Arashi take over the national stadium in a storm
Johnny’s group Arashi took to the stage in Japan’s National Olympic Stadium for the fourth year in a row for two concerts, reports Sports Hochi and Nikkan Sports.
The concerts were originally scheduled for September 2 and 3, but the earlier concert needed to be postponed until the 4th because there were fears Typhoon Talas would hit Tokyo directly. However, even on the 4th, strong winds had meant Arashi members could not perform flying stunts where they were meant to fly up 80 metres in they sky along a 100 metre stretch of wire. This year was a battle with an “嵐 (Arashi, storm)”, but the five managed to deliver a worthy performance in front of 70,000 fans.
“Don’t let the rain get to you!” Jun Matsumoto said.
Arashi performed 41 songs, including everything from their debut single “A.RA.SHI”, to new songs on their latest album “Beautiful World” for more than three-and-a-half hours. At the end, more than 1300 fireworks were set off into the night sky.
Although it was not the first time the group had performed in the rain, having done so two years ago, members had said they were sad about having to postpone one of the shows.
“It’s a shame because I know that not everyone could make it to the postponed show. But it was the only option if we wanted to stay safe,” Sho Sakurai said.
“I was glued to the weather channel,” Matsumoto said.
“We were making teru-teru-bozu backstage,” Masaki Aiba said.
Another effect of Typhoon Talas was it had set back the construction schedule for the stage. This mean that Arashi could only have about 30 minutes for on-stage rehearsals.
In light of the power shortage in Tokyo, this year’s shows saved 30 per cent of electricity in comparison to last year’s shows, and water fountain stunts were kept to a minimum.
During the concert, the five members looked back on their best summer memory of 2011.
“I managed to catch a Mahi-mahi fish, they only come out during the summer,” Satoshi Ohno said.
“I had dinner with Taichi-kun (TOKIO) and Kanjani8′s Murakami,” Kazunari Ninomiya said.
“I celebrated my birthday with my friends from futsal,” Matsumoto said.
“I was promoting my movie. The fried squid I ate in Osaka was amazing,” Sakurai said.
“I had dinner with my family and saw my little brother for the first time in a while,” Aiba said.
http://momoedgewood.wordpress.com/20...um-in-a-storm/