Nana Mizuki Live Grace 2011 -Orchestra-

Got caught up with stuff so here’s the belated report. ^^; Both days were similar so I’m just writing 1 post.

Usual warning: this is very long. :3

Before the live..
Apparently 1 hour wasn’t enough to sit everyone in. People queued earlier to get in, staff didn’t even check our bags, but still there wasn’t enough time. Got in before 6pm and had to listen to various Celine Dion songs lolwut.

My first time in Yokohama Arena with maximum capacity for horizontal pattern!

Colored blocks except grey were seats. Yep there were people only staring at Nana’s back for the whole time. Blue dots were me on Day 1 and Day 2. (1 incredible FC ticket luck that’s better than the auctioned ticket lol). Red dot was Nana. Black square behind her was 90 orchestra musicians. Dark green line circling was Nana’s route riding a carriage to the alternate stage (red square).

Lights dimmed out 20 mins off schedule. Day 2 was slightly earlier at 15 mins late lol.
*PS. Red font = day 1, Blue font = day 2.. black/purple’s both days.
**PPS just for fun, try counting how many times I shed tears.

OPENING.
Tokyo New City Orchestra musicians took their places, then someone followed… lolwut Dai-sensei! Violinist in Minorin’s band! I was surprised but then figured he prob got in with Elements Garden relations? Or just that there’s not many experienced violinist for anison? Wait did Nana forget about Mamimami already? ^^;

Lastly, conductor Fujino Kouichi got up stage. They started showing off with a famous piece Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in D Major 35 while OP video was playing. Simple video with Nana entering some hall looking for a violin. As it ended, a familiar intro started..

1. 天空のカナリア (Tenkuu no Canaria)
NANA FLEW DOWN!!!! Literally!! From the ceiling, slowly descending while singing.. in a white dress.. I just saw an angel. ;__; Not exactly the song I had imagined to start Grace, but it was perfect.

Arrangement wasn’t significantly altered, just slightly slower tempo and way more epic with orchestra back-up! Day 1, most people were hesitating to jump/shout or not.. but we did anyway. Day 2 had mostly the same people so everyone went nuts since the start (and more people prepared Canary/yellow lights xD).

2. Tears’ Night
“Tsuyoku, tsuyoku..” and everyone burst into joy. One of the most anticipated song KITAAAAA–!! I start to see the greatness of adding 90 musicians to an already magnificent song… hands down.

MC
Unlike her usual live, Nana did the title call elegantly… before giving up and decided that “the usual thing” is better and shouted the title loudly! ^^;; Nana expressed her concerns about how audience would react since this is full orchestra, but she’s actually glad seeing our “usual” reaction (jumping/shouting like mad).

Day 2, special talk with Fujino! He only met Nana 5 times (1x business meeting, 2x rehearsal, 2x live days), but he’s obviously very impressed with Nana’s talent and hardwork. He said that Nana’s different from other successful stars he’s ever met. Nana was down-to-earth, didn’t wear sunglasses during meetings, don’t do lipsync… blabla in the end Fujino-san decided to join Nana’s FC lolololol receiving loud applause from us!

Since there wasn’t any “mawatte/turn around” corner in Day 1, on Day 2 we started trying from first costume but Nana refused .__.

3. undercover
Oooh this is a surprise, first time performed live! Finally a song with a great change from the original, but it worked wonders. :3 Near the end, two huge heart-shaped chocolate-box statue(?) rose up on left and right side of the stage.

4. ファーストカレンダー (First Calendar)
Sweeeeeet! Nana sat on the right-stage heart doing the cute First Calendar gestures (refer to Live Formula); I swear this was the cutest orchestra(ish?) song ever lol.

5. テルミドール (Thermidore)
I was REALLY surprised when I heard the intro. Seems many people didn’t recognize Thermidore, but for those who did, it was godsent. One of the rarest song ever, live! First teary eyes in this live. ;__; Obvious improvement from its original sang by 18-yo Nana; heck even Vingt Sept (re-recorded in 2007) couldn’t compete. Nana moved to the left-stage heart, leaning on it while singing in a matured, low voice… sexy. :3

MC
Short talk about Thermidore, how it’s a pre-King Records debut song, which was like 10 years ago.. reminded her that, “Yesterday I turned thir….ty….ahem…..oneyearsold” LOLOL aww Nana I’d still love you even 40 years from now! :3

Day 1 was really special with (1-day late) Birthday Surprise! As 2 staff brought in a cake, Fujino cued the orchestra group to play the same old Happy Birthday, and without any pre-agreement everyone started singing to Nana..!! She didn’t look really surprised (who would) but still looked touched for the effort. ^_^

Day 2 had Kohaku talk. She was sitting opposite SMAP or sth not interested. More on her Precure collabo with top 3 AKB48 girls, who apparently had a Precure 101 session with Nana since well, she’s Cure Blossom. ^^;

6. PHANTOM MINDS
Too bad Kohaku didn’t get the best PHANTOM MINDS ever. I saw some people using red lights in regards to Kohaku, but I sticked with blue until the song’s peak (when Nana broke free from crystal ball in PV) and break Ultra Orange there! :3

7. MARIA&JOKER
And here I was thinking not to bring lights? Glad I did, red burst! The new arrangement worked really well! Like Thermidore, slower tempo made this sound hella lot sexier… Which did you like? (//A//)

Special Movie
Instrumental version of Ano Hi Yumemita Negai.. Set on Nakano, starring adult Nana wearing red coat in the present, and a high-school girl representing young Nana, if that’s not her memory. Fourth wall was that young Nana (?) is a Nana fan too, shown listening to Phantom Minds, collecting Nana’s CD, and watching Live Diamond BD.. but her life was clearly an illustration of Nana’s past.

Adult Nana visited Horikoshi high‘s classroom, sitting on a chair paralleling the chair Young Girl sat on, studying hard in class alone, indicating she didn’t get a job unlike her idol classmates. Adult Nana strolled on the streets in Nakano, while Young Girl did vocal training.

Adult Nana walked past Nakano Sunplaza and some fangirls approached her for handshakes and autograph. On the other world, Young Girl enthusiastically opened an envelope just to find out it was only another audition rejection letter… crumpled and threw it away in desperation. She received a text from Mama asking how she’s doing, and Young Girl, despite crying, replied that she’s okay… . I srsly couldn’t hold my tears at this point and just bawled.. ;__; and I wasn’t alone.

Video ended with Nana sitting inside Sunplaza Hall (hey isn’t that about where I sat in Zachou Kouen lol), and Young Girl decided to keep working hard… best MV ever. From now on I will just cry everytime I listen to Ano Hi Yumemita Negai (A wish I dreamed of that day)… this song was spot on. ;__;

Costume 2.

Isn’t it great Nana didn’t forget to show some legs even in Orchestra lololol. Reminded me of Fever’s black frilly dress with curly hair and mini top hat, just that this is so pink lol.

8. Justice to Believe (MUSEUM style)
Another epic song made more epic. Nana rode a  carriage to circle around floor area to reach the alternate stage (refer to map on top). Special choir for MUSEUM part was crazy good!

MC
Alternate stage had a grand piano so we could guess who’s coming. Nana called for Cherry Boys Tom-kun! Too cute in a tux! Orchestra musicians left to backstage, and acoustic corner starts. Oh on Day 2 we tried mawatte shouts again, but still didn’t work.. Nana did Blossom’s voice though, which was just a plug to promote its final episode next week lol.

9. オルゴールとピアノと (Orgol to Piano to)
Lovely! 2nd surprise song from Livedom Birth after Thermidore, got my hopes up for Takaramono, but too bad. Nana kept smiling while singing so it didn’t sound sad at all.

MC
Guitarist Itaruvic and percussions Cho-san joined stage.
Day 1 congratulated Cho-san’s newborn baby girl the day before, who shared a birthday with Nana! To regard that, Cho-san named his baby Marina, with the letter “Na” (奈) from Nana. Congratulations, Cho-papa!
Day 2 congratulated Cho-san again.. it’s his 36th birthday! Also little interview with Itaruvic, he’s been watching from normal seats since Nana was “floating around” which Nana quickly corrected “I was flying, not floating!” LOL.

10. 大好きな君へ (Daisuki na Kimi e) -> LOOKING ON THE MOON
YES YES YES!! Fits the season, and definitely looooved the suddenly romantic mood I just didn’t want this song to end. >_< Day 2 had a surprisingly ancient song but I loved it, much happier than the original.

11. 少年 (Shounen) -> 大好きな君へ (Daisuki na Kimi e)
Day 1 caught me off guard… I never liked Shounen but this laid-back acoustic version was so good I’m refusing to listen to its original again. Day 2 had Daisuki na Kimi e again with swapped order.. but I’m glad they kept it. :3

MC – End acoustic corner. Cherry Boys left the stage. Orchestra group is back.

12. Astrogation
Yeaaaaah time to go crazy!! Nana rode the carriage again, finishing the circle back to main stage. Btw she went clockwise on day 1, and anti-clockwise on day 2. Since I was on the same area for both days, I got amazing view of both songs; the carriage just stopped a few meters in front of me! xD

Orchestra Introduction
Introduced each instrument while playing Bolero.. I guess it’s the equivalent of the usual band battle, lasting the full 7 mins song. OH BTW, me (and all English-speaking people) totally burst seeing Bassoon, still on its Italian name Fagotto but fail transliteration resulted in a group of old men blowing a long brown thing with a big FAGOTT (ファゴット) on screen. NO SHIT ROFL. They forgot an ‘o’ on the best part… lololol.

Costume 3

Back to epic dress, but more Japanese style with those ethnic pattern.
(Day 2) No attempt to mawatte corner since we knew all songs were gonna be srsbsns lol.

13. Orchestral Fantasia
Another song I’ve been dying to hear. On top of orchestra group, Cherry Boys also backed Nana up.. tho I actually think maybe just the orchestra would have been better… don’t hit me lol. Day 2 performance was exceptional, though not as intense as Formula’s..

14. ETERNAL BLAZE
Starting very differently from Tom-kun’s intro, everyone was like huh? before we heard “Haruka sora hibiiteru..” and everyone oooohhh-ed together while breaking orange lights! I don’t know how many times I’ve heard this live and it wasn’t too different anyway lol.

15. Crystal Letter
This song has a personal meaning to me.. way too beautiful it’d be a crime not to cry! Midway, fake snow started pouring down.. the view was so delicate like it was taken from a painting. Truest lyrics ever: 「この世界で一番あなたが大好きです」 In this world, you’re the one I love the most.. Love you forever..

MC
Short intro to extra Cherry Boys members (bassist Ryutan, guitarist Kenny, drummer Yutapon). Also welcoming the last guest… the one we’ve been waiting for: harpist Agematsu Mika! Being BFF in real life they held hands, hugged etc lol. Mika-chan and her cute voice greeted us too. :3

Nana said she couldn’t do this song without Mika-chan.

16. Heart-shaped Chant
For the first time I totally neglected my light and just stood there in awe… started with goosebumps, followed with tears flowing down my cheek. I wasn’t sad, just too thankful to experience this breathtaking song, live on its best. Thank you, Nana. ;___;

MC
Last song announcement… it felt SO short because it really was. ;__; I noticed staff exchanged Mika-chan’s harp with another harp.. couldn’t tell the difference lol. Nana mentioned that her name 「奈々」 was given by her father (I think I just read that on the book while queuing for goods xD). Daddy talk always leads to crying Nana.. and this.

17. 深愛 (Shin’ai)
Didn’t cry in day 1 with HSC after-effect, but silently weeped in day 2. Every single line in this song means a lot to Nana. Some people claimed to notice Mika-chan crying too, but I wasn’t paying attention, sorry. >_<

ENCORE - No more “encore” shouts, we only call for Nana’s name… “NANA! NANA! NANA!…”

Day 1 – Black shirt + pink rose. / Day 2 – White shirt + white rose.
First thing we did in Day 2 was the mawatte shouts lolol. Nana was surprised that we wanted it that bad we’re even settling with an encore shirt..

18. SUPER GENERATION
Nana’s first self-composed song deserves a spot! Even with slower tempo it was still energetic and fun.

MC
Just about time for announcement! I’ll make separate post for that, though very late lol and done that in Twitter…, especially the bigger announcement on day 2 that delayed this post. xD After that comes the real last song.

19. Sing Forever
Perfect final song, but by this point I couldn’t produce anymore tears lol. Enjoyed it normally.

ENDING – Mika-chan, Nana, and Fujino held hands and bowed. Day 2 had Nana shouting “Arigatou gozaimashita!” VERY loudly without mike.. impressive lol.

DOUBLE ENCORE – There’s something missing (and light’s still dark), so we called for Nana’s name once again! She reappeared very soon, apparently it was deliberate to end “Live Grace” gracefully, before Nana, now alone on that stage, can do the usual Shassu! call.  Then, Nana said she wants to sing with us.. so there goes.

20. New Sensation (a capella) -> POWER GATE (a capella)
Full verse+chorus. Day 1 was Nana’s choice, and Day 2 was clearly fan-favorite. No lyrics on screen whatsoever, but we sang loudly.. must be the result of all that anison karaoke lol.

Finally, of course a Nana live ends with “Mizuki Nana ni KAKATTE KOI~!!”

…

Quick impressions.. it’s TOO SHORT (2.5 hours and 19 songs wuuuut), but impressed me more than I had expected, and I’m glad Nana still encouraged us to “do the usual thing” without having a bad effect on orchestra. Oh btw looking back at my wishlist, I had 11 correct guesses! Either it was predictable or I’m good haha. xD Too bad no innocent starter.. nor Trinity Cross.. damn I want more. >_< Also no news on which live gets into BD, but I noticed more cameras in Day 2. Too bad no birthday surprise nor age-related jokes recorded then. ^^;

Damn I owe this blog a lot of posts… xD