Concert Tour 2002 - Koji Tamaki Acoustic Special Night
[Part 1]
[Part 2]
[Part 3]
Part 2
Greetings,
Here is the second installation of my Tokyo concert report.
There were quite a few songs that I had never seen performed live, in
concert or in video. In particular, "Party", "Yume No Pocket", "Only
You" and "I'll Belong...." are my favourite. Regardless, it is
always exciting to see Tamaki performing live, especially with
members of Anzenchitai involved.
I would like to say something in praise of Satoko Ando's playing.
Before this tour, I realised that she is going to play a role in the
revived Anzenchitai. While I find her somewhat jazzy, western pop
influence is cool for Tamaki's solo work, I could not help but felt
skeptical about her upcoming gig with Anzenchitai, especially when it
comes to playing their old numbers. But her performance for this
tour has changed my mind.
Having said that, the keyboard arrangement of those Anzenchitai songs
at the concert got a fresh makeover of what I had been hearing
through the years. In particular, Ando's Rhodes piano intro for
"Party" was impeccable (and she played a real Fender Rhodes, not a
sample triggered by MIDI). "Yume No Pocket"'s outro was also a great
closer, although the processed piano sound had a tad too much reverb
(ok, so I am being picky). Her performance throughout the concert
was impressive. The soft touch playing suited those ballads really
well.
Yahagi's acoustic guitar tone was good as ever. Although he managed
to play solos in a few songs, the guitar parts were altered from the
original in order to accommodate this tour's acoustic theme. Well,
it is not really a concert with pure acoustic instruments. Along
with Ando's use of the Rhodes piano and the somewhat processed piano
sound, Yahagi's guitar was routed to some sort of processor, as well.
While most of the time it was not really that noticeable, the
processed guitar sound was most apparent during the intro and outro
of "Wine Red No Kokoro". I quite like the slight delay sound but I
was a little disappointed (but hardly surprised) that they played the
'99 remake version. That version was missing Takezawa's outro. I
have not been to that many Anzenchitai/Koji Tamaki concerts over the
years, but this was the first time I was at a concert watching Tamaki
perform without Takezawa. His absence was certainly felt.
The only time I ever saw Rokudo performing live was back in 1987, so
it was a welcoming sight to see him back on stage playing again.
Again, due to the acoustic set, he did not really get to rock it out.
Rather, he provided a solid backbone for the songs with his acoustic
bass. I understand that he had not been playing for some time prior
to Anzenchitai's session last year, perhaps that explains his
somewhat timid stage presence. With this tour as Rokudo's warmup, he
should be back in form by the time Anzenchitai are back on stage
later this year.
Next up: Part Three: The Singer. Stay tuned.
Anthony
[Part 1]
[Part 2]
[Part 3]
Written by Anthony Chan
Organized by Kelvin Tsang
Last update: May 18, 2002
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