Spiral concert at Yokohama Arena 2/8/2015
Spiral concert at Yokohama Arena 2/8/2015
Having previously attended KinKi's M concert in the Tokyo Dome, I was pleasantly surprised by the relatively short distance from the stands to the stage. (This is also partly because I was in the D block at the side.) To be honest, before the start of the concert I wasn't sure what sort of experience I would have since I don't like the style of Koichi's solo discography (particularly Gravity and Spiral) as much as KinKi's. I decided to attend only for the much vaunted stage effects and because it's been 3 years since Gravity. HOWEVER! I immediately discovered that his songs are REALLY well-suited for concerts. For me it all passed way too quickly in a haze of head-bobbing lol and I sadly can't actually recall too many details. But I enjoyed it so so much, and if Sunday weren't the last performance at Yokohama, I would have tried to get another ticket.
The Ko-chan call started at 5 mins to 2pm, and after a short intro, he appeared wearing a hoodie similar to the one in the Fame PV. The PV was of course so cool and awesome that I had skyhigh expectations for hearing this song live, and it did not disappoint! Next was Danger Zone - there was a good amount of screaming during the bit where he crawls on the floor. Muse cooled the pace down a little, followed by Slave Maker, which is so-so on CD, but makes a nice shouty live song.
1.Fame
2.Danger Zone
3.Muse
4.Slave Maker
Koichi changed into a shiny suit-like black costume for Interactional. This song and the dance really grew on me after watchng the 4-5 TV performances, but I had always enjoyed it in a completely still and quiet manner. During the concert however it became something quite different. I think the bass was much louder and there was a very clear, catchy beat that I found myself grooving to. Knocked me down was in the same vein and I looove the letchu, letchu, letchu bit of Come Closer (: I suspect that Come Closer isn't really meant to be viewed from the side but oh well there's always the DVD to look forward to.
5.Interactional
6.Knocked me down
7.Come Closer
The next song, Night Wanderer, probaby left the deepest impression on me. It is many people's favourite song on the album, I think. The dance beat and dark atmosphere coupled with a stunning light show made it an unforgettable performance. Yanno the green laser thing Koichi played with during K concert? It was like that but hand held (I think?! Not sure how it worked) and every dancer had one and they put on this beautiful light show on a smaller stage nearer the centre of the arena. It went perfectly well with the song and no words can do it justice and I want the DVD already damnit!
Over You has a really sweet melody but Engrish always ruins things for me... (Do you still sink about me -_-)
IN&OUT!! It's of course a really good song when recorded but I never knew it would be such an absolutely perfect live song. It had me bobbing my head right from the intro and was unbelievably catchy from start to finish.
8.Night Wanderer
9.Over You
10.IN&OUT
After the fantastic first half of the concert was a major downer, the MC. (KIDDING.) As usual for Koichi there was lots of insistence that he can't see the audience, demands for us to face reality, mean-spirited teasing of the people who came to queue before breakfast but couldn't get the pocket watch, and even a few outright insults.
But really, I like how casual and relaxing KinKi's MCs always are. Koichi did a good job being fairly entertaining for more than half an hour without much material (there weren't any Juniors on this tour). Mostly he spoke of other people's antics and thanked the various choreographers - Travis Payne, Yoshie and Kento Mori. Of note to me was the part about his experience filming Onmyoji in Iwate. He was straightforward as always, being amusingly rude in insisting that the place was super rural even after it turned out there were people from Iwate in the audience, lol. Look forward to the O.A. in September!
After 30 minutes, Koichi tried to continue the concert and asked the audience to stand. To my huge amusement, not only did everyone remain seated, there was even some light booing. As he cajoled everyone to stand, he mentioned that he's been thinking about having the audience seated for future concerts. I was kinda touched because a good number of the ladies were in their 40s or older, and even the younger members of the audience were sometimes taking breaks or massaging their backs. He really does think a lot about his audience. Of course, he then had to immediately insist that he REALLY can't see the audience. Right...
On that high note, the concert entered the second half. For Dead End, Koichi appeared on stage chained to a bit of fake wall. Next there was the stick dancing of SHOW ME UR MONSTER followed by Bongo Drum, which was not my kind of song, but had a very, very fun choreography with lots of shaking indeed. I can't remember Just a Woman due to being distracted by the ginormously long T-shaped platform which I hadn't even known was there descending from the ceiling.
11.Dead End
12.SHOW ME UR MONSTER
13.Bongo Drum
14.Just A Woman
Here, have my attempt to draw the stadium layout. You have the main stage with a small round stage attached like BPM and Gravity. And then this jaw-dropping huge-ass platform descended to lie atop the round stage so Koichi could climb some stairs and onto it. While the width is only the width of the arena seats, the length actually cuts into the ground floor stands. So during Stellar Night the platform is lifted up again with Koichi strolling to the far end of it, and at the end of the song, in both height and vertical distance, Koichi is right in the faces of the lucky 2nd storey stands. Similarly for Love Professor he crossed the T to briefly greet each side. All the while the platform isn't wasted because colourful lights are installed at the bottom to wave over the audience below. When I first noticed the platform was undoubtly the most holyshit! moment of the concert for me.
MAIN STAGE
_______ ________
| |
| |
| |
| | SMALL ROUND STAGE
_________/____\____________
_________ ______________
\ | | /
| |
| |
| |
| |
| | ARENA
| |
| |
| |
| |
________| |________
| |
| |
| | STANDS
| |
| |
15.Stellar Night
16.Love Professor
There was a brief break for my brain to reboot, after which Koichi came on stage in a sort of Japanese fusion outfit. The following 5 songs were kinda a mix with each other and Interactional (how much does Koichi like this song). To be honest I didn't dig it because I was really looking forward to Akatsuki after seeing it in the setlist. In the end only half of each song was sung. And the concert came to an end (but not really) shortly after the member introduction in Interactional.
17.Bad Desire
18.Ayakashi
19.Akatsuki
20.Deep in your heart
21.Interactional
After a really short encore call, Koichi was back. Now in my mind, Shock is the true last song in the main body of the concert. It was totally not an encore performance. It is a good song from the new album and was really high and had many fireballs and all the works. I think he arranged it in the encore to give everyone a chance to rest because the dancing was extremely vigorous. (In fact Koichi himself mentioned that the entire concert had possibly too many dance numbers and was tough on everyone, stamina-wise.) This particular dance was choreographed by Kento Mori and had some deliberate MJ-like elements as well as jumping at each "Shock!", which meant lots and lots of jumping. It was super exciting and a fitting conclusion to a thrilling, fantastic concert.
22.Shock!
Once Koichi managed to catch his breath, there was a short talk in which he said that he hoped his thoughts for the fans were sufficiently expressed via the performance, despite whatever horrible stuff he might have said during the MC. The answer, of course, was a resounding YES. And then he had to ruin it immediately again with more jokes :D
Now for the real (IMO) encore, Koichi sang Love Cries and got onto a cart to move around the edge of the arena for so young blues and +MILLION but -LOVE. I was already fully satisfied with the concert by this point, but...
23.Love Cries
24.so young blues
25.+MILLION but -LOVE
Boy am I ever glad I stayed for the 2nd encore even though there didn't seem to be one on the setlist from earlier shows. Here's my favourite part of this particular show (because commoners like myself like omake(freebies)): a special, one-time 2nd encore!
So Koichi came out saying stuff like "I told you to return to reality" and "Go home already". The other shows ended this way, I suppose. But possibly because it's the last showing at Yokohama Arena, despite great reluctance and lots of adorable whining, Koichi and the band and dancers performed one last song.
26.IN&OUT
So the concert ended at around 4.45pm with me feeling 210% satisfied and even a bit touched (I really like freebies okay). I doubt I'll be in Japan in 2018 or whenever his next tour might be, so that might have been the only time I'll get to watch Koichi's solo. I probably should have splurged on a better ticket. But then again, the concert was just so good that it didn't really matter.
END
________________________________________________________________
My random thoughts
Aside from it being a really good show, which I have come to expect as a matter of course from KinKi, group or solo, I was able to feel, live, the atmosphere of the unique relationship between Koichi and his fans. No matter what Koichi says, the fans (myself included) believe that he is at heart a nice person with good intentions and an appreciation for his fans as a whole. And on the other hand, he has to believe that they understand him and his work, even if his fans are reserved and outwardly unenthusiastic, and say "Ehhh" and "Hyuu" way more than "Kyaa". Also, while Koichi's solo in particular is always focused on a polished performance, Spiral was slightly different from other concerts in trying to increase the audience interaction with the T platform. Of course, the platform itself is a prop used to wow the audience. I really appreciate how each concert has a few new concepts, and is overall each distinct and memorable.