Global Communication: GLAY News in English

"Part 02: Live Shuttle Extra"
"WHAT's IN ," 1.15.2006

White Band FES.
~For a future without poverty
12.3.2005 (Sat)-12.4 (Sun), Saitama Super Arena

Never forget the feeling of never forsaking those who need our help

Artists supporting an end to poverty gathered in the Saitama Super Arena. The various artists set their stage to convey their strong desire to "use the power of music to change the situation, if only a little," and there’s no mistaking that those who saw the performance went home affected. This was certainly a night to take the "first step." Writer: Mikiko Obashi

The "White Band FES" is an event that pointed out that there are children in the world living on the street with no home to live in or food to eat, and that every three seconds a child loses his life as a direct result of extreme poverty, and which encourages us to think hard on the subject of global poverty. A two day event. The artists who performed on the first day were AI, NITRO MICROPHONE UNDERGROUND, MOOMIN, PUSHIM, Kazufumi Miyazawa, MISIA, and GLAY. On the second day, which this report covers, DEPAPEPE, orange pekoe, Skoop On Somebody, Kazufumi Miyazawa, MISIA, and GLAY performed. The arena was packed with people displaying the thought “Let’s eliminate poverty!” through the symbol of the white band on their arms. Before the live, while the stage was still being prepared, a film on the problem of poverty was played on a large screen. When the live began, there was a speech by Tatsuo Hayashi, campaign performance committee representative and Japan-Africa conference member, giving it a very different feel from your average music event.

First up was DEPAPEPE. They're song had no lyrics. Without limiting it to images, they stuffed the song full of the message. They played three songs that day, but the two guitarists gave a performance to make everyone smile, and commented that "Only by increasing the smiles in this world can we increase the number of happy people" (Yoshinari Tokuoka)

Next up was orange pekoe. While the single guitar and vocal make up the smallest organization of the band, they give out a mirculous groove. In their well-coordinated performance, they gradually give birth to a sense of unity, and in the middle of thier first song, "Happy Valley," people naturally clapped out the beat with excitement. Also, their third song, "Niji," was wonderful. After the song, MC Tomoko Nagashima said, "Taking action with all the love in your hearts. In this way, poverty will disappear, and I think we can create a peaceful world." There was no one in the arena who was not overwhelmed by the persuasive power of her words.

Skoop On Somebody played four songs. Take said, "Today, tell everyone who didn't come to this event [about what happened here]. If we spread the word little by little, the world will soon become a better place. We're changing it right now." At the end of their last number, "Inori," he took away the microphone and sang with his raw voice. The emotion in his voice spread through the whole arena.

Kazufumi Miyazawa gave his message almost entirely through his songs, rarely speaking directly. He also prepared a third song, "Far East Asia," with such peaceful music as to make one unaware of the of the percussion, the genre, and even national borders. The lyric "the one life cut short in three seconds" was prominent in the song. He pounded out his message about the problem of poverty, which he wanted one and all to think about. In "Kimi dake ga Inai Sekai," we saw his session with MISIA.

The fourth artist up was MISIA. At the high tone in the intro of "Tsutsumikomu You Ni..." the audience suddenly stood in unison. In "Kaze no nai Asa, Hoshi no nai Yoru," she called in Kazufumi Miyazawa, who wrote the song, and as a surprise, Teru of GLAY came in to sing during "Fuyu no Etoranje," which Takuro wrote. Then, the highlight: a choir sang back-up for "BELIEVE" and "THE GLORY DAY." At full impact, the singing wrapped the entire arena in warmth for a moment.

Finally, GLAY. The moment they appeared on stage, a huge shout of joy arose from the audience. As though to reach that shout, Hisashi's guitar began to play their intro. The first song was "Doushaburi."* Thier first live in a long while, the floor rocked mercilessly with GLAY fans. "Super Arena! Let's go!" Teru shouted, and they began "Tenshi no Wakemae." Even without Teru stirring up the audience, they were so united that whatever energy they took from the stage they also returned. Teru was an excellent MC. He lead those who saw the event to what they recieved through it. "Don't just see this live, investigate this problem for yourselves and think about what you can do. This is the starting point. You probably won't find an answer immediately. But we want you to never forget this feeling, of not forsaking those who need us" (exerpt). Moreover, there was the appeal to investigate the problem for oneself. A group is like it's leader, and it's important that Teru, as our leader, gave us a good model.

"Last year after we ended our live and went back home, I went to look at the 'Hottokenai' homepage. But it was really hard to understand. Hottokenai executive commitee: I want you to make a homepage that even a middle schooler could understand." He expressed his opinion to the sponsors without hesitation. We know that they seriously approach the problem of poverty. And even the audience will probably go home and check the homepage. The set list was considerate even of those in the audience who aren't GLAY fans, and was made up of thier representative works. During "Glorious," a huge chorus came up from the audience. "Winter,again," which you always want to hear during winter. "Please listen to this next song, remembering in your hearts the people you love," Teru said, warming our hearts when he then sang "HOWEVER." Then he tied together "destroying the world's poverty" with "BEAUTIFUL DREAMER" by calling it "our common dream." During thier last song, "Yuuwaku," even audience members who aren't GLAY fans were enchanted.

Even more special was the encore. A dream collaboration was realized, something you certainly could never see but at this event. The first to appear on stage was Teru. Then he called out MISIA. MISIA had Kazufumi Miyazawa come out on stage as well. Before singing, they talked about thier final impressions on the day's event, and gave a message to the audience. They sang "Shima Uta" together. Those in the audience lent thier voices to the song as well, and a peaceful atmosphere flowed through the arena.

Right now, the White Band, insitgator of this event, has become a world movement. But we can't let it send as a transient movement or mere fad. We must always be thinking about the problem of poverty; it's a world problem. Taking advantage of this event, many people are thinking, and spreading the word is the point of this event.

*No song by the name of "Doushaburi" appears in any of GLAY's albums. Most likely, this song is "ROCK'N'ROLL SWINDLE," before it was polished for it's debut in the "ROCK'N'ROLL SWINDLE" live.