Tuesday 21 January 2014

NANA WINTER FESTA 2014 on 1月18日

NANA WINTER FESTA 2014 First day hajimarimasu~~!
Firstly, I would like to start this entry by saying thank you very much for the people who helped me get to attend NANA WINTER FESTA 2014 by giving me their lottery numbers from Nana Clips 6. I would not have been able to go without you. m(_ _)m I am deeply grateful. I was actually even super lucky, and managed to win a ticket for both days... so instead of one report, you get two! Again this time I ganbatta really hard to get this done for Nana's Birthday and can happily present you with the first report right after the NANA WINTER FESTA 2014 weekend. (T^T) So proud of myself. HAPPY BIRTHDAY NANA!! Now without further ado.... let the first report begin~!


Goods
I went to queue for the goods in the morning, and I have to say that this was probably one of the most painless queuing times I have had thanks to all the stick on heat patches I was wearing underneath my clothes. Buahaha~ When I was nearing the goods stands they were announcing that a size of the red shirt that I wanted to get was sold out... I instantly got depressed since I thought it would be S (as usual), the one I want to get, but turns out it was XL instead. My mind is blown. I also decided to get the penlight even though I have quite a few, since I really like these improved ones that work with an on/off button instead of twisting the base (that made it easy for the penlights to break).


Inside Ariake Colosseum
I was kinda sad to find out that the seat I had for today was actually on the very last row lol. Not that it was bad or anything, the view was still much better than what you would get at a big live. I was quite surprised though, since I used more lottery numbers for today than tomorrow and my seat tomorrow is waaaayy better. Guess it didn't really matter which day I allocated them to. xD Not that I mind, I kind of prefer it this way actually.

Then the lights went off and NANA WINTER FESTA 2014 finally begins~~~!! Nana pops out wearing quite a cute outfit, and then....


Love me, love me, love me~~ Nana hypnotism xD

(btw, some MCs might be slightly in the wrong place... Mishi-P talked so much that my brain couldn't hold all the info neatly... gomen orz)


Dramatic Love
Oh my god... I was totally not prepared for tonight to start with this song. Actually, I had totally not even thought about how there was a high chance we'd get to hear this song tonight. It didn't cross my mind even once. Fail. orz It was really great to hear this song live finally, as it is a song I really like and which also is quite special to me. The choreograph was soo cute that I nearly couldn't take it. It was seriously almost too much for me when the interlude came and Nana and Team Yoda kinda drew a heart in the air with a finger and seeing Nana's fully concentrated face (the face she usually has when she is just focusing on dancing and not singing). It's too d'aww. xD Such an impactful way to start tonight. At least to me.


Aoi Iro
Next up, Aoi Iro! It's been a while since I've heard this. I really love hearing this live, firstly because I really love the song and secondly, because I greatly enjoy all the ways Nana says "Ii desu ka?" with so much enthusiasm and I have to say that today was the best I have heard so far. Too cute!


After the song, Mishi-P makes his way to the stage and greets us with a "konbanwa" and Nana wishes everyone a very happy new year. They take a moment to admire the 360 degrees of audience and then talk about how it has been seven years since the last Nana Festa (wee, 7 years~), but how that was in the same area as well, namely in the small Zepp Tokyo.

Nana talks a bit how it feels weird to see the Cherry Boys all the time tonight when she performs, since instead of being on the back of the stage they are situated on the front and sides of the stage... always in front of Nana basically. She says she feels slightly pressured when singing towards the sides since Tom-kun, Yutapon and Cho-san, who all are usually at the very back, are all facing her tonight haha. 

They proceed to talk about Nana's busy New Year's eve. Mishi-P asks everyone if we watched Kouhaku Uta Gassen and if we were surprised by Nana's awesome outfit transformation. In case you haven't seen it, here it is:


I am totally convinced that Nana got the inspiration for this from Katniss in Hunger Games. xD


Nana tells us how worried everyone was about if she could actually get the change done right, since many times during rehearsal she had only managed to change her dress to be half red. Apparently T.M. Revolution also once had a little "accident" and while singing Preserved Roses ("Mijikai...") all of his outfit just fell from over his shoulder right in front of him. xD Nana was so relieved when she managed to do the change properly during Kouhaku Uta Gassen and said her feelings at that moment were like "Everyone, I did it! I did it! Did you see that?!" D'aww. Mishi-P then mentions CDTV and asks if we watched that too and Nana apologizes for making everyone stay up that late for her. She then mentions how it was a very insane schedule, Kouhaku was done sometime after 1am and then her performances in CDTV were around 3am and 4am and she didn't get home until 5am. Mishi-P cuts in then and says "And then..." and Nana laughs and says "And then I left for New York right away". She figured she could sleep on the plane. xD


Nana Song Best 10
Nana then gets sent off to go prepare for the next corner.... which is.... Nana Song Best 10! As determined by the questionnaire on her site after the Taiwan live. Mishi-P talks about how they did the same thing in Nana Summer Festa 2007 and reviews what the Best 10 were back then. And they were:

10. You have a dream
09. Suddenly ~Meguriaete~
08. New Sensation
07. SUPER GENERATION
06. Tears' Night
05. Heart-shaped chant
04. Crystal Letter
03. ETERNAL BLAZE
02. POWER GATE
01. Innocent Starter

Mishi-P comments on how in every questionnaire they have done, ETERNAL BLAZE and POWER GATE have been at the top 3 basically. He then comments that we shall see how it shall be tonight, which somehow instantly tells me that there has been a very drastic change in this... xD Which is instantly revealed as #10 pops up on the screen as.....

#10 POWER GATE

Nana is lifted up on the stage from the opening in the middle of the stage, in a very natsukashii outfit. Mishi-P asks what concert the outfit is from and Nana replies that is all the way back from LIVE SENSATION 2003!


Sadly no picture of the outfit, only a little bit of LIVE SENSATION was covered in LIVE SKIPPER document disc and it didn't include this outfit.. orz It was a white dress with blue polka dots in any case!


Then Nana proceeds to sing POWER GATE! She walks to the stage at the north end of the arena (the "back") and sings the whole song there. It feels kinda weird getting POWER GATE so early on in a Nana event, since usually it will pop up in the encore or at least later on in the night. xD I also realized during the girls' "woo-o-o POWER GATE" part that I am still the loudest even when there are other girls singing. So embarrassing. And I will even be on the north side tomorrow..... "orz Anyways, it was really fun to watch Nana sing this in such an old outfit, since her outfits have gotten so much nicer over the years. I really look forward to seeing what else pops up tonight... I think I will die if one of them is [this]. Please have mercy on me Nana, haha.

Right after finishing POWER GATE, Nana is gone again to prepare and we get Mishi-P on the stage talking. He says we are now going to take a look at some of the songs that didn't make it into the Best 10, starting from 77 of course.

Nana song Best #77-61
(#77 Yakusoku, #76 Take a shot, #75 TRANSMIGRATION, #74 NAKED FEELS, #73 Risouron, #72 Mafuyu no Kanransha, #71 Bring it on!, #70 UNBREAKABLE, #69 Juliet, #68 Aoki Hikari no Hate -ULTIMATE MODE-, #67 Silent Bible, #66 Nostalgia, #65 Darling Plastic, #64 Nocturne -revision-, #63 STAND, #62 Justice to believe, #61 Mysterion)

Mishi-P comments on how nobody has seen the video included in the Mafuyu no Kanransha clip, since it is from a small live Nana had in Harajuku in 2001, which was never released. Some people from the audience shout that they were there and Mishi-P says they are ojisan haha.  


He the proceeds to talk about how the Cherry Boys have had numerous songs along the years in Nana's lives as well and reminds us of how there was a questionnaire about our favorite Cherry Boy song as well. So now in addition to the Nana Song Best 10 we will be getting Cherry Boy Song Best 6! The first one we get is....

CheriBo #6 Oretachi no Journey (LIVE JOURNEY 2011)

Man, it's so nostalgic hearing this again since LIVE JOURNEY was the first Nana live I ever got to attend. It made me start thinking how I have achieved so much since then and how even though it was just a few years ago, it feels like much more time has passed since then (I don't know why but I seem to have a habit of engaging in deep thoughts about my life during Nana lives/events xD). During the interlude Ryutan goes around introducing all the Cherry Boys here tonight (Ryutan, Shu-chan, Aniki, Tom-kun, Yutapon, Cho-san and Fire) and asks them about their goals for this year. I don't remember all of them, but Tom-kun says he needs to go on a diet while Yutapon wants more lives. Cho-san still hasn't climbed Sky Tree nor has Ryutan climbed Fuji. Will these things ever happen I wonder? xD Btw, I must say I really loved the little dance 2 of Team Yoda came to do on stage during this song. So fun!

After the song, Mishi-P comes back on stage and says he wants to tour again..... and everyone goes "Oohhh" and he's like "Oi I just said I want to.. anyway now it is time to focus on Nana Fes!!" haha. I swear if there isn't going to be a tour announcement this weekend I'll be really angry. Especially after he said that. xD We then return to the Nana Song Best 10, and next up are two songs which are....

#9 Tears' Night and #8 BRIGHT STREAM

Nana appears from the opening in the middle of the stage again, this time wearing.... oh god.... the canary outfit from LIVE ACADEMY 2010 (please don't take off that skirt Nana, I will cry if I see those fluffy shorts.... lol)


Just imagine current Nana wearing this~ \o/

Nana and Mishi-P talk a little bit about the outfit and Nana reminds us of how she was suspended in the ear sitting on a piece of cloth during LIVE ACADEMY when she wore this and sang Tenkuu no Canaria. Nana then proceeds to sing the two songs.

For Tears' Night, Nana walks to the the stage at the south end of the arena (the "front"), so in other words my side.. woop~! It's been a while since I heard this song live (LIVE CASTLE) that I had forgotten how this song actually has quite a lot of jumps in it. Listening to it now made me realize that I like this song more than I thought, I had somehow forgotten that too.. Tonight I really enjoyed the interlude when Nana was surrounded by Shu-chan, Aniki and Ryutan and they were all moving back and forth in unison. So cool!

Afterwards Nana returns to the main stage in the middle to sing BRIGHT STREAM. I feel like this song was over too fast and I didn't get to enjoy it as much as I wanted to somehow. orz Oh well, needless to say it was still awesome to listen to, I really do love this song so much.

Again right after the songs are done, Nana disappears and Mishi-P appears. Every time he comes back on stage he says thank you in the exact same way. xD Anyways, it is time now for..

Nana song Best #60-51
(#60 Synchrogazer -Aufwachen Form-, #59 Takaramono, #58 Gimmick Game, #57 Hikari, #56 Metro Baroque, #55 Jikuu Sapphire, #54 Mugen, #53 Don't be long, #52 Ano Hi Yume Mita Negai, #51 Wild Eyes) 

I guess people seemed disappointed to see Synchrogazer here and Mishi-P comments that the normal Synchrogazer is listed separately and people cheered. I think he perhaps asked at this point if the songs we voted for had appeared yet, though I am not sure if he only asked during the 2nd night or not... Anyways! Next up is the #5 song on the Cherry Boy ranking, which is...

CheriBo #5 Koi no Rock'n'Roll Story (LIVE UNION 2012)

This song was better than I remembered! Makes me want to watch LIVE UNION again sometime soon. During this song I was trying to remember which Cherry Boy song I had voted for as the best, but I just can't remember at all haha. Oh well. More of Team Yoda joined the Cherry Boys on stage this time.

After the song, Mishi-P comes up again like usual and it is time to announce the next Nana songs, this time three in one go. They are as follows...

#7 Innocent Starter, #6 Ai no Hoshi and #5 Pray

Nana pops up in the last outfit of LIVE GAMES 2010 -Blue-.


This one~~

Mishi-P was trying to get Nana to mawatte, but Nana purposefully misunderstood it and ran around the stage along the edges counter-clockwise (so that the opening in her dress stayed towards the middle of the stage lol). Then it is time for Nana to sing the next songs~

For Innocent Starter, Nana moves to all the sides of the main stage. With this, I kind of got the same feeling as with BRIGHT STREAM earlier... it was over too soon. Sniff sniff. orz

I am so happy to get to hear Ai no Hoshi live again. When the song began, I was thinking how fitting it was for Innocent Starter and this to be bunched together like this.... and that made me start thinking about deep things again. About myself as a person and how I need to better myself. How do you have this effect on me Nana with your songs? I don't really understand it. But in any case, the song combined with my thinking moved me pretty close to tears.

After such an emotional packet, it was nice to get something more energetic like Pray. For this song, Nana went around the west and east sides on a small movable platform and basically did a full circle around the edges of the arena, which was nice. The atmosphere in the colosseum became quite high tension during this song.... only to go down instantly along with Nana disappearing from sight after the song was done. xD Such a tease...

Mishi-P is then back with the next section of the Nana ranking, which goes as such...

Nana song Best #50-41 
(#50 Orugooru to Piano to -holy style-, #49 Miracle☆Flight, #48 Hoshizora to Tsuki to Hanabi no Shita, #47 Karen Moyou, #46 Shounen, #45 Replay Machine -custom-, #44 ROMANCERS' NEO, #43 SCARLET KNIGHT, #42 Trickster, #41 Soradokei)

Mishi-P decides to go ask Tom-kun what his favorite Nana song is and Tom-kun sits there quietly for quite a while before saying "What was the name of that song again... eheh.." which makes Mishi-P facepalm and he goes back to the main stage and declares that that will be cut from the footage and that now he will come back to Tom-kun pretending it is the first time he does so... lol Poor Tom-kun... in his panic he just goes with a safe answer and says ETERNAL BLAZE. Mishi-P next moves on to pester Yutapon and asks which Nana song is the hardest to play on the drums to which he replies that it is Etsuraku Camellia (if I recall correctly, he mentioned Next Arcadia too) and Mishi-P starts to insist that he should play some of that for us. Yutapon tries to refuse, but in the end caves in and gives us a sample. Then it is time to continue with the Cherry Boy songs and next up is...

CheriBo #4 Dear My Princess (LIVE ACADEMY 2010)

I had forgotten how funny the LIVE ACADEMY clip for this song is. I think I need to watch that again soon too. Kyah kyah delinquent Aniki. xD The song itself is also quite nice. I like how for all these songs a different Cherry Boy gets to do a solo during the interlude (sorry, I don't remember who did which, and that's why they aren't mentioned... orz).

After the song, Mishi-P makes his way back on stage again to announce the next song on the Nana list. This time, it will be only one song, namely...

#4 Kakumei Dualism

Instead of Nana, the little [Nanette plushie] from LIVE CASTLE goods is lifted to the stage. Mishi-P goes to examine it saying "Areeee, Nana-chan??" and we hear Nana making a Nanette voice saying that she is Nanette. Then Mishi-P asks where Nana is and she says she is in front of the toilet (just like in last Nana Festa before POWER GATE) and then everyone "Oooh"s because we know she will come out in the midst of the audience... but where?

We then see on the big screens Nana in front of the toilet in her green outfit from LIVE CIRCUS 2013


Hallooo~ not so hisashiburi outfit.

She says she is freezing since the outfit was made for a summer live and it is really cold out in the hall. The video cuts off and Kakumei Dualism starts playing, but Nana doesn't make it out into the audience to start her singing on time so after a a couple of missed lines she shows up singing between 1F and 2F on the north side, making her way slowly through that side of the colosseum during the song. The big screens around the top of the main stage blocked my view of her quite well so I could only follow her from the screens while singing TMR's parts. And then instantly when the song is over, Nana is gone. Again.

Mishi-P comes on the stage again to present to us the next Nana songs on the ranking.

Nana song Best #40-31 
(#40 Kiseki no Melodia, #39 You have a dream, #38 Hoshikuzu Symphony, #37 NEXT ARCADIA, #36 Synchrogazer, #35 Heart-shaped chant, #34 FEARLESS HERO, #33 BRAVE PHOENIX, #32 Thermidor -Vingt-Sept-, #31 Preserved Roses)

I was kinda surprised to see Preserved Roses on there, since I count it more as a TMR song. Or more than it being on the list, perhaps I was surprised at how high it was ranked. Not that I mind though. xD Mishi-P decides to go bug Aniki this time, but Aniki gives him such a scary look that he almost changes his mind. Once he gathers the courage to go talk to him, somehow the topic goes on to age.... and I still can't believe I heard right... but I am pretty sure Mishi-P said that Aniki is 85 years old. Seriously? You gotta be kidding. My mind can't process this information. It was a joke right? (x_x;) Then Mishi-P keeps talking about the age of other Cherry Boys, like how Ryutan is already 50 and Cho-san is 39 (his daughter is 3, yay~) and Mishi-P himself was fortysomething... 49? 45? Can't remember lol. Then the continuation of Cherry Boy songs~~

CheriBo #3 Ongaku Sentai Cheribo Seven no Theme (LIVE DIAMOND 2009)

Haha, I really do love this! Cho-san appears with two of Team Yoda in a fun hero outfit with an amazing scarf. I think it is some particular anime hero, it seems familiar but I can't place it exactly. For the whole song he dances with the girls and it just makes me think of how much fun he must be having with a career like this. Urayamashii. "orz

After this, it is time to enter the top 3 of the Nana songs and next up is...

#3 Crystal Letter

Nana appears now dressed... as a butterfly! It is an outfit from LIVE MUSEUM 2005.


Oh my goodness... those boots. xD

Nana and Mishi-P talk about the outfit again. Nana says nobody better come close because this outfit is dangerous and demonstrated by trying to hit Mishi-P with her butterfly wings. That was really hilarious, cracked me up so much. Deadly butterfly girl. xD

Then it is time for Crystal Letter to start. Come to think of it, I believe this is the first time I hear this song live. How exciting~ Man, this is such a pretty song. My brain for some reason focused on this line more intently than on anything else "futsuu no koi ga ureshi katta...", quite interesting. During the end half of the song, silvery pieces of paper started falling on the stage representing snow. They were being blown on Nana (and Cho-san lol) with such force that I was actually scared of one ending up in her mouth while she was still singing. "orz Luckily that did not happen though...

Then poof, Nana disappears. Mishi-P reappears. And it is business as usual with...

Nana song Best #30-21 
(#30 Last Scene, #29 Avalon no Oukan, #28 Junketsu Paradox, #27 SUPER GENERATION, #26 Koi no Yokushiryoku -type EXCITER-, #25 PHANTOM MINDS, #24 Trinity Cross, #23 Aoi Iro,#22 Zankou no Gaia, #21 Etsuraku Camellia)

Mishi-P continues singing Etsuraku Camellia for a few seconds after the clip ends then stops abruptly and says "you heard nothing", hah. Everyone tries to get him to sing more but he just retorts that we didn't come here to listen to an ojisan sing. xD I guess this was him making it up for demanding Yutapon to play some of it for us before. xD Next up, is the Cherry Boy ranking again and now it is time for..

CheriBo #2 Ai no Cheribo Knight (LIVE CASTLE 2011)

Ryutan does one of the dance moves while waiting in position for the song to begin. Some jokes about the effort all the Cherry Boys had to make to learn that dance under the instruction of the dance sensei of Team Yoda. I have a feeling this is my favorite Cherry Boy song actually, but I don't think it is the one I voted for... woops.. xD

After, it is time for Nana ranking again.... what song could be #2? It is of course...

#2 ETERNAL BLAZE

Nana appears on stage wearing one of my top favorite live outfits ever... The ring master from LIVE CASTLE 2011! Yay~~


Haha, I love this outfit so much! (*-*)

They talk a little bit about the outfit again and how Nana sang ETERNAL BLAZE wearing it in LIVE CASTLE. Funny that they mention that only now, since it is the same for many of the other outfits too - she sang that particular song wearing it in that specific live it was from. Anyways~

As usual, the change to orange penlights is instantaneous once ETERNAL BLAZE starts. As usual, there are also flames popping up from the sides of the stage - two on each of the four sides. I was really happy for such a song that requires a lot of movement and effort from the audience, since it was getting quite cold in the colosseum (why oh why did I remove the long-sleeved shirt that I had under my Nana Fes shirt.. orz). I was also really pumped up hearing Nana sing this in the ring master outfit, it brought back a lot of amazingly good memories from attending LIVE CASTLE with people who now are my dear friends.

Nana seems to disappear faster than usual and Mishi-P goes forth with the Nana ranking, the last one before the top 10, dun dun duun...

Nana song Best #20-11 
(#20 POP MASTER, #19 Hime Murasaki, #18 undercover, #17 Tenkuu no Canaria, #16 New Sensation, #15 DISCOTHEQUE, #14 Suddenly ~Meguriaete~, #13 Vitalization, #12 Astrogation, #11 Orchestral Fantasia)

Quite interesting to see Vitalization so high up! And actually, I am also a bit saddened that Lovely Fruit didn't even make it to the top 77. (T^T) Well anyways, it is finally time to bust out the number one favorite from among the Cherry Boy songs, which is...

CheriBo #1 Ongaku Sentai Cheribo Seven G no Theme (LIVE CIRCUS 2013)

Surprisingly, it is the newest Cherry Boy song that takes the lead! The chained Nana in the clip must have something to do with it I am sure... lol. I do really like this song too. Frankly all sentai songs are quite fun. xD At the end of the song the Cherry Boys move to the center of the stage for an epic finale... and then.... Abe-sama runs to join them from somewhere randomly lolwut. After the song ends Mishi-P is back on stage and comments on who is this suspicious person who has appeared all of a sudden haha. Abe-sama runs away pretty much as fast as he appeared.

Then it is time for the moment everyone has been waiting for.... what might the number 1 Nana song beeee? Well, I think it is pretty obvious at this point (and pretty much from the start too) that it will be..

#1 Shin'Ai

Nana appears wearing the prettiest outfit from LIVE GRACE 2011.


Yay~~

Again talk about the outfit. Mishi-P is like "It is made of different kimono fabrics right?" and Nana corrects him and says that it is made of different obi (the "belt" used with kimono/yukata) actually. I somehow got the feeling that he felt really embarrassed that he got it wrong. xD

So then, Shin'Ai~ I can only imagine how much it means to Nana to have this song be voted number 1 by all of her fans considering how important it is for her (which is of course part of the reason we all voted for it). It was easy to see that she was getting very emotional while singing it like she always does. The moment the song started, the stage floor started getting covered by fog like it had in LIVE CASTLE during this song and Mugen.  Something snow-like started falling from the ceiling again. It gave quite a magical feel. Very touching.

After the song, Mishi-P tells Nana to go pull the string on... well, I don't know what to call it. xD This thing they had at Nana Summer Festa 2007 as well:


Now it had the name of the winning song on it, Shin'Ai, and happy new year.

I think Mishi-P made a comment on how it looks like it's been bought from [Tokyu Hands]. xD After that, Nana and Mishi-P talk a bit about how this corner has come to a close and it is also time for the Cherry Boys to make their exit. But first, they all gather at the middle of the stage, and instead of forming a line holding hands like usual, they form a circle. Nana comments on how this is something new that they haven't done before. After that the Cherry Boys leave and Nana goes to prepare for the next corner, this time exiting from the north side of the stage, since I guess she can't fit through the opening in the middle with this big dress. :3

So, then we get a review on the Nana Best 10 of tonight, which are as follows:

10. POWER GATE
09. Tears' Night
08. BRIGHT STREAM
07. Innocent Starter
06. Ai no Hoshi
05. Pray
04. Kakumei Dualism
03. Crystal Letter
02. ETERNAL BLAZE
01. Shin'Ai

Mishi-P kills time while we wait for Nana to get ready by letting us view the difference in the votes for the Nana Best 10 songs for males and females. It was interesting to see that only the men had put BRIGHT STREAM in their top 10.... and now I don't remember what the girls had instead of that, perhaps Astrogation. Not sure. I might be confusing this with the statistics shown on the 2nd night. xD It was also easy to see that the order of the songs mainly went by the men's choices since there are so many more male fans overall. Mishi-P says that we will for sure have the next Nana Festa in 2021 again and then he gets depressed at how he will be such an old man by then... lol


M no Sekai
After that, three chairs are brought on to the stage and turns out the next corner will be a live recording of.... M no Sekai! Woo~ awesome! Nana comes back on stage in shorts and the yellow Nana Fes shirt. She tells us that today's guests will be... Mishi-P and.... *cue in dramatic music* [Kyogoku Natsuhiko], the novelist!

I am not going to delve deeply into their conversation, as you can just listen to it [here] (thank you @flying_mug for providing the link). So wait for it! I don't want to spoil everything before you get to hear it anyway (no, me being lazy is not the reason).. :p


M no Sekai.


The highlight of it was when Nana and Natsuhiko-san read a sexy passage together, which was really funny to listen to. xD I noticed that Nana had a pretty interesting way of facing away from the mic when she was "voiceacting" her parts, makes me wonder if that is how she always does her seiyuu work. 

Also, I felt quite bad for the audience on the north side of the colosseum, since during all of M no Sekai, they were facing towards the front of the stage. Made me wonder if it would be the same tomorrow night when I am on the north side myself. Well, we'll see! Also on a random side note, for some reason there was some person crouching at the front side of the stage where some of the Cherry Boys used to be, dressed as Kazanari Tsubasa and doing something for the whole duration of M no Sekai... lolwut. Imi wakannee. xD

After M no Sekai, Nana and Mishi-P stay on stage to talk about how it is about time to end today's Nana Festa. But before it is over.... there is an announcement to make! And let me tell you... I was expecting a single at most. But instead.... on April 16th.... will be.... NEW ALBUM RELEASE!! Whaaaat, holy shit! It hasn't been all that long since we got ROCKBOUND NEIGHBORS, just a bit over a year! Whaaaat, don't shock me like this! (x_x;;;) My mind nearly can't handle it. But thank you for making the release date be right after my Master's midterm presentation, haha I have more motivation to ganbatte now and more belief that I will make it through it! And since this obviously wasn't shocking enough to everyone... they have another surprise up their sleeve for us... Nana will sing one of the new songs from the album RIGHT NOW. Oh my goooddddd..... don't do this to me and my frail heart haha. So then....


Ladyspiker
Nana tells us that this is a grown woman song and a bit eroppoi and rock influenced. Then she announces the name of the song, Ladyspiker and thus it begins! I have to say at this point that it has been fun following people online trying to decipher the name of the song since apparently no one could make it out that clearly (me included xD). I saw guesses of Ladies Fighter, Lady Spider, Lady spiker, Ladies Fire, Ladies Biker.... hehe. But anyways... to the song itself! Holy shit, it was great! I seriously really loved it. It is really rockish like Nana said and I really love the deep grown up voice she sings it in. Sent shivers down my spine. I was kinda worried for a fraction of a second that the quality of the new album might be decreased because it is being released so soon after ROCKBOUND NEIGHBORS, but I should really know by now that Nana will never disappoint me. I am seriously in love with this song. No joke. I also greatly enjoyed Nana's smooth handling of the microphone stand when she swung it around with her leg and whatnot. Such a pro. I really can't wait to hear this again tomorrow.

After the song has been sung, Nana tries to bring the microphone to one of Team Yoda, who have joined he up on stage to dance for the new song, but the moment Nana approaches her she runs away from the stage lolwut. xD

After wrapping things up with Mishi-P, Nana makes her way around the whole arena once again so that she can wave to everyone before she leaves.

And thus ends NANA WINTER FESTA 2014, day 1. I will try to write about the second day as soon as possible too. A big thank you once again for everyone who made it possible for me to go by letting me use their lottery numbers! I hope this report has made it worth it. :3 And holy shit... this was a lot to write during one night. I am quite exhausted now. xD

10 comments:

  1. Man, i thought there would be no well wishes on her birthday on any of her fan sites and then you wrote this.

    How i wish i could attend her concerts. Totally missed the chance to go AFA singapore due to work and didn't have enough reserves to go Taiwan Live Circus.

    Can only wait for bluray :(

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    1. Hehe, can't forget about Nana's birthday! I made some Nana curry today as well, will probably post a pic with my 2nd Winter Festa report... if I can get it done soon. :3

      Aww... Damn work. orz I am sure you will get to attend her concert eventually! You are in Singapore? I do think that if she keeps expanding her performances abroad, Singapore will be one of the most likeliest place for an overseas live after Taiwan. Have faith in Nana!

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  2. I am not from Singapore but traveling to Singapore is much more easier for me than Japan. Hopefully a she does do a live in Singapore as there is some enthusiastic fans over there and i think the fan base there is quite large as well.

    Just hope the venue is larger as i saw the Taiwan one looks quite cramped for them to be waving penlights and jumping around. It's not as fun without audience participation.

    I actually considered going to Japan in 2010 for Utada Hikaru's Wild Life back then but unfortunately a friend of mine in Japan could not secure the tickets as it was drawn lottery style. Maybe one day i'll save enough money to do either one or hopefully both if both their concerts are within close dates and around the same city (that'll be a bonus)

    Till then, will have to make do with the blurays.

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  3. Hey there, one of the many Nana fans you've met in Japan over here! (I believe we met during Castle and Grace II?) Thanks so much for the report, since I only got to attend Day 2! Now I know that Nana wore different costumes for both days (damn, would've liked to have seen the Sensation one, and the canary dress!).

    Kind of wish I could've gone for Day 1 too at least for the surprise factor. Although I made sure not to spoil myself at all this time, they were rehearsing inside when I was queuing up for goods on Day 2 and that actually revealed 8 of the Top 10 AND all of the Cherry Boys songs AND they rehearsed the songs in order as well! GAH, knew I should have had my earphones on then!!! M no Sekai doesn't air in this part of Japan so I might have been a bit lost to that portion of the night, so maybe Day 2 was right for me (Maybe I should wait for your Report of Day 2, but I'm wondering which side you were sitting on that day. I'll just say I was in the 'unfortunate' South, lol) Anyways, great job and thanks again!

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  4. Thanks for another nice review. I'm also surprised that Lovely Fruit isn't anywhere near this top 77 list. I would replace it with at least three of the top ten songs, haha. Also, Crystal Letter appears on 4 live DVDs, so shame on you for not remembering it. :)

    Only two of her albums took more than 18 months to make, and that were Ultimate Diamond and Rockbound Neighbors. Nana merely goes back to her old release schedule. A drop of quality is unlikely.

    That original album tag however has already died as of today, with another version of Aoi no Hoshi being announced. Yes, yes, it will be super pretty and soulful and all that, but its not a new song by any stretch of the imagination. Passing off this album as all-new is akin to slapping a new coat of paint on a 10 year old car which ran already 200 000 miles and selling it as "straight from the factory", or an "all new original" Beethoven 9th Symphony just because the violins were replaced with an electric guitar. I was never in favor of these versions, remixes and new arrangements, its just milk from a dead cow, but none of her albums were promoted as all new and original. So don't make "all new" part of the promotion if it clearly isn't. One speck of dust on your white vest, Nana!

    Clearly, Team Yo-Da agree with me, as they run away once Nana approaches them. Serves the little cheater right. ;)

    When the Bangles released their comeback album in 2003, most of the songs on it were leftovers from failed solo-careers or even harked back into the 80's. There were endless discussions among the fans going on if or if not this album should pass off as new. It weird to have a brand new album where you knew 3/4 of the songs already, some of them for 10 years! So i had a little Vietnam movie flashback in black and white and people shouting at me in slow motion before an exploding grenade reduces them to a clout of red dust when i read that info about Ai no Hoshi today. But at least it was more comical, like in the movie Tropic Thunder.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ndpky1GCa0c

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    1. isn't Aoi no Hoshi from the vitalization single? yes, it's not technically new if you want to be strict about it... but it isn't a rework from another album by any measure...

      as far as my understanding for singles, they are just part of a bigger collection which forms the albums...it doesn't mean that if the song is released on a single and they should never appear on the album ever again...

      many artists whether japanese or english does the same thing... and more often than not there is not even the slightest change to the song when it is compiled together in the album release after the single release... take ayumi hamasaki for example...she has tons more of her songs that makes it into her album and no one complains about it... in fact if you look at her discography... her loyal fans have to be buying more discs as the same songs will be featured in singles, albums, remixes and they don't complain.. those discs easily accumulate to more than double of what Nana has produced in her career...

      that is just how the music industry works..

      so, not too sure why you are so banged up about such announcements whether it is due to your misinterpretation of the message or any other reasons

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    2. I don't think their talk of an original album of all new songs leaves much room for explanations. That you have to write a lengthy reply to explain what new really means just proves my point. If not released on another album is good enough for being all new, all of her albums would be original albums but they didn't label them as that. Why not run with it and start calling the Museum collections all new original albums. They even stressed that this album has no old songs to celebrate her tenth album release. They didn't say its songs that might or might not have released somewhere already but lets explain you people what "new" and "unreleased" actually means for us. Their official website seems to have dropped this "original" term already anyway, and thats all i asked for. Her albums always had already released singles on it, but not all singles ended up on albums, such as Scarlett Knight and Pop Master. I never minded that, or i couldn't have bought any CD ever from anyone. BUT, don't use false labels like "all new" for promotional reasons.

      But its good to know that you have a rather loose idea of new, i guess you wouldn't mind buying my 7 year old rusty bicycle for the 1000 euros it has cost back then. ;)

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    3. I am not sure why you are so unhappy about them implying that it's an "original album that consists of all new songs" to you. But she ain't pointing a gun on your head forcing you to buy it.

      If you want to be picking on things like this, there will be millions more example whether it is within the music industry or out of it like "new iPhone 5s" for example.

      I am not saying i am right. But, it's just a term at the end of the day. Don't make life anymore difficult than it already is. She or King Records did not set out to con you of your 20 odd US dollars. Just stop nitpicking on minor little things like this and enjoy the album for what it is whether it is poor command on language or marketing on their part or you over-complicating things. There is no need to fuss up about something over a claim, it is not going to cost anyone their life by making false claims even if it is a false claim to begin with.

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    4. Perhaps you should just read what i wrote. They stopped using that original term anyway, any further argument is pointless and i certainly would pick it up again if it comes back. False advertising should always be rebuffed.

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