True Life Seek

It’s been a week since v-u-den has announced their split. I think that it is time for me to relive some of their career. For this, I am breaking deep into the TLS Vault and watching their first concert tour from 2005. They only had 3 singles and no albums to their credit at this point, so there was no not enough material to fill up a ful concert. Joining them to solve this were Atsuko Inaba and Country Musume.

I know that I am going to miss that live band that was in Aya’s Double Rainbow concert.

1. Koi no Nukegara - They get right into the concert! A great start. It’s tough to really describe what they are wearing. I really do enjoy this song. It makes me sad about what v-u-den could have been. There is a strong mix of lines here.

2. MC1 - Whatever.

3. Ajisai Ai Ai Monogatari - I never got the arm movements for the “dance” here. It’s unique, that’s for sure. A statement that will probably be repeated often: ERIKA IS GREAT! These first two songs have been heavily Erika-laden. Her voice is strong and very easy to listen to, even in a song that has wacky vocals like this.

4. BABY! Koi ni KNOCK OUT! - Wearing two-pieces that I would only expect to see in a H!P concert, we get this Pucchimoni classic. We also get Country Musume and Inaba Atsuko in the background. This is a fun performance as everyone delivers their lines perfectly acceptable. Not to mention that in these costumes, the hip shaking is very entrancing. Maybe that’s why I can’t hear if Rika and Yui aren’t singing well in this performance…

See what I mean?

5. MC2 - Whatever.

6. Aimai Me MIND - I never listened to this song much and I am wondering why. At some points, Rika is merely shouting. But it is a live performance, so you expect these things from Rika. ERIKA IS SO GREAT. If she does nothing but backup Elders concerts from now on, I will be so sad.

This performance has put this song in a special group, Songs Maimi Yajima Must Perform as a Solo Act. The only other one in this group is Ekizo na Disco. Watch Aimai Me MIND here for you must witness it.

7. Ichou ~Aki no Sora to Watashi no Kokoro~ - Why does Rika wear cornrows? I’ll never understand this. That’s all I can think about. The song is ok and it isn’t boring, but why is Rika wearing cornrows? It’s seriously distracting.

8. MC3 - Whatever.

9. Champagne no Koi - A Melon Kinenbi song. Inaba takes the 4th spot. I want to watch a MKB concert now. Every H!P song doesn’t need to be an incredibly hyper song to be good. This is great.

10. Uwaki na Honey Pie - But there’s nothing wrong with the hyper songs. Erika, Country Musume and Inaba perform this. This isn’t my favorite song but it is catchy. The focus on this is spread out. For a v-u-den concert, I would have thought that it would make sense for Erika to be at the forefront of this. Oh well.

11. Mini Strawberry Pie - Yui, Asami and Miuna here. This is probably the strangest grouping to do a Mini Moni song. The crowd is not really into this. At one point, Asami and Miuna do the best ass shake to a Mini Moni song. This really is the strangest performance. Based on the crowd, it makes me think that didn’t work.

12. Sakura Mankai - Rika and Mai. Mai Mai Mai Mai Mai Mai Mai Mai Mai Mai Mai. This is spliced in, making me thinking that there were some failures of this performance on their tour. It couldn’t have been Mai’s fault if there were any. Mai!!

13. MC4 - Whatever.

14. Ai no Bakayarou - Yui solo. One of the great things about H!P concerts is that you really don’t know what you will get. Unfortunately, the discographies for Berryz Koubou and Morning Musume are growing so large that they can’t go and do songs like this. The crowd is back for this. Vocally, Yui is far away from Maki; so some parts of this song are definitely a struggle.

15. Aenai Nagai Nichiyoubi - Perhaps the moment that I have been waiting for since I started this concert. An Erika solo. An Erika solo on a Miki Fujimoto song. This will be a tremendous success. OH AND IT IS FROM THE START. That wacky blue dress. Sometimes, the H!P costumes work when they shouldn’t. The crowd is into it and I love them for it.

16. 100kai no Kiss - Our first TRUE FAILURE of the night. Rika performing an Aya slow song. Again, the cornrows, why? She holds her own vocally. Despite that, largely boring.

17. Senpai ~Love Again~ - The trio is back. Nothing to write about for their part in the song. Country Musume kicks them off the stage and do a better job. Well, it is their song after all.

18. Sankaku Kankei - Inaba & Country on this shuffle song. Nothing really to write home about here.

19. The Bigaku - The trio is back and it is another Aya song. They manage to be fun, cute and sexy all at once. This is the image the group should have gone with. In fact, I can see it fitting into the what roles the girls could have filled. Yui sexy, Erika fun and Rika cute.

20. Girls Power, Aisuru Power - Everyone is doing this MKB song. This is fun.

21. Yuujyou ~Kokoro No Busu Niwa Naranee~ - That Otome Gumi song. I think Yui is getting tired at this point. Well she’s the youngest and probably isn’t used to doing full length concerts like Rika was at the point. Luckily, the others there offset her being a little fatigued. This is so much better than their last 2 years of singles.

22. MC5 - Whatever.

23. Bi ~Hit Parade~ - Wacky “dances.” The arm movements in Ajisai Ai Ai Monogatari only confuse me. The running thing here makes me laugh. The chorus for this song is so great after the buildup to it in the verses. This song is great and the performance suits it well. The crowd is way tired.

24. Kacchoii ze! JAPAN - Yui has the best bugged out eyes. Another entertaining performance, albeit nothing tremendous.

25. MC6 - Whatever.

26. BE ALL RIGHT! - Everyone’s back out to finish the night off. Rika would look so cute here if she wasn’t in cornrows. Country Musume and Atsuko all fill out a pair a pants like I’ve never seen before. I’ve heard before that H!P members need to be in pants, instead of skirts, and dresses more often. I can agree to this. Not to mention there are many, many more jokes that can be done with pants. BE ALL RIGHT was okay. I think watching this knowing that everything was not all right for v-u-den has left a sour taste.

Top 3 Performances
1. Aimai Me MIND
2. Aenai Nagai Nichiyoubi
3. The Bigaku

Bottom 3 Performances
1. 100kai no Kiss
2. Senpai ~Love Again~ (up until Country Musume come along)
3. Sankaku Kankei

I guess I forgot how solid the early part of v-u-den’s career was. For nearly every v-u-den song in this concert, I have thought to myself about how much I like the song itself.

This won’t rank anywhere near the top of my favorite H!P concerts. Still, there was way more good than bad. Erika grabbed most of my attention here. I always considered myself a bigger Yui fan, but I may have to think this over. I knew that Erika was a great performer and it shouldn’t shock me that she shines in a live performance. Erika is GREAT. It will be a shame if she is relegated to inactivity.

Posted on February 2nd, 2008 by broomhead. Filed under Concerts, Reviews.
Tags: Asami Kimura, Atsuko Inaba, Country Musume, Erika Miyoshi, Hello!Project, Mai Satoda, Miuna Saito, Rika Ishikawa, v-u-den, Yui Okada