Around the time I was most active in the fandom, Time was always referred to as THE concert, the one where fandom was “at its peak”, the one that brought in a huge influx of new fans into the fandom, the one that signals to Arashians, the dark days are over. I wasn’t really a fan of them back then, so I wouldn’t know about all of this. But this is Time‘s significance to me, personally – I had almost gone to their Yokohama concert.
I wasn’t quite yet a fan, but I liked MatsuJun enough that I wanted to see Arashi live. And when I was accompanying a friend buying an Otsuka Ai ticket at one of those ticket shops (resellers really) I saw tickets for the Yokohama show and I was just very tempted. In the end, I didn’t buy the ticket, but now that I’m a total Arashian I kept wondering how things would’ve turned out if I did go. Would I have been an Arashian much earlier? Or might I not have become as obsessed with them? I can only guess at the answers.
Watching the Time DVD, though, I can see why everyone loved this concert so much. Some of their costumes were so deliciously hideous, they would’ve shocked me back in 2007, when my only exposure to JE were dramas and the occasional theme song. The Time album probably had the most number of my favourite songs in it, and by summer 2007 Arashi had built up such an impressive backlist. All the concert standards were basically established. And their confidence, and ease with being on stage, have increased, which meant that there was more teasing, ribbing, fan service, and all the playfulness that I’ve come to associate them with. Suppin Arashi was an enjoyable concert for fans, I think. Iza, Now! was a very good one. Time is better than all the ones before, and if I had gone there without knowing who this group were, I may not have gotten the in-jokes or been able to sing along to their hits, but I would have still been caught up in such infectious an energy, and I would still have fallen in love with this group. That’s what I think, anyway.
嵐TV 