Japan 'Beyond' Tour - October 2018

[james010101]

The concert in Tokyo on Sunday 21th is nearly sold out : 99.55% is sold.
It remain only 8 seats available among the 1800 of the theatre, located in the far away corners of the balcony.

incredible, though i guess its not surprising given that it's on a weekend? I wonder what the sale situation is like for the weekday concerts..

[fan_de_LoK]

We are at less than 4 weeks from the tour in Japan.
Here an eye on the tickets booking, through the Kajimoto selling site (as here)

• For the 1st concert, of Sunday October 21st in Tokyo, it remains only ONE seat available. The 1799 other seats are now sold, meaning 99,94%
  
    
   
• For the 2nd concert on the day next, Monday October 22nd at the same venue, 1451 seats are sold, meaning 80.6%
    
   
• For the 3rd concert at the Zepp Nagoya, on Wednesday October 24th, it's less easy to count. The seats can't be chosen from a grid, they are allocated by the system. Tonight it gives me seats K3. It was K21 a couple of days ago.
  based from seats grid found on internet I estimate the number of seats sold at 324 compared to 741 of the room, meaning 43.7%
  
    
   
• For the 4th concert in Osaka on Friday October 26th, 1304 seats are sold among the 2754, meaning 47.3%

[aoba]

There are few seats of the October 21st concert which are sold by eplus and Kajimoto eplus.
On the other hand, it is highly likely that T-ticket still have more seats. However, it's difficult to buy T-ticket's one from overseas.

Anyway, the number of available seats of the 1st concert in Tokyo from overseas is only a few left.

[Surpinto]

For the first two concerts those percentages are ridiculously high. With some notable exceptions for certain performers and certain venues, a classical or classical type music concert rarely sells that well even on the night of the performance with people buying tickets at the door. And with four weeks to go that's extremely encouraging.

I hope that their ticket sales for the last two venues pick up but even if they only reach the 60% mark on both that is not an unreasonable turnout for a choral concert; though a sell out is ideal.

Of course we know that Libera does exceptionally well in Japan and so a very full concert hall would not be a surprise.

[james010101]

For the first two concerts those percentages are ridiculously high. With some notable exceptions for certain performers and certain venues, a classical or classical type music concert rarely sells that well even on the night of the performance with people buying tickets at the door. And with four weeks to go that's extremely encouraging.

I hope that their ticket sales for the last two venues pick up but even if they only reach the 60% mark on both that is not an unreasonable turnout for a choral concert; though a sell out is ideal.

Of course we know that Libera does exceptionally well in Japan and so a very full concert hall would not be a surprise.

I'm a little worried for the meet and greet after though.... with almost 1800 ppl, and assuming half of the attendees will want their programs signed, i can't imagine how long the queue will be..... :O

[john45]

I'm a little worried for the meet and greet after though.... with almost 1800 ppl, and assuming half of the attendees will want their programs signed, i can't imagine how long the queue will be..... :O

The queue(s) will be very long but the Japanese ushers are very efficient at keeping things moving. The usual practice is to split the boys into two groups and the fans into two corresponding queues which makes the whole process faster. Few of the local fans speak English so there is also less chat to slow things down (as in the US). Photography is sometimes allowed and sometimes not. Of course you only get half the signatures at each concert but if you attend all four you will probably end up with a full slate.

[aoba]

I'm a little worried for the meet and greet after though.... with almost 1800 ppl, and assuming half of the attendees will want their programs signed, i can't imagine how long the queue will be..... :O

As far as I can remember, the M&G after the concert of last year at Orchard Hall, which has 2150 seats, started at about 21:20 and ended at about 22:10.

[john45]

I'm a little worried for the meet and greet after though.... with almost 1800 ppl, and assuming half of the attendees will want their programs signed, i can't imagine how long the queue will be..... :O

As far as I can remember, the M&G after the concert of last year at Orchard Hall, which has 2150 seats, started at about 21:20 and ended at about 22:10.

My transit of the autograph line at Garden Grove (31 boys) took 24 minutes (I recorded it). It would not be allowed to move so slowly in Japan, but can the mathemeticians among you figure out how long it would take for 900 fans to greet 18 boys at that rate. I tried but it gave me a headache.

[Yorkie]

I'm a little worried for the meet and greet after though.... with almost 1800 ppl, and assuming half of the attendees will want their programs signed, i can't imagine how long the queue will be..... :O

As far as I can remember, the M&G after the concert of last year at Orchard Hall, which has 2150 seats, started at about 21:20 and ended at about 22:10.

My transit of the autograph line at Garden Grove (31 boys) took 24 minutes (I recorded it). It would not be allowed to move so slowly in Japan, but can the mathemeticians among you figure out how long it would take for 900 fans to greet 18 boys at that rate. I tried but it gave me a headache.

Oooh a challenge - I only got a 'c' for my maths 'o' level mind.

24 minutes divided by 37 boys = 0.6468 minutes per boy, x 18 boys = 11.67 minutes for one person to go through the line so multiply that by 900 people = 10,503 minutes or 175 hours. However, you send multiple people through the line at the same time (let's say for arguments sake 18 at a time so divide 175 hours by 18 = 9.7 hours (9 hours 42 minutes in real time).

That seems like a long time, so I'm doubting my maths now!

[john45]

As far as I can remember, the M&G after the concert of last year at Orchard Hall, which has 2150 seats, started at about 21:20 and ended at about 22:10.

My transit of the autograph line at Garden Grove (31 boys) took 24 minutes (I recorded it). It would not be allowed to move so slowly in Japan, but can the mathemeticians among you figure out how long it would take for 900 fans to greet 18 boys at that rate. I tried but it gave me a headache.

Oooh a challenge - I only got a 'c' for my maths 'o' level mind.

24 minutes divided by 37 boys = 0.6468 minutes per boy, x 18 boys = 11.67 minutes for one person to go through the line so multiply that by 900 people = 10,503 minutes or 175 hours. However, you send multiple people through the line at the same time (let's say for arguments sake 18 at a time so divide 175 hours by 18 = 9.7 hours (9 hours 42 minutes in real time).

That seems like a long time, so I'm doubting my maths now!

My approach was a little different:

Time to see 18 boys would be 18/31 x 24 = 13.9 minutes

900 fans would make 50 groups of 18 (900/18); each group would take 13.9 minutes to transit the line.

50 x13.9 = 695 minutes or 11.58 hours

Which seemed too long to be correct ( I got a 2 in O level maths - there were 6 passing grades in those days).

[Surpinto]

But isn't 24 minutes the amount of time you spent in line in total rather than the amount of time you were actually getting signatures? I don't mean to doubt you, John, but 24 minutes from first boy to last boy doesn't sound right.

However, if it took you 24 minutes total (signature time + waiting time before getting to the signing tables) then that number is more plausible. At which point we would have to know how many people went through the line in total that night to calculate the exact number of minutes per person. Without that information it is actually impossible to answer your question with any real accuracy. Yet I imagine that we can speculate and approximate the answer.

I believe there were 31 boys on the US tour per Libera Passion and my own experience in San Antonio tells me that it took me about 3-4 minutes tops to get through the line (and that was not a long line and no one was hurrying us). When I went on Youtube to verify this number, it was confirmed by the various videos people have posted of the signings over the years. There are exceptions, but generally 2.5 to 5 minutes seems to be the right interval to go through the line from first to last choir member; excluding the wait time before that. That is roughly 5 to 10 seconds per chorister on the high end of the estimate.

So what's the conclusion? If there are two lines in Japan with 9 boys each, and the ushers are pushing everyone through quickly, that means that it would take each group of 900 people 75 minutes to get through the line (math: 5 secs/boy X 900 people = 75 min). But I would be more inclined to believe 45 to 60 minutes as the number of seconds spent per chorister would likely decrease as there are far less of them....less time for "traffic jams" in the line with less boys to get a signature from. (math: 3 seconds/boy X 900 = 45 min)

However, that again assumes that everyone will want an autograph, also not a certainty. If even 25% of the audience does not want an autograph or can't stay that leaves 675 per line and that means that the line could finish in 34 to 56 minutes.

Final conclusion: The signing will take an hour give or take in sum total.

[john45]

"The queue(s) will be very long but the Japanese ushers are very efficient at keeping things moving. The usual practice is to split the boys into two groups and the fans into two corresponding queues which makes the whole process faster. Few of the local fans speak English so there is also less chat to slow things down (as in the US). Photography is sometimes allowed and sometimes not. Of course you only get half the signatures at each concert but if you attend all four you will probably end up with a full slate."

Surpinto: Notice that as I pointed out originally, things are different in the US and the example was an illustration of how different they can be. Yes, at Golden Grove my recording from greeting the first in line (Benjamin) to the last (Merlin) is a few seconds short of 24 minutes. This was exceptional. In Washington in 2014 (30 boys) it was 8 minutes; in St Louis in 2017 it was 13 minutes which, in my experience, is about the usual range in the US. You guys do love to talk. I have no objection to that and appreciate the time it gives the rest of us to interact. In Japan, the number of fans will be considerably greater, but the process will be much faster and probably take no longer than one hour.

[james010101]

I'm a little worried for the meet and greet after though.... with almost 1800 ppl, and assuming half of the attendees will want their programs signed, i can't imagine how long the queue will be..... :O

The queue(s) will be very long but the Japanese ushers are very efficient at keeping things moving. The usual practice is to split the boys into two groups and the fans into two corresponding queues which makes the whole process faster. Few of the local fans speak English so there is also less chat to slow things down (as in the US). Photography is sometimes allowed and sometimes not. Of course you only get half the signatures at each concert but if you attend all four you will probably end up with a full slate.

Is it generally acceptable to take photos/videos? Also, for the signing part, do they only sign official merchandise sold at the venue, or are they ok with signing other items too (i.e. old merchandise sold by Libera Record a few years back)? I'm not too familiar with such events and I don't want to antagonize anyone.

[Surpinto]

"The queue(s) will be very long but the Japanese ushers are very efficient at keeping things moving. The usual practice is to split the boys into two groups and the fans into two corresponding queues which makes the whole process faster. Few of the local fans speak English so there is also less chat to slow things down (as in the US). Photography is sometimes allowed and sometimes not. Of course you only get half the signatures at each concert but if you attend all four you will probably end up with a full slate."

Surpinto: Notice that as I pointed out originally, things are different in the US and the example was an illustration of how different they can be. Yes, at Golden Grove my recording from greeting the first in line (Benjamin) to the last (Merlin) is a few seconds short of 24 minutes. This was exceptional. In Washington in 2014 (30 boys) it was 8 minutes; in St Louis in 2017 it was 13 minutes which, in my experience, is about the usual range in the US. You guys do love to talk. I have no objection to that and appreciate the time it gives the rest of us to interact. In Japan, the number of fans will be considerably greater, but the process will be much faster and probably take no longer than one hour.

My apologies for misunderstanding; I was just so blown away by 24 minutes that I wondered if you had meant the queue time also. It just seemed incorrect to me as 24 minutes in sum total is extreme and yes, the lines being far shorter in the US, in terms of the percent of that audience that stays for the signing, adds significantly to the relaxed atmosphere. Didn't realize it was that relaxed in Garden Grove. Again, my apologies.

Using your time intervals you spent roughly 46 seconds per boy. At that rate it would take 103.5 hours (4 and 1/3 days) for 900 people to traverse a line of 9 boys. Better pack a cot and provisions if they do that

[justin]

• For the 1st concert, of Sunday October 21st in Tokyo, it remains only ONE seat available. The 1799 other seats are now sold, meaning 99,94%
  
     

Seems like the first concert is completely sold out now (as of 1 October 2018)