Aqours Beyond the Pacific trip report

So way back when I saw the first DV and wrote a pastebin about it (https://pastebin.com/VQiTXrPW), I ended it with a hope for a live performance someday. Last year Aqours was part of the Japan Kawaii Live and did a handful of songs and I didn’t go due to SGDQ. This year when their one man live was announced for AX, I decided I absolutely had to go.

It was SO WORTH IT.

Since I got the AX badge so late I had no chance at VIP tickets, but was able to score tickets in the general sales kerfuffle in orchestra section 200 row CC, which had a great view but more on that later. My day was spent sitting in the merch line from HELL. I lined up starting at around 10:30am,  but people had started lining up at 5am. The line actually closed for new people to join at around noon which is when sales were supposed to start and they kinda did...but got held up by various issues like credit machines going down or people buying 360 button badges. It wasn’t too hot but most of the line was in the sun, and moved slowly. Around 2pm or so I hadn’t moved too far and my 3pm was contemplating giving up as I was hot, starving, and overall tired. But, I persisted and made it through the line at around 4:45 and got all the merch I planned for.

Then it was to a line for getting inside!! I found someone from the r/LL discord and hung out with them and got in pretty quickly to glorious air conditioning and bathrooms. Got to my nice seat and settled in (still starving but not as thirsty).

The lights went down and we all stood up, blades lit. They came on stage and started with Mirai no Bokura wa Shitteru yo. I started SOBBING. Everything I’d gone through today was for THIS moment of being in the same room as them, and seeing them perform. It was so hard to not look at the screens and instead watch the seiyuu perform because I’m so used to just seeing them on screens!

Second song was Kimi no Hitomi o Meguru Bouken which is one of my favorites so I’m super happy to have seen it live. The MC was great and we all did the calls and responses and they spoke some English very cutely. Kimi no Kokoro wa Kagayaiteru kai? and MIRAI TICKET were next, both solid and classic songs from the group (OH YES DOKI DOKI SUNSHINE)

After an animation intermission video, what came next I think surprised everyone. WE GOT SUBUNITS!! CYaRon started off with Genki Zenkai DAY! DAY! DAY! with the delicious ohiru tabete followed by Kaigandoori de Matteru yo that they taught us some fun dance motions for. Then it was AZALEA with Torikoriko PLEASE!!, an MC where they did the torikoriko magic, and LONELY TUNING. The theater exploded for Guilty Kiss and Strawberry Trapper which was just glorious to see, then the MC where they went over their kawaii points, and then Guilty Night, Guilty Kiss.

Another intermission video to help save our legs and throats (lol), before the girls came out in the BTP shirts and uniform skirts for TUBA SONG—I mean, Taiyou o Oikakero! We did the JYUU at the end of the countdown of course which they were pleased about!

Then the big moment, of Anchan saying to sing along to Yuuki wa doko ni? Kimi no Mune ni! Since HPT or KoiAqua didn’t seem to be getting performed, it was up to this to show Aqours our dedication.

And we did it! The AqouRainbow was a major success! (https://twitter.com/LoveLive_staff/status/1014722604463054848) When Anchan saw what happened, she nearly gasped, and waved her arms. After the song, there were tears and so many gasps and cries of surprise from the girls. They were NOT expecting such a sight and I’m so so so glad it went off well.

There was another short MC (where Ainya led us in a U S A chant) before they put on happi coats and brought out a taiko drum for Sunshine Pikkapika Ondo as their final song. We got to hear Ainya’s folk singing!! Afterwards they ran across the stage for goodbyes and bows, Aikyan did her usual “grabbing” of the audiences’ hand for her bow.

Somehow I stumbled out and met up with some PA/NJ discord friends for dinner which is where I’m typing this from. Overall this live was an amazing experience, almost overwhelming with all the lights and screens and the girls on stage. Just wonderful, and I’m hoping they’ll come back stateside for me to see them again.