006. big bang japan dome tour ‘x’

170115: the day I went to Big Bang’s Japan Dome Tour ‘X’ 2014~2015 in Osaka, held at Kyocera Dome. (Woo, late report!) It wasn’t my first time seeing them perform live — my first (and only time before my most recent concert) was during a YG Family concert back in 2011. I had been waiting for the day ever since I found out about their tour back in October of last year, and opted for fanclub tickets in hopes of getting better seats. I headed to the venue early that day so I could purchase concert goods, and arrived just a bit after 12.30pm. The wait time wasn’t as bad as I had anticipated — I was done shopping in about an hour. It was, however, long enough for me to ponder way too hard about what goods to purchase… and ended up with 5 items as opposed to the only 2 I had in mind. Oops. But, no regrets, no regrets.

After checking into our hotel, getting ready, and meeting up with friends, we came back to the dome at 4pm. When the tickets arrived about a week prior, I couldn’t figure out exactly where we were seated. I had never been to Kyocera Dome before, and the website/charts were too complicated to navigate. So when the usher pointed towards a set of stairs that lead us down instead of up, we could barely contain our excitement. Our seats ended up being right next to the main stage that extended out, between the halfway point and the end. Seriously, we were so close that we could see each individual member’s faces while they performed on stage! I cannot believe we were so fortunate to receive such amazing seats. (Thank you to the first person who didn’t want to sell their tickets to me!)

The concert started just a bit past 5pm with iKon performing the opening act. I’m not familiar with iKon at all — the only member I vaguely know is Bobby, and that’s only because he was featured in a song with Lee Hi and Soohyun from AKMU (plus, he has the same name as my brother). Big Bang started their night with Fantastic Baby and the fans went absolutely insane (me included!) I swear I was about to cry when I saw Taeyang emerge from the stage ohhhmygod them feels. (I’ll try not to fangirl too much). Throughout the night, they performed many of my favourite songs (such as Haru Haru, Lies and My Heaven) and I could not be more happy with the setlist. I didn’t expect to like their Love Song performance as much as I did (it ended up being one of my favourites of the night) — I love how it’s such a serious song, yet everyone was just being silly, doing whatever they wanted to make the fans laugh, and it genuinely looked like they were having a blast on stage. My other favourite performance was Good Boy — GD and Taeyang absolutely nailed it.

I also enjoyed the speaking and fan interaction parts of the concert a lot. Even though they didn’t come anywhere near us (sadface), it was amazing being able to understand them, respond, and laugh at their jokes. Seungri’s Japanese really surprised me — I know that he appears on Japanese talk shows often, but hearing it impromptu on stage is completely different. They seem to like foreign fans a lot — next time I attend their concert, I’m bringing a New Zealand flag with me! Maybe also dye my hair blonde and wear blue contacts. Oh, and Dara showed up too! Not to perform, but as a fan attending the concert. She’s super cute!

The encore performance was absolutely incredible — there was still so much energy, despite it nearing the end of the show. I loved the idea of Seungri DJ-ing, and each member performed a solo of their’s. Both him and Daesung are much more charismatic in real life than on screen in my opinion. TOP is just as good looking as he is marketed to be (still can’t dance to save his life though, hah) and GD seemed very humble and genuine, especially when he thanked all of us for waiting three years for a come back. He promised that this year will be that year (YG even confirmed it himself!) And Taeyang — words cannot even describe how perfect he is. His voice, looks, the way he dances… including the lame jokes that he cracked throughout the concert (Kinryuu ramen, anyone?), everything. (Can you tell who’s my favourite?) iKon joined them on stage at the very end and they performed Sinosijak together. Despite their senior/junior relationship, the performance was very smooth, and everyone looked like they were enjoying themselves.

Overall, it was an amazing three+ hours, well worth the extra money I spent to get those fanclub tickets. I cannot wait for Big Bang’s come back this year — it’s going to be epic! (And if that means another tour in Japan… well, I’m definitely going!)