Elephants' Tomorrow: Regarding Current Location 25

As if calling out to the imagery of stars increasing in number, the shimmering intro of "Woman (From 'W's Tragedy')" begins to play.
Hiroji Miyamoto appears in the darkness of the center stage at the end of the runway.
He begins to sing in a gentle, soft voice, as if whispering. As I listened intently to this new frontier he reached through his cover, the "wa~" in the line 'yuki no you na hoshi ga furu wa~' (snow-like stars are falling~) turned into a straight, non-vibrato "waaa." Ah, this is what I wanted to hear... I got goosebumps from his beloved singing voice.

From there, "rain - Believe Only in Love -" followed.
The memory of his drenched, passionate singing from the year before last is still vivid.
The third song that followed was the great Elephant Kashimashi masterpiece, "Kanashimi no Hate."
To bring these songs out so early in the set. Along with my bewilderment, I had a premonition that he was going to attack with a setlist that was quite unexpected... His black satin jacket fluttered softly, catching the wind, and the purple lining looked magically beautiful, as if harboring some secret plan, and it looked very striking.

Reflecting on it now, I feel like I was already being tested by these three songs alone.
Each fan faces their own "Miyamoto love" and "Elekashi love," compares it with what he is seeking, and is asked, "Where are you at right now?" Why not use this independent timing as an opportunity to do some checking?
I felt as if that was what he was suggesting.

His voice was truly projecting well, and he had a sharp, beautiful expression on his face.
He looks good. His voice and his face are both good. His figure is good too.
The sense of security that comes with having a solid professional band backing him, the feeling of being on a large ship. A different kind of comfort from Elephant Kashimashi comes through in his performance.
(The bassist was Maki Kitada, with the return of the catchphrase 'read it from the top or read it from the bottom' along with the introduction, 'This man has returned!' I had guessed that there was a possibility Sti wasn't there from his Instagram posts showing him busy with other work, but I was certain it was Makirin when I saw the bass being adjusted by the roadie on stage before the show.)

From there on, it was a battle between a sense of celebration and exhilaration.

In other words, are these the songs he wants to sing right now?
It was a setlist that felt more like "Hiroji Miyamoto 58th Anniversary" than "Solo 5th Anniversary".

When I first watched the video of the toast for the establishment of the Elephants on Instagram without sound (I didn't 'listen', only 'watched'), I misheard it as 'Going my way, here's to us now!'. 'Come on Baby, let's head to the promised land. The moment you think of it is the start. Let's embrace the excitement that perfectly matches how we feel right now'.
This song was something I was truly happy to hear him sing.
From the upper right corner of the center stage, the sight of him looking up into the distance is projected on the screen. A moment so fleeting you might miss it. At the end of that gaze... it looked like the three people who had come to the VIP seats in the 4th-floor stand were there.

Why this song, here...?
I felt that this birthday concert had the significance of summarizing his five years of solo activities, so the image overlapped with the birthday concert from the year before last, which was titled 'Juyo Mujin Conclusion on Birthday' as the finale of the 'Juyo Mujin' tour across Japan. At that time, 'Kimi ni Aitai -Dance with you-' and 'Do you remember?' were performed by these members. But why were those not in the setlist this time, replaced by 'going my way' and 'Tokihanate, Warera ga Shin Jidai' from the album 'Miyamoto, Doppo.'?

From the album 'Juyo Mujin' as well, the cool rock songs 'Ukiyo Koji no blues' and 'shining' were missing.
When I think about why the songs I expected to hear weren't chosen, I sometimes find the key to deciphering the setlist. This time was no exception.

There were hints in the recent interview (published in 'ROCKIN' ON JAPAN' July 2024 issue/No. 571). Lyrics from 'Kaze ni Fukarete' and 'Gastlonjer' were quoted, and there was a comment saying, 'I also sang a lot of covers'.
With solo songs, you can tell which song it is immediately from the intro. But every song where I felt, 'Wait, is this a new song?!' because of an intro I'd never heard before, turned out to be an Elephant Kashimashi song. I confess here that when it became clear what song it was, I froze for a while thinking, 'Wait, you're doing this...', but because he looked so happy and, as expected, his singing was exceptionally good, I found myself drawn in before I knew it, no matter how I had braced myself.
That is the charm of Elephant Kashimashi songs, which never lose their raw sharpness no matter how sophisticated the arrangement is, and conversely, it is proof that the original songs have the potential to strike back and make it their own with a vivid sharpness, no matter what arrangement is used to challenge them. It is also possible that, having become independent, he was in the mood to try bold and daring challenges.
One such huge wild card was 'Okami-san'.

Two years ago at the birthday concert 'Juyo Mujin Conclusion on Birthday', he went out of his way to get wet in the rain, and in the Instagram singing video's backstage exploration, he said things like, 'This smoke is said to be harmless to the body.' Yet, against the smoke during 'Okami-san', he swiped at it with his hand and acted wild, saying, 'Smoky...! I can't see! Don't block my, vision!!'. I couldn't help but smile when the smoke seemed to panic, saying, 'S-sorry!! (sweat)', and retreated, thinning out and disappearing in the blink of an eye. Ah, Ele-ji is so cool...!!!

That said, even though there were tense moments, he was in a good mood from start to finish, and I think the time he spent using the tambourine was the longest I've ever seen. That is by no means a barometer for his mood, but it felt like a somewhat symbolic event.

...I see.

Both Ukiyo Koji and shining are songs about 'Me'.

What Hiroji Miyamoto wants to sing now is not a song about 'Me', but perhaps a song about 'Us'...

Woman, rain, Kanashimi no Hate,
It started with three very personal songs, and towards the end, the exhilaration of the 'Us' songs increased.
That said, it's not that there weren't any songs about 'Me', the 'Me' that Elekashi Miyamoto is good at, where I am me and I am me.
The 'Me' element was condensed into that moment when the festive feeling and exhilaration were swirling in a huge vortex, yes, the 'Minna no Uta Trilogy'.
The 'Me now' singing 'Happy birthday to me now!' and the 'Me of the past', and among them, one of the particularly solid origins, the 'First me', synchronize, sublimating the heated 'passion' into 'Kaze to Tomoni', into 'Us'.

Hiroji Miyamoto's 58th anniversary.
A journey through time and space from 1966 to 2024, no, even to 2100.
Treasures that don't change even if the times change: your smile and my soul.
No matter how much science and technology advance, the landlady will dry the futon. The father will look at the moon and shed tears.

The song that began with the preface, 'It's a song I love,' was 'Kono Michi no Saki de'.
I was surprised because I felt this was the first time he had used such an expression for this song, but I love both Elephant Kashimashi songs and solo songs, and it's just that among them, there are songs I am particularly infatuated with, or songs I rely on when I'm in a certain mood, and there is no distinction in my feeling of loving the songs Hiroji Miyamoto creates. I was reminded of that once again. The single path illuminated on the flower path by the lighting production was too straight and beautiful.

'Ore-tachi no Ashita'.
I was allowed to witness the formation of the song leader heading from the 4th-floor stand, which is higher than the speakers and the mirror ball, walking along the flower path to the center stage, and the guitar master and the magician. There were Hiroji Miyamoto's musical companions, whose dignity and experience were exquisitely balanced. There is no distinction between solo and Elephant Kashimashi in the music played by these professional players. I was reminded of that once again.

Looking at the setlist like this, the 'Minna no Uta Trilogy' sandwiched between 'going my way' and 'Tokihanate, Warera ga Shin Jidai', and the third song at the beginning, 'Kanashimi no Hate', really could only be in that position. As always, I am left groaning at the brilliant arrangement.

Congratulations to everyone too!

The 'Us' he sings includes us, the audience. 'Hallelujah' makes us feel that in every corner of our cells. The festive feeling and exhilaration reach their peak.

I understood what he meant when he said that his solo career had come full circle.
The culmination of 'five years of solo' is not a dimension that can be dismissed with words like the fusion of solo and band.
The songs of 'Me' played with trusted companions for the audience he wants to love with all his heart and soul had crystallized into songs of 'Us' for 'Hiroji Miyamoto's 58th anniversary'.

'Me' and 'Us', 'Sun' and 'Wind'.
The same words appear repeatedly in many songs, and it might sound like he is singing the same thing. But the sun rising today is a new sun, and yet it is the same sun as yesterday because there is only one. The wind that blows is also a new and the same wind that blows every day (it's true). That's what it is. There is only one Hiroji Miyamoto.
The reason this person can continue to sing about dreams and hopes for tomorrow is not because he spends his days piling them up, but because he is constantly re-examining himself, reconstructing the environment he is placed in, updating himself every day, and being reborn. The crystals created on that day are also melted again in the flask and slowly brewed until they take shape anew.

Encore. 'Fuyu no Hana'.
Hiroji Miyamoto, reciting the final lines, had a face more dignified than ever before.
With tears in my heart, a smile on my face. Let's live to fight.
Flowers in the heart. Let's decorate with flowers, in the usual room.
I'm going out today too.

In other words, we are eternal challengers.
Once again, happy birthday!