Shiina Hekiru Tour 2006 - Zepp Osaka 4/16
This was a great live. I was pretty lukewarm about Tokyo, because the song list was too heavy on major songs, the pacing was awkward, and the performance energetic but not otherwise inspired. I hate to say it, but for the first time, I was bored to tears at a Hekiru concert. For Osaka, the song list didn’t change, the pacing still sucks, the guitars were quite a mess… and yet, it felt so different. The crowd really communicated its pleasure to Hekiru, and Hekiru herself came out full-force right from the start. In fact, she put so much effort into moving and dancing that I was afraid she’d run out of steam and collapse halfway!
Well, she didn’t, although she did pull back a bit from Akai Hana onwards. Still, it was kinda cute. One of the highlights of the night was the talk during the MC sections. Unlike Tokyo, which was IMHO a spectacular failure at winging the thing, Hekiru came prepared with topics and boke jokes for the crowd, who were very responsive (nicely, not annoyingly).
For instance, when she talked about how she wondered about Kirins and their scratching habits (dude, don’t look at me, I’m not making this up I swear), and told the crowd the theory she had heard, we went, “Eh? O_o??” and she looked at us and said, “It’s true!”.
Later she spoke about some places she had visited in her youth, like “Shinosaki” (to which about 10 people yelled, “Kinosaki!” and “Ama no Iwato” and how she visited them together, we all made O_o?? faces again, and she asked, “Eh? Eh? Why do you have that look on your faces?”
To which a guy spoke up saying, “Um, that’s because those place are actually pretty dang far apart!”
Hekiru went, “Oh… It was like 13 years ago, I guess I don’t remember. Well, that’s my little ‘Watashi no atama no keshigomu’!”, a really bad joke based on a movie of the name that’s about fading memory or something.
Aside from that, I noticed that Hekiru’s outfits looked really different close up (I was in the first row, far left). The coat outfit is cool, the next one with the open shoulders is actually a shawl over a spaghetti strap corset-like top (looking less sexy since the material isn’t silky smooth but closer to wool), and the third frilly thing looked completely different. Ugh. Still looked awful. The encore outfit was red pants but they weren’t very flattering. I know they are the fashion-range last year and this year, but I consider them of the things to most avoid unless you have a figure like a guy :P And if you did, I’d still argue against them.
Overall, I had a lot of fun even though the problems with the song list remained. I have to be honest, I seriously didn’t need 1/3 of the songs in the set, and if it were me in charge I’d never put invisible after Zutto… - that’s just too much of slam-bang in your face thing after a really good ballad. But this time around, I guess resigning yourself to making the best of a rather iffy setlist helps, and undeniably being in front and getting a nice glance or two from Hekiru would set anybody’s spirits soaring. Hell, I know I was on Cloud 9 after she strolled on stage, looked right towards my seat for a couple secs while smiling… So high that I jumped at the chorus for Graduater, forgetting that I had promised myself to rest my badly sprained ankle!
Another major Good Thing was the band finally putting some effort into entertaining the audience. During the encore, Dog Ken and Jake put on a parody of that now-famous video where two K1 fighters are doing the staredown and one of ‘em kisses the other by mistake, earning a whallop of a punch. You need these little details. They help lift the crowd mood. Assuming of course that the crowd isn’t cold and dead. In which case you would feel like a fool.
The Want You!! at the end was also the longest I’ve remembered in a while. I ran out of breath halfway and Hekiru was still going and going… Now when was the last time that happened?
The next day, I was still high and couldn’t wait for Hekiru’s mail message, and the two weeks till Nagoya feel like forever…
2 Responses to “Shiina Hekiru Tour 2006 - Zepp Osaka 4/16”
Talk about jealousy. First row!! What can I sacrifice to get a top-rows ticket just once?
heheh I checked oftenly to read this report as soon as you put it up. I was blissfully happy reading it. Waiting for the summer tour or the next late-winter tour to see if I can go.
By wobwab on Apr 20, 2006
Heya, Hekiru annouced a summer tour, probably around July is my guess. If you can make it I’ll try to get you a seat near the front!
By No Make Girl on Apr 21, 2006