HEKIRU　SHIINA　SUMMER TOUR　2006 〜Power Of Love〜 (7/1 仙台) pt2

8000文字超えちゃった・・・2部に分けます。

＜Report＞
It’s been 4 years since I’ve been back to Sendai. Took the 9:22 Shinkansen up, the 21:26 back to Tokyo, so I was there slightly more than half a day, heh.

The concert was at Zepp Tokyo, which is right next to Sendai Station. It started at 17:35 and ended at 19:55, so slightly under two and a half hours.

The concert opened with nobody on stage, heavy pulsing music and green lights overhead (which is a new effect). Then the band members came out, and finally Hekiru. The music ended and the band started up on Todoketai omoi, a big surprise. The song was slighly rearranged, but warm and soft. Hekiru seemed a bit nervous, but that was probably a combination of exhaustion (apparently she and the band had been rehearsal for 5 days, and even before that she was so busy she had no time to sleep) and nerves about whether the band would be up to speed. The song ended with a slight rearranged ending, moving into Clear Sky which got the audience together waving and Hekiru looking a bit more relax, then Ganbare which kept the feel good mood. Hekiru had the audience sing parts of the chorus.

Then suddenly it was Tabitachi no uta, a fast-paced song which demands you to punch the air and whatnot. Honestly, I don’t like this song, and it was a big shift in pacing from Ganbare, so it was quite jarring. Going into Dengeki Jap was another shock, because this is one of the superfast songs I love, and I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to go ballistic like I normally do. Felt it was a bit of a waste to have these two here. Hekiru did her best by moving around during Dengeki, but the audience was rather subdued.

During the MC, she introduced herself, then said she would ask two band members to speak. She picked Jake first, calling him Saito-san as a running joke from the last tour, and asked him what memories he had of Sendai. He said he had fresh hoya, a food which is quite difficult to obtain. Hekiru didn’t know what hoya was (most people don’t, it’s weird sea creature served as a drinking accompaniment) and time was taken to explain how it looked like a knobbly tetrapod. Hekiru said she would never eat it, it sounded too weird. Then she said, oh no, we spent too much time talking about tetrapods! And moved on to Kimura Ken, whom she called Kimura-san. Ken, who grew up near Sendai, said his memories are of skipping school and hanging out in a cafe from 8am till 4pm on one cup of coffee every day, having no clue for six months that the owner was pissed and trying to get rid of him.

The MC ended and the band started up. This is where I got my massive shock and delight for the night… Phoenix! Oh my god, the only time Hekiru sang this was in summer of 97, it’s a great song and Hekiru loves it too, but somehow it’s never been sung since and after 8 years of after for it each tour questionnaire, I’d given up. So when the intro started, it was all I could do to stop from running up and down the aisles singing hallelujah. Instead I settled for a massive shit-eating grin plastered on my face and singing like there was no tomorrow. The people around seemed to feel the same, as this was the part of the concert when they actually vocalized some calls and whistles of appreciation. The arrangement of the song wasn’t that different, but different fuller and more edged due to the twin guitars. Hekiru’s moves were quite jerky, and the part in ‘97 when she puts her palm on her midriff and moves her hips, became just the palm on the midriff and then some random movements. I think she was pretty uncertain here too.

Phoenix rolled into Gensou no yuki, and suddenly I was like, shit I love this song too! And it was frustrating because suddenly I didn’t know whether to listen or to headbang or to shout or what… I was just too adrenalized! Anyway, I discovered that I couldn’t headbang to it - the pace was too fast and I had sprained one side of my neck at Dengeki Jap, pathetic I know. Next was Fantasia, and this was good. I didn’t like it before on CD, and not at last year’s winter tour either, but my iTunes had the Power of Love single running into Reverence, so… one gets used to it. I just don’t like the uppity chorus.

Then Hekiru left the stage as the band continued to play the ending of Fantasia. When she returned she was in white, and the keyboards played a slow intro, to which Hekiru soon added the opening vocals of Reborn. Then the band struck up in full, and here again I was pleasantly surprised at how good it sounded. I like Reborn better than Power of Love, because of its minor key, and on the CD it’s got a pretty good oomph. But live, it’s a different order of magnitude. The sound blew me away, it was really really intense, especially on the chorus. I loved the stage and atmosphere too. The lighting was red, and Hekiru had a serious look on her face, such that I couldn’t help but draw a parallel to Kaze no yukue. I think I may like this song live almost as much. Which means that it’ll probably never be sung again, as it’s not one of those jumping shouting genki songs. I think it was at the end of this song that she bowed deeply, which is surprising because she usually does it only at ballads or when she leaves the stage. I wonder if it meant something…?

Then the lights came on and Hekiru had a few words for the MC. “Hello, Reborn from my new single got it’s first live performance in Sendai.”

People shouted that it was good, then she seemed a bit flustered, before saying, “Sorry, my songs are all fast.”

“That’s okay! We keeping up!”

“No it’s not, because I’m the one dying!” shot back Hekiru.

Hmm, I think I like this Hekiru who speaks her mind, but it’s also cause for concern as she’s been mentioning the physical strain more and more.

Anyway, she continued and said, “Well, I sang a mix of old songs and new. I was a bit nervous wondering if people would recognize them, but it looks like you guys did.” Then she said she had more new songs. Two songs in fact, which she had been recording just before the rehearsals. She hoped that people would like the songs, because the release depended on their reaction. “Anyway, listen to this: Eternal Circle.”

コメント(3) | トラックバック(0)

この記事のURL
http://gazz.221616.com/user-42AB37D669821CC990DD484E3A8056C1/blog/entry-20088/

この記事へのトラックバックURL
このブログに対するトラックバックは出来ません