Nana Mizuki Live Circus+ Taiwan (Live Viewing) Report
On Saturday, I got to watch a live viewing of Mizuki Nana’s first solo concert overseas that was held in Taiwan! :D In…a cinema with a lot of otaku. No pics here! Gomen~
Admittedly, the first concert that I ever attended was I Love Anisong 2011 and the highlight for me there was Kalafina. Granted, this is a live viewing but I guess the experience was the same, just without actually being there? I dunno. And yes. I am aware that Mizuki Nana was in Singapore but I missed the concert for a few reasons.
1) I hate Valvrave
2) I pay $150 to listen to Nana-chan sing only three songs that are not fully sung by her? Forget it. I was tempted by the autograph lottery though but eh.
3) I planned to skip AFA this year because they didn’t screen the third Madoka movie.
4) Singapore Writers’ Festival
I do regret not greeting her at the airport though (and well, I didn’t even know when she was arriving). And well, Be-sama was there too but I already got Kishio Daisuke and Kalafina to spread my germs to Ken-chan anyway. Now…lets’ get on to the report! :D
Pre-viewing
They held the viewing at Shaw Lido which was at…Orchard Road. I had something on in the morning so I had no time to get the shirts although Dylan’s friend agreed to help me get them. I reached there at 4 and all the shirts and penlights were sold out by then. I will admit that I felt SUPER awkward being surrounded by people wearing Nana shirts from her other events while I was carrying my SuzuKen’s CHRONICLE to the future tote bag complete with Masato and Tsubasa badges. I felt like some kind of spy from the SuzuKen fandom. XD ( I did have conflicting thoughts regarding those fans though. I was like ‘How do they have the time and money to travel to Japan since they’re so young?’ and then for those who wore the Animelo Flag Nine shirt from Day 3…..’YOU LUCKY BASTARD. YOU GOT TO SEE KENICHI-KUN,STARISH AND YUKARIN AND NANA etc etc’) It also kinda made me regret not getting the SuzuKen tour shirts from online or from my friend. ^__^; I went there alone and couldn’t find Dylan’s friend so I pretty much spent the rest of my time jamming out to Nana songs on my phone in awkward solitude. Oh. And there was a Nana-chan cosplayer who cosplayed her from her Vitalisation music video complete with the microphone staff and headpiece. XD So at about 4.50, it was time for us to be seated. I chose to go to the less crowded Hall 5 because yeah…I dislike crowds yet I want to go for an actual Nana/Kenichi concert. Go figure.
The actual viewing
So we were all seated. At about 5.08 p.m., off we went.
THE VENUE
I will be very brutally honest. They REALLY underestimated the number of people who wanted to go for this concert. They had it in Legacy Taiwan which is a livehouse venue (ala SuzuKen’s concerts) but it really is not enough. The hall was PACKED. And there were surprisingly a large number of female fans who attended the Taiwan leg of her Live Circus tour. XD Next year for Nana-chan’s Taiwan concert, they NEED a much larger venue. I mean, it was a refreshing change to see a Nana concert without all the bells and whistles and all but still…they need to accommodate her Taiwanese fans as far as possible. Sound quality was also ‘ehh’ at times but oh well.
THE EXPERIENCE
I expected the Nana fans here to be more lively I guess? But here, they just sat down and waved their penlights around and didn’t sing along! From what I read from an English report on the live viewing in Japan, the Japanese fans all stood up and sang at the top of their lungs! It was so awkward to be the only one singing along sometimes in the hall…There was an enthu fan in the front though who left his seat and stood up to do the appropriate penlight gestures. XD And changing the colours appropriately for the song. THAT is how you do it, people. And well, the rude ‘fans’ next to me who kept on making a lot of hollering noises…No No. I decided to not pay attention to any of the external factors and just enjoyed the concert by myself. J
THE SONGS
The songs were a mix of unfamiliar and familiar to me. You can find the full set list online. As per Live Circus tradition, we opened up with Gimmick Game. Familiar with the song but not familiar with the lyrics so I kept my mouth shut. XD I had no penlight with me so I just balled my hands together and motioned along with the Taiwanese fans on the screen. Afterwards was Lovely Fruit. Crowd participation!! But….I was like the only one in the hall who did it. Err…ok. Nevermind. I ignored that and just joined in the Taiwanese fans who were so enthusiastic. :D I think I had too much fun with this song because I found myself squeeing over Nana’s cuteness and genkiness. Then there was Pop Master. I’m not too big on the song but her live version made me appreciate it so much more! I let my vocal cords let loose at Junketsu Paradox and Brightstream and joined in the sing along with Nana. And then…Discotheque started. The crowd in the cinema was still….dead. It was so fun to the audience participation parts and they held back! Really? The biggest surprise of the night though was that she sang her TM Revolution duets without him! (He was still audible albeit recorded. Lol) and the Taiwanese fans helped by filling in his parts for her! O____o So we had a ‘solo’ Preserved Roses and Kakumei Dualism. Seeing the enthusiasm they have for her makes me feel touched. Then came the crowd favourites Vitalisation and Eternal Blaze. The Taiwanese fans just went wild with those songs and so did I. TRUE SOOOOOOOONG! ETERNAL BLAZE! Oh my god…even without those special stage effects, she still manages to make those songs rock by her skill and sheer stage presence alone. Unfortunately…some nights had to end. So we ended with Ai No Hoshi, which made me tear up. The raw emotion and skill…made me wow inside. We thought that was the end. Instead of calling out ‘Encore’ like the Japanese do, they called ‘Nana’ in unison. It was…just plain awesome. True enough, she came out and this time, she opened the encore with SCARLET KNIGHT followed by (as expected) Super Generation. Of course she’d sing it since it’s the first song she’s ever composed and written by herself! XD But nonetheless, you could feel all that heart and soul into her singing. And the final item for her encore…Shin Ai. It was publicly voted by the Taiwanese fans that that is the song they wanted to hear her sing the most. And so she did it. Then we reach the part after the bridge leading to the final chorus. She sang it. IN CHINESE. My mouth literally dropped. Her pronunciation may not be perfect but wow. Something about the way she sang it brought chills into my spine. If that’s her display of love to her Taiwanese fans, I’m amazed at how much commitment she showed to doing it. And then…that was the end of the encore. Cue the Taiwanese fans singing Power Gate in unison to get her to come out again. She did. And this time, with a special present for her Taiwanese fans. It was none other than an acoustic version of Innocent Starter. It was the song that made her go big to begin with after all. This time, even the Singaporean fans sang along with her. I also teared up at this point of time but that’s because of how much passion she sang this song with even though it was just her and the guitar and the piano. And then…like all good things…the concert had to come to its official end. L Wait! That’s not the end of my report yet!
THE MCs, COSTUMES AND BAND
Yup! Cherry Boys were there too! This concert made me appreciate them a lot more too! During Nana’s first costume change (which was a very nice American girl get-up), they played a piece just to introduce themselves and the lead guitarist is actually very charismatic! And yes, they introduced themselves in Chinese too! Then during the second costume change, the interlude was freaking awesome! I swore I heard some of Etsuraku Camellia, Mysterion and I think something else but the red lights made me think that Dancing in the Velvet Moon was going to be the next song in there! XD Turns out, it was Naked Soldier instead. And not to mention the fact their arrangement of acoustic Innocent Starter was really emotional and flawlessly executed. <3
Costumes wise, Nana nailed it down this time (not like most other lives which made her wear really gaudy stuff. XD)
My favourite would have to be the Nymph one (green which makes her look like a faerie princess. Reminded me of Éclair from my book). She used this for her ‘power’ songs like Eternal Blaze and Vitalisation and all her TM Revolution ‘duets’. And then….exclusively for Taiwan, her kimono inspired warrior outfit! Fittingly, she sang JunPara in it. LOL. The criss-cross pattern on her right sleeve fascinated me! According to the MC, the costume was made just for the Taiwan stop of her concert and she specifically chose the Japanese motifs and elements in its design! Awesome! Now…if she has a concert in Singapore, will she wear the iconic SIA kebaya or at least…an outfit inspired by it?
The MC section will be quite sloppy because of my rusty Japanese and poor memory of what exactly she said…lol.
Nana was so cute in her MCs every time she spoke Chinese! I mean, she was so damned adorable! And then she also talks about the live veiwings that are taking place in Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong and Singapore (poor Malaysia. XD) and how we are all connected! She even gets us to join in the songs even if she can’t actually see us! It’s so sweet of her! And she also waves the live viewing cameras too to make us feel like a part of the concert! I never really felt neglected honestly. Oh and there’s one part where she wondered where all the Nana fans came from (I have no idea either. Lol) so she went to the audience and one fanboy willingly gave his up to her! Cue a lot of jealous screaming! She was blushing really hard. XD She said she would keep it as a souvenir from Taiwan. :P And then…the epic happened. She announced AND promised with a pinky swear even, that she would hold another concert in Taiwan next year! Cue a lot of cheering and ‘Nana’ now! And then….’Tonight’s performance will be made into a DVD!’ The cheering continues. I hope that they don’t capture the live viewing reactions. I don’t want to be caught on camera taking down notes and looking disrespectful! LOL! XDD Oh and she also mentioned how happy she was to know that Shin Ai (the song she wrote for her father after his death) was the most requested one and she thanks the audience for understanding how special it is to her. J
To conclude…I am so happy that Singapore got a chance to have this live viewing, especially for those who missed her AFA concert. I mean…wow…my second concert experience (ok not really but still) and it’s with Nana-chan! Granted…I went alone and all but seeing her live on a screen is good enough I guess to know precisely what she was doing while we were on our seats. The live viewing was flawless too without any interruptions in connection or compromise on picture quality. The camera work was excellent too. I do hope that Nana will come back to Singapore for a solo concert. The chances are quite high anyway looking at the sheer size of her fanbase here. (Yes. We needed two halls for this viewing). So…here’s to another great year of Anisong, even if I *sniff* have A Levels next year and might not be able to catch either AFA or SWF. *sniffs* Till we meet again!