#make lemonade

Context my friend for his grad party is tasting lemonade inspired by the one jello apocalypse stream so i was like well lets see what tumblr thinks ala the vanilla cake and glitter tea

A lengthy report of the shows are after the gifs/pictures.

The photos and gifs/videos were taken by me. Please do not take or reupload without permission 🙏.

I was finally able to go to Shogo’s live this year!

Here are some of my personal thoughts and memories about the show. It’s not meant to be a detailed repo but is instead more of how I experienced the shows.

I’m a bit wary of posting details on X and Instagram and Chinese social media where people actually know me in real life, so I’m going to journal my feelings here on tumblr.

Saitama

Before I went, I was extremely anxious about being at a live house by myself. There were no assigned seats, and I was way too nervous about my Japanese skills to want to talk to other girls to figure out lining up in ticket order and such. In the end, I asked my Japanese friends if I could go with them — and honestly, it was the best decision 🥹. Even though my spoken Japanese is abysmal and I relied on Google Translate for almost everything, going with friends was so much better than going solo 🥲.

My ticket numbers were 30, 103, and 11. — Side note: I’d looked up the venue capacity beforehand and it was supposedly 400–600 for all standing. However, I think there were only somewhere between 180–280 people at each show. It somehow was still completely jam packed. I wonder why that was —

At the first show (Saitama), my friend — who had my tickets — showed up late because she remembered the time wrong. We ended up entering when they were already calling numbers around 110. Somehow, that became a silver lining: I swear Shogo is trained to look toward the back rows — maybe because that’s where the video cameras usually are — and from where I was standing I felt like I was directly in his line of sight. It honestly felt as if he was singing straight at me.

Another thing: the girls at the Saitama show seemed shorter for some reason, or maybe the floor was sloped, because even though I was about two-thirds of the way toward the back, my view wasn’t obstructed at all from his hips and up.

Shogo sang with such fiery passion. Especially during the songs where he wasn’t playing guitar, he was literally jumping around the stage with so much energy and vehement fervor that it felt as if he wanted to rip out his very heart and show us his truest emotions.

After the Saitama show, I wrote him a fan letter saying his energy was too much for a small live house to contain. Even though I liked that the space felt intimate, I couldn’t help but wish he were on a bigger stage instead. I keep saying how I want him to become more popular — maybe by then I wouldn’t be able to see him up close, but I’d rather he shone brightly for many others even if that meant I couldn’t see him anymore.

During the MC segments he asked the audience some questions, like: who was there for the first time, who had gone to Tokyo Dome for TouMyu Fes, etc. Then he asked if anyone had come from far away. One girl said Okinawa. My friends started hyping me up, shouting “She’s from the US!” I expected Shogo to just say something generic like “Thank you for coming from so far away,” but instead he literally looked me up and down from the stage and went, “Oh, but you come a lot, don’t you? I know you already. Aren’t you from 〇〇 city?” I couldn’t help but giggle before I answered his question 🥰.

I still can’t believe he remembered my face from last year! I guess he doesn’t have many fans flying in from the US, but I’m literally just a super generic East Asian girl, so I was shocked. Also… I don’t even go that much lol. I don’t know how to feel about him feeling like he’s seen me a lot 💀.

Oh, and he also didn’t seem surprised at all to see me. It was as if he already knew I was there. I don’t know if he actually did see me much earlier on since I was in his line of sight, or if he remembered me saying during a ShogoLINE stream some weeks ago that I was going to fly in from California.

I do remember his backup band and some girls in front of me being in awe that I’d flown in from the US. I remember the keyboardist Ms. MiyaB being particularly cute as she went “Ehhhhhhhh.” She’s so cute that I decided to bring her a gift from home 💕.

What else? The SNS okay/filming okay song was Wind of NY. It was instrumental only. I really wish he had allowed us to film a song where he sang. I know he’s been obsessed with guitar lately, and Wind of NY is cool and all, but I really wish I could show people his fiery passion as he sang 😮‍💨. It’s really such a shame.

I have this theory that he will include footage from his lives in his upcoming album, which might explain the SNS okay song choices this time. Or at least I hope he uploads live footage onto YouTube.

Osaka

The Osaka show was the very next day. I honestly couldn’t believe he planned his tour like this. It was hectic enough for me as a fan to travel between Tokyo and Osaka in half a day. I can’t imagine how hectic it was for him to do the same AND do makeup/hair and rehearse before the show.

The Osaka show was maybe 80% the same. The entire setlist with differences will be posted at the bottom.

Even his MC segments were 80% the same topics. I have personally always found Shogo to be amazing at scripting talk segments but he doesn’t always do super well in improv. Maybe that’s why he scripted all of his talk segments or at least scripted the topics?

For the Osaka MC segments, sometimes he would say the exact same things as he did in Saitama, and sometimes he would start off with the same topic but go on different tangents or elaborate on different points from the Saitama show.

There were some segments that were different though. Like in the very beginning, he strummed his guitar as he talked to himself about how he’s been doing recently. And he talked about being back in Osaka and was like, “Tadaima!!!” So of course everyone went, “Okaeri💕💕💕!”

And he also said some stuff about being able to go home after and feeling the warmth of his mother 🥹.

He asked if anyone went to his show when he performed at that same venue 10 (I think) years ago. Some girls raised their hands, and he pointed to each of them and was like, “I know you. I know you.”

Annnnndddd… lol he talked to me again at the Osaka show. He actually mentioned me out of the blue and I was so embarrassed 🫣.

He was like, yesterday in Saitama someone came from the US… I don’t know what point he was trying to make by bringing that up because the Japanese ladies I went to the show with started shouting “She’s here today too!” And tried to get me to raise my hand as I was shyly doing a double handed wave 👋 👋🫣.

I had a feeling that he was having some trouble locating us. Maybe the room wasn’t as bright as it was in Saitama?

BUT, sometimes I read his expressions as confusion when he 500% knew exactly who I was, so maybe I don’t give him enough credit lol.

I was too overstimulated to catch what he said to me, but later my friends said that it was something like, “oh you came today, too? From 〇〇 city right?”

I don’t know if he expected an answer but I definitely did not answer LOL. So there was a bit of awkward silence before he moved on 😭.

I also couldn’t catch what he said after. I was able to understand him during the Saitama show 100%, but for some reason, I had some trouble understanding him in Osaka.

I think it was probably something like, “even if you didn’t come from the US, still etc etc etc.”

Oh, and he also got teased A LOT in Osaka. The atmosphere was way more lively. There was so much shouting back and forth between him and the girls.

Some girl asked him if he had piercings, but he was like, they are clip ons. But then immediately pretended to act tough and was like, “umm… I mean, yeah, they are piercings. Definitely piercings.”

Some Chinese girl shouted from the back of the room that he was sexy, and he was all like, “thank you thank you” as he feigned a smug look. Lol.

When he talked about working out and gaining more muscle, my friend was like, “Strip!” And he was like, “YOU strip!” while very casually calling her “Omae.”

His energy as he performed was even higher than the previous day. I honestly couldn’t believe that I was able to see him like this. There was so much ardor woven into the performance that I was actually moved to tears.

He sang NEVER in Osaka and that was such a crowd favorite. He really wrote some excellent songs during his “dark times” and I wish he would sing those more.

At the end, he reached down to high-five the first row. He did this in Saitama as well.

Girls would jokingly tell him to crowd surf, and to everyone’s surprise, he actually came down from the stage to squeeze in between girls to high-five the audience.

As he did this, he said stuff like, omg so close and, I’m definitely wiping my sweat off everyone as I walk by.

He didn’t walk to my section. I could have chased after him, but I personally felt like it was a bit pervy to chase after someone to touch them lol. So I didn’t. And it’s not like I hadn’t held hands with him before so I didn’t feel the need to do it again.

Shimokitazawa

The Shimokitazawa show was almost a week later. In terms of atmosphere, it was a bit different from Saitama and Osaka. There wasn’t as much conversation between him and the girls on the floor. While he still kept lots of the same MC monologue, more segments were changed. He talked more about the emotional stuff like career challenges and thanking everyone for being there and asking everyone to work hard together.

I have this conspiracy theory that the Shimokitazawa show will be recorded as a DVD bonus for his upcoming album, which was why he said more emotional stuff and didn’t talk to the audience as much since maybe girls wouldn’t want their voices recorded for posterity?

But there were still lots of fun MC segments and playful banter from the audience.

He told a story about his iPhone 10 and how Arisawa Shotaro and Makishima Hikaru said it’s super old. Shotaro said it’s like a fossil, and Makishima Hikaru called his case ugly. And something about it being from another era. I can’t remember the details but I laughed so hard because I have also talked about his iPhone with my friends.

I had always thought it was an Android, and I was like, this can’t be an iPhone. It’s not even square! And my friend was like, no it’s definitely an iPhone.

So I literally googled “round iPhone” and learned that the last iPhone with rounded edges was an iPhone X 💀💀💀

How does that thing still work?!!! Can it still get iOS updates?!?!

And that case IS very ugly 💀 but having bad taste in fashion and accessories is his charm point 🥰✨.

Anyways, so he finally ordered an iPhone 17!!! And he said that he will make fun of Shotaro at Aripa for not having the latest iPhone 🤣.

When he was talking about working out again, he talked about his shirt being too tight and you can sort of see his pecs 😳.

My friend was of course like, “We can’t see well. Strip!”

And he said again, “You strip!”

And then at one point was like. Let’s all strip.

My face was like 😱😱😱.

And then he was like this isn’t okay lol. This is harassment. I’m pretty sure some girls also jokingly called him a perv 😂.

I was ticket number 11 for the Shimokita show. If I had run faster, I could have been in the first row. I actually had the choice between being on the side of the first row or the center of the second row, and I chose the latter.

I actually didn’t like this spot as much as the Saitama spot because he would never look down and make eye contact with the front row. I also had to look up at him instead of seeing him at eye level. Even as he responded to my friend who was standing in front of me, he would never look down. He always looked out to the audience even though he knew the girl talking to him was in the front row. It was kind of strange.

But he was CLOSE though. I took the opportunity to really look at him closely.

I noted how his arm veins looked in real life and took note of his frame and stature.

I even looked to see if he shaved his arms or not 🤣.

I could even see up his sleeve 😬, so I took note of whether he shaved his underarms for the show 😳.

He had these darker circles on the back of his neck, and I got distracted for a bit trying to figure out if they were birthmarks or hickeys 🫣🫣🫣 (Please no! I am a Yumejoshi after all 🥺🥺).

I later asked my friend, and she said that they were these pulse point pain patches. I hope he was feeling okay 🥺.

I actually saw those patches at a drug store later, but they were unexpectedly kind of pricey, so I didn’t get them to try them out.

He high-fived the front row girls from the stage again, and I was able to high-five him this time.

He also walked down from the stage again, and I was able to high-five him again. Although I was one of the last people close enough to be able to reach him.

When he walked past the girls, you could see that he was shorter than everyone LOL. But he’s 5’7, which would be pretty tall for a girl, so I think everyone was probably wearing 4 inch platforms 😮‍💨.

When he high-fived me, he didn’t make eye contact either ❤️‍🩹. Why?! Wouldn’t it be normal to look at the fans you are high-fiving 😭.

He almost looked at me lol. It was like he did for a nanosecond but immediately looked away 🥲🥲🥲.

What else?

The Saitama earrings looked different from the Osaka ones, but I can’t remember if the Shimokita ones and the Osaka ones were the same.

He wore the same denim jacket and jeans for all the shows. He wore the same shirt for Saitama and Shimokita but a different shirt for Osaka. The Osaka shirt was black with a rhinestoned outline of the Manhattan skyline and said New York City on the bottom.

It really suited him! And he’s suchhhhhh an Yankophile for picking out that shirt 😂.

Him being an Yankophile was probably why he mentioned me coming from the US in Osaka.

He changed into the NYC shirt for the Shimokita encore, which was why it took him so long to come back out.

There was a double encore at Shimokita.

Alright.

That’s all for now.

Sorry that this wasn’t meant to be a detailed repo. It’s more interwoven with my own experiences and feelings.

Now for the setlist.

1. KARAKARA na Kokoro

2. Nusubito ni mo Bojou no Ri (Towel-swinging: Osaka, Shimokita. I think he forgot in Saitama 😬).

3. Othello

4. Esca Deep Sea City

5. Taiyou Runner

6. Nagare/ Mushoku/ Fly (Acoustic; different between venues)

7. Hibiki 🆕

8. Wind of NY/ Drown in Las Vegas/ Wind of NY 🎦 (different between venues)

9. Makeinu Philosophy 🆕

10. Sabaku no Race

11. TWILIGHT/ NEVER/ TWILIGHT (different between venues)

12. HIKARI Creation

13. Boukyaku Dance

14. Mugen no Try

Encore: Eien

When life gives me lemons I can turn that lemon into whatever the hell I want

When life gives me lemons I will teach you how to make lemonade yourself and judge it and chat about it!

When life gives me lemons I blow them away then shag men and the wraiith!

When life gives me lemons I remind them I am knife wife

When life gives me lemons I ask if they go with waffles?

If a Hollowhead eats something they really hate, they’ll breathe fire to burn it out of their mouth. Blue was alright, just really startled.