Mayday performs at Mohegan Sun Arena

Mohegan Sun posted this video on their YouTube channel which features and interview with the band and snippets of their Mohegan Sun performance.

20100411 變形DNA 見面會 San Jose D.N.A after concert party

San Jose D.N.A concert after party event.

It was originally intended to be an autograph session for VIP concert ticket holders to be held on a weekday before the concert but was later moved to an after concert autograph session. The organiser had told us to each bring an item to be signed by Mayday.

Alas, due to the band's flight delay into San Jose, Mayday were clearly worn out from the ordeal and were too tired so the event then became a Q & A and handshake session.

I was seated face to face with Ashin. best seat in the house!

hello mr spongebob

DNA World Tour scrapbook

I've been meaning to make my own D.N.A World Tour scrapbook and finally got around to make one after procrastinating for so long. I collated all my DNA concert ticket, air ticket stubs, flyers etc - whatever that had anything to do with my DNA tour trips :)

that's all my DNA concert tickets :) all 16 of them!

air ticket stubs and hotel keycards

train/bus tickets, DNA luggage tag & Kaohsiung stadium map

Kaohsiung merchandise order form, San Jose concert flyer and SG concert postcards

LA concert flyer, Mohegan bus ticket, Kaohsiung souvenir book and DNA tape

20110411 變形DNA San Jose演唱會 San Jose D.N.A Unlimited concert

★Date：11/4/2010
★Time：7.00PM
★Venue：San Jose State University Event Center
★Event：五月天變形DNA無限放大版世界巡迴演唱會/Mayday World Tour [2010 Unlimited Edition]

Awoke after LA D.N.A Unlimited concert to a rainy morning in LA. It was a gloomy and chilly morning as I made my way to LAX to catch my late morning flight to San Jose. Mayday had left the night before, about 2 hours after the LA concert had ended, only to find their flight to San Jose delayed for hours. Why did they have to get to San Jose so early - it's only a 45 minute flight!

When I landed in San Jose I was hoping to see some sunshine cos it gets pretty depressing on a cold wet day but I was greeted with more rain as I stepped out of the airport! Elly's friend had come to pick me up and we spent the afternoon in Santa Clara and Cupertino, enjoying bubble tea and korean BBQ. We even had time to go to the mall for shopping.

The rain did not stop. Even when we arrived at San Jose State University Event Center that Sunday evening. Because it was cold and wet, I didn't get to stop to take many photos outside. There wasn't much to see though, just an ordinary university campus. All I could see surrounding the venue were student dorms.

wet day in San Jose

So off we went inside the State Center to seek shelter from the rain and cold. When we got pass security check, I saw a crowd at the merchandise booth. They were selling D.N.A merchandise there. In LA merchandise were sold as well. At escalated American prices of course. I didn't bother looking and headed straight for the concert hall.

the organiser took the opportunity to promote the Khalil Fong & Fiona Sit concert o.O

My first impression when I saw the concert hall was - this is a converted basketball court. Next thing I noticed was the gap between each row of the floor seats - they were huge gaps! At Gibson Amphitheatre the seats were arranged very close to one another and there was little room between each row (well that was in the VIP area where I sat)

We went down and found our seats, met some friends, took some more photos before the concert began about half an hour into 7:00pm, the scheduled showtime.

The San Jose concert was the ONLY concert where they didn't have that huge white canvas hanging in the front of the stage (I only just realise I forgot to take a photo if it >.<) It was strange to see the band making an entrance minus the white canvas - they'd usually cue behind the white canvas before it drops at the end of the first DNA video.

I was in the front row with Elly and there was no barricade between the first row and the stage, though the gap was much wider than at Gibson Amphitheatre.

bear bear Masa

Guan You had mentioned that San Jose was the smallest stop of their American D.N.A concert but the crowd was the most high. haha. Probably cos most of the audience were students of the university. However there were a lot of empty seats towards the back of the venue it was almost like Mohegan Sun 2:00pm show again with empty seats towards the back and around the tier seats.

The empty seats could be cos of another major concert in town. When we had checked in the hotel that afternoon, the friendly hotel chap had asked "What brings you to San Jose?" Elly had replied "Concert". Dude thought we were in town to watch Taylor Swift, who was performing that night in HP Pavilion. I reckon half of the folks in San Jose were in HP Pavilion that night LOL

what's with Masa?

Masa explained that the band's flight from LA to San Jose was delayed due to the rain. I later found out that the organiser had *ALMOST* cancelled the concert cos Mayday had arrived very late. Had they arrived after 6:30pm, it would've been a no-show. That must have been a long delay cos they had left LA the night before @.@ Next time they should just rent a tour bus to avoid flight delays.

what a poser!

The last time Mayday performed in San Jose was 5 years ago during their Final Home tour. The band were happy to be back again though the not-so-full house venue is a cause of concern. Ashin asked fans not to watch any other concerts in their absence hahaha.

You could see how fatigue has taken its toll on the band. They look so weary and tired =.= The L-O-V-E game during 戀愛ing was dropped from the setlist (after playing it for the 3 consecutive American D.N.A concerts) and instead Ashin sang a jazzy acoustic rendition. I've heard him sing that version several times, but the rendition he sang at San Jose that night was by far the best ever. I only wished someone had caught it on video.

20110410 變形DNA 洛杉磯演唱會 LA DNA Unlimited concert

★Date：10/4/2010
★Time：7.00PM
★Venue：Gibson Amphitheatre
★Event：五月天變形DNA無限放大版世界巡迴演唱會/Mayday World Tour [2010 Unlimited Edition]

Mayday live at Universal City!

The Los Angeles concert was the third stop of the American D.N.A Unlimited Edition world tour and in my opinion, was the best performance of the four concerts. For once, the concert venue was packed and I could see no empty seats. The venue looked somewhat smaller than Mohegan Sun Arena - the seating capacity for Gibson Amphitheatre is only a little over 6,000 seats. The VIP area had only 166 seats!! That is the smallest VIP area I had ever seen. There were only 8 rows of VIP seats, and the longest row had only 23 seats across.

Gibson Amphitheatre

Gibson Amphitheatre also had the closest proximity to the stage. From Row 1 if you stretch out from the barricade you could almost touch the band members' shoes. Unfortunately this was the only American D.N.A Unlimited concert that I did not obtain Row 1, but I had spectacular view from my Row 3 middle-ish seat.

The concert started about half an hour into 7.00pm. Again, the setlist was a little different from Mohegan Sun. I love how they keep juggling the songs for each show so audience don't always hear the exact same songs for every show and the band won't get bored playing the same setlist night after night. If my memory serves me right, this was the only American stop they played 愛情萬歲

The presence of English subtitles on the videos they played in between each set was unexpected. In Asia they have Chinese subtitles on the videos. Next time they should have English subs during the concert on the big screen when Ashin sings. haha

English subs

The LA stop was also the only American D.N.A concert that had Guan You singing with Ashin on drums. Guan You talked about his brief 4 month stay in LA and how he had gotten lost going home.

The LA concert also saw the band having an extra set of costume change. Maybe they finally found time in LA to do their laundry haha. Did anyone notice Ashin wears the same pants throughout every concert?

Though the concert never came close to a 3 hour run, this was the closest to a full scale DNA concert. I just LOVE the venue! And I love how they'd sing 倔強 at every American DNA concert :)

show's over

The biggest prize I got from the LA concert was the roll of DNA tape that Ashin threw during Hosee. I've gotten several rolls from previous concerts, but have never caught a full uncut roll (they always get torn off halfway by other fans) It's really long and I never know they had 2 AA batteries stuck at the end of the tape...

     score!

LA D.N.A concert press conference 變形DNA 洛杉磯演唱會記者會 08/04/2010

I was fortunate to win 2 passes to the LA DNA press conference on 8 April 2010. The press conference was held at Hard Rock Cafe, Universal City, CA which is adjacent to the concert venue.

LA DNA press conference at HRC, Universal City

HRC had closed off an area of the restaurant upstairs for the press conference, which was a small space barely enough for so many media and sponsors of the concert. There were even some media from Taiwan! Did they fly to LA just for the press conference? o_O

the guys were intrigued by the furnishing inside HRC

During the press conference the band were presented with wrist watches from one of the LA concert sponsor...

free wristwatch for Mayday!

Mayday with their free wristwatch

The band also took the opportunity to present Hard Rock Cafe with a gift - a signed guitar and a Mayday figurine and board game set. I doubt if the latter gift will be displayed at HRC. haha

And after the press conference, the band were ushered off to the Universal Studios theme park for an afternoon of fun :)

20100404 變形DNA Connecticut演唱會 D.N.A Unlimited concert

My first blog entry in over 2 weeks!

I've been really busy the past few weeks globetrotting pursuing Mayday across 2 continents and 5 different cities.

First stop was Mohegan Sun in Connecticut, USA on 4 April 2010. It was my second trip to Mohegan Sun, having previously watched another concert there 3 years ago. It was good to be back there as I was familiar with the venue. Not much has changed in the arena though the casino has seen some changes.

Mohegan Sun Arena entrance

most of the seats were still empty after the concert started 

The 2AM concert turned out to be the shortest set of the American D.N.A tour. Was it because they were tired from the jetlag or were they just warming up for the 2PM show. The arena was rather empty during the 2PM show - towards the back and all around the cheaper seats. It was pretty disheartening to see such an empty arena and I hope the guys weren't disappointed or anything. It's their first ever concert in Mohegan Sun (and east coast US for that matter) Let's hope it won't be the last.

They sang a number of Hokkien songs: 垃圾車, 憨人 and 叫我第一名 for the 2PM concert which was good. The 2PM set was slightly longer than the 2AM set by between 15-20 mins.

Having watched Mayday across Asia in mega sized stadiums, it was good to see Mayday in a smaller venue. Though the American DNA sets were devoid of the laser effects and stage props, it was refreshing to see the band in a simple set. No fancy gizmos or effects, just the band doing what they do best - playing live! :D And smaller venues = intimate gigs :) and we had awesome Row 1 seats for both shows. There was no way we'd be able to get so close to the stage in Asia.

Both the 2AM and 2PM concerts started exactly on time, not a minute earlier or later. That's highly impressive! I have never ever been to concert that's so punctual. They'd usually start about 30 mins or so after the scheduled time. Sometimes even later.

During both concerts the guys poked fun at Guan You gambling in red underwear. The guys were holed up for so long in Mohegan they probably couldn't do anything else but gamble.

Mayday Mohegan Sun 2AM concert

First time Mayday played Mohegan Sun. I hope they weren;t disappointed that there were sooo many empty seats in the crowd -.- Show started exactly at 2AM on the dot - it was the most punctual concert I 've ever been to. Ended at 4:15am - a rather short set.

I've uploaded vids in YouTube (ain't I efficient? LOL)

Waiting for the 2PM show to start...