It was like
a dream. The moment the doors open, and everyone started fighting for spaces at
the front few rows, the dream had started. The doors had opened early, for some
unknown reason, and my heart did a little flip when I practically ran into the
warehouse. This, this place would be where we would scream out hearts out along
with the music, this place would be where we would jump and head-bang along
with OOR.
For about 40 minutes or so, we
waited and waited, waited for those 4 to appear on stage. And my dream finally
reached its climax when all of a sudden, all of us were shrouded in pitch-black
darkness and a split second later, rays of bright blue light flashed across our
eyes. Everyone around me has started screaming their heads off, but I just
remained pretty silent, straining my eyes, to look for the 4 shadows that would
appear soon. And they did, after 20 seconds or so, on that small stage that was
even smaller than the stage at my school’s auditorium.
When most of the stage lights
had come back on, lighting up most of the warehouse, I finally got to see them.
The screaming around me got worse, but I still remained silent. My hand had flown
to my mouth, and I thought - this was it. The day I’ve been waiting so long
for, was here! And then, I opened my mouth, and pray that the person in front
of me didn’t go deaf.
Directly in front of me, was the
guitarist, Ryouta, wearing an ‘I love USS’ shirt. Then, a little to the right,
was Taka, singing right in the middle of the stage. At the back of the stage, blocked
by all the drums and cymbals, was Tomoya. And finally, at the right side of the
stage, stood the bassist, Toru. Anyone would have been used to watching them
getting all high and crazy in their Promotional Videos, but they were exactly
the same during their live.
At first, my eyes were all on
Taka, of course, as he is the lead vocalist of the band. I’ve heard his holy
voice over headphones, and finally, I got to listen to it live – amplified by a
thousand times. And after the concert, I joked to myself that I finally got to
see his face clearly. I never really thought that Taka was really hot or really
ikemen, but I really adored and ‘admired’ his voice. His ability to sing yet
scream so well, is one I would die for.
Next, I was focusing on Ryouta,
before he stripped yes, in case you were wondering I’m some pervert. But, his
fingers were damn sexy, so long and slim. And the way they moved up and down
the neck of the guitar so quickly made me feel so excited. He played the guitar
so effortlessly, I admit I’m a little jealous. He also stuck his tongue out
quite a number of times, if not most of the time, and his smile is really nice :D
As Toru was at the other side of
the stage, I couldn’t really see him, but when he finally played his way to the
left side of the stage. I swear my heart went doki-doki, I swear with all my
heart and soul. He was so hot. With his white hair already dripping wet by the
third song, when he head-banged, I could practically see droplets of ‘flying’ sweat
glittering under the bright stage lights. And his eyes, they’re so pretty!
Please keep your white hair! And his bass, was a freaking, Gibson. A GIBSON.
When I saw it, my love for him multiplied by a million times.
I never really took notice of
Tomoya when all of us were busy screaming and highing, but whenever it was time
for the instrumentals’ solo, I couldn’t help but scream in awe at his drum
skills. His sense of rhythm were so good and I wonder how long it took for him
to reach that level. And it wasn’t till encore that he came to the front and
threw drum sticks to the audience (which I failed to catch). I really respect
him, like I respect all drummers. Drummers aren’t always in the spotlight, but
what they do is set the rhythm and base of song, and that’s the beauty of
drums.
When they took over the stage,
the stage didn’t look so small anymore. How they playfully ran and jumped about
made the stage look so huge, I forgot how small it was before until it ended. I’m
glad, though they looked like they had fun, and everyone in the crowd had fun
as well.
Here and then during the
concert, my voice/arm would give way. My voice would either break while shouting
out the lyrics, or I’d be too tired to raise my arm anymore. But still, it was
a wonderful experience, especially the encore.
After they left the stage to get
prepared for encore, the crowd when silent for a while, and then gradually, the
whole warehouse was filled with echoes of “encore” in Japanese. However, this
died down fast and once again, awkward silence took over when OOR didn’t appear
again. Thank god this group of guys took the initiative to start singing the
opening of Answer Is Near and everyone followed. We sang for about a full 5
minutes before they finally reappeared again.
Now, it has been 4 hours since
my dream ended and yet, every chord that Toru and Ryouta played is still
ringing in my head, every beat that Tomoya hit is still beating along with my
heart, and every note that Taka sang still make me crave for more.
ONE OK ROCK, Start Walking the
World Tour @ Singapore, *Scape, 30/06/12 – a concert full of head-bangs and
muscle aches, but one I’ll never forget.
