DEEN

DEEN, a band that built an era, it was my first time participating in their live performance. This time, it's the first day of their tour promoting their cover album 'POP IN CITY ~for covers only~' released in January of this year. I'm in my early twenties, so I don't have any nostalgic feelings about the songs on the album, but I liked the album, so I wanted to go. As for the setlist, I thought they would play all the songs from the cover album and then play a few of their own songs as an encore, but that wasn't the case. They alternated between cover songs and their own songs. Perhaps because it was the first day of the tour and the first time performing at the venue, equipment troubles continued, with frequent howling occurring after 'Vacation wa Itsumo Ame'. Ikemori-san, faced with the excessive howling, said in his first MC, 'Oh? A UFO? Not a UFO? (laughs) Is everything okay? All sections.' The next MC involved a brief greeting and member introductions, but the howling persisted. Although the staff provided a replacement microphone, it didn't improve much. Ikemori-san: 'I'm okay with a wired (microphone)... Should I bring my own console (PA console) tomorrow?' Yamane-san: 'Then, want to use this one? (Yamane-san's microphone) (laughs)' Ikemori-san: 'At worst, even that... (laughs)' Ikemori-san: 'There's really... an affinity between the microphone and the... singer's voice quality. I think everyone has experienced going to karaoke and thinking, 'I feel like I can sing well at this place, but not at others.'' While waiting and talking, it didn't get fixed at all. Yamane-san: 'Hey, if this was Eikichi Yazawa, everyone would be fired! (laughs)' Ikemori-san: 'No, no, don't say it like that... It's not a human error... That's what happens when digital goes wrong. If it were analog...' Yamane-san: 'This is... I'm really, really sorry! (He even prostrated himself while saying this).' He talked about how Tatsuro Yamashita's fan club newsletter mentioned DEEN covering a song he wrote, how he used to go to Tatsuro Yamashita's concerts to study, about his appearance on the 'Kaji Yarou!!!' show broadcast two days before the concert, about soba noodles, and the introduction of merchandise (everything except the soba and pamphlet were sold out), but it didn't get fixed, and eventually the members all left the stage until it was fixed. As a result, the performance was interrupted for about 30 minutes. Ikemori-san: 'We've been around for... 28 years since our debut, right? This is the first time something like this has happened.' Indeed, I've been to live concerts of various artists, but even if there was a little howling, it was the first time it howled for so long (it was also the first time I experienced a performance being interrupted). Because the guidelines stipulated that 'the performance time is approximately 90 minutes,' some of the audience members were saying things like, 'I wonder if they'll extend it by the amount of time it was interrupted?' 'No, it'll end in 90 minutes.' However, in the end, they finished playing (probably) the scheduled songs, and what was scheduled to end at 8:00 PM ended a little before 8:40 PM. Despite such an accident, I was very satisfied with my first DEEN live performance as a whole. They performed a good balance of early hits, songs from the cover album, and relatively new songs, so I wasn't bored at all. Of course, it seemed difficult for them to sing songs from nearly 30 years ago in the same key as before, but they've aged well. The expressive singing, the flavorful voice, the song selection... everything about the live performance was perfect. Perhaps because of the 90-minute restriction, the songs I wanted to hear, 'Mayonaka no Door' and 'Koi Suru Karen,' were not performed, which was a bit disappointing. I don't think there will be many opportunities to perform them in the future... (However, some fans probably want to hear DEEN's original songs instead of so many cover songs, so it's a difficult situation). Personally favorite scenes: - The lighting turning rainbow-colored at the end of 'Vacation wa Itsumo Ame,' at the line 'Goran kimi no maue ni kakatta rainbow' (Look, a rainbow is hanging above you). - Also, at the outro of 'Vacation wa Itsumo Ame': 'Welcome to LIVE JOY!!' - The furious medley of 'Kanashimi ga Tomaranai' ~ 'Kimi wa 1000%' ~ 'Dance with my Music featuring JtoS' ~ 'Hitomi Sorasanaide' ~ 'Hitori Janai'.