Blog - Weekly revue: 2018 weeks #51-52 (December 15 to 28)
Weekly revue: 2018 weeks #51-52 (December 15 to 28)
Travel: - Last weekend was a short but great trip to Hong Kong! Most of the highlights were eating great food, and also going to watch a wonderful ballet performance of "Nutcracker"! See more photos on Flickr.
Food at Ichu, Tasty Congee & Noodle Wantun Shop, The Flying Elk, Kwan Kee, Little Bao Diner, Northern Dumpling Yuan, Lin Heung Kui, Five Guys, Barista Jam, XTC Gelato
Food: ... and in Tokyo:
- Bacon cheeseburger at Shogun Burger, Shinjuku
- Dinner at Tapir, Shin-Ōkubo
- And again lunch at Tapir :)
Music event: The last show I went to in 2018 was "namida vol.14", organized by Yume to Cosme & friends and held at Chelsea Hotel in Shibuya. The all-night event (starting at midnight) featured WHY@DOLL, Yume to Cosme, Wakita Monari, Hoshino Michiru, Kanō Emiri, Orangeade-1, Sawabe Wataru (Skirt) and DJs Yoshida Tetsuto and Usuqui. It had been a really long time since I had been to an all-night event (except for maybe a movie screening 2 years ago), but it was all worth it, and not quite as tiring as I thought. :)
First on stage was WHY@DOLL, who I saw for the first time. The 2-girl idol unit on T-Palette Records has many songs written by Yoshida Tetsuto, and since he was DJing they made a set of songs all written by him! That was the perfect introduction for me. Not only the music was great, but their performance has some really fun dancing. I'll definitely be closely looking for the upcoming works starting with a new EP titled "Hey!" to be released on February 12.
Set list: Que Sera Sera / koi wa Shoo-be-doo-be-doo-ba! / Promises, Promises / Love Story wa shūmatsu ni / Don't Ask Me Why / sumire Iolite
Next on stage was Yume to Cosme (singer Yumi with Hase Yasuhiro on piano) who were backed by a full band with bass, vibraphone(!) and drums. The drummer was Tanabe Manaka (who I had seen before with Milli Milli Bar). The whole sounded really great, the vibraphone adding a really nice touch à la Tokyo's Coolest Combo!
Set list: Yume to Cosme / korette koi da to omounda (Chelip self-cover) / Canal no madobe (Negicco self-cover) / maho no Powderly / zettai! Love Motion
Wakita Monari was next, and she first sang a few of her songs karaoke style. She was then joined by Hase-san (Yume to Cosme) on piano for a house remix version of "inori no kotoba" (a song he wrote for her first album "I am ONLY"). Then the rest of Yume to Cosme's band members joined for "Callin' You" (the lead track of Monari's latest album "Ahead!"). A nice surprise followed when Sawabe Wataru (Skirt) also appeared on stage for a cover of "koi no Boogie-Woogie Train" (originally sung by Ann Lewis) that was quite impressive with Monari's voice! Monari has an upcoming solo show at Roppongi Varit on January 27 to coincide with her birthday (the next day, Jan. 28).
Set list: Just a "Crush for Today" / Peppermint Rainbow / ao no yume / inori no kotoba (House ver.) (w/ Hase Yasuhiro) / Callin' You (w/ band) / koi no Boogie-Woogie Train (cover) (w/ band + Sawabe Wataru)
Then it was Hoshino Michiru's turn to take the stage. She first also sang two songs karaoke-style, "koi no Funfair" (from album "E-I-E-N Voyage") and "Unstable Girl" (from latest album "12 signs of the zodiac"). Then she sat at the piano to perform two songs entirely solo, including the upbeat "Discotheque ni tsuretette" (from "You Love Me"). Last she was also joined by Yume to Cosme's band for "nagareboshi Rendez-vous" which sounded so great with vibes! Michiru has an upcoming show on January 19, the last of her "Atelier rururu Michiru" series at Vivid Sound Studio. She has just started her own record label "yoi Record-gaisha" ("Good Record Company") so there should be plenty to look forward to in 2019! I can't wait!
Set list: koi no Funfair / Unstable Girl / Discotheque ni tsuretette (at the piano) / kawazoi no machi (at the piano) / nagareboshi Rendez-vous (w/ band)
Next up was Kanou Emiri who I had seen for the first time last month. Writing and producing the songs herself, which take inspiration from the 80's, she also dances funnily for a quite irresistible result! Her first 7" single will be released on February 13. She has announced a release & birthday event that day, as it's also her birthday.
Then there was a set by Orangeade-1, two of the three members of band Orangeade plus support musicians. Also featured was guest Tsujibayashi Miho who I happened to see randomly (part of the "Guitar Pop Festival" event) a month before. She used to be part of band Orange with two of the members of Orangeade. Their show was great and I ended up buying their brand new first mini-album "Broccoli is Here"!
It was getting a bit late but last to perform was Sawabe Wataru (Skirt) so I had to check out his show (I remember seeing him with his band quite a while ago)! He performed mostly freshly written songs, including a song he wrote for band SOLEIL this year, "Bittersweet Graduation". He played that one in his own style, in the arrangement he first sent as a demo (the song then got re-arranged by the band to end up sounding like "1964" instead of "1968", haha!).
By the way the event's DJs Yoshida Tetsuto and Usuqui were a lot of fun too! I got Yoshida Tetsuto's "TETTO" T-shirt, an new wardrobe favorite! All-in-all it was a great evening, and an excellent show for me to end year 2018.
Music release news: MaCWorry Hillbillies, Wakita Monari, Agata Morio
This week's video: YMCK "neko nadetai"
Posted on December 30, 2018 at 22:04 | Tweet
|