PASSPO☆ Announce Disbandment, Final Flight Will be in September 2018 at Nakano Sunplaza
#SakoDay! PASSPO☆ Spring Tour Finale at Akasaka Blitz Live Report Part 1!
Sponsored Links
May 31st was a day full of emotions for the “passengers” (PASSPO☆ term for fans) boarding the “flight” (PASSPO☆ term for lives/events) departing from Akasaka Blitz. The finale for PASSPO☆’s spring tour “~More Attention~” was marked by the birth of a new sister group Petit PASSPO☆ but, it was also the final time that they would see Sako Makita on stage as she would be beginning a hiatus from performing in order to recover from health problems that had been plaguing her since 2014. While it was not a graduation, with no definite return date set, feelings of uncertainty were mixed with those of gratitude for everything that “Sakoti” (Makita’s nickname) had done for PASSPO☆ during her 5 years in the group.
Afternoon Flight – Departure: 1:00pm (JST)
The afternoon flight began with an all new intro video featuring 8 different colored airplanes, vectors and silhouettes set to “Immigration Control”. The passengers chanted loudly and waved their penlights as if they were guiding a plane in for landing, as is the custom at everyone of PASSPO☆’s flights. Accelerating into the stratosphere with “Love Diary”, the passengers were in high spirits, jumping and clapping energetically and chanting loudly as Sako Makita did her first dance solo of the day. Midway through the song Anna Tamai blasted Shiori Mori with an imaginary fireball!
The stage lights turned red during the turbulent “Baby Jump ~ Tengoku he no Toujou-bin~”, PASSPO☆ pumping their fists and high-kicking. Passengers called out Sako Makita’s name during her dance solo and chanted loudly when Natsumi Iwamura held up a sign encouraging them to make some noise. As the members of PASSPO☆ settled down to welcome the passengers onboard (and for Mori to take a drink from her giant bottle of water), the 1st floor of Akasaka Blitz became a forest of green lights in support of Makita, causing her to blush and smile.
Mio Masui wanted to “heat things up” so she gave a short tutorial how to do the choreography for “Itazura Rock’n’Roll”, which actually turned out to be something anyone familiar with classic guitar rock would be inclined to do when hearing such an anthemic song. In between the “Woah oh oh” parts, the members made up nonsensical and silly lyrics that they muttered under their breath. Cranking things up to full volume, temperatures rose as the crowd stomped their feet and rocked back and forth. Towards the end of the song, Masui scurried around the stage, flipping up the skirts of the other members of PASSPO☆.
Activating the afterburners with the chugging guitars of “FAKE”, PASSPO☆ reached cruising altitude with the mid tempo acoustic guitar rock of “Fairy Tale”, Japanese festival-flavored “Natsuzora Hanabi”, and German metal of “WING”. At this point, the timer which had been counting down since April appeared on the screen and the “new project” Petit PASSPO☆ was finally revealed to the world!
Read more about Petit PASSPO☆ in our previous report.
Possibly feeling their age when compared to Petit PASSPO☆, especially with Yukimi Fujimoto’s younger sister in the group, youngest member Anna Tamai wanted to return to their youth so, PASSPO☆’s first ever single “Let It Go” was the next song of the afternoon. From there, the Hacchake-tai (Shiori Mori, Yukimi Fujimoto, Naomi Anzai, and Natsumi Iwamura) cut loose with “Kibun wa Saikou! Saikou! Saikou!” before being hypnotized by the paper fans of O-Shang Shang (Ai Negishi, Sako Makita, Mio Masui, and Anna Tamai) and staggering offstage. While there is no doubting the moxie of the Hacchake-tai to establish themselves, more songs from the elegant and feminine O-Shang Shang would be nice to see as well. Ever the comedians, the Hacchake-tai returned to the stage with garbage bags and attempted to return the favor to O-Shang Shang with less than favorable results. Launching into “High Tension Emotion”, the Hacchake-tai announced that they would be having their first one-man on September 6, 2015. An entire night of Hacchake-tai! Is the world ready for such a thing?
Mio and “Nachu” (Iwamura’s nickname) pretended to be a young couple in love for the cutesy “Heaven’s Burger” (which Masui had written the lyrics for). Choreographer Natsumi Takenaka again showed off her genius by coming up with the skit which made it a song that must be seen live to be fully appreciated! Building on that momentum, passenger favorites “Pretty Lie” and “Kucha LOVE” followed. The last spurt of the main performance started off with “Cosmic You” where Anna Tamai pushed Mio Masui offstage with her butt, followed by more antics during “Material Girl” which had the mischievous pair of Tamai and Iwamura holding an imaginary photoshoot at the back of the stage and their now customary “kabe-don” in the middle of the already wild “STEP & GO”. Peaking with the always energetic “Himawari”, which has been known to spawn a few small mosh pits every time it is performed, Shiori Mori ended the pop punk cheerleader-ish “YOU” with a split and PASSPO☆ walked off stage, the “encore” call beginning almost as soon as they had left.
The encore had PASSPO☆ and the passengers swinging their handkerchiefs, towels, penlights, and everything else imaginable to “La La Love Train” and craving homemade pancakes with “HONEY DISH”. Mio Masui was tossed in the air a few times, becoming the popcorn shown in the MV and more than a thousand hearts skipped a beat simultaneously as the members of PASSPO☆ flashed kisses to end the song.
Live report on the evening flight and Sako Makita’s final stage appearance (until her return) coming soon!
Photos by Mime Soga
Set List – Afternoon
00 Immigration Control
01 Love Diary
02 Baby Jump ~ Tengoku he no Toujou-bin~
03 Itazura Rock’n’Roll
04 FAKE
05 Fairy Tale
06 Natsuzora Hanabi
07 WING
08 Let It Go
09 Kibun wa Saikou! Saikou! Saikou!
10 Shang Shang Chandelier
11 High Tension Emotion
12 Heaven’s Burger
13 Pretty Lie
14 Kucha Love
15 Cosmic You
16 Material Girl
17 STEP & GO
18 Himawari
19 YOU
E1 La La Love Train
E2 HONEY DISH
PASSPO☆ Official site: http://passpo.jp/
Sponsored Links
Petit PASSPO☆ PASSPO☆
Kai Okudara
Writer, researcher, photographer, foodie, KSDD
NEXT
[Exclusive Program] Tokyo GIrls’ Update TV #006 : SBY in Shibuya109 & Pikarin’s Cosplay
PREV
Otaku Navigator: Survival Japanese You’ll Need Before Going to See an Event in Japan Part 2
Petit PASSPO☆ Chase an Endless Summer in the MV for “Meramera Jumpin'”!
