A story of Berikyu Concert in Paris ~Like An Alumni Reunion After A Long Interval~

| Hello! Project | Posted by Yuji Hara on Jul.09.2014

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It was a stimulus-rich concert ever. On July 3rd, 2014, Berryz Kobo and ºC-ute (Berikyu) showed the finest joint concert in commemoration of the 15th anniversary of Japan Expo. But, even though they have been idols more than a decade, who could ever imagine they brought such a most pleasant live?

On the first day of Berikyu’s journey in Paris, Berryz and ºC-ute appeared in front of the fans who wore their oshi’s T-shirt, cosplayed as their favorite single’s uniforms. At the signing sessions and conference, wota had a precious moment with Berikyu by fooling around together, screaming a joy of delight. And of course, they told Berikyu how much they have loved, with tears, hand-written letters in Japanese, and hearty presents.

Though the number of audience participated in the concert had been many times the number of people gathered for those sessions, a lot of “concentrated” wota from almost all over the world fully enjoyed the happy reunion with Berikyu after a long time.

The concert was way more wonderful than I expected. More ℃-ute brought their standards, the more Berryz brought their killer tunes. Buono! appeared too.

They brought their classics including their debut single, and the memorial song for the fans who participated in the first solo concert in Paris, “Hatsukoi Cider”.

It’s been a while I’ve seen Berryz Kobo and ºC-ute so happy to get into the music together, move their bodies to the rhythm. Berikyu often observed the audience and tried to understand how each one of us feel more carefully than usual, but, I saw they did the same process with the members. Watching the happy reunion of Hello! Project Kids on the stage was very touching. But more surprisingly, they had become a master of a concert.

Maasa, who turned 22 years old on the day, was clearly in a high good mood too, although she tried to cover her embarrassment. When everybody on the floor sang a happy birthday along with Berikyu waving a blue light stick, she responded to it by saying “Je t’aime” in a low voice but many times!!

The captain brought sister-like tenderness to the squad, the baby of the H!P kids Maimai enjoyed the position. The memorable example of their joyful look was seen in Yurina Kumai and Maimi Yajima the most. Because they are ditzy, natural goofies (compliment!), they sometimes have a face of a momentum meter of the concert, or you can say they were an amplifier circuit for an enjoyment. Although every Berikyu was having so much fun during the live, Yurina’s high purity happiness performance was a knockdown blow, in “cha cha SING” especially. Maimi in “Dance de Bakoon!” strongly led the audience to the world happiest moment. On the other hand, Yurina’s same age Saki Nakajima looked as if NKSK was back! (NKSK= early Nacky’s quiet character) in the family of Berikyu. Momoko was too forward with having a quick wit, Miya looked so happy to be in the arms of Maimi.

Everything was exactly the same as before. Because they work separately, watching them together is a quite difficult to see today.

Compared to a solo concert of each group, no wonder there was less a sense of fans’ unity in wota calls. However, it didn’t matter at all, this is a concert in Paris, the first one for Berryz Kobo. The fans sent their true love directly towards the members. The members returned the joy to the floor by enhancing their idol aura. A chain of a pure happy feeling between Berikyu and the fans, and Berryz and ºC-ute, that was the best part of the concert. And the impact of the happiness chain was nothing but awesome.

For your information, there were message videos from the rest of Hello! Project groups during the concert. MM’14, S/mileage, and J=J told that they want to come and see you at Japan Expo next year. Also, in the interview with Berikyu, all of them said they are eager to have more opportunities to see you and hold a concert at where YOU live!!

Finally, I want to thank all of you who met and talk with me. Regardless of where you are from, we are one of H!P universe. Like there’s no border in music, interaction between idols (and fans) need no language. All you need is a concert to go, and maybe a wota T-shirt to see whose fan you are 😉

written by Yuji Hara