Kana Koike Electone & Piano Live 2023 (Sunday, October 1, 2023, at Umeda ALWAYS)

On Sunday, October 1, 2023, the solo Electone and piano concert "Kana Koike Electone & Piano Live 2023" (organized by Kana Koike) was held at Umeda ALWAYS (Umeda, Osaka).

Below, I would like to provide a brief report, including some personal impressions.

[Before the Start]

Before the doors opened, dozens of audience members were already lined up at the entrance, with the queue extending up the stairs—a sign of a great turnout. After the doors opened, everyone poured into the somewhat long and narrow live house, eagerly awaiting the start of the show.

On stage, a piano and the professional model Electone, the "YAMAHA ELECTONE STAGEA ELS-02X," were standing by.

[Part 1]

At 6:00 PM, Kana Koike (hereinafter referred to as Kana) appeared in a black and white checkered outfit. The concert began with an Electone performance of "Back to the Future"! She followed this with a "Galaxy Express 999 Medley," drawing the audience into the world of the films and anime.

She then greeted the audience regarding the concert, saying, "This year, I will be performing mainly songs that have personal significance to me."

This was followed by YMO's "RYDEEN," performed with the legendary Budokan concert in mind, and Ryuichi Sakamoto's "Aqua," which she had also uploaded to YouTube as a tribute video; I was moved to tears early on.

Also, during this concert, the performance was projected onto a large screen behind the stage and on LCD monitors installed on the walls. This allowed those in the back seats to see clearly, and the camera switching—including split screens and shots corresponding to musical phrases—added to the excitement of the venue.

Switching to the piano, Kana performed her original song "stella." At that moment, I thought about how nice the sound of a piano is, and I realized that it had actually been a year since I last heard a live piano performance. (^^;

After that, the piano performance continued with songs by Southern All Stars, and the first part concluded with an Electone performance of "The Last Letter from Murdoch."

[Intermission]

There was a 10-minute break here. The audience members, perhaps because they knew each other, were chatting, or taking a close look at the professional model ELS-02X Electone that Kana had introduced during her talk, enjoying the time in their own way.

[Part 2]

Kana-san took the stage again, and after some commotion in front of the stage (Kana-san posted a look at that moment on her X (Twitter) 😄), she performed Electone arrangements of "Umizaru" and "The 13 Lords of the Shogun," songs she uploaded to YouTube about a year ago that have recently been gaining views.

During the MC, she sent the venue into a whirlwind of laughter with stories from past live shows (lol).

(Personally, I was at that venue, and I feel like Kana-san's talk helped me understand something I had been wondering about regarding the acoustics...)

Umeda ALWAYS is known for the exquisite technique of its staff, who instantly display relevant information on the screen in response to the content of the talk. Thanks to that, the content of the talk is very easy to understand.

And then, "The Last Emperor," a performance of which had been teased on Instagram beforehand.

Moving to the piano, she livened up the venue with her original song "Tick! Tock!," which she composed with the image of casual daily life in mind so that the audience could easily join in with clapping. (The clapping isn't difficult, is it?! )

This was followed by a performance of "Period," a song she composed when transitioning from the Heisei to the Reiwa era, expressing gratitude for the peaceful era that continued and praying for peace to continue in the Reiwa era; it is highly rated in comments on social media.

Returning to the Electone, she performed T-SQUARE's "CLIMAX" from the Japanese dubbed version of the movie "Gran Turismo," a practice session for which had also been uploaded to Instagram beforehand—Kana-san's feet were moving so fast!!!

And for the finale, she closed the live show with the magnificent orchestral sound of "Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1," which recently surpassed 100,000 views on YouTube♪

[Encore]

The encore was allowed to be filmed as a courtesy, and she performed three songs: "Takarajima Piano ver.," the highly requested "Alvamar Overture," and her original song "Dance of the Red Dragon," which she composed with the image of a 'fire-breathing dragon' facing strong trials in life!

During "Dance of the Red Dragon," I (personally) once again experienced a strange phenomenon (an illusion?) where the audience seemed to be drawn into the space imagined from this song.

It was a packed performance of 18 songs in total, mixed with entertaining talk, making for a 2.5-hour show that flew by. After the show, despite being tired, she even saw each person off.

[Afterword]

Personally, it was my first live show in a while, and it was a moment where I was able to reaffirm how wonderful powerful live performances are, both on piano and Electone.

Also, this time, since the words '10/1 plans' had been on the website for a long time, I was able to keep my schedule clear, and as the live show approached, she kept uploading promotional videos (lol) to various social media, so it was nice to feel the excitement gradually building up toward the live show.

Thank you very much for another wide range of genres, powerful yet delicate and wonderful performances, and plenty of talk! I would especially like to hear "The Last Letter from Murdoch," "The Last Emperor," and T-SQUARE's "CLIMAX" again!

That concludes my brief report and impressions.

■ Below, from Kana's X (Twitter)

■ From the Instagram posts of the attendeeshttps://www.instagram.com/p/Cx5N8_oxDmj/
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cx5hNSTPAV8/

(Text & Photography / Electone Performance Video Lover)