And then I realized, I'm just slutty.

Just sent my first and last email to JOE24. Tonight is the last show and that makes me sad. I was all set to be listening from my computer via Keyhole every Thursday morning at 10am. Now I won't have to.

They're going to stream the show tonight online so I will see if he reads my letter. aeslis! You can watch on Ustream at midnight Tokyo time if you're up. ;)

Now it's time to take my sheets out of the dryer. Damn, where did the sun go?

So I didn't get tickets to his showcase and I made my peace with that. On Friday he write on Mixi that was going to play another show in Shinjuku on Tuesday and if you wanted to go, send your name in and they'd reserve you some tickets at the door. So I asked Ginny along because I know she's got a love for Japanese boybands and this isn't that far of a stretch and I haven't seen her for a while.

We met up in Shinjuku and grab some dinner and then try and find this live house. I thought I was smart because I printed out a map at work but the map was complete crap and we ended up walking around (not through, around) Kabukicho for like a hour before finding the place. If they had put the big love hotel on the map and we would have found it right away. Anyway.

We arrived at about 8pm and Joe wasn't scheduled to go on until about 8:50. We caught the end of this band from Kyoto and another which was really good. They're doing a one man show (which means... their own show) on the 2nd and I'm contemplating going but I'm going to be leaving the house at like 6 to go to the airport the next day so maybe not.

I saw some of the same people who were at Joe's show 2 weeks ago (and I know at least one recognized me) but there were quite a few more than last time. Even this 12-year-old kid with his mom! The set list was the same but he forgot the lyrics to one song and had a some technical difficulties with the computer but generally seemed more comfortable on stage than last time. He started doing some impressions (Hard Gay, guys.) and people were throwing some requests out like the donguri song (yeah, that one from Uta no Oniisan) and Nirvana. But what do he actually play? Some Michael Jackson: Bille Jean as suggested by me. And even moonwalked. I thought maybe that might be a bit off colour seeing as how, you know, MJ is no longer with us, but whatever. I win. Not to mention he totally saw me and pointed from the stage during the final song.

This time he had a little survey to fill out (name, age, gender, where you from, how'd you hear about me, what's your favourite song, what other artists do you like, etc) and merchandise for sale. There was stuff there and I had wanted to get a CD before but just never got around to it so I talked Ginny into lending me money. This was before I even realized he was sitting there at the table signing stuff.

We kind of jump the line by accident and hand him our questionnaires (which I may or may not have wrote too much in the "message" portion). I'd had 3 beers, that's my excuse. I appologize and blush like a beet and jump the back of the line (I forget how much my feet are hurting for a while) and when we get to the front, he's got the album I'd asked for (the last one~!) set aside and goes, "Heather, right?" (Insert squeel here.) So he asks me if I live in Japan and if I'm fluent and what I do for a living... it's like a 1 minute conversation but it was just. I don't want to reduce myself to the same level as those girls who were taking all these pictures on their phones and probably write him ganbare messages on his BBS and Mixi everyday. I'm not that bad. It sounds so fucking lame but this is a dream come true. I'd thought, what if I was able to get something signed? I never thought it would actually happen. I hope that when he gets to be super famous, he'll remember this Canadian fan in Japan that he met.

Bonus: I turned Ginny into a fangirl. She kept saying, "He's so hot!!" even after the show ended. Aftewards, we spent a good hour and a half chatting at the shrine about music and boys. It was so great!

The only thing that would make this better would be to wake up with a thank you note message from him on Mixi but I'm not going to hold my breath on that one. I think I've been lucky enough.

( And now some pictures! )

And now after that night of sheer awesome, my feet are absolutely shredded. Damn you, new shoes! I would have been fine had it not been for effing getting lost in Kabukicho and walking in circles trying to find the damn club. And now, it's 1:56am and I'm totally not sleepy at all. I've done the 4 hours of sleep thing and it really is not conducive to work but what can you do? Luckily I've got 1st free and only 3 classes tomorrow. Maybe I can get another chunk of my remix done! I'm already at 1500 words.

OMG OMG OMG.  I'm still like :DDDDDD after the concert which is awesomesauce.  I want to blog extensively like I told Lydia I would but really, it's a pretty short story.  I should get to bed ASAP cuz tomorrow is going to suck balls but I need to rehydrate anyway.


OMGOMGOMG!!!

Okay, so I manage to get home earlier than expected, showered, hair curled and all dolled up in record time.  Got to Shindaita at 5:50 and waited for JR, who in typical gay man fashion was late.  He got there around 6:35 and then we went to find some eats and went to the show.  This live house only opened in March so everything is still shiny and new.  It's directly across from the station so super convenient.  There really isn't much else in Shindaita but its only one stop from Shimo-Kitazawa, the old hipster hub of Tokyo, JR tells me.

The first band, Haushinka was interesting.  A mix of punk, rock and metal.  They did some Beatles and Ramones covers, very lively and entertaining.  The second band was Rally the Bird. these two guys, one on drums and one on guitar that were pretty blah.  Pretty nice arrangements and the singer had a nice voice--it's just too bad we couldn't really hear was he was saying.  And pretty much no crowd interactions.  Boo.

THEN JOE! :DDD  I went to the bathroom before he came out the start setting up but JR said all the girls screamed.  LOL  When we got there there was maybe 2 dozen people but there was a fair crowd by the time Joe got to the stage.  He opened with Nowhere and then played Pa-pa-pa.  Then he says, "Where are you guys from?" into the mic after his song in English.  JR and I were the only visible foreigners in the crowd, but we couldn't help but ask, "Who, us?" 
"Yeah."
"Oh, Canada."
"Awesome. Rock on!" 
Though being the only two white people in a sea of Asians, dead centre, is kind of hard to miss.  But it just makes me feels so amazing because that is absolute, undeniable proof that he saw me there and took notice. :DDDD 

And I bet you all the rest of the girls in the audience--ie the whole audience were jealous as fuck!  Especially the one in pink right at the front who spent his entire set waving her hands and jumping up and down.  I guess it's not done in Japan to sing along at shows but I didn't care.  I knew all the words and JR made fun of me but whatever.  He sounds just as good live as he does recorded and he's damn cute.  As if I wasn't already in love with him before.  He also played Closer, Maboroshi and his new song coming out this month, Go.

I had hoped that he would come out and mingle afterwards like the first band (they passed around comment sheets to everyone!) but no dice.  I guess because he's on the up and up he (or his management) doesn't want to mingle with fans for security reasons?  I don't know.  JR and I hung around after a bit, had another beer and played with the door-girl's dog for a while afterwards but no sign of my future-ex-husband. 

All I can say is that he's very personable on stage.  Some of the girls were calling out things, "Kakkoii~", "Ganbare~", "Oishii?" when he took a drink of water, and he just rolled with it.  He hasn't got a big head about his fame (yet) which is nice to see.  I wish all the best for him in the future.  Now I can say I saw him before he got big, from 6 feet away. 

Sweet dreams for me tonight!