The rehearsal for the Yoyogi final live was open to fanclub members who applied by postcard. It took place on 8/26 from 3pm to 5:30pm. About 1200 or so people attended. It was free seating, but only in the stands. I took a place around the middle of the stand, in the front row. (The stage is to one end of the gynasium, which is shaped like an oval. The total capacity is 10,000 so it felt quite empty.)

As people were filing in, the stage crew and band members (minus Hekiru) were busy with lighting and camera tests. Some of the crew were horsing around as well.

After everyone was settled in, Tairaku-san picked up a mike and thanked everyone for coming, and told them what they would see would be a normal rehearsal. In other words, it wouldn't be terribly interesting if one was expecting anything fancy. He also mentioned that there would be a secret live, and the details would be given out tomorrow.

First they started with sound tests for the band. One by one the band members played their instruments and the sound engineers did adjustments. The band members seemed happy to see the fans and each one said "Yoroshiku" and added a few words to make the audience laugh. This took a long time.

Then came lighting checks, and Tairaku-san asked the band to rehearse some songs. I think they played live to love, and rehearsed two times Everlasting Train into the intro of Beside You among a couple other songs.

A lot of sound checks came in during this time, as well as lighting tests. There was a stage crew member who would stand in front of the twin monitors to track the sound. Monitors are speakers placed on the floor for the performer to hear the sound as it's being produced... necessary for separate band members and singers to keep time with each other, since the sound coming from the actual hall speakers cannot be heard clearly. Many artists who move around a lot on fancy sets eschew monitors for ear sets, but Hekiru has always used monitors, even in such difficult to tune places as Yoyogi. (Yoyogi isn't a real concert hall so the sound is always on the bad side.)

Towards the end of the check, Nobu-K practiced the part of live to love where Hekiru's whispery voice would be played. The voice is a recording and Nobu-K has to manually trigger the playback from his keyboard. "I must live, I must go, I must live, I must go, I must live, I must go, I must go on go without you."

Now, take it from me, that last "without you" is said in the must incredibly sultry, "if they could bottle this it might give viagra a run for its money" voice known to mankind, or at least Hekiru fandom. Nobu-K played this three times, and by the last I was a little puddle of goo on the floor, grinning from ear to ear in bliss. Damn, wish I could get a hold of a copy of that file.

Then some staff came on stage as the regular band left, and Masako-san should up and the group launched into a rendition of One, complete with Tairaku-san making snide comments about how terrible the band was and Masako-san not knowing the lyrics. The funny part was when the stage started doing this weird dance. ^_^;

After One ended Masako-san hastily left. Tairaku-san said, "You can try again. This time we'll let you have a lyrics card on hand." But she didn't come, and Tairaku-san mumbled something about how unpleasant it was to see Masako-san doing Hekiru's dance, and added that it was a good thing Masako-san wasn't wearing Hekiru's outfit. "Not that she'd fit anyway," he finished off, probably pissing Masako-san off to no end.

"Okay, get the Sucky Band off the stage and let's put the Real Band on," Tairaku said and the regular guys came back on to practice One, and boy did they sound really good compared to the staff band! Gotta hand it to them, they may make plenty of mistakes but otherwise they're not half bad.

After that there was nothing interested for about half an hour. The staff went about their work as the band members waited around on stage. I fell asleep.

And was promptly tapped awake by a friend who said, "Hey, Hekiru just came on." At which point everyone who had brought binoculars rapidly produced them and stared.

Hekiru was wearing the live to love windbreaker, which was far too big for her. She had black seatpants on, red sandals, and her hair was tied back except for the bangs which fell to each side of her face. She looked like she just woke up and didn't seem to be in a very good mood. "Minasan yoroshiku onegaishimasu," she greeted, sleepy-eyed. It was still a lovely sight... In fact, I would love to see her do a live in that outfit!

Hekiru stood in front of the monitors while a sound engineer stood right behind her as she performed voice checks and sound tests. She didn't seem very happy with the sound. (It seems that last year at Yoyogi, they ran into some pretty nasty sound problems and Hekiru didn't want a repeat.) So they spent a long time adjusting and testing and adjusting and testing.

Half-way through, Tairaku-san said to Hekiru, through a mike, "The catering crew is taking orders. Tonight's menu is roll cabbage (mince meat rolled in cabbage leaves, stewed) and buta shougayaki (sliced pork stirfried in ginger sauce). What would you like?"

Hekiru stood there contemplating for a while. Then finally, she lifted her mike to her mouth and said, very softly, "Banana," and laughed embarrassedly.

Hmm, I guess she didn't care for either course. ^^;;

Then Tairaku-san asked Hekiru to sing 246. I expected her to sound so-so since it was just a rehearsal, but she actually sang very well, although she had a bored expression. Well, serious rather than bored, but definitely very different from the energy and smiles of a real live.

Hekiru sang 246 twice, and also part of live to love. Then she left the stage, after thanking the fans for coming and telling them to look forward to tomorrow. The band rehearsed RIDE A WAVE, and then the public part of the rehearsal was over and everyone filed out.

PS, Later there was a rumour that Hekiru was tired out from holding interviews earlier that day, that she really had been asleep before she was called out for the sound check, and that she was in a bad mood because she stopped by Yoyogi early hoping for lunch, but the caterer had been informed that Hekiru had already eaten so in the end she didn't wind up with anything.

Hekiru was to be a guest on Bukahousou's Countdown Sunday radio program, which airs 12-4pm on Sundays. Hekiru's actual guest appearance was from 1:20-1:35, which is quite long as far as guest appearances tend to go. This event was announced through 4179*LOVE and about 250 fans showed up.

I woke up at 5am and caught the third train to Shinjuku, where Tochou (Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building) is. Those who've seen CLAMP's X may recognize it as the twin towers that get creamed sometime through the anime. The radio program was to be broadcast from Studio SOLA, on the 45th floor. I arrived at the entrance at 6:45am to find, to my dismay, already about 14 people waiting ahead of me. There had been another radio event in July, at Shibuya Spainzaka Studio, and at that time I was the first one there at 7am, although that had been a weekday.

More fans came along as the morning got along, and by the time the staff distributed numbered tickets at 9am, there were around 35 people. Still a very small crowd when compared to how things were 2 years ago, I mused. We were told to come to the studio at 12:30 to line up, so I killed some time until then. Some of our regular bunch showed up as well, some unexpectedly, so we had about 8 or 9 of us hanging around until the start.

At 12:30, we got lined up. By this time quite a few fans had showed up and the lobby was quite full. The 45th floor was an observation deck for tourists with a bar/canteen in the center of the floor, and the radio booth was at one end encircled in glass walls that did not reach the ceiling. The radio area was roped off from the rest of the floor.

We were let in at 1pm, and some friends of mine at the very front had saved me a nice spot in the front row. Actually, if you picture the radio booth according to the cardinal points, the restricted entranceway was the west and north walls, and Hekiru would be sitting near the south side, facing east. I was southeast, so it wasn't a straight-on view, but there was enough of an angle to see her facial expressions.

After waiting and feeling faint and tired from overwork and lack of sleep, I was very glad when Hekiru finally appeared after 20 minutes. Hekiru wore a long-sleeved red woolen sweater (not a turtleneck), a grey pleated skirt that reached her calves, and black fishnet stockings with 2 1/2inch black stilleto high-heels(!!). Her hair had been trimmed slightly in front, and it was fastened back in a half-ponytail (meaning some of the hair at the back of her head was left free). The brown tint wasn't very noticeable. All in all, Hekiru looked very very nice. Much better than the hair style she had been favouring lately, with her hair parted in the middle and the bangs coming all the way down the sides of her face. Hmm, I didn't really go for the stockings or the shoes though. Too much of a contrast.

Accompaning Hekiru were her manager Ogurin, Tairaku-san, and Tomizou from 4179*LOVE who carried a camera and snapped a couple shots as Hekiru stepped into the booth to the cheers of the fans. Cheers which for some reason turned into a "Yutaka!" chant. I just kept quiet and tried to put on a good image. ^^;;

Hekiru seemed quite happy to see her fans. She was more amicable than usual, taking her time to wave to the crowd before sitting down. For all the weariness I had been feeling, I found myself waving and grinning like a sap too when she waved my way.

Unfortunately, the sound from the speakers of the radio show were barely audible, so I had on idea what Hekiru and the radio DJs were talking about, only catching something of "calendar and trading card photo session in Phuket" and about taking a bath, at which point Hekiru was making gestures at chest level and bonded with the female DJ next to her in some bizarre Japanese schoolgirl fashion, for they suddenly clasped hands and went Kyaa Kyaa Kyaa all cutesy like -_-\__ . Then Hekiru introduced her new single, saying something about how the roses on the jacket signified rock. Anata mo shiranai koi no hate ni played, and Hekiru exited.

We were made to wait several minutes before we could leave the area. After that, we hung around until most of the crowd had dispersed, then took the elevator down to groundside. Lunch was tonkatsu, and some of us stopped by Shinseido to put in preorders for the Millenium Edition DVD box. Personally I found it about as easy a time as events go, since I've had the experience of waiting overnight and all day in freezing weather. I'm glad this event wasn't that way, no matter how rewarding it was.