Kalafina ~ LIVE THE BEST 2015 “Blue Day” / overall comments ~ my awesome experience

It's been 21 days since I experienced one of the best lives I have ever experienced in my life.  And I say it with great sincerity and without exaggeration.  I think most, if not all, of the people who were in the Budokan on the 1st Mar 2015 will tell you that it was an awesome live.

I'm bias of course and I don't hide it.  I have been a dedicated Kalafina fan since I first saw them live in Japan in Dec 2010 and I have progressively become more and more in love with both Kajiura Yuki and what is probably one of her most successful vocal project to date.

"Blue Day" began pretty blue for all who were in Tokyo that day.  It was a dark, gloomy, rainy and cold day.  I spent part of the day in Harajuku showing my friend who was travelling with me what Harajuku was about.  Admittedly, half my mind was on the Kalafina live which was to be held in the Budokan later that day.  While I wanted to be a responsible friend and not ditch my friend who had never been to Japan previously and who spoke almost no Japanese, it was hard for me not to think of tearing away to dash to the Budokan to buy some "Blue Day" goods.
Eventually, I did indeed make it there 15 minutes before 2pm.  Some items were already sold out when I got there.  But what I wanted was still available so I was quite happy. :)  The queue was a lot shorter than I thought it would be and the whole process didn't take more than twenty minutes I think. Then I was left with nothing to do till they begin to let people in at 3pm.

I tried to stand under the large gate that marked the entry to the park surrounding the Budokan but I was freezing so I decided to go try and find some place warm to park myself for an hour.  Unfortunately, all the cafes and restaurants around the Budokan was packed.  So in the end I just wandered around in two separate conbinis in the area and then hid out under a building with some other people till it was almost 3pm and I returned to the hall.  I was really grateful to enter the hall because I was finally dry and warm. :)

I got a pretty good seat in the hall and was really happy about it.  This was probably the best seat that I have gotten in a Kalafina live in Japan.

My best was still at Anime Festival Asia in Singapore where I was 6 rows from the front and dead centre.  I swear Keiko pointed at me when Kalafina sang Sprinter or Ongaku, I can't quite remember. :P  It was a moment to remember but that's another story which you can read about here, if you're interested.  CLICK ME.

Unfortunately, Keiko wasn't pointing at me at any time at all in the "Red Day" or "Blue Day" lives. But at AFA SG, it really felt that way.  :P  To be honest, I'm sure she didn't intend to point at me, it's what they do in certain songs but if one of them happens to point at you or seem to point at you, your heart will surely melt.  Mine did in 2011. :)

I'm not going to give you a blow by blow account of what happened during the live on "Blue Day".  I certainly can't remember all the details and there are other very detailed accounts out there that will give you all that information and all.  I'll just give you a general overview of how I felt during the lives.

All I can say was that it was an incredible night for me.  I cannot say in all honesty that they sounded studio perfect but then again, I don't go to a live like this and expect, nor want, studio perfect.  I go to Kalafina's lives because they always move me emotionally and at this live I was enthralled.  Perhaps I was enjoying the moment and the music so much that I didn't bother with the details.  I don't know how many costume changes they made.  I don't remember even much of what they did for most of the MCs.  I just know that I was in awe at just how beautiful they sounded in that hall.

It was hard not to be mesmerized by them that night because on "Blue Day", Kalafina was RED HOT.  I think they knew it too because I have never heard them sound so good and so in tune with each other in almost everything that they did on stage, I have never felt so moved at any live, including all their previous lives and even a Yuki Kajiura Live.  At times in songs like Natsu no Ringo, I Have a Dream, Seventh Heaven and Snow Falling, they sounded so achingly beautiful, you could not help but be moved close to tears or even to tears.  In songs like Symphonia, their voices seemed to reach into the far reaches of the Budokan and beyond.  In the faster songs like Magia, Destination Unknown, Signal  and the almost-never-performed-perfectly-but-always-very-awesome-at-all-their-lives Ongaku you could somehow feel their energy and their joy as their fists punch the air and their fingers pointed at the audience.

One of the bonuses at the Budokan that night was the purely instrumental ～Numquam vincar～ (inst). We got ～when the fairy tale ends～ (inst) on "Red Day" which was really incredible.  On "Blue Day"  ～Numquam vincar～ (inst) was even more incredible for me because I really like drums and this song utilises drums in a really amazing way and Sato Kyoichi was terrific.  He played that night as though his very life depended on it and it was awesome. If ～Numquam vincar～ (inst) didn't get your heart rushing, nothing else would.  It was also a very, very, very awesome lead in to the next song which was Magia.  And what happened right before Kalafina sang Magia, was pure magic!

First, let's pause for a bit for so that I can write something about my seat in the Budokan that night.

There was a short segment on Kalafina's Budokan lives on Mezamashi Terebi that someone uploaded onto youtube.  Unfortunately, I lost the link to that clip on youtube and I'm not even sure if it's still online. :(  Sorry.  I did make some screen captures though which I'll use in this post.

This is the overview of the arena area in the Budokan.  On "Blue Day", I was in Section A4, row 13. Which meant that I was pretty close to the stage, especially when the stage extended outwards.  I could really make out their faces and expressions when they were at the end of the stage.  It was pretty awesome.

The other thing which was super awesome was the 武道館散歩 (Budokan Walk).  On "Red Day", if I remember correctly, they joked that they were joking about doing a Budokan Walk when they were talking about going from one end of the stage to the other end.  I was very jealous of people on the 2nd floor close to the far reaches of the stage because they were like really, really close to Kalafina.  It looked like they were within touching distance.  Soooo cool.  Of course, my listening comprehension isn't the best so I'm not entirely certain what they were talking about except that they were talking about wanting to do the Budokan Walk.

On "Blue Day" though, they really did do the Budokan Walk and it was AWESOME!!!!!!  They walked right behind me.  I wish I was in the last row in my section but I was, I think, three rows from the back but still, it was pretty close.  When the music change from ～Numquam vincar～ (inst), to the intro for Magia, everyone was still faced forward because we were expecting Kalafina to appear after a costume change.  Suddenly there was a commotion in the audience to my left and everyone started turning around.  I was almost too late because I didn't know what was happening.  But I turned quickly enough that I managed to catch a good, albeit quick look, at Keiko's face before Hikaru and Wakana walked pass us.  I think it was just two or three rows that separated me from them.  It felt pretty close.

OMG!!!!!  You have to be there to feel just how cool and awesome that felt.  They looked wicked fierce and intimidatingly cool.  Awwwww man, it was INCREDIBLE.

You have to believe me when I say that I was, and still am, very jealous of those people in that screen grab.  Kalafina stopped and turned before they walked up the stage and started singing Magia. Lucky, lucky guys!!! :)

Audio-wise, I don't think that this was their best section that night which was a bit of a pity since they came in in such an eye-catching and memorable fashion.  Starting from Magia and lasting over a few songs, Hikaru was really loud which made it hard for me to hear Keiko and Wakana when they harmonize with her.  It wasn't terrible or anything.  It was just a little pimple of imperfection for me.  This section was still really awesome because this section consists of a lot of their faster, fist-pumping songs and of course, there's Ongaku. :)  To be perfectly honest, I still haven't heard a 100% satisfactory rendition of this song live but to tell you the truth, it never made me not want this song at any of their lives. Kalafina and the audience seem to really respond to this song and if there is one song that will get a lot of people up and punching the air, it's Ongaku.  I know I always get all pumped up during Ongaku and even while I know that I think they could still sing it better, they sing it with such gusto and so much energy and joy that I cannot but feel that I too must get involved physically in this song.  I think that those who have never attended a Kalafina live may not be so fond of Ongaku and may wonder why Kalafina always sings this song at their lives.  All I can say is, you really just have to be there.  This song is magic even when they don't get it spot on, it's still magic.

They ended the main part of the night with one last MC where they talked about concert goods.  And like always Hikaru takes centre-stage at this point.  I must say that she has really come a long way since she began doing the lives.  She was very comfortable on stage and very funny throughout a lot of the MCs and really funny when she talks about the goods.  And yes, I am sorry that I didn't change into the Blue t-shirt that night or at least wear a blue sweatshirt to the Budokan that night.  They really seemed to want to see a whole sea of Blue but I didn't know that then and I was cold and didn't want to wear the blue t-shirt over my cashmere because it would be bulky.  I regret that now.  I should have. :(

It's really nice to see how far all of them have come.  They really seem so comfortable during their lives now.  Wakana seems less tense these days, Hikaru's learnt to talk so much more too and she's really funny. And Keiko... Keiko, whom I've always loved the most at the lives, is still the one I love the most at this live.

From the very beginning, I've always felt that Keiko loved the lives the most.  She seemed almost desperate to try and reach the audience emotionally. In the early Kajura Yuki lives with FictionJunctioni, her way of doing it was to STARE at the audience as though she was trying to send you a message via her piercing glare.  She learnt to stop that but continued to be the energizer bunny on stage, as though she felt a need to make sure everyone had a good time.  By the Budokan lives, I felt that  Keiko has learnt that she doesn't need to physically try and force any of this to happen.  Keiko, just by being Keiko can move you and even make you cry.  And why do I say that?  For some reason, I always felt that Keiko was the most emotional internally of the three girls.  Externally she seemed to be the coolest and most in control of the three.  But I think it was when I was listening to the episode of Kalafina Club, right after the 3:11 Earthquake disaster that I felt that Keiko was a very emotional person.  She sounded like she spent most of the time during that radio program trying not to cry.  Wakana and Hikaru were obviously affected by the tragedy but they seemed to be in better control of their emotions than Keiko and so I felt that Keiko really feels like a very passionate person.

And on this night, after the encore, they came back with a splendid and rousing rendition of Red Moon, and a moving rendition of believe, then Keiko took centre-stage for the last MC of the night.  Keiko talked about how being able to hold their lives in the Budokan was a dream for them. To sing at the Budokan was something she has always wanted to do since she was a child.  Then she thanked all of us for helping them attain their dream.  She said that she knew that there were quite a lot of foreigners who had come to see them and she thanked us too.  And as she thanked us, she looked like she was about to cry and her voice, just so very gently, almost imperceptibly, seem to tremble and almost break.  I was close to crying myself.  Somehow, in some way, I don't even know how, but she managed to reach deep into my heart and I believed that she said all that with genuine sincerity and I believed that she spoke for all of them.

I've been to many lives, in some of them, the singer is so into the lives that they cry and it is moving but NEVER have I been so close to crying with anyone till that night in the Budokan.  The thing is, you really do have to be there.  I don't know if you can even feel just how emotional the whole Budokan live felt or how emotional that thank you speech felt if you're merely watching it over BD or DVD.

I've always maintained that it is really hard for them to be studio perfect in a live situation because of the nature of the music they sing.  They have to harmonize in an often not quite straightforward manner over some really loud music which, even with IEMs, is not easy at all.  They are often required to sing in a relatively classical or operatic fashion and sing all that at a hard rock music tempo and then try and sing half-lines at full volume only to dip the volume under so that someone else can take over the lead. It requires a great deal of practice and concentration, and every one of the vocalists has to be in peak condition for them to sound great.

Still, these imperfect moments are really minor to me because Kalafina was really on fire for those two nights. You might ask why and I can only say that you would have to have been there to really understand just how emotional these two Budokan lives felt and how they sounded.  To me, a Kalafina live, it just simply has to be experienced.  Even though there can be moments of imperfection, I have not yet been to a Kalafina live that did not make me hunger for more of them.

Like Lao Tzu supposedly said,

Music in the soul can be heard by the universe

And on those two nights, the music in their souls resonated not just to the universe but also to the heavens.  This is perhaps what made these Budokan lives special for me.  It was like their joy at being in the Budokan translated into the way they sang those two nights, into the way all the musicians performed those nights and the way the crew worked those nights... somehow it just seemed like everyone from Kalafina, to the musicians, to the manipulator all just put in everything they had to make their first one-man lives at the Budokan one of the most memorable lives ever.  It is a feeling I wish that I could bottle and keep because I don't know if a recorded version of the live could even be able to communicate how exhilarating it was not just for them, but also for us.

When I exited the hall that night, the rain was really pouring by then.  And there were a lot of people trying to slowly make their way through a narrow exit.  Everyone wanted to get out of the cold rain but with so many people in the crowd, it was a slow crawl to the station.  But still, I was very HIGH. It is why I wrote in an earlier blogpost that a Kalafina live is like a drug.  I was addicted and all I could think of was how much I LOVED the live and how much I wanted to see them live again.  Even though it was cold and I was wet and I was very late for dinner, I feel warm and fuzzy inside.  I was just sooooo happy and sooooo honoured to be part of those two very special nights for Kalafina.

The funny thing about a Kalafina live for me is that even though most of Kalafina's music doesn't have all the tricks to get the audience high and jumping, you can definitely feel the passion and the expansiveness of the emotions in their performance. Kalafina's music doesn't require that much physical audience participation. There is no helicopter towel waves, few coordinated special moves, no coordinated coloured light sticks, no sing-along stanzas etc.   Even if you spent the entire concert sitting down, your soul and your emotions could not possibly remain seated, instead, they will soar with every crescendo and fall with every whisper.  You cannot help but become emotionally involved, they just have that ability to do that.  Kalafina's interaction with the audience is very often emotional and at the Budokan on "Red Day" and particularly so on "Blue Day", it almost felt spiritual.

Of course, this has very much to do with Kajiura Yuki's music too.

I have a love of songs that get me out of the quotidian. I like operas. Operas are completely in their own world, aren’t they? Within the sanctuary of the opera house, they weave otherworldly spaces for four hours. I love such songs with vistas into other worlds―-songs that seem to distort the size of my rooms when I listen to them. When I make melodies in my own little way, the lyrics end up that way. Lyrics like “I bought three radishes and found them cheap～♪” aren't relevant to my interests! It goes like “A traveler searching for eternity～♪” instead. ~ Kajiura Yuki (source)

Kajiura Yuki's music, especially for Kalafina, is often ethereal and has the magical ability to transport the listener to another time, another space or another dimension.  Kajiura Yuki is really amazing in my opinion.  She's not only an awesome and very talented composer, but she also seems to be a great mentor and an amazing music producer who seems quite capable of getting the best out of her vocalists and she utilises them very well too.

In this Mezamashi Teribi clip, Kajiura Yuki said this about Kalafina.

I think that it must mean so much for the girls to have Kajiura Yuki say this about them.

私はずっと彼女たちの先生だったんです

I have been their teacher all this time. 

でも今は音楽を一緒に作る仲間になった。

 But now, they are comrades that work together with me to create music.

~ Kajiura Yuki

(DISCLAIMER: As usual, I must emphasise that my Japanese isn't the best, hence my translation, while should be correct, still carries with it some risk of being a little inaccurate... but still... this is my understanding of what Kajiura Yuki said about them).

I really like it that Kajiura Yuki said this about them publicly.  Not only does it reinforce the idea that Kalafina has come very far but it also makes me think that Kajiura Yuki is a really good person. Anyone who's worked very hard in a job or company for a long time, would feel really, really, really happy to have their teacher or mentor or supervisor or boss acknowledge their efforts and progress so totally.  And I think it's the mark of a great leader, teacher, mentor, person to be able to say that about their charges.  In many ways, Kajiura Yuki made Kalafina so for her to say that about them is really cool.  A lesser person may think, "I created them and without me, they wouldn't be so successful. And they will still be nothing without me."  Thankfully, Kajiura Yuki doesn't seem to be that kind of person. I can only imagine how good that must have felt for them and in my mind, it's pretty awesome of Kajiura Yuki to say that.

I'm finally coming to the end of my very long account of my experience of "Blue Day" and my overall thoughts of both the "Red Day" and "Blue Day" lives.  And although it's a little awkward structurally to talk about this here, I really want to say this because I forgot to say this in my account of "Red Day".  CLICK ME to read that account.

I really want to add that, if you ever go to a Kalafina live in Japan, take a look around you.  They are really a pretty unusual vocal unit.  You would think that with their good looks, their image and their close association with anime that the vast majority of the audience would be young.  Maybe teens to young adults in their twenties perhaps, you'll think.  But Kalafina's fans... the age range is very wide and seems to be inclusive of all types of people.  When I was in line to buy goods on "Red Day", there was a grey-haired couple in front of me.  All around me, it wasn't hard to spot older people mingling amongst the younger people.  It always fascinates me how Kalafina manages to do that. These older people aren't all playing chaperone to a young teen.  A lot of them are there with their partners, friends or by themselves.  It really says something about Kalafina and Kajiura Yuki's music I think. :)

Okay.... I really didn't intend to write SOOOOOO much.  I thought I would write something short but I just couldn't stop writing.... maybe I was gushing too much.  I know I can be very verbose when I write.  It's something I've always tried to control but often fail.  I think it's to make up for how little I talk in real life. :P  Anyway, it's really late and I wrote a lot and I'm.... hahahaha... kind of tired. :P  So I will finish with this.  I hope you enjoyed this long and somewhat rambling post and if you made it to the very end... otsukaresamadeshita... thank you for reading and please excuse any grammar and spelling errors... I'm terrible at proofreading. :P  Good night, over and out. :)

The setlist and musicians for "Blue Day" from Hikaru's post.

Guitar：是永巧一
Drums：佐藤強一
Bass：高橋“Jr.”知治

Strings：今野 均Strings
Violin：今野 均 , 徳永友美 , 藤堂昌彦 , 森本安弘
Viola：生野正樹 , 原田友一
Cello：結城貴弘 , 西方正樹

Keyboard：櫻田泰啓
Flute：赤木りえ
Accordion：佐藤芳明
Manipulator：大平佳男

overture～storia
love come down
--MC--
夏の林檎
I have a dream
seventh heaven
未来
--MC--
花束
君の銀の庭
満天
to the beginning
～Numquam vincar～ (inst)
Magia[quattro]
destination unknown
signal
音楽
heavenly blue
--MC--
snow falling
symphonia

--EN--
overture～red moon
believe
--MC--
far on the water ※新曲
sprinter