Question 4.
So what exactly is a “hall tour,” and what is a “seated live”?

When popular, major-label bands go on tour in Japan, the tours are generally one of two types: “hall tours”, a.k.a. “seated” tours, or “live house tours,” a.k.a. “standing” tours. The key difference lies in the type of venue the band performs in.

At hall/seated tours, the band will be performing in concert halls, that is, big auditoriums filled with permanent, numbered seats. Like an opera house, but with less opera. Or the auditorium at your high school, but bigger, and with less high school. Or a cathedral, but with fewer awesome stained glass windows, and less Jesus. Get the picture? In the Tokyo area, major “hall-type” venues include NHK Hall, the Shibuya Kokaido, and the Tama Parthenon, to name just a few.

When you get tickets to a hall/seated tour, your seat number will be listed on your ticket. That seat is reserved, especially for your lucky little ass. No one else will take it…　so there’s no real need to show up early, or enter the venue early. You can show up at the very last minute and still have that guaranteed seat waiting there, especially for your lucky little ass. You can stand around drinking beer and smoking till the very last second, and still have that guaranteed seat waiting there, especially for your lucky little ass. And then, when you have to pee halfway through cuz you drank too much beer, you can wait till your band starts playing “Message” or “Spica” or some similarly crappy song, and take that opportunity to visit the crapper…　yet still have that guaranteed seat waiting there for your lucky little ass when you get back! At a hall tour, you also don’t have to worry about where to put all your tour goods…　you can just dump them on your seat till the concert’s over, since if you like this band, you’ll probably be standing up and cheering while they’re onstage, anyway. Having a seat can be a wonderful thing!

The only drawback to seated tours, really, is that if you get a seat at the back of the venue, you won’t be able to see a damn thing, and you won’t be able to do anything about it, either. Seats at hall tours in Japan are generally assigned by random lottery. You can't choose your seat, and you won't get a better seat just by buying tickets earlier. There is no way to get a better seat by paying more money, unless you're willing to fork over the big bucks to buy from an auction site or a yakuza ticket scalper. In general, you get whatever you seat you get, and unless you can find someone to trade seats with, you and your seat are legally married until the concert is over (which makes trading seats kind of like swapping spouses). Anyhow, if you get a seat in the makeout row at the very back corner of the very back balcony (something which surely has never happened to Cayce), you’re out of luck. Better bring some opera glasses and a bottle of vodka, and make do. Or bring some creepy figurines of the band that the band put on sale to promote one of their singles, and act out the show in real time on the back of the seat in front of you.

Anyhow, to recap: a hall/seated show takes place at a concert hall, with reserved seats only. Your seat number, over which you have no control, will be listed on your ticket. When attending a hall/seated tour, all you have to do is show up at the venue, find your seat, sit in it (or stand in front of it as the case may be), and enjoy the show.

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