The next day, 18th Oct, was Ayu’s day. For the whole day, we just stayed at Shanghai Grand Stage. We were ready with all the t-shirts that specially made for this concert, we were 9 ppl so we made each of our t-shirts with the words “WE LOVE AYU”, and each person had one word on the tshirt. So when we stood together, there would be “WE LOVE AYU”.
We started leaving the hotel at around 9.30 am, but before we left; we took pics with our forum’s banner in front of the hotel. Then we went to the metro station, we also took pics again with Ayu’s WACOAL billboard with our attributes for the concert haha, and lots of ppl were looking at us. But we didn’t care at all.
Finally we reached Shanghai Grand Stage at around 10.30 am. We had seen lots of ppl there already queuing up for something that we didn’t know, we also started to queue up, and we thought maybe they were queuing up for tour merchandises?? But weird enough, why all the people were holding papers and some of them wearing formal clothes and consisted of older men and women? So I decided to go to the other area to seek for information about the queue. I went with one of the guys. Then, suddenly, a lady approached me and asking me about Ayu’s ticket concerts, asking me where to buy, I told her I didn’t know, because we had our tickets already then I just asked her what this queue for? She said it was for people who wanted to look for jobs. So, Grand Stage at that moment was holding kind of job fair event. I laughed so hard after knowing that, where I saw my group members were already queuing up while holding papers that maybe were given to them and following the track, and then I gave them a hand sign to them to take apart from the queue. Then I told them what the queue was for. We were all laughing so hard because we were being paranoid about not getting the tour merchandises. And then we knew that the tour merchandises had not yet even been sold yet.
We saw Ayuchina.com members were already gathering at one spot and one of our guys approached them and asking when the tour merchandises would start to be sold, they also didn’t have any idea about it. Then we saw them taking some of the boxes and we asked them what those boxes for, they didn’t want to tell us, instead, saying those were for the secret weapon. Then, we were walking on our own. We found a spot then we took out our banners to take pics with the Shanghai Grand Stage as the background. Then, we walked again around the area where I started to call a friend of mine who lives and studies in Shanghai and a fan of Ayu too that she would also come to the Grand Stage. I met her for the very first time as well.
While waiting for her, we went to the North Hall again where we knew that all Ayu’s staff would go in and out from there. We were taking our spot at the gates that barricading the North Hall door like 3 meters away. One by one of Ayu’s staff was kept on coming for rehearsal. We saw almost all Ayu’s staff that we usually just saw on the DVD. Some of the staffs whom were usually really close to Ayu, who always discuss work stuff with Ayu. While waiting for my friend, we saw some of other different Ayu’s china fans coming (they were different because the t-shirts they were wearing were different from Ayuchina’s t-shirts). Their t-shirts stated “ayufans.com” or “ayufans.net” and also had the words “MY ALL” something2. At the same time, some ppl also looked at us and taking our pictures where apparently, at the back of our t-shirts, we also stated our own forum’s logo. Yea, it felt like being famous star for a day haha lol
Ayu's staff.. don't u guys realize who is he?
Finally, I could meet with my friend; she came at almost 12 pm. We chatted for the first time, and asking her about where to meet Ayu like last year, was it here? Etc, etc. Then suddenly, an ayuchina.com member came to one of our guys and offered Ayu’s fan made fans that they made by themselves and they sold for only 10 Yuan including light stick, a pin and also a printed paper of Ayu’s A Complete pic on it just to promote their forum. But weird enough, an ayuchina.member promoting ayufans.net/ayufans.com stuff?? Well, whatever. Hahaha then, one of the girls from ayufans.net came near us and starting having conversation with us, we thought that she might be the forum’s administrator or something since she was wearing kinda different outfit with the others, she reminded of us of Ayu’s evolution costume at ASIA TOUR 2007 and we complimented about her. Then she also teasing one of our guys who pinned Ayu’s Forgiveness ayupans on their shirts and she said that she would steal it, so beware. hahaha
then she also offered Ayu’s 10th Anniversary small stickers that we saw all their members were sticking those on their cheeks. So, we thought that we would do the same they were really nice
After that one of their members came by near us and showed us that he got Ayu’s signature in a secret activity with Ayu, I didn’t really sure bout what kind of activity because I was too surprised to see Ayu’s signature that he could get, so lucky him!
and later, we saw Ayu’s staffs who were being ready with their video-camera on to shoot something and some other of the Ayufans.com members started to take out their super big big big banner which was so amazingly beautiful with Ayu’s Mirrorcle World cover on it.
All the people who were around there started to take the pics of it. then the ayu’s staff came by to shoot that big banner, so our group also quickly took out our own banner and holding it in front of the gates and when tha ayu’s staff came back to the backstage door and saw our banner, he was also capturing our banner and our faces one by one where I quickly shouted in front of the camera, “Ayu, Aishiteruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!!” . I’m sure the other guys also did the same so yea, I hope that our banner as well as our faces will be included on the next ASIA TOUR 2008 DVD next year that’s our only wish we just want Ayu to know that Indonesia also has lots of fans too
Then a while later, we saw a green bus like the previous day and we really sure that the dancers were coming this time and yes, we were right. All the people were starting to gather near the bus to welcome the dancers and at the time, all the dancers seemed nicer, they greeted, waved and smiled with all the fans. Oh well, Peco and Princess Yoko were also coming with the dancers. Then I could only manage to take their back view pics ah again, Zin was really so nice! He smiled and waved to me twice! gosh I think I like him now haha
my friend, Yoshia (ayuGAME)~
The time passed by pretty fast until it reached to 1 pm, we still waited there and hoping that Ayu was the next person who would come next since the dancers had already come as well as the other staff. We still waited there even though we felt hungry, but luckily we had prepared some bread to eat first. We also sat on the pavement for a while because we were starting to feel exhausted since we had been standing like 4 hours already. then, we also decided to take pics together with Ayufans.com/Ayufans.net members together with their super big banner also our own banner but too bad the super big banner wasn’t that clear enough since ayufans.com member couldn’t really stand that high. And once again, so many people were taking our pics too haha then we asked them, whether they would go to have lunch or not, they said they would just wait for Ayu to come first then would just go to eat. So we thought of doing the same thing we still waited there for another 2 hours.
Taking pics with the Ayufans.com members~
We saw another bus again approaching to us, then all the fans were gathering once again; this time we gotta see Yoochan, Enrique, Shingo, Nobuo, Miyazaki and so on. I only managed to capture Shingo and Miyazaki’s pics.
Yea, we thought, finally all Ayu’s staff had come, and then the next person would be REALLY AYU. We were getting excited that we would really see Ayu very soon. Then, at almost 3 pm, we saw all the Chinese bodyguards were already gathering in front of the North Hall door with the entirely serious look. Also the other Ayu’s staff also were ready with their video-camera on hand (there was a female cameraman; she looked very small, the same height with Ayu I guess, but she’s able to carry the very big video-camera on her shoulder, wow so cool!).
Then some of the Chinese bodyguards were discussing of how to get the car/van to park in front of the North Hall door with all the fans surrounding there, later on, they were asking all the fans moved and starting to pull the gates one by one and placed them in front of where the fans stood. So there was a clear area where the van could go in. all the fans had started to get ready to welcome Ayu. Where suddenly, there was a van coming in and all the fans had been shouting “Ayu Ayu Ayu…” but it was not Ayu, instead of TRF members, Chisa and Etsu, no Sam. All were kinda disappointing too.
Again, we were waiting and waiting, and I was starting to feel hunger, I was chanting that Ayu should really come quickly so we all could get to eat very soon. A moment later, some fans were shouting over something that passed on the road, it was the big Ayu’s billboard for the ASIA TOUR 2008 Shanghai concert with the Mirrorcle World promo pic that was taken to somewhere. We all looked to that way because we thought it was Ayu who was not even on the van, but she came by walking hahaha
And finally, it was around 3.30 pm, another van had come, an extraordinary van that was not looked like the usual van. We were all really sure that it was AYU this time. All the fans had started to go wild by shouting Ayu’s names all over the place, all the fans had been preparing for their own Ayu’s stuff like booklets, covers anything for Ayu to sign. The van was parked in front of me, but too bad, the door was actually opened on the other side, so I couldn’t even see Ayu walking down from the van, where the fans from the other side had been shouting very loudly because they had seen Ayu, I couldn’t even move more to the front, where I just shouted and shouted.
I thought like, why Ayu was so small, so that all the bodyguards were surrounding her and not many ppl could see her. Even I didn’t see Ayu but I knew that Ayu was walking here and there to give signatures, and I was not lucky enough to hand her my booklet though she didn’t even come to the place where I stood because the van was there just right in front of me, Ayu wouldn’t come near there right? There was no place for her to stand. Too bad I never thought that my very first spot was being taken by somebody else. So yea, I gave up to keep on pushing an pushing with the other fans, so I just waited to know whether the other Ayufreak members were lucky enough or not to get her pics also her signatures, if possible. And yes, after Ayu went inside the Grand Stage, surprisingly, two of our members, both were boys could get Ayu’s signatures even though they couldn’t see Ayu because they just handed in their booklets to the bodyguards.
Ayu's signatures that my Friend got, he got on both items!!!! how lucky he is!!
also another friend who got signature on the Mirrorcle world stamp~
And also the other member could see Ayu clearly but he lost his booklet taken by someone else, if not he would be super lucky (
Vadise, I know that u’re going to read this so bear with it, will you?). Many people’s booklets were losing as well. Oh yea, I also could manage to capture only one pic of Ayu when she was walking to the North Hall door, I just randomly captured actually. But quite lucky, I could get her pic right
(Vadise, please share your Ayu's pics please?????????????)
After finished all the struggling, we finally could go to have our very late lunch!!!! Yeah!
We went to the nearest plaza to eat. We rested for a while there because our legs were totally so hurting at the time. We talked about our experience just now and looking at each other cameras also some of us even recorded Ayu on the video cam. Ayu was so simple that day, she was wearing the black knitted beanie, white t-shirt, a short black skirt, high heels boots an also her favorite DIOR black glasses, I think~ since she’s been wearing it everywhere she goes. She looked pretty all the way
Finished our lunch, we should get prepare for our next mission also, the tour merchandises!!!!
Since we didn’t know when the merchandises would be on sale, because no information bout that anywhere. Even Ayuchina members didn’t know anything about it. so we went back to the Grand Stage and started to seek for the tour merchandises’ information. We were walking around the grand stage, we met the big Ayu’s billboard ASIA TOUR 2008 Shanghai Concert (where just now it was taken somewhere by a truck, so it was to be put on the other side of the Grand Stage), a lot of people took pics with it. so we queued up to take pics.
There had been lots of people started to sell Ayu’s fan-made merchandises, like posters, ayupan t-shirts, pins, poker cards, bags, CDs, and even Wang Lee Hom’s merchandises were also sold at Ayu’s concert area, weird, I wondered, if Ayu’s merchandises were also being sold at Wang Lee Hom’s concert area or not (because Wang Lee Hom’s concert was also held on the same day as Ayu’s, the venues were so close), we could even hear Wang Lee Hom rehearsal.
Oh yea, I found that I liked Shanghai’s concert atmosphere more than when I went to HK last year, I didn’t see lots of Ayu’s merchandises were being sold around the area, except for just some stick lights, I even didn’t see any big billboard just to tell ppl know that Ayu’s concert was going to be held on that day, so that ppl could also take pics with it. but no.. nothing if compared to Shanghai one in my opinion (no offense though). Okay back to the story.
After taking pics with the big billboard, we decided to take a way round the Grand Stage to look for where the tour merchandises were going to be sold. But again, we found nothing except for some fan-made merchandise. Then, some of us were interested to buy some of the fan-made merchandises, some of them bought the poker cards with all Ayu’s pics on every of the cards, also we all bought the black 10th Anniversary bags an in the end, also bought some pins.
Later on, we walked to the VIP gate where all the 2000yuan ticket holders got inside through there, then we saw from the outside that we had seen the banners of the tour merchandises had been hanging on the wall inside, so we thought that the tour merchandises must be sold inside there, so we decided to queue there where there were already 2 person queuing up there. We also met 2 fans from Indonesia who’re currently studying at China. We talked for a while (One of them was AHS member too, with free & easy username, couldn’t believe that the World is really small!). And my friend whom we met at North Hall door was also the 2000yuan ticket holder. Then, we got info that actually, each of the gates had the tour merchandises selling counter. So we thought that we would just go to our gate (where the 1400yuan ticket holders would go). So, in the end, we separated with my dear friend then we promised we would meet up again after the concert.
The day was getting dark now; it was about 6++ pm already, so 2 hours more to the concert. We also heard that the tour merchandises would be sold at 7 pm. So we had been getting ready in front of the gate again, where we had already seen the tour merchandises banner hanging on the wall. We were preparing for our money and decided which merchandises that we would buy later. Then, we saw a female Chinese fan who was holding the gold big tote bag, one of the tour merchandises and we asked randomly where she bought it, she said bought it through websites like ebay, amazon, and the such. I also asked her how to buy the tour merchandises in here? no queue up? Or something? To my surprise, she said there was no queue at all, so once the gates were opened, all the people would just run to the counter and we needed to climb up the stairs as well, so we all should really prepare ourselves. I was liked, “what????? How come?????” and she also asked where we were coming from, we told her that we came from Indonesia, she was so excited to hear that and envied us that much since she said she was so proud that there were fans who came from far away to visit Shanghai also watching Ayu’s concert. She was just so funny
After waiting like 1 hour, finally, we saw some of the securities had been walking down near us and he said he needed to see the ticket concert so we could go inside. so from then on, all the ppl were starting to go crazy, running like mad so they could get to buy the tour merchandises, luckily I was on the 1st row of the queue, yea actually there was a queue, but too bad.. there was no line between the 1st row and the 2nd row ppl, then it made the 2nd row ppl kept on squeezing into the 1st row, so I was so MAD, extremely MAD, I yelled at a guy and a girl who were trying so hard to squeeze in front of me, and to my surprise, my mandarin was flowing real good when I was MAD, there was a male staff who was there to prevent the 2nd row ppl to get into 1st row, but still some of ppl at the 2nd row could get inside to buy first, geee I was so mad bout that.
Even though I’d scolded that guy, he still successfully squeezing into in front of me, geee I felt like I wanted to smack his head really, but I thought ah that was ok, as long as the other 2nd row ppl wouldn’t get in anymore. I guess the staff understood my situation so he managed to pull all the 2nd row ppl back. But still, the ppl were like mad cows, seriously, kept on pushing to the front.. geee! I thought that why didn’t make a line so that the ppl would easily queue up without pushing at each other? So all the ppl would just buy the merchandises in piece?
But I didn’t care so much when it was my turn to buy the merchandises. After struggling in the crazy queue, there was still another thing that pissed me off too, two counter ladies made me mad again, I had clearly pointed to one of them the merchandises that I wanted one by one, very very clearly, but she kept on taking the wrong items for me so many times, while the lady who counted the amount of the purchases, kept on adding the sums on the calculator, I was so afraid that they would count wrong, or probably, they were doing it purposely so that they could cheat our money, but I just didn’t care, I asked her to count once again. I didn’t care if there many ppl were waiting at my back since I didn’t want to lose my money for nothing. The good thing was that, we could buy more than one item in Shanghai and I didn’t know that, as in HK, we only could buy one item each per person. But too bad, the tour merchandises were so a few if compared to last year. No light sticks, No light fan, No t-shirts, No Ayupan straps and so on.
After buying all the merchandises, we gathered at one place while waiting for the others and keeping all the items inside the gold big tote bag (I love that bag so much, since the material is more firm than last year’s white tote bag). Then, we started to walk together to find the way to get inside the hall and the weirdest was that, there were not many securities outside the area and we didn’t know whom to ask where our seats were supposed to take place. Before that, we met with Ayu’s very big WACOAL billboard, so everybody took a turn to take pics with it.
So we got inside one of the doors and we met a security, we asked him where our seats??? Then he guided us outside, and he just pointed door no. 11, asked us to go inside from there, I thought that he would be really nice to find us our seats. But too bad, we were doing on our own again.
We finally found seats row 11 from no. 23-39, we thought that our seats were really great because we were sitting really like in front of the stage, totally in the center. So we were getting excited. We sat there like 10-15 minutes, we took pics together.
my friend, Rico~
Then suddenly, two beautiful ladies, looked like artists for us, asked us to hand her our tickets, so we gave them, I thought that we probably had sit in the wrong seats. And yeah, it was really wrong seats. Gee we were so disappointing, then we moved away again, and one of our guys went to find our actual seats and finally he found out where there were seats taken by other ppl already, weird… so we asked him to take out his tickets, ah gladly, they were the one who took the wrong seats, we finally found our actual seats. Oh geeeee.. I felt like wanted to smack the securities heads, since they didn’t even service us or anything, they just let u find ur own seats. Geeeeeeee…. So unprofessional if compared to HK Coliseum, where got every securities to help you so you wouldn’t be lost. Didn’t I just say I love Shanghai atmosphere, yea love it but not with the people, geeee~~ (no offense with the China fans, they’re great … but just those people who work there, they don’t care at all to the people who’re there to enjoy a show).