Everything is kind of hazy right now and the night was kind of surreal so I might get some things mixed up or completely wrong.
I went with a friend and doors opened at 7-ish. The crowd made its way inside and we all got ushered into our seats. I could see the forum people in the front rows but alas I was too far away to join them. We got more and more fidgety the longer we waited. Then a tech dude came on stage and got cheered enthusiastically while he did his last minute checks.
Of course the biggest cheer yet was reserved for our man EISUKE who came on do more checks and to leave out water and towels for the girls. He's a cool cat that guy.. looking completely nonchalant.
Then the lights went out and THAT Ramones song come on! The four of them marched on stage and everyone went ballistic and the show got underway with GLAMOUROUS YOU. The setlist that night was the same as the Hong Kong show if I'm not mistaken i.e
01. GLAMOROUS YOU
02. Sono toki sekai wa kimi darake no rain
MC1
03. shojou S
04. Hi-Hi-Hi
05. Doll
MC2
06. LOVE SURVIVE
07. TOKYO Skyscraper
08. BURN
09. Haruka
MC3
10. Pride
11. Very Special
12. Shunkan Sentimental
13. SCANDAL BABY
Encore
14. Kagerou
15. EVERYBODY SAY YEAH
If I were to write all my thoughts down this post will run into thousands of words, so just general hightlights for now
If ever there was any doubt about our girls' abilities to pull off a live performance, those doubts were demolished 15 seconds into their set. They are THAT good and they sound 10,000x better live.
From my position in the middle of the second stall on the left I lapped it all up and could see everything clearly even with all the crazy lightstick waving and jumping around. Haru's showmanship, Tomo's movement and skills, Mami's riffing and crowd interactions and Rina banging away at the back, it was something special to behold!
Rina especially surprised me. She doesn't look it but she's one hell of a heavy hitter, so heavy that she broke a stick on a cymbal crash in the middle of BURN! I could clearly see the tip fly off from where I was. Epic rock & roll moment! She also managed to dislodge her hi-hat during LOVE SURVIVE (iirc) too such was the force and fury of her playing that night. She seemed like she was running 150%, positively RAGING and it was awesome to watch!
Tomo's slapping during Hihihi and Tokyo Skyscraper was also a real treat to watch. They did this little dance thing during the pause in Skycraper that was really cute. The new intro for HiHiHi was also fantastic, a standout moment!
Then there's that towel swinging thing before DOLL that they've been doing lately, which I and the crowd love so much. It's so much funnier and cuter with Tomo issuing instructions in English! "Take out towel! When drummer don-don-don-don, TWIST OK?!" Rina does the DOLL disco drumbeat and "TUWIST! TUWIST! TUWIST! TUWIST! TUWIST!" We did this 3 times I think. Fantastic!
The new songs sound really fantastic live! When they recorded BABY ACTION I'm certain that they had one eye on live performances because it showed. Live BURN, Sono Toki (Abra Cadabra!!) and Skyscraper are so intense and will be live classics I am sure, as is Love Survive.
There's nothing to say about their older stuff. I mean, who wouldn't go berserk during Shojou S? Shunkan? SCANDAL BABY? DOLL?
Then there's the talking bits in between songs which the crowd obviously looks forward to. Tomo had chicken rice. "Very, Very, Very, Very, Very HOT. But Very, Very, Very, Very DELICIOUS!" Haru feels Singapore is a fun city with "many many shopping, many many eating"! Mami and Rina love Singapore too! It was during one of these MCs that Haru called out to SCANDAL HEAVEN
BY NAME. It was an incredible moment. To be acknowledged for your loyalty and support by your favourite artist is indescribable!
During another break, Haru asked us if we had listened to BABY ACTION and if we liked it. No prizes for guessing the reaction
And at the last break, Haru spoke Japanese after apologizing for it and expressed more joy and she promised that they WILL RETURN! Unfortunately, my rudimentary Japanese isn't very hot so I can't correctly recall all of the talk parts but that was the gist of it from what I could pick out.
When Mami played SCANDAL BABY's intro we all knew it was going to be over soon
By this time, the tension and excitement was reaching critical mass and when the girls came out for the encore, we sang and waved our lightsticks and jumped and headbanged along to KAGEROU and Everybody Say Yeah as if our lives depended on it! And then it ended, the girls came to the front and waved and reintroduced themselves. I thanked them at the top of my lungs for an unforgetable show which I'm STILL recovering from today.
That's my recap. It was so surreal, I still can't quite believe that I've watched SCANDAL LIVE! What a priviledge and an honour.