Don't think it was a short concert, but with 140+ songs, sadly something has to be left out. Hoped the results of the poll would influence it more but it was still a nice setlist. Even if you ignore the new songs, it was so different from the setlist of their 10th anniversary, so much changed and I'm glad Departure seems to be getting more attention. 

Also, 2 new songs, both completely different from each other and both are great. Loved that... but now I'm sad that I won't be able to hear it again until the end of September and damn, One More Time is so catchy!

---

thoseguiltyeyes wrote:

willy87 wrote:A silly question. Can we rewatch the show?? Is the same link? I try it but i think it doesn't work.

Yes, you can rewatch it for the next 48 hours, and yes, it's the same link. Try clicking on the tab to the right of the picture of SCANDAL to play it (the one that says "1 post").

The concert itself starts at around 20 minutes btw

This was my first live (though virtual) Scandal concert and I thoroughly enjoyed!! My heart was about to give up when Koe started right after Ivory! I had been looking forward to both those songs haha. I loved the talking parts as well and the way they addressed the audience. The costumes were also on point!! I wish I could grab one of those Invitation tees but they don't ship to India
Loved loved loved the whole thing

This was amazing, through and through. Their antics during ‘Scandal Baby’ were beyond words. Hearing Haruna’s voice almost break during the first break was enough to get me a little choked up. While I still cannot wait to see them live, it was such a true pleasure to be able to see them virtually live.

The concert was pretty good, though it was pretty short and didn't feel like a big anniversary arena show,
kinda felt like a small performance in a big arena. The spaced out audience really did made it seem a little empty, but understandably so. 
The setlist was nice, love the inclusion of Kagerou, and the Back to back Mami songs of Koe and Ivory. The two new songs were a surprise too, really was digging the first one, the beat and changing chord progression makes me want to listen to it even more. The second new song/single One More Time, is okay, don't care for that style but I recently found a love for Tonight so my mind might change for this one, idk we'll see. 

Overall a nice concert, but definitely prefer last year's KFTD concert, the whole thing was amazing, and much longer too lol. 

Cheers to 15 years of Scandal!!!

But their outfits at this concert was fire, love the glitter white tops, especially Mami's!

I almost forgot how loud their concerts are (in a good way). I missed some of the old songs in this 15th anniversary playlist like Space ranger, Doll, everybody say yeah!

New songs definitely mark a new era for SCANDAL that eternal started. Love both songs so much, way better (for me) than eternal and ivory.

I felt TOMOMI a bit off during some of the songs and MAMI having some issues with 2-3 songs, but overall a good concert.

I agree most of the points you guys mentioned above.
Do enjoyed this live stream much better than the last time KFTD's.
Most if not all their classic numbers were there. 
Picture quality was clear and bright. I can almost feel myself there the spotlights shine down on your face.
Those who had been to their concert may agree Scandal are loud as hell on stage.
I watched the the live stream with my PC connected to the Surround Sound system to capture that live feel of pounding drums and snarling guitar sound. Best speding of USD30 in my life.
Soundwise, I really want Mami's guitar tone. Very aggressive and packed with a lot of punch.
Her gear tech must have spend a lot of time with her on this.
TBH, I love the first new song better than One More Time. To me, OMTi sounds too much like a Haruna's 1st solo single haha!
Now I'm going to watch the archive One More Time after a short break!

It wasn't the best show of theirs I've seen (and I've seen a few, both in person and on video) but it was good to see them just playing in front of an audience again. It seemed pretty clear that the audience had been instructed on how to (and not to) cheer, which was a little weird and made the whole thing seem a little more muted than normal, but I guess that's just a sign of the times.

It did feel a little less energetic than most of their past shows, but again, that's probably true of most bands right now. Everybody's trying to figure out how to do concerts in the COVID era, and a lot of bands and audiences still seem to be feeling things out a bit.

As far as the livestream goes, the picture quality for me was pretty terrible through the whole thing, and I force-set it to 1080p all the way through. I didn't have any hiccups or anything so I don't think it was a bandwidth issue, it just looked pretty pixelated almost all the time despite the resolution.

I'm sure there will be a Blu-Ray and I'm sure that'll look great, though. I'll buy that too...

Metal Mickey wrote: I love the first new song better than One More Time. 

agreed—OMT is good, but Ao no Naru Yoru is simply stunning. Hope they make a vid of it for YTube so we can share as widely as possible

kudo_maharizu wrote:I love that 80s/soul/funk vibe of one more time. It took them after three MCs to rock out real strong with back-to-back rockers (that segment that had AMDKJ, Kagerou, Take Me Out). Stage outfits look great and while I am biased, MAMI looked good - love to see her in those black trousers (pants mean undies for us in Britain lol)
Gear-wise, there is that new white Tele HARU was playing (the body looked like her current white sig Tele with gold binding, the difference being a maple fingerboard with block pearloid inlays, stoptail/ToM bridge and 2xvol, 2xtone controls - and please don't tell me this a new sig series to be released lol) as well as her bringing back Shun-kun

That's good that at least some of us like One more time :-)
They all look good, but what stands out for me are Mami's awesome boots!
That part with Take me out after A.M.D.K.J. was straight fire! I almost started to jump around my room! Almost...

You have a good eye to spot those differences! New signature to be released? Yes, please! I jumped on too late to buy this guitar for a reasonable price and now, I can only look at those ridiculous 2k$ and above :-( 
That was Shun-kun? Good to know, thanks for the info. Are you a guitar aficionado?

P.S. Thanks for reminding me about the trousers difference (no irony!).

Meph1766 wrote:And when I watched the performance of the new song "one more" time, for some reason I thought that Haruna had finally fulfilled her dream of singing like her hero Namie Amuro.

That's an interesting observation there! Haruna looked so happy during that song- pure joy for my eyes

And I bet you were happy that they have included Shunkan Sentimental on the setlist, right?

Star~world96 wrote:The concert was pretty good, though it was pretty short and didn't feel like a big anniversary arena show,

Overall a nice concert, but definitely prefer last year's KFTD concert, the whole thing was amazing, and much longer too lol.

But their outfits at this concert was fire, love the glitter white tops, especially Mami's!

Sure, Scandal deserves more on their 15th anniversary, but we all know what the situation is and I think we're really lucky that the concert took place or they didn't change the venue. Just look how unlucky is Band Maid this year :-/
I think just like you, that KftD was a better show, even without people. I guess pandemic took a toll on their performance skills. 
Looking at the pictures from the concert, these outfits remind me fish scales :-)

spacecadet wrote:It seemed pretty clear that the audience had been instructed on how to (and not to) cheer, which was a little weird and made the whole thing seem a little more muted than normal, but I guess that's just a sign of the times.

Everybody's trying to figure out how to do concerts in the COVID era, and a lot of bands and audiences still seem to be feeling things out a bit.

As far as the livestream goes, the picture quality for me was pretty terrible through the whole thing, and I force-set it to 1080p all the way through.

Correct me if I'm wrong but, in general, doesn't Japanese audience always seem to be well organised? At least comparing it to European or American chaos during some concerts :-)
I can only imagine how much it sucks to perform in front of empty seats. So, at least it's a progress since last year. I hope it can only get better, for all of us!
Yeah, the quality on my PC wasn't too good either, albeit 1080p looked quite decent!

Cheers everyone!

etwee wrote:agreed—OMT is good, but Ao no Naru Yoru is simply stunning. Hope they make a vid of it for YTube so we can share as widely as possible

From what Haru mentioned in the prior MC, this song was written by Rina and appears to have been inspired by the pandemic. The lighting effects of the blue and white rays behind Haru were very fitting. I too really like this song and hope they will perform it again in future.

MuftaK wrote:

Correct me if I'm wrong but, in general, doesn't Japanese audience always seem to be well organised? At least comparing it to European or American chaos during some concerts :-)
I can only imagine how much it sucks to perform in front of empty seats. So, at least it's a progress since last year. I hope it can only get better, for all of us!
Yeah, the quality on my PC wasn't too good either, albeit 1080p looked quite decent!

Cheers everyone!

In Japan we have had enough live concerts during the covid pandemic that the audience know the usual drill of attending, 

i.e. we have our temp checked, hand sanitizer applied, have covid tracker app installed and enabled.
Once inside masks on, no food/drink, no talking, no cheering/singing etc. We follow more or less, but as you would of heard on the livestream there was some reaction when the results of the song voting there was some noise made as the lists were announced.

This is not a normal pre-pandemic Japan behaviour, usuallly the arena area will not be seated but free standing and there will be pushing and shoving etc haha... so its been kind of weird going to the concert without having to rush and keep a good spot, kind of relaxing.

Also because of the no cheering rule, some of the classic parts of the song where we usually shot "yeah" or sing along etc, has been subsituted with raising of our arms instead.

Of the recent overseas livestream, this has been the best version so far (previous 2 oversea streams had framerate issues), they seemed to have changed the provider that stream the service, livefromevents is just a store front, the streaming is handled by other 3rd parties. There was also a lot of camera crew to handle the shooting and a large booth at the back of Jo Hall just for the streaming crew. Another booth in the middle to handle the lights/fx/sound mixing etc.

Watching this again just now.  I've seen Scandal live 4x  (Twice in Japan and twice in USA), the concert was good and more then enough considering we're in a global pandemic.  (Events like these really help my sanity)

It really does help having a quality sound system and subwoofer when watching Scandal concert stream / blu-rays - it does get close to the feeling that they are in the room.    Better yet I get control of the volume; we wear musicians earplugs when we attend in person, they are SO loud.

The energy level is usually so high in the hall and I'm sure they feed off of that.  This audience is so subdued compare to all the pre-covid concerts and I'm sure that has some effect.  Hopefully when they get to 20th anniversary covid is a thing of the past and they can have a HUGE party.

I'm sure they are glad to be performing, and I loved the new songs.  Seems Scandal keeps us surprised with their new music.  So far they have not let me down.

Great bands such as Scandal (and my fav Band-Maid) feed off of the audience energy. Without having that vocalized feedback from the audience makes it difficult to keep up a high energy level for bands like Scandal who rely on that for 2+ hours.

If you think we, as fans, are frustrated by this "new normal" I can only imagine how bands feel about it. For most artists the rely on, they need, they crave that HIGH that only comes from playing in front of raucous audience. Its a give and take, symbiotic relationship. That's why we (band and fans) love live shows. Its the bond that forms in that short span of time between artist and audience... not being able to vocalize and react in the way that our hearts and minds feel and want to makes the performance feel 'flat' if you will.

I completely empathize with the ladies. I'm just happy for them that they got to play their 15th Anniversary show in their most loved venue and that they were gracious enough to share that experience with us fans who could not attend in person.

The feeling that it was a shorter gig is due to number of songs played (SE + 19). However, while the Kftd Livestream did have a bit more songs (SE + 21 and a 1min interlude before Chiisana Honoo), it also had less MC’ing, and its duration was 2h02, the 15th ANNIVERSARY LIVE’s gig duration (so starting from when the lights go out for the SE to start until the “thanks for watching” screen fades in) was 2h13. The encore breaks were around 4min30 for both livestreams.

Kftd Livestream had 4 MCs + the ending MC of respectively 1min44, 6min40, 0min54, 4min16 and 0min42, which makes a total of 14min18 of MC’ing (I refered to the Blu-ray’s audio I’ve extracted and cut to keep it on my phone haha).
The 15th ANNIVERSARY LIVE had 5 MCs + the ending MC, of respectively 7min46, 12min00, 5min34, 0min56, 4min50 and 1min04, so that makes a total of 32min10 of MC’ing, it’s more than the double compared to the Kftd Livestream !

Another difference that can be noticed is that the ending song playing on tape (“Tonight” for the Kftd Livestream, “one more time” for the 15th ANNIVERSARY LIVE) was left full for yesterday's stream while Tonight was left playing for barely more than 1min at the end of the Kftd Livestream (until the 15th ANNIVERSARY LIVE announcement popped up).

The audience attending in person probably did influence them talking more, which means they’re super happy about meeting fans back, and if they’re happy, I’m happy, it’s as easy as that lol

MuftaK wrote:P.S. Thanks for reminding me about the trousers difference (no irony!).

Off Topic, you just reminded me I need to iron a pair of trousers for work tomorrow. LOL! 

Back on Topic, I thoroughly enjoyed it and thought the set-list was solid. The Kagerou, A.M.D.K.J, Take Me Out segment was epic and I loved the new songs, I was maybe expecting 1 but to get 2 was a bonus.
one more time was in my CDJapan basket before the girls got off  the stage  

Could it have been longer? Sure. Could they have played more songs I like? Of course. Was it their best show ever? Probably not but for some people maybe. We all want different things from Scandal and people can have their own opinions on the performance, I would've liked a Tomomi song or two or maybe a mini acoustic set in the middle but it wasn't about what I wanted it was what the girls wanted to do and share with us, it was their day and we were privileged to share it with them.

Like @Electric Mami and @BMC said they got to celebrate in Osaka-Jo Hall with not just those in attendance but fans around the world because like we appreciate them they appreciate us. Most importantly though they had so much fun and were so happy which in turn makes me more than happy 

Not performance related but those two tone 'INVATATION' Tee's that they wore during the encore, were they specifically for the band or will they be available at a later date? They look really nice.

GT wrote:Not performance related but those two tone 'INVATATION' Tee's that they wore during the encore, were they specifically for the band or will they be available at a later date? They look really nice.

Pretty sure they were specifically for the band. But technically, anyone can do this on their own - you just need to buy two of the INVITATION shirts (black and purple, as the white one is for fan club members only) and splice them together lol

watching the concert now... or trying to. had a major case of FOMO, esp with my potential first live show in Anaheim hanging in the balance. my fault for living in the mountains and only having a mobile hotspot for internet, but here i am. posting while giving the feed time to maybe buffer enough for a whole song. stuck at 51min currently lol. just finishing up saishuuheiki. 

opening sequence on the big screen with the mixes of the songs was great. and even though i know they werent really supposed to, it was nice hearing the audience actually cheer just a little bit for the song rankings. my japanese is still pretty bad, but i feel like the few key words i was able to make out from the first MC gave me enough context to make out what Haru was saying. i did notice MAMI's playing at first like others have mentioned. Nerves? maybe. I'll just blame it on the telecaster hahaha. am i allowed to be in love with MAMI and TOMOMI now? *puts 2 engagement rings on the table* "I'll just leave this right here." (sadface* when i get rejected by both lol)

I agree, this was a very good quality stream. The setlist was well balanced. I wanted older songs, and then there was Kagerou! I also wanted a Rina solo, but that did not happen. I felt very good after the live, so Scandal did a good job, I guess.

thoseguiltyeyes wrote:

GT wrote:Not performance related but those two tone 'INVATATION' Tee's that they wore during the encore, were they specifically for the band or will they be available at a later date? They look really nice.

Pretty sure they were specifically for the band. But technically, anyone can do this on their own - you just need to buy two of the INVITATION shirts (black and purple, as the white one is for fan club members only) and splice them together lol

lol! You are a genius, I hadn't thought of that. It may be a disaster waiting to happen though if I attempt it.

HajimemashiteBINOdesu wrote:watching the concert now... or trying to. had a major case of FOMO, esp with my potential first live show in Anaheim hanging in the balance. my fault for living in the mountains and only having a mobile hotspot for internet, but here i am. posting while giving the feed time to maybe buffer enough for a whole song. stuck at 51min currently lol. just finishing up saishuuheiki. 

opening sequence on the big screen with the mixes of the songs was great. and even though i know they werent really supposed to, it was nice hearing the audience actually cheer just a little bit for the song rankings. my japanese is still pretty bad, but i feel like the few key words i was able to make out from the first MC gave me enough context to make out what Haru was saying. i did notice MAMI's playing at first like others have mentioned. Nerves? maybe. I'll just blame it on the telecaster hahaha. am i allowed to be in love with MAMI and TOMOMI now? *puts 2 engagement rings on the table* "I'll just leave this right here." (sadface* when i get rejected by both lol)

Tomomi is spoken for    

Mami had said on instagram the day before that she was the type that gets super nervous, so yeah nerves would be the most obvious explanation.

GT wrote:Tomomi is spoken for

Mami had said on instagram the day before that she was the type that gets super nervous, so yeah nerves would be the most obvious explanation.

lol i was gonna say "by WHO?!?!?" then i noticed who youre fav member is haha. 

MAMI is perfection. so if she messes up, all blame must go elsewhere. so i still blame the tele lol. i mean, did you see that neck shape? baseball bat! hahaha

but seriously, i get it. when i was gigging, we purposefully made the first hour setlist consist of songs that didnt require too much lead guitar (me), if any, because i was usually shaking for that first hour. MAMI is a beast doing what she does.


EDIT: add on because I don't want to make a new post right after this. looks weird.

after 6 grueling hours of buffering and rewatching and screaming at my screen out of frustration i finally watched my first scandal live performance. but not live. but close enough haha. was it worth it? yes. because i stan scandal so hard right now. and i needed to hear the new song. and when i saw the setlist with ivory and koe back to back... yes. so much yes. 
  -people commented on haruna carrying this performance. thats an understatement. her new nickname is ATLAS. she carried the world on her shoulders on this performance. what a professional. outstanding. so much respect for her. 
  -this has to be my favorite performance of Koe (yes even more than the billboard/mtv acoustic one). but why does MAMI keep flubbing the vocal adlib before the guitar solo??? hahahaha its cute as hell because like i said MAMI can do no wrong and i blame it on the tele even though she wasnt playing it. but overall it was such a good performance of this song and following ivory... together... that just made the whole concert for me. after i finished watching i actually went back to 1:16:00 and watched the two songs again. like that. 
  -gear: ok that pink JBass. maybe it was just Timo making it look better, but that bass made my eyes open wide. the two tele customs, Haruna's white one and Mami's bluish gray one... nice. even though the blue one messed Mami up (no I won't let it go lol). Mami's olympic?white superstrat... have i seen that before? was that the guitar she played on AMDKJ? I was hoping to see Haruna's troublemaker tele and of course Mami's melting ice cream strat and the white falcon. But the red signature strat made a quick appearance and that made me happy. 
  -Masterpiece live. all of my hopes and dreams. that song slaps. so glad they did it. didnt care much for the first new song. but "one more time" is a good song. nodding to 80's city pop and euro pop. reminded me of what john mayer is doing with his most recent album. i can dig it. 
  -if the Anaheim show in Nov actually happens (please please), my daughter (she's coming with me) is gonna clown me so hard because im gonna lose it like a teenage girl (or boy) watching the beatles for the first time. 

ok thats my After Action Report. FOMO averted. i heart MAMI.

thoseguiltyeyes wrote:

GT wrote:Not performance related but those two tone 'INVATATION' Tee's that they wore during the encore, were they specifically for the band or will they be available at a later date? They look really nice.

Pretty sure they were specifically for the band. But technically, anyone can do this on their own - you just need to buy two of the INVITATION shirts (black and purple, as the white one is for fan club members only) and splice them together lol

I have a suspicion Mami might have made these spliced t-shirts, previouly on the Mami's week of Feedback! sale, the clothes made by Mami many of the clothing were also spliced together by her, maybe will be revealed in future editions of Mania magazine?

Scandal fans have been splicing the red/blue Scandal shorts for a while as well some t-shirts too. So someone started a trend a while back

This happens to be my second virtual concert of SCANDAL. My girlfriend and I enjoyed watching it! My $30 is well-spent!

If SCANDAL's 15th Anniversary concert may not be the best, it's the most intimate. Of course, the KFTD live stream is exempted from the list. For me, nothing beats their swag at the Perfect World concert in January 2016.

Here are my comments in random order:
1. I guess no one commented about their opening video presentation. The animation is so pleasant to the eyes and the symphonic version of their classics brought me to tears.
2. I'm sorry but based on my observation, the band seems to be less enthusiastic when they played Shunkan Sentimental than they used to.
3. Hearing the band's brand new song "Ao no Naru Yoru no Sukima de" during the middle of the set gave me goosebumps! It IS an excellent song!
4. The stage design is just clean and beautiful. Not as lavish as Wonderful Tonight and Festival and not as raw as Perfect World. The transforming giant HD screen, the lights, and visuals, you name it!
5. I'm pleasantly surprised to see One Piece live again after several years.
6. Haruna was having the best performance of her entire career!

A lot of folks complained about the length of the show, but for me it was perfect.  I didn't get to buy the VOD stream until about 10:30 last night.  I completely miscalculated when this was no longer accessible, and I had about 90 minutes to watch the concert.  The stream was 2 1/2 hours long.

I had to zip through the beginning to get to the first song, and then I zipped through all the MCs.  Because I was so short on time initially, I skipped over "One Piece."  Yes, I can hear the screams now over my keyboard.  Get over it.  I wanted to hear the new song and "Masterpiece."  Fortunately, when they ended I had enough time to spare to backtrack and listen to "One Piece."  So for me, that was my closer.  I don't regret it-- sonically, it actually worked out well. 

I know I have been a bit down on my enthusiasm for the band lately, so I will start with the good points.  

There were comments on Haruna running the show.  For the most part, she is always exceptional.  I think she's an excellent front woman.  She always guides the mood of the show, and this performance was no exception.  If Mick Jagger was shorter, younger, and not do darn ugly, we may call him "Haruna."

Mami hit some clams early on in the show.  I realize that some would consider that a bad aspect to the show, but I like it.  It means it was actually live.  Besides, perfection is boring.

The highlight in the set list was by far "Kagerou," and "Ceramic Blue" may turn out to be a good live song (much better than the studio version).  "Tonight" was even good as a live song, but see my comments in the negative section.  Overall, they had to touch upon different eras of their catalogue, and I think they did the best they possibly could do and still highlight the new material, which is probably their biggest goal.

"One More Time" wasn't bad, and will probably be a better live tune with more performances.  Definitely the better of the two new songs.  For me, I like it when a band plays a non-hit in the encore.  Playing a new, unheard song (at least for me) was a very good move.

Tomomi is a great bassist, and I love watching her fingers move so effortlessly across the fretboard.  She looked the most lovely, too, btw.

A double Mami lead vocal must have been a first, and I loved it even though I think "Ivory" is a bit weak, especially compared to "Koe."

It was so good to hear the new songs without the autotune, or at least the extreme presence there-of.  "Saishuheiki Kimi" is a good rocker, especially live, but the studio version is hard to enjoy as much.

Overall, it was better than the last live stream which supported the last album, and that has nothing to do with the audience, which I paid no attention to at all.

Now the downers...

Is Tomomi no longer allowed to, or does she no longer want to, sing a lead song in concert?

"Eternal" was a terrible way to begin a show.  It's not a bad song, it's just not a lead song.  When they went into this I immediately thought of the "Perfect World concert where they started with "Image."  That was a no-nonsense beginner.  In my mind it was like comparing the beginning of STAR WARS to THE PHANTOM MENACE.  "Image" was that little space ship flying out into the distance with a giant cruiser shooting blasters over your head, and you're in the theater thinking "What the heck is this?"  And it puts you right in the middle of the action.  And "Eternal" is two guys talking in an elevator.  Boring.

The only thing good I can say about the first new song was that it was short.

The second new song was much better, but I was disappointed that in a concert that feature two new songs, and a bunch of mid-tempo-ish tunes like "Eternal," "Tonight" and "One Piece", they didn't feature a new tune that rocked.  I would have skipped either "Eternal" or "Tonight" and switched it out with "Spice" or something else that was more energetic.  I don't include "Departure" in this list, although it is a mid-tempo song.  The reason is, it is my favorite ballad-type song that they have, and I think it is their most beautiful melody.

As I said earlier, "Tonight" was pretty good live (I'm not a fan of the studio track), but I would prefer they strip away all the backing tracks and just play the tune with their instruments.  I don't like it when bands rely on backing tracks.  I don't care if they can't duplicate everything live from the recorded version.  To me, a good live band plays with what they have on stage between the band members.  Just so there's no misunderstanding that I hate the new stuff, I also don't like that they use pre-recorded stuff for songs I do love, like "Shojou S."

Musically, no surprises.  I realize Scandal is not a jam band, and aside from a few leftward experimentations like in "Shojou S" in PERFECT WORLD, or even the switching of instruments for "Scandal Baby" on the Yellow tour in Europe, there won't be anything much different than what we get on the CDs.  If you're not at the live show, it's a little boring by comparison.  Once again I stress, perfection is boring.  It would be nice if Mami or Tomomi did a bit more improvisation in solo sections.  To put into my own music nerd perspective, I have been very consistent with this on live bands over the years.  In high school I got in an argument with my friends because I thought the Bon Jovi show we went to in support of "Slippery When Wet" was lame because it sounded just like the record.  I should mention I am from New Jersey, and saying anything negative about Bon Jovi at that time was like saying the pope is the antichrist.

They did seem a little tentative.  Maybe that was due to nerves, or the Covid situation, or the lay off from performing as much the past year and a half.  I don't know.  The vibe seemed a little different than what I was used to.  "Take Me Out" is usually very energetic, and it seemed to me while watching it they were going a bit through the motions.  I only got to watch this stream once, and I was a bit on the clock.  So maybe my perception was a little a skewed.  I will give them the benefit of the doubt.

I understand the need to play a lot of newer songs, but I was surprised that they didn't do at least one more from HONEY aside from "Take Me Out," which came out a whole year before the CD.  One of the singles, either "Platform Syndrome" or "Koisuru Universe" would have lifted up the set list for me.

Lastly, "Masterpiece" was awesome and they absolutely should have started the show with this song and closed with something else, maybe a classic track they hadn't played in years.

Don Dio wrote:I didn't get to buy the VOD stream until about 10:30 last night.  I completely miscalculated when this was no longer accessible

It's actually still up as of right now. Not sure if it'll be taken down when it hits midnight PDT in a few minutes, though.

Edit at 12:02 am PDT: It's still up, so feel free to watch what you missed.

a bunch of mid-tempo-ish tunes

That was likely due to all of the restrictions. They're not allowing crowds to spin towels nor sing/shout/vocalize during concerts right now, after all - It would suck to hear so many upbeat songs and not be able to go all out for them.

the switching of instruments for "Scandal Baby" on the Yellow tour in Europe

Slight correction: That was actually during their fan club tour in 2016