SCANDAL, 「"HELLO WORLD" in a perfect world」

Carrying their new album 『HELLO WORLD』 with them, SCANDAL is in the midst of their first world tour ＜SCANDAL WORLD TOUR 2015「HELLO WORLD」＞ mobilizing 75,000 people. On 4/12 (Sun.), they held their closing performances on the biggest scale in Tokyo over 2 days at the International Forum.

They will be completing their domestic performances with these Tokyo International Forum and Okinawa (4/19 [Sun.]) performances. Starting with a performance in Paris, France (Le Bataclan) at the end of this month, they will finally be starting their overseas performances with an estimated turnout of 15,000 people in 8 countries, 10 cities. Their Taiwan performance sold out in just 5 minutes of going on sale. Attracting attention in many regions abroad, SCANDAL announced their next stage in front of 5,000 fans at the International Forum. We would like to report on that surprising live.

Many fans had already flocked to International Forum Hall A from the morning. Entering the venue, a set with a perfect image of their world tour ＜SCANDAL WORLD TOUR 2015「HELLO WORLD」＞ encompassing their overseas performances welcomes you. This stage set is a large, moving one called 「LIVE PUB“HELLO WORLD”」. It was made to remind you of the famous Cavern Club in Liverpool where The Beatles played lives at when they were amateurs. Facing the stage, there is a bar counter and masters impersonating instrument staff stationed on the right side. A sofa space is established on the left side.

At curtain time, SCANDAL appeared on stage following a record played by the masters. At the same time, loud cheers from the fans erupted.

「HELLO～! Tokyo～!」──HARUNA (Vo&G)

The live started from this shout from HARUNA along with 「love in action」, a track from their new album. The second song, 「OVER DRIVE」, a pop song produced by Yasutaka Nakata, was unveiled in quick succession. The venue's voltage increased all at once with a jaunty start.

It changed suddenly with the third song: their rocky, strong debut song 「DOLL」. The customary towels were spun about, greatly shaking the venue. A short MC was slipped in with 「Let me hear your voices more! Are you ready?! Let's make it the best night ever with everyone who came here today～!」, and the staple songs 「Shunkan Sentimental」 and 「SCANDAL BABY」 overflowing with power boosted the venue to its climax all at once. Without stopping that force, the rock number 「Onegai Navigation」 overflowing with a speedy feeling from their new album as well as 「Kagen no Tsuki」 were played, heading from member introductions to the MC.

Leading with HARUNA's MC, 「We've only played 2 songs from our new album, so from here on we'll be playing many songs from the album!」, the album songs brimming with each members' personalities sung by each of the members, 「Graduation」 (Lyrics & music: HARUNA); 「Hon wo Yomu」 (Lyrics & music: MAMI); 「Kan Biiru」 (Lyrics & music: TOMOMI); and 「Oyasumi」 (Lyrics & music: RINA), were played. For 「Oyasumi」, drummer RINA, who practiced guitar especially for this song in order to showcase it, headed to the center of the stage with a white Telecaster. The driving rhythm and the 4 members lined up side-by-side in a row and playing stringed instruments had the crowd cheering loudly at this scene with plenty of impact. After that was another MC.

RINA sat down at the bar counter after ending her guitar performance and ordered, 「Master, the usual...oolong tea on the rocks!」. Sitting on the sofa, TOMOMI (B&Vo) ordered 「Water diluted with hot water...plain hot water」, and the scene of two non-alcohol-drinking members induced a laugh from the venue. On this tour, the band is accepting domestic local trivia on their mobile fan site 「CLUB SCANDAL」 and showcasing it during their MCs. They unveiled highlights from their domestic performances thus far. With just the "trivia," surprised 「Eh～」's came from the audience.

Halfway through the live, 「Winter story」 from their new album was started softly. Following that, 「Departure」, the song with lyrics and music by MAMI who was reminded of Japan's sakura season, was showcased. The hall dimmed, and the master who appeared from the bar counter put on a record and the shadow of an airplane taking off was displayed on the screens. As the entire venue quieted down, the standard live song 「Awanai Tsumori no, Genki de ne」 began and an 「Oh～!」 came from the audience. All at once the temperature of the venue rose.

As HARUNA said, 「Let's get even crazier～!」, the final stage of the live comprised of the Windows 8 global song 「Satisfaction」 and the refreshing pop number 「Hello!Hello!」 right after the other. After that was the set single 「Yoake no Ryuuseigun」, which unified the venue, and 「Your song」, where a call and response matched HARUNA and solidified that unity even more. The last song was the straight rock number 「Image」, the leading single from the album 『HELLO WORLD』. The lyrics "A new me is there when I open my eyes - I'll repaint reality with the ideals I imagined" were in synchronization with the band who will be experiencing an overseas tour and making great progress. It was an ending that had you feeling their determination.

As voices for the encore resounded in the venue, a slideshow of pictures from the 30 performances thus far was projected. Suddenly, the text announcement for ＜SCANDAL ARENA TOUR 2015-2016『PERFECT WORLD』＞ was shown. The venue erupted in chatter. At that time, SCANDAL appeared on stage once more. Facing the loudest cheers on this day, HARUNA made the announcement.

「We'll be going on an arena tour spanning from this December until next January! Although it'll be called a continuation to this tour, we'll make it an evolved live. We'll be playing songs from HELLO WORLD, of course, as well as past songs, new songs, and yet-unreleased songs! We want to make it a PERFECT night! We want to complete "HELLO WORLD" in a perfect world!」 As she talked about their feelings for their arena tour, she also showed us their enthusiasm for their overseas tour: 「We've completed 30 performances. After this we'll continue with Okinawa and our overseas performances. This tour feels long, but it's something we always wanted to do, So, because we'll do our best with our overseas performances as well, I want everyone to support us!」

The first encore song after this important announcement was the catchy number 「HARUKAZE」 that's popular overseas. They then played a new song that had been completed on this tour. This number with a nostalgic feeling to it had the crowd in delight. Lastly, HARUNA stirred up the crowd with, 「International Forum, can you dance a little bit moreー!?」, and they brought their 2 day performance at International Forum to a close with their classic song 「EVERYBODY SAY YEAH!」.

SCANDAL is expected to grow even more after finishing their overseas performances to 15,000 people. Keeping that momentum, they will perfectly complete the feelings they put into 「HELLO WORLD」  with ＜SCANDAL ARENA TOUR 2015-2016『PERFECT WORLD』＞, a Tokyo・Nagoya・Osaka arena tour mobilizing 40,000 people. Also, in 2016 SCANDAL will celebrate the 10th anniversary of their formation. The best preparations have been made for this night.

http://www.barks.jp/news/?id=1000114577