Kino Hotel

I went to a Kino Hotel live performance that I'd always wanted to attend. It suddenly occurred to me during the show that this was my first time attending a live performance by a girls' band, or rather, a live show featuring only female performers. The audience was a 50/50 split of men and women, with ages ranging from students to middle-aged and older, appealing to all ages. The opening act was a girls' band from Sapporo called Honoo Mika. I had listened to them on YouTube beforehand, but I didn't recognize any of their songs. My impression was that they seemed to be influenced by artists like Ringo Sheena and Kino Hotel, and their stage presence felt like a mere imitation. The songs weren't bad, but even after seeing them live, I didn't feel compelled to listen to them again. It felt like they were trying to create a world, but scratching their knees during the MC was a waste. After the opening act, the Kino Hotel live performance that I had been waiting for finally began. I remembered the songs themselves, but I remembered so few of their titles that I couldn't remember the setlist at all. The most memorable song was "Tsumetai Machi (Cold City)." It's the second song on the album *Marianne no Jubaku (Marianne's Curse)*, and it was amazing how they could pull it off just by playing the song without any fancy production – it really got me hyped up. As far as I can remember, they also played "Go Go Kino Hotel," "Kinoko no Toriko (Captivated by Mushrooms)," "Nikutai to Tenshi (Flesh and Angel)," "Sono Toki, Nani ga Okotta no? (What Happened at That Time?)," "Sexaroid M," "Koi no Arijigoku (Love's Antlion Hell)," "F no Junkai (F Patrol)," and "Makkaka na Jelly (Bright Red Jelly)." The first encore song was "Moetsukitai no (I Want to Burn)." I was so happy I got to hear it because it was the song I wanted to hear the most! The last song was "Kinoko Hotel Shoka (Kino Hotel School Song)," and it was incredibly exciting. After the live performance, I bought a venue-limited CD, a button badge, and a T-shirt, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. They will be releasing a new album next year, and I'm looking forward to seeing them perform live in Sapporo again.