Arafes 2013 Review

Arafes 2013 has come out and I realized I haven't really talked about their concerts in a while (not surprising considering how much I post here in general), but I actually have quite a few things to say about both Arafes and I wanted to do a little comparison of the two and what they changed/added etc.


So basically, for those who might not know, Arafes was a special concert Arashi held where the fans got to pick out their most favourite songs. For the first Arafes I believe it was done by section (single, coupling, album, solo, other) and you just picked one , but for the second Arafes you picked 3 for each section and it was on a point system (if you picked the song as #1 = 3pts) and then those points were added up. I could be wrong for this because I don't remember the process too well - I couldn't vote because the website wasn't working on my phone nor my android tablets *sob*. Also there were no backdancers at all in the first Arafes but in the second one they hired professional backdancers (so no jrs.) - they still did have a live band/orchestra though.

So to start with - a big change in Arafes '13 was that they had each member make their own "segment" of songs that would follow a theme, whereas in Arafes '12 they kind of just broke things up with random short MCs and by doing the "#1 single" and "#1 coupling" etc. Personally, I actually liked the segments more in Arafes '13  because it allowed for more innovation and interesting things to happen. Anyway - I'll just talk about the concert from the beginning then:

Opening:

- The opening to Arafes '12 was a lot more up-beat and had a very energetic party feel to get everyone really excited and pumped - and I think it worked for the first one because it really was supposed to be a party with the fans. The opening to '13 though was very dance heavy and designed to be a lot more cool and showcase "ARASHI" as the cool idol group and I think that worked the second time around because Arashi knows everyone is already pumped and excited so there's no need to sing the happy and upbeat - let's wow them with our awesome dancing instead.

(Arafes '12 separated things by MCs and it wasn't as clear cut so from here one I'm following the segments of Arafes '13 and then adding in random comments and differences from what happened in '12).

- Aiba's Segment: Sunset Songs: It started with Hello Goodbye! (Aiba's solo) - in 2012 he did Friendship which was cute because the members came out at the end to do a little bit of the dance. In 2013 though it was even better because the members actually came out to sing a bit of Aiba's solo and I thought it was great. I didn't think I've love it as much to hear the members sing each others solos but somehow it makes things more fun because it's not something you get to hear very often (i.e. never). Next I think was Subarashiki Sekai? This song does fit the whole theme of Aiba's segment which was to welcome the sunset and is reminiscent of Kokuritsu 2008, but then it gets right into the energetic and lively with Love Situation and Festival Night! To be honest this also fits because it's like "okay, suns down, let's get this party started" kind of thing and it brings the classic high-energy Aiba-feel to the segment.

- Ohno's Segment: Mysterious: which starts with Ohno's solo Take Me Faraway which is beautiful as ever, done all alone as was with Rain. I would've enjoyed to see the members appear, some fans have said they'd just want the members fooling around but to be honest I think if that happened I would've been a bit disappointed because Ohno was just so in his element dancing alone like that. In Arafes 2012 I would've liked seeing the members appear for Rain, but for Take Me Faraway? I agree that Ohno should just do that one himself. Next up are two dance heavy songs again, Tokei Jikake (love) and Monster and then ends weirdly with Fight Song. I guess that is a bit "fushigi" ne?

- Sho's Segment: Hip Hop: To be honest, probably my most favourite segment because it was the one that changed things up the most. I don't remember the solo as much as the fact that they freakin sang COOL&SOUL AGAIN! Full costume, the table, every thing and it was amazing! Then they did A Day In our life! where they switch up the parts so Juntoshi rapped and the other three sang, and then in Lucky Man as well the other members did the rap instead of Sho. It was entertaining - I mean Sho is the best rapper but again it's just refreshing to see them do new stuff like this. End with Meikyuu. In 2012 Sho sang T.A.B.O.O and the members joined in for the dance at the end of that - that was pretty cool.

- MatsuJun's Segment: DJxMJ: I think Jun's remix this time around was a lot cooler and flowed a lot better than his one from 2012 - although his one from 2012 was also entertaining with Ohmiya SK and the appearance of random solos from Sho and Aiba. It was also cool because Jun would set up a remix and then actually join the members to do the dances, and then mix things up again so it was allowed to be much longer. Then of course Shake It and I don't need to talk about this because.. well... *____* what can I say? I'm a Jun fan. Haha. Although my copy of Arafes  2013 is terrible quality so I can't comment on how sexy he looked with his shirt off just  yet. Sadly the members didn't join Jun this time around but I guess a one-time thing is fine. I will forever love the Arafes 2012 version of Shake It because it was just full of crack. I may not have said this before but overall I don't find the Shake It performance very sexy - I mean it's got it's moments with the hip rolls and crotch thrusts but then the other half of the dance is just weird hand movements and stuff so it's also kind of cracky and weird... so you add in the other 4 members and it becomes a beautiful mess of hilarious stupidity.

- Nino's Segment: Nightime: - or something like that I can't remember. There was Breathless, Calling, and Still where Nino sang the opening all alone by himself - which confused me at first because I was like "what the hell, what song is this? His solo? Doesn't sound like one of his solos" and then it went in to still and I was like "ooooh" and then it segwayed into his solo which was ADORABLE because the other members dressed up as mascots and danced behind him!! I felt kind of bad for them though because it must've been so hot but it was SO CUTE. And Nino was right, if he had done it alone it would've been kind of awkward ^^;; but with the other members it was properly adorable and Himitsu should be. Now if only the other members had appeared in Nino's Gimmick Game solo from 2012... that would've been amazing.

Then after they showed the #1 single (Endless Game) and it began to wind down to the end.

I think the thing with the segments is that it gave the concert more flow than with 2012. Arafes 2012 was all sorts of random and it was fun - that was for sure, lots of fun and energy and I think that worked the first time around because it was so new and different that being crazy didn't matter. In fact it fit because it was supposed to feel like a crazy "Let's party with Arashi - us and the fans" kind of thing. This time though they managed the same thing but with more flow to it and I think it worked out great.

With that being said, 2012 played a lot more random songs like Season, Hey! Hey! Lovin' You, Kiss Kara Hajimeyou, Green, Sketch (these four were thanks to the Arashi members choosing them), Eyes with Delight as an encore, Natsu no Owari etc. and I enjoyed that. They also incorporated some couplings into their Popcorn tour too which made me happy. Arafes 2013 on the other hand consisted mainly of popular songs, singles and stuff - so when you see the setlist you're kind of like "eh" but the way they organized made it work out very nicely in the end.

Overall I enjoy both, but I think I enjoy '13 more because of the flow and although the songs may have been a bit more generic they still managed to change things up and do a lot of new and funny things to keep things interesting. '12 was great as well for being what it was - which was a super fun crazy whacky party. So - bottom line? We need more AraFes in our lives.