Message reputation : 100% (9 votes)
I'll split it up into 3 sections and post them one at a time, and I'll try to get them all done before the performances this weekend.
Here's the first part.
- We feel like we get stronger and that we can do anything:
- SCANDAL speaks about live theories just before Yokohama Arena 「We'll also be performing songs limited to just that day...maybe」
SCANDAL will be holding <SCANDAL ARENA LIVE 2014「FESTIVAL」> at Yokohama Arena on June 28th and 29th. At <SCANDAL ARENA LIVE 2014 「360°」>, their second performance at Osaka-Jo Hall on June 22nd, on a literal 360° stage they played to an overcrowded audience of 12,000 enthusiastic people. With that lingering excitement they will have arena performances 2 days in a row a week later.
Furthermore, the Yokohama Arena performance on 6/29 will be broadcast live on WOWOW. In addition there will be a program on 7/21 on WOWOW titled 『SCANDAL Special』 where their first Budokan one-man live (held 3/2012), first Osaka-Jo Hall one-man live (held 3/2013), and the Yokohama arena live will be broadcast.
BARKS has asked the girls who are, right now, representatives of girl bands what it feels like to step on a large stage and absorb everything in, the differences between live houses and the arena-class venues that can be analyzed precisely because what's going on now, and live theories the 4 of them are thinking of. We ask once and for all about live broadcasts: 「Rather than being nervous, we're happy that it's shown as it is.」 The graciousness that's just like the rock band SCANDAL, and the good feeling of a heat that's been bet on a one-shot live, has been directly conveyed.
■Our feelings increase when we stand on the stage of a large venue
■We feel like we get stronger and that we can do anything
──SCANDAL has performed one-man lives at 10,000+ capacity venues such as Nippon Budokan and Osaka-Jo Hall. What did you feel standing on the stage of a large venue?
MAMI: I had planned on running around like crazy on stage and making large movements while performing, but when I watched the videos afterwards it wasn't like the scale I had imagined. By objectively watching the videos, I now have images of what to do for our next stage. Conversely, since the distance [between the performer and the audience] at a live house is closer, you can directly send out emotions and sounds you want to communicate. That's why I now think that at spacious venues you must be sure to look forward and send it out to and look at the eyes of those watching. It doesn't change no matter how big the venue is, so we now think about if we attack it in the same way and if we can communicate.
──What yields from stepping on to a big stage really is huge.
MAMI: That's right. There are many things that you think about afterwards.
RINA: The more spacious the venues get, the more of the band's power is tested. If we didn't have so much experience doing live house tours or playing at halls, we'd probably get a little scared. When we try standing [on large stages], the energy force of people is tremendous because there's something that absolutely differs from live houses. Rather than creating a single atmosphere with everyone bunched up together, we've realized that we place the highest priority in showing and communicating. We're so happy that our potential could be felt together with our songs and we can convey them to a great number of even more people. Because we love live houses, we don't want to stop performing with that sense of distance. But, standing on arena-class stages and challenging ourselves is also important.
──You were confident in not choosing the venues SCANDAL songs are performed at. Is that to say that your confidence has grown?
RINA: That's right. Until now we had only known how to throw fastballs, but our songs have also become three-dimensional. Because we're able to perform and use videos at arena-class venues, I think the image of those watching expands further and is transmitted. That's something wonderful.
HARUNA: Because we played one-off Nippon Budokan and Osaka-Jo Hall performances once per year, we still haven't gotten used to the size of arenas at all. But, when we stand on stage, our feelings increase. Actually, I should say that we feel like we get stronger and that we can do anything. That's why we love to play lives at large venues. I love the feeling of playing a live with body language. It feels like the way we convey them differs when we play the same songs in live houses.
──That difference is related to the amount of space and the distance between the stage and the audience.
RINA: The number of the audience and staff involved, stage set, and outfits really are different. To describe in detail, there's a pathway between the seats of the venue and the seating. I think it's really cool when a band plays a live at an arena.
──You can see the audience faces' well even in large venues. Is that something surprising?
RINA: It is.
HARUNA & MAMI & TOMOMI: Yeah, it is.
MAMI: It especially seemed like that at Budokan. I felt that we were so close that it seemed like you could shake the hands of the people in the front row of the arena.
HARUNA: The seats are separated by uniform spaces at large venues. You can even see facial expressions well.
MAMI: We probably feel multiple times closer than the audience that's watching the stage. That's why, to make it seem more like "We're so close!" to those watching <SCANDAL ARENA LIVE 2014 「FESTIVAL」>, it'll be like you're getting closer to us. We'll run around going "Wahhh" (laughs).