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KAMIYADO Receives Big Blessings at TSUTAYA O-EAST New Year Live!
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Harajuku idol group KAMIYADO celebrated the New Year with “Kami ga Yadoru Basho〜2016! Kinga Shin’nen! O-EAST!” on January 6, 2016. It shared many similar traits with hatsumode (初詣, the first shrine visit of the year) for the “kakifu” (舁夫, Kamiyado fans) who filed into TSUTAYA O-EAST to pray for the success of KAMIYADO in the months ahead.
Opening with a video of KAMIYADO walking out on a rocky beach to face a seaside torii and offering their prayers for the new year, the members welcomed the audience to the live. As the overture played, the audience began waving their penlights and chanting in anticipation for the performance to start. Taking the stage in new outfits, they made the letters K-M-Y-D with their arms, their fans following along for the first song “KMYD”.
Fans called out to Hina Koyama as she sang the opening lines of “Bi・Bi・Bi♡”, a cute idoly song that had sisters Mei and Miki Hashima running around the stage while singing and waving to their fans. Wishing the audience a Happy New Year again, KAMIYADO ran through their self-introductions and asked them for opinions on their new outfits, causing voices to call out “kawaii!”
Despite being giddy at the sight of so many people who had come to see them at their biggest venue yet, Hina was able to calm down to begin the cool midtempo rock song “Ano ko ni Bareru youna…” Touching their fingertips to their lips, reaching out and pulling back, and blowing kisses, KAMIYADO pulled on the heartstrings of their fans with their gentle vocal delivery.
Jumping into the world of electropop briefly with “Parachute☆Love”, the audience danced along with KAMIYADO to the wotagei-like choreography, one fan going so far as to copy Hina’s dance solo! Admiring the view of the 5 different colored penlights glowing, Mei announced a short segment where the members shared their wishes for the new year, which were written on ema that were sold as goods.
Beginning with Miki, the elder Hashima sister, she explained that she wanted to “become big”, meaning to become more important, but possibly also referred to other things as the shortest and least mature member of the group. Naho Sekiguchi wanted to remain interesting and not become someone that people would tire of after receiving much praise in 2015. Mika Ichinose had a long explanation about her commitment to create a loving environment with the kakifu. It’s hard to believe that she is the youngest member yet speaking about such deep things.
Hina’s simply said “lose weight”, mentioning how people would comment about her weight. Mei wondered if Hina simply needed to have more confidence in herself before the conversation turned to food, particularly how “yasetai” (I want to lose weight) sounded like “tai” (sea bream). Mei ended things with a single word “challenge” (挑戦, chousen), which referred to her desire for KAMIYADO to take on more new experiences. Praised for being the coolest-sounding one, the members were pleased that it was saved for last.
Kicking up their heels and jumping like frogs as the bells and horns of “Hajimari no Kane wo Narase” rang out, KAMIYADO lead the kakifu in waving their fists in circles to the swirling melody. Clapping their hands twice and bowing, KAMIYADO left the stage and another video played, this time showing the members at different places in Harajuku before being summoned by their wristbands.
Returning to the stage in their older outfits, KAMIYADO launched into “Harajuku Sentai! KAMIYADO Ranger”, the kakifu erupting into a loud MIX and throwing their hands in the air. Pumping their fists and rocking back and forth banging their heads, the kawaii revolution escalated. Cooling off slightly with “Bokura wa Ai wo Shinjiteru”, KAMIYADO snapped their fingers to busy drum beats and acidic guitar riffs.
Churning synths kickstarted “Hissatsu! Cho-KAMIYADO Senpu”, the music speeding up as the energy in O-EAST began boiling over. Wagging fingers and throwing out reverse kechas, they let out a hearty “wasshoi!” to put an exclamation mark on the ending. Towels whipped through the air as the slow piano intro gave way to the cheerful melody of “Summer Dream”. Miki showed off the new towel, which shared many stylistic cues with the iconic box logo of streetwear brand Supreme. Taking another break, KAMIYADO shared how they felt coming into the live. Mei was worried that things were moving too fast, having had their 1st anniversary live at the smaller shibuya duo MUSIC EXCHANGE only a few months prior. Hina expressed gratitude for everyone who was able to be there even though many of them probably had to rush there from work or school. Naho declared her love for everyone and Mika talked about how they had been selling tickets out on the streets until the last possible moment and tried to see who had come from the furthest away. Miki began rambling until Mei had to rescue her, saying, “How about you just say it was awesome, onee-san?”
The kakifu roared as the opening beats of “Zenkai! KAMIYADO World” blasted through the venue, their bodies moving like waves on a stormy sea for the last song. Gold streamers exploded out from the stage, several of them reaching the ceiling and the balcony. Rotating in a circle formation and switching off their solo lines, the kakifu shouted out the names of the members as they bounced and hopped, all while shooting imaginary Ultraman beams.
Returning in the special limited edition T-shirts designed for them by illustrator Mel Kishida, the encore began with an extra special performance of “Harajuku Sentai! KAMIYADO Ranger” which included cannons that shot fog 3 meters in the air. Miki tried to wave some of the fog toward herself as the song ended, similar to how people visiting a temple do with incense.
As is New Year’s tradition, there was a selection of fortunes (omikuji) via a giant box with numbered sticks placed inside of it. However, unlike usual omikuji, all of the selections were good fortunes! First, the live would be broadcast on SkyPerfectTV cable on February 11th and it would also be made into a DVD, with both versions being different and the DVD including bonus features. Next was the announcement of regular solo performances at Akiba Cultures Theater and Omotesando Ground. This was followed up by news that a new song would be featured on Max Murai’s action film “MAX THE MOVIE” as the ending theme song.
The final news of the evening came in the form of KAMIYADO embarking on their first Tokyo/Nagoya/Osaka tour. Naho recalled that during many of their trips to the more rural areas to perform, there had been a lot of encouragement for them to get big enough to where they could do a tour. Mei added that it was like their 2016 was quickly filling up with events. Overcome with emotion, a fan called out “I don’t want to go home!” Without missing a beat, Mei quipped, “Please go home” before asking the audience to get excited one last time for the final song of the night, “KMYD”. The air was electric as the kakifu called out and danced along, sending all their energy to KAMIYADO as they prepared to begin their biggest year so far. As always, there was a commemorative photo as shown below on their Twitter account.
Breaking through to a venue capable of holding more than 1,000 fans is a significant accomplishment for many idol groups so, KAMIYADO being able to reach such a milestone in a little over a year since their debut it quite impressive. Having paid many dues by appearing at taiban (対バン, events with multiple performers) events for the majority or 2015, it should be fascinating to see how they grow in 2016 with so many solo lives on their schedule!
Photos by Mime Soga
Set List
00 Overture
01 KMYD
02 Bi・Bi・Bi♡
03 Ano ko ni Bareru youna…
04 Parachute☆Love
05 Hajimari no Kane wo Narase
06 Harajuku Sentai! KAMIYADO Ranger
07 Bokura wa Ai wo Shinjiteru
08 Hissatsu! Cho-KAMIYADO Senpu
09 Summer Dream
10 Zenkai! KAMIYADO World
E1 Harajuku Sentai! KAMIYADO Ranger
E2 KMYD
Related Links
KAMIYADO Official site: http://kmyd.targma.jp/
KAMIYADO Official Twitter: https://twitter.com/kamiyado0907
KAMIYADO YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClhL_woWoXnmKvv2H8_mxwg
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KAMIYADO
Kai Okudara
Writer, researcher, photographer, foodie, KSDD
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