Kanazawa AZ Hall: 2010/04/22
雅-MIYAVI- Japan Tour 2010
2010/04/22 Kanazawa AZ Hall
Live Report #13
Last night’s show in Kanazawa was another stellar round of nostalgia for me. The last time that I was at AZ Hall, I was deathly ill with a 100 degree fever and the first and only migraine headache I have ever had in my life. Barely able to stand upright, I propped myself up on Lyse for the majority of the show and concentrated most of my efforts on not throwing up.
But I’m happy to say that this time, I’m actually gaining some of the lost weight back instead of losing it, and was healthy enough to appreciate Kanazawa. Which was cold. WAY too cold for this time of year; I have a theory that Miyavi is carrying the inclement weather around in his pocket with him, because no matter where he goes, it rains. Miyavi, we do not call you Ame Otoko for nothing! Please sell umbrellas as part of your tour goods next tour.
AZ Hall is a decent little club; there weren’t as many people there last night as there were in 2008, but those of us that did show up had a LOT more energy than the crowd did a year and a half ago. Steff, Dankichi and I were right on the rail and tucked over to the right, which made for not only a great view, but lots of breathing room. The way that the ticket numbers work out, it’s rare that we all get to stand together, especially right up in the front row, so this was a real treat for all of us.
After 12 shows in a row (and Makito telling him, I’m sure, that some of us are out here for the long haul with him), Miyavi seems to be not only expecting us, but counting on us to help him get everyone’s blood up at the shows. He wants people screaming for him during 21st Century Tokyo Blues, but most of the kids over here aren’t accustomed to shouting out during the middle of his songs - each night he gestures straight at the kids that have been coming to all of the concerts, and usually on the first go-round it’s only us that scream back at him. Everyone gets the picture pretty quickly after that, and by the end of the night we had everyone bouncing, rocking, shouting and gesturing right along with us in the kind of super-interactive set that we all love best.
He played Ku Ku Ru again last night, though I’m sorry to say that he left Revenge out of the set for almost the first time on the tour - it’s quickly becoming one of my favorite songs, but last night he only played Where R U and Unbreakable instead, along with a song that we really have established is either called Uh-Huh, or Ah-Hah (I’m banking on the latter). I’m really getting to like this one, too - the time signature change keeps it interesting, and even though it’s in a minor key it’s one of the most upbeat and cheerful new songs that he’s performed so far. Are You Ready To Rock is still one of the most raucous and enjoyable songs in the set list; those of us that can reach him have taken to slapping out the beat on his leg instead of punching the air with our fists (as doing the latter would kind of have us punching him in the stomach), and Miyavi doesn't seem to mind in the least - he just stomps his foot even harder on the speakers, happy enough to be rocking out with us instead of just for us.
Demachi was a real bout of nostalgia for me - cold, rainy, and antithetical of the weather that we had in 2008. The Kanazawa show was the first time that I met Paola, and sitting on the sidewalk with Dankichi and Steff, I could literally see the ghosts of us there from a year and a half ago, crowded up and waiting for the staff to leave. I used the last gasp of my phone’s almost-dead battery to call her in Italy - even though I only got her voicemail, I felt compelled to connect the two moments and share this one with her somehow. “Kyou inai no ni, itsumo kokoro no naka de Paola ha hontou ni iru yo,” I told her, and it’s a beautiful thing to know that thousands of miles away in Italy, my voice was able to reach one of the girls that I truly consider a sister in this life, and bring a smile to her face. One of my favorite Miyavi quotes is, “No matter how far apart we are, we’ll always be together”; I wish he knew just how true those words are for those of us who have met, bonded, and remained lifelong friends just from happening to be at one of his shows together.
The next show is in Kobe, where Yumi and Yuuga and lots of the Kansai Crew will be catching back up with us to rock out one more time before we head to the far north and freeze our butts off up in Sapporo. Miyavi is currently still fighting off the cold that lots of us, fans and staff alike, have already caught (inevitable when the kid spits on you night after night), and my biggest hope right now is that he manages to stay healthy for these last four shows before the break. Once Koriyama is over and done with, there’s a whole month before the tour final in Tokyo - it’s going to be a huge show and won’t have the same feel to it as the club tour does, but so many of us are planning to meet up for it that I’m sure it will just be a different kind of awesome instead of any sort of let-down.