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 STARTING LEGEND 2000 ~live to love~ |
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Starting Legend 2000 ~live to love~ Concert Tour Report Shiina Hekiru at Ichiharashi Shiminkaikan 07/16/00 Hekiru Shiina TOUR STARTING LEGEND 2000 ~live to love~
M1. Akai hana
asterisked songs are new
Costumes:
REPORT Today was opening day, and I had a first row ticket, to the left side but not directly in front of the speakers. So I could see everything on stage clearly. Then again, if I could choose, I wouldn't ask of a first row seat on the first day... That's too much pressure. ^^;; But beggars can't be choosers and I'm extremely grateful. The stage consisted of the same old arrangement, ie the two guitars to the left and right, and the keyboards behind. There was a raised platform with stairs leading down to the stage in the center of the back of the stage, and as a result the drums were offset to the left. The stage was covered by a black net ala CHANGE tour, so from further back you wouldn't be able to make out the details of the set. New speakers for this tour, and lots of the latest technology lights. The concert began as the lights fell, and the strains of the intro to Akai hana (Akashi version) started playing. Spotlights on stage played along the net, just like CHANGE, and when the intro kicked into full beat the net was raise, and Hekiru appeared out of the platform. She sang the first verse and chorus on top, then walked down the steps to stage level. The lights were red, and you could see the back of the stage lined with several thin pillars with drapes in between to form a wall. After Akai hana came Everlasting Train, for which the light were blue and white. The ending to Everlast blended into the intro for BESIDE YOU, and the drapes were removed to show the "live to love" logo on back of the stage as the lights danced around, finally settling down into a beautiful dappled pattern on the sheet at the back. BTW, the lights were the highlight of this tour - really well executed, complicated and intrinsic, violent and harsh at times, soft and delicate at others. Kudos to the production staff. When BESIDE YOU ended, Hekiru had a short MC. "Welcome to the Tour Starting Legend 2000 ~live to love~! Please enjoy yourselves today!" Then the band started up into the guitar intro for live to love. The band version doesn't differ too much, but the chorus is memorable to the strong drum beats, and the whispery "I must live, I must go, I must live etc" is wonderfully clear, running straight into the guitar riff. Then fly away and 246. Those were unexpected! At 246, the LED screen made its appearance and the cameramen went to work. 246 featured footage of a drive on a highway, interspersed with Hekiru's face as she sang. At the end of 246, Hekiru left the stage and the band started into RIDE A WAVE, with the band members clapping their hands overhead. The screen had CG footage of something (a red cloth?) flying in trailing sparkles... sounds strange in writing but looked very nice. Hekiru appeared in a blue dress (looking really really nice!), clapping her hands, and the screen switched to Hekiru. Then REAL LOVE. Hmm.. I like this song a lot. Hekiru's dance steps at the beginning were not as, uh, dancey as the previous tour, probably because she was wearing a dress. CG of... spheres?? uh, whatever... Hekiru looked nice. Then an unfamiliar intro started, and suddenly it was Harenochi I miss you, one of the few songs never sung before at a concert! (The others are The Rain and Sore sore yatte mimasu ka.) The arrange was quite different, with stronger keyboard, and strong drums at the end; very nice! Hekiru smiled a lot and looked like she really enjoyed herself. She walked to the left of the stage, and then to the right, before going back to the middle. I'll remember that hand gesture during the "yoyuu na no" part for a long time! She even winked (at me? heh!) during "harenochi I miss you" when she pointed at the audience and I pointed at her, at sheer coincidence. :P After Harenochi was Koi. The lights went dim and the cameras cut out. Hekiru stood in the middle of the stage, hands on top of the mike, or holding the mike stand, and sang wonderfully. I love this song... I love watching Hekiru sing it. When Koi ended, it was the MC. Hekiru started out by fanning her face with her hand and said, "It's hot... Isn't it hot?" Then she said she had a special weapon, and a staff handed her the Cool Pack. (The cool pack is a tour goods item that comes as a pack of chemicals that are separated and, when mixed, becomes endothermic.) She said, "Here it is!" and started reading the instructions, really fast. Kawaii! The audience laughed. "For quick cooling when you have a sudden fever." Then Hekiru said, let's break this pack with an "A-pon!" and held the pack up. She hit it and it didn't break, and so she hit it hard, and it broke but then she shouted, "Ouch!" and ran around the stage going "Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!!" After calming down, she said, "Let's give this to someone that's hot", and looked around, and finally pointed to the cameraman on the right, who was sweating a lot. She passed it to him and he pocketed it, and Hekiru said, "You guys should buy this!" Then she said, "By the way, do you notice anything different? Yes, one of the bands members is different... it's... Yoshihiko! Yoshiaki's younger brother!" Of course, Yoshiaki was Yoshiaki, and this was just another example of Hekiru's, um, rather incomprehensible sense of humour. The audience was not exactly appreciative. :P Then she said, "Okay okay, I'd like to introduce to you... the drums! A new member for this summer, Mabou!" Then she started talking about how this tour she sang, and would sing, some songs that she had never sung before at a tour. One was Harenochi, and she said how, during the fanclub event this year when they did a countdown of Hekiru's "Best Songs" as voted by fans, Harenochi came up and they talked about how she had never sung it. And she said that her producer had said to her, "It's not like you could sing it anyway. It's too hard," and Hekiru got all pissed and said, "I'll show you too I can sing it!!" And so it got put into the lineup. But then Hekiru hung her head and said embarrassedly, "But when I practiced it, it was a lot harder than I expected." Then she finished up the corner by saying, "Okay, that ends our sales talk corner. I'll talk to sing two more ballads for you. Aitai," and launched into Aitai. I love Aitai too, and this was a wonderful song as well. No LED screen again, dim lights. Then after Aitai came Umi ni nareru, and this time the LED screen had shots of lovers holding hands and spending time together. Hmm, not exactly what I would call stellar material since I would rather watch Hekiru's facial expressions. Hekiru did a little bit of a dance, similar to BESIDE YOU tour, at the beginning of Umi ni nareru, and sang this song with one hand on the mike and the other grasping the mike stand, eyes closed in concentration. When the song ended, it was another MC. Hekiru said, "Thank you for listening. Lately, my singles have been full of sad love songs. I would like to sing another song now, one which focuses on the beauty and joy of love. My new single is coming out on the 19th, but this next song is going to be the next single after that. Anata mo shiranai koi no hate ni." The lights dimmed and focused on Hekiru. Halfway through the LED came on and showed Yoshiaki playing the guitar solo, and Hekiru's face as she sang the last chorus, then leaving the stage as Yos-K came to the front and played his long guitar solo. After that the guitars also left the stage, and the keyboards played a simple, gentle tune tinged with sadness, as the screen showed, um, what is best described as ghostly blue amoeba, and the lights repeatedly shone from high to low upon the audience. As the keyboard solo ended, the guitars came out, and started the opening to Dive into you as the lights lit up and Hekiru appeared out of the platform, clapping her hands above her head.
Now, she had change and was wearing a short top and a short skirt. Well, that aside, the rest of the concert was pretty good. The usual lineup followed, with ROLLING STONE, then One (which was fun! Hekiru did a dance, and although "churu chuchu" wasn't as kawaii as before it was still kawaii ^^ ), and then invisible, in which Hekiru faced this way and kicked, and everybody on this side of the stage got an eyefull, and then Dakishimete, and then an MC. "This is the last song of the night. The title of this tour is "live to love", but this song is my personal theme. It's a song I would like to keep on singing. 'Taisetsu na Page'." And the band struck up the CD version of Taisetsu na Page. At the end, with the "nanana" part, Hekiru got the audience to sing along as she walk from one end of the stage to the next, and at the very last bit, as the music swells up, from the sides of the stage two cannons shot out a shower of silver bits of foil that rained down on Hekiru and the stage as the song ended. "Doumo arigatou!" Hekiru said as the lights black out suddenly, and everyone left the stage. Encore followed, of course. After a bit, the band came out, and then Hekiru came running out in a white dress, leaving one to wonder, "Dash"?! What followed was the band intro, then, "Onna no ko genki?" "Tomogata genki?" "Minna genki?" "Iku yo!" and the band started a "ichi, ni, san, shi" beat, and Hekiru started doing this weird pattern of moves (it's the Japanese equivalent of a macho cheerleading thing, or so I'm told), which became Todoketai omoi! Now that was a bit of a surprise. Normally a song filled with meaning for Hekiru and her fans, this time it became a humour piece. The arrange was different, fast and fun. After Todoketai omoi came Kaze ga huku oka (normal version), and Graduater, CHANGE version, which meant that the ending was drawn out and everyone went "Hey hey hey!" Oh well. All in all, I had great fun the first day. The first part of the concert, until the end of the ballads, was one of the best in my personal opinion. Well, I liked the songs so... :P The second half was nothing new, and so I felt disappointed. If only the second half had as much originality as the first (or rather, if it had other songs instead of the usual lineup), it would have been a near perfect live, I thought. One thing I was very happy for: finally a concert without Me wo Samase... About time they got past that one. You can tell there is no love lost between me and that song. I don't hate it. In fact, I rather enjoy it, but there are better songs out there, in this time and place. But that outfit... ugh, it haunted me for days.
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