On August 31 and September 1, bassist Hiroshi Sumikura, also known as a member of the band “Hatsukoi no Arashi,” held his 50th birthday live at Shibuya WWW. Dubbed “Birthday Band,” on his birthday August 31, he performed as a special band consisting of his close musicians such as Yoshiyuki Yatsuhashi (Gt), Yohei Makabe (Gt), Isao Takano (Key), Yuko Araki (Dr), Shumpei Kamiya (Dr / Akai Kutsu), as well as Akai Kutsu, Huwie Ishizaki. In addition, vocalists with whom Sumikura has been closely associated through support activities, such as Akai Kutsu, Huwie Ishizaki, Kazuyoshi Saito, Tortoise Matsumoto, and Yuji Nakata, performed to celebrate Sumikura’s 50th birthday.
After the death of original member Tatsuro Nishiyama (Vo/Gt) in 2002, Hatsukoi no Arashi has invited a variety of guest vocalists since resuming their activities in 2011, and on this day, too, seven guest vocalists were invited.
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A happy and tremendous night
I was able to see Hatsukoi no Arashi’s live performance on the second day, and to put it simply, it was a wonderful concert. It was an explosion of skillful technique mixed with an unchanging innocent playfulness and the joy of the ensemble. It was almost impossible to believe such a happy and tremendous musical space could exist. Many musicians were on the stage, including Sumikura, who turned 50 the day before, and most of them were older than me in my late thirties, but it seemed like I observed an impressive approach to growing older.
The support members for this day were Shinya Kogure (Gt / Hicksville), Hirotaka Tamagawa (Gt), Isao Takano (Key), and Shinji Asakura (Per / Yoshimba). The guest vocalists were, in order of appearance, Sou Matsumoto (GOING UNDER GROUND), Kubo Kenji (Merengue), Karasuguchi, a unit consisting of Isao Yoshii and Gometei Hijiki, Iwasaki Satoshi (Sekaiichi), Kohei Dojima, Hikari Mitsushima, and Keiichi Sokabe. In addition, Sumikura himself sang vocals.
