Fukuyama Masaharu Steals My Soul Part One: 12/30 Daikanshasai Report
I've delayed writing this up for a while largely for reasons of depression.
December 30th/31st 2010 were the absolute greatest days of my life. I'm saying that with the kind of intensity people talk about the birth of their children. I was that happy. I know I'll never have another concert experience like it, and I honestly don't know how I could have a better day period.
So while this review will capture the experience in only the tiniest, most superficial ways, I'm going to try to capture just a fraction of what these shows felt like for me.
I find a good indicator of a venue is their merchandise line. V1 and I actually tried to buy goods on Tuesday, but they had signs asking only people with tickets for that day's concerts buy them. Not a problem. We went back on Thursday and hopped right into a small, quick moving queue. The hallway leading to the queue was lined with congratulatory bouquets for Fukuyama-san from various sponsors and companies. Therefore, everything smelled nice. I've never said that about a goods line before. The line brushed past a giant Color logo and a wall of all Masha's advertisements for the year. Brilliant, guys. Do you know how much I want a Regza tv?
I didn't know any of the goods before hand... so I had flown in blind with a ... small budget. I ended up with the pamphlet/eco bag set, some Mashamaru Daruma bath bombs, a purple phone strap, a blanket, and a towel set. I didn't get the ear pick or the harumaki. Ear pick... really Masha?
So yay! I did good! I stayed in budg-- what's this next queue over here? Why it's a Ryoma-den queue! With all of the Ryoma-den goods I've drooled over online for so long! So much for "budgets." I ended up getting a Sakamoto Ryoma towel, a memo pad, and a clear file. Cuz I'm a sucker. They also had all of the Ryoma-den costumes and props set up in this area.
As if that wasn't enough, we wound through a Ryoma-den photo gallery housing dozens of huge prints I would have been very happy to purchase and put on my wall. Come on guys? How many wheelbarrows of money should I bring to these shows? Then the queue looped around to the set of Masha's PV for Kokoro Color. Triceratops!
And a Masha Standee I would also gladly fork over all the money they wanted for:
After posing on set for a few, we then journeyed past the media goods booth and the Fukuyama Shrine. Yes, you read that right. A Shrine. Devoted to his Mashaness:
At which people were lined up around the entire hall to pray:
To be fair, the money collected all goes to Act Against Aids. The prayers go directly to Masha, however. I did not pray at the shrine for fear of being smote... and also the line was 2000 miles long by the time we showed up. Instead we went back to our hotel and bounced around for a bit until it was time to actually attend the show.
We returned, tickets in hand, and smoothly proceeded into the hall to be handed our complementary pack of Kewpie 1/2 Fukuyamayonaisse. I ... actually hate mayo, but I'm treasuring this pack. Our seats were in C4 about 14 rows away from the substage. The substage was ... really close. We were starting to panic. The loudspeakers played the Beatle's One album, and we sat in our chairs singing along and trying to keep calm. We also scanned the populace, including a pair of twin guys in matching jackets behind us. I guess twins do that in Japan... We felt rather bad for the ladies directly behind us who sat down and exclaimed "Ah! Foreigners! What if they're tall!"
After watching the Mashamaro concert rules video a few times, the lights dimmed, and everyone screamed and jumped to their feet (The women behind us screamed "Ah! Dekai! Mienai!" Sorry ladies, but you know... I do understand you...
After an intro video wherein we could read Masha's gratitude and his apologies about the limited bathrooms in the hall, the show began. Stagelights flashed blue, flashed red, then flashed a spotlight directly onto Masha in his power pose. He was wearing a lovely white suit and silvery jacket, and his hair looked far better than it has any right to look. Seriously, men over 40 shouldn't be able to pull of the lovelylocks style, but Masha does just fine.
He opened with "Hey!" which I think was wise. It put everyone in a hip and groovy mood and kept the heart attacks to a minimum, I think. Cuz hey, Hey! It's all right. Everything's gonna be all right. This also gives him plenty of time to do those hoppy, skippy goofy dances that I love so much because they remind me there is one thing Masha cannot do. "Hey!" transitioned into "Sou ~ new love new world." I was very proud that this time around I knew the dance. We then moved straight into "Peach!" I thought, "Wow, seems a bit early in the evening for this one. I wonder if he's going to--" *Masha twirls and flares coat to reveal the plastic ass of the evening* "-- yup, yup, he's just going to start with that." For interested parties, the plastic ass of the evening was a pink thong with Masha's face on one cheek and the words "Kotoshi no Kao" (Face of the Year) on the other cheek.
"Peach!" was the first time Masha moved to C stage where he was... closer than I'd ever been to a Masha before, particularly one occasionally mooning the audience with a plastic ass with his own face emblazoned on it.
I respect this man so very much.
Peach eventually somehow turned into "Ode to Joy!" which the audience all "Chu Chu Chu'd" along to while Masha conducted us. A grand time and a great finish to the opening segment. We then began the first MC. He started with his usual seating check, hello stand and stage back and arena! He mentioned that, due to the venue, stand and stage back were technically forbidden from jumping. As they threatened to riot, he pointed out that he was fine with jumping. It was The Man at Pacifico Yokohama that was getting them down. Most of the stand and stage back I could see were not in the mood for listening to The Man. He did the, "How many women are here? Fukuyama loves women! How many men are here?" *cue that one guy who is always there yelling "MASHA!" in the deepest baritone possible* Masha could barely keep it together long enough to say "Fukuyama loves men." He talked a little about his year and how he'd beaten out AKB to be "Kotoshi no Kao." Not Rainen, but Kotoshi. Just 30 hours left in Kotoshi... ah well.
Then this ... backbeat started. My ears perked. Could it be? I wasn't even ready to hope, terrified I was wrong and the beat would turn into some other song, but then the brass came in and "Niji!" This was the top song on my list that I desperately wanted to hear. And oh did I get my wish. "Niji" is the ideal transition song. While it is in general smooth and grooving, it still has that powerful chorus to keep it upbeat. The combination allows it to seamlessly link a super upbeat number like "Peach!" and the melancholy "Ano Natsu mo, Umi mo, Sora mo" which followed it. At this point, my set list memory gets hazy. It was mostly the same as the countdown live, but there were a few changes. Sorry if the songs themselves get mixed up.
Anyway, we've now moved into the ballad section with "Ano Natsu" and I think "Hotaru." I don't remember exactly when "Hotaru" played, but I remember I started crying, and then felt really lame because I never cried listening to "Hotaru" before! The thing is that CD's are only 10% the real power of Fukuyama. Hearing it live and really being able to listen to the words and the way his voice controlled it... I got sniffly. And I'm going to tell everyone about it, so it's cool.
We then had another MC where Masha did his usual audience check. He asked where everyone was from and made a Kinki Kids reference when he mentioned their reason. He actually asked if anyone came from overseas, I screamed but I was pretty far away and this girl from China was closer, so he said "Welcome to Japan" to her. He said it in English, though, so I'm taking that for me. He also talked about "Power Spots" and how there was a "Power Sport" right here, dead center of the hall. Follow him. He walked halfway between main and substage to a center stage. "Right here!" There was a little Color logo to mark the spot. "Here! And what's this to the west! Why it's Fuji-san!" *Camera zooms on a tiny clay model of Fuji-san to the west* "And in the East? America's Sedona!" Now, I didn't actually realize he said "Sedona" at that point. Actually, I was hard-pressed to identify it the next night too. The model ... didn't really look like Sedona. But after some bootleg research, V1 and I determined it as Sedona Arizona. I think it was the easiest clay model for his art staff to make. He also had models of Ayre's Rock in the South, Aomori in the North, and down there in the Southwest, his childhood home in Nagasaki. Also his dog, John. Good job, art staff.
He then asked if he could play a song while standing on the Power Spot. After some uproarious cheers, he announced "Kokoro Color." This song makes me feel 10 times happier live than listening to the CD, and it makes me really happy listening to the CD. Color turned into "Hello," and then it was time to cool back down with "Hatsukoi."
Of all the songs Masha played this show, "HatsuKoi" probably impressed me the most. I'd heard it on CD of course, and I'd said "Ah another Masha ballad. Well that's very pretty." Then I moved on because I don't listen to ballads a whole lot. Live, however, I was just as impressed by it as I was by "Phantom" last year. The range he expresses, the control of voice, the subtle bitterness inflected in each word... I was stunned. The ambiance created for this number was also great. They had smoke machines create this swirling fog around Masha's feet and little bubbles that looked like snowflakes falling on that area of the stage/crowd. I didn't realize it was bubbles until the next evening, and even then only when they started landing on me. Anyway, "Hatsukoi" jumped up about 30 spaces on my favorite Masha songs list that night.
After this, Masha took a break and invited us to watch one of the most amusing VTR's I've ever gotten to see. It was hosted by Iwasaki-san from Ryoma-den and largely involved complaining about his jerk of a friend Fukuyama Ryoma. It went through his achievements since last years tour with clips from Ryoma-den interspersed. Iwasaki complained about all the nude scenes Fukuyama Ryoma had to do and then showed stills of a less and less clothed Masha culminating in a "Service" shot. That one I'll leave to your imagination, or you can visit the keitai site and receive it uncensored for the low, low price of 2190 yen. However, the happiest moment of the year for Masha was when he got to appear on "Doraemon"... and then be dubbed out of the script. My Japanese is not so good, but for whatever reason, they replaced the Masha voice with another voice for the character "Fukuyama Masahi." We all got to hear the real Masha voice reading the lines. The VTR eventually ended with the release of Best Bang and the final scene of Ryoma-den which is a primary reason I didn't finish watching Ryoma-den, guys. Geez. Much of the audience burst into tears.
Masha then returned to play "Shounen," one of my new faves. He then moved back to center stage for "Ishikure no Pride" and "Koufukuron" which I was dying to hear live again. It's just that whenever he goes "Oh honey" I sorta have this giggly fit and V1 has to catch me. A bit embarrassing, but what are ya gonna do, right? As Masha was decently far away from me during this portion, I had time to actually watch his insane percussionist. I love that guy and the intensity he puts into playing washboards and train whistles.
Here my set list memory goes a bit fuzzy, but I believe we broke into "Marcy's Song" around this point. This is a song I didn't even dream of getting to here live, EVER! It was so amazingly ... fun. I love the stupid pseudo-rap, I love the super speed tempo change, I love the bouncy rock dance that accompanies the tempo change. So so so so fun! "Marcy's Song" turned into "Gang" which brought up my only real criticism of the show:
"Gang" was accompanied by the introduction of scantily-clad dancing girls. Now, this isn't a fangirl thing. This isn't a "No women on stage with my Masha" criticism. Back-up dancers can be a great addition to a live show and really add to the scope of a performance (see upcoming Kinki Kids report for proper use of back up dancers). However, in this case, they just felt wrong.
1) Masha doesn't need to add to the scope of the performance. He is the scope. He's roughly 15 meters tall when he's on stage surrounded by adoring fans. The dancers were completely superfluous, particularly since Masha can't exactly dance with them.
2) The stage blocking was off so the dancers spent a good deal of time right in front of Masha.
3) Masha didn't seem to care for them much. He didn't interact with them at all. Even when they were doing the, fan around and wave hands in a "Masha is a golden god" kind of worship dance, he just seemed to be pretending to ignore them. He almost looked embarrassed by it leading me to suspect this is some marketing exec's decision and not his. He joked at the end that they were brought here for the menfolk's enjoyment, but menfolk don't come to Masha shows to see this.
4) It was cheap. Fukuyama Masaharu, while he has plenty of humor about his career and success (See "Peach!" and "Heaven"), still maintains a very classy image (*ignores "Peach!" and "Heaven"). The dancers were Las Vegas castoffs who weren't even particularly good at their job. They looked sleazy and entirely out of place at this kind of event.
Luckily, they only came out for a few songs. Unfortunately, the did come back.
Before that, though, we got to hear "Heaven." You know what? I'm not going to talk about "Heaven" after I got done defending how classy Masha is. I'll talk about "Heaven" plenty in the 12/31 review. Let's move on.
I believe it was around here that Masha did what became the running MC of the show. He'd reminisce about his career and how his friends had asked him, "What is it that I have that lets me stand on this stage?" His friend's answer was "Friends." Masha's answer was "A Towel!" The audience all revealed their matching "Best Bang" towels. I felt rather foolish having to make do with my tour towel which is the wrong color and too big. This situation was rectified the next day. Masha also announced from here on we were going nonstop. He meant it too.
"Revolution/Evolution" started and we all just took off. The Kin-Tape flew and we just spun towels in the air, waiting for the motion to propel us into flight. Unfortunately, I was dead center which I've learned is a glitter dead zone. All the tape shoots from the center to the sides, and none of it gets to the middle. I tried not to get to upset, though, because I knew I had tomorrow.
We then ran through "Hard Rain" and "Tsuioku no Ame no Naka" rocking our little hearts out. There were cups flying everywhere, T-shirt guns being magnificently handled, and just hard core, frenzied rocking out with Masha. The only bad part was that there were more dancing girls for "R/E" and the last song of the main show "Keshin." The good part is that "Keshin" had so much fire and guitars that I didn't really have time to notice the dancing girls.
Obviously, no one was going to let the show end there. Masha was pretty prompt about responding to the cries of his people to come back and play "Kiss Shite." Honestly, I thought the crowd was a little weak on this one. I expected a stronger response to the hamminess that is this song. Hiroshima never disappointed me, but Yokohama needed to get its act together.
Masha then repeated his, "What is it that I have that allows me to stand on this stage? I figured it out. Mayonnaise!" *pulls out a packet of Kewpie 1/2* "Yes! Kewpie 1/2! Half the calories and all the flavor because I'm concerned about your health." *breaks down into, "I can't believe I just did a Kewpie commercial in front of a live audience and they cheered" giggle fit.* Like I said, Masha has a sense of humor. But yes, he told us to enjoy the omiyage from the show. However, what is it that he really has that allows him to stand on the stage? "Omaera yo." We all swooned and cheered. Then we sang along with "Ashita no Show" while more glitter confetti surrounded us but never actually got near enough to the middle to catch. Cursed Glitter Dead Zone.
Masha then introduced his posse who took their bows and left. Then Masha said we sounded tired. Are you sure you're not tired? Or hungry? You know, the trains will stop running soon? Really? One more song? Oh if you insist.
He told us he'd be playing this tomorrow on Kouhaku with the rest of the band, but he'd give us an acoustic version now. Then we got acoustic "Michishirube" and I almost passed out. See "Michishirube" is a beautiful song. the remastering of "Michishirube" with the orchestra is my song of the year. "Michishirube" boiled down to just Masha's voice and an occasional guitar strum is breath-taking. It was practically a capella, and I don't think he really needed the mic. The hall was perfectly silent, just lost in what a beautiful song it truly is.
V1 said later that our current technology is just not advance enough to capture the sound quality of a Masha live performance, and nowhere is that more clear than in this encore. I've listened to this song countless times before and after, but it's maybe 10% as awesome at best. Masha does this to prove that he doesn't need to do silly dances or cheesy commercials or "Peach!" or "Heaven" ever to earn his money. He chooses to do them because it's fun. He's also perfectly capable of robbing you of speech for the rest of the year.
Wow that was a long report, and that was only day one. I know I missed stuff and the set list is probably a bit wonky, but bear in mind this all came from the fragments of a shattered, shattered mind. I have plenty more to say about day 2 which is the one that really destroyed the rest of my life. I'll do that in another post.
Masha Love.
December 30th/31st 2010 were the absolute greatest days of my life. I'm saying that with the kind of intensity people talk about the birth of their children. I was that happy. I know I'll never have another concert experience like it, and I honestly don't know how I could have a better day period.
So while this review will capture the experience in only the tiniest, most superficial ways, I'm going to try to capture just a fraction of what these shows felt like for me.
I find a good indicator of a venue is their merchandise line. V1 and I actually tried to buy goods on Tuesday, but they had signs asking only people with tickets for that day's concerts buy them. Not a problem. We went back on Thursday and hopped right into a small, quick moving queue. The hallway leading to the queue was lined with congratulatory bouquets for Fukuyama-san from various sponsors and companies. Therefore, everything smelled nice. I've never said that about a goods line before. The line brushed past a giant Color logo and a wall of all Masha's advertisements for the year. Brilliant, guys. Do you know how much I want a Regza tv?
I didn't know any of the goods before hand... so I had flown in blind with a ... small budget. I ended up with the pamphlet/eco bag set, some Mashamaru Daruma bath bombs, a purple phone strap, a blanket, and a towel set. I didn't get the ear pick or the harumaki. Ear pick... really Masha?
So yay! I did good! I stayed in budg-- what's this next queue over here? Why it's a Ryoma-den queue! With all of the Ryoma-den goods I've drooled over online for so long! So much for "budgets." I ended up getting a Sakamoto Ryoma towel, a memo pad, and a clear file. Cuz I'm a sucker. They also had all of the Ryoma-den costumes and props set up in this area.
As if that wasn't enough, we wound through a Ryoma-den photo gallery housing dozens of huge prints I would have been very happy to purchase and put on my wall. Come on guys? How many wheelbarrows of money should I bring to these shows? Then the queue looped around to the set of Masha's PV for Kokoro Color. Triceratops!
And a Masha Standee I would also gladly fork over all the money they wanted for:
After posing on set for a few, we then journeyed past the media goods booth and the Fukuyama Shrine. Yes, you read that right. A Shrine. Devoted to his Mashaness:
At which people were lined up around the entire hall to pray:
To be fair, the money collected all goes to Act Against Aids. The prayers go directly to Masha, however. I did not pray at the shrine for fear of being smote... and also the line was 2000 miles long by the time we showed up. Instead we went back to our hotel and bounced around for a bit until it was time to actually attend the show.
We returned, tickets in hand, and smoothly proceeded into the hall to be handed our complementary pack of Kewpie 1/2 Fukuyamayonaisse. I ... actually hate mayo, but I'm treasuring this pack. Our seats were in C4 about 14 rows away from the substage. The substage was ... really close. We were starting to panic. The loudspeakers played the Beatle's One album, and we sat in our chairs singing along and trying to keep calm. We also scanned the populace, including a pair of twin guys in matching jackets behind us. I guess twins do that in Japan... We felt rather bad for the ladies directly behind us who sat down and exclaimed "Ah! Foreigners! What if they're tall!"
After watching the Mashamaro concert rules video a few times, the lights dimmed, and everyone screamed and jumped to their feet (The women behind us screamed "Ah! Dekai! Mienai!" Sorry ladies, but you know... I do understand you...
After an intro video wherein we could read Masha's gratitude and his apologies about the limited bathrooms in the hall, the show began. Stagelights flashed blue, flashed red, then flashed a spotlight directly onto Masha in his power pose. He was wearing a lovely white suit and silvery jacket, and his hair looked far better than it has any right to look. Seriously, men over 40 shouldn't be able to pull of the lovelylocks style, but Masha does just fine.
He opened with "Hey!" which I think was wise. It put everyone in a hip and groovy mood and kept the heart attacks to a minimum, I think. Cuz hey, Hey! It's all right. Everything's gonna be all right. This also gives him plenty of time to do those hoppy, skippy goofy dances that I love so much because they remind me there is one thing Masha cannot do. "Hey!" transitioned into "Sou ~ new love new world." I was very proud that this time around I knew the dance. We then moved straight into "Peach!" I thought, "Wow, seems a bit early in the evening for this one. I wonder if he's going to--" *Masha twirls and flares coat to reveal the plastic ass of the evening* "-- yup, yup, he's just going to start with that." For interested parties, the plastic ass of the evening was a pink thong with Masha's face on one cheek and the words "Kotoshi no Kao" (Face of the Year) on the other cheek.
"Peach!" was the first time Masha moved to C stage where he was... closer than I'd ever been to a Masha before, particularly one occasionally mooning the audience with a plastic ass with his own face emblazoned on it.
I respect this man so very much.
Peach eventually somehow turned into "Ode to Joy!" which the audience all "Chu Chu Chu'd" along to while Masha conducted us. A grand time and a great finish to the opening segment. We then began the first MC. He started with his usual seating check, hello stand and stage back and arena! He mentioned that, due to the venue, stand and stage back were technically forbidden from jumping. As they threatened to riot, he pointed out that he was fine with jumping. It was The Man at Pacifico Yokohama that was getting them down. Most of the stand and stage back I could see were not in the mood for listening to The Man. He did the, "How many women are here? Fukuyama loves women! How many men are here?" *cue that one guy who is always there yelling "MASHA!" in the deepest baritone possible* Masha could barely keep it together long enough to say "Fukuyama loves men." He talked a little about his year and how he'd beaten out AKB to be "Kotoshi no Kao." Not Rainen, but Kotoshi. Just 30 hours left in Kotoshi... ah well.
Then this ... backbeat started. My ears perked. Could it be? I wasn't even ready to hope, terrified I was wrong and the beat would turn into some other song, but then the brass came in and "Niji!" This was the top song on my list that I desperately wanted to hear. And oh did I get my wish. "Niji" is the ideal transition song. While it is in general smooth and grooving, it still has that powerful chorus to keep it upbeat. The combination allows it to seamlessly link a super upbeat number like "Peach!" and the melancholy "Ano Natsu mo, Umi mo, Sora mo" which followed it. At this point, my set list memory gets hazy. It was mostly the same as the countdown live, but there were a few changes. Sorry if the songs themselves get mixed up.
Anyway, we've now moved into the ballad section with "Ano Natsu" and I think "Hotaru." I don't remember exactly when "Hotaru" played, but I remember I started crying, and then felt really lame because I never cried listening to "Hotaru" before! The thing is that CD's are only 10% the real power of Fukuyama. Hearing it live and really being able to listen to the words and the way his voice controlled it... I got sniffly. And I'm going to tell everyone about it, so it's cool.
We then had another MC where Masha did his usual audience check. He asked where everyone was from and made a Kinki Kids reference when he mentioned their reason. He actually asked if anyone came from overseas, I screamed but I was pretty far away and this girl from China was closer, so he said "Welcome to Japan" to her. He said it in English, though, so I'm taking that for me. He also talked about "Power Spots" and how there was a "Power Sport" right here, dead center of the hall. Follow him. He walked halfway between main and substage to a center stage. "Right here!" There was a little Color logo to mark the spot. "Here! And what's this to the west! Why it's Fuji-san!" *Camera zooms on a tiny clay model of Fuji-san to the west* "And in the East? America's Sedona!" Now, I didn't actually realize he said "Sedona" at that point. Actually, I was hard-pressed to identify it the next night too. The model ... didn't really look like Sedona. But after some bootleg research, V1 and I determined it as Sedona Arizona. I think it was the easiest clay model for his art staff to make. He also had models of Ayre's Rock in the South, Aomori in the North, and down there in the Southwest, his childhood home in Nagasaki. Also his dog, John. Good job, art staff.
He then asked if he could play a song while standing on the Power Spot. After some uproarious cheers, he announced "Kokoro Color." This song makes me feel 10 times happier live than listening to the CD, and it makes me really happy listening to the CD. Color turned into "Hello," and then it was time to cool back down with "Hatsukoi."
Of all the songs Masha played this show, "HatsuKoi" probably impressed me the most. I'd heard it on CD of course, and I'd said "Ah another Masha ballad. Well that's very pretty." Then I moved on because I don't listen to ballads a whole lot. Live, however, I was just as impressed by it as I was by "Phantom" last year. The range he expresses, the control of voice, the subtle bitterness inflected in each word... I was stunned. The ambiance created for this number was also great. They had smoke machines create this swirling fog around Masha's feet and little bubbles that looked like snowflakes falling on that area of the stage/crowd. I didn't realize it was bubbles until the next evening, and even then only when they started landing on me. Anyway, "Hatsukoi" jumped up about 30 spaces on my favorite Masha songs list that night.
After this, Masha took a break and invited us to watch one of the most amusing VTR's I've ever gotten to see. It was hosted by Iwasaki-san from Ryoma-den and largely involved complaining about his jerk of a friend Fukuyama Ryoma. It went through his achievements since last years tour with clips from Ryoma-den interspersed. Iwasaki complained about all the nude scenes Fukuyama Ryoma had to do and then showed stills of a less and less clothed Masha culminating in a "Service" shot. That one I'll leave to your imagination, or you can visit the keitai site and receive it uncensored for the low, low price of 2190 yen. However, the happiest moment of the year for Masha was when he got to appear on "Doraemon"... and then be dubbed out of the script. My Japanese is not so good, but for whatever reason, they replaced the Masha voice with another voice for the character "Fukuyama Masahi." We all got to hear the real Masha voice reading the lines. The VTR eventually ended with the release of Best Bang and the final scene of Ryoma-den which is a primary reason I didn't finish watching Ryoma-den, guys. Geez. Much of the audience burst into tears.
Masha then returned to play "Shounen," one of my new faves. He then moved back to center stage for "Ishikure no Pride" and "Koufukuron" which I was dying to hear live again. It's just that whenever he goes "Oh honey" I sorta have this giggly fit and V1 has to catch me. A bit embarrassing, but what are ya gonna do, right? As Masha was decently far away from me during this portion, I had time to actually watch his insane percussionist. I love that guy and the intensity he puts into playing washboards and train whistles.
Here my set list memory goes a bit fuzzy, but I believe we broke into "Marcy's Song" around this point. This is a song I didn't even dream of getting to here live, EVER! It was so amazingly ... fun. I love the stupid pseudo-rap, I love the super speed tempo change, I love the bouncy rock dance that accompanies the tempo change. So so so so fun! "Marcy's Song" turned into "Gang" which brought up my only real criticism of the show:
"Gang" was accompanied by the introduction of scantily-clad dancing girls. Now, this isn't a fangirl thing. This isn't a "No women on stage with my Masha" criticism. Back-up dancers can be a great addition to a live show and really add to the scope of a performance (see upcoming Kinki Kids report for proper use of back up dancers). However, in this case, they just felt wrong.
1) Masha doesn't need to add to the scope of the performance. He is the scope. He's roughly 15 meters tall when he's on stage surrounded by adoring fans. The dancers were completely superfluous, particularly since Masha can't exactly dance with them.
2) The stage blocking was off so the dancers spent a good deal of time right in front of Masha.
3) Masha didn't seem to care for them much. He didn't interact with them at all. Even when they were doing the, fan around and wave hands in a "Masha is a golden god" kind of worship dance, he just seemed to be pretending to ignore them. He almost looked embarrassed by it leading me to suspect this is some marketing exec's decision and not his. He joked at the end that they were brought here for the menfolk's enjoyment, but menfolk don't come to Masha shows to see this.
4) It was cheap. Fukuyama Masaharu, while he has plenty of humor about his career and success (See "Peach!" and "Heaven"), still maintains a very classy image (*ignores "Peach!" and "Heaven"). The dancers were Las Vegas castoffs who weren't even particularly good at their job. They looked sleazy and entirely out of place at this kind of event.
Luckily, they only came out for a few songs. Unfortunately, the did come back.
Before that, though, we got to hear "Heaven." You know what? I'm not going to talk about "Heaven" after I got done defending how classy Masha is. I'll talk about "Heaven" plenty in the 12/31 review. Let's move on.
I believe it was around here that Masha did what became the running MC of the show. He'd reminisce about his career and how his friends had asked him, "What is it that I have that lets me stand on this stage?" His friend's answer was "Friends." Masha's answer was "A Towel!" The audience all revealed their matching "Best Bang" towels. I felt rather foolish having to make do with my tour towel which is the wrong color and too big. This situation was rectified the next day. Masha also announced from here on we were going nonstop. He meant it too.
"Revolution/Evolution" started and we all just took off. The Kin-Tape flew and we just spun towels in the air, waiting for the motion to propel us into flight. Unfortunately, I was dead center which I've learned is a glitter dead zone. All the tape shoots from the center to the sides, and none of it gets to the middle. I tried not to get to upset, though, because I knew I had tomorrow.
We then ran through "Hard Rain" and "Tsuioku no Ame no Naka" rocking our little hearts out. There were cups flying everywhere, T-shirt guns being magnificently handled, and just hard core, frenzied rocking out with Masha. The only bad part was that there were more dancing girls for "R/E" and the last song of the main show "Keshin." The good part is that "Keshin" had so much fire and guitars that I didn't really have time to notice the dancing girls.
Obviously, no one was going to let the show end there. Masha was pretty prompt about responding to the cries of his people to come back and play "Kiss Shite." Honestly, I thought the crowd was a little weak on this one. I expected a stronger response to the hamminess that is this song. Hiroshima never disappointed me, but Yokohama needed to get its act together.
Masha then repeated his, "What is it that I have that allows me to stand on this stage? I figured it out. Mayonnaise!" *pulls out a packet of Kewpie 1/2* "Yes! Kewpie 1/2! Half the calories and all the flavor because I'm concerned about your health." *breaks down into, "I can't believe I just did a Kewpie commercial in front of a live audience and they cheered" giggle fit.* Like I said, Masha has a sense of humor. But yes, he told us to enjoy the omiyage from the show. However, what is it that he really has that allows him to stand on the stage? "Omaera yo." We all swooned and cheered. Then we sang along with "Ashita no Show" while more glitter confetti surrounded us but never actually got near enough to the middle to catch. Cursed Glitter Dead Zone.
Masha then introduced his posse who took their bows and left. Then Masha said we sounded tired. Are you sure you're not tired? Or hungry? You know, the trains will stop running soon? Really? One more song? Oh if you insist.
He told us he'd be playing this tomorrow on Kouhaku with the rest of the band, but he'd give us an acoustic version now. Then we got acoustic "Michishirube" and I almost passed out. See "Michishirube" is a beautiful song. the remastering of "Michishirube" with the orchestra is my song of the year. "Michishirube" boiled down to just Masha's voice and an occasional guitar strum is breath-taking. It was practically a capella, and I don't think he really needed the mic. The hall was perfectly silent, just lost in what a beautiful song it truly is.
V1 said later that our current technology is just not advance enough to capture the sound quality of a Masha live performance, and nowhere is that more clear than in this encore. I've listened to this song countless times before and after, but it's maybe 10% as awesome at best. Masha does this to prove that he doesn't need to do silly dances or cheesy commercials or "Peach!" or "Heaven" ever to earn his money. He chooses to do them because it's fun. He's also perfectly capable of robbing you of speech for the rest of the year.
Wow that was a long report, and that was only day one. I know I missed stuff and the set list is probably a bit wonky, but bear in mind this all came from the fragments of a shattered, shattered mind. I have plenty more to say about day 2 which is the one that really destroyed the rest of my life. I'll do that in another post.
Masha Love.