As I walk along Times Square up to 44th street
trying to find the Best Buy Theater, I wonder where exactly it is,
until I spot a rectangle shaped jumbo screen that reads,
“Live Tonight, Jin Akanishi, Yellow Gold Tour 3010,”
while live videos of his performance, earlier this year in California, play.
This must be the place. Fans watch eagerly as they get their bags checked to go inside.
Upon entering, I notice that the Best Buy Theater has a very futuristic look to it already.
Maybe it’s foreshadowing to set the mood for what is about to take place.
Fans start pouring in to the concert hall to be seated
or get themselves a spot at the front of the stage.
During the wait, a lot people pile up at the merchandise booth
to see what kinds of Jin goodies they can buy for themselves and friends.
Everyone is so excited, talking and laughing with each other
about what they hope to take from the show. I hear some girls talking about the goods
they bought and how sad they are that their friends couldn’t come.
I see a very wide age range of people there as well, not just younger girls,
but older women, some boyfriends and even guy fans as well.
At 6:30 the pre-show starts. The pre-show is a showcase of dancers
as well as some local East Coast up-and-coming performers
with two very charismatic VJs to hype the crowd. One of the VJs announces,
“So we have a little video of Jin to show you guys. You wanna see it?”
The crowd screams like crazy as the lights go down and the video starts to play.
Luckily they manage to calm it down so people can actually hear Jin in the video.
It’s an interview with footage from his previous performances, photo shoots,
and more on a screen that takes up the entire back wall of the stage.
The video ends in a way to get you ready for what’s coming up next.
Suddenly music starts and the lights come back on very brightly in an array of
whites and reds with green laser lights shooting towards the back of the room.
Jin’s dancers run onto the stage dressed in gold from head to toe;
they hype up the crowd and bring on props. Jin appears onstage
to greet and hug his dancers as if he hasn’t seen them all day.
Once fans recognize him in the baggy white coat and glasses,
they begin to scream even louder, and he acknowledges the crowd,
going to position himself behind the drums to begin.
The stage goes black. A giant white spotlight from above is placed on Jin
as if he is the only presence on stage behind a huge drum set
with a guitar and massive amounts of tubing under it.
Jin is as still as a robot, frozen as if someone pressed the pause button on him.
He begins to rotate like a turn table to the drums
as he starts “Christmas Morning”, to open the show.
The song doesn’t sound Christmas-like, but it’s a great opportunity for Jin
to show off his many talents on the drums and the guitar. As the song ends Jin turns,
facing the front again as the drum set separates for him to come closer to the crowd onstage.
The next few songs, “Bass Go Boom”, “Wonder” and “I.N.P” give Jin an opportunity
to interact with his dancers with less of the futuristic robot feel.
He shows off his dancing skills, making the crowd scream with his sexiness.
With some auto-tune tweaking of the mic, he is able to have that
synthetic robot sound to his voice that fans seem to love.
One of my favorite parts of the show is during “I.N.P” they have
a sort of rap battle scene where a mic drops down from the ceiling.
“A Page”, is an awesome song where Jin is simply able to see and be with the audience.
There is merely Jin and them. “A Page,” is my favorite song out all of those performed.
There is a wardrobe change for Jin, after which he sports a cool jacket
with lots of patches and a fedora. “Oowah”, “Body Talk”, “Fifth Season”, and “Love Juice”,
all gave music and the performance to make the girl fans scream.
I’m sure I heard a great many “I love you Jin!”s that night. “Paparats”, is a great song;
he simulated what happens when the paparazzi see him somewhere
and won’t stop taking photos and following him.
There was a break in the performance of music so Jin and his dancers could perform dance
breaks to display their abilities in different styles of dance called World Dance.
There was also a modern version of a Japanese themed mask performance.
It was a little creepy, but very intriguing and entertaining.
There was also a cool disappearing act that was very surprising.
To conclude the show, Jin finished off with the songs “Hey Girl”,
fan favorite “Yellow Gold” “My MP3”, and “Tipsy Love.” At the tail end of “Tipsy Love,”
since it was the finale song, everyone came back on the stage for closing roll call.
It was like a big party, not unlike the end of the tour special.
At one point the two VJs from the beginning were chanting, “Aquaneesha, Aquaneesha!”
as Jin took his final bow to the fans. Everyone one on stage stood in a line held hands
and did a final bow. The lights returned and the recorded music came back on.
It was a really great show! But the fans aren’t leaving. They are way too excited,
and some are screaming for an encore while others wait to see what will happen next.
It gets a little bit quiet for five minutes then the fans begin to scream again.
Jin comes back on the stage alone, just him and a mic. He thanks everyone one for coming,
and talks a little about his show. He looks at the paper in his hand and says,
“I’m going to sing a song for you guys that I will be recording soon. I don’t really know it yet…
That’s why I have this paper, but it is called ‘Eternal.’” The fans go crazy!
The music starts and Jin begins to sing. I can tell it is a candid, spur-of-the-moment thing,
and that he really wants to give the fans a little more. The song is extremely beautiful
and I can see the emotion in the eyes of the fans watching him sing it.
The extra song is a very lovely addition to the show. No flashy lights or clothing,
simply Jin, that song, and his magical voice. It is truly beautiful.
What a perfect way to end the show.
Yellow Gold Tour 3010: a performance no one could forget.
SETLIST:
Christmas Morning
Bass Go Boom
Wonder
INP
A Page
Oowah
Body Talk
The Fifth Season
Paparats
LOVEJUICE
~World Dance~
Hey Girl
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