 ©UP-FRONT PROMOTION Co., Ltd. Walking through the doors to the concert hall, the first thing we all saw was the various Hello! Project music videos being shown on the main screen on stage. As we all shuffled into our optimal positions the reality of the situation started to sink in: Morning Musume。'16 was in Houston! As we waited patiently for the hall to fill and for the girls to come out, people pumped up some balloons and started throwing them around the crowd. Meanwhile, some small clusters of fans rocked out to whatever song happened to be playing on the screen. The people behind the convention came up for a short message and to welcome Morning Musume。’16 with some cheers. Before long, the lights dimmed, the screen turned off, and the girls came out to thunderous cheering wearing their modified ‘One and Only’ outfits (with cute Sheriff Badges to boot). They jumped right into their brand-new all-English song 'One and Only'. The crowd went wild and most of the people around me burst into song along with the girls. It was rather touching. They then lead right into 'Oh my wish!’ kicking off the concert with an unimaginable amount of energy. Miki Nonaka was in a chair of course, due to her injury, but put forth just as much energy and excitement as the rest of the group!
The girls took a moment to introduce themselves, and they even did so in English. It was clear that they worked incredibly hard to learn the English for their introductions, and they all did a fantastic job. They then jumped into another of their brand new songs: ‘ENDLESS SKY’. After that they jumped into high-energy songs like ‘Renai Hunter’ and ‘Sukatto My Heart’. They were doing an absolutely fantastic job of mixing in both old and new songs in order to keep the crowd interested. Their formation dancing, singing skills and coordination were particularly impressive throughout the show. 'Love & Peace! HERO ga Yattekita' was performed to close out this section of the show.
Half the group went backstage to change into new outfits while the rest stayed up in order to have another MC section. Aika Mitsui, former 8th Generation Morning Musume。member, joined them as the surprise guest and interpreter for this. Aika mentioned that she had been interviewing fans before the concert and that she was going to ask the members questions that the fans had asked. Unlike their previous times in the USA, this MC section felt a lot more like the ones in Japan, which was really neat and fun. Aika even decided to teach us a Japanese phrase: 'Ganbatte ikimasshoi'. She explained that backstage, before a concert, all the girls say this to each other as they place their hands on top of each other's while gathered in a circle. She said that this was a great way to get hyped or to lift somebody's spirit. The girls on stage then demonstrated how they do it. At this time, Miki (who was still in her chair) got up excitedly to join the group and they all said 'Ganbatte ikimasshoi!' Miki later jokingly said that she probably shouldn't have gotten up but she got so excited and wanted to do it with everyone. It was extremely adorable. After this, the girls from backstage were changed and switched spots with the ones who were not. The new outfits were black with puffy skirts and some frills as well. They were pretty. Aika then continued by asking the next set of girls questions from the fans. One of the most standout questions was when she asked the girls which graduated Morning Musume。 members they looked up to. Maria Makino was first to answer, and immediately said that Sayumi Michishige (who graduated in 2014) was her favorite. Each of the other members said that Aika was their favorite, as a joke. Even Erina Ikuta said this, despite Aika pointing out that everyone knows that Risa Niigaki is her favorite (who graduated in 2013). All of the girls were asked to give Aika hugs, except Maria since she said Sayumi was her favorite. They all ran to Aika and gave her a huge hug while Maria sat down and pouted. Eventually Aika invited Maria for a hug too which she happily complied to. Aika also taught the crowd another Japanese term: 'Ichiban suki' (meaning you love something the most). After a good time, the rest of the group came out, ready to continue the performance. As Aika left, everyone cheered for her.
The next section was kicked off with a medley consisting of the classics 'Souda! WE'RE ALIVE', 'LOVE Machine' and 'Renai Revolution 21'. These are some very beloved songs, especially for overseas fans, so the amount of energy and love that the crowd threw at Morning Musume。'16 was to be expected. There was a very clever outfit change in the middle of ‘Renai Revolution 21’. They folded a layer of their outfit over the black to create a new white outfit. This one had the American flag on the skirt and an outline of a rocket on the upper portion (referring to the NASA center in Houston), with variations for each member. It was an extremely cute and clever way to express a theme that screams Houston and America. Once the superb medley was over, the group took a picture with the whole crowd, which we were told would appear on the official site.  ©UP-FRONT PROMOTION Co., Ltd. From there, they jumped right back into the performance with ‘Tsumetai Kaze-to Kataomoi’, a personal favorite of mine. This song originally had Riho Sayashi (who graduated on the last day of 2015) doing some graceful solo dances during the song. With her not in the group anymore, Ayumi Ishida took over the spot with extreme finesse and amazing control. It made for a very touching performance that I’m sure would have made Riho proud. They then continued with some more favorites. The two that stood out to me the most were ‘Wagamama Kinomama Aino Joke’ and ‘What is LOVE?’ These songs got an extremely powerful crowd response and I felt like they did some of their best dancing during these songs.  ©UP-FRONT PROMOTION Co., Ltd. They left after that, and shortly after the crowd exploded into a chant to bring the girls out again for a song or two more. Eventually most of the crowd who had glow sticks that could change color changed to green, which is the color for Kanon Suzuki. Kanon will be graduating from the group at the end of their spring tour, so this was her last performance overseas within the group. The fans had all agreed beforehand to do this in her honor and everyone broke into a call for her using her nickname ‘Zukki’. It was quite touching to see, and we could all see that Kanon felt the same way when they all came out for the encore. They jumped into ‘HOW DO YOU LIKE JAPAN? ~Nihon wa Dona Kanji Dekka?~’ which was also a crowd pleaser. They were wearing their outfits from their previous tour (Gradation) which displayed each of their member colors prominently. With the concert clearly reaching a close, Mizuki read a letter to the crowd. During this time, the crowd gave Kanon a ‘Zukki’ call again, which brought her to tears on stage. With that, she caught her breath, and told the whole crowd “Thank you, I LOVE YOU!” with that huge contagious smile that nobody could hate. Following that, they jumped into the final song: ‘One Two Three’. They put their all into this final song, as did the audience. Before we knew it, it was over. The members all thanked the crowd and went off-stage. We were promised a set list of upbeat and fun songs, and they delivered in full force.  ©A-To-J Connections (PC: Manuel Figueroa) Slowly, we all shuffled out of the concert hall. Without a doubt, we knew that this had been the best performance we’ve seen out of Morning Musume。’16 in America so far. Concerts like this not only bring Morning Musume。’16 to new places, but they bring fans from all walks of life together via a special unbreakable bond. We can only hope that the girls will have the opportunity to come back to the USA again in the near future. GANBATTE IKIMASSHOI! - Teepu (Official UP-FRONT pictures used with permission. All other copyright A-To-J Connections) CONCERT SETLIST 1. One and Only 2. Oh my wish! -MC- 3. ENDLESS SKY 4. Renai Hunter 5. Sukatto My Heart 6. Love & Peace! HERO ga Yattekita -MC- (Aika Mitsui as Surprise Guest) 7. -MEDLEY- Souda! WE’RE ALIVE LOVE Machine Renai Revolution 21 -MC- (Photo Session) 8. Tsumetai Kaze-to Kataomoi 9. The Matenrou Show 10. Aino Gundan 11. Wagamama Ki-nomama Ai-no Joke 12. What is LOVE? -ENCORE- (Zukki Call) 13. HOW DO YOU LIKE JAPAN? ~Nihon wa Donna Kanji Dekka?~ -MC- 14. One Two Three Morning Musume。’16 Is: - Fukumura Mizuki (譜久村聖; 9th Generation) Leader - Ikuta Erina (生田衣梨奈; 9th Generation) Sub-Leader - Suzuki Kanon (鈴木香音; 9th Generation) - Iikubo Haruna (飯窪春奈; 10th Generation) Sub-Leader - Ishida Ayumi (石田亜佑美; 10th Generation) - Sato Masaki (佐藤優樹; 10th Generation) - Kudo Haruka (工藤遥; 10th Generation) - Oda Sakura (小田さくら; 11th Generation) - Ogata Haruna (尾形春水; 12th Generation) - Nonaka Miki (野中美希; 12th Generation) - Makino Maria (牧野真莉愛; 12th Generation) - Haga Akane (羽賀朱音; 12th Generation) A-To-J Event Report: http://a-to-jconnections.com/idols/morning-musume-16s-landing-in-houston A-To-J Interview: Official Morning Musume。 ’16 Links Website: http://www.helloproject.com/morningmusume/ Google+: https://plus.google.com/+morningmusume/posts Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Morningmusume.Official/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/MorningMusumeMg YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/morningmusumechannel UP-FRONT LINK Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/upfrontlink/ UP-FRONT LINK Twitter: https://twitter.com/UpFrontLink |
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