I caught SDN48 live performing in Singapore at Scape last Friday. I was going to wait for the official concert photos to be distributed to the blogosphere before I write about it, but the PR minions are taking forever and my recollection of the event is growing faint as the curse of old age silently obliterates my memory.

So yeah, this is what I think. I’ll just add in photos later if they ever show up.

SDN48, or Saturday Night 48, is AKB48‘s more “adult” sister group. It is the most recent entry in AKB48’s growing idol empire and the only group of the four that is not regional-based. SDN48 members are generally in their 20s and older than the members of the other three groups, with some of them being former AKB48 members.

AKB48 is really the only group with any significant overseas fan-base, so it was rather surprising for SDN48 to hold a live in Singapore. After all, AKB48 itself belongs to a small niche outside of Japan, while SDN48 remains a niche even within Japan. Last Friday’s live was actually SDN48’s first ever overseas performance.

SDN48 posing in Orchard Road, Singapore’s take on Venice’s Grand Canal

The performance was actually rather enjoyable, despite my near-complete ignorance of everything AKB48 and its spin-offs. The songs are standard pop fare, but faster paced, more rhythmic and with more dance beats than most of what I’ve heard from AKB48.

Being the so-called “adult” version idol group, SDN48’s music videos and stage presentations are slightly more risqué than what J-Pop idol groups like Morning Musume usually go for (e.g. soap-bubble bath, revealing costumes and implied lesbianism) but nothing that will incite pitchforks and angry mobs. Might be kind of pseudo-provocative thirty years ago.

That said, one of SDN48’s numbers last Friday had a dance routine that included sexy corsets, stockings with garterbelts and — wait for it — three pairs of black panties being thrown into the audience. I’m guessing you wouldn’t see that at an AKB48 concert. Heh.

SDN48 members who performed last Friday

The interesting part for me was that, of the twelve SDN48 members sent to perform in Singapore, there were Chen Qu, a native of Shenyang, China, and Sayaka Kondo, who grew up in Detroit, Michigan. Between the two of them, they had both English and Mandarin Chinese — the two main languages spoken in Singapore — covered. Heck, SDN48 has a main single whose title is partially Korean (Ai, Chuseyo) and one of their other songs has Chen Qu doing verses in Chinese. Talk about market research.

It’s quite clear that the whole 48 franchise is just raring to make it big in the international (ala East Asian) market and a lot of groundwork is being done by the producers attempting to pull it off. SDN48’s dance routines and presentation styles are noticeably influenced by the current tide of Korean pop dominating the market, which in turn draws on international and Western influences more than past Japanese idol groups. Yasushi Akimoto has definitely been taking notes and learning from Japan’s past successes and recent failures.

Still, the inclusion of two Chinese members did not save Morning Musume from its free-falling descent into obscurity and niche-dom, and I think it’s still too early to tell if AKB48 and its sister groups can successfully become J-Pop’s new messiah and growth engine in the international market, a position that has been unfilled since Ayumi Hamasaki.

The Caucasian guy is a metaphor for the overseas market

I estimated about 800-1000 seats in AKB48’s permanent live venue in Singapore. At 50 SGD a pop, that’s $50,000 per gig at the maximum, which is probably barely enough to pay for return Business class tickets from Japan for 12-16 girls and their entourage of manager(s) and make-up artist(s). Yasushi Akimoto is definitely investing for the long-term here.

Frankly, now I am thinking of catching one of the upcoming AKB48 lives in Singapore, purely out of academic curiosity. This could be (pop culture) history in the making.

Oh, one more thing: I am kind of obligated to inform you that Animax Asia is holding a contest called “AKB48 Watch & Win” to give out AKB48 Singapore live tickets, merchandises and meet & greet opportunities. From now until 26 August, a name of an AKB48 member will be shown on Animax between 8pm to 12am everyday from Mondays to Fridays. You have to submit the correct name to the official site to enter the lucky draw.

Kids, this is what happens when you sell your soul.

P.S. I still think Momusu was better in its heydays. D:

I expected last year to be my first and last chance to watch Maaya Sakamoto perform live, but I was wrong and my sentiments at the time were rendered somewhat hyperbolic in retrospect. In spite of the recent events in Japan, I managed to make my way to Osaka International Convention Center last night for her “You can’t catch me” live tour.

This time last year, Budoukan was surrounded by a pink forest of cherry blossoms. The sakura trees have yet to bloom this year because of the colder weather.

Last year’s concert was a joyous celebration of Maaya’s 15th anniversary as a singer and her 30th birthday. This year, it came two weeks after the largest earthquake that ever shook Japan devastated Tohoku, and the Sendai and Sapporo legs of the tour were subsequently cancelled. In some ways, the tone of yesterday’s concert reflected the current mood of the nation. Portions of the setlist were changed and Maaya spoke about her feelings as a self-identified Tokyoite of seeing the great metropolis she thinks of as her hometown falter beneath a dark cloud of uncertainty as epitomized by the unprecedented rolling blackouts and the bent antenna atop Tokyo Tower.

LED board at the convention centre

Her performance was enchanting. I actually thought that the acoustics in the convention centre’s main hall was much better than at Budoukan, but my experience might have been slightly enhanced by the fact that my seat was in the 6th row from the stage. Maaya stood literally 7-8m in front of me.

There was a moment where, I swear with all my heart, she looked right into my eyes, our gazes met for a fleeting two seconds, time came to a standstill and the world achieved perfection… Just let a man have his dreams, okay?

Seriously though, it was really a significantly superior experience for me as compared to last year. The premium seat made a huge difference, but the stage also had much better computer-controlled lighting effects and fog machines. The only drawback was that there were no huge LCD screens so the folks sitting far behind were kind of screwed as far as the visual experience was concerned.

My only complaint is that she didn’t sing as many of her oldies as I would’ve liked. Then again, I guess I shouldn’t have expected much from a live tour named after her latest album. The full setlist for Osaka (apparently she tweaks it for every venue) is as follows:

1. eternal return
2. Himitsu
3. KIMIDORI
4. Utsukushii Hito
5. Mizuumi
6. ALKALOID
7. SPICA
8. Tegami
9. KIMI NO SEI
10. Remedy
11. Kanashikute Yarikirenai
12. MOONLIGHT -mata wa “kimi ga nemuru tame no ongaku”-
13. UNIVERSE
14. Kazemachi JET
15. Private Sky
16. Get No Satisfaction!
17. MAGIC NUMBER
18. Hikari Are
19. TOPIA
20. Bokura no Rekishi
21. everywhere
22. POCKET wo Kara ni Shite

Overall, I have to say that Utsukushii Hito was hands down the best performance of the night. It must be a really difficult song to perform live, but Maaya pulled it off perfectly as far as I could aurally discern. Plus, the synchronized beams of light casting streaks of shadows through the fog screen gave the entire scene an aura of mystique that played very well with the piece’s classic oriental vibe. (The song was composed by Yoko Kanno for last year’s Shanghai World Expo to commemorate historical exchanges between the Tang Dynasty and Japan.)

The concert also made me realize that Kanashikute Yarikirenai is a really great song. It is one of the three Japanese classics Maaya covered for a recent single release, and I didn’t think much of it until last night. The song is about sadness so intense that there is no end in sight and tomorrow seems as bleak as today. Other than the fact that it is a cover, the song also differs from Maaya’s usual repertoire in that it is about pure unfiltered grief, whereas most of her songs tend to be hopefully optimistic, neutral or at the very least subtly melancholic. I came to this realization during the performance and really enjoyed the way Maaya sang it. Her sorrowful tone sent chills down my spine.

I think Maaya really did an excellent job conveying her feelings about the earthquake through her words and her songs. She wrote a 4-page message that was included in handouts given to all the attendees. She also took the time to explain on-stage why she chose to make certain changes to the setlist.

She shared with the audience how, some years ago, her elder brother was met with a serious accident and went into coma for a month. Her father told her not to cancel a live performance scheduled for the next day because he believed it was vital for life to continue as per usual for the family so that the brother would have a functional family to return home to.

Maaya also shared a fan letter she received from a young man in Sendai who described to her all the things that he plans to accomplish and the places he plans to visit for the rest of his life because he felt that there is nothing he is not capable of achieving after having survived a life-changing event so terrible.

Maaya brought with her a message of hope and humility. There were plenty of teary eyes that night.

Music has the power to make the world better. It sounds clichéd, but I think that Maaya really tries to do good in her own way. It’s easy to assume that everything performers do is premeditated and profit-driven and it may even be prudent to do so. I know that there is quite a bit of controversy online over Maaya’s decision to not cancel all her upcoming lives.

But considering the fact that Maaya consistently puts in the effort to stay true to her message, I think she deserves an exceptional suspension of cynicism. After all, all that time she spent on penning down her thoughts in the form of numerous essays can’t be explained by mere self interest when she probably made many times more money from Ouran.

One interesting takeaway from the concert: Maaya finally explains the meaning of her cryptically-titled song Kimidori, the topic of much fandom debate in the past. The song is about fondly recalling the past and “Kimidori” is an allusion to the seiyuu-incubator Group Komadori of which Maaya was a member in her early teens. In the song, the words “yasashii kimidori” or “gentle kimidori” are actually meant to be “yasashii Komadori” in her mind. She changed the vowels to obfuscate the origin of the title so that listeners could come up with their own conclusions about the song’s meaning. I guess someone should amend the translation here…

Overall verdict: Probably the most awesome concert experience I’ve had so far. And that’s including the time I had supper with May’n.

The cherry blossoms bloomed early this spring, just as it did thirty years ago on Maaya Sakamoto‘s birthday. The date was 31st March and the venue was Budoukan. I stood in line at the entrance of Kitanomaru Park along with thousands on that cool spring afternoon and waited.

This is the story of the time I finally saw Maaya perform live.

This. Is. Budoukan!

My journey began nearly a decade ago with RahXephon. After Hemisphere first brought me into the fold, tune the rainbow and Ongaku made me a fan for life. I was bewitched by her voice and addicted to her lyrics. It wasn’t long before I had collected all her songs.

Considering my love for Maaya’s music, attending her live concert was the next logical step. Unfortunately, the forces of the universe conspired against me and, for the longest time, prevented me from fulfilling my duty as a fanboy. Having missed her “We Are Kazeyomi” concert in 2009 due to a series of events that could’ve been avoided, I was convinced that my dream had come to its destined end. I came to terms with that fact that I might never have the chance to see Maaya in the flesh.

Fast-forward to a year later. A one-day live concert was to be held on 31st March 2010, Maaya’s 30th birthday, to commemorate the 15th anniversary of her official debut single Yakusoku wa Iranai, the theme song of Visions of Escaflowne. I decided that this was my last stand — my 絶対防衛ライン as it were. More than the Kazeyomi concert, I had to be there for this. Somehow, miraculously, I managed to do just that even though at one point my plan was almost derailed by a passport snafu — I managed to beg convince immigration to extend it by a measly six months. Looking back, it kind of amazes me how my single-minded obsession brought there. *Tears*

Enough of the boring fanboy story. Let’s talk about the concert itself. First of all, it was fricking awesome like a flying robot rainbow unicorn.

Budoukan

I arrived at Budoukan just a little pass noon. The concert was set to start at around 6pm but a long queue had already formed for the concert merchandises.

If queueing were an Olympic event, Japan would sweep the medals

The queue extended from the front of the Budoukan up the stairs, half circled round the circumference, came back down the stairs, crossed a road, went out the inner gate of Kitanomaru Park and, in typical Japanese fashion, folded six times upon itself within the empty grounds between the outer and inner gates.

So basically, what you would expect queueing for Kyoto Animation’s booth at Comiket for your chance to exchange pieces of printed cotton paper for pieces of printed plastic paper — just a short 2-hour queue that’s all.

The goods

The end point

There were quite a number of foreigners in the queue, not counting the non-Japanese Asians whom I, despite being one myself, can’t pick out from a crowd. A few of them were visibly surprised by the length of the queue. Guys, wait till you see Comiket.

As is standard practice, there were a bunch of flower wreaths on display around the entrance of Budoukan with messages of congratulation from various organizations. There were ones from Kadokawa, Animate, Aniplex, Tower Records (a brand that is somehow still alive in Japan), Square-Enix and even one from May’n.

Unfortunately, those are the last of the pictures I took of the actual concert venue because cameras were prohibited inside… Instead, I shall try to describe the interior using this picture I found.

Right at where the judges are in the picture was a stage that covered about a third of the arena space, with a small corridor extension that led right to the exact centre of the Budoukan. The rest of the arena was lined with premium front-row seats that went for more than 40,000 yen on Yahoo Auctions. I should’ve coughed up the cash for one of them but I didn’t, so I ended up in one of the second-floor seats.

Budokan is an octagon and uses compass directions to name its seating section. The stage was on the North side, which meant that people sitting in the North, NE and NW were rather screwed for most of the concert unless they were there to stare at Maaya’s behind. Hmmm…

Songs

The full set list for the concert can be found on gabrielarobin.com.

Maaya started the concert with “Gift”, a song that can be found in her new album “everywhere” which was released on the same day as the concert. Her first costume was a red dress decorated with red gift boxes tied with ribbons. You can imagine the crowd going wild when she said that she’s her “gift” to her fans. Incidentally, the concert itself was also called “Gift” and it kind of also ties in to her birthday.

The first part of the concert was upbeat and featured quite a few poppy songs that the audience could clap along with such as Platina.

The first costume change came just before Kiseki no Umi, during which the drummer put up a pretty mind-blowing solo performance to entertain the crowd.

Once the background vocal for Kiseki no Umi started, the lights were dimmed and Maaya rose out of the stage wearing what could be called (and what she referred to at one point as) a wedding dress — it was a long-sleeved sort-of-Victorian white dress (you can tell I’m not a fashion expert). Of course, there was the now-standard banter every time she did a costume change.

Maaya: <insert something about never having worn this particular type of costume before and/or the length of the skirt being inversely proportional to her age>
Fans: maaya-san kawaiiiiiiii!
Maaya: ee? hontou?
Fans: kawaiiiiii
Maaya: *shakes butt cutely* motto itte :D

Kiseki no Umi was followed by a few of her other more vocal-focused and slower pieces, such as gravity and Kazamidori. The lighting remained dimmed and the audience was quiet for this part. Kazamidori in particular was really beautiful and appropriate for the occasion (spring + early cherry blossoms + Maaya’s birthday).

154-page concert pamphlet with write-ups from and about Maaya’s past and present… and tons of photos!

At one point, Maaya walked to the centre of the Budoukan (on the previously mentioned corridor) with the guitarist and performed a guitar-only version of Danielle. The rest of the arena was kept dark and the only spotlights focused on the two of them. When the song ended, the intro to Yakusoku wa Iranai could be heard coming from the piano on stage and the audience went crazy.

The spotlight shone on piano and lo and behold, Yoko Kanno was playing it. Without actually performing Yakusoku wa Iranai, Maaya and Yoko immediately went into a medley of songs that they had worked on together, including Yubiwa, Shippo no Uta, Yoake no Octave and tune the rainbow. The ultimate fan tease came at the end when Maaya sang the first line of Triangler, driving the crowd into a frenzy, before switching back to Yakusoku wa Iranai, which itself was interrupted at its end by a happy birthday wish from Yoko to Maaya. Fan service to infinite and beyond.

Photos of Maaya… taken by Yoko Kanno!

Maaya fan art by CLAMP

Another one of the more memorable moments was the performance for Hikari Are (the Japanese translation for “let there be light”). Maaya was elevated by a hydraulic platform in the centre of the arena. The whole place was dark, except for spotlights on her. At about the 2:45 mark, as she sang “hikari are” and reached for the ceiling, all the white lights in the Budoukan came on, flooding the entire room.

After Hikari Are, Maaya changed into a rainbow-coloured short(er) skirt (cue more “kawaii”) and moved on to her faster-paced rock-ish pieces like Get No Satisfaction! and Private Sky. She strummed the guitar for a bit for the intro to Private Sky. Fan service is awesome.

The guitar used by her

During the encore, she introduced onto the stage Shouko Suzuki, composer for a few of her recent songs such as Saigo no Kajitsu, who brought with her a surprise birthday cake — though how surprising can it be when the concert fell on Maaya’s 30th birthday? There were thirty candles. More fan service followed with Maaya playing the piano for everywhere, a song she said was inspired by her one-person trip to Italy last year where she stayed at a small mountain inn.

And of course, the encore and the concert ended with Pocket wo Kara ni Shite as per tradition. Balloons were dropped from the ceiling of the Budoukan at the end of the song and Maaya and the rest of the stage members bid farewell to audience. As Maaya turned around and walked off the stage, a single green balloon, previously caught in the release mechanism, gently descended. An unintentional poignant moment.

Side note: the walk from Budoukan to the train station after the concert was kind of insane. Imagine more than ten thousand people trying to squeeze through choke points only a few metres wide. Budoukan is a death trap. Also explains why the park has a “shelter for people with commuting problems”…

My Thoughts

Overall, the songs were a good mix of old and new and included some of my all-time favourites such as blind summer fish, Kazamidori, Hemisphere (a slower mix with live instruments) and parts of tune the rainbow. My top favourite Ongaku was sadly not included, but it’s a pretty obscure song so it was expected.

It was a pretty cool experience and I’m happy I finally got to see Maaya perform live. I think the concert, the accompanying publication and the album represented a great deal of what I love about Maaya. She has all these elaborate ideas and meanings in all her performances that she likes to put into words in the form of her essays, her radio talkshow and her concert chat sessions.

She’s in the music business as an artist trying to express herself and part of that was why she decided to go separate ways with Yoko after Shounen Alice. In this age of auto-tuners, idol factories and prefab celebrities where you don’t even need to be human to make it big, Maaya Sakamoto feels real to me and, arguments about whether that feeling is in itself real aside, that is what appeals to me.

More Pictures

Toranoana’s display promoting everywhere

Top: a special concert-limited cover slip for everywhere
Left: my 2nd copy of everywhere because I had to buy it again for the cover slip
Right: postcard

There are many pictures of Maaya in various states of undress in the book… all taken by Yoko…

The book also contained song lists for all her past albums and singles

Retro Maaya

Album art chocolates

Past concerts

There’s a small Maaya exhibition on the 1st floor of the Shibuya Tower Records building

Costume she wore for Yoko’s Choujikuu Tanabata Sonic

Costume she wore for everywhere PV

Apparently there’s a lucky draw where you can win this…

P.S. I apologize for this senseless fanboy rambling imposting as a blog post. Hopefully I’ll be writing more informative entries soon. Then again, there’s still the inevitable concert DVD…