A Heart Warming Night : Iketeru Hearts 1st One-Man Live Report!

| Idol | Posted by Melody on Jan.20.2017

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January 9, 2017 was Coming of Age Day, where youths all over Japan celebrated becoming adults by wearing beautiful garments and praying for good fortune. This was also a special day for Iketeru Hearts as they held their long-awaited first one-man live “Heart Warming Night” at Shibuya WWW-X!

The night opened on all 8 members wearing the bright orange outfits from their latest single, with the dramatic “Shishin Kakutei”, followed by the upbeat “Shrimp Girl”.

With group leader Yuyu Arata making the first call, the girls then introduced themselves one by one, expressing their excitement about being able to stand on stage on their own for the first time. Kazune Manami was on the verge of tears before being even able to say a single word.

Iketeru Hearts sure knew how to throw a party for their first solo concert, as the setlist was full of surprises! After the introduction MC, they focused their energy in a 24-minute medley. The group performed no less than 7 of their happiest songs in a non-stop special arrangement! Starting off with debut single “Let’s Stand Up!”, Iketeru Hearts seemed unstoppable, giving it all on cover songs “Happiness!” and “Sorairo Days”, coupling track “Happy End”, the classic “Drawing Again” and English lyric anthem “GIRL, Me♥”. They finished this bubblegum pop marathon with big sister group Afilia Saga’s “Jumping”, before a well-deserved talk break, both for the idols and their enthusiastic fans.

Everyone noticed something was up when some of the girls left the stage to let their comrades talk. Leader Yuyu Arata expressed her enjoyment at seeing the fans follow them for such a long medley, thanking everyone for their energy and support. Karin Ochi commented, “It felt very emotional to start this medley with our debut single,“. Kazune Manami added that probably not a lot of people in the audience were familiar with some of the songs. Indeed, the group hadn’t performed “Happiness!” in a very long time, so long that many of their current fans did not even know about the group back when they last did it!
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As Yuyu hinted in a short talk about the group’s costumes, Kotone Uchida, Madoka Usami and Rie Tachibana appeared on stage with brand-new black and silver outfits, giving a very adult-like feel. The next part of the concert was also out of the ordinary, as the group does not usually perform in units. The first trio gave a cool and mature interpretation of “Opera Fantasia”, showcasing their trained singing voices.

Yuyu Arata, Kazune Manami and Karin Ochi then put on the new outfits to perform “Triangle Wave”, putting very serious expressions on their faces to match the atmosphere.

The unit section ended with the energetic dancing duo of Nijika and Yuno Yurano, giving a very polished duet on the challenging “Soukoku no Spica”.

The quality of that particular last performance was brought up by the rest of the group in a lively talk, highlighting how good both the vocals and dancing were. Karin Ochi thanked everyone another time, and pointed out the presence of a lot of photographers, adding another piece of information: a special photobook will be produced with the pictures from the concert! And, as good news never comes alone, Yuyu Arata introduced the next song as one of their new tracks, and very first ballad, “I will”.

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After the coupling song “ORIGAMI”, another announcement came up! Iketeru Hearts will be releasing their 4th single, “Zaishou no Lucifer” (Guilty Lucifer), on March 29th. The song was written and composed by Shikura Chiyomaru, and was chosen as Ending Theme for the PS4 and PS Vita game “CHAOS;CHILD Love chu☆chu!!”. The song matches their new outfits with a dark and dramatic tone, and a slightly more mature choreography.

The brand new single performance was followed by a cover of “Tenbu no mai, akatsuki no mon”. Both fans and idols then took out their orange penlights and lit up the venue for “Lumica Jane”, the final song of the main show.

The fans screamed with all their strength to call their idols on stage again, and they all appeared wearing the exclusive one-man live T-shirts! Only Nijika was missing due to her age and the late hour. They started this encore performance with anthem “Sekai he Habatake!”, waving their hands up in the air along with the audience.

Rie Tachibana admitted that she was not expecting to see such a good turnout, as the venue was very close to sold out! The girls thanked their fans another time for supporting them towards their dreams in this new beginning. It was very fitting to close the night on “Believe in My Dreams”. Iketeru Hearts then sent their supporters home with a final bow…warning them to not catch cold after sweating so much from this very heart-warming night.

Photos by Nathan Gey

Set List

01 – Shishin Kakutei (私信確定)
02 – Shrimp Girl (シュリンプガール)
— MC —
— Medley —
03 – Let’s Stand Up!
04 – Happiness! (はぴねす！)
05 – Sorairo Days (空色デイズ)
06 – Happy End (ハッピーエンド)
07 – Drawing Again
08 – GIRL, Me♥
09 – Jumping
— MC —
10 – Opera Fantasia (オペラファンタジア – Uchida Kotone, Usami Madoka, Tachibana Rie)
11 – Triangle Wave (Arata Yuyu, Manami Kazune, Ochi Karin)
12 – Soukoku no Spica (蒼黒のスピカ – Nijika, Yurano Yuno)
— MC —
13 – I will (new song)
14 – ORIGAMI
— Announcement: 4th single, release March 29th —
15 – Zaisyou no Lucifer (罪証のルシファー – new single)
16 – Tenbu no mai, akatsuki no mon (天武の舞、暁の門)
17 – Lumica Jane (ルミカジェーン)
— Encore call —
EN01 – Sekai he habatake! (世界へはばたけ！- without Nijika)
— MC —
EN02 – Believe in my Dreams (without Nijika)

Related Links
Iketeru Hearts Official site: http://stand-up-project.jp/hearts/
Iketeru Hearts Official LINE blog: http://lineblog.me/iketeru_hearts/
Iketeru Hearts Official Twitter: https://twitter.com/iketeru_hearts

Author

Melody

Webdesigner slash idol enthusiast living in Tokyo. Resident token foreign wota and accidentally unofficial international PR for Chubbiness. Former AKB48 fan. Loves shopping, food and Grey's Anatomy a little bit too much.