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 STARTING LEGEND 2001 PRECIOUS GARDEN |
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Starting Legend 2001 PRECIOUS GARDEN Report Shiina Hekiru at Melpark Hall Fukuoka 02/10/01 Hekiru Shiina TOUR STARTING LEGEND 2001 PRECIOUS GARDEN
M1. be yourself
Costumes: |
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PRE-REPORT I arrived in Fukuoka the day before the concert. It was a 15:40 flight but it got delayed until 16:00, so I got in a little late. Met with a couple friends, and headed to Best Denki to buy Hekiru a "congratulations on the tour!" present: a portable humidifier. ^^;; Well, Hekiru gets hayfever and she relies on each concert venue's humidifier, so we thought it would make a useful item, at least. Lotta difficult songs this tour, too... After that, we went to "Yama-chan", which is a ramen place that Hekiru went to last summer. Her poster (signed) was on the wall along with some other famous singers and bands. The ramen was pretty good by my standards. Then it was off to the hotel. I was staying at Melpark Fukuoka, which is a hotel next to Melpark Hall. Now, Melpark Hall is a pain in the ass to get to. A twenty minute walk from the nearest station! So I choose Melpark Fukuoka so I would be there first thing in the morning. Another friend was also staying there as well. Well, I couldn't get to sleep. Tossed and turned, and when I finally did fall asleep, I was woken up by strains of "Chance!" coming from outside. It was like 6am. Bleh. At 8am the tour trucks finally arrived and I dressed and went out to take a look. The truck drivers and staff were unloading at the back. Then went back to my room and got ready to check out since I would be staying near Hakata Station (Fukuoka City's main station) that night. My friend had found a flower shop near the hall, so we stopped there first to place an order for flowers. (My friends and I always send flowers for the first and last live in a tour.) This time we went cheap. ^^;; Two small stuffed dogs and a little bouquet. I also sent a small bouquet from myself, since this will be my last tour before going back home for good. Met up with other friends, ate, dropped off luggage at other hotel, headed back to Melpark. There were seven of us, so we gathered at a nearby restaurant and wrote messages to go with the flowers and present. By the time we were done it was already past 4pm, so we went back to the hall and waited. A couple more friends dropped by, and so we were all set by the time the doors opened at 5pm.
REPORT The concert started about 10 minutes late. With the stage empty, the lights went down, and a song with a heavy beat started up. A figure stepped out from the back onto the top platform, in white robes covering the whole body. With the hair, I thought it was Hekiru, but then she descended and I saw it Fujiko-san. Then a male figure stepped out, and decided, and another, and another, until all the band members had appeared and where standing in position on the stage. Then in time to the music, they flung off the robes one by one. (Although I think Yoshiaki or Mabou mssed up and got tangled. ^^;; ) They took up their instruments as the sond ended, and the spotlight came on as Hekiru appeared at the top and starting singing "be yourself". I didn't listen to the album enough to remember the lyrics, just the general flow of the melodies, so it was actually refreshing. Familiar enough to enjoy, but no so much that the novelty had worn off. I don't like "be yourself" that much, but it's a good, fast song to start off. After "be yourself" came "discovery", and I was a bit disappointed because it followed the album. Luckily, the next song was "Hadaka no Princess Mermaid", and after that "Chance!". So basically Hekiru sang all the new fast tunes at once. I didn't do much, just enjoyed the music and tried to see what Hekiru was wearing. ^^;; I really liked this time's outfit a lot and it frustrated me that I couldn't see all of Hekiru. After that came the MC. "Hello everyone, this is Shiina Hekiru". Hekiru laughed after her introduction and said that one of her staff once asked her why she always said that line, when it was pretty obvious to all the fans whose concert they were attending. She said, "But, that's what I said when I first started doing concerts, and it's something I just have to say. I'd like to keep on saying it this year, and next year and the year after too." Then she talked about the album and how there were a lot of fun rock 'n' roll type songs, as well as instrumentals that she has never used at a concert. When the MC ended, the band started up "Still". I really liked this song when I first heard it, and I hoped I wouldn't be disappointed at the concert. It turned out better than I had expected though. First of all, Hekiru was singing really well, hitting all the high notes nicely, so the chorus sounded great. Then when it came to the middle part, where the guitar solo cuts off and the drum beat starts up, Hekiru said, "Let me introduce you to the band," and began the band intro like "Go Wake Up!!" so that was really cool too. "Drums, Mabou!" "Guitar, Jake!" "Guitar, Yoshiaki!" "Bass, Mario!" "Keyboard, Fujiko-chan!" "Keyboard, Nobu-K!" as each band member joined in with his or her instrument. Then Hekiru sang that last bit, and the band really got in with the guitars and stuff, and although they were nowhere near as good as the CD it was still great. I really got into it, headbanding and stuff. I think that last part was the best of the concert. Anyway, next came "BESIDE YOU", which was same as always (there are a lot more songs I enjoy more), then another MC. Hekiru said something about "shiranai sekai" or "unknown world", and Yoshiaki started playing the theme song to The Twilight Zone, and Hekiru said, "Stop that! I hate scary things! I couldn't sleep after watching Ring Lasen!" Hekiru also talked about her album jacket and said how her face looked weird. It was a photo taken at a department store in Bangkok, at an artificial flower store, and it was really spur of the moment. And then somehow Hekiru turned the topic into "shiranai koi no hate" and that's how she went into "Anata mo shiranai koi no hate ni". (Yet another stellar example of how Hekiru manages to string a whole bunch of non-sequitars together into the next song.) After that was "MOON". I was wondering how they'd get a violin, but it turned out to be Nobu-K and Fujiko-chan on the synthesizers... Shucks -_- In any case though, "MOON" is a really difficult song to sing but Hekiru did it really nicely, so I was impressed again. Next were "live to love" and "Akai hana". I don't dislike these songs. In fact I like "Akai hana" a lot and "live to love" is a song I really enjoyed at last summer's live, but I had grown tired of this pattern at the Memorial and Countdown lives. Oh well. Then another MC. "Atsui desu ne! Now's not the time for you to be wearing sweaters." Then she talked about how she used to follow a band called "New Rose" during her high school days. She'd attend concerts at small live houses, in her school uniform. But she couldn't go to the ones in other cities, so she said that she really respects the people who travel from far away to see her concerts. Then some guy said he was from Kagoshima. Hekiru said, "Kagoshima... I wish I could have a concert there too. I'm sorry, I'll have to try harder." (Kagoshima isn't a big city, so Hekiru would have to make more fans in Kagoshima for it to be a viable concert place.) Then Hekiru spoke a little about "Thousands of Stars", which she wrote during a time when she found all the terrible wars and disasters and human suffering happening overwhelming. "This next song is also along the same lines, about what it is to be human and the joy of being alive and what it means; to feel others' pain and to care for and reach out to other people. 'Hoshi no namida wo.'" When the song ended, Hekiru left the stage, and the band struck up a cool beat as Hekiru changed costumes. The instrumental continued for a bit, then Hekiru came out and the song changed to the familiar opening of "Real Love". Hmm, to tell you the truth, I was kinda disappointed. The beat was cool and anticipated perhaps maybe a hard song from Face to Face or Baby blue eyes or something. I like "Real Love" a lot, don't get me wrong, but I was hoping for something a little more rock, since the second half is where things are supposed to really heat up. But after that was "RIDE A WAVE", which is also another song that, while good, doesn't really do all that much to up the tension in the hall. Oh yeah, the outfit was terrible too. :P One look and I decided I didn't need another one. This one makes the brown skirt outfit from last summer look positively hard rock. Well, outfit aside, after that was "Dive into you", or "Moriagaranai" as we like to call it. "Moriagaranai" means "unexciting", and the reason we call it that is because that tour, it really wasn't very exciting. Okay, so we're cruel... :P In any case, I was like, oh man, this second half really needs a shot of adrenaline, I hope they stick in "One" and "invisible" or it's gonna be a damn boring stretch. But then I found myself enjoying "Dive into you", maybe because it just sounds too cool on the album coming after "MOON", and when Hekiru spun around I did too. ^^ My friend started laughing when he saw that. So after that my prayers are answered and "One" comes on, same as always except Hekiru has changed the hand gestures, again! This time right arm crosses over first. Bleh. After "One" came "No, No, No!", which I had been really looking forward to. But... AARRRGH!!! This version sounded awful!! I dunno why... I think it was a combination of the band being not terribly great in the place, plus Hekiru's low voice being drowned out by the band. AARGGH! I liked this song so much and it sounded awful!! But anyway, the audience didn't get into it either. Didn't seem to know what to do, just stood there. I think "No, No, No!" just didn't work because it's too hard a song to come right after "One", and while you can punch your arm up in time to the NO NO NO bits of the chorus, the interlude part is too slow and all everyone does is stand around. So even when you get worked up by "One", you find "No, No, No!" to be a drag. So even though the next song is "invisible" and they lengthened the interlude, you still feel like it's kinda... half-assed. :P Not bad or anything, just neither here nor there. But hey, it was still pretty fun. After that Hekiru went into a short MC, saying it was the last song. So "Love Graduation" started, and it was surprisingly good. The chorus work was way off, but the overall feel itself was really nice. It's a sad song, and you don't move much, but it's a good melody and it's midtempo so you don't feel the sudden shift that happens when it goes from a hard song into a ballad. Really a surprisingly good end to the concert. The main part, anyway. So the lights go out and the encore starts. After a while, the lights come up and we start cheering, and I go ho-hum expecting the band to come out so I don't watch too close, but instead Hekiru runs out! Heh, people probably don't notice, but I thought that was nice since I had grown tired of the usual pattern. Hekiru was wearing a blue shirt over a short tank top and slacks and it looked like she was going to spend some time strolling along the beach in summer. :P Nice casual outfit though. She greeted everyone, and called out the band members out on stage one by one. When everyone had taken their positions, she said, "Are you ready? Onna no ko genki? tonogata genki? Iku yo!" and "Dakishimete" started. When "Dakishimete" ended, Hekiru said a few words. "It's been a while since I've come to Hiroshima. I'm at the point when I'm starting to think about a lot of matters... In any case, I'd like to take things one step at a time to make more precious pages. Please listen to this song. "'Taisetsu na Page.'" With that, "Taisetsu na Page" began. This time the ending wasn't drawn out, and ended normally. The lights came on and the band members lined up as a simple piano solo version of "Taisetsu na Page" played. Hekiru said, "Thank you! It was fun! Everyone let's do that thing together, okay? Sei no, WANT YOU!!"
POST-REPORT I've said it several times before, but I really do think "Graduater" is the Hekiru live song - a song that has grown over the years and an integral part of Shiina Hekiru. You could take out "Me wo samase", you could take out "Kaze ga fuku oka", you could take out any of the other fan favourites... but you couldn't take out "Graduater" because then it wouldn't be a Hekiru live anymore. That's how important that song is. But I didn't even realize it was gone, together with all the other fan favourites from before Face to Face. If you think about it, that's pretty incredible. Takes guts to put together a live like that, knowing the fans are going to scream bloody murder that their favourite songs, the songs that they came for, aren't in there. In fact, that's what's happening now. When I was leaving the hall, I stopped by to greet Hekiru's producer, Tairaku-san, at the PA stand. He asked, somewhat resignedly, "So, what did you think? With the new album as main, this is about what you're going to end up with." It was a mixture of worry and non-confidence and perhaps frustration, which is different from his usual cocky self. Tairaku-san knows, as does Hekiru, that this live will not go over well with fans. With the continuing fall in fan numbers, this does nothing to help, and probably puts more than one nail into the coffin, so to speak. But it seems that Tairaku-san and Hekiru aren't aiming to increase or boost her popularity at this point. This live wasn't to keep fans happy; this live was Hekiru trying to say something, trying to make a point to her fans. In the hm3 interview, Hekiru said, "I hope that people will listen closely to this album and find new ways to enjoy my concert other than doing the 'pan papan hyuu!'" (Fans call this PPPH and it refers to clapping hands 3 times before jumping and shouting "HYUU!" over and over during a part of the song. It's strictly an idol phenomenon, and Hekiru's concerts used to be song after song of the entire hall doing PPPH, to the point where you couldn't hear the actual singing.) So you have Hekiru, who's been trying to break away from the idol image for several years now. But you also have the undeniable allure of those old songs where you do PPPH and calls and stuff. So what happens when artist and fans clash? It's been happening ever since Baby blue eyes, and until now it's been mostly give and take, with Hekiru hardly speaking anymore about what she's aiming for, and a lot of old fans straggling away while others write complaints on the official BBS. I don't pretend to know what Hekiru or her producer are thinking. I do know that they try their best to make a live of high quality. No one would deliberately alienate their fans out of malice, least of all Hekiru who feels, perhaps too deeply, her responsibility towards those supporting her. But it seems that Hekiru and Tairaku-san have finally decided to take the step and push all the way - not an idol concert, but a "real" artist's concert. On a personal level, I support this fully. I don't think "Graduater" is necessary in this tour. I can live without the other songs, although of course I regret that the songs I like have not been included. As far as concerts go, I had more pure fun in SL '98. But it's not just about jumping and shouting and blowing off stress, it's also about seeing Shiina Hekiru, and seeing what Shiina Hekiru creates. I became a fan because this was a person who tried to break the idol mold and aim for something higher. She couldn't do it three years ago. She almost quit singing. Then she cut off her hair in frustration. Her next album was to be yet another try, but apparently it didn't go well with her because she switched music producers and spent a discontented year that ended in a somewhat self-produced album. After that, though, she began composing songs, and it seems that it was a very fulfilling time where Hekiru finally found a way to express herself. So now you have PRECIOUS GARDEN, which is the culmination of that, and you have Starting Legend 2001 PRECIOUS GARDEN, which you could say is a snapshot of Hekiru's feelings concerning her career. So I say yea, for this is what Hekiru has been fighting three years for, this is the Shiina Hekiru I became a fan of, this is the person I admire most for her strength and determination. And I am grateful that she did go for it, that I got a chance to see this. What more could I ask for? I only wish that more people could see this, too. Because it's simply not fair that things should end just when Hekiru has come this far.
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Starting Legend 2001 PRECIOUS GARDEN Report Shiina Hekiru at Hiroshima Astel Plaza 02/12/01
PRE-REPORT Stayed the night at Yuda Onsen (soaked twice, heheh). We got together and started thinking up stupid gestures and calls for the new songs, for fun. Did you know that you can do the "Tenshi ha higashi kara yatte kuru" dance to "Hadaka no Princess Mermaid"? It works! ^_^ Plus we stuck this tour's pamphlet in a bed and took pictures of that. The next day we took the bullet train to Hiroshima. It only took half and hour. I think I fell asleep for ten minutes because I don't remember Love Graduation and live to love on my MD walkman. We had lunch at the train station then went to search for a Valentine's card for the chocolate. In the end we got this little card that had "suki suki suki" on the front and "choco ga dai suki" inside. So we scratched out "choco" and stuck in "Hekiru" and stuck a printclub sticker of Hekiru inside. Yeah I know, we're crazy. :P
REPORT Anyway, the concert started late, at around 17:42 or so. Everything was about the same, but that's not necessarily good. You see, during the previous concert Jake's guitar wasn't terribly audible. I had thought it was because I was on the right side and Jake was on the left, so I was only getting sound from one speaker. Well, there was partly that, but another part of the reason is because he just doesn't stand out in the first place. Ugh. The CD was really well done, featuring top music performers on all the instruments. Hekiru's current band just doesn't cut it, especially missing Yosshi and Yos-k. Guitars are weak! >_< Aside from that though, Hekiru's singing was pretty good. I especially liked the chorus part of "Still". Actually I'm starting to like all the songs a lot. They're hard too get into, though, to be honest. You can't jump to them, or do PPPH, or calls, or even headbang, really. So you just sway to the rhythm. I guess that's okay, but they're pretty uppity songs so it's kinda a waste to see the entire hall just standing there clapping their hands to the beat. Oh well. Lessee, MCs. The first MC Hekiru said, "Konbanwa, Shiina desu." Usually she says "Shiina Hekiru desu" so maybe she was a little self-conscious? She talked about how this concert would feature songs from her new album. Then she did a "kyupi-n" pose. Uh, don't ask. During the next MC, she asked if everyone had listened to the album yet. Someone said, "Not yet," so she said, "If you haven't bought it yet, well, they're selling it outside!" and pointed and looked very kawaii. ^^ After that she talked about the album jacket again. "It looks weird. It looks like a kappa, doesn't it. You could poke a cucumber at it and it'd eat it." (Kappas are Japanese trolls that love cucumber. And yes, that picture does look like a kappa.) "Don't the eyes look like those of a bug? Well, weird things are weird! If I see something weird I'll say it." Then she looked around. "Hmm, let me ask someone... Yoshiaki! Tell me about a world you don't know! Tell me about a Valentine's Day." Yoshiaki looked startled. A fan shouted, "You didn't get any Valentine chocolate?" Yoshiaki said in indignation, "Of course I did!" Then he told a story of how he was in high school, and Valentine's Day was almost over and he still didn't get any chocolate and was depressed, but then when he was leaving the school a girl was waiting for him. She went to him and handed him the chocolate. "For sempai," she said. And Yoshiaki said, "For me?" But the girl shook her head and said, "For sempai." Yoshiaki went, "Eh? For me, right?" But the girl said, "No, it's for sempai." Turns out she was asking Yoshiaki to give it to his sempai, who was a popular guy on the soccer team. Yoshiaki said, "I wonder why girls ask other people to hand over the chocolates." Hekiru said, "Hmm, but when I was in middle school, I went to my sempai's house and placed a chocolate on the doorstep. I signed it 'I like you. From class 2, S.' Just the initial 'S'. There's no way he could have known who it was. But since I was a baka, I really thought he would know. He probably went, 'What's this' and threw it in the trash. Hmm, that's depressing. Let's go on to the next song." At the MC before "Hoshi no namida wo", Hekiru talked for a long time about how it was a song dedicated to people who had suffered in the world. She said, "There are a lot of sad things happening in this world. But no matter what goes on, it is because humans feel love that they feel sadness as well. Ai (love) and Ai (sadness)." Then she went on on this weird tangent, and in the end said "Even if things get tough, there's always love. Oops, I guess I should have said that in the first place. Uh, anyway listen to this song. 'Hoshi no namida wo'." The MC before "Love Graduation" just introduced the song, so there was nothing new. When she came for the encore, Hekiru called out the band members one by one. But she made a mistake and called out "Keyboard, Nobu-K!" when she should have called out Jake. He stood on the side, probably glaring at her, because she suddenly, "Ah! Ah! I'm sorry!" Then she said, "Aren't pros supposed to ad lib?" So she called out Jake, and he came out looking angry and marched straight up to her. Hekiru was apologizing, "Gomen! Gomen!" Then she called out Nobu-K, and when he came out he stood in front and raised his hands to the cheers, and Hekiru grabbed his arm and started running circles around him. Ka.. kawaii. o_o Oh yeah, this time's encore outfit was a pink spaghetti strap tank top under a white and red patterned shirt. The tank top was really short, so you could see just where it barely met the top of her slacks. I guess you could say it was fanservice, especially whenever she raised her arms. :P Fanservice aside, I think it looked really nice on her. Looked like summer. I was thinking that I should go buy something like that too. Then before "Taisetsu na Page", Hekiru said she was really glad that she didn't quit singing, that she was able to go into the new millenium with everyone. "Uta wo akiramenakute yokatta desu. Tsugi no kyoku wo issho ni utatte kudasai." - Please sing this next song together with me. After the Fukuoka live, I wrote my opinion of the live for the survey. Regarding the actual format of the live, I had written that I like the way it ended on "Love Graduation", and since I didn't really like "Taisetsu na Page" I thought it would have been better to just do away with the encore altogether. Oh yeah, I also wrote that, in all honesty, the live wasn't that fun compared to some of the previous ones. Well, let me say that my opinions changed after seeing this live. For one thing, I was really moved by "Taisetsu na Page", maybe because of the way she said, "Please sing it together with me". It's a really sad and depressing way to end a concert, and so it sucks, but it worked really well this time. I don't know why. I guess Hekiru's concerts aren't just about how well she sings or how well the band plays or what songs there are in the lineup. There's also Hekiru herself, and how much feeling she puts into the concert, and how much feeling she draws out of the audience. This time, there was that special something that comes along every once in a while, when the concert is just good, even though nothing's really changed. I felt awkward during the beginning, but going into the second half I didn't even think that it was a slow part or anything. By "RIDEA WAVE" I was really getting into it, and god help me "Dive into you" was FUN! Everything was fun. There was an empty seat next to me, and the guy to my left was also a headbanging, dancing type, so it was really nice. I mean, I'm doing the hand thingy to "invisible", and I look up and he's doing it too! Heh! So yeah, I had fun. No complaints about this live. But after "Taisetsu na Page", when everyone had lined up in preparation for the WANT YOU!!, some people in the audience started chanting "Encore!" again. Even after Hekiru said "Arigatou!" several times, which means no encore, they didn't stop. In the end she said "Doumo arigatou!" again and again, and they finally did. Then the WANT YOU!! And Hekiru shouted "Doumo arigatou!" after that as well. Looking at her expression, she was really moved, but she really didn't want to do an encore either.
POST-REPORT Yeah, it's tough. I keep thinking about the lineup every new tour, and there's usually something I'd want to change. But I know that it's a no-win situation for the production, because everyone has different tastes. Considering that Hekiru has put out over 100 songs, and the types vary so much, it's a very difficult choice no matter how you look at it. In the end, all things considered, I'd say the best song would be one that everyone can get into and enjoy. The crowd needs something to do, something that they can do together with Hekiru. Examples include "Koi no Race Queen" and "Rolling Stone". Of course you also have "Graduater" and "Kuusou Metro" but those are probably the ones they wanted to avoid. So I guess probably "Rolling Stone" is a good option, except I'm kinda tired of it and don't really want it. It'd be good for the crowd though. Since when did I have to think about the entire audience instead of my own likes and dislikes? Shucks, I'll just leave the actual decision to Tairaku-san and Hekiru. I'd respect it. Just don't stick in "Graduater", please.
POST-REPORT SPECIAL I was just following the signs to the bathroom, along a corridor, and in front was a group of women. They seemed lost. I heard a voice say, "It's not this way. I think they renovated the building." That person turned around and it was Yasuda-san! (Yasuda-san is part of 4179*LOVE.) Doh... She saw me and recognized me. I didn't know who the others, and just bowed my head and kept going. Then when I was just passing, the rest turned around and in the middle was Hekiru! Doh doh! Hekiru was looking really tired, so when she looked up and our eyes met I felt really uncomfortable. All I could do was mumble, "Sumimasen," and bow as I shuffled past. Behind me I hear Yasuda-san say, "We ran into them again, eh." (Last tour I met tour staff and Hekiru by accident several times too.) So I go to the bathroom, and I'm waiting in this long line for ages, and finally I'm done and step out, and I want to get back to my lunch, so I'm kinda running back along the corridor and before I know it I've shot past Hekiru going to bathroom. Doh doh doh! After that I wished the bathroom line had been about 5 minutes longer. ^^;; Oh well, the bathroom isn't exactly the most exciting place to meet the object of your devotion anyway. Anyway, after lunch we cleared security check and waited in the lounge. And to the side there's Hekiru and staff clearing though the other checkpoint. >_< So here we are, five of us standing there trying (but failing) to look inconspicious. Hekiru and her manager pass us without sparing a glance and Hekiru goes to add mileage to her card at the machine. ^^ Then Nobu-K passes and he's staring at us grinning. Hekiru and co. boarded the plane after everyone else had gotten on. We waiting at the seats at the gate, and as Hekiru was passing, her manager noticed us sitting there and tapped on Hekiru's shoulder and pointed to us, so we waved and Hekiru waved back. Then when Yoshiaki passed, we started stage whispering, "Congratulations on the wedding!" But Yoshiaki didn't notice until Nobu-K poked him, and then he did a little surprised double take and went, "Oh.. yo." Fujiko-san was last, and she noticed at the last minute and waved. So after that we were all sitting around grinning like idiots until it was time to board out flight. Weird trip, this was.
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Starting Legend 2001 PRECIOUS GARDEN Report Shiina Hekiru at Nagoya Kouseinenkinkaikan 02/16/01 This time the hall was decently full, but still with a lot of empty seats. A lot of friends showed up. The live itself was pretty cold. Hekiru tried at the beginning, but it was obvious that the crowd wasn't getting into it, and I think she kinda gave up halfway. Hell, I had a good aisle seat in the 8th row, plus I was really worked up before the live, and even I felt the live was just kinda bleh. Another problem was that everyone sat down during the first MC. And they were still sitting when Hekiru started "Still"! What the!!? Jeez... And so Hekiru asked everyone to sit during the second MC, which runs into "Koi hate" and "MOON", and that's just a formula for boredom. I was yawning halfway through "MOON". During Fukuoka and Hiroshima, everyone stood, and that made a huge difference. When you sit, all the excitement goes away, and you start feeling apathetic. Oh yeah, the MC was really long too. Hekiru asked Jake about his "shiranai sekai", and Jake talked about how, when he was performing with another band in Hiroshima and everyone stayed the night at a hotel near the Dome (where the bomb was dropped), a knock suddenly came on the window. But the was no ledge outside, just a sheer wall! Everyone freaked out. When Hekiru heard this story, she started freaking out too. I don't remember the other MCs. Not a terribly memorable live. I wish I could stand for the whole concert. Probably all the concerts from now on, people wil be sitting during the MCs and the ballads. ;_;
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Starting Legend 2001 PRECIOUS GARDEN Report Shiina Hekiru at Osaka BIG CAT 02/17/01 Today was a live house performance, at a 800 capacity live house in Osaka. Last year's BESIDE YOU tour was also a live house, but aside from one day at Nagoya, I stayed at the back or in the second floor. I also remember the first live house performance at Zepp Sapporo during SL1999 FtF, and that time I was in the third or fourth row, but everyone kept to their own space, and I didn't even come into contact with anyone when I jumped and stuff. What a change now... Seems that Hekiru fans have realized that there's nothing keeping them from cramming the front. Basically you have about a third of the crowd pushing and shoving to go to the front middle, while the other people hang back. Even if you aren't trying to push that hard, the pressure from the back is intense, and people do get hurt. It would be impossible for a girl to go to the front without a few people covering. Well, this time I got numbered tickets 5-8. Uh-oh, I thought. No. 5-8... If I don't go to the front, it'd be a terrible waste. If I go to the front, I'd probably get the life crushed out of me. So I wound up convincing my three other friends to cover for me. ^^;; What we did was I was a bit to the right of the middle, with a friend behind me, and two the sides to ease the pressure. Last year at Nagoya one friend helped me, and towards the end he said it was getting unbearable. Well, that time they filled the hall way past capacity, so we hope that today it wouldn't be as full and things would be easier. Boy were we wrong. As soon as Hekiru stepped on stage the wrong crowd rushed forward and I was shoved along as well, to the effect that I ended up right at that middle post. ^^ At Nagoya, my friend manged to make a small space for me, but today the pressure meant that it was jammed pretty tight around (but I still had some breathing room behind). Right from "be yourself", everyone was cheering and rolling along. I was taken by surprise by the surge, and felt really worried for my friends who were trying their best to hold back the crowd from crushing me. Even Hekiru looked worried. I felt kinda bad about that, standing under her nose in a situation where something might suddenly go wrong and I wind up unconscious or with broken bones. I was ready to slip out under the bar, but my friends told me they could handle it, so I stuck around for a bit more. "discovery" kicked in and I was like, "I didn't know this was such an exciting song for the crowd," because during the hall tour it was just people standing around and clapping, but here they were really riding the rhythm. Then "Hadaka no Princess Mermaid" started, and my friends and I started doing the "Tenshi ha higashi kara yatte kuru" hand gestures, and Hekiru looked down and started laughing!! Ah, happiness!! At the Nagoya live, Hekiru forgot the lyrics to one part of this song, and the expression on her face was really scary... like she was extremely pissed off. Like during the "Kono yo" drama when she shoved her boyfriend out of the room... brrr.. Anyway, I was really scared that she would take it badly, so I was really relieved that she was in a good mood. Then "Chance!". BTW, this was the first time I had a good look of Hekiru, and for all the songs she really moved! The first two songs she was flicking her head left and right, and for "Chance!" she was jumping and headbanging sideways. (Anyone know a good way to describe this? Imagine the last part of "Dakishimete".) Oh yeah, before I forget, her costume was slightly different. Instead of the tight black blouse and red flare skirt under the leather coat, she wore the second costume under instead, presumably to hasten the costume change. The frilly skirt came about 10cm above her knee, quite short, but I could see that she wore shorts of the same material underneath. (Nice knees btw, from the viewpoint of an exercise enthusiast. I wonder what sort of exercise regiment she has?) After "Chance!" was an MC, but Hekiru didn't say much, just welcomed everyone and said she would be singing songs from her new album so are you all genki! and that sort of stuff. So "Still" started, and this was where I started getting into the concert. I had been to concerned about how my friends were holding up to enjoy the concert, but they seemed to be alive, if rather battered. After that was "BESIDE YOU" and then another MC. During this MC, Hekiru turned around and, uh, wiggled her hips and said, "Do you know what this means?". You see, Hekiru does a radio show on Friday with some other hosts, but due to her concerts she's had to miss two weeks in a row. So the hosts were saying, all the Hekiru fans probably aren't listening to this radio show anymore. Then another said, let's find out if they are, and told everyone who had heard the show to shout, "Hekinee!" when Hekiru wiggled her hips. Yeah, really stupid. :P But after a moment's hesitation half the crowd shouted, "HEKINEE!!" and Hekiru laughed and did it again. ^^;;;; Then onto the two ballads. At this point, someone to my left collapsed, and when "MOON" ended my friend shouted, "Heki stop! Heki stop!! Someone's down!" but of course you can't stop a concert, so while the intro to "live to love" was playing the staff rushed in and dragged out a guy from under the front bars. He was totally unconscious and they were just grabbing his arms and pulling him up this step in the front. Youch... So I got worried again then. I think another guy passed out sometime during the next two songs, and during the MC before "Hoshi no namida wo", Hekiru asked everyone to back off a bit, take a step back to ease the front. So "Hoshi no namida wo" was a much needed breather. Even after Hekiru went for her costume change and came back for "Real Love" and "RIDE A WAVE", thing were okay. Those songs weren't that uppity anyway. But when "Dive into you" started... that's all she wrote. Everyone started jumping and getting into it, and until this point I was still pretty much okay, but then I felt people like halfway riding on top of my shoulders (if there's a space, someone going to shoved and arm or a leg there) and during "One" I was completely caught up in everyone's rhythm. I mean, if I had just stayed still, I would still have been bounced up and down, that was how high everyone was getting! And me... before I knew it I was right in there, shouting and screaming and bouncing and headbanging with everyone else. ^^;; Man, it was great, I completely forgot about everyone. I have never had so much fun getting getting caught up in the crowd. I've had plenty of fun during hall tours on my own, but this was a completely new experience. The great thing was, I had friends around me and the other fans were also really enthusiastic. Everyone's headbanging through the song, and when we're not headbanging we're singing so loud Hekiru must not have been able to hear her own voice! But Hekiru was also really into it, getting really high! Another guy collapsed halfway through and had to be pulled out, but at that point none of us really cared anymore. (I know that sounds callouse, but that's how high we all were on the music.) God, "No,No,No!" was incredible! I love this song but it just sounded so bad during the concerts. Not anymore! Or maybe I didn't notice. ^^;; God what an awesome song... and then "invisible"! Just the most incredible, fun experience I've had years! I wish I could describe what it was like, but words can't do it justice. And Hekiru's grinning like mad and jumping around and the guitars and bass come right out in front, and Mario's sticking his bass into the crowd as everyone's screaming and running their hands over the strings! God! One of my friends even managed to grab Hekiru's boots for a split second. ^^;;; And the last MC, Hekiru says, "Onna no ko genki?" and I go "YEAH!" along with a few other girls from the back and suddenly I hear my friends from all around shouting my name! Doh! How embarrassing! And Hekiru looks down and grins and says, "Looks like they know you're here." Then she says, "Tonogata genki?" and everyone yells and Hekiru goes hyper too! And then everyone sings "Love Graduation" together, and then the encore, and then Hekiru comes out (short tank top! short tank top!) and calls out the band and for some reason Yoshiaki gets the biggest reception. ^^;; Then it's "Iku yo!" time, and the band goes into Dakishimete and we're all singing together. Then Hekiru asks everyone to sing "Taisetsu na Page" together, and you can hear all the voices, and halfway through Hekiru just lets everyone sing for her. Then the concert ends, and it's the most incredible thing. And Hekiru says in the her last words, "Thank you! There are still many dreams, and one promise to fulfill, but I'm going to do my best, one step at a time. Thank you, it was really fun! I'll never forget your smiling faces!" "WANT YOU!!"
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Starting Legend 2001 PRECIOUS GARDEN Report Shiina Hekiru at Nagoya Diamond Hall 02/18/01 Today we gathered at the right side of the hall, in front of Yoshiaki. At first it was going to be just me and a few other friends, but two other girls come over as well, so it ended up with three girls in the front row of the live house. We thought that since we would be at the side, the pressure wouldn't be as bad as it was yesterday. Unfortunately, it was worse, compounded by the fact that my friends had to cover for three girls instead of just one. In the end, I didn't have as much fun as the day before, because I was worried about the people around getting hurt (today four person were taken away - one person was dragged by Hekiru's tour staffed up the stage to the back... which is crazy), and spent my time hanging over the front bar in imitation of a futon. :P It wasn't terribly comfortable. But then again I'm not really complaining about the whole deal, just the fact that... dunno, feel guilty that I got to go to the front on the basis of my friends getting crushed halfway to death. In any case, we attracted a lot of attention, and worried looks, from the stage. Everytime Hekiru said, "Onna no ko genki?" she would glance at us. I remember one of the last MCs she said that and we shouted, "Hai!" back and she said, "Well, you still seem to have the energy to shout back, that's good." I think we really did worry her though. Don't think I'll try something like that again. In fact, I doubt Hekiru will have a live house tour again soon, seeing as so many people collapsed. She did look depressed after they carted the fourth guy away. Don't remember much about the MCs, except that during the second MC Hekiru turned around and wiggled her hips again, and the crowd shouted, "Hekinee!" and then chanted, "Mou ikkai! Mou ikkai!" and Hekiru looked really embarrassed, but the crowd kept chanting so she turned around and did it again, and the crowd cheered and Hekiru was bending looking as if she would die from total embarrassment, and it was well and truly kawaii, aye. ^_^ At the last MC, Hekiru thanked everyone for coming to the live, and said, "There is still a promised place I haven't returned to yet. I'll work hard, bit by bit, and fulfill that promise." So, finally Hekiru mentions Budoukan again. I'm happy, and I admire her determination, but I also cannot help wondering if it's already too late? We'll just have to see what we can do to help.
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Starting Legend 2001 PRECIOUS GARDEN Report Shiina Hekiru at Tokyo Kouseinenkinkaikan 02/20/01 Hekiru's costume changed. After One, during No,No,No! intro which was made longer, Hekiru went offstage to change into a short black tanktop (middriff showing), and a long gray skirt over the bottom part of her previous costume. It was pretty cool. Hekiru did the skirt thing during invisible! Woo woo... skirt is back! At first, when Hekiru left the stage, I thought something had gone wrong and was waiting anxiously until she came out. I should learn not to worry so much.
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Starting Legend 2001 PRECIOUS GARDEN Report Shiina Hekiru at Tokyo Kouseinenkinkaikan 02/21/01 I was in the 5th row, to the left, with Matora. This was the first time I had been on the left side this tour, and whaddaya know, I could actually hear Jake's guitar during Still!! Yeah, with the sound pretty polarized on the speakers, you can't hear him at all on the right. Actually, I guess Yoshiaki was pretty soft on the left, but for some reason Jake just has no volume at all, especially during the band intro. But this time it was awesome, too cool the way he played his intro part. I went wild. I was really into this concert right from the beginning and it just kept getting better. Hekiru seemed kinda out of it the night before, and even today the attendence was terrible, but I just felt that she was trying as hard as she could, and I guess that makes all the difference. To me anyway. Weird thing. After No,No,No! something happened to Hekiru's costume and her designer ran out with a jacket to drape on her shoulders. After invisible, she ran out again to fix it, and Hekiru picked up a shawl to hang on her arms as she sang Love Graduation. I really had a hard time deciding whether or not to stare or headbang during No,No,No!, but in the end I headbanged. So I had no idea what really happened. Later in a radio show, Hekiru said that the clasp had broken on her top and the back came open. That must've been a real problem. ^^;;
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Starting Legend 2001 PRECIOUS GARDEN Report Shiina Hekiru at Sendai Shiminkaikan 02/27/01 Sendai was a small hall. We were staying the night before heading back to Tokyo, and went to the hall pretty late, around 5:30 perhaps? When we got there, we heard that Hekiru had been feeding the pidgeons at the river behind the hall! But a bunch of fans had gathered and so she fled. Shucks, serves us right for dilly-dallying. Although we did have a legitimate excuse, yeah. Operation banner... Anyway, there were very few people there. Probably the smallest audience this tour. For today, Masa and I had seats in the second row a bit to the right of center. Fujitacchi was one seat removed left of us. Matora was in the front row to the right, Yuusuke was behind him. Quite a scary gathering. Since it was Sendai, true to tradition we were going to try something crazy - doing the Tenshi dance during Hadaprin, and waving pamphlets during Dakishimete! At first it was just me and Masa and Yuusuke (the original invisible skirt trio!), but as we were lining up and debating whether or not to actually do the crazy thing the others kinda jumped on and we all wound up buying pamphlets! So we got the pamphlets, went into the hall, and jesus it was small. The scary thing was that it was only half-full too. But the seats... god, the front row was closer to the stage than Osaka Big Cat! So the second row was great, some of the best seats I've had. The funny thing was the guy between me and Fujitacchi didn't come, or maybe they didn't sell the seat, and so the three of us were lined up. Okay, so the attendance was dismal, but we were high and we were going to damn well make the best of it! The concert started, same as always. We got ignored. :) Well, we probably got a dirty look when Masa and Yuusuke and I did the Tenshi dance, and spun around at the end... Hekiru was probably thinking, "What the heck are these guys doing?!" Hehehehehe... In any case, it was fun. I don't remember the MCs, but the band seemed to be in a good mood too. Yeah, Masa said Mario or someone was grinning at us when we copied Hekiru's snapping headbanging during Still. Still was awesome, I love that song so much. Akai Hana I just stood and sang... It was one of the more heartfelt ones, to me at least. Hoshi no Namida wo, I love that song live; the drums are so much more powerful. The MC was Nobu-K, about the type of girl that he liked. He said he liked girls that have a dog-type personality(?). He said Hekiru was like a little puppy. But the really interesting part came after the costume change, during Dive into You. You see, I always copied Hekiru's little jig dance that comes after the first line of the song. I haven't really seen other people do it, although I expect that Okappei, being the dance master, does it too. But then all of the sudden Fujitacchi was doing it right next to me! It was so funny, this normal-looking guy, doing this kawaii dance, I almost died laughing then and there! That set the tone for the rest of the evening... During One, we went all out, and then No,No,No! we did headbang like crazy. I was grabbing the seat in front and headbanged so hard I think I bit my tongue by accident when I tossed me head back during the intro. (The intro goes, dudundudundudun YEAH! dudundudundudun YEAH! where the Yeah part is the whole crowd shouting. I headbang during the dudun bass part, and toss my head back at the Yeah... Try it, it really builds up the excitement unbearably.) Then during the chorus, when everyone is just waving their hands in the air, Masa, Fujitacchi, Yuusuke, Matora and I were just headbanging, and the most awesome thing... Hekiru starting screaming! She was like, "No, No, NOOOO!!!! No way OOUUTTT!!!!" This shout like a cross between a scream and a growl, and she was really getting into it!! Man I just lost it when I heard that, and that's all I remember of the song. So you can imagine invisible... we were going nuts and so was Hekiru. The instrumental part was cut a bit short, I think, but god we were dying. I barely had enough breath (and sense!) to scream at the pause before the last part. That was just so amazing. I love invisible, and when you scream that last part it's like the pinnacle at the moment of silence, then the guitars kick in du dudu, du dudu, du dudu... front, up, side, up, front, up, shake head, yeah!!! and the drums going on and on and Hekiru calling to the crowd to shout more and the crowd cheering and going and going and just when you think you're going to drop, the final jump, and we were left panting, holding onto the seats for support, and Hekiru staring at us because we were gasping so hard for air. Now THIS is a live!! Then LoveGra. Great song. It started to rain silver not just in the back, but in front as well. I was reminded of Akai Hana back in CHANGE tour, when a piece of paper got stuck on top of Hekiru's head, heh. Liked it better when it was just in the back. Beautiful song, though. Encore. Lessee... we held an impromptu conference. During the chorus of Dakishimete, wave forward for the first part, wave side to side for the second :) . Do it only one time, because I was afraid Hekiru would get pissed at us. Well, we didn't have to worry, because when we started, Hekiru stared, then started to giggle. I looked at Mario, he was laughing outright! Man, I can't believe we did that. The next time around I was looking at the staff, to see if Komatsu-san had made his new parapara dance version for Dakishimete, but I couldn't get it, it was too complicated. After the concert, Masa said we should have done the pamphlet thing for all the choruses, because Hekiru looked like she wanted to see it again! When the song, the guys behind us started slapping us on the back, so that was really nice as well! You don't get enough fan camaradie nowadays... Most people tend to ignore you, and you are afraid of standing out or offending someone, so when they get into it as well, it's really nice and warm. Hekiru began to talk for the MC. She thanked everyone for coming, then she said, "There might come a day when I won't be able to sing anymore. But after a live like this, I am really glad that I stuck with it. It makes me so grateful for my singing. It makes me feel that it has all been worth it. Thank you." Oh god Hekiru, you are so right I wish I could do more for you... Then Taisetsu na Page. And this time, I smiled all the way through, singing together with everyone. Hekiru had a most brilliant smile. It was truly a memorable page, a precious moment when 400 separate lives intertwine for a short miracle. Thank you. After the concert, we took memorial pictures of everyone holding their pamphlets. Dinner that night was a boisterous, wonderful affair.
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