| Current mood: | blown away! |
| Current music: | l'arc~en~ciel - STAY AWAY |
"Are you fucking READY?!?!"
Pre-registration: $55.
Gas and food: $100.
Two nights at the Sheraton Imperial Inner Harbor Hotel: $600.
Otakon 2004?
PRICELESS.
Otakon seriously rocked Baltimore this year, in a way I have never seen before.
Let's put it this way: I am damn proud to be part of the Otaku Generation!
I'll admit things started off a little shaky Thursday: I woke up feeling sick as a dog (which I dealt with most of the weekend...), miscommunication led to me missing my hair appointment, and some last minute change in plans led me to a not-fun panic attack.
But, we made it to Virginia all right, and crashed for about two hours of sleep before heading out to Baltimore at the ungodly hour of 5AM.
The ride up was mostly uneventful...until we reached Washington, D.C., that is. I missed an exit and wound up driving THROUGH our nation's capital instead of around it.
I never, ever want to do that again.
*shudders*
However, my excellent directional skillz got us back on track without losing too much time (in other words, I drove straight and prayed I was going the right way), and we got to Baltimore at about noon.
Picked up our registration, checked into the hotel, changed into our costumes and hit the con!
Kappa and I were Meroko and Izumi from Full Moon wo Sagashite. Muffin and I had stayed up a few nights to get my costume done, but it was so fun to wear! I got recognised a lot, and Kappa and I took some really great pictures. Friday was mostly spent wandering the con, and being overwhelmed by the sheer amount of otaku that were roaming the streets of Baltimore. Muffin, Kappa, and I crashed early; I have no idea when Sean and Oren got back from the rave, but they were quiet when they did, so that's okay. ^_^;
I have learned, also, that the floors of Sheraton Imperial hotels are NOT comfortable places to sleep. My body still aches from that; Muffin and Kappa pushed me out of the bed Friday night and rather than disturb them I figured I could tough it out on the floor.
I should have learned my lesson from Animazement. o_< Ow. Ow. Ow.
At any rate, I was up and at 'em Saturday morning; wore Izumi's costume again for a Full Moon photoshoot (that was actually extremely disappointing, and I didn't take any pictures of it), hit artist's alley and picked up a gryphon picture I'd been wanting since Nekocon of last year, and debated over Harry Potter scarves.
I'm still not sure which to get: I love Gryffindor, but prefer Ravenclaw and Slytherin's colours though I can't stand those two houses, and I think I'm actually a Hufflepuff (great, I'm a "good natured stupid person." -_-).
Gah.
I can't decide. I think Muffin was about to strangle me with one of those scarves, too, because of it. ^_^;; Gomen!!
Changed into a goth-y outfit for the live, and met up with Gackt's official US fanclub (o_o wtf?) to line up for the l'arc live!!
People weren't supposed to line up in front of the arena before 3:30, but by the time we got there at about 3:45 there was already a line stretching around several city blocks. o_O We stood there in the sun and heat for about an hour, and I got so sick I thought I wasn't going to make it. I kept thinking about "the Healing Power of l'arc~en~ciel" and that got me through. While we waited, these tour bus/boat things that said "Ride the Duck Tours" drove by a couple of times. All the people on board had kazoo-like things they blew at us, and the whole crowd cheered each time in response. ^^
So finally the line started moving, and we found our seats in the Arena: second level, to the left of the stage. Not too bad, really; though I REALLY wanted to be up front. There were two large TV screens that the first episode of FULL METAL ALCHEMIST played on: that show looks SO awesome! I can't wait to see more of it.
The concert didn't actually start until a little after 5PM, and when it did, OHMYGOD, I thought for sure I was going to explode from excitement. I don't know how I managed to keep myself in one piece, I was bouncing and screaming and AH OH MY GOD IT WAS SO AMAZING.
The track listing was something like this:
1) Kuchizuke
2) Lover Boy
3) HEAVEN'S DRIVE
4) Spirit Dreams Inside
5) Jiyuu e no Shotai
6) Eien
7) Kasou
8) Hitomi no Juunin
9) Driver's High
10) Feeling Fine
11) STAY AWAY
12) REVELATION
13) READY STEADY GO
Encore:
1) HONEY
2) Blury Eyes
3) Pieces
The only one I've never heard before is "Jiyuu e no Shotai."
But.
OMFG.
THEY PLAYED STAY AWAY.
After 'Feeling Fine," Tetsu started jamming on his bass (SO COOL! Tetsuuuuuuuu~~~...), and I just KNEW what was next. God, that rocked SO. MUCH.
And 'Kasou!' They played 'Kasou!' I LOVE that song! Squee!
The only thing I would have added to the playlist is 'Neo Universe.' I mean, you know. It's 'NEO UNIVERSE.' That's like...THE l'arc~en~ciel song.
But anyway, the band was SO hyped, it was amazing. They were all so cute!! Hyde really got into it, leaning into the crowd and being all flirty and whatnot. Ken leaned into the crowd alot too; I like him a lot more after the concert! He's so cute! Tetsu was absolutely adorable bouncing around on stage; he didn't get near to the crowd as much as Ken or Hyde, but since he was doing back-up vocals a lot of the time too, I think that might be why. The music was GREAT. The energy in that place was amazing! I can only imagine how the band must have felt.
They did some REALLY REALLY cute and funny things during the concert, especially Hyde. They spoke to the audience quite a bit, which I was happy about. Hyde came out in between songs and started yelling;
"ARE YOU HAVING FUN?!"
Audience: *cheers*
Hyde: "ARE YOU HAVING FUN?!?!?"
Audience: "CHEERS!!!!*
Hyde: "Me toooooo!"
Hyde: "DID YOU EAT CRABS?"
Audience: ". . ."
Hyde: "CRABS?!!?"
Audience: "*cheers, just for the hell of it."
Apparently crab is Hyde's favorite food. He must have gotten some really good crab there in Baltimore. ^_^;
He stopped again, and yelled,
"YOU KNOW EVANGELION?"
Audience: "CHEERS!!"
Hyde: "EVANGELION?!?"
Audience: "CHEERS!!!"
Hyde: "I AM EVANGELION! GOING BERSERK!!!!!"
Audience: "CHEERS!!!!!"
Hyde: "EVANGELION!"
Audience: "CHEERS!"
Hyde: "GOING BERSERK!!!"
Then, before 'READY STEADY GO,' Hyde screamed "ARE YOU FUCKING READY?!?!?!"
The whole arena went crazy. xD
After that, tbe band left the stage, and for about 20 minutes the crowd stomped, clapped, and chanted for l'arc~en~ciel. I was starting to think that maybe they really weren't coming back out, when Ken walks out on stage in a dolphin mask and holding one of those Ride the Duck kazoos!! He started making "dolphin noises" with it, and tried to get the crowd to follow along. Unfortunately, we all just cheered at him. ^_^;
Ken: *kazoo~!*
Audience: *cheers!!*
Ken: NO! *kazoo~!*
Audience: *CHEERS!!*
Ken: NEVER! *kazoo~!
Audience: *CHEERS!!!*
He gave up then, and asked, "Who am I?"
Audience: "Ken!!!"
Ken: "WHO AM I?!?"
Audience: "KEN!!!!!"
Ken: "NO! I am DOLPHIN!"
Ken's voice was so cute. Did I mention that? xD
Then he started talking about having to swim around and do tricks, and all he wanted to do was go to the concert and hear the band, see the band, and did we want to hear the band? Did we want to see? Then we had better make some more NOISE!
Then the rest of the band came out, and started up 'HONEY' (another of my favorites! Squee!). They played 'Blurry Eyes' next, and in the middle they stopped. Tetsu grabbed a mic and asked the crowd, "Do you want to eat my BANANAS?"
I think every fangirl in that arena nearly had a heart attack. Including me.
And, sure enough, he threw two bananas out to the crowd. ^_^;
The last song was 'Pieces,' and the whole arena was swaying their arms in time to the music. It was so beautiful, I really thought I was going to cry. T_T When it was over, Hyde thanked us some more, and said that they really loved us all. Wah, it was so sweet! Ken and Tetsu threw some more picks out to the audience, and I think Hyde chucked another water bottle.
Some more highlights: Hyde threw a whistle out to the audience that he had blown on, and Kappa was SO MAD she didn't catch it. ^_^; We actually saw the girl that did at the Tofu Records panel. 'Feeling Fine' was so much fun, the whole crowd was clapping in time with the music. Overall, it was a really amazing performance, I just wish I had been closer! I missed some things, like the HydexTetsu fanservice, and all of Hyde's flirty-ness (I'm sure Kappa's really upset about that).
One complaint only about the concert: it was TOO SHORT.
I'd like to see a concert that wasn't bound by con restrictions (they had to end in order for people to get to the cosplay). Then I could spend a little extra money on a nice ticket, rather than depending on "first-come-first-serve" seating.
But yeah.
l'arc~en~ciel ROCKED OUT.
After the live, we kind of just hung out Saturday. I wanted to sing at karaoke, but didn't get a chance to. We wanted to see Zatoichi too, and actually wound up in line with the same guy we stood in line with at the TMR concert last year. Unfortunately, they closed the doors before we could get in, so I'll have to wait until it comes out in theaters to see it. ><;
Sunday we didn't do too much: Hero had a line at least as long as Zatoichi, so we hung out at the Tofu Records panel and the Dealer's Room for a while instead. I stood in the LONGEST line I have ever seen for food at a Burger King across the street to get food for a sick Kappa. Finally, we said "bye-bye Baltimore" at about 2:30PM and headed out on the longest trip hom I have ever driven. What should have taken about 6 hours took eleven and a half, thanks to traffic on I-95 and a HELLACIOUS rainstorm on 360. We did meet some con-attendees at a Wendy's in Manassas (we made fun of that city's name for hours...), and they turned out to actually be from Virginia Beach! So we'll see them at Nekocon (which I am SO looking forward to). ^_^
Made it to Danville at about 2AM, then left for Georgia at about 2PM that day. Stopped several times, including the Greek restaraunt near Animazement's Sheraton Imperial, and South of the Border. o_o
I went back to work today, and I swear I've been in some kind of daze! Maybe it's all the driving I did over the past few days, but coming down from something like that...takes some getting used to, yeah?
At any rate, Otakon is quickly becoming one of my favorite conventions.
I can't wait until next year!
And yes, there WILL be pictures posted soon. : p
Withinity is letting me use some of her webspace, for which she had me ETERNAL gratitude and a promise that I will get off my lazy butt and actually put some pictures up for you people to see. ^_^;
So I will.
But, not tonight. : p
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