[quote="sheerheartattack"]So wait, you mean he hugged you, and then did more to you later on?[/quote]

Yes, he talked to me. I was really surprised that he remembered me. Wish I could have stayed longer.

Obligatory grumbling about the crowd: pushing, fine, I expect that, but no elbows in my chest and no resting your elbow on me, hope you enjoyed my elbow in your side! The kid in front of me was wearing a drawstring bag stuffed with something soft on his back and that was kind of nice because I got smashed into that instead of him. Thanks!

We got to Slim's maybe 45 minutes before doors open, and I was a bit surprised that the line wasn't that long yet. Given how slowly the line was forming, it didn't seem like the venue was going to be full at all, but I think it got reasonably crowded. We went right to the front when we got in and pretty much stayed there so I don't know how full it was in back.

I didn't think Pop Chocolat was that great, not a fan of their voices (a couple of them took turns on the singing), but the drummer was adorable and smiling so much. Lots of boys declaring their love to those ladies. Loved the bassist from Monokuro. I think he looks a little like a younger Sawao, mostly because of his hair. Also enjoyed the crazy singer. He had to keep flicking the wire from his guitar (whatever you call that) out of the way so he could go crazy. I swear Yoko's singing was a little off (Jomei agreed with me) a couple times, other than that noodles were about the same as usual. Some guys tried to bug Ikuno when she was doing her sound check but she ignored them. As far as the pillows, it would have been nice to have a set list with more variety but hearing Hybrid Rainbow and One Life is still awesome. I don't think Sawao introduced the band at this show either.

Pictures later... having trouble uploading from my friend's computer.

Oh and Jomei and I finally met... more later.

[quote="terra"][quote="sheerheartattack"] Loved the bassist from Monokuro. I think he looks a little like a younger Sawao, mostly because of his hair. [/quote][/quote]
I saw him standing in the back from behind with Shin. I thought it was Shin at the time, wasn't 100% sure, because I've never seen the pillows in person before and my friend was like "That's either Shin or their manager." So, when I saw just Shin, I was like "Damn, man, I should say hey." because this was over in the corner by the merch and no one recognized him and no one was saying hey and I figured this was my only time and since no one else was bugging him, it wouldn't be that bad. Once I saw "Sawao" come out, I was like "Oh shit!" and I took a few steps over to them and went "Sawao?" and both turned around and it was the bassist from Monokuro and I was like "Oh! Sorry." and just walked off.

Did anyone notice Monokuro singing something with a really similar melody to Sailing day by Bump of Chicken?

Awesome night in Pomona. I wish the Pillows played a wider variety of songs, but it was still cool. I wonder if I saw any IM'ers there. I don't know how any of you look, so I wouldn't know anyways. lol

And I agree with you guys that Monokuro's bassist looks like a younger Sawao. I was pretty sad that Jun wasn't there.

[quote]Also enjoyed the crazy singer.[/quote]

disagree. I hated them just because of how annoyingly drunk he was.

[img]http://i50.tinypic.com/ngzp82.png[/img]
best $100 i ever spent / gave to a bastard-security guard

bassist looked like young sawao if he had a perm in his earlier years.. but all the guys from the band SOUND like sawao. especially when the singer was yelling out "OKAY???!!!!!!"
also, they dont quite fit in with the label, i think they could become more successful outside of sawao's management.. noodles too.

kosumiku...

that's freakin' crazy!

AHAHAHA! Kosumiku, that was you with the $100 bill!? That's dedication man!

But yea, hell of a concert! It was well worth the flight in from Chicago! I don't have much time to type this right now as I'm at a cousin's house, but this was probably one of the greatest concert experiences of my life. Got to the venue super early, just missed the band getting off the tour bus, but when Shin came out for a smoke I got to say hello and take a pic with him. Met TJWX5 in line and a couple other IMers, cool to talk with them about the band. Once the show started I got front center. And yes Mare, the random dude toward the middle chanting Swanky Street with you was me. I also yelled out Shiroi natsu in its entirity and Kono Yo No hate Made, but just got a small smirk from Sawao.

Sawao was giving me some nods of appreciation though when I was still singing alon with Dance With God and Lemon Drops after most of the crowd had gotten quiter, so that was awesome. Manabe was spot on, Shin was tight I thought, just a great show, but would have loved a longer/more varied set list. Pretty sure I got on camera though too, so hopefully they put out a DVD! Best part was afterwards when Manabe started signing autographs, I got him to sign my Carnival single (Sawao later as well, not Shin though), and then I asked if I could get a picture. he was still on stage so I was going to just get as close as I could but he said "Hold on, come down" and he jumped down, greeted me and took the pic with me. Then when I thanked him again for his music and shook my hand, he instead embraced me... so I went into fan-boy mode because Manabe gave me a hug It was just so great... got to meet Yoko too, get an autograph and picture, just a real great night. I have a ton of pics, so I'll post those up once I get back to Chicago later this week!

I'm new here but I wanted to give my impression of the show last night. Pop chocolate was pretty good and they had one song that started/ended with a section that really sounded like AKFG. Monokuro had some song really good songs that made me want to get one of their CD's, plus that singer had quite the spunk to him. I was surprised how the crowd reacted to the noodles, I don't listen to them personally but they weren't half bad on stage. My first time seeing the pillows live and it was awesome. The only thing I didn't enjoy was a couple of fools going around pushing/bumping everyone around them. Me and my pal were right behind where everyone was getting pushed, it got a little worse and I got my glasses thrown off my face once the pillows took stage . I didn't know that the set list was figured out before, I wanted to really hear gazelle city ( I ended up shouting this between one of the songs.) It really did feel like you couldn't breath and some points towards the end of the show from everyone pushing up one everyone. I ended up waiting too long to buy some merch, they all sold out of cd's and only ended up with a black tour shirt 1 size smaller then I usually wear. It will probably be another 2 years in the least to get the pillows back in the USA, seems like that's a little too long.

[quote="terra"]Yes, he talked to me. I was really surprised that he remembered me. Wish I could have stayed longer. [/quote]
When did you meet him last? Just curious.

Yeah, Terra. Sawao didn't introduce the band here either. Weird, also considering since only people 'in the know' (or who bothered recognizing the guy as having just played with monokuro) would have realized they weren't with their normal bassist.

I got there right around 7... though doors didn't end up opening until about 7:15, maybe a bit after? Line was just about to the end of the block by that point... And by the time I was going into Slim's, I think the line had grown back to the same length. The leftover drumming Buster-kun shirts they had with them got sold out while I was in the merch line... and wasn't all too crazy with this year's t-shirt, so grabbed the Hybrid Rainbow towel instead. It's pretty light, think I may use it as a banner and hang it in my room. Also got the glow-in-the-dark blue Buster-kun keychain since my Buster-kun from the 06 show had been scratched down to near oblivion.

Being up a bit closer would have been nice, but wasn't up to deal with the moshers. So I just kept towards the back of the main crowd, ended up in the center about lined up with the merch booth. Still, a lot closer to the band than I was at the other two concerts I've gone to so far this year (Paul McCartney and Muse) :P

[quote="terra"]Loved the bassist from Monokuro. I think he looks a little like a younger Sawao, mostly because of his hair.[/quote]

Haha, I said that exact same thing the minute I saw him get on stage. "Look, it's a young Sawao!" lol

@Kimi: Man, that's too bad, you were directly in front of us in line pretty much, I thought it might have been you because of seeing your post on Jolmes' facebook, but wasn't sure, so I didn't say anything either haha.

@Goshin: *high fives* Knew it had to be an IMer, but of course there was absolutely no way to tell which one haha.

According to their twitter, POP CHOCOLAT sold all of their CDs at the SF show and had to sell CD-Rs with custom packaging at the Pomona show. Did anyone at the Pomona show buy their CD? Just wondering what the packaging looks like.

A few of the decent shots I managed to take of the Pomona show:

[img]http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs325.ash1/28433_420665209746_558089746_5455857_5221470_n.jpg[/img]
Young Sawao X3

[img]http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs295.snc3/28433_420665359746_558089746_5455873_1571203_n.jpg[/img]
Mare: "The rumors said that monokuro's bassist filled in for Jun but the reality is that Sawao used their time machine to fix the problem."

[img]http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs315.snc3/28433_420665404746_558089746_5455878_3113408_n.jpg[/img]

[img]http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs325.ash1/28433_420665419746_558089746_5455880_7462885_n.jpg[/img]

[img]http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs315.snc3/28433_420665459746_558089746_5455883_2328664_n.jpg[/img]

Also have videos uploaded. :3
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