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.
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A continuous sequence of unexpected surprises from the beginning
The first vocalist was Sou Matsumoto, who started the first song “No Power!” with a full-throttle punk sound. After the song was over, Matsumoto said to Sumikura, “The first song we were going to play was wrong. I thought he meant “this is not the kind of song to play as the first song,” but afterwards, he revealed that he didn’t know Sumikura intended to play this song first. According to the plan, the first song was “Untitled” and the second song was “No Power!” But the first song was actually “No Power!” and Matsumoto was the only one who didn’t know that – with all due respect, “I thought this old guys are having so much fun.
Next was Kenji Kubo. He performed two songs, “Joint” and “Tears on the Road.” During “Joint,” Asakura’s percussion was so intense that the temperature of the venue skyrocketed. Kubo gave a pep talk to Sumikura, saying, “You’re 50 years old, level 50, and in an RPG game, you’re not anywhere close to the boss battle.” Sumikura replied, “I’ll do my best.”
The third group was Karasuguchi. They performed “Country Home” and “A Girl Crazy About Makeup,” the cover of which they had uploaded on SNS on the anniversary of Nishiyama’s death this year. In “Country Home,” the two of Karasuguchi sang the lyrics “I wonder what Clarence White looked like when he played the guitar,” which were changed to “I wonder what Hiroshi Sumikura looked like when he played the bass guitar. This was probably a surprise to Sumikura from Karasuguchi. The audience cheered.
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Toshi Iwasaki heightened the audience’s excitement further while Hikari Mitsushima sang with grace
As soon as Toshi Iwasaki appeared on stage, he called out to the audience, “Are you having fun⁉” enlivening the audience. She sang “Ame no Yakuri” and “Dedicated to First Love.” Iwasaki encouraged the audience to get into the groove of the first day’s live performance by waving their hands back and forth just like often seen at live performances by young rock bands, which was also discussed in Karasuguchi’s MC talk earlier. Watching Toshi Iwasaki, laughing and moving about the stage, I thought to myself, “He really is a flamboyant guy.
Next on stage was Hikari Mitsushima. Hikari Mitsushima has been a fan of the band since she saw “A Midsummer’s Okinawan Night” on TV when she was in high school. In an interview on this year’s “Record Store Day,” she recommends the album “Dedication to First Love,” saying, “I listen to it so much that I can sing along without looking at the lyric cards. She performed two songs, “Guilt” and “good-bye. She said, “I’m so nervous! but she had a majestic appearance and singing voice.
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Messages to Sumikura from Kohei Dojima and Keiichi Sokabe
The sixth performer was Kohei Dojima. He performed two songs, “nothin'” and “Anoko no Kotoba. He sang “nothin'” beautifully, which is 8.5 minutes long on the recording, and then blurted out, “This song is so long! to which Sumikura replied, “It’s kind of heavy, isn’t it? However, the richness of the lyrical world expressed in the “length” of the song and the youthful thirst for expression to capture and depict what overflows are the great charms of Hatsukoi no Arashi’s works, which will never fade away. The conversation between Dojima and Sumikura sounded like a blur, and at the same time, it was full of love. Dojima also said to Sumikura, “Thank you for keeping it going.
The seventh group to appear was Keiichi Sokabe. He performed “A Midsummer’s Okinawan Night” and “Ballad of the Starry Sky. The songs were truly wonderful and beyond description. His voice was so generous and powerful that it seemed to embrace all the people and thoughts that had gathered here on this day, and all the time that had passed up to this day. Thinking back, most of the times I have seen Sokabe live, such as with Sunny Day Service or solo, he sang with a guitar in his hand. I was moved by his singing voice, which was so powerful that it shook me to my very core. As he was leaving the stage after the performance, Sokabe told Sumikura, “Even in my 50s, I want to be the guy who swoons over girls who are crazy about makeup. He was cool to the end.
