December 26th, 2009
[EOY] Yui Makino Concert in Singapore
It’s like this. Even though I was all excited about Yui-chan coming to Singapore 3 weeks ago and swore to buy the concert ticket, I was still deliberating whether to buy one during these few days and HAD NOT bought one yet THAT VERY morning. The reason being, I was wondering if I should spend money on a 1.5 hours concert or on SPHERE’s A.T.M.O.S.P.H.E.R.E album + dvd which I can loop countless times. In the end, when I woke up this morning, I suddenly became enlightened for no apparent reason and chose the concert :).
I only realized this morning from the schedule posted at eoy’s website that Makino Yui will be giving a mini performance (of 20 mins) and autograph session even for those normal entrance ticket holders. I rushed down and thank goodness the concert tickets weren’t sold out yet so I bought the $49 (CAT 4, at the 3rd level) one since I’m a poor student who could only afford the ticket with the lowest price. I got to the main stage area at 4:30 pm and it was showing some Lolita Fashion event which I wasn’t interested in. Anyway it ended almost immediately I stepped in and then the emcees came out and announced the winners of the cosplay contests blah blah blah.
The emcees gave a brief introduction of Makino Yui (being a singer, pianist, seiyuu and all). It was kind of funny how one of the emcees pronounced the Japanese names of the singles she had released, haha. So at 4:40 pm, we had the mini performance by Makino Yui! She sang three songs.
1) you are my love [insert song of Tsubasa Chronicle TV anime]
2) Amrita (アムリタ) [ending song of Tsubasa Chronicle movie]
3) Fuwa fuwa (ふわふわ♪) [new song; to be released as a single on 3rd march 2010]
She played the grand piano while singing for both TC songs and then sang the 3rd song with background music. Of course, both TC songs were excellent and I particularly love Amrita. Fuwa fuwa, however, took me by surprise because it sounded like a generic jpop song, quite unlike her usual, soft and emotional songs, but was surprisingly catchy. I quite like it. I saw some people recording her performance so perhaps the videos will appear on youtube sooner or later.
She left the stage and then the emcees came up and announced that the organisers would be giving away 4 pairs of tickets to her concert. OMG! I just spent my money on one and here they are, giving 8 of them away =.=;. Anyway, the first question they asked was to name one song that Yui Makino sang from Tsubasa Chronicle. Someone came up and said “Amurita”. Then for the next question, they asked for another song from the same anime and then someone came up and gave the answer, “you are my love”. The third question was to name one song from ARIA that she sang and there was some delay before someone came up and replied with “Euforia”. The fourth and final question was to name the title of her latest released single and there was a delay even longer than the previous one and then some Japanese guy seated in front came up and answered “Tanpopo Suisha”. Such simple questions! I could have easily gotten a pair of them just by answering any question but I already bought one so too bad.
With that, the day events ended and people filed out of the stage area to the booths area and it became so packed and conjested that I spent quite some time walking around while dodging people to search for the booth that sold Makino Yui merchandise. They were selling the Tanpopo Suisha cd single for $20, a set of 3 photocards for $15 and some keyrings (I forgot the price). I bought the cd (^^). I heard from someone talking in the crowd that they only allowed her to sign on the merchandise and not on other stuff, hmm. The autograph session was supposed to start at 5:45 pm but there was already a queue forming so I just joined the queue.
OMG! Yui-chan up close!!!! I can die happy already. She’s very nice and polite and said “arigatou gozaimasu” to everyone while standing up to sign the autographs. AHHHH she is so cute (although her face is a bit round). I had breathed the same air as her. Anyway, apparently you can talk to her too if you want. Even though my mind was brimming with 101 questions like: “When will you release a new album?/ Do you have a boyfriend?/ What songs did you play at Kikuchi Mika’s marriage?/ What do you think about her marriage? Do you feel like marrying too?/ When do you intend to get married?/ What type of guys do you like?/ Why don’t you mention Inoue Marina nowadays? I thought the two of you were very close. Have the two of you drifted apart?/ Who is your closest female seiyuu friend right now?/ Why haven’t you been doing anime work?! We miss your cute, moe voice!/ Do you intend to focus more on music than anime work from now onwards?!/ What is your favourite classical piano piece?/ Who is your favourite composer?/ What is the most difficult piece that you have ever played?/ What other musical instrument will you pick up, if given a chance?” Etc etc etc but all I could manage was to be speechless with happiness while I handed to her my cd and watched her sign it and then thanked her, orz. I’m such a baka!
So I got my cd signed after queuing for almost half an hour and then left to grab a quick bite for dinner before the concert starts at 7 pm. I headed back soon and reached the drama centre at 6:35 pm. They started admitting people at 6:45 pm and because I got a CAT 4 ticket, I had to go up 2 storeys above.
Even though they stated that the concert was to start at 7 pm, it took quite a while to admit all the people and the concert only started about 25 minutes past the stated time. Photography and recording were strictly prohibited for the night concert so no photos from me, sorry. Here’s something amusing. There were about 10 of us up at the 3rd floor and an organiser came up to us and asked us to go down to the 1st level, as that level was not as packed as they had expected and we could sit at the back rows. LOL, so in an instant I was promoted from a CAT 4 to CAT 2 seat. [FYI, ground level= CAT 1 ($99; the half closer to the stage) & CAT 2 ($79; the half further away). 2nd level= CAT 3 ($59), 3rd level = CAT 4 ($49).] Some strange bit of luck here, hahaha. Another surprising thing was that the organisers actually prepared glowsticks for all of us! How nice~~~ I took a pink one :).
The concert finally began! Here’s the setlist. [I actually took notes while watching the performance. If you saw someone scribbling away occasionally, that’s me. :)]
1) Euforia (ユーフォリア) [Aria the Natural TV anime opening theme]
2) Kurasutaa (クラスター) [new song]
3) Ao no Kaori (碧の香り) [new song]
4) Fuwa fuwa (ふわふわ♪) [new song; to be released as a single on 3rd march 2010]
5) the never ending rainbows [new song; coupling song of Fuwa fuwa single]
6) Yokogao (横顔) [Aria the Origination TV anime insert song]
7) Amrita (アムリタ) [ending song of Tsubasa Chronicle movie]
8) Yume no Tsubasa (ユメノツバサ) [insert song of Tsubasa Chronicle TV anime]
Q&A
BIRTHDAY SURPRISE
9) A Winter Story [A piano performance from “Love Letter” movie soundtrack; Yui played the piano for this film when she was 8 years old.]
ENCORE
10) Harumachi Kaze (春待ち風) [new song]
VOICE-ACTING
She sang songs #6-8 while playing the piano. #9 is of course a piano performance only.
Yui-chan is a really competent live singer. Even though there were a few times when she sang a few notes out of key, she could bring out the emotions very well. I love her singing voice. Her piano playing is of course, wonderful! Just hearing to #9 calmed my heart and made me feel like picking up piano again. It’s just so beautiful, the way she moved her fingers across the keys. How fluid.
As you can see from the setlist, she sang quite a number of new songs. Kurasutaa (Cluster, maybe?) was a nice song, but didn’t catch my attention that much. On the other hand, I like Ao no Kaori and the tune was still stuck in my head some time after the concert ended. I had already given my comments for Fuwa fuwa above and hearing it a second time for the day was a treat. The never ending rainbows was surprisingly good as well. Maybe I should buy the Fuwa fuwa single, heh heh. I can’t remember much about Harumachi Kaze except that it’s another rather listenable song.
Of her old songs, I like the performance of Yokogao the best. Yui playing the piano while singing this song! Awesome! God, I can die happy. Yume no Tsubasa sounded a bit weird with BOTH the background music and her playing the piano so I didn’t like it as much as Amrita. Euforia was nice. What a pity she only sang 4 old songs. I would have preferred it if she didn’t sing Amrita for a second time and instead sang another song from TC instead (e.g. Jasmin). No Undine or Modokashii Sekai no Ue de :(.
The Question and Answer segment was fun. Brief summary below:
1. What’s your favourite food? Japanese food, because I’m Japanese. [<-- LOL]
2. How did you become a voice actress? I’ve been playing the piano since I was 4 and then took part in playing the piano for films. When I was 18, I went for the audition for the role of Sakura for Tsubasa Chronicle and I got it.
3. Have you ever tried cosplaying? No, but I like animal costumes. I bet all of you are imagining me in maid outfit and cat ears now but I actually don’t mind a full-body panda suit, because no one will recognize me. [<-- HAHAHAHA :D. Actually, the first thing that came to my mind was her wearing the Keroro Gunsou costume with MAKO, during Sora Kake TV. ]
4. What are your plans for the future? I’ve been travelling around many countries and giving musical performances. [<--Sorry, I didn’t quite catch this question because I was laughing over the previous one.]
5. What hidden talents do you have? To be able to be standing on this stage is a hidden talent by itself. Also, when I’m sleeping, I have this “banzai” pose. [<-- LOL. She looked really surprised when she got this question and her answer was amusing. The banzai pose refers to her arms stretched upwards.]
6. Tell us something your manager doesn’t know about you. [<-- She went “EH!” and we all laughed.] While doing eyelash extension, I actually don’t know whether to open or close my eyes. [<-- I expected something more juicy but the answer was still funny.]
7. What would you like to say to the young people here who may be intending to pursue music as their careers? 一緒にがんばりましょう！ [<-- “Let’s work hard together!” KAWAII.]
8. Any last words? Thank you for supporting me throughout the years. Because of your warm support, I am able to be here. As a present for you all, I will be giving a final performance of a piano tune from the movie “Love Letter”- A Winter Story.
Then the translator left the stage and Yui walked back to the piano, sat down and was about to play, when SUDDENLY, the translator came out again and announced that they would be giving out a present to Yui! An early birthday surprise! WOW Yui’s expression of shock and surprise when they wheeled out the cake. I’m sure she didn’t know about it beforehand. The audience didn’t expect it too because her birthday is in January. Then we stood up and sang Happy Birthday to her and then she made the wish of “to be able to come back to Singapore again” before blowing out the candles. She then remarked that she had not given her present yet but had received one instead. That was fun :).
She then played A Winter Story and exited the stage. The audience shouted for encore and she came back and sang Harumachi Kaze. After that, the translator came out again and requested for her to say some words from her role of Sakura from Tsubasa Chronicle; in other words, voice-acting. I’m pretty sure that was completely IMPROMPTU because Yui had a look of surprise on her face and she paused for a long time before saying “Syaoran-kun!” and then stopped again and then asked the audience what we would want her to say. She then remarked that she’s trying very hard to think of some lines. How cute! XD Someone from the audience shouted “Syaoran-kun, daisuki!” and so Yui said that, with such a really cute and moe voice that probably made all Syaoran X Sakura shippers fall to their knees and faint. She also added “シンガポール、大好き！” We could all die happy now.
With that, the concert came to an end. It was an enjoyable experience and I’m really glad I went to it. :) The concert was fun, and I'm sure Yui had fun too. Here’s my autographed cd:
I only realized this morning from the schedule posted at eoy’s website that Makino Yui will be giving a mini performance (of 20 mins) and autograph session even for those normal entrance ticket holders. I rushed down and thank goodness the concert tickets weren’t sold out yet so I bought the $49 (CAT 4, at the 3rd level) one since I’m a poor student who could only afford the ticket with the lowest price. I got to the main stage area at 4:30 pm and it was showing some Lolita Fashion event which I wasn’t interested in. Anyway it ended almost immediately I stepped in and then the emcees came out and announced the winners of the cosplay contests blah blah blah.
The emcees gave a brief introduction of Makino Yui (being a singer, pianist, seiyuu and all). It was kind of funny how one of the emcees pronounced the Japanese names of the singles she had released, haha. So at 4:40 pm, we had the mini performance by Makino Yui! She sang three songs.
1) you are my love [insert song of Tsubasa Chronicle TV anime]
2) Amrita (アムリタ) [ending song of Tsubasa Chronicle movie]
3) Fuwa fuwa (ふわふわ♪) [new song; to be released as a single on 3rd march 2010]
She played the grand piano while singing for both TC songs and then sang the 3rd song with background music. Of course, both TC songs were excellent and I particularly love Amrita. Fuwa fuwa, however, took me by surprise because it sounded like a generic jpop song, quite unlike her usual, soft and emotional songs, but was surprisingly catchy. I quite like it. I saw some people recording her performance so perhaps the videos will appear on youtube sooner or later.
She left the stage and then the emcees came up and announced that the organisers would be giving away 4 pairs of tickets to her concert. OMG! I just spent my money on one and here they are, giving 8 of them away =.=;. Anyway, the first question they asked was to name one song that Yui Makino sang from Tsubasa Chronicle. Someone came up and said “Amurita”. Then for the next question, they asked for another song from the same anime and then someone came up and gave the answer, “you are my love”. The third question was to name one song from ARIA that she sang and there was some delay before someone came up and replied with “Euforia”. The fourth and final question was to name the title of her latest released single and there was a delay even longer than the previous one and then some Japanese guy seated in front came up and answered “Tanpopo Suisha”. Such simple questions! I could have easily gotten a pair of them just by answering any question but I already bought one so too bad.
With that, the day events ended and people filed out of the stage area to the booths area and it became so packed and conjested that I spent quite some time walking around while dodging people to search for the booth that sold Makino Yui merchandise. They were selling the Tanpopo Suisha cd single for $20, a set of 3 photocards for $15 and some keyrings (I forgot the price). I bought the cd (^^). I heard from someone talking in the crowd that they only allowed her to sign on the merchandise and not on other stuff, hmm. The autograph session was supposed to start at 5:45 pm but there was already a queue forming so I just joined the queue.
OMG! Yui-chan up close!!!! I can die happy already. She’s very nice and polite and said “arigatou gozaimasu” to everyone while standing up to sign the autographs. AHHHH she is so cute (although her face is a bit round). I had breathed the same air as her. Anyway, apparently you can talk to her too if you want. Even though my mind was brimming with 101 questions like: “When will you release a new album?/ Do you have a boyfriend?/ What songs did you play at Kikuchi Mika’s marriage?/ What do you think about her marriage? Do you feel like marrying too?/ When do you intend to get married?/ What type of guys do you like?/ Why don’t you mention Inoue Marina nowadays? I thought the two of you were very close. Have the two of you drifted apart?/ Who is your closest female seiyuu friend right now?/ Why haven’t you been doing anime work?! We miss your cute, moe voice!/ Do you intend to focus more on music than anime work from now onwards?!/ What is your favourite classical piano piece?/ Who is your favourite composer?/ What is the most difficult piece that you have ever played?/ What other musical instrument will you pick up, if given a chance?” Etc etc etc but all I could manage was to be speechless with happiness while I handed to her my cd and watched her sign it and then thanked her, orz. I’m such a baka!
So I got my cd signed after queuing for almost half an hour and then left to grab a quick bite for dinner before the concert starts at 7 pm. I headed back soon and reached the drama centre at 6:35 pm. They started admitting people at 6:45 pm and because I got a CAT 4 ticket, I had to go up 2 storeys above.
Even though they stated that the concert was to start at 7 pm, it took quite a while to admit all the people and the concert only started about 25 minutes past the stated time. Photography and recording were strictly prohibited for the night concert so no photos from me, sorry. Here’s something amusing. There were about 10 of us up at the 3rd floor and an organiser came up to us and asked us to go down to the 1st level, as that level was not as packed as they had expected and we could sit at the back rows. LOL, so in an instant I was promoted from a CAT 4 to CAT 2 seat. [FYI, ground level= CAT 1 ($99; the half closer to the stage) & CAT 2 ($79; the half further away). 2nd level= CAT 3 ($59), 3rd level = CAT 4 ($49).] Some strange bit of luck here, hahaha. Another surprising thing was that the organisers actually prepared glowsticks for all of us! How nice~~~ I took a pink one :).
The concert finally began! Here’s the setlist. [I actually took notes while watching the performance. If you saw someone scribbling away occasionally, that’s me. :)]
1) Euforia (ユーフォリア) [Aria the Natural TV anime opening theme]
2) Kurasutaa (クラスター) [new song]
3) Ao no Kaori (碧の香り) [new song]
4) Fuwa fuwa (ふわふわ♪) [new song; to be released as a single on 3rd march 2010]
5) the never ending rainbows [new song; coupling song of Fuwa fuwa single]
6) Yokogao (横顔) [Aria the Origination TV anime insert song]
7) Amrita (アムリタ) [ending song of Tsubasa Chronicle movie]
8) Yume no Tsubasa (ユメノツバサ) [insert song of Tsubasa Chronicle TV anime]
Q&A
BIRTHDAY SURPRISE
9) A Winter Story [A piano performance from “Love Letter” movie soundtrack; Yui played the piano for this film when she was 8 years old.]
ENCORE
10) Harumachi Kaze (春待ち風) [new song]
VOICE-ACTING
She sang songs #6-8 while playing the piano. #9 is of course a piano performance only.
Yui-chan is a really competent live singer. Even though there were a few times when she sang a few notes out of key, she could bring out the emotions very well. I love her singing voice. Her piano playing is of course, wonderful! Just hearing to #9 calmed my heart and made me feel like picking up piano again. It’s just so beautiful, the way she moved her fingers across the keys. How fluid.
As you can see from the setlist, she sang quite a number of new songs. Kurasutaa (Cluster, maybe?) was a nice song, but didn’t catch my attention that much. On the other hand, I like Ao no Kaori and the tune was still stuck in my head some time after the concert ended. I had already given my comments for Fuwa fuwa above and hearing it a second time for the day was a treat. The never ending rainbows was surprisingly good as well. Maybe I should buy the Fuwa fuwa single, heh heh. I can’t remember much about Harumachi Kaze except that it’s another rather listenable song.
Of her old songs, I like the performance of Yokogao the best. Yui playing the piano while singing this song! Awesome! God, I can die happy. Yume no Tsubasa sounded a bit weird with BOTH the background music and her playing the piano so I didn’t like it as much as Amrita. Euforia was nice. What a pity she only sang 4 old songs. I would have preferred it if she didn’t sing Amrita for a second time and instead sang another song from TC instead (e.g. Jasmin). No Undine or Modokashii Sekai no Ue de :(.
The Question and Answer segment was fun. Brief summary below:
1. What’s your favourite food? Japanese food, because I’m Japanese. [<-- LOL]
2. How did you become a voice actress? I’ve been playing the piano since I was 4 and then took part in playing the piano for films. When I was 18, I went for the audition for the role of Sakura for Tsubasa Chronicle and I got it.
3. Have you ever tried cosplaying? No, but I like animal costumes. I bet all of you are imagining me in maid outfit and cat ears now but I actually don’t mind a full-body panda suit, because no one will recognize me. [<-- HAHAHAHA :D. Actually, the first thing that came to my mind was her wearing the Keroro Gunsou costume with MAKO, during Sora Kake TV. ]
4. What are your plans for the future? I’ve been travelling around many countries and giving musical performances. [<--Sorry, I didn’t quite catch this question because I was laughing over the previous one.]
5. What hidden talents do you have? To be able to be standing on this stage is a hidden talent by itself. Also, when I’m sleeping, I have this “banzai” pose. [<-- LOL. She looked really surprised when she got this question and her answer was amusing. The banzai pose refers to her arms stretched upwards.]
6. Tell us something your manager doesn’t know about you. [<-- She went “EH!” and we all laughed.] While doing eyelash extension, I actually don’t know whether to open or close my eyes. [<-- I expected something more juicy but the answer was still funny.]
7. What would you like to say to the young people here who may be intending to pursue music as their careers? 一緒にがんばりましょう！ [<-- “Let’s work hard together!” KAWAII.]
8. Any last words? Thank you for supporting me throughout the years. Because of your warm support, I am able to be here. As a present for you all, I will be giving a final performance of a piano tune from the movie “Love Letter”- A Winter Story.
Then the translator left the stage and Yui walked back to the piano, sat down and was about to play, when SUDDENLY, the translator came out again and announced that they would be giving out a present to Yui! An early birthday surprise! WOW Yui’s expression of shock and surprise when they wheeled out the cake. I’m sure she didn’t know about it beforehand. The audience didn’t expect it too because her birthday is in January. Then we stood up and sang Happy Birthday to her and then she made the wish of “to be able to come back to Singapore again” before blowing out the candles. She then remarked that she had not given her present yet but had received one instead. That was fun :).
She then played A Winter Story and exited the stage. The audience shouted for encore and she came back and sang Harumachi Kaze. After that, the translator came out again and requested for her to say some words from her role of Sakura from Tsubasa Chronicle; in other words, voice-acting. I’m pretty sure that was completely IMPROMPTU because Yui had a look of surprise on her face and she paused for a long time before saying “Syaoran-kun!” and then stopped again and then asked the audience what we would want her to say. She then remarked that she’s trying very hard to think of some lines. How cute! XD Someone from the audience shouted “Syaoran-kun, daisuki!” and so Yui said that, with such a really cute and moe voice that probably made all Syaoran X Sakura shippers fall to their knees and faint. She also added “シンガポール、大好き！” We could all die happy now.
With that, the concert came to an end. It was an enjoyable experience and I’m really glad I went to it. :) The concert was fun, and I'm sure Yui had fun too. Here’s my autographed cd:
Posted by rlxme | Dec 26, 2009 7:13 PM | 1 comments
Private Entry