Kiramune Music Festival 2014 Event Report
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KiraFes 2014 took place on March 22-23 at Yokohama Arena. (Sorry for being so late with the report!) This year marked Kiramune and KiraFes’ 5th anniversary. I’m happy that I can say that I’ve been to all KiraFes events, and even the Kiramune Special Stage at CharaHobby which was Kiramune’s first official event. My, how time flies.
This year they’ve become much more strict with Kiramune events since ticket scalping has become so rampant. There were ID checks before we could enter the venue. This year I borrowed my friends’ luck with tickets and we had great seats both days. The stage was very nicely designed with a hanamichi walkway down the middle leading to the stage in the back. As usual, there cranes and trolleys that brought the audience close to the performers.
The lights went down and the intro movie played as the audience become more and more restless. The music then started and we heard a remix of Get Together! that had never been performed before but where were the voices coming from? Down came the Kiramune boys from above!! The crane lowered them down a bit and they sung in mid air. Everyone wore a white suit with colored trimming that matched their member color. Kamiya looked GREAT. He looks amazing with short hair and put him in a suit? *__________* The remix of Get Together! was really cool and I hope they put it on CD as a bonus with the DVD release.
Kamiya was after Yocchin and he sang START AGAIN, Mirror World, and Nijiiro Chouchou. There was some dancing with START AGAIN which was cool. For the second time he came on stage, he sang Shall We Circus! and Silica Gel. OMG, Shall We Circus! was absolutely amazing!! He was probably lip-syncing but I’ll forgive him because the dancing that went with it was so entertaining. Kamiya appeared from the top of the stage dressed like a magician with a cane and top hat. The LED screens that came out from the back of the stage were used with the song to make it seem like a magic show. Kamiya would jump behind and you can see him on the screen. In the middle of the song he went back and came out wearing a different outfit! Just imagining Kamiya quickly changing behind the screens was enough to make me chuckle. The “La Pa Do it Do Pa Pa ” parts were really cute. The choreography and stage direction for this song were just amazing. I can’t wait to see it again on DVD!
For Kamiya’s third appearance he sang Mitsuba no Clover and Kizuna. I really love Mitsuba no Clover and it’s nice that Kamiya finally sang Kizuna live. It was the one song he had never sung at an event. Even though Miyu kun was present at this year’s event, there was no corner for KAmiYU. I suppose with the addition of Yocchin to the lineup the event would be too long if KAmiYU also had a segment. Pity, really, but they did sing one song for the encore, which was TouriStar. Kamiya and Miyu kun were on each side at the corners of of the center stage and then raised high on the cranes where they sang. I’m pretty sure Kamiya lip synced here too because I could have sworn that no sound came out and he yelled something into the mic on a couple occasions. ^^;
During the encore, two other members would come on stage in the middle of the song and dance or do whatever with the performer as they sang. Kamiya appeared with SuzuKen during Yocchin’s song and danced. Kamiya looks like he has much more fun dancing during other people’s songs than his own. ^^; I guess he has to focus more when dancing for his own songs.
Kamiya sang Ichiban Boshi at the center stage for his encore. The real highlight during the encore was CONNECT’s Conne*Sen though. Everyone in the audience danced along, of course, and in the middle of the song, the rest of the Kiramune members came out on stage to sing along. In the middle of the song there is a long pause where everyone falls and lies down on the floor. This part on the second day was absolutely hilarious! Kamiya, Namikawa, and Irino decided to pile on top of each other. Namikawa was at the bottom with Irino in the middle and Kamiya on top. Micchan and SuzuKen went around commenting on everyone and SuzuKen had an absolute ball when he got to the pile. Since they got to them last, Suzu said that the guys were probably regretting having gone into that position, especially Namikawa since he was at the bottom. Then he talked about their horrible positioning because Miyu kun was on top of Namikawa’s (sweaty) back, and Kamiya’s face was near Namikawa’s sweatiest part– his armpit! Being the little devil he is, Suzu “helped” out at Iwata’s advice by re-positioning Kamiya’s face right in the middle of Namikawa’s armpit!! Cue laughter from the audience. XDDDD Poor, poor, Kamiya. The guys couldn’t take it anymore and began flailing. After they all snapped out of it, Kamiya could be seen wiping his face many times with the sleeve of his tshirt, haha. SuzuKen then pointed at where Namikawa was lying down and had the cameraman come by to get a shot of the floor. There was a HUGE puddle of sweat where Namikawa was!! OMG. Thinking back on it, it was rather quite gross, but at the time everyone was just laughing and amazed that Namikawa could sweat so much. ^^; The music started again and they finished the song, but at the end everyone struck a pose and couldn’t be released from the hypnotic spell until Suzu clapped twice. Again being such a devil, Suzu played tricks on them such as clapping 3 times instead of 2 to see if anyone would react. ^^; It was cute. Finally Suzu clapped twice and the members were released. This was easily one of the biggest highlights of the event. So fun!
Because Micchan wants to focus on doing other things, CONNECT is going on a temporary hiatus which means this was their last live performance for a while. Needless to say, they were last for the encore. After the final greetings, they sang Ever Dream. During the song, the members all went around the venue and threw autographed balls into the crowd. They all met back up at the center of the front stage and exited by going back up into the rafters where they had come down from about 6 hours earlier. Yeah, it was a long event. Tons of fun though and I’m really looking to the video release.
Happy 5th anniversary, Kiramune!
