Description:

Filmed live on December 22 during their 6th live tour "74ers."

Track List:

1.Voice
2.Mienai Sekai
3.Tsuki gai
4.Wakusei Kimi
5.Palette
6.Shiawase ni tsuite honki dashite kangaete
7.Oto nai mori
8.Uzu
9.Lack
10.Karma no saka
11.Club Underworld
12.Go steady go
13.Machine-gun-talk
14.Mugen
15.Hard Days Holly Nights
16.Melissa
17.Ai ga yobu ho e
18.Vintage
19.Christina
20.Dilemma

Review:

The following review contains spoilers!

This is an interesting concert, and my favourite Porno Graffitti concert (so far).
It’s very different from their previous concerts both in style and atmosphere.

The concert opens normally enough with some behind the scenes shots that introduce the band, but it’s when the concert really begins that the uniqueness of this concert becomes apparent.
The opening music is Theme of 74ers on big video screens stylised white on black animation plays, the first people we see on stage are not the band but a young boy and a girl.
Then there is a row off hooded figures who come down off a raised platform onto the stage, some of these figures prove to be the band, they take their places and begin to play the opening song, as they do so the young boy reveals each band member in turn by removing their hoods.
It’s a dramatic and stunning opening and sets the tone for much of the concert, which is one of drama and magic, and that of an epic story being told.
The use of the video screens, the animation and the interaction of the characters, all overlaid by the music is brilliantly done, and the story adds drama and further meaning to the music.
The actors and dancers who play out the story are all excellent!

This theatrical story element weaves throughout the concert, every time there is an instrumental the story advances a little. Overall it isn’t a big part of the concert in time, but in feel it has a huge impact over the whole concert.

Previous Porno Graffitti concerts have been pure fun and entertainment, a high energy blast from start to finish, with little to slow it down, this concert is, subdued, I know that’s an odd word to use to describe a concert, but it feels appropriate. I don’t mean it to give you any negative connotations either, it’s subdued in a good way, the usual Porno Graffitti isn’t exactly missing, it’s just been changed into something new, something more mature and sophisticated, something beautiful and artistic, dramatic and elegant!
This concert goes deeper, it touches your heart more, it’s more thoughtful, and thought provoking.

Between the story elements of the concert they play like a regular concert, but that atmosphere remains and makes each song something extra ordinary, no one song stands out for me in this concert, they are all so brilliantly performed! It’d hard to believe that every song could be so perfect, but in this concert it is so!
The tracklist is just brilliant and the song order is also very well done, starting calm and subdued, but slowly building in energy, by the final third of the concert, from Club Underworld onwards, the full force of Porno Graffitti’s usual energy is in effect!
This last third has a lighter atmosphere and the same energy as any pervious porno graffiti concert.

This more mature approach does require some small sacrifices though, for example Akihito is not bouncing about the stage like he usually does. He gives off a very calm, even serene feeling especially at the start of the concert, combined with the fact he’s looking especially handsome in this concert, it’s not a tough trade off for his usual bounciness. And there is one special treat for fans of his crazy/cool dancing, that is the best monkey dance yet in Machine Gun Talk. Really, he has perfected the monkey dance in this concert, it’s a thing of hilarious beauty! I really wish he’d monkey dance more often, it’s brilliant, and it’s great to see the crowd joining in here too!
But back to more serious matters, this concert Akihito’s voice is really at it’s finest, it’s truly stunning. Although he always sounds great in previous concerts, sometimes he seems to struggle after a while because he’s sung so passionately he begins to loose his voice, but in this concert he’s very consistant, sounding perfect right from beginning to end! Maybe the slow build up of songs in this concert helped, I don’t know, but he sounds fantastic!
Finally about Akihito, we get to see him play a lot of instruments this concert, he plays guitar at least 6 times and then during Ai ga yobu hou e he plays a grand piano!
I really love to see people play piano, so to me this is a special treat!

All the band get good screen time this concert, I feel Haruichi gets slightly less spotlight than previously, somehow his solo’s don’t stand out so much although they are still great, they just seem shorter somehow. Tama on the other hand seems to be more prominent in this concert, we get to hear his bass clearly on a number of occasions and get a nice solo here and there too!
This is Tama’s last concert with Porno graffiti, so it’s nice to see more of him while he was with the band.
The back up badn all get screen time too, and Naoto plays an ace solo!

The DVD comes in a normal DVD case and has the usual lyric insert booklet.
The design of the DVD case is nice and stylish, using the same graphic style as the animation featured in the concert, on the back are a few small screenshots of the concert.
The lyric booklet has the same animation graphic style but no pictures of the band.

The DVD menus are very nicely done with atmospheric animation effects and music.
There are also a number of options on the DVD and there is the story featured in the concert written out (in Japanese of course) which is a nice extra.

This is a different kind of concert, but it’s a combination of many things, not just the story, that makes it stand out, the choice and arrangement of the songs, the quality of Akihito’s voice, the story of course, but it all combines to make a spectacular experience!

Reviewed by shiro

"74ers" LIVE IN OSAKA-JO HALL 2003 -2004.03.24