I honestly really can't see how they would make "profit" by playing songs like Taiyou or Love Survive nowadays. I really doubt the big boss from their company forces them to play the same setlist again and again.

Pretty sure it's the girls and their staff that decide that. Again, for obvious reasons they need (and want!) to play songs like Kagen/Awanai but the others songs are surely decided for various reasons.

Maybe it's material related, playing too many songs/different songs would require other guitars, pedals or more sound check or whatever and they simply can't do it when it's not their own show?

Maybe they wouldn't have the time to set it up? I guess in the end it must really be different reasons coming together, they probably talked about it in meetings and they made the setlist according to the contracts, what they want, what they need, what is possible technically, etc. Hard to tell from our fan point of view. There are obviously things we don't know and that they want or have to deal with.

I guess you have to be a hardcore fan to be disappointed by that, because a hardcore fan will watch ALL the live show =P A normal fan will be pleased anyway but when you watch all the shows it would be great to have other songs in it =P

LieAnn wrote:
PS: I can't see myself insulting any of the girls despite their flaws. Come on, I didn't spend 3 years in SH and lots of money with their merchandise just to complain about the band lol :D I should've backed out from the very start if I disliked Tomomi's voice that much; there are so much other things about SCANDAL to love.

Nah.....it's not for you personally, but for every single SCANDAL fans in the world, included for my own self.....

@Af8! : I don't really know my self, fella....and I am not understand a single thing of "entertainment business". I just share my friend's story....maybe he just tell a lie?

@HaruRinaMamiTomo: Don't ask me.....it's not my own opinion, though. I just tell you guys the story of my friend. I am still confused about this matter myself, and I don't know at all what's happened behind "the scene". Surely we can make an opinion, but who's someone here that really knows the truth?

PS : Who is hardcore fans? Is it me? Well, maybe I am a hardcore fans indeed. It's not like I have no complaint about the band, but I just think if I always complaint about everything, it just will make my life harder. So I just have to endure it and be grateful for everything that I can have. My complaint will never solve anything, though. Anyway, I am so sorry if my words are unacceptable and useless.....

RE recent setlists. From what I know, the band and their own people decide the setlist for the most part. Someone else *may* request for a particular song to be put in but I seriously doubt  that they would have an entire setlist imposed on them.

As to why they use roughly the same setlist for different shows, it's easier for them to prepare for it. They've had a flurry of events to attend lately and between the setting up and tearing down equipment and travelling between venues, there is simply no time to rehearse/practise. It's simply a matter of logistics and preparation.

And to be fair, they did vary their setlist slightly for the 2 Summer Sonic shows. Playing roughly the same setlist over several venues is not unusual.

As for criticism, it's all good as long as it doesn't descend to the levels of vitriol commonly found on gaming forums, for example. The magic word is *Tact*. Base everything we present on that and no one (or not many) will get offended. Tone and delivery is everything especially on the internet when emotional inflections don't/can't transfer.

LieAnn wrote:PS : Who is hardcore fans? Is it me?

By hardcore fans I meant all of us here ^^ Fans checking news and every show. Hardcore fan as "a good and passionate fan!". Sorry if I wasn't clear .sweat. 

About the practice/rehearsal I can' believe it's that, they played so many songs in the latest tour and they know how to play them now.

Logistics and all yeah, probably  

HaRuRiNaMaMiToMo wrote:

LieAnn wrote:PS : Who is hardcore fans? Is it me?

By hardcore fans I meant all of us here ^^ Fans checking news and every show. Hardcore fan as "a good and passionate fan!". Sorry if I wasn't clear .sweat. 

About the practice/rehearsal I can' believe it's that, they played so many songs in the latest tour and they know how to play them now.

Logistics and all yeah, probably  

I don't want to argue but trust me, it's not that simple. They aren't going jamming, they are perfoming shows.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding something but after all these years, why is their setlist suddenly becoming a problem? All these years they play similar setlists over several venues and not a peep from anyone.

Until now.

Is there a reason for this? Or did I miss some happening that I should know about?

@macydne73

I think it's because lately, there has been a lack of SCANDAL videos that are new, and now, we have a bunch of lives to view. With new releases, I guess we're just more...hopeful. But that's just my opinion.

macdyne73 wrote:Maybe I'm misunderstanding something but after all these years, why is their setlist suddenly becoming a problem? All these years they play similar setlists over several venues and not a peep from anyone.

Until now.

Is there a reason for this? Or did I miss some happening that I should know about?

Actually, I think it's since Wonderful Tonight, some people were a bit disappointed by the setlist if I remember correctly. I was not disappointed even though I would have changed 1 or 2 songs, but it was perfect as it is.

baymon wrote:If she can tone it down during the recordings, I'm pretty sure it's intentional.

For what purpose? To be 'kawaii'? She doesn't have to do that, she already is. I hope she would stop adding those extra breaths. That's one thing why I'm not as excited as before whenever they have lives. 

And yeah, I agree with Haruna's voice not having a wide vocal range. On lives, I call Timo as "Haru's saviour" during songs with high notes. XD

And about Haru's weight, maybe it's just something with her metabolism. Maybe she does eat a lot but her metabolism is too fast. Just like me, I have a huge appetite. I eat like a hungry pig (LOL) but I'm still skinny. 

Or yeah, maybe because of her braces.

macdyne73 wrote:Maybe I'm misunderstanding something but after all these years, why is their setlist suddenly becoming a problem? All these years they play similar setlists over several venues and not a peep from anyone.

Until now.

Is there a reason for this? Or did I miss some happening that I should know about?

I also don't really understand this.

But then again, it seems like most of those who are disappointed by the set lists lately are fairly new fans, so I suppose they're not as accustomed to the similar-set-lists-deal as the slightly older fans are.


The set lists that people have been complaining about recently pretty much only come from their huge summer festival appearances. SCANDAL is performing at festivals and not their own lives, so wouldn't it be obvious that they're going to play their popular songs? Not everyone is going to know about them or be there for them, so I think they'd prefer to let those people hear their 'biggest' hits and get more fans by playing those songs (and I think they can usually satisfy those who are already fans with those). It seems to work since I always see people tweeting to the girls after festivals about how they weren't SCANDAL fans before but they became one after seeing them live/on TV.

I think it's just because some people are looking for a variety...but SCANDAL live is fine with me, no matter what they play.

macdyne73 wrote:
I don't want to argue but trust me, it's not that simple. They aren't going jamming, they are perfoming shows.

So you are telling me that a pro musician needs a ton of rehearsal /practice to play songs he plays since YEARS everytime he want to perform it? I agree with the logistics and everything but not on that point.

Obviously if they don't play a song for a long time they need to practice it a bit but they finished a tour recently and they could surely play many different songs for the setlist without any problem.

I think there can be many reasons for them to pick a setlist but that shouldn't be one of them. Well just my opinion.

thoseguiltyeyes wrote:

macdyne73 wrote:Maybe I'm misunderstanding something but after all these years, why is their setlist suddenly becoming a problem? All these years they play similar setlists over several venues and not a peep from anyone.

Until now.

Is there a reason for this? Or did I miss some happening that I should know about?

I also don't really understand this.

But then again, it seems like most of those who are disappointed by the set lists lately are fairly new fans, so I suppose they're not as accustomed to the similar-set-lists-deal as the slightly older fans are.


The set lists that people have been complaining about recently pretty much only come from their huge summer festival appearances. SCANDAL is performing at festivals and not their own lives, so wouldn't it be obvious that they're going to play their popular songs? Not everyone is going to know about them or be there for them, so I think they'd prefer to let those people hear their 'biggest' hits and get more fans by playing those songs (and I think they can usually satisfy those who are already fans with those). It seems to work since I always see people tweeting to the girls after festivals about how they weren't SCANDAL fans before but they became one after seeing them live/on TV.

You have a good point but then there is Kill the Virgin. Is that one of their biggest and more popular song? =P

Also they have MANY "popular/big" songs : Scandal Baby, Everybody say Yeah, etc, etc, etc! Why not switch them more?

I don't think anyone wants them to play a complete different setlist each time, it's just hard to understand how they can play several shows (that will be on TV too) and only switch 1 song in the end.

To me it just doesn't make sense. As you said it's not their private concert we are talking about festivals but they have many big/popular songs they could play and not always Love Survive or Taiyou. They made several albums now and a lot of singles, they have a lot of songs. That is way it's difficult (for me at least) to see an almost unchanged setlist.

Also as Af8! mentioned, there was a lack of videos and now we are lucky because we get a lot!! But because of that every video we see has the same songs almost so that's why I think many fans are thinking "it's awesome YEAH! but why can't they play this song or that song?". That's all =P

Finally, let's just not turn this into a good/bad fan or new/old fan debate or even war =P Everyone here loves SCANDAL but it's a forum so we can discuss things about them like how we are a bit disappointed by the setlist. Not a big deal =P It's not because someone is disappointed with the setlist that they hate the band ^_^

HaRuRiNaMaMiToMo wrote:
So you are telling me that a pro musician needs a ton of rehearsal /practice to play songs he plays since YEARS everytime he want to perform it? I agree with the logistics and everything but not on that point.

Obviously if they don't play a song for a long time they need to practice it a bit but they finished a tour recently and they could surely play many different songs for the setlist without any problem.

I think there can be many reasons for them to pick a setlist but that shouldn't be one of them. Well just my opinion.

I do think what macdyne said make sense. Surely they don't need tons of practice to play their hit songs like what you said, but they still need to brush up and practice a bit I believe. And knowing how tight their schedule is, even if the amount of practice is not much it's still taking up some time which they or their management may not be willing to waste.

You can see even after playing the same songs for so many time, Mami or Haruna still make some mistakes sometime (I'm not sure about Tomo and Rina as it's not so obvious when rhythm part make mistakes). That shows it's not easy to play live. You've got to remember a lot of notes, melody, rhytm, not to mention proper coordination between all the band members.

What I notice is that during their big concert, they actually make less mistake than their other lives, almost close to perfect, it could be because they are practicing and rehearsing more. So even for professional bands, the amount of practice and preparation does make a difference.

Well I'm not a musician, this is all just my opinion.

Off topic but a bit of background info. It's not just the band. There's the sound people and balancing to do and these things can change with what the setlist is.

I work in a convention centre and there is SO much more going on in the background then what the public see. They have been last minute changes with a few events we've had and trust me, AV people DON'T like that. Too many things can go wrong. It might not matter to joe public but a song added at the very last minute or too many options in a setlist increases the risk of things going wrong.

It's not just a matter of setting up stuff and switching them on, not if you want to have good and consistent sound anyway. If they don't care about that stuff then yeah, they can whatever they feel like whenever.

It's not that simple. I understand that most of us don't know these things but trust me, it's not just plug and play.

To cut a long story short, there's more preparation than meets the eye, the more they care about the quality of their performance the more they need to prepare.

NB. They could've done more but after their tour ended what did they do? Recording. There really was no time to do more. Also, this thing with the setlist being the same is again, *not* unusual.

There are also questions that keep being asked that to be honest, none of us have the answer to. So to be fair to those who are really, really bothered by the setlist (or for that matter, any other thing) the only thing left would be to write their management. They have the answers that you seek.

To quote this Summer Sonic interview of the girls I've seen in Tumblr:

Host: Yeah, just by looking at it, it looks really fun. Did you guys manage to have enough time for meals too?
HARUNA: We did. We got to change, eat and grab drinks before coming here. We brought our own personal clothes and all.

Like macdyne said, a band's performance isn't that simple. Even the so called "mighty" bands needs time for a rehearsal too. Playing live for two consecutive days in two different (and far from each other) location, not to mention Rockin '13 last 08/04, Girls' Factory last 08/07, and the upcoming Mezamashi Live, can't we become a little considerate of the girls? Their schedule is too tiring that even taking a meal is so hard to do, and it is much better for them to rest for the next live than rehearse or discuss about their next setlist should they decide to change it. Besides, in these festivals they have no time for a rehearsal so a standard setlist is much more favorable for them.

PS

It's off-topic, but I'm a little shocked to see my name quoted so many times that I had to think twice if I'm posting here half-asleep but then I realized it's just the thing with the new quote editor, 'cause I almost did the same mistake when I'm quoting someone haha XD

about their choice of playing KTV in an event, they said that they want to show to the audience that they're also capable of doing other things besides playing their respective instruments

Finally, let's just not turn this into a good/bad fan or new/old fan debate or even war =P Everyone here loves SCANDAL but it's a forum so we can discuss things about them like how we are a bit disappointed by the setlist. Not a big deal =P It's not because someone is disappointed with the setlist that they hate the band ^_^

Thank you, couldn't have said it better myself.

I could "complain" about other things, but I think it mainly has to do with how the band is managed and well, as macdyne73 suggested, it's best to send a mail to the management.

Sugarcube wrote:

baymon wrote:If she can tone it down during the recordings, I'm pretty sure it's intentional.

For what purpose? To be 'kawaii'? She doesn't have to do that, she already is. I hope she would stop adding those extra breaths. That's one thing why I'm not as excited as before whenever they have lives. 

And yeah, I agree with Haruna's voice not having a wide vocal range. On lives, I call Timo as "Haru's saviour" during songs with high notes. XD

I don't think Tomomi is doing that intentionally, it's more like she developed a habit, a bad one and also the fact that she's sick.

Are you sure about Haruna's vocal range? It might sound that way but you might be surprised about how wide her real vocal range is. I might be wrong but IMO Haruna's range is actually the same, if not wider, than Tomomi's.

The most remarkable high note done by SCANDAL is probably in Hello!Hello! and it is a D5. However, that was done by Tomomi not Haruna.
I was bored .lol. and decided to do a comparison with other songs and figured out that Haruna actually sang the exact same note in Anata ga Mawaru. OK, some of you might say "but that was before her voice changed". That's true but a few days ago she was able to reach an even higher note. In Girls Factory before the song 24 Jikan plus no yoake mae, Haruna shouted YOYOGI! and that was an E5 aka 2 semitones higher than a D5 and I know she could go higher than that if she wants to. So, I think Haruna is being underestimated here.

^ i agree with u on Haru's vocal range. Back before she lost her voice and before she changed her singing technique, she could hit high notes effortlessly and didn't seem to struggle at all(ie. Shunkan). It's just recently, she somehow restrained her voice during high notes and her voice sounded rough at some point. 
And also, hitting a high note while shouting is different than singing. But oh well, it's her natural range that's become latent so that's why she was able to get that range.

hapihapi wrote:^ i agree with u on Haru's vocal range. Back before she lost her voice and before she changed her singing technique, she could hit high notes effortlessly and didn't seem to struggle at all(ie. Shunkan). It's just recently, she somehow restrained her voice during high notes and her voice sounded rough at some point. 
And also, hitting a high note while shouting is different than singing. But oh well, it's her natural range that's become latent so that's why she was able to get that range.

It's true that shouting is different from singing. However the fact that she can reach that note means that it's in her vocal range. Also, when she shouted that E5 note she did it "properly" it wasn't just pushing, there was also good placement but still she needs a better vocal teacher.

E5 for a girl is not impressive at all. Honestly, I could reach higher than that easily and I'm a baritone. LOL
Haruna's main problem is typical to singers who aren't trained properly, which is not being able to bridge properly through her passagio. In a singing situation she becomes "lost" and as a result she uses her neck and throat to support her notes which makes her sound likes she in the bathroom (if you know what I mean LOL). Related to the topic this is what I dislike the most about SCANDAL.

The fact that you're from Italy, I assume you know better than me..evilgrin.

raynsity wrote:
Haruna's main problem is typical to singers who aren't trained properly, which is not being able to bridge properly through her passagio. In a singing situation she becomes "lost" and as a result she uses her neck and throat to support her notes which makes her sound likes she in the bathroom (if you know what I mean LOL). Related to the topic this is what I dislike the most about SCANDAL.

The fact that you're from Italy, I assume you know better than me..evilgrin.

 ye. just like i pointed out earlier, before she changed her singing technique, she was basically very good at controlling her notes and all (and i think she received a good vocal training from Caless). this was one of my first impression of SCANDAL the fact that Haru has a strong, dynamic vocals and didnt seem to strain her singing and could handle high notes effectively during lives, but that changed like around the middle of 2010 when her voice sounded rough with high notes.

Spoiler:

what I don't like about scandal... should be a long list then ahah

personally, the thing I dislike the most is how scandal isn't getting better as it should be. of course on queens are trumps they tried something new, and all the instruments are playing more difficult part... but it's not that hard compared to other bands that are as old as scandal :\ and I was pretty disappointed with girls factory 2013 where 24 Hours Plus no Yoake mae was played and it sounded like there were some errors during the performance. scandal still makes mistakes, they should work even harder.
but
work harder is not what I mean with all those release neither. as a band, I will never stop say that they releasing pattern is quite incredible (if not insane for a japanese band). they truly release at least an album per year. in my opinion they should focus on touring more, organizing longer tours as it could be a great thing for their improving while playing. but maybe it's because of the band I follow ahah
and also, another point must go to tomomi, I'm sorry. I never was a big fan of her voice, too high, too 'kawaii', too idolish/childish in my opinion, but it still works great with haru's deep one. but, on their latest performance, hearing tomomi is hard for me as it seems like she's trying to act too much while singing, isn't just me? she's putting too much effort and it looks a little big disturbing .hmmm. 

...so yeah, I think these are the only things that I personally dislike ahah

It's not that I don't like this part of the band but........who's playing the instruments in the background (example: piano part and other instruments they don't handle part)???

But one thing I don't like is.....Timo can't do her lipsync right...(which makes her a little bit cuter actually) but yeah....I don't really like that part of her

I got used to Timo's voice, but I heard a performance of Don't say lazy(not the Nakagawa Shoko one,the "studio" one) and I was like "wow, she sounds like a human!". Also I agree that the volume difference between Haru's voice and Timo's voice got noticeable. Did Haru switch vocal trainers?

the name scandal itself because in my own opinion i prefer them to have a unique name that when u hear or search their band's name they were the first one that would appear . well that is only mine. but then i start loving their name and respect them )

I don't like only that they've never been in my country ;(