballons positioned around the 1st level stand and when the ballons burst, golden ribbons came flying down.  What was so unusual about these ribbons was that they were tied in such a way that they twirling in the air and you can't tell where they will land.  They were like golden bees flying around!  As for the finale, silver ribbons were expoded above the arena and the 1st level stand.  On 1/1 concert night, I could see both the golden and silver ribbons floating down above me but I didn't get any unfortunately.  The nearest I ever got to a ribbon fell to a fan sitting the row behind me, 2 seats away who got a golden ribbon twirling into her hand!

Photo Source: since1997★

White "Feather" Snow
When KinKi Kids were singing SNOW! SNOW! SNOW! at the front stage, tiny white feathers fell down on them to simulate snow.  I was sitting nearer the back stage on 31/12.  Can you imagine, the feathers actually floated all the way from the front to the audience behind the back stage and both R and I each got a feather!  It's just a tiny feather to others but KK fans would understand its special meaning.  Unfortunately, as usual, klutzy as I am, I realised I lost my feather just now when I was searching for it to take a photo of! Sob sob!

Concert DVD?
On the 1 Jan concert, there was an aerial camera filming the concert! And many camera-men were also following after Koichi and Tsuyoshi!  So let's pray very hard that we are getting the concert DVD!

Part 2 should be on 1 Jan Birthday Con.  Hope to finish that by tomorrow night.