Yoko Kanno concert at Otakon!
Aug. 13th, 2013 04:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pacificpikachuSo, I'm back from Otakon. I've been sleeping most of the day, but I finally feel up for writing about the Yoko Kanno concert! It was definitely a highlight of my entire life. Words can't even do it justice, but I'll write about it to the best of my abilities anyway.
(Disclaimer: I did not write down the order of the songs, and the playlists I've seen people posting so far are definitely not correct. I'm just going off the best of my memory and what I wrote down a few hours after the concert.)
I've seen Yoko Kanno in concert twice before this, but somehow I'm never prepared for just how incredible she is in person. She barely seems human, more like a goddess, and it seems as though the piano is an extension of her body rather than a separate instrument. Everything she does on it seems effortless. She is also the most adorable person!
Anyway, back to the concert itself. I forced myself not to line up insanely early (as much as I wanted to) because I wished to remain in the company of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kirarakim and csakuras. We lined up around 9 AM, talked about anime as usual, and made friends with some of the people in the line. We met a guy from Miyagi prefecture in Japan (where Yoko Kanno is from) who had flown in to see her and buy Piano Me goods. He had noticed my shirt and wanted to know where I got it. Naturally, I forgot all of my conversational Japanese and had to rely on csakuras for help.
We had pretty awesome seats, though naturally a part of me wanted to be be up in the very front. Honestly, I don't think it made that much of a difference, though, and it was nice seeing the concert with friends.
Chiaki Ishikawa opened, and I was surprised by how short her playlist was! I didn't recognize the songs other than Uninstall, which she did an awesome remix to after the more usual mix. She only did about four songs total, I think. She sounded good, though the audio balance didn't seem quite right (it seemed too loud to me) and therefore we couldn't hear her as well as I would have liked. It was better in later songs. During Uninstall, her microphone went out briefly twice, which was stressful. Anyway, I think she's a very talented singer (and saw her in 2007 at Anime Expo), but of course I was eager to see Yoko Kanno.
Yoko Kanno's producer came out and said to sing along when the piano was loud and listen carefully when the piano was quiet. No issues with that!
When Yoko Kanno came out, instantly everyone was on their feet applauding and going crazy. She looked totally adorable, with these black ears on that looked like either cat ears with an intricate design, or maybe moth antennae instead. I loved her outfit, too, it was so pretty! Very elegant white and black dress.
Her piano was covered in white fabric for reasons we discovered a few songs in, and it had black and white striped legs.
She went right into playing Tank! quickly, which was very impressive and fun. After that she played some more relaxing songs. Nomad Soul, Mast in the Mist, and Innocent Green, though I'm not sure of the order.
Then she played Gravity, and encouraged the audience to sing along. The audience gladly obliged, and it sounded really beautiful. So beautiful, in fact, that I started crying. As did the two guys next to me. I also heard more sniffling behind me. It was truly incredible.
At this point, she covered the legs of the piano up with more white for the sake of projecting on the whole piano. Then, she played Memory of Fanelia while a little animation of a chick walked around on the screen. At first, the chick was just a yellow dot, but gradually turned into two dots and a chick with little legs. At one point the chick's head fell off, and then its body walked over and got the head back on. The chick pecked at the ground, ran around when the song got faster, and then eventually floated up the top of the piano at the end of the song.
I believe at this point she did Monochrome. It started with beeping, and I wasn't sure what song it was going to be, but a pulse started in red on the piano. Then, as the song went on, two more pulses came on the piano, in green and either black or blue. She sang the vocals for Monochrome, which I was excited about because I wasn't sure if she'd sing in front of an audience or not after TanaSonic. Monochrome sounded so gorgeous and surreal, and really gave me this profound feeling I can't even describe. It was so amazing.
I'm not sure if she did Resonance of the Earth/Chikyuu from Arjuna at this point or later. But, anyway, she played it. At some point she played Someday My Prince Will Come and Apollon Blues, though I'm not sure where.
Rakuen. It was beautiful as always. The visual that went with it was these circles, sort of like snow, falling from the sky and filling up the piano. When she would hit a particular note, all of it would clear, and it would start over again. Later in the song, the visual switched to white rushing at you, like when you're driving in the snow. Finally, at the climax of the song, these bright lights switched on the audience. It may sound strange, but it felt to me like being reborn--even starting with the white rushing at me. Of course, considering the context of the song, this makes sense. But...it was like I could feel that sensation. Very strange and beautiful.
The Real Folk Blues! We all sang along, but the audience (including me, orz, I was so ashamed) forgot some of the lyrics in the middle. Yoko Kanno gave us a mildly disapproving look, LOL. But everyone belted out, "THE REAL FOLK BLUES!" at the appropriate times, nonetheless, and got most of the lyrics right.
Power of the Light? I think? (As I said, the order of this is all very fuzzy and confusing.) There were bright, multicolored dots projected floating around.
Wo Qui Non Coin was a nice surprise. She sang it, with the soft sadness and nostalgia that is this song. It was accompanied by an appropriately forlorn video of a plastic bag drifting around, and the credits for the concert. I can't help but wonder (and hope) if the concert will become a DVD in the future...
Then, of all things, the Star Spangled Banner! I couldn't figure out what it was at first, but everyone stood up and sang it, of course! Quite lovely. I half-joked to my friends, "This is the most patriotic I've ever felt!"
She excited to the left, but the audience brought her back out (as I'm sure was planned) for another, even faster rendition of Tank! And then she excited to the right for the final time. :( A different time, though I can't remember exactly when it was, she left the stage briefly, but was easily brought back out with applause.
One of the songs had what looked like the skeleton of an animal projected on the piano, but I can't remember what song it was. It gradually changed, losing its middle with time.
A few of the songs had hearts flowing down and filling the piano up. This was towards the end.
I also saw Shinichiro Watanabe in the back a few times in the beginning of the concert. He joked at his panel, "My full-time job here is to be Yoko Kanno's cameraboy. This (the panel) is my part-time job."
There were TONS of standing ovations during the concert. I have a feeling the whole audience (including myself) would have liked to do standing ovations for every song, but it wasn't really feasible and wasted time, haha.
Anyway, it felt very short, but it was an utterly magical, beautiful, stunning performance. You'd think I'd eventually get used to just how amazing she is, but every time I'm still totally blown away. It would have easily been worth that whole trip for just one song. (Though of course, I'm much happier with how things turned out--getting her autograph and seeing such an amazing concert!)
Man, I couldn't be happier with my Otakon trip.
Official playlist (will edit my review sometime and add photos once I'm recovered from being sick):
Tank!
Nomad Soul
Katarina
Innocent Green
Resonance of the earth
Gravity 〜Baltimore special medley
Fanelia
Monochrome
Apollon Blue
Rakuen
Power of the Light
-encore1-
Someday My Prince Will Come
The Real Folk Blues
Wo Qui Non Coin
- encore2-
Star Spangled Banner
- encore3-
Tank! (reprise)
(Disclaimer: I did not write down the order of the songs, and the playlists I've seen people posting so far are definitely not correct. I'm just going off the best of my memory and what I wrote down a few hours after the concert.)
I've seen Yoko Kanno in concert twice before this, but somehow I'm never prepared for just how incredible she is in person. She barely seems human, more like a goddess, and it seems as though the piano is an extension of her body rather than a separate instrument. Everything she does on it seems effortless. She is also the most adorable person!
Anyway, back to the concert itself. I forced myself not to line up insanely early (as much as I wanted to) because I wished to remain in the company of
kirarakim and csakuras. We lined up around 9 AM, talked about anime as usual, and made friends with some of the people in the line. We met a guy from Miyagi prefecture in Japan (where Yoko Kanno is from) who had flown in to see her and buy Piano Me goods. He had noticed my shirt and wanted to know where I got it. Naturally, I forgot all of my conversational Japanese and had to rely on csakuras for help.We had pretty awesome seats, though naturally a part of me wanted to be be up in the very front. Honestly, I don't think it made that much of a difference, though, and it was nice seeing the concert with friends.
Chiaki Ishikawa opened, and I was surprised by how short her playlist was! I didn't recognize the songs other than Uninstall, which she did an awesome remix to after the more usual mix. She only did about four songs total, I think. She sounded good, though the audio balance didn't seem quite right (it seemed too loud to me) and therefore we couldn't hear her as well as I would have liked. It was better in later songs. During Uninstall, her microphone went out briefly twice, which was stressful. Anyway, I think she's a very talented singer (and saw her in 2007 at Anime Expo), but of course I was eager to see Yoko Kanno.
Yoko Kanno's producer came out and said to sing along when the piano was loud and listen carefully when the piano was quiet. No issues with that!
When Yoko Kanno came out, instantly everyone was on their feet applauding and going crazy. She looked totally adorable, with these black ears on that looked like either cat ears with an intricate design, or maybe moth antennae instead. I loved her outfit, too, it was so pretty! Very elegant white and black dress.
Her piano was covered in white fabric for reasons we discovered a few songs in, and it had black and white striped legs.
She went right into playing Tank! quickly, which was very impressive and fun. After that she played some more relaxing songs. Nomad Soul, Mast in the Mist, and Innocent Green, though I'm not sure of the order.
Then she played Gravity, and encouraged the audience to sing along. The audience gladly obliged, and it sounded really beautiful. So beautiful, in fact, that I started crying. As did the two guys next to me. I also heard more sniffling behind me. It was truly incredible.
At this point, she covered the legs of the piano up with more white for the sake of projecting on the whole piano. Then, she played Memory of Fanelia while a little animation of a chick walked around on the screen. At first, the chick was just a yellow dot, but gradually turned into two dots and a chick with little legs. At one point the chick's head fell off, and then its body walked over and got the head back on. The chick pecked at the ground, ran around when the song got faster, and then eventually floated up the top of the piano at the end of the song.
I believe at this point she did Monochrome. It started with beeping, and I wasn't sure what song it was going to be, but a pulse started in red on the piano. Then, as the song went on, two more pulses came on the piano, in green and either black or blue. She sang the vocals for Monochrome, which I was excited about because I wasn't sure if she'd sing in front of an audience or not after TanaSonic. Monochrome sounded so gorgeous and surreal, and really gave me this profound feeling I can't even describe. It was so amazing.
I'm not sure if she did Resonance of the Earth/Chikyuu from Arjuna at this point or later. But, anyway, she played it. At some point she played Someday My Prince Will Come and Apollon Blues, though I'm not sure where.
Rakuen. It was beautiful as always. The visual that went with it was these circles, sort of like snow, falling from the sky and filling up the piano. When she would hit a particular note, all of it would clear, and it would start over again. Later in the song, the visual switched to white rushing at you, like when you're driving in the snow. Finally, at the climax of the song, these bright lights switched on the audience. It may sound strange, but it felt to me like being reborn--even starting with the white rushing at me. Of course, considering the context of the song, this makes sense. But...it was like I could feel that sensation. Very strange and beautiful.
The Real Folk Blues! We all sang along, but the audience (including me, orz, I was so ashamed) forgot some of the lyrics in the middle. Yoko Kanno gave us a mildly disapproving look, LOL. But everyone belted out, "THE REAL FOLK BLUES!" at the appropriate times, nonetheless, and got most of the lyrics right.
Power of the Light? I think? (As I said, the order of this is all very fuzzy and confusing.) There were bright, multicolored dots projected floating around.
Wo Qui Non Coin was a nice surprise. She sang it, with the soft sadness and nostalgia that is this song. It was accompanied by an appropriately forlorn video of a plastic bag drifting around, and the credits for the concert. I can't help but wonder (and hope) if the concert will become a DVD in the future...
Then, of all things, the Star Spangled Banner! I couldn't figure out what it was at first, but everyone stood up and sang it, of course! Quite lovely. I half-joked to my friends, "This is the most patriotic I've ever felt!"
She excited to the left, but the audience brought her back out (as I'm sure was planned) for another, even faster rendition of Tank! And then she excited to the right for the final time. :( A different time, though I can't remember exactly when it was, she left the stage briefly, but was easily brought back out with applause.
One of the songs had what looked like the skeleton of an animal projected on the piano, but I can't remember what song it was. It gradually changed, losing its middle with time.
A few of the songs had hearts flowing down and filling the piano up. This was towards the end.
I also saw Shinichiro Watanabe in the back a few times in the beginning of the concert. He joked at his panel, "My full-time job here is to be Yoko Kanno's cameraboy. This (the panel) is my part-time job."
There were TONS of standing ovations during the concert. I have a feeling the whole audience (including myself) would have liked to do standing ovations for every song, but it wasn't really feasible and wasted time, haha.
Anyway, it felt very short, but it was an utterly magical, beautiful, stunning performance. You'd think I'd eventually get used to just how amazing she is, but every time I'm still totally blown away. It would have easily been worth that whole trip for just one song. (Though of course, I'm much happier with how things turned out--getting her autograph and seeing such an amazing concert!)
Man, I couldn't be happier with my Otakon trip.
Official playlist (will edit my review sometime and add photos once I'm recovered from being sick):
Tank!
Nomad Soul
Katarina
Innocent Green
Resonance of the earth
Gravity 〜Baltimore special medley
Fanelia
Monochrome
Apollon Blue
Rakuen
Power of the Light
-encore1-
Someday My Prince Will Come
The Real Folk Blues
Wo Qui Non Coin
- encore2-
Star Spangled Banner
- encore3-
Tank! (reprise)
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no subject
Date: 2013-08-14 01:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-08-14 02:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-08-14 12:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-08-14 01:02 pm (UTC)I am also really thankful they didn't do the lottery thing at the autograph. At first I wasn't sure if everything would work out but I am relieved it did.
I also saw Shinichiro Watanabe in the back a few times in the beginning of the concert.
Ha Ha I didn't notice, although I am not very observant I guess.
I also don't remember hearing "someday my prince will come" which is strange because I feel that is one of her songs I know well. But I will add that to my concert playlist.
no subject
Date: 2013-08-14 02:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-08-14 02:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-08-16 01:12 am (UTC)Yeah, words can't express how grateful that I am that their lottery system didn't work. I think many of us are relieved about that. It worked out wonderfully for us! I don't regret a second of waiting in the lines.
I saw Watanabe and some of his producers running around on the stage! But mostly before the concert, haha.
I'm sure you already saw them, but I'm adding an official playlist and some photos!
no subject
Date: 2013-08-17 08:41 pm (UTC)