Kalafina took 5 1/2 years to grace the sunny shores of Singapore again. Well... maybe it wasn't so sunny when they came. LOL But it was definitely warm. :) On the day of the live itself in SG, it was pretty much the famed "Kalafina weather". Look at that sky, I'm pretty sure it did rain later in the day. :)
The 5 1/2 year wait was made completely worth it by a really awesome performance at the inaugural Anisong Fantasy Live vol.1 (Singapore). I will get to that later. :)
Actually, the entire AFL event was quite enjoyable and the vocalists they brought down were all not bad. I like Aimer and Kalafina the most, with Kalafina of course being the runaway NO.1 in my heart, next to Kajiura Yuki. :)
The 5 1/2 year wait was made completely worth it by a really awesome performance at the inaugural Anisong Fantasy Live vol.1 (Singapore). I will get to that later. :)
Actually, the entire AFL event was quite enjoyable and the vocalists they brought down were all not bad. I like Aimer and Kalafina the most, with Kalafina of course being the runaway NO.1 in my heart, next to Kajiura Yuki. :)
This is the second time I have heard Aimer live. The first time was in Anime Festival Asia, two years ago I think. She's really good live. Just that I've not fallen head over heels in love with her songs. She reminds me of YUI for some reason. Her singing style, that is. But she seems like a really sweet, shy person on stage.
I actually didn't know who Takigawa Alisa was till AFL. The others I have watched live at AFA before so I knew what to expect. I must say Takigawa wasn't bad at all. But I do have a soft spot for girls who play the guitar. :P Like Ieiri Leo who really plays a really mean guitar. Saw her live in Zepp Diver City and she opened the night with some pretty awesome guitar playing.
Anyway, enough of that, let's get to Kalafina. :P I ramble too much. :P
Since it took Kalafina so long to make good on Keiko's "I'll be back" promise at AFASG 2011, A group of devoted fans in SG, including me, wanted to make sure that our feelings of overwhelming joy at their return would be conveyed to them. So we sent flowers to the venue and got fans to sign on the banner. I cannot take credit for all the hard work. I didn't really do much. Another fan did most of the leg work. Many thanks to this person!! :)
Before I got to the location, the vocalists and the band were rehearsing in the hall. I think after the rehearsal, Kalafina walked out of the hall and past the crowds into the JEM mall, I think. I'm not very clear of the details, someone I know was there to buy merch and he related it to me. OH!!!! Why was I not there? LOL Maybe it was during this very short break that they went and shot those photos of themselves in the mall. Their trip was really short.
Soon enough, it was time for the live. I had awesome seats, thanks to a friend who so kindly went super early to Suntec to queue for those tickets. Third row from the front and center. :) I could see all the vocalists so clearly. :)
The live started with a relatively lengthy clip of Claris with bits from their Budokan live, I think, and a Singapore version MV of one of their songs. I'm not familiar with most of their songs except for the ones from Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica.
Then it was GARNiDELiA, followed by Takigawa Alisa, Elisa, Haruna Luna, Aimer and FINALLY Kalafina. (I THINK... I may have mixed the order a bit in the middle, I don't remember clearly anymore) I rather enjoyed the last song GARNiDELiA sang but I don't know the title. The rest was a bit of a blur for me till Kalafina showed up. :P
Kalafina opened with Magia which was really well sung. To be very honest, I still have the habit of worrying about this song. LOL. I did hear it live the first time they sang it live in Dec 2010 and numerous times after that and in the beginning, they really had trouble getting this song right. But they've been getting this song right a lot at the lives these days and it sounded very good on Saturday night. It was a good song to open with too because it really got people excited and accentuated the sense of mystery and power that is present in many of their songs
Then it was One Light and Kimi no Gin no Niwa. All sung beautifully, the harmony sounded so good. It was heavenly. I thought they were going to sing to the beginning when they talked about singing a song from Fate/Stay Night but instead it was ring your bell which was really nicely done. They did the first bit slow and acoustic before the band came in full force. They've been doing this version at the lives these days and I love it. It was a nice taste of Kalafina acoustic and it showed off their prowess really well. I have yet to go to a strings or acoustic Kalafina live, still a big regret for me and one I hope to be able to correct in the future.
All too soon though :( , they ended their set with sprinter. I thought sprinter was the perfect song to end the night.
君に会いたい
君が恋しい
君に会いたい
君が愛しい
This set of phrases always gets me at the lives. Because Kalafina will do their signature pointing thing. And if you're lucky and they point and look in your direction, it's like cupid's arrow to your heart. LOL. I could have sworn that one of Keiko's finger pointing pointed at me. :P They do it in other songs too but I remember this section the most because these lyrics really do say what every fan feels:
(translation courtesy of Anime Lyrics dot com)
I want to see you.
I miss you.
I want to see you.
I cherish you.
Kalafina talk often of wanting to return the fans feelings by singing their best at the lives. I think they did it too. With every song, the audience keep cheering louder and louder and Kalafina seemed to draw energy from it and they looked like they were really enjoying the live, as much as all of us in the hall did. Thank you very much Kalafina!! It was an awesome live!!
They weren't done yet though. There was still the encore. Well, those of us who follow the news on twitter already knew that there was going to be a collab with Aimer. Some of us shouted encore as loudly and as long as we could. I must say that this part, the audience a bit FAIL lah!! Why are Singaporeans and some other Asians so self-conscious. Next time shout ENCORE or clap really hard. Although it seems like it's a given for encore these days but still... there are no guarantees and while I don't think we would have gotten anything extra in the encore in a music festival like this, STILL, it's nice for the vocalists and bands to get a super rousing encore call even if they don't or can't come out to do the encore. IF Kalafina do come for a one-man (my dream and all Singaporean Kalafina's fans dream), PLEASE make sure we do the encore as best we can. The flumpool one at Millian was awesome, we managed to get them to sing quite a few more songs after they were suppose to end the night because we kept clapping and cheering and flumpool was very nice to obliged.
Well... of course it could also be.... MAYBE there WAS a decent call for encore and I just wanted more so I perceived it as not being loud enough. LOL Who knows? That's quite possible too because humans are subjective beings. :P
At any rate, I was happy that it was Kalafina that wrapped up the night. I still remember that at the AFA SG 2011, our Kalafina encore call was cut short by the organizers because May'n had not sung yet. This time, I did get to call a proper encore and we did get an encore. :)
The encore with Aimer was quite amazing too!! According to a blogpost from Hikaru, These two songs sung in the collaboration was first performed at the Machi Asobi in Tokushima. Given that the Machi Asobi event isn't an event too many of us will go to, this was quite a treat because most of us have never seen / heard this collab.
One of the songs they did was Kalafina's believe and the other was Aimer's anata ni deawanakereba.
I'm not familiar with Aimer's song so I'm not certain what the differences are but the Kalafina x Aimer version was quite beautifully done. Slower and more acoustic to suit Aimer's style and voice better. Both songs were really nicely done and I enjoyed both immensely.
After the encore, it was really the end and they exited. But before that, as they exited Kalafina did a pinky promise to come back to Singapore. They hooked their pinkies on the way out and called out "約束" which means "promise" in English.
It was a perfect ending to what felt like a perfect performance from Kalafina. I was so high and happy that if you asked me to recall more details now, I could not. I can only remember how high and happy I was that whole day and during Kalafina's section at AFL. LOL. Yes, I was THAT happy. :)
I hope the promise at the end won't take another 5 1/2 years to fulfill. :P
With Kalafina now in SACRA, maybe it really means good things for international fans? Maybe it means another tour outside of Japan? If so, I hope that they have legs that will take place in Singapore. After all, Kalafina still have to return and take a walk through the Singapore Botanic Gardens as suggested by Aimer during the MC. :)
To cap the night off, all VIP ticket holders also got a "signed" autograph poster. Sadly, these aren't signed on the spot and they aren't even signed for real. They are printed signatures. Still, it was better than nothing and I was happy to take it home. :)
OH!!! It's also very kind of Kalafina to post photos of us at the airport, the flowers and the banner with all the messages in several updates on their blog. It made all the fans very happy. THANK YOU!!! :)
After this live, I'm more in love with Kalafina than ever. And it has renewed my desire to come back to blogging more consistently. :) I still have Kajiura Yuki's latest SAO cd to unbox and a few goods from other lives to go through. And a message from someone in my blog FB page that I really need to get to and will get to soon.
Ah.... I do have one regret which I do need to talk about. My only regret was that I was unable to gather more fans. That was mostly my responsibility but I was unable to get more people. :( We really started the process way too late, to be honest. So in order not to be caught out again, we started a FB group called "Kalafina / FictionJunction Singapore Fan Club (unofficial)". It's not a page, just a group and it's a closed group for now. We're really inexperience at this so bear with us for a while. However, we are really serious about gathering fans from Singapore or who are based in Singapore to join the group. If Kalafina really makes good on their "約束" (promise), we hope that we will be more prepared than we were this time. :)
So please join us!! If you're a Kalafina or Kajiura Yuki or FictionJunction fan, join us!! You can either search for the group in FB and send in a request or use this link:
https://www.facebook.com/
Okay, that's it for now. Time for bed for me. My last dosage of meds is beginning to hit me and I'm getting quite sleepy. It probably accounts for the rambling post... or maybe it's just my excuse for it... since I'm a pretty streams of consciousness blogger. :P Anyway, yeah... the excitement of last Friday and Saturday must have taken it's toil because I woke up sick on Sunday. LOL. I managed to get through the work day on Sunday but in the end succumbed and took sick leave for Monday and Tuesday. So now I need to sleep and rest to prepare for my return to work. :)
Good night. :)
p.s not going to proof-read tonight and I am a terrible proof reader anyway, so please excuse any glaring errors. :P cheers
I actually didn't know who Takigawa Alisa was till AFL. The others I have watched live at AFA before so I knew what to expect. I must say Takigawa wasn't bad at all. But I do have a soft spot for girls who play the guitar. :P Like Ieiri Leo who really plays a really mean guitar. Saw her live in Zepp Diver City and she opened the night with some pretty awesome guitar playing.
Anyway, enough of that, let's get to Kalafina. :P I ramble too much. :P
Since it took Kalafina so long to make good on Keiko's "I'll be back" promise at AFASG 2011, A group of devoted fans in SG, including me, wanted to make sure that our feelings of overwhelming joy at their return would be conveyed to them. So we sent flowers to the venue and got fans to sign on the banner. I cannot take credit for all the hard work. I didn't really do much. Another fan did most of the leg work. Many thanks to this person!! :)
Soon enough, it was time for the live. I had awesome seats, thanks to a friend who so kindly went super early to Suntec to queue for those tickets. Third row from the front and center. :) I could see all the vocalists so clearly. :)
The live started with a relatively lengthy clip of Claris with bits from their Budokan live, I think, and a Singapore version MV of one of their songs. I'm not familiar with most of their songs except for the ones from Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica.
Then it was GARNiDELiA, followed by Takigawa Alisa, Elisa, Haruna Luna, Aimer and FINALLY Kalafina. (I THINK... I may have mixed the order a bit in the middle, I don't remember clearly anymore) I rather enjoyed the last song GARNiDELiA sang but I don't know the title. The rest was a bit of a blur for me till Kalafina showed up. :P
Kalafina opened with Magia which was really well sung. To be very honest, I still have the habit of worrying about this song. LOL. I did hear it live the first time they sang it live in Dec 2010 and numerous times after that and in the beginning, they really had trouble getting this song right. But they've been getting this song right a lot at the lives these days and it sounded very good on Saturday night. It was a good song to open with too because it really got people excited and accentuated the sense of mystery and power that is present in many of their songs
Then it was One Light and Kimi no Gin no Niwa. All sung beautifully, the harmony sounded so good. It was heavenly. I thought they were going to sing to the beginning when they talked about singing a song from Fate/Stay Night but instead it was ring your bell which was really nicely done. They did the first bit slow and acoustic before the band came in full force. They've been doing this version at the lives these days and I love it. It was a nice taste of Kalafina acoustic and it showed off their prowess really well. I have yet to go to a strings or acoustic Kalafina live, still a big regret for me and one I hope to be able to correct in the future.
All too soon though :( , they ended their set with sprinter. I thought sprinter was the perfect song to end the night.
君に会いたい
君が恋しい
君に会いたい
君が愛しい
This set of phrases always gets me at the lives. Because Kalafina will do their signature pointing thing. And if you're lucky and they point and look in your direction, it's like cupid's arrow to your heart. LOL. I could have sworn that one of Keiko's finger pointing pointed at me. :P They do it in other songs too but I remember this section the most because these lyrics really do say what every fan feels:
(translation courtesy of Anime Lyrics dot com)
I want to see you.
I miss you.
I want to see you.
I cherish you.
Kalafina talk often of wanting to return the fans feelings by singing their best at the lives. I think they did it too. With every song, the audience keep cheering louder and louder and Kalafina seemed to draw energy from it and they looked like they were really enjoying the live, as much as all of us in the hall did. Thank you very much Kalafina!! It was an awesome live!!
They weren't done yet though. There was still the encore. Well, those of us who follow the news on twitter already knew that there was going to be a collab with Aimer. Some of us shouted encore as loudly and as long as we could. I must say that this part, the audience a bit FAIL lah!! Why are Singaporeans and some other Asians so self-conscious. Next time shout ENCORE or clap really hard. Although it seems like it's a given for encore these days but still... there are no guarantees and while I don't think we would have gotten anything extra in the encore in a music festival like this, STILL, it's nice for the vocalists and bands to get a super rousing encore call even if they don't or can't come out to do the encore. IF Kalafina do come for a one-man (my dream and all Singaporean Kalafina's fans dream), PLEASE make sure we do the encore as best we can. The flumpool one at Millian was awesome, we managed to get them to sing quite a few more songs after they were suppose to end the night because we kept clapping and cheering and flumpool was very nice to obliged.
Well... of course it could also be.... MAYBE there WAS a decent call for encore and I just wanted more so I perceived it as not being loud enough. LOL Who knows? That's quite possible too because humans are subjective beings. :P
At any rate, I was happy that it was Kalafina that wrapped up the night. I still remember that at the AFA SG 2011, our Kalafina encore call was cut short by the organizers because May'n had not sung yet. This time, I did get to call a proper encore and we did get an encore. :)
The encore with Aimer was quite amazing too!! According to a blogpost from Hikaru, These two songs sung in the collaboration was first performed at the Machi Asobi in Tokushima. Given that the Machi Asobi event isn't an event too many of us will go to, this was quite a treat because most of us have never seen / heard this collab.
One of the songs they did was Kalafina's believe and the other was Aimer's anata ni deawanakereba.
I'm not familiar with Aimer's song so I'm not certain what the differences are but the Kalafina x Aimer version was quite beautifully done. Slower and more acoustic to suit Aimer's style and voice better. Both songs were really nicely done and I enjoyed both immensely.
After the encore, it was really the end and they exited. But before that, as they exited Kalafina did a pinky promise to come back to Singapore. They hooked their pinkies on the way out and called out "約束" which means "promise" in English.
It was a perfect ending to what felt like a perfect performance from Kalafina. I was so high and happy that if you asked me to recall more details now, I could not. I can only remember how high and happy I was that whole day and during Kalafina's section at AFL. LOL. Yes, I was THAT happy. :)
I hope the promise at the end won't take another 5 1/2 years to fulfill. :P
With Kalafina now in SACRA, maybe it really means good things for international fans? Maybe it means another tour outside of Japan? If so, I hope that they have legs that will take place in Singapore. After all, Kalafina still have to return and take a walk through the Singapore Botanic Gardens as suggested by Aimer during the MC. :)
To cap the night off, all VIP ticket holders also got a "signed" autograph poster. Sadly, these aren't signed on the spot and they aren't even signed for real. They are printed signatures. Still, it was better than nothing and I was happy to take it home. :)
OH!!! It's also very kind of Kalafina to post photos of us at the airport, the flowers and the banner with all the messages in several updates on their blog. It made all the fans very happy. THANK YOU!!! :)
After this live, I'm more in love with Kalafina than ever. And it has renewed my desire to come back to blogging more consistently. :) I still have Kajiura Yuki's latest SAO cd to unbox and a few goods from other lives to go through. And a message from someone in my blog FB page that I really need to get to and will get to soon.
Ah.... I do have one regret which I do need to talk about. My only regret was that I was unable to gather more fans. That was mostly my responsibility but I was unable to get more people. :( We really started the process way too late, to be honest. So in order not to be caught out again, we started a FB group called "Kalafina / FictionJunction Singapore Fan Club (unofficial)". It's not a page, just a group and it's a closed group for now. We're really inexperience at this so bear with us for a while. However, we are really serious about gathering fans from Singapore or who are based in Singapore to join the group. If Kalafina really makes good on their "約束" (promise), we hope that we will be more prepared than we were this time. :)
So please join us!! If you're a Kalafina or Kajiura Yuki or FictionJunction fan, join us!! You can either search for the group in FB and send in a request or use this link:
https://www.facebook.com/
Okay, that's it for now. Time for bed for me. My last dosage of meds is beginning to hit me and I'm getting quite sleepy. It probably accounts for the rambling post... or maybe it's just my excuse for it... since I'm a pretty streams of consciousness blogger. :P Anyway, yeah... the excitement of last Friday and Saturday must have taken it's toil because I woke up sick on Sunday. LOL. I managed to get through the work day on Sunday but in the end succumbed and took sick leave for Monday and Tuesday. So now I need to sleep and rest to prepare for my return to work. :)
Good night. :)
p.s not going to proof-read tonight and I am a terrible proof reader anyway, so please excuse any glaring errors. :P cheers
I read it all. Maybe I'm alone though…. your long form blogs are whats missing these days. Facebook is good for networking but nauseating for regular use… (づ ᴗ ͜つ ᴗ )づ
ReplyDeleteOh.... thank you for taking the trouble to read it all. :)
ReplyDeleteAh... yes, I have scaled back a lot from way back when I used to write like what seemed like essays. :P
I still attempt to write and will continue to attempt to write longer and with more structure. :P
I do agree. FB is good for networking and for short and quick updates that read people easily. But when it comes to truly expressing myself and having an outlet for me to talk endlessly about the things that matter to me.... nothing beats blogging. :)
...W-what???
ReplyDeleteKALAFINA WAS IN SINGAPORE EARLIER THIS YEAR????
Oh my god I just read this post in SEPTEMBER and I feel SO, SO BIG OF A HEARTBREAK???? I'm in South East Asia as well and Singapore is not that far I COULD FLY THERE AND WATCH THEM BUT NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
@ z.imama
ReplyDelete--- Oh dear.... you didn't know that Kalafina was in Singapore for the Anisong Fantasy Live? :(
We got to meet them at the airport.... it was really kind of cool. I'm really sorry you missed it. :(