The whole thing was a bit crazy, me and Karou were supposed to go to the Berlin show only since it’s really close to the city we live in. It would be cheap(ish) and enough, right? Going to one concert is perfectly reasonable. Well.
WRONG. Because I’m a greedy bitch, I persuaded bullied Karou into going to the Köln show as well. And I’ve never been to Köln before, right, so it’s a sound argument. Or it would be if we didn’t spend all of… 30? minutes walking around the city centre, not amused by the whole thing. Maybe it’s because it was raining, I don’t know, but Köln didn’t leave much of an impression.
We were pretty tired since we had to ‘get up’ at 00:30am (for me, I slept for about half an hour only), the rain was pouring even though the weather forecast didn’t mention any fucking rain. And it was cold. We were tired and cold, a perfect combination for a concert. We got to the venue around 2-3pm, there were 4 people waiting already, all of them Japanese. At least there was a roof above our heads, so from then on we were only cold, but not wet. Radwimps’ tour bus was there, charging and releasing disgusting fumes from time to time, trying to suffocate us. Fun times. I honestly assumed we looked like shit at the time, but it turned out not to be quite true, I’ll explain in a minute. Some time around 4pm(maybe?) a smaller van arrived, and it turned out that Yojiro and Yusuke were inside. Yojiro had his hat on and a big, great coat. We contemplated jumping him to get his coat (did I mention that we were freezing?), but we somehow refrained from doing it. We even managed to straighten our legs and stand up since it wouldn’t do to look like fucking hobos (Karou had a poncho, and I looked like Gandalf with my… thing). I tried not to stare like a creep that I am, pretending to be a normal human being (why would I even do that? Yojiro is a weirdo as well?), and I think I succeeded, calmly nodding ‘hello’, keeping my chill. Yojiro has no chill whatsoever, he took a gift from the Japanese, but he has lots and lots of Japanese people around him in Japan (well, duh), so he stared at us (at this point we still were the only non-Japanese people there). Like, stared. Not even trying to hide it. I felt like our roles were reversed for a second. Yusuke kept his head kind of bowed, almost hiding behind Yojiro. Man, he’s got a sweet face.
Anyway, we waited and waited, and waited (who the fuck starts concerts at 9pm?), got interviewed for the DVD, and they finally let us in. Then we waited some more, entertaining ourselves with dumb jokes about staff, of course no one could understand us, so we didn’t hurt anyone’s feelings, no worries tumblr.
There were only three non-Japanese people in the first row which made me sad. In general, there were more Japanese people than not. It made me angry then, they’ve got so many chances to see them in Japan! But now I realize that I was angry at our, European, fandom. For not coming, for not appreciating Radwimps enough, for not giving them the attention they earned and deserve.
There weren’t many people, but the venue was small, so it looked like there were, that’s something I guess. Not that it mattered since the concert was amazing. AMAZING. The crowd knew the lyrics, and the band, oh God, The Band. Sometimes you worry whether the band will sound good live, right? Not with Radwimps, with Radwimps you get top quality of everything. The sound was great, you could hear every single string touched, and every single noise Yojiro made, whether it was loud or real quiet. I’m 99,9% sure Yojiro’s bad taste in clothes is contagious, and Yusuke is the perfect example of that(baggy, too short trousers, ugh), at least Akira made an effort. I was sad Satoshi couldn’t be there, but the new guy was a sweetheart.
Sometimes, after concerts, you get this feeling that while it was great, the setlist could still be improved. This one though, it couldn’t. Sure, there are other songs they could play, but I’m more than happy with what we got, there were both older and newer songs to satisfy everyone. It started with a bang (DADA!) and only got better.
I didn’t cry on the outside when we heard that they were rehearsing ‘Tummy’ before the concert, but on the inside I was sobbing. I wanted to hear it live ever since I listened to the album, and now I got it. Yojiro said that it’s a song about his future child, and that he would sing it in English, which he did. At least the first part, then he switched back to singing in both Japanese and English, like in the original version. At the end he approached Akira and touched his forehead to Akira’s. Is Akira supposed to be the mother? We will never know.
Yusuke spoke very good German, but Yojiro mocked him anyway. It’s nice to be able to talk to the band, and Yojiro is very responsive. There were few short MCs, but then there was the one in which he said something about girls in Köln being pretty, and it sort of clicked that hey, he stared, and maybe I’m being presumptuous, but I’m quite sure it has something to do with me and Karou. Because later I looked at the selfie we took before the concert, and we were so fucking pretty I couldn’t believe it. No, I mean, Karou is always a babe, but even I looked pretty. What the fuck?
Fast-forward to the end of the concert, Akira tried to throw his pick, but it was a futile effort, just like every other effort by Yojiro (no picks/drum sticks went close enough to the crowd for us to catch, Yojiro is the worst at doing this, at one point he dropped his pick and needed to pick it up from some cables, and later he drooled over another one and had to wipe it on the towel, what the fuck x2?) I bought myself a t-shirt which was more expensive than I was prepared for, but I liked the design (blue t-shirt with “I’m only 10” written on it), so it didn’t matter.
We decided to wait for them, just to wave them goodbye or something, but it turned out that they were actually going to sign for us, and guess who forgot her booklets from the backpack? This dumb bitch! So after a quick action we got our tickets signed, and oh my God Yojiro is so clueless. I said “see you in Berlin”, and at first he just nodded and said “thank you”, but then he lifted his head, looked me straight in the eye and went like: “Oh, you mean… wow”. Japanese girls following them around the globe? Nothing to see here. Some European girls going to two concerts? Man, so amazing!
Yusuke got really attached to the German language and responded with “vielen Dank” every chance he got. Too bad I’m not German. And the supporting drummer Mikki is a ray of sunshine, I wanted to hug him (I didn’t, I have some self-control, unlike some Japanese girl who ‘caressed’ Akira’s cheek. What the fuck x3).
Ok, we got our autographs, went to the airport to sleep for a while, came back to Berlin, slept for hundred hours and then went to the Berlin gig. We got there around 11am, met a Polish girl and waited (waitedwaitedwaited). Of course the Japanese girls were there as well, and while I didn’t mind most of them, a few tried to get to the front of the queue even though other people came earlier. Back off, bitches. We crushed their plan, but then some annoying Polish girls tried the same, and we only managed to get away from them and not stand next to them. When the interviewer came he greeted me and Karou, hah. This time, the first row was European-only, but there were just as many Japanese people as before.
Radwimps started with DADA again, and the setlist was similar, but it wasn’t the same. Not that I’d mind if it were. Anyways, they sung the whole ‘Tummy’ as it is on the CD, and Yojiro said that our singing “was beautiful” (no, no, yours is), there was some head touching again. I wondered if he is going to repeat what he said about the girls, but he didn’t. He said that it’s great to come to Europe, that they feel a real connection, which is good since Japanese people are close-minded (his words!). Akira said, and I quote, “I’m amazing” which yes, you are, but the mistake is hilarious anyway, and that they want to come back in two years. Yojiro mocked Yusuke some more, trying to make us admit that his German isn’t that that good, but we held the fort. Oh, Yojiro sucks at taking pictures as well ;) he didn’t even try to throw anything this time.
What I really liked was how obviously happy they were. Yojiro’s face is often pretty passive, but he smiled a lot, and it wasn’t a fake smile at all. Akira and Yusuke didn’t ever try to play it cool, they completely lost it in Berlin.
This time we were equipped with booklets and a marker, so I was expecting them not to sign anything because that’s my luck. I chatted with some nice Chinese people and one Japanese guy who told me: “Ich komme aus Japan” after hearing that I’m from Poland. Again, nice, but we don’t speak German in Poland, and his face when I told him that was priceless. What a cutie.
Guess what? Radwimps came out ready to signnnnnn. Fucking hell. The Japanese girls started to crowd them and had to be pushed back – and they say that Europeans are crazy. Did I mention that they called me and Karou “kowai bangya”? They did. I will wear it like a fucking badge. Yhm.
I thanked Yojiro and told him to come to Poland next time, which he repeated after looking at me and probably realizing that nope, the two girls from the Köln concert are not, in fact, from Köln. And then the most amazing thing happened, I almost choked from amusement. Karou gave him illion’s album to sign and said that it’s his solo project, to which he awkwardly replied that yes, it’s his solo project, I wanted to hug them both, my awkward babies. Akira was all smiles, but Yusuke and his beer tried to be cool, and we had to call him for autographs. Did I mention that he is cute? He is. And his dimple, sweet baby Jesus.
Unlike in Köln, they stayed long enough to sign for everyone who waited, shook hands with us etc. Akira was the first one to enter the van, so I saw my chance and took it by waving to him, and earning an enthusiastic wave back. Little things matter, right?
They left, we left, I’m fucking happy. So happy. Still dead tired, but happy all the same. I wouldn’t be able to do it without Karou, though. Fetus
If you don’t believe that Karou and I made an impression on Yojiro, then go and check his fucking Instagram account, there is a proof there, boom.
