Blog - NOMIYA Maki Recital vol.1 ~Joy~: full report

This entry is FULL OF SPOILERS about a great show that might travel the world later this year. Those who think they would go see it may prefer to not read what follows.
ネタばれ注意！

Disclaimer: My memory isn't of the best, and it's not helping that I'm writing this a few days after the show, so some chronology (etc.) may be erratic. Sorry if that's the case.

As the show's start time approached, some photo staff got on stage and started moving around large flash boxes and taking many test photos. They'd probably be taking photos throughout the show. But then it was close to 10 minutes into the show's start time when they seemed to finally be done, and a recorded staff's voice announced "Miss Nomiya Maki enters"...

1. Photo Session
Yes, this was the show's first set, it had began cleverly without anyone noticing! Maki arrived in the spotlight and sat on a chair posing for the camera. Staff brought a different hat, and also the rumored ¥105,000,000 necklace with brown diamonds. Shaped like a snake, it was placed carefully around her neck and she continued to pose.
Maki sang a cover of "diamonds, fake fur, champagne" by a.o. Suicide (according to Richard).

2. Dressing Room
This was one of my favorite sets of the show. There was a panel wall, behind which every time Maki passed, she came out wearing new clothes! There must have been 5 instant changes while Maki sang "utau 'oshare techō'" (from album Dress Code).
Then after a longer change behind the panels, she came out in a green suit outfit and eccentric green glasses and sang "20th Century Girl", her funky dancing reminded me of Lady Miss Kier (Deee-Lite).

Around here I recall an extra scene not listed in the book, called Back Stage.
There was a wooden wall behind which at one time Maki stayed for a little while, she came out from the right side in a mannish suit, ran to the left side and was then wearing a large fancy dress..!? She then faced the audience revealing her hilarious outfit of which her right half was a man and the left half a woman. The audience burst into laughter.

3. Joy
Can't remember too well what went on around here, but there was a first appearance of the sofa like Dali's Mae West Lips that's the recital's symbol. It must also have been around here that Maki sang "Party Girl" (from album Party People), in a new Richard Cameron version.
Maki undressed slowly while sitting on the sofa that was covered with a satin sheet, once even poking the precuious piece of furniture with her spiky heel. She went behind the sofa to remove her top that would leave her wearing just a corset and some short pants, but she picked up the satin sheet with both arms to cover herself, and then walked off stage.

4. Dark Room
A spotlight appeared on Kikuchi Naruyoshi (Spank Happy, DCPRG) sitting on a comfortable chair, and he began singing Spank Happy's "Ennui électrique". Behind him was a black curtain which opened to reveal a side view of a bed on which Maki was laying, and she sang with him.
Maki sat up, revealing a nude woman (black panties only!) laying next to her on the bed. During the song, the nude slowly rolled around on the bed, always carefully hiding her chest, sometimes staring straight at the audience, very Romantica.
Maki was wearing a black outfit suited for some horse riding, complete with helmet and a stick. She also wore a small black scarf adorned with an orange "&" symbol from Pizzicato Five's Playboy & Playgirl album!
They sang a second song together which I didn't know, so I guess it was also an older Spank Happy tune.

5. Fame
The bed disappeared and was replaced with a 4-panel wall that consisted of large mirrors, reflecting the audience a bit, and also Maki who danced in front of them. She sang David Bowie's "Fame" (which Spank Happy also covered before, but she sang it alone). This track is new and produced by Richard Cameron, it can be found on the David Bowie Tribute out now.
The mirrors looked opaque, but at one point she went behind them, and the back lit up so we could see her.

It had been about an hour since the start of the show, and there was then a 20-minute break, announced by Françoise Moréchand's narration that offered some guidance throughout the show.

6. Kimono My House
Maki came back on stage wearing a specially designed kimono with a large "JOY" obi. Her large wig was decorated with golden "things" that she said her staff made fun of saying it looked like it came out of Studio Ghibli.
She first sang a song on her own (what was it again?) but later then joined by an older lady who accompanied on shamisen. Maki sang "kurumayasan", an old song that contains "dodoitsu" (a rare style of Japanese poetry with verses of 7-7-7-5 syllables). She said that she'll looking forward to learning shamisen herself and someday perform shamisen and vocals in front of an audience. :)

7. Night In Tokyo
A very dark set with lots of smoke, with four strange men wearing only black and gas masks. They brought large fans to stage left. Maki stood on a chair stage right, and the mysterious guys used two more chairs to walk her one step at a time all the way to stage left, as she sang "Mon Amour Tokyo" (from Pizzicato Five's Happy End of the World). There she stood still on a chair, in the wind from the fans.

8. Last Scene
Maki sang the beautiful "te no hira no Tokyo Tower" (from Dress Code).
Credits rolled on the screen in reverse order, at the top (end) of which stood Maki's name, and the "8. Last Scene" title timed with the end of the song. It can't be the end already?

Encore
There was a first expected encore, after staff had brought on stage four huge rectangular pieces that when together formed a gigantic square photo of Maki.
Maki was joined by Kikuchi-san once again to sing "High" (from Party People), a cover of Futon of which part is sung in Thai. Kikuchi-san's part here was clearly lip-sync, though maybe all of his vocals in the show were too (he said before that Spank Happy can't sign live). :)
Then, Maki was left alone and sang "Twiggy Twiggy" in a great new version produced by Richard.

Once again Françoise's narration guided the audience, saying something like foreign artists don't come back to a stage without a proper encore call, making the audience get a bit noisy. Maki sure came back for a last song, she sang "Shang-Hai Melody" (from Lady Miss Warp), which gave the spectacular show a proper finale.

---

On the way out, I took these photos of a pair of Maki's shoes, and also some flowers along the stairway to the entrance.

This was a truly magnificent show, with lots of surprises and plenty of glamor. According to the booklet, Maki wore 16 outfits during the show! If you have a chance to see it somewhere, just go!

Also check out Richard Cameron's review for more details and some photos!

By the way, Maki said that she wishes to make a new recital every year, so I'm really looking forward to the next one!