K-POP Named Youth Vol. 117: Live Experience Report 13 MAMAMOO WORLD TOUR – JAPAN – Why My Wife and I Brought Two Daikon Radishes.

I went to the best concert ever!

I believe MAMAMOO has the best vocal ability and live performance skills among all girl groups.

I went to that MAMAMOO concert, their first in Japan in 3 years and 3 months!

The four-member girl group "MAMAMOO," who captivate fans around the world with their overwhelming vocal power and powerful performances, held their "2022 MAMAMOO CONCERT 'MY-CON' – JAPAN" at Makuhari Messe on Saturday, November 26th and Sunday, November 27th.

This performance was part of their first world tour, supporting their mini-album "MIC ON" released on October 11th.

Here, I will post the music video for the title track of "MIC ON," the new song they also performed at this concert,"ILLELLA".

MAMAMOO - ILLELLA(MV views: 21.41 million)

It's a song that is quintessentially MAMAMOO: natural yet hip, cool, and catchy!

And they came to Japan to support this album, which is their first Japanese performance in about 3 years and 3 months!

A Japan concert that Japanese MOOMOO (fandom name) had been waiting for. By the way, I am also a MOOMOO.

I went to the second day's performance on November 27th with my wife.
I would like to look back on that day.

Perhaps because my brain was excited from watching the MMA 2022 (MelOn Music Awards 2022) until right before I went to sleep the night before...

I woke up at 3:30 in the middle of the night...

I couldn't help it, so I ate yogurt and a sweet bun (the worst thing to do).
And then I successfully went back to sleep.

Woke up at 6:30.
After eating breakfast, I drove to FamilyMart and took a walk along the riverbank.

After that, I did some editing work for the K-POP Named Youth article.
Finished adding updates for TWICE/Billlie/TRI.BE/Rocket Punch/LOONA/NMIXX/Kep1er/EXID.

After updating the household account book, I watched a MAMAMOO online concert on TV with my wife, got ready, and went!

While walking to the station, my wife said she wanted to go to a 100-yen shop.

This time, my wife really wanted MAMAMOO's cute radish-shaped light stick, and she was lamenting that neither of us could get one.

My wife started saying she wanted to look for something shaped like a radish at the 100-yen shop instead of this light stick.

I visited two 100-yen shops near the station, but of course, I couldn't find anything like that (lol) (though they did have bell pepper and banana toys). I got a long, thin white and green penlight! Isn't this enough!

I thought so, but my wife took me to the vegetable section of a supermarket.
"I was looking at Twitter, and it seems like quite a few people are waving daikon radishes!"
Really!?

No, I wonder about that... I thought, but I was overwhelmed by my wife's bloodshot eyes (lol), or rather, they were excited eyes. Yes, they were.
I bought two daikon radishes and put them in my backpack. They were heavy. Too heavy...

On the way, I took the wrong train connection and almost missed the start, but I arrived at Makuhari Messe safely and reached my seat 15 minutes before the show began.

What an amazing seat!!!!

However, there was an aisle behind our seats, and behind that sat a row of people who looked like industry insiders. Maybe they were important people, as staff members were coming over to greet them.

That's when I thought.
Waving a raw daikon radish instead of a penlight is impossible!!
It's too embarrassing!!

I told my wife, who was on the verge of taking them out, that we should only take them out if we saw quite a few people waving raw daikon radishes once the show started, and with that, the performance began.

So, here is the setlist for the amazing MAMAMOO concert!

[Setlist]

[Impressions]

As the opening video played and the sound of a marching band rang out, the audience's anticipation and excitement reached its peak, and "MAMAMOO" slowly rose on a lift to appear!

The four members, appearing in white and gold outfits, radiated a charismatic presence from the start, and they immediately got the crowd going with the first song, "1,2,3 Eoi!"

Then, they walked from the main stage to the center stage. Wow! They were right in front of us! It felt like we were being bathed in a powerful performance that made the binoculars I brought completely unnecessary!

They waved to the audience, called out in Japanese, and expressed their joy at reuniting with Moomoos with their whole bodies, creating a happy space where they became one with the crowd. In the following song, "Mr. Ambiguous," they displayed breathtaking vocal prowess that left me stunned. Solar's vocal volume is incredible! They really are the No. 1 vocal girl group!!

Then, the four of them greeted the crowd on the center stage with that beautiful harmony, "I say MAMA MAMAMOO~♪." Moonbyul said, "It's been 3 years and 3 months since we came to Japan. Have you been well?" expressing her joy at the reunion. Hwasa shared her heartfelt emotions, saying, "The time we couldn't meet was so long that I was worried you might have forgotten about MAMAMOO, but I'm so happy that so many of you have filled the venue."

After that, Hwasa asked, "Moomoos, shall we all raise our Moomoo-bongs (= daikon-shaped penlights)?" and Moomoos all over the venue held up their daikon penlights, spreading a sea of green light. My wife and I searched. Was there anyone holding a raw daikon radish somewhere? If there was even one person, we would find the courage... Wait, was that one!? But it turned out to be someone holding the daikon-shaped prop we had been aiming for, and we couldn't find any raw daikon radishes. While everyone was standing, I looked back and saw the people who looked like industry insiders sitting calmly. I reached into my backpack, but my hand, which had been gripping the daikon tightly, let go powerlessly. My wife looked at me and shook her head sadly.

Seeing the greenery-filled scene, leader Solar said "Nice!" in Japanese, looking satisfied. Then, with the call of "Are you ready! Let's move on to the next stage!" the concert resumed, and the excitement accelerated with a medley!

The medley continued with Freakin Shoes, NEW YORK, Dingga, Emotion, Funky Boy, and You're the best. Moonbyul explained that they decided to perform a medley because they wanted the fans to hear as many songs as possible while they were considering the setlist.

And then, the biggest opportunity for us as a couple arrived.

Wheein asked the audience to do a wave with their lightsticks. Th-this is the only moment! Once again, we gripped our raw daikon radishes, and as the wave of lightstick glow approached our seats from the stage right, we were ready to pull them out, ready to pull them out, ready to pull them out...

We couldn't pull them out 😢

We gave up completely at that point. It's not that easy for a couple in their 40s to brandish raw daikon radishes in front of the staff seating area while the venue is illuminated by lightsticks.

After all, there was still an hour and a half left! People would be watching us the whole time, wondering when that couple would pull out the radishes again! We wouldn't be able to relax and focus on the concert. Making that excuse to ourselves, my wife and I started waving the long, thin white and green lightsticks we bought at a 100-yen shop, but as expected of a 100-yen item, they only lasted 20 minutes, haha.

From then on, I was completely immersed in the singing voices and performances of the four members of MAMAMOO.

Hwasa

Solar

Moonbyul

Wheein

The mood shifted completely with the Arabian-style "AYA," followed by the reggae-infused, liberating new song "ILLELLA." After that, a video of the "Little Fairy" animation, for which Solar created the story, played, leading into the cheerful "Taller than You" and "mumumumuch," where my wife loves to chant "Mamamoo Mamamoo" repeatedly. I completely forgot about the daikon radishes and got lost in the concert.

Then, they announced they had prepared a "surprise stage," which turned out to be solo stages! Since all members of MAMAMOO are talented, they each have their own hit songs, but this time they shuffled members to perform four solo songs, and then all four performed a medley of the four solos, which was so much fun! Solar performed Wheein's "Water Color," Hwasa performed Moonbyul's "Eclipse," Wheein performed Solar's "HONEY" in a cute yellow bee costume, and Moonbyul performed Hwasa's "TWIT." After that, the four of them sang "Spit it out" (Solar), "Make me happy" (Wheein), and "LUNATIC" (Moonbyul), and the medley ended with the four of them performing "Maria" (Hwasa), which was the best!

After that, we deeply enjoyed their singing voices with ballads like "Paint Me," "I Love Too," and "Star Wind Flower Sun." Then, a barrage of my favorite hits! The grand rock sound of "Decalcomanie" raised the tension, and the heavy bass drum beat resonated to the core of my body! Still, all four of them are just too good at singing!! And then, the moment we were waiting for!! We were both overjoyed by the super cool hit song "HIP"! After that, hit songs like the Latin-flavored "Egotistic" and "Gogobebe" followed, and it was just the best!

After the four of them expressed their gratitude and love for the fans, we were intoxicated by the grand "Starry Night," and they showcased their passionate vocals in "Wind flower," bringing the main part of the concert to an end.

Then, responding to the applause for an encore, they appeared and sang the refreshing "Travel," the Japanese song "You Don’t know me," and the energetic "Yes I am." As they sang the fan song "L.I.E.C" while making eye contact with the audience, the venue was filled with a sense of unity. They closed the show with "Um Oh Ah Yeh." I was happy that Solar shouted "MAMAMOO will continue!" in Japanese at the end. All the Moomoos must have felt happy. Thus, the nearly three-hour MAMAMOO concert came to a successful close.

My wife and I left the concert venue, still feeling the lingering excitement, and headed home.

It was the best. MAMAMOO was amazing as expected.

I definitely want them to keep showing us their performances as a group of four next year, the year after, and beyond!

Believing in Solar's shout, 'MAMAMOO will continue!', I look forward to their future activities.

That concludes the live report!

By the way, we enjoyed those daikon radishes as a family in oden!
They were moist, tender, and delicious, soaked in the oden broth! Haha.

While stuffing our cheeks with oden daikon, my wife and I firmly vowed to get the real daikon-shaped light stick before their next concert in Japan.