Every year, 8-piece Japanese band hold a special concert for the new year. Wagakki Band Dai Shinnenkai 2019 (Wagakki Band’s Big New Year’s Party 2019) will be held at the 37,000-capacity Saitama Super Arena. The band performed in Tokyo on July 16 as part of their 2018 nationwide tour ‘Oto no Kairou.’ Over 5,000 fans marched on Tokyo International Forum Hall A for the show on the last day of the 3-day heatwave. The venue was equipped with a child-minding facility for fans taking their children to the concert. The show began at 5pm. The band initiated the set with Sasameyuki which has been used in a movie, anime series and short film. They continued with Guren and Shizumanu Taiyou without pause. The crowd’s excitement shot into the stratosphere from the second the show started. This was the 21^st show of the tour which began back on April 28. Every date they have played their level of completion of their performance has only increased which, in a word, can be described as outstanding.   They went onto perform Synchronicity for which vocalist Suzuhana and guitarist Machiya performed twin vocals. They also performed Hakanaku mo Utsukushii no wa which was this concert’s exclusive song as part of their first attempt at trying to play one different song at every show.   The crowd hushed as they witnessed Suzuhana’s staggering vocal ability on Sabaku no Komoriuta and the members’ interconnected instrumentation. Once the concert was over, fans banded together to sing Akatsukino Ito in an effort to call the members back on stage for an encore which of course proved successful. The two-hour spectacle wrapped up with Oki no Tayuu which enveloped the room with a gentle air.   Once the band left the stage for the final time, fans were surprised with an announcement on the on-stage screen revealing the 2019 New Year’s concert.   We look forward to seeing Wagakki Band perform their biggest New Year’s show to date at Saitama Super Arena.    

Wagakki Band will provide the ending theme song for the upcoming kabuki play adaptation of manga series Naruto which will be performed in Tokyo at the Shinbashi Enbujo Theatre this August. It was announced back in April that the band would perform a song for the play, but new details have been revealed. The song is titled Hikari no Naka de (‘In the Light’).   Naruto was first serialised in Weekly Shonen Jump in 1999 and tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, a young ninja who trains in the art of ninjitsu, who must take out his enemies, and who ultimately aspires to be Hokage, the leader of the village. The series has brought in fans across the globe, with well over 220 million copies sold in over 40 countries outside Japan. Kabuki actors Bandou Minosuke and Hayato Nakamura will play the roles of Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha respectively. Comment by Yuko Suzuhana (Wagakki Band Vocalist): “Collaborating with kabuki theater is something I’ve really wanted to do so we are extremely honoured that they called out to us. They said that Wagakki Band’s sound was necessary for the play, so our mutual love was realised. We wrote this new song for the production as [they said] it was something only we can do. I believe it’s a very bright and piercing song compared to the recent Wagakki Band. The composition and lyrics were written by our guitarist Machiya. He’s a fan of Naruto, so much so that he’s watched it 3 times. The song is packed with words like ‘hope’ and ‘light’ which align with the story’s final arc which rang together really well in our heads with the music when we were writing it. We also tried some new songs, like having multiple choruses. There’s also less sounds in the ensemble than we’ve ever had to bring more of a balance. I hope people enjoy this unique fusion of kabuki and Wagakki Band which has never been seen before.”   We look forward to hearing what kind of song Wagakki Band has in store for the play.    

Wagakki Band's premium live concert Wagakki Band Dai Shinnenkai 2018 Yokohama Arena - Asu e no Kokai - which took place at Yokohama Arena on January 27 will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on August 8. This is the fifth year in a row the band have performed this special New Year's concert. It first took place at Shibuya Club Asia in 2014 in front of 300 people. It then moved to Shibuya Public Hall where they performed for 2,000 people. Things got bigger in 2016 at the Nippon Budokan with 10,000 people, and again in 2017 at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium for 15,000 people where they performed for two days. This year at Yokohama Arena marked the biggest yet.   Fans can now relive the grand night and thrilling musical performance that took place, including the diverse stage line-up that saw 44 people up there sword dancing, playing the taiko drums and the shamisen, and dancing. One of the biggest surprises of the evening was when Yo Hitoto stepped onto stage to perform Dong Feng Po alongside Wagakki Band. The sub-title of the concert's name, Asu e no Kokai ('A Voyage to the Morrow'), signalled a diving into a new deep ocean for this year's show. It displayed the skill the band have cultivated these past five year and their unrivalled power to progress to the next stage which was shown in numerous ways.

The first press limited editions of the DVD and Blu-ray includes a CD containing the tracks performed live that night as well as behind-the-scenes footage and commentary from the members.    

Kyoto Teramachi Sanjou no Holmes is a popular mystery light novel series written by Mai Mochizuki. The series has sold over 700,000 copies and won the Kyoto Book Awards in 2016. An anime adaptation is slated for July 2018, for which Wagakki Band's new song Sasameyuki has been chosen as the opening theme.

The song is the lead track from the band's fifth album Otonoe which was released on April 25. It's a twist on the popular theme of 'separation' told through wabisabi, the Japanese aesthetic of transience and imperfection, and an orchestra. It's an intricate fusion of rock band power, traditional Japanese instruments, and orchestral instruments.

Sasameyuki will also be used as the main theme song for the upcoming movie Koi no Shizuku coming to theatres in Japan this autumn. Acting as the main theme song to a movie where the creation of sake is the theme―which is also part of traditional Japanese culture―as well as a theme song to an anime with Kyoto as the main location serves to only continue Wagakki Band's ability to spread the country's traditional culture to the world.

 

Comments from Morita (Anime Producer, Futabasha)
"The reason behind making this offer to Wagakki Band was because I felt a high affinity between them and the series. One of the themes of the 'Kyoto Teramachi Sanjou no Holmes' anime is antiques being a memory from the past that link to our time. Wagakki Band are a hybrid of the good old traditional wagakki instruments and modern day music. I felt they were a perfect match for that theme."

 

Wagakki Band are in the midst of their 2018 Oto no Kairou tour to promote their latest album Otonoe. The tour will see them perform in 25 places around Japan in 26 concerts. Kyoto Teramachi Sanjou no Holmes begins this July, so be sure to catch the song when it airs.

 

 

A kabuki adaptation of Naruto is slated for August later this year at the Shinbashi Enbujō theatre in Ginza.

 

It has been unveiled that Wagakki Band will provide a song for the production.

Naruto was first serialised in Weekly Shonen Jump in 1999 and tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, a young ninja who trains in the art of ninjitsu, who must take out his enemies, and who ultimately aspires to be Hokage, the leader of the village. The series has brought in fans across the globe, with well over 220 million copies sold in over 40 countries outside Japan. Kabuki actors Bandou Minosuke and Hayato Nakamura will appear in the new kabuki adaptation where they will play the roles of Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha respectively.9

 

Comment by Bandou Minosuke (Naruto Uzumaki):
"On this occasion we will be borrowing the power of Wagakki Band. It's very encouraging! No other music is better to combine the unique perspective of the original Naruto work which has spanned all ages and nationalities, and the purely Japanese image of kabuki!"

Comment by Hayato Nakamura (Sasuke Uchiha):
"I am so happy for Wagakki Band to be kindly providing a song for the new Naruto kabuki play. Wagakki Band's sound, which combines traditional Japanese instruments and Western instruments, though new, has a sense of nostalgia within it, so I'm very much looking forward to seeing how that ties in with the kabuki."

Comment by Yuko Suzuhana (Wagakki Band):
"I really wanted to do a kabuki collaboration, so I am humbly honoured for my voice to have been heard. That Wagakki Band's sound was said to be a necessary element has realised our mutual love. We have felt the overwhelming popularity of Naruto when we have been overseas, so to be associated with such a representative piece of work from Japan through music has all of us, who have been fans of Naruto since long ago, very excited."

The chemistry between the world created by the new Naruto kabuki play and Wagakki Band is something to very much look forward to.

 

 

Wagakki Band uploaded a video to YouTube showing them performing alongside The WGB Symphonic Orchestra, the first time they have collaborated with a full orchestra live.

 

 

The video includes footage of the second act of Wagakki Band Premium Symphonic Night, a one-night only premium live show that took place in February this year.

 

The footage from the night is also available on the live concert edition of Wagakki Band's upcoming fifth album, Otonoe, set for release on April 25.

 

Wagakki Band entertain their fans with a multitude of different projects. Stay up to date to see what they get up to next!