Mylene Night 04 FINAL

[Tochiro]

Chie Kajiura's final Mylene Night gig is happening tomorrow!

Going? Impressions? Reviews? Post em here!

[skullmilitia]

I hope there's some kind of recording of it wether official or not.

Definately jealous of anyone going!

Edited February 1, 2014 by skullmilitia

[Tochiro]

There certainly won't be an official one and Japanese fans frown of recording and pictures are prohibited - but we will report on what we can!

Edited February 1, 2014 by Tochiro

[Bariaburu Faita]

Wish I could be there. Let here know her fans in Kansai appreciate her singing.

[Gubaba]

Okay, I'll come out and say it...

MYLENE NIGHT 04 SUCKED.

Yep, sucked. Big time.

I wasn't planning on going... Mylene Night always seems to slip past my radar until it's too late to get tickets. As such, I was just puttering around the house, listening to Slapp Happy, when I got a text from Save at about 3:00: "You working today?" I replied, "No. What's up?" He answered, "John's got an extra ticket for Mylene Night if you want to come. It's in Shimokitazawa" (which is relatively close to my house).

"Cool," I wrote, mentally beginning to estimate how quickly I could take a shower and get out of the house, "what time does it start?"

"In half an hour."

Uh-oh.

As Garth Marenghi always sez, "I didn't have time to grab a shower, so I had to do with a quick rinse around the key areas." I rushed out of the house and made my way to Shimokita, meeting Save and Renato there with about five minutes to spare. We went into the club (which was pretty packed, sold out show, and all that), and I paid John the ¥3500 for the ticket. Oh, and at the door, there was an obligatory ¥1000 charge, which got you two drink tickets.

Luckily, the show started promptly. The lights went down, Chie came out. There were instruments on stage, but no band members. A prerecorded backing track of the Gift 25 version of "Sweet Fantasy" started, and we were off. She sounded good, but she had to pause to cough at one point. Then she sang "Kimi ni Todoke," also with a prerecorded backing track.

Then a screen descended in front of her, and we were treated to a video interview from Mylene Night 01, with Tenjin interviewing Chie and Tomo Sakurai. There were a few cute music videos, with Chie, Tomo, and Chie's band miming to some Fire Bomber tracks in a park, but it was nothing spectacular. Then the screen went back up, and Chie was going to sing some more songs, but her iPad was busted. She she talked a bit, and then the screen descended again, and we had the conversation among Chie, Tomo, and Aya Endo from Mylene Night 02.

When that finally ended, Chie came back out and (again with prerecorded backing tracks), sang "Friends ~ Jikuu o Koete" and "My Beautiful Place" (which was arranged much like the Mylene Jenius Sings Lynn Minmay album).

Then she talked some more, thanked us for coming, and introduced the final song, "My Friends." Then it was over.

Her performances were fine, but... only five songs!? WHAT THE HELL, CHIE!?

Well, it was now 5:15, and at 6:30, the doors would open again for the first of Chie's "ANIMANIA" concerts, which is what's replacing Mylene Night. No one really knew what to expect, except that it was supposed to be just a general "anime" themed show, rather than a specific Macross show. Everyone was wondering, What's she gonna sing?

So I went and bought a ticket, since THAT show hadn't sold out, only to discover that it was quite a bit more expensive: ¥5500. And we had to spend an extra ¥500 which netted us a single drink ticket.

Man... I'd just spent over a hundred bucks for what so far was turning out to be a pretty disappointing affair.

(Need I add that, since it started at 3:30, it wasn't exactly Mylene NIGHT...? But I guess "Mylene Afternoon" just doesn't sound as good.)

So we all went out to dinner (well... most of us had dinner... Tochiro just had cake and soda, like a kid at a birthday party).

Then we dutifully filed back in, unsure of what to expect.

Things looked more promising right off the bat, since her band had finally shown up. The lights went down... and she launched into "Voices." This was followed by "Idol Talk" (now featuring a couple of pretty searing guitar solos). After that, she introduced Animania001 by explaining that it's just an anime night, and she's just doing a selection of anime songs she likes, and that there's no other overarching theme. Oh, and the fact that it happens on February Second (Mylene's birthday, of course) is in no way relevant.

Then the Fire Bomber hits came out, one after another... "Koi no Maho," "Plastics," "Ready Go," "Remember 16"... Her three-piece band became augmented by a three-piece, all-girl horn section (saxophone, trumpet, and trombone) for "Plastics" (and later, "Dakedo Baby" and "My Friends") and they were great. Honestly, I need an all-girl horn section in my life. It would make the bad times much more bearable.

I thought "Remember 16" was especially good... very similar to the arrangement on Acoustic Fire (but without the steel guitar), and lighting made it look like everyone was sitting around a campfire, just singing an old favorite.

Then the guitarist put away the guitar and started playing the theremin (!!!) and she sang "The Borderline," followed by "Diamond Crevasse." Truly amazing stuff.

Then everyone put their instruments away and pulled out their iPhones, which they used to play "Ninjiin Loves you Yeah." Chie forgot one of the lines, so she had to fill in "NAnanaNANANANAnaNANAnaa," which was beyond adorable. Then she said, "Well, we've also got a new song tonight..." and sang "Lum's Love Song" from Urusei Yatsura, which was weird, because I've for no particular reason been thinking about the UY music a lot recently. It was also, um, the only non-Macross song of the night.

A few more songs (including "Virgin Story," with her bassist singing the Basara parts), and the show ended with "My Friends."

Everyone shouted for an encore, and so they came back and did "Aimo ~Tori no Hito~" and "Pillow Dream." People started cheering for ANOTHER encore, but then the house lights flicked on, so no chance of that.

So yeah... I have no idea what kind of politics led to the death of Mylene Night and why she had to change to a new thing... but Animania001 was DAMN AMAZING!!

Edited February 2, 2014 by Gubaba

[VF-15 Banshee]

I bet Chie does a very good version of "The Borderline."

[skullmilitia]

Ah damn more crossover songs! Chie singing M+ sounds like winning.

[isamu]

Did they ever bring out any of the previous concerts....particularly any of the Yoko Kanno concerts....in either DVD or BD?

[Gubaba]

Did they ever bring out any of the previous concerts....particularly any of the Yoko Kanno concerts....in either DVD or BD?

No. Just the Frontier-only concerts.

[Tochiro]

Did they ever bring out any of the previous concerts....particularly any of the Yoko Kanno concerts....in either DVD or BD?

For Yoko Kanno there's a BD of the Macross F Galaxy Tour at the Budokan. There's also the Merry Christmas Without You Christmas concert (Yoko Kanno/MF) available on BD.

One of Fukuyamas tribute to Basara concerts and one Firebomber concert (well, Fukuyama and Chie but it's more like a tribute to Firebomber) made it to DVD.

4 songs from Firebomber 2012 can be found on the FB7 BD.

Neither of the Macross Crossover gigs nor any of the Mylene nights have been released and unfortunately they probably never will be.

It does appear however appear that there might be a snippet of the Crossover 30 concert footage include in the upcoming Macross F movies BD boxset (unconfirmed).

[isamu]

For Yoko Kanno there's a BD of the Macross F Galaxy Tour at the Budokan. There's also the Merry Christmas Without You Christmas concert (Yoko Kanno/MF) available on BD.

One of Fukuyamas tribute to Basara concerts and one Firebomber concert (well, Fukuyama and Chie but it's more like a tribute to Firebomber) made it to DVD.

4 songs from Firebomber 2012 can be found on the FB7 BD.

Neither of the Macross Crossover gigs nor any of the Mylene nights have been released and unfortunately they probably never will be.

It does appear however appear that there might be a snippet of the Crossover 30 concert footage include in the upcoming Macross F movies BD boxset (unconfirmed).

No. Just the Frontier-only concerts.

Thanks for the information gentlemen. It's unfortunate about the crossover stuff, but it's good to know there at least concerts for those other Macross related material that's out there on disc. I will try and track those concerts down one day.

Not sure if any of you can confirm this, but a very long time ago at one of the Macross cons, I was told by Egan Loo that the 15th Anniversary Macross Concert(which is probably the very first Macross celebration concerts they ever did) which took place back like '98 or '99 *WAS* in fact filmed by one of the big studios(Bandai or Big West).

Not sure where Egan got this news or how credible his source was, but I doubt he would've told this to me if he wasn't sure. Tochiro have you heard anything along these lines? If that concert was really filmed, why do you suppose they never released it on any format? Quite a shame because I read it was one of the most memorable Macross concerts performed to date.

[Tochiro]

Not sure if any of you can confirm this, but a very long time ago at one of the Macross cons, I was told by Egan Loo that the 15th Anniversary Macross Concert(which is probably the very first Macross celebration concerts they ever did) which took place back like '98 or '99 *WAS* in fact filmed by one of the big studios(Bandai or Big West).

Not sure where Egan got this news or how credible his source was, but I doubt he would've told this to me if he wasn't sure. Tochiro have you heard anything along these lines? If that concert was really filmed, why do you suppose they never released it on any format? Quite a shame because I read it was one of the most memorable Macross concerts performed to date.

Am still jealous of Egan to this day about that 15th anniversary gig. :-)

And while I can't speak to specifics, yes most macross gigs are recorded. This can be for any number of reasons (such as the artists wanting a copy of their performance for future reference), but is normally so that the IP holder/licensor has a record of it. This isnt to say that said recordings are necessarily of good enough quality to be packaged as a commercial product - often the recording is a single, static camera at the back of the concert venue. In the case of, for example, Macross Crossover Live 30 however, the footage was professional quality and there were multiple cameras (footage was projected on screens on either side of the stage). This, unfortunately, brings us back to the main reason it wasnt/won't be released - the licensors and other stakeholders don't want to do so. (Theres also issues like financial viability since all the stakeholders need to receive their piece of the pie, and the fact that some concerts are fanclub-events and are meant only for fanclub members/ticket holders - a guaranteed physical release after the fact may limit the organizers ability to fill all the seats at the events itself, so not doing a physical release results an a manufactured sense of the event being 'premium').

Just think - somewhere there is a full visual/audio recording of Yoko Kanno's AMAZING Tanabata Sonic concert from 2009. Despite the fact that it would sell, the various stakeholders will never come to an agreement that will get it released. Which is a damn tragedy.

Edited February 4, 2014 by Tochiro

[isamu]

Am still jealous of Egan to this day about that 15th anniversary gig. :-)

And while I can't speak to specifics, yes most macross gigs are recorded. This can be for any number of reasons (such as the artists wanting a copy of their performance for future reference), but is normally so that the IP holder/licensor has a record of it. This isnt to say that said recordings are necessarily of good enough quality to be packaged as a commercial product - often the recording is a single, static camera at the back of the concert venue. In the case of, for example, Macross Crossover Live 30 however, the footage was professional quality and there were multiple cameras (footage was projected on screens on either side of the stage). This, unfortunately, brings us back to the main reason it wasnt/won't be released - the licensors and other stakeholders don't want to do so. (Theres also issues like financial viability since all the stakeholders need to receive their piece of the pie, and the fact that some concerts are fanclub-events and are meant only for fanclub members/ticket holders - a guaranteed physical release after the fact may limit the organizers ability to fill all the seats at the events itself, so not doing a physical release results an a manufactured sense of the event being 'premium').

Just think - somewhere there is a full visual/audio recording of Yoko Kanno's AMAZING Tanabata Sonic concert from 2009. Despite the fact that it would sell, the various stakeholders will never come to an agreement that will get it released. Which is a damn tragedy.

Ahh thanks for the insight bro. A tragedy indeed but I guess you have to take all these factors into account.

Yoko KannoTanabata Sonic 2009 concert....would have loved to have been there

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=TCju_BUQk0w&list=PLAEF6FF810BA2A6D4

Edited February 4, 2014 by isamu

[Tochiro]

Finally got my review up!

http://www.macrossworld.com/6265/mylene-night-04-report-the-politics-of-music/