Recently it was revealed that Takashi Utsunomiya (also vocalist of TM Network) is releasing a new Blu-ray on April 21 featuring the closure concert of his last tour “T.UTU with The BAND Phoenix Tour 2016″ in the EX ROPPONGI THEATER in Tokyo during November 17 and 18 of 2016.
I was very lucky to have the opportunity to go to the Nagoya date of this tour in Zepp Nagoya live venue during early November, so besides talking about the release and its features, I’ll also talk about my experience in this concert and what to expect in the home video release.
Before talking about the concert, T.UTU with The Band was Takashi Utsunomiya’s debut as a solo artist with an accompanying band formed by super musicians, Akio Dobashi on keyboards, Koichi Korenaga and Tetsuya Katsuragi on guitars, Yasushi Ishii on bass and Wataru Yamada on drums. Both Korenaga and Dobashi had recently left the famous 80’s band REBECCA which ironically used to be TM Network’s rival band, so it was a huge surprise for many people at the time. As for Yasushi Ishii, this was his debut as a composer for Sony Records, composing the big hit “Trouble in Heaven”, and for Yamada and Katsuragi, they were constantly working with TM Network as support musicians so it was no surprise to see them here in this project. This project only produced 2 albums in 1993 and 1994 respectively, and it is considered the peak of Takashi Utsunomiya as a solo artist, and the only time he had Nippon Budokan presentations as a solo artist. So the importance of this reunion and why it is referred as the “Phoenix Tour”, is because it happens 22 years later, with the same musicians with the exception of Ishii, as he is not in good terms with Utsunomiya, thus they no longer collaborate on projects, not even this one; for this “rebirth” project, he is replaced by Takeshi Kaneda on bass.
Let’s start with my experience in this concert, the journey begins in the beautiful city of Nagoya, which is part of the Aichi prefecture, which is 344 kilometers away from Tokyo, this city is full of technology and there is no better excuse to visit a new place because of a concert you must attend there. The city and its surroundings are full of technology and since the Toyota city is nearby, there are many related museums, exhibitions and tours you can take if you like cars. The railway museum is also very interesting, it shows the latest railway technology .
After the sightseeing was over, the day of the concert came, the live was in Zepp Nagoya which is about 2 kilometers from the Nagoya station. After preparing a gift to drop in the gift box for Utsunomiya, I took a taxi because although 2 kilometers is a short distance, I knew that I would be doing lines and standing up all the time, so it’s recommended to save energy, I thought I would return walking instead.
I was very anxious, so I arrived too early, there was not even anyone doing lines yet. I took commemorative pictures of the concert venue, and I was surprised to see some announcements about other announced concerts featuring western bands I’m familiar with (Whitesnake!?.. I even thought they retired).
I was also very happy to see the “sold out” message, reassuring the fact that I was extremely lucky just to get tickets for this amazing show. After wandering around for a while and going into a 7 eleven shop to kill some time, then the line started to form and I got on it, however I did not realize there were two lines! fortunately, the Japanese people are always extremely polite, and one lady helped me realize I was on the wrong line, so I moved to the correct line for the first floor seats.
After getting into the live venue, one thing I love about the Zepp live houses is that in exchange for your ticket, you are entitled to a free drink, and from what I’ve seen, they have a extensive varieties of very healthy teas so you can enjoy the concert being healthy conscious. There are also lockers to put your personal items, and there was the gift box! so I went to place the gift in there, and going to the bathroom which was a big mistake.. not that there’s nothing wrong with the bathroom, they are extra clean in Japan, however! I forgot about the importance of doing the line to buy the Concert goods before doing anything else! and in just a matter of minutes, the line was so long that it extended until outside of the live venue.. so I learned from my mistake, which I’ll take into consideration next time.. eventually I went to do the never-ending line.
Thankfully the doors always open 1 hour before the concert starts, precisely for this reason, so there was plenty of time. More reassurance that I did the right decision by taking a taxi to the live venue! The wait was worth it, I was able to buy the tour log book and a t-shirt. The log book is a different form of tour pamphlet.. and it is very thick and of very high quality, full of pictures of the band and also interviews, and also a armband as bonus with a clip so you could wear it during the concert. There was also a small HMV improvised shop in case you were missing any CD album, you could buy it right there and then put everything in the locker.
After I was done with the shopping I went to my seat, this time I was in the front row but slightly toward the left corner, I was right in front of the speaker! I wondered if my ears were going to be fine.. but I guess it was too late to worry about it! It was interesting to see that there is a rope on the floor in order to indicate the limit which you must not surpass. There were also some staff members with the signs reminding everyone that taking pictures or videos is extremely forbidden.
The area inside had this beautiful fog, I felt I was in a disco, it was a very nice feeling, combined with the anxiety of the concert being about to start, I must say it was the best combination.
Suddenly the show starts! in a very strange way, a guy with an Obama big mask appears peeking from the curtains and speaking in English, I was not expecting political content in a rock concert.. but it was just a few days before United States election, so it was unavoidable I guess, regardless of this, it was funny. After Obama leaves, the curtain opens and we see some 5 coffins, after an explosion the members come out one by one from the coffins, and of course Utsunomiya comes last. All of them are wearing the armband that came as bonus in the log book, making them look like the army of rock, Utsunomiya wearing a hat, and Katsuragi dark glasses. Each of them take their position and the concert starts.
Here is the set list of the Nagoya live on 11/3:
- flow
- FLUSH
- 合図 (Aizu)
- Peace of mind
- SING A SONG, miss clear light
- カーニバルの騎士たち (Kaanibaru no kishitachi)
- The Theory
- Water Dance I
- 空に星があるように (Sora ni hoshi ga aru you ni)
- Tear Drops
- Water Dance Ⅱ
- Drum Solo
- Trouble In Heaven
- ゼロよりも少ない始まり (Zero Yorimo Sukunai Hajimari)
- WAKE UP
- Guitar Solo
- Cool Jam, Cool Mode
- Ordinary Day
- Encore: シーサイド・バウンド (Seaside – Bound)
We expected the concert to open with the new single “flow” and it did, I think this is always a great way to open the concert. Overall , the set was very surprising to me, I thought it would only contain songs from the T.UTU with The Band era plus the new songs, however there were songs from other Utsunomiya solo albums that are not part of this era, these songs were very welcomed specially by the 3 B-Songs that were included: “SING A SONG, miss clear light”, “The Theory” and “Peace of mind”. I was especially surprised by “The Theory” featuring the flute instrument, this song is very complex and great energy for a concert.
A great song to set the stage for what was coming, was the song “Aizu”, this song contains beautiful synths, it was the only ballad song they performed in full arrangement with all instruments, it was very mystical, with displays of lighting in dark colors such as dark blue and violet, I was completely absorbed by Utsunomiya’s mesmerizing voice blended with the beautiful piano melodies provided by the talented Dobashi.
After performing “The Theory”, there is a break, and we have 2 unexpected songs performed in acoustic arrangement, the first one was “Sora ni hoshi ga aru you ni” with just Utsunomiya on vocals, Dobashi with a smaller piano and Kaneda, they were placed very near the edge of the stage, and the staff put chairs for them. Dobashi was toward the left, and I did notice he glanced at me, probably he was surprised to see a foreigner in the first row of the audience in Nagoya?! maybe he would expect this in Tokyo, but definitely not here LOL. After this performance was over, we jumped to the next acoustic performance, this time the melancholic “Tear Drops” that hasn’t been performed in a long time since the 2008 Dinner show, now accompanying Utsunomiya, there was the two guitarists Katsuragi and Korenaga together with Wataru Yamada, giving a reminiscence of the first live performance of this song during the Water Dance tour.
However the songs that completely made the audience jump in excitement were “Trouble in Heaven”, “Zero Yorimo sukinai hajimari” and “Cool Jam, Cool Mode”, this latter song featured solos from all the members, showing off what they are capable of. After such energy surge, we have “Ordinary Day” to calm down the audience before the encore break.
After the encore, we have the second new song which is really a cover song from a Japanese band from the 60’s. Now the members appear in the stage wearing the white tour T-Shirt, however Utsunomiya appears with a big coat on top of it, and he claims this was “fan service”! everyone screams, and the last song starts, bringing this amazing concert to an end but with lots of energy, and it leaves you wanting for more.
And as I promised to myself, after the concert, I was planning to return to the Station walking, not without noticing that there were still people making lines to buy products, I set off on my journey to return, walking late at night toward the station, I got lost at first, but again the polite Japanese people helped me find my way to the right direction, and eventually arrived, to get some delicious noodles as dinner and back to the hotel to enjoy the concert goods and the beautiful experience I had.
I expect the Blu-ray release to capture the magic of this concert, it has been announced that some of the songs will include many angles so you can see the concert in different perspectives. About the Set List, there are a couple of additional songs that were included in the Bluray that were not part of the Nagoya performance, such as “Strange Guitar” and “Kimi ga iru Asa” which is a TM Network song! So I am really looking forward to it!
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