“NAON NO YAON” is an event produced by the original female band SHOW-YA in which a wide range of female musicians participate across all the generations and genres. This event was revived last year for the first time in 5 years, and this year it was scaled up with more musicians participated. We would like to present the special report of such a gorgeous and rich day.
 
 

On April 29th, 2014, it was unfortunately cloudy in Tokyo. It was going to rain in the evening according to the weather forecast, so the event would be forced to be discontinued if lightning strike and strong wind occurred. I wondered if the girls rock power led by Keiko Terada could blow away the rain clouds. I felt a little worried about the weather while expecting the gorgeous feast that was about to start.

Under the cloudy sky, the gate was opened a little before 2pm. As girls rock fans rushed in and still there was a long line at the merchandising section and restrooms, five opening acts started to perform. The opening acts chosen by the contest “Cute Girls Live”, Merpeoples, CREA, Mirei Touyama, and Mary’s Blood performed, and then Fuyusuru Neko, who won the Grand Prix, was called in by Keiko Terada and got on the stage. Although each performance was short with only one song, they were strongly unique and warmed up the venue.

At 3pm, the show started at last! Keiko Terada greeted about 2,000 audiences. As she was joking “Last year we broke the curfew and I had to make a written apology”, time-keepers Shinobu Kandori (LLPW-X) and Kayoko Haruyama (JWP Women’s Professional Wrestling) were introduced.
 
 

Now the curtain was dropped! The first performer was Shoko Nakagawa who participated in this event two years in a row. She had a gorgeous backing band with Miki “captain” Nakamura (keyboard), Miki “mittan” Tsunoda (drums), Satomi Senba (bass) and Miki “sun-go” Igarashi (guitar) from SHOW-YA, as well as Yuk (guitar) and Chiiko (drums) from D_Drive. Furthermore, Shoko sang the lead track from her latest album released on April 2nd “9lives” together with two big sisters Keiko Terada and Kyoko!
 
“Turn on your sadistic switch!” – unlike her slender body and cute character “Shokotan” seen on TV, the singer Shoko Nakagawa was a warrior on the stage. She sent her voice to the universe with full spirit and power. The second song “Sakasama Sekai” was followed by a hard rock number “TYRANT too young”. Not only the backing band consisted of the members of SHOW-YA but also had two guitarists and two drummers with the addition of the members of D_Drive, so the sound had a tremendous impact and made the songs much more attractive! The show was overwhelming from the very beginning.

Next was Gacharic Spin, a female rock band now on a good ride – the contrast between cute looking and excellent techniques and the contrast between loud and powerful stage performance and catchy songs. When you pursued the live performance that can be done only by female bands, you can find an answer in them.
 
First they sparked the stage with “Dangan Beat” from their latest album released on April 9th “WINNER”! Hana (vocal & drums) and TOMO-ZO (guitar) each stood out. Then with their first single “Lock On!!”, Oreoreona (vocal & keyboard) also actively came out on the front of the stage and sang passionately. Gacha Gacha Dancers had a good presence on the big stage of Yaon. Both No.1 Mai and No.2 Arisa put their full power in the short performance of only two songs.
 
It was F chopper KOGA (bass) who stood out in the latter part with the assist of Gacha Gacha Dancers. She also performed in NANON NO YAON 2008 as a bass player of THE PINK☆PANDA and came back to this stage for the first time in 6 years. She must have had particular pleasure, and excited the audience with full-power slapping.

The third act was 5-piece band from Hokkaido, Drop’s. They released “DAWN SIGNALS” in September 2013 from a major label and still live in Sapporo. Deep and rich rock sound is their characteristic.
 
Tomomi Araya (guitar)’s bluesy guitar phrases changed the atmosphere instantly. The first song was the tile song “Call Me” from their first EP released on May 14th. Low sounds by Mamiko Oda (bass) and Reika Okuyama (drums) echoed just like gently putting a blanket on Hibiya Yaon in the light rain. Wakano Ishibashi (keyboard) filled the space beautifully. I wondered why those 20-year old musicians could produce such mature sound.
 
The voice of Miho Kanano (vocal & guitar) in a red dress sounded mature as usual. The second song was “Coke Age” that had been played since they were high school students. The sound from the five members crossed and united just like sparkling and popping firewood. Miho’s gentle but strongly stable vocal got on the sound of Drop’s. When they got off the stage, there was a roar of the crowd all over Yaon.

The fourth act was the special collaboration that was characteristic of NAON NO YAON. First the 5-piece female band who also performed last year, Cyntia appeared on he stage. They played “Senko Strings” that was used as the theme song for the animation “Saint Seiya Ω”. SAKI (vocal)’s strong vocal was impressive.
 
From the second song, the band added the second guitar player SAKI (guitar/Mary’s Blood) who also performed as the opening act, which became a session with Cyntia and a variety of singers.
 
First Ayako Nakanomori (vocal) appeared on the stage with Keiko Terada. She sang “Got the glory”. Just like her red costume, her vigorous and passionate voice brightened the venue. Then, Nagisa Kuroki (vocal) appeared on the stage with stylish looking of vivid blond hair and gray mini-dress. She sang powerfully “Kakumei”, which is a soul song for all those who fight. Furthermore, Yoko Yazawa (vocal) in black leather appeared on the stage. As she agitated the audiences “Sing loud!”, she sang powerfully “Give Me!!!”.
 
Lastly all the singers appeared on the stage again, and sang together a famous song by Mari Hamada “Return to Myself – Shinai Shinai Natsu-“. Cyntia covered this song as their first single released in July 2013. Led by YUI (guitar), they produced heavy and rich sound, making the excellent singers much more attractive.

The fifth act was LoVendoЯ and Zwei. LoVendoЯ performed last year too. This year Zwei with Megu as a supporting musician performed as a band together with Ayumu (vocal) whom Keiko Terada had wanted to add to this event for a long time.
 
The special collaboration between these two lively bands was joined by Kaori Kobayashi (drums), the leader of LoVendoЯ. First, LoVendoЯ’s “BINGO” and “Bukiyo” were played with twin vocals by Reina Tanaka (vocal) and Marina Okada (vocal). As soon as two gorgeous singers appeared on the stage, the fans in blue LoVendoЯ T-shirts stood up together and cheered.
 
Marin Miyazawa (guitar) in a bright green dress with Flying V steadily played pleasant phrases at certain points. Yuki Uozumi (guitar) in a black and white border costume played Edwards custom-built Stratocaster. In contrast with the costume color, she showed active performance suited for the big stage.
 
n the latter part, Ayumu in a white costume with sunglasses appeared on the stage with a microphone stand in her hand. With the bold action and strong vocal, she sang “Junjo Spectrum”. The bass player with such cool looks and performance, Megu, had a good presence all the time. With the synthetic effect of LoVendoЯ’s cuteness, this was the brilliant collaboration unique of NAON NO YAON.

While vigorous rock bands had excited the audiences so far, the sixth act Wakana was a singer-songwriter playing the piano. She sang “Senkanoshi” which is serious with strong messages. The audiences faced the stage straight and sincerely listened to the song maybe because the power of the song was so strong. Wakana’s clear voice sounded bigger in the scale with the assistance of the big stage of Yaon.
 
Although Wakana usually performs on the stage by herself, this time she had a band with Kaori Kobayashi on drums, Marin Miyazawa and Yuki Uozumi on guitar from LoVendoЯ, as well as Atsuko Watanabe (bass/ex-Princess Princess) and Ah-ran Kim (synthesizer).
 
In fact, Wakana, Ah-ran Kim, Marin Miyazawa, and Yuki Uozumi are alumni of the music school where Atsuko Watanabe teaches. In another way, this was a band of Mrs. Watanabe’s students, which was the precious collaboration realized only by NAON NO YAON.

The seventh act was FLiP, which represents Japanese female bands in 2014 both in name and reality. This year’s NAON NO YAON had Drop’s from Hokkaido and FLiP from Okinawa – the collection of selected female musicians all over the country from Hokkaido to Okinawa.
 
However, FLiP have different characteristics from slowness and warmness unique of Okinawa. Their rock sound that wakes you up is such a killer. The first song was their third single “Wonderland” released in 2012. With the strong count by Yuumi (drums), powerful guitar sound by Yuko (guitar) and Sachiko (vocal & guitar) joined, and then solemn and heavy low sound by Sayaka (bass) was added.
 
The second song was “Raspberry Rhapsody”, which is attractive for its multinational sound. The bright rock sound that could blow away the cloudy sky gathered passionate support not only from male audiences but also particularly from female audiences in Yaon.

After 5pm, Mitz Mangrove showing his beautiful legs in short pants appeared on the stage with Keiko Terada. Mitz Joked “I didn’t have an offer but when I called Keiko in the midnight, she said “OK” so here I came”. On the stage, the backing band with Junko Sugawara (guitar), Yuki Uozumi (guitar/LoVendoЯ), Atsuko Watanabe (bass), Kyoto Tomita (drums/ex-Princess Princess), Kaori Kobayashi (drums), and Miki “captain” Nakamura (keyboard/SHOW-YA) was in the stand-by condition.
 
In a relaxed mood, Keiko and Mitz announced the name of the next performer, which led to the greatest cheers of that day! The audiences, who had became relaxed and sat on the seat during the talk of Keiko and Mitz, stood up in a hurry. The next performer was…Chisato Moritaka!

As the next morning’s sports paper all had the headlines “Chisato appeared in Yaon with a miniskirt for the first time in 26 years”, and “Chisato rocked with a miniskirt in Yaon for the first time in 26 years”, the greatest impact of that day was the appearance of Chisato Moritaka. Her cute looks, expressions, acts, and voice have been unchanged for more than 25 years. However, we were really surprised not only by her looks but also by the setlist. The first song was “Hijitsuryoku Sengen (Non-Ability Declaration)”. It was the lead track of her fourth album released in July 1989 and had not been played in front of the audiences for more than 20 years. The seal was broken at NAON NO YAON in Yaon, the climax of girls rock.
 
When the song “Hijitsuryoku Sengen (Non-Ability Declaration)” was released, Chisato was 20 years old. The lyrics written by herself were too sensational and controversial. “I’m sorry but I’m not good at singing”, “It’s too late to notice the difference, I’m like this from the beginning”, “My ability depends on others”…she sang with a smile, and the second song was “Kusaimononiha Futawoshiro!! (Put the lid on stinky things)” On the stage of NAON NO YAON, Chisato sang “I don’t like rock”, “I know you want to talk, old man, but I don’t like old stories”, “I’m alright to be ignorant” in a cool way. This is Rock n’ Roll!
 
The last three songs were joined by Keiko Terada and Kyoko. Kyoko said, “I came for policing because she’s too cute”, in a black mini-skirt with a police hat. And Keiko appeared on the stage in a frilly mini-skirt in concert with Chisato’s costume and excited the audiences. This must have been her own sincere message to rock music presented by Chisato rather than just her good sense of service.
 
The last song was of course that national big hit song. Her sixteenth single “Watashiga Obasanni Nattemo (Even if I become a middle-aged woman)” released in June 1992 was sung along together with the audiences. Yaon was wrapped in such a great heat that you could not believe that only half of the performers had appeared.