#animatetimes

The voices that called “Shoutan!” did not stop

An active seiyuu and artist, Aoi Shouta, held his Tokyo + Osaka first live tour “AOI SHOUTA LIVE 2017 WONDER lab. ~Prism~ supported by JOYSOUND” and had his Tokyo show on the 12th of February 2017 in the Yoyogi National Gymnasium! I will now introduce his live performance that completely stunned around 10,000 people.

As the performance was starting, the venue was roughly shown on as Aoi Shouta appeared on screen and was shown drawing the picture of the atelier briefly. This live was based of the concept of “Realizing your dreams”, it’s the story of “Aoi shouta drawing his own concept and idea of the live, and making it a reality”

As smoke was being fired out on stage, Aoi Shouta who was wearing a pure white costume that was drawn on the canvas previously, emerged from the SnowDome. As he called out “Yoyogi let’s go!”, loud cheers erupted from the audience.

The first song was “north star”, a song that had a rock tune and which lyrics was written by himself. It was a wonderful start to “AOI SHOUTA LIVE 2017 WONDER lab. ~Prism~” as the song carried the meaning of what Aoi Shouta wanted to convey,  “[I] would like to bring all of my fans with me to the next stage”. The audience’s enthusiasm grows as he continues with “DDD” (Triple D) with lasers pointing in every direction, in addition with “Zessei Star Gate” that continues with the piano melody as adrenaline rush among the crowd increases.

“To the people that came to my live, and also to the ones that couldn’t make it here, I’ll do my best and sing with all I got so that it will reach everyone, let’s fire it up until the end!” after those words that were full of enthusiasm, Aoi continued with his 6th single that was released last July, “Innocent”.

Next up was “UNLIMITED” with his 6 dancers, which introduced(?) the sharpness of the dance. “UNLIMITED let’s go!”, the audience responded with the perfect call and responses, and with the band and dancers, the performance was indeed breathtaking.

With the beautiful high-tone voice that echoes throughout the venue, as he was singing the theme song from the stage play that featured Aoi Shouta himself “Smile Mermaid”, “Endless Song” was performed as he was suspended 10 metres in the air. Making use of the lighting that made the venue into a sea world and the flying, the audience were fully focused on him.

After singing “Ai no Sasameki Goto” and “Sora wa Toumei ni Chikai” that was filled with emotion, “I’m going!” was called out and the theme song to the stage play “Prince Kaguya”, “MURASAKI” was performed as the curtains were being pulled out left and right, followed by “Ai Uta” with the dancers making it yet another breathtaking performance that surprised the audience.

After that was the first performance of his new song which he written and composed himself, “RUN!!RUN!!”. During the chorus, Aoi and his dancers took out pom poms and cheered to the audience, in which everyone made it into another flag performance. The next song was “START!!”, in which we could see Aoi Shouta’s new charm as well.

“This next song was written when I thought about everyone whom I love. It was because of everyone that I was able to write this song…”, and with that being said he sang “Zutto…”. The audience responded to Aoi’s feelings. After the last “My darling”, it was the moment when there was the most screaming and cheers from the audience today as he blew a kiss to the fans as a present.

Then he performed “Touch To Take Trico” with the usual mini flag dance with everyone, after that he said “Let [me] get closer to the fans!” as a truck rolled out and he was transported around the arena with the truck. Aoi’s wish of wanting to stay closer to the fans had become a reality here.

At the next song “Kimi no Kotoba　~Ballad version~”, the audience were surprised with the live piano arrangement. However, what struck the most was Aoi’s singing that was overflowing with emotions along the piano, and some of the spectators were moved to tears. After he finished singing, the audience in the hall sent a heartful applause, and was enveloped in warm comforting air. 

After that was the sudden change of atmosphere with the piano, and the rock corner started off with his 3rd single, “Himitsu no Kuchizuke”. The fans soon got absorbed in the performance with his powerful and yet sexy singing voice. It was followed by “S”, a song from Aoi Shouta’s first best of album, with the exciting phrase, and the powerful call and responses from the audience lives up the hall with enthusiasm again.

“I will definitely not let go of anyone that came to watch me today, alright?” was said to the audience, and then he sang the coupling song, “Checkmate”, of the single that was released on the 25th of January. In addition to the breathtaking performance with the 6 dancers that went on again, the audience was attracted by Aoi Shouta’s unique charm. After that, the last one from the newly released single on the 25th of January, was “flower”. The lyrics were written based on the feeling of the live, “It’s a fantasy that we can’t see by ourselves, together, let’s play in our world”, with that Aoi ended his live with “flower” that conveyed all of his feelings.

The voices that called “Shoutan!” did not stop, and Aoi Shouta went on stage again.

“I’ll come closer to everyone!” and with that being said he got onto the truck again, and sang a medley of “SHOT A LOVE”, “TRUE HEARTS”, “Summer Dreamin’” and “SHOT A LOVE”.

As you’re standing next to the moving truck you’ll notice there’s only the distance of merely 1 metre. But what’s even more surprising was the decorations on the truck. This time’s live title was “WONDER lab ~Prism~” and had the concept of “Realizing the dreams of fans that had been supporting [Shouta], and also Aoi Shouta’s dream・In a live that was realized” and with the feelings that was surfaced from that, [they] had collected dreams that were illustrated, and also handwritten messages from the fans. The truck was decorated with various postcards, and was being projected on screen as loud cheers erupted from the audience. After that he said “Everyone, I have something to announce.” and as he announced an upcoming 2nd album, the audience was surprised and some even burst to tears with the sudden announcement, but even so everyone shouted “Congrats!” and gave him a round of applause. To convey his feelings to the fans that had always support him, the last song was “Melodia”. To move towards a new promise, such a strong feeling was felt.

Setlist

M-01. north star

M-02. DDD

M-03. Zessei Star Gate

M-04. Innocent

M-05. UNLIMITED

M-06. Endless Song

M-07. Ai no Sasameki-goto

M-08. Sora wa Toumei na Chikai

M-09. MURASAKI

M-10. Ai Uta

M-11. RUN!!RUN!!

M-12. START!!

M-13. Zutto…

M-14. Touch To Take Trico

M-15. Kimi no Kotoba　~Ballad version~

M-16. Himitsu no Kuchizuke

M-17. S

M-18. Checkmate

M-19. flower

EN-01.＜Medley＞

SHOT A LOVE！

TRUE HEARTS

Summer Dreamin'

SHOT A LOVE！