It was an amazing weekend, spent with KinKi Kids at their live event KinKi Kids 24451-Kimi to boku no koe-. Overall, the atmosphere was really relaxed, with KinKi Kids doing a lot of MC talk with a total of 16 songs.
KinKi Kids 24451-Kimi to boku no koe- Set List
FRIENDS
Kiss kara hajimaru mystery
Garasu no Shonen
Jetcoaster Romance
Midnight Rain
Tayori ni shitemasse
Hey! Minna genki kai? (only for 7 Aug show)
Boku no senaka niwa hane ga aru
Hakka Candy
Bara to Taiyou
Zenbu Dakishimete
Sukini natteku Aishiteku
Renrui
Ai no katamari
Kono mama te wo tsunaide
Anniversary
Amazing Love
Free gifts at the entrance
We were handed mini uchiwas and also glow sticks at the entrance. It’s really thoughtful to get a fan on hand because it can get a little warm during this hot summer. They did try their best to cool down the venue, but still, with this 55,000-strong crowd, there is a lot of heat.
Some observations
For the 6 Aug show, I was seated on the 1st floor stand leaning towards the right facing the main stage. This position reminded me of how Tokyo Dome causes very strong echoes, and it’s a notoriously difficult venue to do concerts.
I recalled how tight the arena seats were because you are basically going shoulder-to-shoulder with the next person. It’s a relief that the stand seats were slightly more spacious and comfortable to be seated throughout the show.
While waiting for the show to start, they were playing KinKi Kids songs in the venue. There was some chatter among the audience but overall I will think most people are well-behaved.
252 costumes display
The show started with a collage of KinKi Kids photos from their official single or album jacket covers, as well as some video clips from all their previous concerts. The backdrop then revealed 3 rows of stage costumes worn by KinKi Kids from the past 25 years. It was actually quite magnificent, and the audience clapped too.
Who am I? Who are you?
KinKi Kids shared that during this anniversary year, they have a chance to rediscover all these good songs, written by very famous composers. But at the same time, they were also making fun of the lyrics from their songs.
Taking some parts out of context, they were laughing at the first song they sang – FRIENDS. There were some lyrics going along the line of “Who am I?” “Who are you?” “It doesn’t matter” “I live with you under the same skies” (Excuse me for the very simple translation) The way Tsuyoshi went “Who are you?” and “Who am I?” was really comical.
白い歯舌見せて笑う
On a similar note, Koichi mentioned about this part in Hakka Candy, where the lyrics went “Smile, showing your white teeth and tongue”. This part was mentioned in both shows, but Tsuyoshi did some intepretion of the situation, trying to help us visualise what this image is like. The result was a very ugly (but cute!) look.
During the 7 Aug show, KinKi Kids even involved Dojima-san to share his opinion on this scenario. He helped the 2 boys analyse that looking back at the previous line which asked “Do you have a candy?” “This is the last piece” then goes to the “Smile, showing your white teeth and tongue” line. He thinks it’s a conversation between 2 persons, and the situation of the smile resembles the girl(?) is trying to show the last piece of candy on her tongue while smiling.
Koichi then mentioned that maybe they should do a special corner on their YouTube channel, grabbing the other Johnny’s artists to interpret and act out this scene.
No cheering, only clapping
Koichi was also praising the fans on how well-behaved we are, because everyone really focused on clapping as much as we really want to cheer and scream. I really think that we need more variation to express ourselves other than clapping… (reminded of Kis-My-Ft2 concert goods which included a voice player…) With this, Tsuyoshi did a close-up wink on the camera, and Koichi was like “I didn’t see that, do it again!” Both boys were pretty high on both days.
Hey! Minna genki kai?
The boys did an extra performance Hey! Minna geki kai? on the second Tokyo show. Both mentioned that they were aware that many fans couldn’t take part in the event this time due to the COVID-19 situation. Personally, I also noticed many tweets about last-minute cancellation because these people contracted the virus. KinKi Kids were trying to see how they can share this wonderful atmosphere with these fans too. We were clapping so hard to the rhythm of this song.
The last show did have some camera filming, so I think we can expect a Blu-ray/DVD release in the near future. KinKi suggested having this extra performance be released specially on their YouTube channel, and it should take much shorter to edit compared to the usual official video release.
Smartphone or Mobile phone
Koichi loves to harp on this topic about referring to his phone as mobile phone and not smartphone. Tsuyoshi mentioned that he is in the smartphone group. It was funny how no one in the audience responded when he asked who was also referring to mobile phone like him. Later on, when I thought about it myself, I realised I also refer to my phone as mobile phone (gasps!)
Concert trolley
In the past 2 years, KinKi Kids have been doing their live shows from only the main stage, due to the pandemic. But this time, they thought going closer to the fans, and decide to do 2 songs Kono mama te wo tsunaide and Anniversary on the concert trolley. In order to make sure no one screams or cheers, they did a special ballad arrangement for the first song. Indeed, most are just waving their penlights at the boys as they come near. Koichi doesn’t wave at all, as usual. Tsuyoshi was waving most of the time.
Amazing Love
The last performance was Amazing Love. At this point, Tsuyoshi asked the fans to wave our glow sticks and follow the dancers’ movements. It was a very pretty sight with all the colourful glow sticks. We were part of the performance to create the “rainbow” effect. Koichi mentioned about the lyrics which repeated “Magic Time”, is referring to this magical time we share with the boys during these events. He was going emotional over how the glow sticks will fade after 1 day, which illustrates the lyrics for “Magic Time Goodbye” but there is always “Magic Time Again”.
Magic Time Again
In the end, Koichi promised to meet again in winter at this exact venue, which implies that we can look forward to the winter concerts! I’m very excited about this because I’m hoping they considered the songs we voted on via the fan club some time ago.
Thank you for the Amazing Love
Overall, this live event was really one that appeals to fans and non-fans. It gave a nice story line to the history of KinKi Kids music career, and everyone will recognise all these prominent songs. I’m definitely hoping for the next concert, they do something maniac for the fans, meaning a lot of minor songs. Like what Tsuyoshi mentioned before performing Tayori ni shitemasse about some of the titles – Backfire, 5×9=63, etc. I hope we can cheer very loudly, when he really gets Koichi to agree on performing Backfire in the near future. LOL!
[…] With COVID-19 restrictions slightly lifted, they also resumed selling concert goods at the concert venue. It’s not a walk-in but you have to register an account, and reserve a timeslot on their Johnnys Concert Goods website. I didn’t buy anything on the spot this time, but bought from their online website as usual. It’s good that I can reuse the penlight that they released earlier this year for the summer concerts. […]