It's on Sunday 25th September that Scandal's last concert in France occurred, in the wonderful venue La Machine du Moulin Rouge, where the CKJ team attended. The band came to promote the album ‘Yellowʼ (released in March) on the old continent for 10 dates. The girls started this tour, also titled ‘Yellowʼ, on 10th September in Amsterdam, then finally went through France for two dates. Marseilles welcomed Scandal this year, but we went to see them in Paris. Here's a live report of this exceptional evening !

They were selling two types of tickets : regular tickets, which allowed access to the pit (let's not forget that the venue doesn't have tiers), and VIP tickets, which allowed fans to enter in advance, have a hi-touch with the band and get a poster. The VIP's entry, initially planned for 6pm, was slightly delayed, while the regular ticket holders came in earlier (7pm initially). Despite this little problem, everyone could enter as planned, and everything went right.

This date wasn’t sold out, but the venue was full anyway. The soundcheck started at 7:45pm. 10 minutes later, fans started cheering the band, feeling that the gig was starting soon. And as promised, they made an announcement on stage at 8pm : Scandal is about to go on stage !

After a few recalls about the tour and the rules regarding the manners, the warm up act praised the girls this way :

  “They are 4,

 they are talented,

 they are pretty,

 they are sweet,

 they are here for you,

 make lots of noise !”

No need for the audience to be asked twice, and the girls came on stage a few minutes later on the dot of 8pm, under thunderous applause !

This evening started with the song ‘Room No.7ʼ as an introduction. Let's not forget that this song is short, instrumental only, and also the intro of their latest album ‘Yellowʼ, the tour's symbol. Moreover the tour's theme has been respected in its finest details, since the lights were also yellow during that song.

Confident, Scandal directly started playing ‘Stamp!ʼ, following Yellow's tracklist's order. The audience was barely warmed up for the next part, until ‘Onegai Navigationʼ came up, an older band's song that can be found in the album ‘Hello Worldʼ. The cheering from the beginning of the gig hadn't cooled down yet, and the adrenaline started rising up progressively.

After these three first opening songs, the girls took a first break to talk a bit to the audience (translator's note : originally in French) :

  “Good evening Paris, we're Scandal, from Japan

  How is it going ? Are you warmed up ?

  Make some noise

  You're amazing !”

After making sure that the fans haven't left their vocal chords at home, and doing a quick instrument switch, the girls lastly request : “This evening is the last tour's gig, so enjoy !”

Then the show resumes in a greater intensity with ‘LOVE ME DOʼ, also taken from the latest album, and the girls quickly start playing ‘Sunday Driveʼ after, a track they seem to have lots of fun playing. It's also at this moment that Tomomi (on bass and vocals) seems to start taming the stage. Until then, she looked more reserved, so it was a pleasure for the fans when she started interacting with them.

At the end of ‘Sunday Drive’ (translator's note : corrected from the article, which had ‘LOVE ME DO’ written instead), Rina's sticks knocks announce the song ‘今夜はピザパーティーʼ (‘Konya Wa Pizza Partyʼ), still from their latest work. While Tomomi takes the lead vocals, Haruna (main singer) takes advantage of the situation to have fun dancing and jumping on stage, a good way to go wild in front of the audience's adrenaline. She encourages the fans to do the same, which ones quickly start doing so, clapping and jumping.

We then come back to Scandal's classics with the song ‘DOLLʼ, from the first album ‘BEST★SCANDALʼ, released in 2009 (indeed, time goes really fast !). At that time, we can see lots of flags, t-shirts and towels spinning in the air in the pit.

A few minutes later, it's time for Haruna's acoustic guitar to appear, which leaves a good clue of the upcoming song. Indeed, it means they’re playing ‘Sistersʼ, one of the main tracks of ‘Yellow’. Living this song live made us understand that this concert was way more rock'n roll than the one at Bataclan last year, but also that the girls seem to be closer than ever to their audience.

After playing all these songs, the four young women take a second and well deserved break to interact with the audience (translator's note : originally in French) : “How is it going boys ? How is it going girls ? Everyone, thank you !”

Surprising everyone, Rina then takes the mic to leave a message to the audience, in a really good and intelligible French :

 “I like cinema, I like fashion, I like people. We are happy to be here. I will keep on studying French to be able to talk with you. Have a blast !”

Scandal are not the type to forget France when touring in Europe and all around the world after an album's release, but we can be sure that the band will keep coming back the next years, since the girls seem attached to the country, and especially to the French audience !

The show resumes in a more relaxed atmosphere with the song ‘Morning sunʼ, quickly succeeded by ‘Take Me Outʼ, showing the comeback of the high energy. Whether it’s for the visual or the sound level, the girls are giving their all to pass the fans on to their enthusiasm. The lighting effects, faster during the previous pieces, get along well with the very indie rock-sounding performance.

Before taking a few minutes to rest and quench their thirst, the band starts playing ‘Awanai Tsumori No, Genki De Neʼ. At the end of the song, Haruna gets some news and asks (translator's note : originally in English, this time) :

 “Are you having fun ?

  Are you ready to rock ?

  Make some noise !”

The audience answers enthusiastically once again, and starts cheering the band again as the song ‘Rainyʼ kicks off. During this piece, we realise that each one of the girls has a strong link with the audience, and they are always ready to smile and give their all on stage. Mami, quite reserved until then, starts a guitar solo towards the end of the song, proving she's also in a really good form !

A few moments later, some heavier notes filling the venue announce the song ‘EVERYBODY SAY YEAH!ʼ. Mami, Tomomi and Haruna also start moving on stage and waving at the first row's fans that they may have not seen yet. Mami also comes to see Rina for a few seconds. This piece, released in 2010 in ‘Temptation Boxʼ, can also be considered as one of Scandal's discography classics, and the audience got it right : during each chorus, the whole pit was jumping on the beat and singing all together. This is one of the reasons why fans started being tired during the first chords of ‘Taiyou Scandalousʼ.

During ‘Imageʼ, the audience finally regains its energy to give its all just like Scandal. By the way, Mami and Rina spoiled us well with this song, since they both had a short solo moment.

We start feeling tiredness in the venue, and Scandal takes another break to drink. It’s never enough for the audience, they ask for more, and the girls announce that the next song will unfortunately be the last one. They thank the audience and tell them they are really glad they came.

The last official song of the setlist is therefore ‘Chiisana Honooʼ, one of the songs from their latest work. We could feel well the emotion and the fans took advantage of the song's name (which can be translated as ‘Little flameʼ) to start their fan-project, whose goal was to light up their lighters (or the flash from the phone, which works as well) and show their support and love to the band.

After a short greeting (we knew they would come back anyway), the girls left the stage at 9:20pm. Obviously, the audience immediately asks for an encore, stomping on the floor and clapping to cheer Scandal. After lots of screams (which left some fans voiceless at the end of the show) and clapping, the staff comes to make a few adjustments and tunings. A few minutes later, Haruna, Tomomi, Rina and Mami come back cheerful wearing t-shirts from the tour merch.

A short instrumental introduction opens the encore, then they introduce themselves one after the other. A well-known guitar riff ends the chatting, and it's with great pleasure that Scandal kicks off the famous ‘Shunkan Sentimentalʼ. This song is the band's staple, and there are few chances that it'll ever disappear from the setlists. The girls are still having fun on the stage, and Tomomi even ends up playing on her knees.

A second song starts, closing the encore (and therefore, the gig too) : it's ‘SCANDAL BABYʼ, another song from their first album, which comes as a nod to the audience for all these years spent on stage and in the studios.

The last notes over, the girls pick up all the flags that the fans were handing them, and the audience starts singing a “happy birthday”, to celebrate the band's 10 years. The girls, moved by the attention, end up asking for silence to give a last speech before they leave the stage for good. Haruna asks (translator's note : originally in French) “Did you enjoy it ? I'm going to miss you ! See you soon and thank you !”

This 25th September was therefore an important evening, and it was even more important to leave a strong memory, since this concert closed the ‘Yellowʼ tour. We already had the occasion to see the girls in April 2015 during their gig at Bataclan, and it was with great pleasure that we came back seeing them this year ! Scandal are always ready to make a stopover in France, which we do enjoy a lot Don't forget to use the hashtag #SCEU2016 to relive this tour on the social networks and to check the rest of this evening's pictures below !

  01. Room No.7

  02. Stamp!

  03. Your song -English ver.-

  04. Onegai Navigation

  05. LOVE ME DO

  06. Konya Wa Pizza Party

  07. Sunday Drive

  08. DOLL

  09. Sisters

  10. Morning sun

  11. Take Me Out

  12. Awanai Tsumori No, Genki De Ne

  13. Rainy

  14. EVERYBODY SAY YEAH!

  15. Taiyou Scandalous

  16. Image

  17. Chiisana Honoo

  18. Instrumental Jam

  19. Shunkan Sentimental

  20. SCANDAL BABY