#wakana winter live matataki

[putschki1969]

LIVE CD「Wakana Winter Special Live 2019 ～Matataki～ at Mynavi BLITZ Akasaka」MP3s

Disc 2 of「magic moment」(Limited Edition Type A) Download HERE

01 breathing 02 オレンジ | Orange 03 僕の心の時計 | Boku no Kokoro no Tokei 04 金木犀 | Kinmokusei 05 夕焼け | Yuuyake 06 翼 | Tsubasa 07 君だけのステージ | Kimi Dake no Stage　 08 恋はいつも | Koi wa Itsumo 09 約束の夜明け | Yakusoku no Yoake 10 アキノサクラ | Aki no Sakura 11 あとひとつ | Ato Hitotsu ➕ Fan Club Bonus Track: Hard Rain

❗SUPPORT WAKANA❗

➡️BUY PHYSICAL COPIES OF HER ALBUM

➡️BUY THE DIGITAL VERSION ON iTUNES

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[putschki1969]

Wakana Winter Special Live Matataki Osaka Live Report

So, I thought I would use the opportunity to write a quick report on my Shinkansen ride back to Tokyo.

Venue: This was my first time attending a concert at a live house so this was a pretty new experience for me. Everything is so small and intimate. Thank God they had seats prepared. For a long time I was worried this would be an all-standing live (which I absolutely would have hated). Umeda Quattro was a pain in the ass to find though. It’s hidden quite well on the 10th floor of a pretty inconspicuous building. And if you have ever been to Umeda, you know it’s a pretty spacious station. The elevator is out of service in the morning so we had to take the stairs to line up for the goods. I am so happy that her Osaka lives were completely sold out, Wakana deserves all of her concerts to be sold out! I really hope the Tokyo venue won’t be too empty, it would make me really sad, especially since it’s her birthday. Btw, I really love how it pays off to be a fan club member these days! I remember back in the Kalafina days being a fan club member never made a difference when it came to your seats. But I have always gotten a good seat with my Botanical Land application. So as always I suggest you get yourself a membership if you are planning to attend any Wakana lives in the future.

Acoustics: The acoustics naturally weren’t the best but I thought they were decent enough. During the Day performance I had a seat in the very first row right in front of Wakana. The sound was well balanced in that area. During the Evening performance I was in the third row all the way on the right side so the sound wasn’t too great there (it wasn’t balanced at all and since the speaker was right next to me, everything was a little too loud for my taste but it was bearable). I thought Wakana’s microphone had just the right volume to suit the instruments. She wasn’t overshadowed by the drums or anything.

Stage production and musicians: There wasn’t any special production, just the musicians behind Wakana. As far as I am concerned they all did a good job, especially the girl on percussion, she was really into it. I didn’t think they could make all her songs work with just piano, percussion and guitar but they managed to make everything sound great. Enjoyed all the arrangements!! Wakana was wearing a gorgeous flowy red dress that was giving off major Christmas vibes. She just wore her own pair of boots, the one we have seen her wear all the time recently. For the encore she put on her Aki no Sakura outfit. Couldn’t help but look at her pretty ankles, I have never seen them this up-close *feels like a perv saying this* There were obviously no cameras so there is zero chance of this being released in case anyone was wondering. I always get so many questions regarding releases :P

Vocals: Personally I thought Wakana was flawless during the very slow ballads but I didn’t enjoy her singing all that much during the high-tempo Kalafina songs (I never really did). Then there are songs like Kinmokusei and Yakusoku no Yoake where I know she is purposefully using a higher pitch but at times she is treading a fine line between sounding lovely and screechy. But overall, she delivered a strong performance despite doing so many songs in one day. I was expecting her voice to get a little weak during the Evening performance but for the most part, she did well. You can tell she has really worked on her stamina.

MCs: Wakana was much more nervous during the day performance. She kept screwing up and saying the wrong thing in the wrong order XD It was utterly adorable. She was constantly holding her water bottle/towel. It happened at night as well but she was much more confident there. During the first MC of the Day performance Wakana noticed me in the first row and pointed out that someone was wearing one of her outfits. Imagine my happiness!! I was over the moon! To have her say this in front of all these people. Waaaaaahhh!!! Senpai noticed me XD At the end of the Evening performance during the final greeting Wakana started crying because she was overwhelmed with feelings. They were happy tears because she was reflecting on all the things that had happened that year. It was a good and productive year for her after all, she can be proud. She tried squeezing her nose to stop crying but it didn’t work. Precious baby *sobs*

Day vs. Evening: In total three songs were different at the Evening performance. She sang Hard Rain instead of Boku no Kokoro no Tokei, snow falling instead of Yasashii Uta and she added a double encore to sing Ato Hitotsu. I am expecting the Tokyo lives to follow a similar - if not the same - pattern. Overall the evening audience was a bit more engaged. Louder clapping, proper singing along and a standing ovation at the end.

Thoughts on various songs: Not gonna go into detail regarding every single song. Eve was most definitely one of the highlights! I originally said that lyrics would seem overbearing with this sort of song but the way they arranged it made it work. Such a gorgeous song!! And Wakana’s vocals are simply outstanding. I remember her saying in an Instagram post that she was struggling while rehearsing this song since the notes were so high. At the time I read that post I was a little confused because she doesn’t actually sing that high in the short studio version. Now it makes sense because this full version with Japanese lyrics has super high parts and oh my God, Wakana sounds amazing. She is using a fuller voice which suits the song much better. Cannot wait to hear this two more times!! *so excited* I really hope this song is re-released soon!! I need to have this on CD!!! Orange was really good but nothing to write home about. I always enjoy Boku no Kokoro no Tokei and this time was no exception, I was a little bummed to have it replaced with Hard Rain during the night performance but hey, at least this way we got more songs. And she did a good job with that too. I actually liked this performance more than the one from the Voice tour. Her singing was nicer and she improvised a bit towards the end. I already mentioned Kinmokusei earlier, I absolutely love this song and generally enjoyed the performance but occasionally Wakana is getting to a range that doesn’t sound pleasant to my ears anymore. I know she is going for a pentatonic sound and maybe I am just not used to that but some notes were just too high for my liking. But it didn’t take away from the performance, it’s one of my favourite songs from her album so I am super happy she decided to sing it. As expected, I liked Yuuyake much more once I saw it performed live but it’s still not among my favourites.

Ahhhh!! The Christmas section! I was hoping she would sing a few Christmas pieces and YAY, she actually did!!! A staff member brought out a small chair and a lyrics stand for Wakana (since all the songs were in English she struggled quite a bit so I am guessing she had some notes to help her with the pronunciation). That Silent Night performance was utterly gorgeous! It started with the pianist using a fancy organ setting. Wakana started slowly by using a very warm and ethereal singing style - almost operatic I would say. I literally broke into tears, it was so unbelievably beautiful!! Wakana needs to release a Christmas cover album RIGHT NOW!!! After the first epic verse the other band members joined in and the song became a bit lighter and joyful, towards the end it was almost a pop-like arrangement, not sure how to explain it. Quite fascinating as a whole, I genuinely enjoyed the different styles used in the song. I didn’t know the second Christmas song at all and Wakana’s Engrish made it very hard to decipher the lyrics. But thankfully I understood the word “eskimos” so I just looked for a Christmas song that had “eskimos” in the lyrics XD Turns out there is only one, The Christmas Song. Not sure why Wakana decided to sing this. Maybe it’s very popular in Japan? No idea! Anyways, it was okay. She sounded lovely. Don’t really care for the song though, there are MUCH better Christmas songs out there that would have suited her better but I am sure she had her reasons. All I Want for Christmas is You on the other hand was PERFECT for Wakana. Such a pleasant surprise. You could tell that she had sung that song many times before, she felt much more comfortable with the English lyrics. And she slayed!! It’s no easy feat to cover a Mariah Carey song but she did it quite brilliantly. This is not a song I usually enjoy but Wakana made me like it!!

Now we get to Kalafina’s section which was surprisingly my least favourite. I will be honest, I didn’t like her Kalafina song choice here at all. The fact that she decided to stick with the original fast arrangements didn’t help either. I wonder why she didn’t go with a slow acoustic arrangement...that would have helped her a lot....Wakana has always had a hard time with these songs, you could tell she was straining her voice even back then during Kalafina days when she had Keiko and Hikaru singing alongside her. All by herself the songs got so much harder. Wakana admitted that these songs were super hard for her but she wanted to perform them for the fans. Seeing everyone’s happy face was worth the struggle according to her. As always the cheers were super loud for the Kalafina songs. Eden was okay, I know the song means a lot to Wakana and she really did her best but meh, she was out of breath a lot. Into the world was definitely my favourite in this section. I actually thought she was gonna sing Natsu no Ringo because the intro sounded just like it but no, it was just a fancy intro that transitioned nicely to the more familiar sound of into the world. She sounded solid during all parts and it’s just such a perfect fit for the journey she is now taking. It was quite moving to have her sing it. Her final “into the world” was amazing!!! Didn’t like ring your bell at all!! Probably my least favourite performance of the live. I never liked her singing style in this song and except for the final “ring your bell and raise your song” I found her singing quite screechy (mostly during the chorus). And for some reason she didn’t sing the bridge which is hands down my favourite part of the song (where she typically uses a more fitting and lovely singing style). Such a shame. (;_;)

Wakana is so much better with her own mid/high-tempo songs. Tsubasa and Kimi Dake no Stage were lots of fun!! Everyone was clapping along! Nothing out of the usual, pretty similar to her Voice performances I would say. But the best was without a doubt Koi wa Itsumo!!! Still cannot believe how much I love this song, it’s so freaking good!! Just wish she would have sung the “baby, baby” parts but since some parts are overlapping with her other lines she obviously couldn’t do it XD At the end she was asking us to sing along to the “haha koi wa haha itsumo haha sekai wo kaeru no” part and eventually we were singing all by ourselves. It was really nice. I am happy the audience participated. Usually it’s hard to get Japanese audiences to engage in something unexpected like that. During the Evening performance everyone had already figured it out so they were much more involved. She ended the main part of her live with Yakusoku no Yoake. Once again we got the gorgeous organ setting and Wakana sang a slightly slowed down version of the intro. It was so much better than the studio version or the performances from the Voice tour. Reminded me a lot of the first verse of Silent Night. The rest of the song was good but a little too high pitched at times.

As for the encore, OMG, Wakana’s solo versions of both Yasashii Uta [Day] as well as snow falling [Night] were PERFECT!! Utterly flawless!!! I am so grateful she sang these two songs, I was really hoping and praying for snow falling!!! Don’t even know what else to say about it. I personally didn’t mind the absence of Keiko and Hikaru, Wakana managed well on her own. Aki no Sakura was slowed down a tiny bit for the live I think...liked it much more like this. Generally it was a very good performance that made me appreciate the song a lot more. Ahhhh, so happy we got Ato Hitotsu as double encore during the Evening performance. It wasn’t as moving as her Voice performance but still super lovely.

Okay, that’s it for me. I had a blast. Not regretting going for all four Wakana lives. Cannot wait for tomorrow.

[putschki1969]

Wakana Winter Special Live Matataki Tokyo Performances

Sorry this is so late, I had a little breakdown earlier because my internet wasn’t working anymore. I was stressing out like crazy because I was supposed to meet up with a friend to head to the airport together. Thanks to two lovely helpers I managed to figure everything out. I am now at the airport waiting for my flight to board. Still got a little while to go.

Anyways, let’s start with the obvious.

Wakana’s second album 「magic moment」!

By now you have probably all seen the news. Wakana’s second album was announced during the evening performance.

Title: magic moment

Release date: February 26, 2020

The album will consist of a total of 11 songs including the album version of “Aki no Sakura” as well “breathing” - the full version of “eve” with Japanese lyrics written by Wakana. Further details will be revealed at the beginning of the year.

https://wakana-fc.jp/contents/284394

As for today’s lives: the setlists were exactly the same so please check out my previous posts for reference. Satoshi Takebe appeared as surprise guest and performed Yasashii Uta/snow falling with Wakana. His arrangements were slightly fancier than the ones in Osaka, he is a really good pianist!! And you can tell he and Wakana are getting along well. I am glad Wakana has someone as kind as him guiding her on this new path she is taking. He also congratulated her on her birthday by playing a cute little birthday tune. We all sang along. For the evening performance he even made us stand up and sing by ourselves. It was a lot of fun and I am glad he was there to motivate the audience. Typically Japanese audiences are very reserved when it comes to stuff like that. They brought out a same-gyoza cake and a flower bouquet. During the evening performance someone had cut off a piece of the cake and Wakana couldn’t figure out who it was. That was so much fun!!

She did make a few mistakes today so she was quite embarrassed but honestly, she handled it all super well like the professional she is. Overall she seemed less nervous today and she practically wasn’t sweating at all which is probably due to the venue being much cooler than Umeda Quattro. Speaking of the venue, Akasaka Blitz is so much nicer than Umeda Quattro. It’s super easy to find and the stage has a fancier setup.

[putschki1969]

Wakana Winter Special Live Matataki Osaka Day & Night Performance Setlist

Wakana was wearing a gorgeous red Christmas-y dress for the main performance. For the encore she wore her Aki no Sakura dress. The live was awesome!!!

Eve ~ full ver. (Japanese lyrics)

Orange

Boku no Kokoro no Tokei [Day]; Hard Rain [Night]

Kinmokusei

Yuuyake

Silent Night

The Christmas Song

All I want for Christmas is You

Eden

into the world

ring your bell

Tsubasa

Kimi Dake no Stage

Koi wa Itsumo

Yakusoku no Yoake

Encore

Yasashii Uta [Day]; snow falling [Night]

Aki no Sakura

Ato Hitotsu [Night]

My favourites were Eve, Silent Night, All I want for Christmas is You, into the world, Koi wa Itsumo, snow falling and Yasashii Uta. 💕

[putschki1969]

Card Pamphlet Sneak Peek

This time we didn’t get a normal pamphlet, we got a bunch of picture cards in A4 size. The front has a lovely picture/collage of Wakana and the back has lots of fascinating info (interview, Q&A, lyric dissection, message, etc)

Once I get back home I will be sure to provide scans and translations.

[putschki1969]

Instagram post by Shin Hashimoto (pianist)

https://www.instagram.com/p/B56fsTSpCn8/?igshid=1rc3rcm40bhpi

Hochi news article

https://hochi.news/articles/20191211-OHT1T50009.html

[putschki1969]

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Comment video by Wakana regarding her birthday one-man live

Ahhh, Wakana seems so happy to have a live on her birthday. I wish the Tokyo lives were sold out too. 

[putschki1969]

News article about Wakana’s Osaka Live

https://hochi.news/articles/20191208-OHT1T50249.html

This is the red dress she was wearing during the main part of the live!

https://www.sanspo.com/geino/news/20191208/geo19120822350025-n1.html

[putschki1969]

Wakana Live Matataki News Article

[putschki1969]

「Wakana Winter Special Live 2019 ～Matataki～」Live Goods available ONLINE

Some merchandise items from Wakana’s Winter lives are now available for purchase in her Official Fan Club Store. Please be sure to get them as long as they are in stock!

Everyone, please consider joining Wakana’s fan club Botanical Land!

[putschki1969]

Wakana Winter Live Matataki Sneak Peeks

Yay! I bought so much! It’s all so pretty!

[putschki1969]

Wakana Live Goods revealed

[putschki1969]

Musicians for Wakana’s Live announced!

Band members for 『 #Wakana Winter Special Live 2019 ～瞬き～』 were just announced.

🎹　Piano: Sin

🎸　Guitar: Masanobu Fukuhara

🥁　Percussion: Yuko Nakakita

Production/direction: Satoshi Takebe

https://wakana-fc.jp/contents/281317

[putschki1969]

Hello again! :3 i´ve been curious... how did you received the Bonus FanClub Exclusive Live Song of magic moment "Hard Rain" ? If it was on physical fomat could you take some pictures of the CD or card were it was please?

Hi there!

For anyone who is wondering, anon is talking about the audio recordings from Wakana’s Winter Special Live which were included as bonus tracks on her 2nd album “magic moment”. HERE is my post where I share all the MP3s.

I made a news post about the “Hard Rain” bonus CD HERE back in January. Those who pre-ordered a set of the Limited Edition A & Regular Edition of Wakana’s 2nd album『magic moment』in the fan club store received a bonus CD containing the live audio of “Hard Rain” which is the only original Wakana song from her Winter Special Live that’s not featured on the LE A bonus CD.(※Wakana’s handwriting is printed onto the bonus CD).

I had pre-ordered the Limited Edition B on amazon.jp but I knew I wanted to get the other versions too so of course I didn’t hesitate to pre-order the fan club set (even though there wasn’t anything special about it aside from the bonus track).

As mentioned above, “Hard Rain” did come on a bonus disc. The case is super thin and clear, there is no booklet or cover. Here is a picture of the CD with Wakana’s handwriting. Just the title and venue of the live, nothing exciting.

PS: Lots of Space Craft haters were complaining about this set being a total rip-off which is UNTRUE. Yes, I will admit, it wasn’t exactly fan club worthy bonus material but the set didn’t cost more than the two separate CDs if you had bought them at any other given store. For those of us who wanted all three album versions anyways, this set was a pretty nice thing to get.

[putschki1969]

Wakana December Lives ~ Title revealed

The official title of Wakana’s December lives has just been revealed.

『Wakana Winter Special Live 2019 ～瞬き～』

瞬き can be read as matataki (flickering, twinkling) or mabataki (blink, wink).

~~ Performance details~~

『Wakana Winter Special Live 2019 ～瞬き～』

【Osaka】 Date: December 8, 2019 (Sun) Time: ① Doors open 14:30 / Start 15:00 ② Doors open 18:00 / Start 18:30 Venue: Umeda Club Quattro 【Tokyo】 Date: December 10, 2019 (Tue) Time: ① Doors open 15:00 / Start 15:30 ② Doors open 18:30 / Start 19:00 Venue: Akasaka BLITZ Ticket price: All seats reserved ¥ 7,500 (tax incl) General sale: October 26 (10:00 am) ~ [Unfortunately, the Osaka performances seem to be sold out already, that was fast! There are still tickets available for the Tokyo lives though. Probably because it is a weekday and the venue is considerably bigger]

So happy I got my fan club “through- tickets” for both Osaka and Tokyo. Can’t wait to hear her new songs performed live. I am really hoping we will get some winter/Christmas themed songs. I think “snow falling” would be perfect for this live. *keeps my fingers crossed*

Random observation: the other day I checked out some of the pictures from Wakana’s “Toki wo Koete” tour back in 2018. Ever since they announced the venues for the winter lives I was quite worried about whether or not we would get seats. Both venues are typically “all-standing”. Not sure if I have ever told you but I despise “all-standing” lives. They stress me out a lot and that keeps me from enjoying the concert. Either way, since Wakana performed at Akasaka BLITZ back in 2018 as well, I thought I would check the seating arrangment from that live. Turns out they DID have seats so I am positive we will get seats for the upcoming winter lives as well. BANZAI. *super relieved*

Side note: Some of you who spend a lot of time on twitter might have noticed that lots of Japanese fans are making a big deal out of the artist description on Ticket PIA:.Ｗａｋａｎａ(ワカナ) /ｅｘ．Ｋａｌａｆｉｎａ I think most fans just didn’t understand the meaning of “ex.” But other fans are still bitter that they are using “Kalafina” to promote Wakana. Either way, I think it’s ridiculous to get all worked up about it. Japanese fans really do have a penchant for the dramatic at times...

[putschki1969]

Botanical Tsushin Vol#3 HQ Scans

Download the entire newsletter HERE ❗This is fan club exclusive content❗ ❗These scans are for PERSONAL USE ONLY❗ ❗DO NOT SHARE❗

Contents

Wakana Special Interview

Wakana Winter Special Live 2019 ~Matataki~ Live Report

1st EP “Aki no Sakura” Release Event Photo

2nd Album “magic moment” Off-shot of Artist Photo Shooting

Talk Corner Vol.5

Travel with Wakana to Catch Sharks Vol.7

Member Contribution Corner Vol.5

Travel with Wakana to Eat Gyoza Vol.3

Information