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Thank You Kaorinta~! Kaori Soumoto’s Tearful Final Live as a Member of Maison book girl
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Kaori Soumoto said a tearful farewell at Maison book girl’s “almost one-man concert” titled “SOLITUDE HOTEL B1″at Shibuya Chelsea Hotel on March 27th . It was only a few weeks after she announced that she would be leaving the group due to family circumstances on March 8th.
Shizuoka rapper GOMESS was the guest opening act and performed a series of songs that were closely related to Kenta Sakurai (the producer of Maison book girl), closing out his short 4-song set by inserting his own lyrics over the instrumental for Maison book girl’s “last scene”.
Walking on to the stage one by one, the members of Maison book girl read from books to start the show before launching into “last scene”, continuing where GOMESS had left off.
Moving from the light, airy violin and acoustic guitar arrangement of “last scene”, Maison book girl continued with “film noir” to conclude the selection of songs from their limited press “Black” CD.
After a short film break advertising the crowdfunding project for MOOSIC LAB 2015, Aoi Yagawa returned to the stage and performed Aya Matsuura’s “Ne~e?” which had the audience going wild to the legendary idol song of years past.
Kaori Soumoto stepped on to the stage in a strapless dress and sung MEG’s “Amai Zeitaku”, whipping the audience into a frenzy as they sang along with her to the moderate tempo electro-pop tune. Towards the end of the song, two of her biggest fans were lifted up and had a mock professional wrestling match, providing “Kaorinta~” (Soumoto’s nickname) with a humorous show in return for her beautiful song.
Yui Inoue elected to go with Kozo Murashita’s classic song “Hatsukoi” (which was recently covered by Idol Renaissance) and while she was singing, Aoi and Kaori patted her head softly and danced behind her.
Megumi Koshoji took a seat at a table set up on the stage, explaining that she was only doing so that she wouldn’t forget the words. With the music starting off slowly with sparse instrumentation but increasing in complexity and tempo, Koshoji’s voice was steady as she read her poem on the dimly lit stage, the audience silent as they hung on every word and note. One of the lines that stood out was “I’m powerless. Again, I can’t protect anything. I want to become strong. I want to become strong.” (Muryoku, hora, mata nanimo mamorenai. Tsuyoku ni naritai. Tsuyoku ni naritai.)
All 4 members having returned to the stage, Maison book girl launched into a rousing cover of Yosui Inoue’s “Yume no Naka he” before starting the series of songs from the “White” CD with “my cut”.
Addressing the audience Soumoto tearfully voiced her wish to have stayed with Maison book girl, a wish that could not be granted due to circumstances beyond her control. She added how she wanted to be like an older sister to the other members and protect them. Soumoto recalled how she was the second member picked to join the group and reminded Koshoji to “be careful not to be tricked by evil people since she’s a really good girl”. The normally stoic and boyish Koshoji began tearing up when she heard the words of Soumoto. Eventually all of the members of the group were overcome with emotion as she delivered her parting messages to them.
Leading the audience in the complex clapping rhythm of “bath room”, Maison book girl ended the main performance and walked off the stage. Right away the “Kaori” encore call began and a giant banner was spread over the audience reaching from the front of the stage to the bar in the middle of the live house. On the banner were messages written to her by all of her fans who had gathered together hours before the concert to do so.
The encore starting, the banner was quickly retracted so the audience could see but, perhaps what followed was better left unseen.
As the 4 members launched into “my cut”, Aoi and Yui moved to stand at Kaori’s sides holding down her arms as tears rolled down her cheeks. Koshoji, having regained her composure pulled out a scissors and began cutting away at Soumoto’s Maison book girl dress shirt, symbolically cutting through the words printed on the front. Even without a microphone, Soumouto could be heard wailing as the shirt she had proudly worn as a member of the group since last autumn was reduced to shreds.
Pulling themselves together, the members of Maison book girl finished out “my cut” and ended the encore with “last scene” as Shibuya Chelsea Hotel was bathed in the glow of pink penlights. Hugging her soon to be former group members, Soumoto left the stage, leaving her microphone behind. Before leaving the stage herself, Koshoji introduced a new member of the group, Rin Wada. Sensing some shock from the audience, Koshoji cooly retorted “I’m for real. This is reality!” (Maji da yo! Kore wa jijitsu da!) as the door closed behind her.
Soumoto returned to the stage alone and thanked the fans for supporting her during her short time in Maison book girl, referring to is as the “treasure of my life”, it was not difficult to see the impact that she had on them. The reality of being a fan of female idols is that they are a temporary existence but, for that brief moment, they shine brighter than the stars in the sky, regardless of whether they are on the stage of a small live house or the Nippon Budokan. While it is impossible to predict the future, Kaori Soumoto’s time as a member of Maison book girl is over. All that can be done is to treasure the memories, wish her the best of luck as she begins a new chapter in her life, and continue to support Maison book girl as she will be.
Thank you Kaorinta~!
SOLITUDE HOTEL B1 Set List
01. last scene
02. film noir
03. Nee~? (Aoi Yagawa – Aya Matsuura cover)
04. Amai Zeitaku (Kaori Soumoto – MEG cover)
05. Hatsukoi (Yui Inoue – Kozo Murashita cover)
06. Poetry reading (Megumi Koshoji)
07. Yume no Naka he (Yosui Inoue cover)
08. my cut
09. bath room
Encore
EN1. my cut
EN2. last scene
Maison book girl Official site: http://www.maisonbookgirl.com/
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Kai Okudara
Writer, researcher, photographer, foodie, KSDD
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