Pepsi NEX 1DAY LIVE at Shibuya AX: Set List
The private performance at Shibuya AX for the 1,000 lucky winners of the PEPSI NEX special campaign has just ended. As usual, we have the set list right here for you! Just so we can all envy those lucky people.
B'z will go back to touring from now on. Their next two performances will be on October 1st and 2nd at the Fukuoka Marine Messe and after that they'll hit the Kobe World Kinen Hall for two performances on October 9th and 10th. C'mon!!
Check out the set list after the break!
B’z at TV Asahi Dream Festival 2011
B'z performance at the TV Asahi Dream Festival held in Nippon Budokan has just wrapped up. They were the last band to perform for the day. Always save the best for last, eh? In case anyone's wondering: Doesn't look like it's going to be aired on television. Too bad.
We have the set list right here for you. Check it out after the break.
Introducing: C’mon Tour Merchandise
We're all excited about the C'mon tour officially kicking off in Miyagi Sekisuiheim Arena, Sendai. We'd like to use the occasion to introduce the merchandise for the tour which will also be available for online purchase later. The merchandise is comprised of "Official Merchandise", "Gacha Gacha Items" and "Charity Goods". Charity Goods? Yeah. If you buy a charity charm set for 500 Yen, you help people rebuild the cities that have been destroyed by the earthquake and tsunami on March 11.
Gacha Gacha items are those you can get from the slot machines at the venues. Those usually include (among others): wristbands, sticker sets, etc.
We're going to introduce the "Official Merchandise" part. Read on for more!
LIVE-GYM 2011 -C’mon- Arena Tour Underway!
Just under two months since B'z made their triumphant return to the North American music stage following an eight year absence, they are now back in Japan and back doing what they do best. As support for only the latest number one studio effort from the band, the similarly titled "C'mon" LIVE-GYM tour kicked off today with a performance at Miyagi Sekisuiheim Super Arena.
B'z will play an encore concert at the venue again tomorrow night, and from there will move onto Sundome Fukui on September 24th. The arena portion of the tour will conclude on November 6th after seventeen performances, with the dome shows beginning on December 4th in Fukoka before wrapping up on Christmas Day at Tokyo Dome.
Setlist obscured beyond the break to avoid potential spoilers.
Sales Break 80 Million Barrier, English Songs To Be Released?
B'z sales have been steady and strong, and even after almost 23 years, they still maintain a strong position in the charts. With the release of their new album "C'mon", which debuted at number 1 in the Oricon Weekly Chart with 272,397 copies sold, they've broken the 80 million barrier in terms of total sales. Their total sales now amount to about 80,600,000 albums and singles sold - a first in Japanese history. They are at the top in Japan, with Mr. Children (54.9 million) in second place and Ayumi Hamasaki (49.5 million) in third place.
Will B'z ever stop producing music? No. Read on for the full article.
C’mon Special Campaign
B'z new album "C'mon" is in stores today, and 111,549 units have already been sold on the previous day. Unsurprisingly, B'z has done it again: They've earned the pole position on the Oricon Daily Album Chart. To celebrate the release of the new album, B'z has launched a special campaign:
Every copy of C'mon - be it the regular or the limited edition - comes with a small card that has an ID on the back. If you go to http://www.bz-vermillion.com/928live/, you can enter your ID by clicking on the button at the bottom.
Once you've entered your ID, you are automatically participating in a giveaway where you can win one of the few tickets they're giving out for the PEPSI NEX special performance in Shibuya AX on September 28th. Until now, you were only able to get a ticket by buying Pepsi Nex and collecting points until you've got enough points to redeem them and earn your ticket. The deadline to redeem your code is September 6th, 2011 11:59PM.
That is not all, however. Once you redeem your code, you'll also get special download contents. As I've found out, it's actually just a wallpaper available for Android/iPhone/PC/etc which you can download in whatever format you prefer. I haven't received my copy yet, so I don't know what kind of wallpaper it is, but I'm sure it must be something good 
Oricon Daily Album Charts: http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/ja/d/2011-07-26/
C’mon Release Message
A "C'mon" from us to everyone.
Once again, it[the album] is filled with a lot of songs I personally love to sing.
I hope it will reach each and every one of you.
And I'm looking forward to the day we can sing them together!!
Koshi Inaba
C'mon Japan!
C'mon!!
You really must listen to "C'mon"!!
Tak
North American Tour Kicks Off in Vancouver
B'z no... B'z no... B'z no LIVE-GYM ni youkoso!
B'z LIVE-GYM 2011 -long time no see- kicked off in Vancouver yesterday. Most of the people in the crowd seem to have been Japanese, but the overall concert was great, it seems. According to various voices on the internet, B'z also played some songs in English... and I don't mean the songs we know that are in English, but songs that are originally in Japanese, sung in English. I'm going to keep the set list a secret, since everyone who's not going will probably watch the livestream of the gig in Los Angeles.
Here's also a video taken by a Japanese who films the queue in front of the Vogue Theatre. You can hear him say "mostly Japanese" as he walks along the queue.
And here are some impressions that have also been posted on the Official facebook page:
Interview On J-WAVE — Summary
Hey people!
I got up at 5AM, just to listen to the interview with B'z on J-Wave... how crazy is that, huh? Anyway, as promised, I'm going to give you an overview of what they talked about in the interview as well as what Tak and Koshi revealed about it. Here we go!
Album recording
- They already started recording for the new album in May 2010, but that doesn't mean it took them 1 year to record the album. They paused their recording, so they could focus on their solo projects.
- After their solo projects, they decided to take a break and then meet again to start collecting ideas for the album
- They didn't decide on a theme at all, unlike they usually do
- After a while, they came to see what theme it's going to be and started work with their staff
- When the big earthquake happened on March 11th 2011, they were already in the final stages of recording.
- The earthquake affected Koshi's creative skills, so he wasn't able to come up with any new ideas as the disaster concerned them.
- As for Tak Matsumoto, he was able to do the rhythm track for the last two tracks after the earthquake.
- They created two whole new tracks after the earthquake. New lyrics were written for only one of those two after the earthquake. One of them is on the album.
- The production process can be broken up into "pre-earthquake" and "post-earthquake" as it affected their work.
- It was hard for them to put the songs from these two stages together into one album
- After the earthquake, Shane and Barry quickly came back to Japan to resume recording (of the two songs)
- C'mon is the only track where Koshi changed the lyrics after the earthquake happened. The song would give off a different character that way.
- When Koshi thought about a fitting theme for the new album. The word "C'mon" came to his mind. As putting the songs on that album wouldn't work, they also created a title song with the same name.
Tak's and Koshi's solo projects
- Nothing new to report here. They talked about how Tak won the Grammy and how they coordinated their solo activities.
Production of songs
- Tak didn't have a stock of arranged songs, he created the album from scratch.
- Since Tak didn't have any idea what the theme/concept for the overall album is going to be, he did the songs one at a time, independently
- Koshi started getting ideas for the lyrics during arrangement
- Koshi tries to get the image of the song first, and then writes the lyrics for it; It also happens that he draws from previous ideas he came up with, but remained unused until now
- Sometimes they talk about the album while having lunch; but otherwise rarely talk about the album outside of the studio
- As the riff is very important, Tak starts out with the riff and then does the melody.
- Koshi also saves ideas for lyrics on his mobile phone (sends himself E-mails)
- Tak talks to Koshi about what image he had in mind when composing the song. Koshi then goes on to write the lyrics for it
About the song "Pilgrim"
- "Pilgrim" is the first song that was produced for the album in 2010
- Tak says the song was originally one of his acoustic guitar demos
- Koshi says he was thinking about the 4 seasons as they come and pass and got his first idea for the song when he saw the cherry blossoms
About LIVE-GYM 2011 -C'mon-
- They're having frequent meetings concerning the planning for LIVE-GYM 2011 -C'mon-
- Tak reveals that the performance in Tokyo Dome will have its surprises
- A writer called their first live performance a "LIVE-GYM", and they went with it. "GYM" has a physical meaning, of course. Since Koshi is always running around... 
- Tak is heading to the gym to get ready for the tour
About LIVE-GYM 2011 -long time no see-
- This tour is different from the Japanese tour
- Tak says they'll play known songs 
(so like LOVE PHANTOM, BAD COMMUNICATION, etc.)
- Koshi is looking forward to the tour as also the audience is different from the one in Japan
- The livestream of the performance in LA is Pepsi's doing. Koshi says "Sasuga Pepsi" XD
- Tak says there will be a lot of people to watch B'z for the first time
Songs that were played on the show (in order)
1) C'mon
2) Don't Wanna Lie
3) Sayonara Kizu Darake no Hibi yo
4) Pilgrim
5) ultra soul 2011
LIVE-GYM 2011 -long time no see- Article in Weekly LALALA *UPDATE*
Issue no. 393 of the Weekly LALALA, a Japanese free magazine from Los Angeles, features a short article on B'z North American tour including a short interview with Tak and Koshi. It reads like this:
After their North American tours in 2002 and 2003, for the first time in 8 years, B'z is doing a North American tour called "B'z LIVE-GYM 2011 -long time no see-", which will kick off on July 20th in Vancouver. "It's been a long time since we toured in North America, I'm really looking forward to it. At the same time, I want to set the stage so that more people get to know B'z in North America. This time we're going to focus on our Japanese songs that have been released as a single and play songs that will be rocking the house.", says vocalist Koshi Inaba.
In 2007, B'z was the first asian artist to be inducted into the Hollywood Rockwalk. Guitarist Takahiro Matsumoto won the Grammy for "Best Pop Instrumental Album" with his album "TAKE YOUR PICK" which he recorded together with Larry Carlton. Since both of them are regularly in LA to do recording and other things, for them, Los Angeles has become their second hometown. It also looks like they have a lot of friends there who interpret the keyword "music" the same way.
With releasing their 49th single "Don't Wanna Lie", they've immediately topped the Oricon chart, raising the bar once again. B'z, who updated their record of series of no.1 singles to 45 and is going to release their new album "C'mon" on July 27th, doesn't show a sign that their passion for music is fading. It has already been more than 20 years since their major debut. Where does that energy come from, that enables them to continue producing music?
"It's because I love music from the bottom of my heart and when it comes to producing music, because I can always improve myself. More importantly, though, because there are so many people that enjoy our music. Also, I can't imagine a life without music.", answers guitarist Tak Matsumoto.
"I'm happy to be back in North America as B'z. We're going to give it all on stage and I hope everyone will enjoy it." says Koshi Inaba. Tak Matsumoto adds "I'm looking forward to meeting everyone again. I hope you will enjoy our show!"
So... is B'z looking to push into the (North) American market? What do you think?
*UPDATE*: This is an extract from the interview in the Nichi Bei [ http://www.nichibei.org/2011/07/taking-the-world-by-storm-b%E2%80%99z-ready-to-rock/ ] :
NBW: Mr. Matsumoto, you were awarded a Grammy and the band became the first Asian musicians to be inducted into Hollywood’s Rockwalk of Fame. What’s next?
TM: It’s been 8 years since we last played in the U.S. We would like to keep on playing all over the world from now on.
KI: We would like to do more shows and introduce our music to the people in the U.S.
Source: http://lalalausa.com/digitalmagazine/weeklylalala393/index.html
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