ONE OK ROCK Live in Manila - 35XXXV Album Asia Tour 2016

The most awaited night!

Kyaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!!

Okay..breathe! Let me post this while all the feels are still fresh.

Before anything else, let me give you a little background on how I came to know and love One OK Rock so you can understand where I'm coming from.  One OK Rock is a Japanese rock band that was started by Toru Yamashita back in 2005. I only started to know about them back in August 2014, after I watched Rurouni Kenshin (2012 movie). They sang the movie's original soundtrack, which was The Beginning. And indeed, it was the beginning of my love affair with everything about Japan - ie. my love for Takeru Satoh, the japanese culture, anime, manga and yes, One OK Rock, to name a few. The 2 part sequel of the movie Rurouni Kenshin, Kyoto Inferno and The Legend Ends came out in August and September, respectively. One OK Rock still did the OST for both movies - Mighty Long Fall and Heartache. After hearing these 3 songs, I decided to look for their other songs and listened and fell helplessly in love with their music. Yes, I loved their music first and foremost. I just had to point that out. Taka of course is and always have been a force to be reckoned with ever since I started watching their music videos and snippets of their concerts through YouTube. I love their signature high energy performance. As I listened more to their songs, I started to fall in love with Taka's voice. It's just so beautiful oh my gosh! Is he for real? So yeah, I was hooked and called myself a fan. I preordered and bought both their albums in Itunes and downloaded it on the first day it was released. Lol. Anyway, back then I saw their Yokohama Arena concert for Zankyo Reference Tour in 2012 and promised myself that I will watch their concert if and when they come here in the Philippines. I remember answering a survey to hopefully bring them here in 2015 (hashtag #OneOKRockinManila2015), but nothing happened. I even remember telling a lot of my friends that they are the band that if they have their concert in Cebu, I will fly to Cebu just to watch them. Some of them thought I was crazy to do that over a band. I thought to myself I don't need to explain to people who doesn't have this kind of passion about something because they just wouldn't understand. Well, I tried, they didn't, so yeah.

Fast forward to August 30, I saw from Amuse Inc's facebook page that One OK Rock will have an Asia tour to promote their 35XXXV album and they'll be including one country in the tour for the first time ever. I can't even start to explain how excited I was and I was almost too sure they're going to the Philippines! Hahaha! Come August 31, they announced the tour details and Philippines is one of their stops! EEEEEEEPPPPPPPP!!!! I was sooooo ready to buy the tickets but it wasn't available until the 24th of September.

Anyway, this being the first major concert that I attended, I haven't had any idea about how to get the meet and greet ticket. I thought they wouldn't have a meet and greet because the only tickets were VIP1,2 and 3 which are standing, VIP seating, etc. I thought that the meet and greet ticket comes out along with all the other ticket. And for someone like me who, again, is a major concert virgin, thought that these meet and greet were arranged by the company who sells the ticket, which was SMtickets. Only after reading a couple of news and blogs have I learned about the Pulp Royalty so as soon as I knew that there's a meet and greet, I sent Pulp an email to secure one. Unfotunately, I was too late. It's already sold out. Ahh..my poor broken heart! </3

So on the first day of ticket selling, a few minutes before 10am, I was right outside the doors of SM North Edsa waiting for it to open so I can secure myself a VIP 2 ticket. Okay, before I continue, I thought that the tickets will be available at ANY booth that sells movie tickets (I know..stoopid!) So when the doors opened, coming from the carpark entrance, I ran and instead of turning right going to the main building, I went up the escalator to the 3rd floor of SM The Block and headed to the ticket booth where I was told I had to go to the ticket booth at the main building. Arrgggghhhh! So imagine my panic as I run downstairs and to the ticket booth at the main building where a line has already started to form. I counted and I was like the 12th in line. Gaaaahhhh! I was in there and the line hasn't moved in like 10 minutes. I was getting nervous the ticket might get sold out so I went online on my phone and tried to purchase a ticket there. I was so happy I did and that my internet connection was fast and didn't falter so I was able to buy 2 VIP 2 tickets - one for me and one for Rosey! Yay! So I left the line, went home and decided to get my tickets the next day.



A week before the concert, I saw that a lot of OOR fans have their concert day OOTD ready and it made me think, what should I wear to the concert? Thankfully, Karupini Collectibles still have some on hand One OK Rock shirts so I bought one so I can use it at the concert. Teehee! It's from their tour "The Beginning" which was appropriate since this is the song that paved way for my love for One OK Rock and transformed me to another level of being a fangirl. Hahaha! (Side note: It came with my order of the Takeru Satoh The Road Trip 2016 Calendar set.)

My Karupini Collectibles purchases :)

Come January 19th..it's D-Day! Woot! I'm so excited I wasn't able to sleep! I had work Monday night and got home around 5:30am. I was planning to get at least 3 hours of shuteye before heading to MOA Arena before 12noon. It was around 8:30am and saw that there was a line forming already. What?! Well, we got the VIP 2 standing so if I want to be in the front rows, I have to be there early to line up. Unlike us, the others have seat numbers so they don't need to panic. Anyway, I took a shower and started to get ready without any sleep at all. Decided to wear my Spirited Away socks from Korea. Teehee! :)

Worn my Spirited Away socks for the D-day!

I arrived around 1pm at MOA Arena and there's a line already, though not very long yet. The official merchandise was set up and being sold and there's a long line for it as well. Scared that it will sold out fast, I talked to the nice ladies in front and behind me to save my spot while I line up for the merchandise. They said OK. One OK Rock has really nice and lovely fans! The beanies were sold out but I got 2 shirts for myself and a shirt for Paolo, my officemate who's also a One OK Rock fan. Unfortunately for him, since I'm his back up and he knows I'm resolved to go to the concert, he can't take a vacation leave and go to the concert. Aww..poor him. Hehehe.

Rosey arrived around 3pm with food. Finally! I was getting a little hungry then. The gates were supposed to open at 6pm but we got inside around 7:30pm already. They were delayed due to sound check, I think. I was checking updates on instagram and the meet and greet started late as well.

While waiting at VIP 2 line :)

And it was a looonnngggg line, indeed! Glad I got here early.

On our way inside, we lined up at the last turnstile but it was moving very slow so when we got inside the VIP 2 area, it's almost half full and there's no way to see my love Toru up close. Huhu. So we settled near the middle where there's an extended stage and waited for the concert to start.

stamped

waiting to have my mind blown

ahhhh! can't wait!boys, hurry up!

When the lights went out, we saw Tomoya and Ryota getting ready and they started to play 35xxxv. My goossshhh! One of the things I noticed when I started to listen to One OK Rock was how fierce Tomoya is when playing the drums. Every beat is right on the spot, so you can only imagine how I felt when I first heard it live. Damn! Taka and Toru were on their spot already when they started to rock Manila with the song Take Me to the Top. Everybody in the VIP area - 1, 2 and 3 - were jumping and on the go. After a while, I noticed that everyone in the arena were on their feet and jumping with us. Also, they were standing the whole concert! That was awesome!!! From where I stand, I can see my love Toru once in a while when there were no heads or hands blocking my view of him. Still, I was still able to see and witness how handsome he is! He's out of this world! He looks so good my poor heart can't decide if it should melt or explode, and I had to consciously take a mental note to close my mouth. Lol! My gosh! Even Rosey said my asawa is so gwapo. I know, right?! Sigh. ♥ The rocking and the jumping and the screaming continued for another 4 or 5 songs. Check this so you can get even a teeny weeny bit of understanding of what I mean when I say that the crowd was crazy fun that night! The crowd were singing along each and every song. It wasn't annoying though. I can still hear Taka's voice over everyone else so I think it was great. It mellowed down a bit when they played Last Dance. After that, Taka sang Heartache and it was truly an amazing moment of the concert. It felt so intimate hearing his beautiful beautiful voice sounds like serenading each and every one of us, although each and every one of us was singing with him wholeheartedly. Lol. All our hands were in the air with our cellphone's flashlight turned on without anyone prompting us to do so. When I turned around, this was what I saw.

a sea of lights. beautiful!

It was sooo surreal! That was one of my favorite parts of the concert, I think. When I was telling Paolo about that particular moment, I suddenly cried. That was the night after the concert and that was when it finally did sink in that I watched One OK Rock LIVE!!! I was overwhelmed and I wasn't able to control myself. Lol. Even now, when I reminisce that moment, I get teary eyed. BRB, crying a little right now. Gosh!

Anyway, after Heartache, I told Rose I hope they sing Decision as well. And what do you know? They did! Right after Heartache! Lol. You read my mind, Taka babe. That's so sweet of you. Hahaha! They also sang The Beginning. Taka, Toru and Ryota head banged like badasses without missing a beat. Are these guys even human?! How do you do that, Taka? Geez. Sugoi! Totemo sugoi desu yo!Hontou ni! Anyway, this time I can see Toru up close and I wasn't able to take my eyes off him until he went back to his spot on the right side of the stage where a lot of hands and heads were blocking my view of him. He's so perfect,omg. Hahaha!

Ryota and Tomoya at the start of the concert

One of the few unblurry photos of Toru my love from my itouch

Rock on!

Hi baby! I can see you from where I stand

Taka's high energy was awesome.

The band's signature high energy makes it a must-see live performance
for an amazing unforgettable night of my life.

Me with Toru my love and Taka babe in one photo.
I'll have to settle for this for now since I wasn't able to
get my hands on that meet and greet opportunity. Hahaha!

Taka said that the next song, Mighty Long Fall, will be the last song so we were all sad but we rocked with him until the song ended. There was a time when he made a gesture to separate. I didn't have any idea what it meant and what he wanted to do. I thought he wanted someone to move the barricade aside so he can go down or something, but there were no bouncers in that area and nobody moved. Lol. After the song, Taka and the rest went backstage and we were like 'That was it?' Nobody left and after a while, everyone started to chant "We want more! We want more!" while stomping our feet to the floor.

A little later, Taka and Toru went out for the encore and started to sing..guess what? Wherever You Are! Oh myyyyyyy! It's hard to decide what my One OK Rock favorite song is, but this is definitely one of the top 5 songs that I love and it's one of the songs I really wanted to hear live. My heart was once again undecided - burst or melt? Another overwhelming feels while listening to Taka's perfect and beautiful voice.

They sang 2 more songs - Kanzen Kankaku Dreamer and No Scared. A couple of big white balloon balls appeared and was tossed around the concert. That was so fun! I was able to toss the balls twice and one even fell on the floor in front of me, but it didn't occur to me to hold on to it and keep it at that time. I wanted all the fans to be able to join in the fun. It was already late when I thought I should've kept that one ball that fell. Lol. That's okay though.

After their performance, all four of them went in front of the stage to show their gratitude to their fans (that includes meeeeee!^_^) in true japanese fashion by bowing for a good 10 seconds or so.

Thank YOU, ONE OK ROCK! I love you!

It was such an amazing and awesome not to mention fun and unforgettable night of my life that I didn't want it to end. I wanted to keep them and take them all home to mama. Hahahaha! Wake up, chel! Unfortunately, the concert had to end one way or another and so the post-concert depression started to creep in. But instead of being depressed, I was so elated and up to this moment still on a high from that amazing night. I'm back to listening to them on my itouch and on the screen of my laptop, but I will forever cherish that night, all the memories locked and safe in one corner of my heart.♥ Lost my voice for a while and my shoulders hurt until the next day because I had my hands up all the time during the concert. It was totally worth it though. ^_^

私は忘れない素晴らしい夜をありがとうございました!

Here are more photos from the concert grabbed from fellow fans and official photographers and event sponsors. Enjoy! (see more posts and photos here here and here)

Rockin' Manila!

head banging stint

Taka's 5 feet high jump

belting it out

Taka holding up his mic while the fans sing :)

Guitarist or Model?

Heartache

I wasn't able to be part of that flag but that flag represents the love of each and every Filipino OOR fans.

The boys showed their gratitude in true japanese fashion. They gave a deep bow for a good 15 seconds or so.
Kochira koso, doumo arigatou gozaimashita!

Group pic with the awesome ONE OK ROCK! Woot! What an amazing night!

Photo by Julen Esteban-Pretel (ig account: @julenphoto)

photo by ohshesback.com

I saw the moment when Taka made this heart sign and a lot of girls in the VIP standing area did the same. including me.lol

you are something else, Toru. swear!

Romancing the guitar. Why so hot, my love?

Sigh.♥

Didn't see this during the concert. So cute!

In Toru's words: 'Fantastic!! In Manila' :) *I forgot whose shot is this. sumimasen!

And here's the setlist from the concert - the original list vs what they played at the concert. So sad about The Way Back not making it to the list but I'm happy because it was replaced with Wherever You Are.