Picture thanks to @yui_lover_nn
Report from Jeff
Right, the important bits first:
yui was wearing a wide cloth hairband tied at the back, you could see both ears. It was mainly brown with a touch of blue and white, it looked great with her ash coloured hair. She had the usual leggings on, a white T-shirt with a blue circle containing a graphic of some sort. I didn’t see her shoes.
Set list:
1. Kamisama
2. Seki wo Tatsu (Former Miteiru / Tada )
3. Startline
4. POP (Perfect Sync encore. yui sang proper words to it from 2 sheets she was holding)
5. Tsuki
No encore
Now for the best bit of info: this was an acoustic set!
Sacchan played a percussion kit
Mafumafu played double bass using a bow in two songs
Mura Jun used one keyboard using a piano patch mainly
yui just played acoustic, but got up without it in songs 2 and 5.
I’d met up with zerofighter the previous evening and we’d planned to meet up at noon at Zushi station, however I got there early and discovered you could hear the sound checks as the venue was just a wooden shack on the beach with holes for windows and vent just above head height; so I quickly emailed a change of plan. A band I thought at the time was FF played 5 or 6 songs, non of which I recognised but, I have since realised it was Sotte Bosse. Shame but the singer really sounded like yui from outside.
After lunch I joined the queue for an hour, this was a waste of time as entrance was by ticket number. Mine was 385 out of probably 1200 approx. so I got a spot about 8 rows from the front in the middle.
First on was Inoue Sonoko, she’s a singer-songwriter guitarist and was really good. Next came Tavito Nanao, he took quite a while to set up, sang one song then a girl fainted at the front. Tavito continued then there was another commotion in front of me and everyone started looking right. There was yui watching from the side, she gave a little way and was joined by Mura Jun and Sacchan. It would have made a great photo but the staff were watching us like hawks.
Next Bonnie Pink came on, Mafumafu, Sacchan and Mura Jun all watched some of her set.
Bonnie was followed by Indigo la End, then it was time for Flower Flower at last.
When they didn’t set up Sacchan’s full kit I knew we were in for something special. The 3 guys all helped to set up their own gear, then yui walked on. The crowd surged, and I was carried forward about another 5 feet. I could see the whole band clearly.
I was blown away by the sound, the way they play together is superb, they all looked very happy. yui turned round and gave Mafumafu a big smile halfway through and some girls yelled out “kawaii”. I had to agree. I’ve never seen yui smile so much, she was very happy.
After the second song she introduced Sacchan, then Mafumafu, then herself finishing with Flower Flower desu, totally missing-out Mura Jun as a joke. This brought an astonished look from Mura Jun, when she did introduce him the crowd and Mura Jun went wild.
The songs:
Kamisami – Mafumafu drove this along with a funky jazz style bass line with Mura Jun adding some beautiful piano. Mafumafu used a bow for the bridge which dropped the song nicely allowing it room to build to the end. Mura Jun played the guitar riff at the end with funky feel on the piano. This jazz type arrangement worked really well showing the versatility of these guys.
Seki wo Tatsu – the off beat piano was to the the fore, with Mafumafu and Sacchan combing brilliantly to create a complex rhythm. yui and Mura Jun watched each other closely to get the crescendos just right.
Startline – Beautiful acoustic version. The guys played fairly straight forward accompaniment allowing yui’s beautifully expressive vocal to come to the fore. The combination of piano and double bass really suit this song.
POP – yui has now written proper lyrics for this, she sang them from 2 sheets of paper she was holding. The arrangement and feel we’re similar to the Perfect Synch version.
Tsuki – This started with yui on the cactus rain maker, and Mafumafu using a bow on the bass. Mura Jun added some very tasteful atmospheric synth and then piano, The harshness of the bowed bass really emphasised the chord changes. Sacchan added lots of gentle sympathetic percussive sounds and cymbal crescendos. yui’s vocal was just out this world, soring over the beautful music. The contrast of yui’ angelic vocal and the harshness of the bass worked brilliantly.
The way Bonnie Pink seemed to be pushed in the advertising I was expecting her to be top of the bill, and as she had already been on I thought FF would be the last band and we might get an encore but it wasn’t to be. There was another band after yui. I believe – Sotte Bosse, but I was so tired after standing for more than 5hrs in more than 30 degree heat I couldn’t wait to get out into the air and headed for the T-Shirt and Towel stand.
Zerofighter told me later he’d seen yui leave by the back door and high-hand some fans! Lucky guys!
I’ve never been so enthralled by a bands’ performance before, so pleased to have seen an acoustic set, it must have been pretty similar to the secret lives Kiki, Gotchi and Jun saw. I can totally understand their excitement now. yui really is incredibly beautiful in real life, and what a killer smile!
—
Update from zerofighter
after ff gig ended, couldn’t find jeff. so i went out of the livehouse and there were some fans loitering around the back door.
the first thing i saw when i went out from the other exit, was sacchan. he was just standing nearby there alone. it was dark. but not very dark. so i could recgonized him.apparently, there were no fans surrounding him for his sigs or photos so i decided to slack around there where the fans were loitering.
i knew something wasn’t right. they were just reluctant to leave even though otodama staff asked them to.
so waited and waited. maybe there were just waiting for yui.
then otodama staff started putting barriers and asked the fans to line up. so i joined in.
waited and waited.
yui and her members came out.
everybody was just trying to hi-touch her. and of course she was busying making her way to the car.
she just tried to hi-touch everybody back as she could.
it was just wild as she made her way to the car.
everybody rushed over to the other side.
some even dashed across the road. while the other used the underpass.
car window was tinted. couldn’t see her. but everybody just waved their hands.
mura jun was sitting beside the driver remember if i remembered clearly and he waved back to the fans.
*back exit of the studio (sacchan was at the end alone)
*everything was wild and moving fast, i couldn’t take a good picture in time with my camera phone. but in this pic yui was inside the usherers. if you can see a portion of the blonde head, that’s yui.
For more info, follow the thread in the forum!
