Piko Live Report (Dec 5, 2021)
It has been forever since the last time I wrote a live report. And if you only know my blog recently, you might not know what this is about at all xD But truth is I never stopped supporting Piko and today I finally went to his live in Shibuya after how long I don’t remember so I really really want to write something about it ☺️ It’s gonna be quite lengthy so please bear with me xD
The live includes 2 shows, the afternoon show and the evening show. The afternoon show is called “Yawame” - meaning soft in Japanese, where he sang more ballad songs and the evening show is called “Katame” - hard, where he sang more rockish and upbeat song. Each show lasts about 1.5 hours, which is a bit shorter than his normal live, but understandable because he and some of the fans just got back from the fanclub trip in Okinawa, just right before the live. (Everyone was dragging suitcases to the venue it was kinda of cool lol). I don’t remember all the songs he sang but I’m gonna list out a few I was impressed about. Tbh he sounded really good in all the songs today. And I would always describe him as someone who looks better in action. Like, there is something very charming about him whenever I see him on stage, enjoying himself and singing with everything he has.
- Yuki no Hana: He sang this in both shows. Honestly his voice was so beautiful it almost made me cry. Sometimes I just wish that he would sing ballad more…
- Rolling Merry Go Round: It has been a long time since I last heard this live! He sounded even better now. And I kept staring at his beautiful hands when he signs the numbers in the song. His movement was so smooth I couldn’t get my eyes of him.
- Poltergeist: He sang the new original live for the first time in the evening show today. And it was so good. He sang it perfectly and with the tension of the live it sounded even better than the recording. A lottt of headbangings!! I was shaking my head so much my neck hurts xDD But it was totally worth it!
- Akashi: Old song from his first album 1PIKO. I am not sure if I have never heard it live in person (I definitely watched it in the live DVD tho).
- Darling Dance: He uploaded a cover recently but this is the first time he sang it live. Cute song indeed. And it sounded hard as hell but he handled it nicely. And he blew kisses to us at all the “chu!” part xD
- Make Our Days: He sang it in both encores. There is a movement he came up with during the chorus where we the audiences would raise the fingers to count the days as the lyrics go. It was super fun and refreshing doing it with everyond. And he was jumping around the stage like a kid. It was so cute.
- Haikei Doppelganger: the ultimate closing song in almost every Piko’s live haha! At this point I’m confident to say noone could sing it better than him live. Even in XYZ’s live back then, Piko’s Doppelganger is always expected because the way he fires up the stage and more importantly the way he sang such a difficult song unbelievably good, just blows our minds every single time. Noone could stand still at all and we all ended up headbanging with him until our hair became a mess xD But it was a really, really good feeling.
Other than that he also sang a lot of good old songs: his 1st single Story, 2nd single Wasurenagusa (afternoon show), 3rd single Sakurane (both shows), songs from the butai he participated in recently, Vocaloid songs like Ghost Rule, Mozaik Role, Nisoku Hokou, Juggernaut etc. ☺️
The live itself was quite short so there was not a lot of talk today. He did talk about how this live marked 14 years since he started posted his first video on Niconico douga. And how many things have changed since then. He was surprised that he could still do the same thing after such a long time. He has a new drummer in the support band today (I think his name was Shinya?). And the drummer was talking about him seeing Piko on TV when he was still a highschooler ☺️ Piko also turned to Okamu (the bassist) who has been with him ever since he just debuted and was like “I did change a lot, don’t you think?”, and Okamu replied with “In a good way, or bad way you mean?” which made everyone laugh 😂 Reno the guitarist is really funny too. Because the live is splitted into 2 shows, he decided that he would wear black in the evening and something that is not black in the afternoon. But when he chose his outfit for the afternoon show, he ended up picking a violet blouse, with silver sleeves, which he described as very “yakuza-like” 😂 Him and Piko talked about how they have been standing on stage for around the same amount of time (14 years) and they both look forward to celebrate their 24th year too!
Piko himself said that so many things have happened, but he has seen the bottom of bottom so now he will just keep moving forward and believe that better things are still waiting ahead! And he also announced his next birthday live on March 11 next year. It will be in a bigger venue and all the fans have already planned for that day. When we say goodbye to each other after the live, we all end up saying “See you again in March.” and it honestly makes me feel so happy. Pikoots is a really small fandom, but that makes everyone like family. Everytime we meet in lives, we would hug, and talk and have meals and sometimes give one another gifts. Being a foreigner, I always feel a little bit like an outsider in Japan but with the Piko fandom, I don’t feel it as much 😳
Btw when you buy the goods at the venue, you will have chances to receive a photo with Piko’s signature and also take a photo with him xD Too bad because of Corona, we must keep our mask on and there is a partition between me and him, but he looks so cool and nice up close I forgot everything I wanted to say XDD so I will just show you the photo I got xD
By the way, Piko will be in another live called Jack in the Vox on December 22, with other utaites like Kony, Nero, Noristry, konoko, Touyu. The ticket will be all sale from tomorrow and there will be a streaming ticket for just 2000 yen so foreign fans might be able to watch it too!
There are many many other things I want to write about but its gonna become a book if I continue (it might take a whole chapter just to describe how beautiful his hands are) so I’m gonna stop here. And I will try to write more live reports, because I have more chances to go now thanks to Corona having calmed down in Japan, as long as there are still people who want to read it ^^