STARTING LEGEND 2000 Secret Live

Starting Legend 2000 Secret Live Report Shiina Hekiru at Zepp Tokyo 09/02/00 Hekiru Shiina TOUR STARTING LEGEND 2000 Secret Live M1. Akai hana M2. Everlasting Train M3. BESIDE YOU M4. live to love mousukoshi hayaku aeta nara [MC] M5. RIDE A WAVE M6. REAL LOVE M7. Harenochi I miss you [MC] M8. Anata mo shiranai koi no hate ni [Keyboard solo / Costume change (offstage)] M9. Dive Into You M10. Ganbare M11. ROLLING STONE M12. One M13. invisible M14. Dakishimete [MC] M15. G-sen jyou Romance M16. Todoketai omoi 2000 M17. Kaze ga huku oka M18. Graduater [MC] M19. Taisetsu na Page NO ENCORE Total approximately 2 hours Costumes: Blue gown from ~live to love~. Change Brown outfit from ~live to love~.

The secret lives were annouced beforehand on radio and other places, but the actual time and venue was only made known at the Yoyogi tour final. The tickets were being sold outside after the live, so basically those who didn't wait till the end got the best tickets. Zepp Tokyo is a live house, and the tickets were numbered by order. Actually, since not that many tickets sold (a little over a thousand for 9/2, and a bit more for 9/3), chairs were put into the first floor so it wasn't technically a real "live house" live. REPORT The song list for the secret live was the same basic format as the live to love tour, but with five songs taken out (fly away, 246, and the ballads), and one added. It wasn't that big a change, except that Taisetsu na Page was moved to the end, and the second half was merged into one long section. But, with that change, it suddenly became a really solid, tight live - no extraneous elements, just song all the way through. My overall impression was very positive. This was what live to love should have been! (Of course, that was after I had my fill of the ballads at live to love.. ^^;; I think I would have been quite unhappy to have the ballads not included in the original tour.) I was on the front row of the second floor, along with a whole bunch of other friends, all decked out in red. We were determined to give it our best shot, and boy did I start with a bang! In fact, that was one of my best efforts that summer, aside from Yoyogi. The first four songs came and went (nicely done), and then it was MC time. Hekiru welcomed everyone, and commented on it being nice to be at a live house. She said how it was great that everyone was so worked up, and said that if she was a male performer, she would probably strip her shirt off and throw it into the crowd. To which the crowd started chanting "Nuge! Nuge! Nuge!" ("Strip! Strip!"). But Hekiru admonished the crowd. "Tsk tsk!" She wagged her index finger. "I only strip for special occasions, you know." oi oi ^^;;; Hekiru ended the MC with, "C'mon, let's ride this wave!" and the band struck up into RIDE A WAVE, and I had this huge grin on my face and felt ready to burst because it was the danmest most incredible anticipation of a song that I've felt in years! God! The feeling just welled up in me and I jumped right into RIDE A WAVE. Then she sang the slower songs, and after Harenochi it was time for another MC. She talked about how she got all excited when she heard about the famous people who performed here, and asked "Did so-and-so really use the bathroom?" but was told no, and was pretty disappointed, heh. Hmm, I wonder if I got the order of the MCs mixed up. I got the feeling Hekiru said something really funny at the end of this MC and the crowd was roaring, and then she said, "I should get on with the show. Um... what's next," and glanced at the song list at her feet (Hekiru and the band always have a song list taped on the floor, hidden from view). "Oops, it's a ballad next," she said sheepishly, and went into Koi Hate. After that, it was change time. The halftime show was the same keyboard solo. Then Hekiru came out and we got into some serious action. Dive into you all the way to Dakishimete. During ROLLING STONE, I noticed the staff peeking out at the side of the stage, and started doing the gestures towards them. They got all excited because we noticed them, and started booing us because we weren't doing the moves right! (We were doing Hekiru's version, but the staff have their own adaptation.) But we got it right, and they did a thumbs up. I almost died laughing at how weird the whole thing was, a line of 8 guys playing around with staff instead of watching Hekiru! During One and Dakishimete, some of us were facing down at the PA, during the moves, and Tairaku-san and Kenmotsu-san (who is supposed to be the sound controller fergodsake!) were looking up at us and doing the moves back!!! GYAAAH!! Then Dakishimete was over and it was MC time. Hekiru said a couple words thanking everyone. There it was the band intro with the blues improvision from the band, and at the last Hekiru said, "Get ready for the last part!" and the band struck into an opening that went from blues into G-senjyou Romance. We were exhausted, and it be honest I don't think G-senjyou was that great a choice at this point (Race Queen man!) so this song wasn't that much of a big roar, but the next three!! All out, and it nearly killed us, going full throttle for the better half of a concert! That was a great format, one that I hope I get to experience again (not the actual songs, but the same feel of fast songs one after the other). The last MC, Hekiru thanked everyone, and started into Taisetsu na Page. I didn't like Taisetsu na Page at the live to love tour since I thought it came at a bad time, breaking up the live when everyone was just getting going (which is the reason whey I liked the secret live song list so much better), but coming at the very end it was a nice touch. When Taisetsu na Page ended, Hekiru and the band lined up and front, thanked everyone again. The crowd tried to call for an encore, but Hekiru cut them off and said, "Let's seal it off with what we always do," and before anyone could say more, said with no pause, "Sei no WANT YOU!!" and that was that. Weird how they did so many double encores this tour, but decided to cut the crowd off so sharply on this one. I think it was the right thing though. Just think they shouldn't have let the live to love tour get so out of hand in the first place.

Starting Legend 2000 Secret Live Report Shiina Hekiru at Zepp Tokyo 09/03/00 The last live... the last of a long summer, where I made 20 out of 22 concerts. Mixed feelings... This time I was in the row in front of the PA. It's at the back of the first section of the hall, so I didn't think I could see anything, but I actually had a decent view. The funny was, the second half the crowd moved around a bit and I was blocked, but it took me like 4 songs to realize it since I wasn't actually watching Hekiru. ^^;; This concert was the same as the one before. We fooled around more though, with the staff and stuff. I don't really remember much of the actual live, or even of Hekiru. Was having too much fun messing around with my friends. The one difference was, at the last MC, Hekiru told everyone they were a great crowd, and asked them to indulged her in one thing... she wanted to have her picture taken with everyone. So a cameraman came out, and the band lined up with Hekiru, and the cameraman snapped two pictures of everyone. At the second shot, a couple of friends lifted me up like a meter or so, but I guess it was too late. I didn't show up in the picture. (It was used as the cover to the next fanclub newsletter.) That's probably a good thing!! It was fun though... The summer of 2000, over. 199 lives for Shiina Hekiru. We'll see you again on December 31st.