[Report] Tackey X'mas Show 2018～with you and me～ Nagoya 12/17
I was fortunate enough to be able to attend Tackey's dinner show again this year! I didn't write a report last year, but since he's retiring after this, *sobs* I might as well share my experience and engrave it in words.
I luckily hit for my first choice, Nagoya, at Hotel Nagoya Castle on December 17th, the same venue I attended in 2017. Since it ended rather late into the night, I stayed at the hotel too (which has a great view of Nagoya Castle as the name implies)!
The hall opened at 5:30 and they had a few bouquets, a cute Christmas tree and a large board featuring a collage of Tackey's pictures. They chose some really awesome ones and looking at the pics when he was young had me feeling really sentimental >///< Ugh the ones in the middle are so gorgeous They probably also change the light up sign at the top depending on your venue. (Last year, it was a little stage with two trees and th which he apparently put together.) They had a staff member help you take pics as well. There was also a booth in the reception hall for pre-ordering the Thanks Two You album (with a limited edition sticker that you only get if you pre-order at a concert). They were selling Takizawa Kabuki 2018 as well as a few previous DVDs/Blu-rays.
Dinner
I was seated at a considerably better seat than last year! It's all random lottery, of course, and I was at the middle of the room instead of the rear 3/4 last year. Although they have a big screen at the front and he does go to the back for a bit, the view's a lot better at the front! Since only fanclub members could go to this one, most people at the tables didn't know each other and the conversation was pretty much zero for a long time. Luckily, I was sitting next to a really nice lady, and we got along really well after breaking the ice. She also went last year (sitting at worse seats than me) and incidentally, worked at the restaurant I went to for lunch XD Small world.
The table is set with the menu google translate French and a tablepiece that lights up and changes color along with the concert which was really pretty. I think the dishes this year were actually better than last year... maybe because this time, they also played a video of Takki chowing down the course before they served it to us =P
Of course, he commented on his favorite broccoli ^^
The cutest one was for dessert where he took a spoon of the mousse and did an "Ahnnn" to feed the audience and then swerved around to chomp on it himself saying "Not giving you any~"
Concert
The show started at 8pm, promptly after dinner, when the lights dimmed and the tablepieces lit up. This mysterious hooded figure showed up in the middle of the room all of a sudden and everyone was screaming with excitiement! He danced a few moves and then the lights dimmed and he casually walked off to the side of the room. At that moment, the front stage lights turned on and Takki appeared singing Kioku no Kakera! This man loves to troll his fans XD He then sang Boku no Kakera with black and white nostalgic clips of his young self playing on the screen this was so sad remembering all he's performed and what we'll never see again, I got teary-eyed and then he left the stage for the band members to get introduced and play some sick solos. He then continued with 894 which everyone was really fired up for. The light effects were awesome for this. After this was Detroit and Negai in a snazzy black suit. He doesn't dance much, so he has two girl dancers on stage with him.
The next song, Christmas Eve, was when he appeared at the back of the room on the little rear stage in a white suit. As he sang that, he moved up the room, high-fiving everyone at the tables, careful not to miss a single person this year. Once he reached the middle of the room (a table away from me >///<) , he stood on the little platform there and sang the next two songs (one more there than last year). During Hanaka, he faced the back of the room and the front half had the view of Takki's butt. He emphasized he wouldn't be turning around at all because the front had seen enough of his face but of course, he trolls by turning to the side and pretending to spin around. When we all scream, he quickly faces the back again XD Then he sang one of my favorites and a song really dear to him, Kiseki!
After that, he came around the front half of the hall and high fived everyone. I finally got touched, yayyyyy! He's more chummy with the guys when he sees them, and a few of them got hugged and patted >///< When he got on stage, he took off his jacket and vest and we were all screaming! But he's like, "I'm not taking off any more than this, okay! In fact, I'm putting on even more! I can't believe when I was younger, I'd just be bare on top and then put a jacket on XD" He put on this heavy looking long black jacket with lights implemented all over his suit and sang Words of Love, dance choreographed by Goseki, with the lights dimmed and crazy light patterns on his body. He hung up the suit jacket after and sang Journey, Hi no Ataru Basho and Hitomi wo Tojite. I'm pretty sure everyone got teary eyed during Hi no Ataru Basho and Hitomi wo Tojite because he put a lot of feeling into it. ( ; ヘ ; )
And then finally, we hear the instrumental opening for With Love (also one of my favorites) and everyone starts crying because it's the end >_< It was so beautiful! The saddest part is that after the song, the play the credits and a video and then as the instrumentals end they show him on the screen slowly turning and walking away into the distance (╥﹏╥) Everyone was pretty much sobbing at this point because it's so sad seeing him go (⋟﹏⋞)
On the bright side, I noticed he was looking much happier and healthier this time ^^ His hands were really cold last year (according to my mom who was sitting next to me and lucky enough to get touched by him back then -_-) Still, his live singing is pretty much at the level it was last year. He can still hit most of the notes, but there's very little power and spunk. He also doesn't hold long notes... I mean, he never did much vibrato before, but those are all cut down to 1-2 beats now so there are quite a few moments he just stands there looking beautiful and solemn instead. I think his voice needs rest too after so many years of pushing himself.
Question corner
There's a question corner in the middle of the show where Tackey draws a table number at random and a representative gets to ask whatever they want! He said he's always the most nervous for this corner ^^
1. Will you start an instagram now that you're behind the scenes?
The answer was pretty much no to social media like twitter and instagram, but he'd think about it to tell the fans how he's doing.
2. Will you change your stage name now that you're a producer? Like Johnny has Johnny Kitagawa, and he's typically known as Tackey so if he'd change it.
He played around with the sound of Tackey Takizawa and vetoed the idea saying he'd go with Takizawa Hideaki.
3. Do you wear perfume? Which fragrance?
He's like, this is what you really want to ask? The two before were so serious! Someone actually asked this last year as well, and he didn't answer then, but he did more or less this year XD It starts with a G... Given***. And then the one who asked persistently said she'd definitely buy it so she could always smell him. He squeezed out a bit of the fragrance name reluctantly. Givenchy's P*... And she answered that she'd spray it all over her bed and her husband XD
Sorry, I forgot the last question, but it was also about him being a producer and he just confirmed that he'd be producing and not appear in front anymore.
Announcements
For the down-time during the concert, he promoted the Thanks Two You best album coming out and his drama Kokou no Mesu. He also listed out all the shows he'd be appearing on for the rest of the year/ his star career. Especially Nakai's show on the 29th since he said Nakai was one of the first people to call him when he heard he was retiring and really wanted to give him a nice ending/send-off. He also said he talked to Tsubasa about what to sing for their medley over the phone (well, at least he mentioned tis name and they talked).
Takizawa Kabuki Zero produce
Ending
At the end of each dinner show, he goes out to the recpetion and hands each person a loot bag personally! Last year was a really beautiful furry pouch and jewelry box. This year, it was a canvas bag with the show logo and an acrylic stand thing with his picture and the city of the show you saw. Pretty much everyone was crying either happy or sad (or both) tears when they went up to him and said thank you as they took the bag. It's a beatiful gesture and a wonderful way to end the night. With mixed feelings, I took my bag, (careful to touch the bag of his fingers a little XD) and left the hall, glad to see Tackey live for the last time ever.
I luckily hit for my first choice, Nagoya, at Hotel Nagoya Castle on December 17th, the same venue I attended in 2017. Since it ended rather late into the night, I stayed at the hotel too (which has a great view of Nagoya Castle as the name implies)!
The hall opened at 5:30 and they had a few bouquets, a cute Christmas tree and a large board featuring a collage of Tackey's pictures. They chose some really awesome ones and looking at the pics when he was young had me feeling really sentimental >///< Ugh the ones in the middle are so gorgeous They probably also change the light up sign at the top depending on your venue. (Last year, it was a little stage with two trees and th which he apparently put together.) They had a staff member help you take pics as well. There was also a booth in the reception hall for pre-ordering the Thanks Two You album (with a limited edition sticker that you only get if you pre-order at a concert). They were selling Takizawa Kabuki 2018 as well as a few previous DVDs/Blu-rays.
Dinner
I was seated at a considerably better seat than last year! It's all random lottery, of course, and I was at the middle of the room instead of the rear 3/4 last year. Although they have a big screen at the front and he does go to the back for a bit, the view's a lot better at the front! Since only fanclub members could go to this one, most people at the tables didn't know each other and the conversation was pretty much zero for a long time. Luckily, I was sitting next to a really nice lady, and we got along really well after breaking the ice. She also went last year (sitting at worse seats than me) and incidentally, worked at the restaurant I went to for lunch XD Small world.
The table is set with the menu google translate French and a tablepiece that lights up and changes color along with the concert which was really pretty. I think the dishes this year were actually better than last year... maybe because this time, they also played a video of Takki chowing down the course before they served it to us =P
Of course, he commented on his favorite broccoli ^^
The cutest one was for dessert where he took a spoon of the mousse and did an "Ahnnn" to feed the audience and then swerved around to chomp on it himself saying "Not giving you any~"
Concert
The show started at 8pm, promptly after dinner, when the lights dimmed and the tablepieces lit up. This mysterious hooded figure showed up in the middle of the room all of a sudden and everyone was screaming with excitiement! He danced a few moves and then the lights dimmed and he casually walked off to the side of the room. At that moment, the front stage lights turned on and Takki appeared singing Kioku no Kakera! This man loves to troll his fans XD He then sang Boku no Kakera with black and white nostalgic clips of his young self playing on the screen this was so sad remembering all he's performed and what we'll never see again, I got teary-eyed and then he left the stage for the band members to get introduced and play some sick solos. He then continued with 894 which everyone was really fired up for. The light effects were awesome for this. After this was Detroit and Negai in a snazzy black suit. He doesn't dance much, so he has two girl dancers on stage with him.
The next song, Christmas Eve, was when he appeared at the back of the room on the little rear stage in a white suit. As he sang that, he moved up the room, high-fiving everyone at the tables, careful not to miss a single person this year. Once he reached the middle of the room (a table away from me >///<) , he stood on the little platform there and sang the next two songs (one more there than last year). During Hanaka, he faced the back of the room and the front half had the view of Takki's butt. He emphasized he wouldn't be turning around at all because the front had seen enough of his face but of course, he trolls by turning to the side and pretending to spin around. When we all scream, he quickly faces the back again XD Then he sang one of my favorites and a song really dear to him, Kiseki!
After that, he came around the front half of the hall and high fived everyone. I finally got touched, yayyyyy! He's more chummy with the guys when he sees them, and a few of them got hugged and patted >///< When he got on stage, he took off his jacket and vest and we were all screaming! But he's like, "I'm not taking off any more than this, okay! In fact, I'm putting on even more! I can't believe when I was younger, I'd just be bare on top and then put a jacket on XD" He put on this heavy looking long black jacket with lights implemented all over his suit and sang Words of Love, dance choreographed by Goseki, with the lights dimmed and crazy light patterns on his body. He hung up the suit jacket after and sang Journey, Hi no Ataru Basho and Hitomi wo Tojite. I'm pretty sure everyone got teary eyed during Hi no Ataru Basho and Hitomi wo Tojite because he put a lot of feeling into it. ( ; ヘ ; )
And then finally, we hear the instrumental opening for With Love (also one of my favorites) and everyone starts crying because it's the end >_< It was so beautiful! The saddest part is that after the song, the play the credits and a video and then as the instrumentals end they show him on the screen slowly turning and walking away into the distance (╥﹏╥) Everyone was pretty much sobbing at this point because it's so sad seeing him go (⋟﹏⋞)
On the bright side, I noticed he was looking much happier and healthier this time ^^ His hands were really cold last year (according to my mom who was sitting next to me and lucky enough to get touched by him back then -_-) Still, his live singing is pretty much at the level it was last year. He can still hit most of the notes, but there's very little power and spunk. He also doesn't hold long notes... I mean, he never did much vibrato before, but those are all cut down to 1-2 beats now so there are quite a few moments he just stands there looking beautiful and solemn instead. I think his voice needs rest too after so many years of pushing himself.
Question corner
There's a question corner in the middle of the show where Tackey draws a table number at random and a representative gets to ask whatever they want! He said he's always the most nervous for this corner ^^
1. Will you start an instagram now that you're behind the scenes?
The answer was pretty much no to social media like twitter and instagram, but he'd think about it to tell the fans how he's doing.
2. Will you change your stage name now that you're a producer? Like Johnny has Johnny Kitagawa, and he's typically known as Tackey so if he'd change it.
He played around with the sound of Tackey Takizawa and vetoed the idea saying he'd go with Takizawa Hideaki.
3. Do you wear perfume? Which fragrance?
He's like, this is what you really want to ask? The two before were so serious! Someone actually asked this last year as well, and he didn't answer then, but he did more or less this year XD It starts with a G... Given***. And then the one who asked persistently said she'd definitely buy it so she could always smell him. He squeezed out a bit of the fragrance name reluctantly. Givenchy's P*... And she answered that she'd spray it all over her bed and her husband XD
Sorry, I forgot the last question, but it was also about him being a producer and he just confirmed that he'd be producing and not appear in front anymore.
Announcements
For the down-time during the concert, he promoted the Thanks Two You best album coming out and his drama Kokou no Mesu. He also listed out all the shows he'd be appearing on for the rest of the year/ his star career. Especially Nakai's show on the 29th since he said Nakai was one of the first people to call him when he heard he was retiring and really wanted to give him a nice ending/send-off. He also said he talked to Tsubasa about what to sing for their medley over the phone (well, at least he mentioned tis name and they talked).
Takizawa Kabuki Zero produce
Ending
At the end of each dinner show, he goes out to the recpetion and hands each person a loot bag personally! Last year was a really beautiful furry pouch and jewelry box. This year, it was a canvas bag with the show logo and an acrylic stand thing with his picture and the city of the show you saw. Pretty much everyone was crying either happy or sad (or both) tears when they went up to him and said thank you as they took the bag. It's a beatiful gesture and a wonderful way to end the night. With mixed feelings, I took my bag, (careful to touch the bag of his fingers a little XD) and left the hall, glad to see Tackey live for the last time ever.