“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. As it got darker around Hibiya Open-Air Concert Hall (Yaon), it was fortunate enough to have little rain so far during the hot live performance.
 
Also in the latter part of the report, female musicians across all the generations and genres continued to gorgeously collaborate. Here we report the performance of surprising guests, collaboration of dreams, and the headliner SHOW-YA.
 

 

The ninth act was Shishido Kavka (drums & vocal) who also participated in this event last year. Like last year, she was accompanied by female musicians not as usual, including Rioko Minato (guitar) and Miki Tanaka (bass) from BARBARS on the stage.
 
The first song was “Love Corrida” whose flashy music video got popular. “I’m sure I will rock when our eyes meet”, “Girls want to cut loose”- the lyrics of this song were written by Shishido Kavka and SILVA. It has a cute and cool view of the world suited for NAON NO YAON.
 
It was followed by the medley of “Miss. Miss Me” and “Kikenna Futari”. With the emotional vocal and both dynamic and static drumming, every time she made stop motion, her long hair flew, which was very cool. Both Rioko Minato and Miki Tanaka put sharp sounds at certain points while making the drums stand out. Shishido Kavka is scheduled to perform on June 6th (Fri) at Club251, Shimokitazawa, along with her backing band on this stage BARBARS, and FLiP, who also played in this event. This will be hot again.
 
At the end, Shishido Kavka stood up while kicking the bass drum and looking through the audience just like a hunter aiming its prey. I’m sure many people got their heart shot through by her eyes.

It got completely dark around Hibiya Yaon in a mature atmosphere. Miriyah Kato, a singer-songwriter who performed at NAON NO YAON for the first time, appeared on the stage in dazzling lighting. Her gorgeous backing band consisted of Junko Sugawara (guitar), Megu (bass/Zwei), Shishido Kavka (drums), Rie Rikiishi (keyboard), and You Hatakeyama (percussion). Further, Monique Dehaney and Esther Thirimu joined as backup singers in this gorgeous band.
 
The first song was her twenty-second single “HEART BEAT” released in August 2012 – with scaled-up vocal on heavy-layered music. Shisido Kavka, just after finishing her own stage, showed drums solo.
 
Then the second song was her thirteenth single “SAYONARA Baby” released in September 2008 – with clear vocal and sound. Rie Rikiishi’s piano and You Hatakeyama’s percussion made a good accent. Miriyah Kato sang only two songs but it was enough to enjoy her diversity.

The eleventh act was Kyoko who had supported Keiko Terada in many scenes from the beginning of the show. In addition to Junko Sugawara (guitar), Rie Rikiishi (keyboard), You Hatakeyama (percussion), her backing band consisted of Yuki (guitar/D_Drive), Atsuko Watanabe (bass/ex-Princess Princess), Kaori Kobayashi (drums), and Mayuko Suenobu (violin). As Junko Sugahara, who had played the electric guitar beautifully in Miriyah Kato’s backing band, changed to have the acoustic guitar, Kyoko said “As we kept playing active rock numbers, now I will sing a standard jazz number”. She sang “Lullaby of Birdland” emotionally.
 
Not only with Kyoko’s sexy voice but also with the violin, the atmosphere in Yaon became very mature. When Kaori Kobayashi (sax) joined, Anna Tuchiya (vocal) was invited as a guest singer. They played a classic number of BARBEE BOYS “Meotojite Oideyo (Close your eyes and come to me)”. Anna Tuchiya sang in deep low voice, which made a perfect harmony with Kyoko.
 
Kyoko said, “This is the eighth NAON NO YAON. It is important to continue. I would like to appreciate SHOW-YA for this!” After she thanked Keiko Terada, she sang her new song with latin rhythm “Koisuru BAILA BAILA”. With the addition of Hiroko Furuya (trumpet), Koyuki Masuka (trombone) and four dancers, the stage became more glamorous and Kyoko sang and danced killingly with no jacket. The audiences loudly responded to the mature performance.

Mitz Mangrove (vocal) perfectly controlled the atmosphere of the venue with his conversational skills while helping Keiko Terada. As he declared “I will sing too”, his colleagues Gallantique Kazue (vocal) and Meili Mu (vocal) were invited to the stage to start the performance of Hoshikuzu Scat. Although this was a surprising guest, Hoshikuzu Scat performed last year too and many people saw them so the audiences of Yaon soon welcomed them.
 
In cheers and applause filled with expectation, they sang “Magnet Joe Nikiotsukero (Watch out for Magnet Joe)”, which has a nostalgic mood from the Showa era. Their excellent singing talent became a powerful accent toward the end of the show.

As soon as Hoshikuzu Scat finished performing, Keiko Terada appeared on the stage. Hoshikuzu Scat had no backing band and Mitz said “I handed the cassette tape to the PA guy”, so they started to talk about their favorite karaoke songs. As Keiko said “I actually like enka (Japanese ballad)” and sang the first line of “Funauta” – “Osakeha nurumeno kanga ii (I prefer lukewarm sake)”…there was Aki Yashiro herself standing behind her!
 
The very surprising guest for NAON NO YAON 2014 was the national enka singer, Aki Yashiro! In such a surprising roll, all the audiences stood up. Moreover, the backing band was SHOW-YA. The perfect match between heavy and hard rock sound and “Funauta” was amazing.
 
Aki repeatedly said “It’s fun!” with a big smile. Leading Keiko and her band members who were humbled, she sang one more song, “Amenobojo” passionately. Fortunately the rain stopped but many audiences were overwhelmed with emotion while listening to Aki’s three greatest ballads with SHOW-YA’s loud sound. They shed tears of pleasures in their heart.

While the audiences still felt excited after Aki Yashiro’s performance, Miki “captain” Nakamura (keyboard), Miki “mittan” Tsunoda (drums), Satomi Semba (bass), and Miki “sun-go” Igarashi (guitar) remained on the stage, and TOMO-ZO (guitar/Gacharic Spin), Shishido Kavka (drums), You Hatakeyama (percussion), and Mayuko Suenobu (violin) joined. With this gorgeous band, the singer was Anna Tsuchiya. When she sang with Kyoko, she wore black pantsuit, but this time she wore white dress. Her gorgeous style made me sigh.
 
The first song was her tenth single “Brave Vibration”, which is familiar as an ad jingle for “Shiseido’s Anessa”. After she changed the atmosphere completely with this active summer tune, the second song was “UP TO YOU”, a slow swinging number from the mini-album “SUGAR PALM” released in march 2014. She sang in a long high tone.
 
Although Anna Tsuchiya is active in many aspects as an actoress and a model, her roots must be in singing. Anna said, “I’m glad that all of you raised your hands and made noise. I love music so I’m really happy today”. The third song was also a recent one “SUGAR PALM”. She repeatedly said “It’s fun!” in a different tone from Aki Yashiro all the way to the end. It was conveyed to the audiences and they sympathized the fun.

After 7pm, the fifteenth act Nanase Aikawa appeared. As soon as she appeared on the stage in burning-red-sun-colored suits, the audiences roared. In addition to the members of SHOW-YA, her powerful backing band consisted of Mayuko Suenobu (violin), YUI (guitar/Cyntia) and Yuumi (drums/FLiP). The first song was a hit number known to everyone in the venue “Sweet Emotion”. It was so powerful with Nanase’s soulful vocal.
 
The second song was “Sakura Maiorirukoro, Namidairo (When the cherry blossoms fall, color of tears)”. With the violin, Mayuko Suenobu elaborately expressed petals of cherry blossoms gently flying in the air. Unlike the first song, the gentle song was impressive.
 
The third song was “Yumemiru Shojoja Irarenai (I can’t be a dreaming girl anymore)”. It was time for the special collaboration of NAON NO YAON – so the guest singer was invited, who was Chisato Moritaka! It was the collaboration of two female singers who were constantly on TV as the top stars when it was just normal to sell more than a million copies of CDs. This made the audiences cry of pleasure everywhere in the venue. Chisato’s vocal was gentle but rocking, and Nanase’s vocal was both emotional and strong. With the performance of one and only “dreaming girls”, the voltage of the venue reached the climax.

The audiences were excited more than ever in Yaon. The stage was ready, and it was the time for the headliner SHOW-YA! Keiko Terada was so busy throughout the day and attracted the audiences by changing costumes many times, but she looked best in the red battle dress.
 
The first song was the self-cover song “Ubaitore” as the coupling song of the single “V.S. MYSELF” released in July 2013. This song inevitably excited the audience during live performance, and made both SHOW-YA fans from the old time and younger rock fans in Yaon head-bang. Together with Keiko, Satomi Semba bravely walked on the stage from side to side, agitating the audiences.
 
Miki “sun-go” Igarashi’s deep guitar sound never gave the audiences a rest. The second song was “Watashiha Arashi”. Miki “captain” Nakamura’s keyboard was thrilling, and Miki “mittan” Tsunoda’s played the drums with full power, vibrating the eardrum of the audiences. I realized that NAON NO YAON was a serious match by women. Although such a variety of top musicians performed so far, SHOW-YA never looked inferior but looked rather superior. “Don’t make mess around with mature women!” Keiko’s words had more weight.
 
Lastly, Keiko invited Shoko Nakagawa and Nanase Aikawa to sing “Genkai LOVERS” together. Head-banging beyond the limit! This is SHOW-YA! This is NANON NO YAON! Keiko’s shout echoed in the forest of Hibiya.

“Many of those who stand on the stage of NAON NO YAON shine with dreams”…Keiko Terada said when she introduced the sixth act Wakana. At the time of encore, when all the performers including the opening acts were invited by Keiko and appeared on the stage, it was too bright and dazzling to stand straight. It’s a pity that such a great event is held only once a year (despite the preparation and laborious efforts of backstage). I can’t help but expect that this becomes a “two-day event” next year as it was repeatedly said on the stage.
 
NAON NO YAON 2014 dropped the curtain with the big chorus of “Ah Mujo” by Ann Lewis.
 
After the show finished, many performers expressed their feelings in their Twitter and blogs, and it was noticeable that most of them commented on Keiko Terada in backstage. From the beginning, she invited the opening acts before the show started and continued to appeared on the stage till the end. Many people witnessed that Keiko encouraged other musicians in backstage, and continued to dancing while they were performing.
 
Actually I went to the backstage for the backyard interview of the opening acts and witnessed Keiko, who just finished her won stage, walked with Shoko Nakagawa holding each other’s shoulders, and talked with a bright smile to the camera crew from the morning TV show. It made me wonder how many Keiko Terada’s existed. She is not physically tough but also has strong feelings for NAON NO YAON. I’m so sure that this stage is the highest point for not only female musicians but also all the Japanese mucisians.