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GiGS, September 2017 issue
SCANDAL TOUR 2017「SCANDAL's 47 Prefecture Tour」 Live Report
A year has passed since this quartet held their tenth anniversary live titled "SCAFES" last August at Osaka's Izumiotsu Phoenix and opened the curtain on their anniversary year; since then they've shown us a number of actions such as a European tour, a fan club tour, and the release of a best album that included new songs. The other day they completed their 47 prefecture tour, and there were truly striking things about the evolution of the quartet. Focusing on their 51st performance in Utsunomiya during the final stage of their tour, we have recorded the show the girls put on on this tour.The band's evolution seen during their 47 prefecture tour
2017.07.14 @ HEAVEN'S ROCK Utsunomiya VJ-2 and more
The quartet evolved day by day while on their 53-performance 47 prefecture tour that begin in March. We will be delivering their newest performances seen from the middle and final stages.A red-hot night where you felt the results of a dense tour
The band's first 47 prefecture tour kicked off with a performance in Kumamoto on 3/11. By taking a look at their schedule of all 53 performances until the finale on July 17th, you would see that there were also a number of unbeliveably small venues on their recent tour. However, the quartet has also extended to doing overseas tours in recent years, and have held live performances in various environments and venues. Therefore, there are no special feelings in regards to the scale of the venues. The fans too should have heightened expectations of being able to domestically see a band that has trained overseas.
The first place we visited during this tour was the Saitama Shintoshin performance in May at a 350-person capacity live house. Although we've seen many of their live shows, this was our first time seeing them at a venue of this size. So, even though we did not plan a report on this day and therefore watched in the back of the audience, that turned out to be the correct decision. We were overwhelmed by their approaching sound, and it made us feel like our way of watching their live show had changed. So, convinced that "For this tour, we won't report on the finale with the several thousand-person capacity," we went to Utsunomiya during the final stage of the tour.
The capacity of the venue that day was around 300 people, the same level as Saitama Shintoshin, with the density of the hall being considerably high. In order to keep up with the four them, this time we were on stand-by next to the PA table, which is one step higher than the audience. Still, the field of view of the stage was up to the members' shoulders. As the quartet showed up, both heat and fists rose at the same time. The girls opened up with the upbeat songs 「Image」, 「Take Me Out」, and 「Taiyou Scandalous」 right after the other without saying what was coming. With this kind of development, it'll be a straight game with 4 members against 300 fans all at once...or so we thought. Rather than the members setting forth a "Bring it!" spirit, smiles appeared on their faces, and with their entire bodies they seemed to take in the energy emitted by the audience.
Here, we saw the magnitude of the band and the magnitude of their experience gained while on tour. The sounds with increasing grooves are auditorily capitivating. For their live show, because the speakers that sound comes from are also close [to the audience], it may be that you're taking in a more direct sound. However, there's no doubt that the way that their instruments—TOMOMI's bass, RINA's drums, HARUNA and MAMI's twin guitars—and songs work together smoothly have never been more matched up than now. You can feel that remarkably in 「Stamp!」. It's a song that we've been seeing live performances of since its production, but on this day it wrapped up the venue with more of a comfortable, groovy feeling than ever before, making your body move along naturally to the beat. Through this tour, it seems that they have drawn out musical themes ideal for the band. Following with 「DOLL」, hard numbers were once again lined up in a row. It was here that their mode changed and suddenly turned into an attack mode. Then, each member's playing got sharp, their power increased, and the heat of the floor further increased.
For the third block, the first song up was 「Switch」, a song where kindness shines among sadness; then 「HELLO」, which depicts the image of a song with powerfulness and a large sense of scale. We also noticed that the band's expressiveness has become even greater. Then, for the second half, they went into attack mode again from 「FREEDOM FIGHTERS」 until the last song. From here onwards they made their strength visible once again. At the end of the performance, they said, 「This has been the hottest place on this tour so far. Even more than Okinawa」, and from our photographer we heard, 「It's been a while since my lenses have fogged up」. In other words, the venue was just that full of enthusiasm. Even from the back you could see how physically drained the band was, and it seemed like it was no wonder that the seams were coming apart on their performance. Nevertheless, they showed a smile, decided on a breathtaking play, and their unity became increasingly robust. Finishing off their dense set, you could feel that the band's power is growing. It was a tour that was a good harvest for us as people who have followed the girls up until now. This sight would have been impossible to see at large venues they've played at in the past.
Three days after this day, they held the tour finale at Toyosu PIT in Tokyo. The capacity was about ten times larger than Utsunomiya. By witnessing their sound at a venue like this, we were interestingly able to capture the evolution of the band from a different perspective compared to the other day. In Utsunomiya we were overwhelmed by the destructive power of the whole band, but here, the magnitude of each member's presence stood out. RINA hits a persuasive stroke one after the other as the heart of the band, TOMOMI steps along while giving a rhythm and swell to the beat, MAMI's colorful guitar is sharper and wilder than ever before, and HARUNA's power to incite the audience with one word—not only for songs—has grown. After everything finished, HARUNA said on stage that they felt a sense of accomplishment, which is definitely directly connected to the progress of the band. What kind of sound will we hear in the future? First of all, we'll have them show their results of completing all 53 performances, and their first joint band tour to be held in Tokyo/Nagoya/Osaka in October with three other bands.
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