So last Saturday I attended a concert for Man With a Mission (MWAM), a band I wasn't too, too familiar with. I was genuinely surprised by how much fun I had!
Me with my face grey-blocked and Man With A Mission.
I guess I'm still not ready yet to show my face here.
Me and Man With A Mission
As mentioned above, I wasn't too familiar with MWAM and their music. The only song I knew from them at the time was "
database", the opening theme for
Log Horizon anime series, a song that I thought was "just okay" (any fans reading this and disagree -- I hope you don't judge me too harshly for saying that!).
Then about a month ago, one of my friends messaged me on Facebook, telling me that MWAM would be doing a concert in Toronto on September 21st. I looked up the day.
'Okay. It's a Saturday... I might be able to go...' I thought. Then I looked up MWAM and my eyes went wide. '
They have wolf heads.... kowaiiiiiii (Scary)....' I got a little scared. '
What if I get eaten...?' I told my friend I'd have to look up more of their music before deciding whether or not to go.
Then... with about two weeks left to the concert, I decided to finally take the dive and check out MWAM. I searched up MWAM on YouTube and let the videos autoplay while I did other tasks. While not all the tunes landed for me, for the most part I enjoyed what I listened to. I really liked that some of their songs had English lyrics. I also liked that while many of their songs were upbeat and energetic, they had some slow emotion-evoking tunes.
I decided: I'm going to attend their concert. At the time, regular tickets were sold out, so I purchased a VIP ticket. The VIP ticket supposedly came with a pre-show meet & greet and a gift.
And that is the story of how a shy little sheep like me bought a VIP ticket to meet and greet with the wolves! (the photo above)
For the concert, I was really hoping they would perform "akatsuki", my favourite song from what I had listened to at the time. I also hoped they would perform "
Memories", my second favourite song.
The Little Details
Date of Concert: September 21, 2019
Venue: Adelaide Hall (Toronto, Ontario)
Time: 8:00 PM (Doors open 6:30 PM for VIP; 7 PM for non-VIP)
Ticket Price Total: $129.07 (VIP admission)
Seating: No reserved seating
5:30-ish PM @ Adelaide Hall
The line into Adelaide Hall! To the right was the VIP line.
To the left was the non-VIP line.
Finding Adelaide Hall was a little difficult. It wasn't on Adelaide Street, even though the address was 250 Adelaide Street West. I was directed to walk to the corner of Adelaide and Duncan Street, walk North, and then turn left at the first alleyway. The instructions sounded kinda sketchy, but I followed them and found a small crowd standing about in two lines.
I asked the last person in line if this was for the MWAM concert. He said yes and then I promptly got in line.
I was surprised there was already a line-up at 5:30 PM. I thought I was early! I was also surprised that the VIP line looked a bit longer than the non-VIP line. Was it because there would be a pre-show meet & greet for the VIP attendees?
That was something I was disappointed about: VIP attendees weren't instructed
what time to show up for the pre-show meet & greet. I had contacted the organizer about two days before the concert asking this, but got no response. A bit more communication would have been very much appreciated...
6:30-ish PM -- Being Let into the Den...
Around 6:30 PM, VIP attendees got let inside. There were two flights of stairs before getting to the hall space. To one side was a small merchandise area selling T-shirts and hoodies.
We were still in line form, apparently being led to the wolves themselves. The pre-show meet & greet was happening! We were instructed to have our phones ready to get a picture taken.
I was getting nervous. What should I say? How should I act? I'm not a crazy-big fan like everybody else here... Right then I truly felt like a sheep in a wolf's den, hahaha. I quietly observed how the other attendees behaved around the wolves.
When it was my turn, I walked up to the wolves and bowed my head a little, saying a quiet, "Hello". Then I turned around to "pose" for my picture with them. I held up my hands to mimic wolf paws, but I knew my paws were lame and not vicious at all.
After that, I was gestured to the stage area. I was surprised by how tiny it was! There were no chairs -- it was a complete standing area. I stood as close to the stage as possible, and observed other VIP attendees and the wolves since the meet & greet was still going on.
When it was around 6:50 PM, the meet & greet was over. The wolves proceeded backstage, waving at us all as they walked by. I took this time to buy a T-shirt from the merchandise area, figuring it'd be better to buy now before the rest of the attendees got let in. At that time, another VIP attendee was inquiring about the "gift" that was promised with the VIP admission. Since nothing else was given to us, I concluded that the "gift" was the photo with the wolves.
I rushed back to the crowd. When the rest of the attendees were let in and the venue slowly filled up, I thought, 'Oh dear... I probably won't be able to move much from this spot. I've never stood in the center area before in a concert. Will I make it out of this concert in one piece????!!!'
The merchandise shop! From what I saw, they were only selling T-shirts,
a hoodie, and some small meshy bag thing.
The stage. It's super tiny!
8:00-ish PM -- Music START!!
Dancing in the center area -- was -- an -- experience! Being surrounded by fans who were super pumped and moved about excitedly -- even a shy girl like me started to move the same way. I still tried to be considerate of those around me, and tried to move in a way that wouldn't injure me or others (like not jumping too high, not dancing on people's feet, etc.), and I tried to make sure my purse wasn't hitting anybody whenever I moved my arms.
I got pushed around quite often though from some other attendees who let their inhibitions completely fly out the window. I tried staying close to one attendee who seemed pretty good at keeping most other attendees at bay. I'm almost 100% that that attendee would never come across this blog, but if he has and is reading this -- thank you for being my unintended shield! *bows*
Some notable / memorable moments from the concert (that I could remember):
1. Whenever some of the wolves grabbed / shook attendees' hands or allowed some wolf head pats, the crowd would move closer, myself included. I was always only a few arms away, hahaha... ;____________;
2. After one song, one of the wolves made hand motions, conveying the word "sit". At first, we were hesitant since we were all standing so close to each other. But slowly, after more of the same hand motions, we obeyed. Then he told us that at a certain part of the next song, he wanted us to jump at the same time. When the moment came, we all jumped. It was wild!
3. During one song, I noticed an attendee was "flying the waves" towards me. Scared that I'd get crushed under his weight, I moved back. Thankfully he got moved to another direction.
4. During another song, one of the wolves jumped onto the crowd. This time I went towards him, but my arms were too short to reach. In my defense... I knew many others would be sharing in the weight, so I didn't worry about getting crushed in that situation.
5. At various times, the wolves eyes would glow a menacing yellow.
My favourite song of the night was a tie between "Emotions" and "Fly Again". I was surprised by how much I enjoyed both songs since the album versions didn't do very much for me. I especially liked doing the hand movements for "Fly Again" (waving our arms from left to right to the beat). I really appreciated that one of the wolves gave hand instructions on what to do and which direction to start.
After the last song, they thanked us and walked offstage. I was sweaty all over. My arms were sore, but I was still standing. We alternated between clapping weakly and meekly shouting "Encore". I think we were all tired, hahaha. After a few minutes of nothing happening, we strengthened our clapping and shouted "Encore" more fervently. I thought,
'These wolves won't give us an encore unless we show them we want it!'
The wolves came back on and did two more songs. We danced like crazy again.
When it was over, one of the wolves told us it was now okay to take pictures and video. Everybody whipped out their phone immediately! The wolves did some more thanks and posed every now and then.
The show ended around 9:49 PM.
As soon as they say it's okay to take pictures and video,
everybody's phone gets whipped out!
Another shot. Look at those glowing yellow eyes!
Setlist (Partial)
Here is a partial setlist for MWAM. This is NOT listed in the correct order. I tried linking each song to the official audio track / music video on YouTube.
I know that I am missing a lot of songs from this setlist. If anybody reading this also attended the Toronto concert and know a song that is missing from this setlist, please let me know! I've been directed to a setlist for another venue during this same tour, but with me listening to their songs frequently after the concert, I don't fully trust my memory on if I actually listened to it at the concert, or if I listened to the song on YouTube only.
-
Hey Now
-
Emotions
-
Dog Days
-Smells Like Teen Spirit (Nirvana cover)
-
Chasing the Horizon (Acoustic version)
-
Fly Again
-
Winding Road
-
Seven Deadly Sins
-
86 Missed Calls
Encore (I think these were the encores):
-
Dead End in Tokyo
-
Raise Your Flag
Overall Experience
Aside from the pushings every now and then, I had an absolute blast! I was completely soaked with sweat by the time it was over. Thank goodness there were electric fans blasting from above, even though I didn't feel it much once the concert started. Even though dancing in the center area was super sweaty and tiring, I felt so energized and alive afterwards. I would definitely be in the center area again. But hopefully next time I'll be closer so I'll be able to give wolf head pats.
A special thanks to my friend who told me about the MWAM concert in the first place. I would have missed this completely, and would not have gotten exposed to MWAM's cool music. For anybody who is curious, my friend had a non-VIP ticket so we were at different areas of the venue.
MWAM, thank you for coming to Toronto! Please come again soon! <3 <3 <3
A few days after the concert, I received an e-mail from the event organizer, asking me to provide my mailing address to receive my VIP gift. So there was an actual gift for the VIP admission. As soon as I receive it, I'll update this blog.
UPDATE -- October 26, 2019 -- My VIP gift arrived and unfortunately, I am very underwhelmed, hahaha... I also have suspicions that I've been sent the incorrect gift. Take a look below.
My VIP gift!
So this looks like a mini-postcard, but the date on the postcard was for the Vancouver concert, which I did NOT attend...
I provided my mailing address twice, and I received this, so I will not bother to make a fuss and just say I had a good time taking a photo with the wolves and dancing at the concert.
Since the concert ended, I've been listening to more of their musics and have come across another favourite track: "
Please Forgive Me". "Akatsuki" is still my most favourite.
The next time I see them in concert, I swear... I'll be able to tell them apart! Hahaha ^-^'''
Thank you so much for reading!
As usual, If you have any questions / comments, feel free!
Have a wonderful rest of the weekend and until next time (which should be tomorrow)! :)
