Arashi announces 'ARAFES' at National Olympic Stadium & 5-Major Dome tour + new album

On June 30th, Arashi held an event titled, "Arashi no Wakuwaku Gakkou ~Mainichi ga Kagayaku 5-tsu no Jugyou~" at the Tokyo Dome, and made some surprise announcements which shook the entire venue with loud cheers from the audience of 45,000.

It was near the end of the event when Aiba Masaki began to speak, "Attention please. We have an announcement to make." Then, "ARAFES" showed up on the big screen, and it was announced that there would be a 2-day live concert at the National Olympic Stadium on September 21st and 22nd. 

"ARAFES" is a type of live concert in which the set list is based on the fans' requests. Ninomiya Kazunari stated, "We will perform 10 songs from our singles, 10 songs from our albums, and 10 songs from our coupling songs." This will be the 6th consecutive year for the group to hold a live concert at the venue.

As it was an unexpected announcement, the shouts of joy from the audience did not stop. However, it wasn't the only surprise. The second announcement was that Arashi's 12th album was set for release this fall. Aiba told the audience, "We just started working on it, so it's not even titled yet, but please look forward to it everyone."

Leader Ohno Satoshi followed up by saying, "We made an announcement about our album release, which means..." It was the cue to the announcement of their 5-major dome tour. There will be a total of 16 stages for the dome tour, and including the 2-days live at the National Olympic Stadium, 870,000 fans are expected to be attending their live concerts. The dome tour will kick off on November 8th, and will end on December 22nd.

Matsumoto Jun said to the audience, "It's great to see you guys excited. We will work hard on the preparation, so please look forward to it."

At the end of the event, Sakurai Sho shouted, "We'll see you again at the National Olympic Stadium!"

Source: Sanspo (1+2), Daily Sports Online

Arashi announces the big Dome tour + New album

On September 20th, popular group Arashi held the first day of their 2-day live “AraFes” at the National Olympic Stadium.  At the concert more than 70,000 were in the audience and it was announced that they would be releasing a new album “Popcorn” on October 31st, and holding a big Dome tour.

Starting at Kyocera Dome Osaka on November 16th, Arashi will make the rounds in the 5 big Domes of Japan (Kyocera Dome Osaka, Sapporo Dome, Fukuoka Yahoo! JAPAN Dome, Tokyo Dome, and Nagoya Dome). With a total of 16 performances, and including this 2-day “AraFes” concert, the total number of audience will reach 870,000 people for 18 performances.  (You can check the schedule for the Dome tour here.)

As announced previously, this ”AraFes” concert was different from Arashi’s regular concerts, as its set list was based on fans’ requests which were sent about 270,000 of them.  Arashi performed about 40 songs that were ranked top among their singles, tracks from albums, as well as the coupling songs.  Also, there was no Johnny’s Jr. members who usually appear as the back dancers, for this concert, so when each member performed their solo tracks, fellow members participated as the back dancers.  This hard stage made the members out of breath fast even during the first half of the concert, and a member Ninomiya Kazunari said, “I’ve never felt grateful toward Jr. members this much before.”

As the member Matsumoto Jun declared “Arashi’s summer never ends. Five of us will make 70,000 of you happy!”, the 70,000 audience kept giving Arashi enthusiastic cheers during the whole 3 and a half hours concert.

Source & Image: Oricon + Johnny’s net

Arashi to release special compilation album “Ura Ara Mania”, tracklist of 62 songs revealed

Arashi is holding their concert “AraFes” at Tokyo National Stadium for the fifth time this year and will be trying out some new ideas for their concert, including performing a repertoire voted by fans and doing away with back-up dancers.
To commemorate “AraFes”, Arashi is releasing a special compilation album titled “Ura Ara Mania” comprising 62 songs, 49 of which are coupling B-sides. Besides the coupling B-sides, the album also includes rare songs that are difficult to obtain, popular concert melodies and hidden songs.  It’s described as an album that can be enjoyed by both fans who will and will not be attending “AraFes”. The tracklist was released recently and can be viewed below!
Requests for pre-order can be made on the dedicated J-storm homepage from 8/16 13:00 to 8/23 24:00, and the album will be delivered during “AraFes” between 9/20-9/21.
The album costs 6000 yen and can only be bought through the J-storm homepage. Also, each person may only make one purchase and deliveries will be made to Japanese addresses.
===
Special Compilation Album
Sketch
Re(mark)able
Green
ALL or NOTHING
DANGAN-LINER
Sawarenai
Ai to Yuuki to Cherry Pie
Deep na Bouken
helpless
On Sunday
Yasei wo Shiritai
Allergy
Kokoro Chirari
Fuyu no Nioi
Kimi ga Iinda
Koigokoro
Gorimuchu
Hey Hey Lovin’ You
Te Tsunagou
Ichioku no Hoshi
Futari no Kinenbi
Harukaze Sneaker
NA!NA!NA!
Kiss Kara Hajimeyou
Natsu no Owari ni Omou Koto
Itsumademo
Fight Song
Di-Li-Li
Future
Still…
Snowflake
Fuyu wo Dakishimete
How to fly
Smile
Boku ga Boku no Subete
Wasurerarenai
ToBiRa
season
Tokei Jikake no Umbrella
Super Fresh
Yurase, Ima wo
Mou Ippo
Spiral
over
Time Capsule
STORY
maboroshi
Ano hi no Merry Christmas
ever
Boom Boom
Kienu Omoi
together, forever
Utakata
wanna be…
How Can I Love
Tsuite Oide
Futari no Katachi
Hitori Janaisa
Mezashita Mirai E
Kimi ga Iru Kara
Hanabi
voice
Source: J-storm

Arashi holds mini-live in Miyagi for Tohoku disaster victims

On February 22nd, Arashi visited Miyagi prefecture to hold a mini live at Shichigahama Kokusaimura. This was a part of NTV’s upcoming music program special called “Nittere-kei Ongaku no Saiten Ongaku no Chikara 2012“, which will be broadcasted on March 7th.

Though the members have visited the Tohoku disaster areas individually, this day marked the first time for all five members to pay a visit together. Before the mini live, they also made a stop at the temporary housing area in Ishinomaki city, communicating with the residents there.  The boys invited 500 disaster victims to the live for free, and performed a total of 11 songs, including their new song “Wild at Heart” (to be released on March 7th).

Leader Ohno Satoshi commented, “I felt the power of people there. Everybody was high-spirited and had amazing smiles.  It was a great atmosphere, as it even gave Arashi energy.”  Fellow memberMatsumoto Jun said, “I saw an audience member weep with emotion (at the live), but in the end, everyone there was smiling which made me realize the amazing power of music. With all the members together, I would like to search for things we could do.”

It was also announced that member Sakurai Sho will make a live appearance from the disaster area on NTV’s special news program, “NNN Houdou Tokuban ‘Fukkou TV Minna no Chikara 3・11′” as a ZERO caster. This special will be broadcast on March 11th, the anniversary of the Tohoku disaster.

Source: Sports Hochi

Artist lineup for “MUSIC STATION SUPER LIVE 2011″ announced + Music Station Live CM

The artist lineup for TV Asahi’s year-end music special, “MUSIC STATION SUPER LIVE” has been announced! This year, the program will broadcast live from Chiba Makuhari Messe on December 23rd from 7:00 – 11:10 PM.

The 30 artists who will perform on the show are:

• Lady Gaga
• ayaka
• SMAP
• Arashi
• Fukuyama Masaharu
• AKB48
• EXILE
• Shoujo Jidai
• Nishino Kana
• Perfume
• Kinki Kids
• Yuzu
• Ikimonogakari
• aiko
• JUJU
• Porno Graffitti
• Kimura Kaela
• V6
• YUI
• KAT-TUN
• Kuraki Mai
• Tohoshinki
• KARA
• Kanjani 8
• TOKIO
• Koda Kumi
• Saito Kazuyoshi
• L’Arc~en~Ciel
• Hey! Say! JUMP
• Kis-My-Ft2

TV Asahi is currently holding a campaign to give away 5 pairs of tickets to the event. They are accepting applications online and by phone until December 11th at 12:00 pm.

enjoy the CM for this show :

Source: natalie and MUSIC STATION Official Website