Once again, I was lucky enough to get to fly to Japan to watch LiSA’s Fukui “Cocktail Party” concert in Dec 2024. It has already been 10 days since the concert finished, but I am still stuck in the lingering afterglow of the concert atmosphere. It was also the first time my son attended any concert so it was something I both looked forward to and also worried about.
Getting to the Dome
This time it was in Fukui Sundome which was logistically way more difficult than the usual cities like Tokyo / Osaka. From Osaka, it was easily 3 hours away by train/foot and includes at least 25 minutes of walking. Usually walking this amount is not an issue at all, but in winter when it was freezing and snowing/raining, the roads themselves were slippery and coming from hot/humid Singapore had me underprepared. At the end of the trip, the soles from my sneakers basically fell off from all the wet soaking in sloshy snow.
Of course, regardless of how far the travelling, I would still take photographs at the same locations as where LiSA did. At the time, I was lucky to meet my first LiSA fan of this trip, and although we didn’t know each other and didn’t exchange contacts, but later he saw my post and we even took a photo together.
Other than Fukui (福井) being kind of remote, the station Sabae（鯖江) which is the closest station to the Sundome, was also not accessible by JR lines and hence I had to change trains. It was my first time to Fukui and the Sundome, so although I heard that it was kind of remote, nothing prepared me for the nothingness of the road leading to the Sundome.
It was about 1.5km walk from Sabae station to the Sundome, and I thought that considering every weekend probably there would be some concert held there, so likely at least 5,000 people would walk up and down the road and maybe there would be some shops, but seems there was nothing at all. No cafe, no convenience store, no shops etc. Even when I was within sight of the Sundome, the field in front of me looked merely like a waterlogged rice field(?). Nevertheless, it was not a problem and did not affect the concert experience, but was just an interesting observation since it was so different from the locations of LANDER (in Osaka) or iScream (in Tokyo 日本武道館). Another interesting thing was because the area was so remote and barely populated, the whole local train to Sabae and the road to the Sundome was mainly LiSA fans. On morning of Day 2, when I entered the mall or the restaurants in Fukui city, they were completely playing LiSA’s playlist too. So cool to see it like a festival of sorts. If it wasn’t because I was freezing to death, I am sure the atmosphere would have been even better with all the fans chatting and getting to know each other.
My son’s view: It was a long walk in the rain and cold wind, but luckily we didn’t slip and fall and got there safely. Surprisingly, the rural roads from Sabae station to the Sundome had less snow than the city roads in Fukui city centre.
Wearing LiSA Merch
Being a relatively new LiSA fan, the selection of wearable merch I had was quite limited so I just made do with whatever I had, wearing the “iScream” T-shirt with the LANDER hoodie on Day 1 (Theme of the Concert was “Sweet”). On Day 2 “Sour” part of the tour, I realised that I shouldn’t wear the Orange T-shirt since it was the wrong colour code, so I ended up wearing the chequered shirt instead. Luckily the chequered shirt was nice and subtle so I was glad I bought it and look forward to wearing it often.
I really love the bright orange long sleeved T-shirt as it doesn’t look like merch at all. It probably made me look like Son Goku from Dragon Ball, but I was happy to wear it even for the rest of my Japan trip.
Arriving at the Dome
On Day 1, upon arrival to the Sundome area, I immediately queued and bought merch (especially love buying wearable merch) to prepare for Day 2. From the beginning, I was already planning to buy the Route 13 tote bag anyway, but it came in especially handy since due to how far the venue was from my hotel, I couldn’t afford the time to go back to put my merch away and hence it stored all my merch during the concert.
In addition, after buying the merch, I quickly tried my luck at the lucky draw and as expected, I only got the participation prize on both days. Luckier people could get an acrylic block with LiSA’s signature, but alas, I do not have such luck.
Thereafter, after completing my digital fan club check-in to record my attendance, I quickly proceeded to find some fellow fans for group photos. It was lots of fun meeting new people. Of course, language barrier is difficult to overcome, but I tried my best and LiSA fans are generally friendly people.
Sorry there were some who I forgot to take photos with as well, such as the r/LiSA discord group member from USA and also some people who I recognized that I follow from twitter but they are so popular and surrounded by friends that I dared not approach. Maybe next time.
Of course, I also took some photos of the flower stands and banner. Unlike LANDER and iScream, there were way fewer flower stands. I suspect that somewhere it was announced officially not to do flower stands. Nevertheless some fans still did it to support and I felt sad that I didn’t know about this fan flower stand or else I would join it (just like in previous LANDER / iScream).
Previously in Tokyo venue, they even had a special snack/food stall with special cards as gifts. I was hoping it would be here in Fukui too, but alas it was not to be.
Upon entering the dome area (before the actual concert venue), here are the things they gave us. If I lived by myself, I could post so many of these on the walls etc. Maybe I should start a scrap book or else all of these would just go to waste. By the way, I doubt they gave the RiP SERViCE leaflet before the concert (and announcement), but I don’t remember well. On a separate note, if you see the bottom of the photo, they gave some stylish plastic sleeves too. I really like the design and would like to use it, but can someone advise me what I can use it for? It is too big for my passport and too small to be an A4 clear file:
Entering the Concert Venue
This time, my seats were the luckiest ever from the past 4 times that I attended LiSA’s concert so I was really looking forward to it. Previously I was always in the stands which were further back so I was ecstatic about these seats.
To get an idea of how close we were from the stage or the catwalk, you could see from the photos below.
The seats were so close that often when I looked at the big screen, her face size on the screen was the same as what I could see directly. So end up, I often spent the whole time directly looking at LiSA instead of at the screen. The only downside is that my seats were ahead of the centre round catwalk so whenever she performs there and face forward, then I couldn’t see as clearly but it was fully compensated by all the other times when she would directly look at our areas so I have no complaints whatsoever.
Actual Concert
For example photos and even some short clips of the concert itself, you can find her on X (formerly Twitter) at https://x.com/LiSA_OLiVE. I won’t repost all the beautiful photos here but do explore on your own since it was really a sight to behold (photos from LiSA’s twitter).
However, other than the costumes and dancing, LiSA’s main draw has always been her live performances. Below are the two setlists that you can find on Spotify, however if you have never attended a LiSA concert before, you would not be able to imagine the amount of energy the fans contribute to the performance as a whole. (If you are interested to attend her concert in future but don’t know how to get tickets, you can refer to my posts on Ticket Purchases and Ticket Payment)
SWEET Playlist
SOUR Playlist
To a first-timer like my son, it must be super exhilarating to see that every song was given new life and was a totally different animal from the CD / recorded version. It is common for most artistes that live performance will not be as good as the recorded version, but in LiSA’s case, she always manages to create a different atmosphere at lives that makes the fans longing for more.
The chanting in unison of “ADAMAS / Isseino Kassai”, the playful hand movements of “say my nameの片想い”, the hype chorus of “Rock Mode” etc all make it unforgettable no matter how many times I see it.
Songs that I haven’t heard live before were also a treat such as 虚無, Bad Sweet Trap, No More Time Machine and Saikai. It was pity that Saikai was so short and only part of the medley, as I would have loved to see the singing interaction within the song.
Her sensual side was also fuly displayed during GL / DOCTOR which invited a member of the audience to the stage. Strapped to a chair and pranced around by LiSA and the dancers, most fans in that situation could only be stunned, but all of them were so happy afterwards (understandably so).
Needless to say, being able to hear BlackBox and QUEEN for the first time live for me was incredible too. My son heard it so many times this year that as soon as the intro started, he already knew.
For me, the icing on the cake would be the performance of Shirushi (シルシ). From her interview on Billboard Japan, it was already clear that she understood how challenging the song is and was even scared to perform it for many years. However, for her fans, she still decided to challenge this fan favorite again and perform it during the tour. She could have sang it only half way through the tour and changed it to an easier song, but she didn’t want to disappoint her fans and kept it until the end.
Knowing this, I broke down and cried uncontrollably during the first day of hearing it live for the first time. Admittedly, her voice was already a bit raspy/hoarse this late in the tour and so the song performance in terms of sound quality wasn’t her best, but knowing the effort and meaning behind the performance, and also it happens that Shirushi is my all time favorite song, made it all the more special for me.
Although my drawing skills is non-existent, but even before attending the concert, I already knew it would be my favorite moment and so I tried to draw it to give to other fans. In the end, I sat right on the side of the catwalk and saw the view that I drew appear right in front of my eyes.
To be honest, I was worried about her voice since even part of the emcee when we was talking, could hear that her voice was already strained from all the performances / tour, but she pulled through so I was happy for her.
On another note, for Fukui last concert, she suddenly decided to do a high-five run through the audience! We were soooooooo close to getting the high-five but unfortunately she turned left instead of right.
Apparently singer milet was also present in the audience that day and she got a high-five
My son’s view: It was the first time he attended any concert but although he heard many of LiSA’s songs before because I kept playing it at home, he was pleasantly surprised by how much energy the whole concert exuded and thoroughly enjoyed it. He jumped throughout the concert and even made friends with the LiSAkko next to him.
After Party
After the concert, it was customary for fans who are still basking in the afterglow to take lots of photos together outside the venue etc. However, since it was freezing cold and raining, most people probably skipped this step and directly went to the after party this time.
Had a fun time talking with LiSA fans and meeting new people. Since the venue was far from my hotel, unfortunately this time I had to leave even before the dinner fully ended, but it was an enjoyable time and even my son who didn’t speak a word of Japanese felt the warmth from the fellow fans.
Usually if the venue was in a city, then most would go to karaoke to sing lots of LiSA songs together but this time since there were not many karaoke shops nearby (I heard only one), so I think most people couldn’t do it too.
We exchanged a lots of souvenirs / gifts and the night ended with everyone longing to have another chance to watch her concert again soon (next concert in May 2025).
Originally I was hoping that she would sing ReAwakeR as a bonus for being the last show of the tour, but since it was not performed looking forward to its release in January 2025
In conclusion, my son totally does not understand Japanese but thoroughly enjoyed the concert and the whole experience. Truly, good music transcends language boundaries.
If you have still not yet voted for your all time Top 10 favorite LiSA song, or your 2024 favorite LiSA song, please do so before I release the results at the end of 2024.
See you all next time!