This last weekend on Sunday 26 of July, we had the pleasure to watch the Osaka edition of the Japanese visual kei band Angelo‘s acoustic tour, this intimate concert took place in the venue Osaka Umeda TRAD with a limited amount of attendees of 70 people only, where we could see a bit of the audience in the front; they were closer to the band compared to the Tokyo edition; we have the same restrictions in the audience, for example, audience is not permitted to clap nor speak nor scream anything; this must be very hard with such beautiful concert! I certainly admire everyone’s strong will. This concert was transmitted via the Zaiko events platform, for more information on Angelo lives via this platform, please check Angelo’s Zaiko page.
This time Kirito was wearing black clothes this time, compared to the previous concert where he was wearing a white hoodie shirt, this time his black shirt is very elegant and we can see his cross pendant clearly, Karyu was wearing a short sleeve shirt so we could see his long and skillful arms, Kohta was wearing a fashionable and elegant suit, Giru wearing a black vest with a black shirt with red details and Takeo a black loose casual shirt; the stage illumination was beautiful displaying colors of blue, grey and black and a yellow spotlight; the band was a bit closer together since the stage is not that big as the EX Theater Roppongi one.
Below is the concert set-list this time:
1. Beginning
2. 螺旋 (Rasen)
3. 光の記憶 (Hikari no Kioku)
4. Speak to deep colors
5. EVE
6. Sorrow Tomorrow
7. 止まない雪 (Yamanai Yuki)
8. ホログラム (Hologram)
9. Voice of the cradle
10. 事象の地平線 (Jisho no chiheisen)
11. PRAY
12. A new story
13. Crave to you
14. CRUELWORLD
15. SEE YOU AGAIN
This time we only have 3 different songs compared to the previous setlist. Instead of 薄紅の欠片, ACTIVATE RESONATE and ロザリオ, we got Beginning, 止まない雪 and ホログラム.
The concert starts very strong with Beginning which is unexpected at the beginning of a concert, this song is usually performed near the end or in encores because it’s such a powerful song full of emotions, so it definitely caused some big expectations telling us that we are going to have a great concert, and we really did. After the first 3 songs, where we have the mandatory song that can never be missed 光の記憶, Kirito welcomes everyone and thanks them for being there, he also reinforces the rules for the concert to the audience.
When we get to the point of 止まない雪 we can feel how Kirito loves this song, since he sings completely from the heart, almost to the point of crying, it’s impossible not to feel the same and cry a bit whenever we listen to the strong notes in this song, and how Kirito draws the feelings with his hand in the air while he sings, it’s marvelous; and right after we get ホログラム which is another emotionally strong song with beautiful complex guitar scales, and we still get Takeo’s heartbeat sounds with the toms that go just after Kirito sings “幻の感情”, we feel that these two songs were made specially to be performed in an acoustic arrangement like this.
And since all the members were on fire with their beautiful performance, Voice of the Cradle was performed in a great manner as well, there was some illumination changes during the song to put emphasis on some portions of the song, and we get Karyu’s ethereal voice harmony for the English portions and Kirito touches those very high notes in this song in such a perfect way and doing a capella portions to show the commitment to transmit us his determination and passion while Giru plays the scales and Karyu sings the background choruses, thus creating the perfect harmony and one of the best performances in this concert.
Kirito reinforces to the audience that regardless of the circumstances, they will never give up and will continue to deliver as artists, and that he believes there will be a great future waiting regardless of the difficulties we are facing right now.
After the words of encouragement, we get another one of the highlights of the acoustic performances, which is 辞書の地平線; in the Tokyo edition there were some technical issues at the beginning, but this time it was performed in all its glory, this is also one of those songs that we can only admire, Karyu’s solo was very well defined and Kirito show us why he’s such a great singer.
Kirito talks a little bit more to the audience about how times have changed, and that we must continue moving forward in these difficult times, and Angelo will continue performing as long as there’s audience who wants to watch them; after these great words we obviously get the legendary Crave to you to crave this message in the fans heart.
The concert ends with SEE YOU AGAIN, a song from their first mini album, and a great song to finish the concert, since we will see each other again next week in their upcoming and probably last concert of this brilliant mini tour.
Definitely this was a great concert and I’m looking forward to the Nagoya version next Sunday!
JAPAN MUSIC SEKAI ~ Jrock & Jpop talk ~ 