Hayami Show's 2009 Dinner Show
Ok, so it's a bit late, but . . .
I went to Hayami-san’s Birthday Dinner Show 2009 on August 2nd. It was at the Sun Route Plaza Hotel, next to Tokyo Disney Land. When I got to the hotel, it was about 2 pm. I didn’t really care that I was 2 hours early, so I went up to the second floor where the Magnolia hall was, and I sat down in the chairs there and waited. After a little while, I could start to hear the sound check for the instruments. Then, I saw this guy with big grey hair almost walk by me looking very lost. At first I thought to myself “Wow, with that kind of hair he cold be in a band!-waaiiittt. He is in Hayami-san’s band!” It took me a half second to recognize him, but it was definitely him. He found the room and went in a few moments later, and after a bit, I could hear him practicing singing. After a while though, Hayami-san started to sing!!! It was so weird to think that Hayami-san was in the room right next to me practicing. I was still one of the only people there for the event, so I just got to sit back and enjoy him singing. It was also nice because I got to find out all the songs that he would be singing ahead of time. Thanks to the rehearsal, it finally started seeming a bit more real.
At 4 pm they had us all line up so we could show the staff our tickets and then go get our picture taken with Hayami-san in small groups. (I bought a picture pack while I was in line.) When I got my picture taken with him, I was 4 seats away from him on his right.
Hayami-san was wearing a summer yukata with geta and his normal brown sunglasses. The yukata was a blue/grey color with a lighter, white reed/plant looking pattern on it. When people usually wear yukata they kind of tend to try to keep it close to them out of habit, so Hayami-san kept putting his hands over the sides of his ass . . . which just drew everyone’s attention to it. He bowed a ton as he approached us and sat down for the picture and then again as he stood up (and so did we). It was interesting, because for every picture, the staff would have all of us sit/stand in our places first, and then Hayami-san would sit down, and after the picture was over, he’d stand back up again and wait off to the side for us to sit again. Which makes sense because I sure as hell would have been intimidated if I had to walk up to him and just sit down next to him. It sounds like an easy thing to do, but he just has so much presence that it would have been impossible.
After the picture, they had us wait around for a little while until we were let into the main hall. I sat down at a table in the waiting area and looked through the new pictures and the ticket that I’d just gotten, and I realized that on the ticket it said to please not come before 3:45 because Hayami-san would be rehearsing. Whoops . . . Ah well, no one seemed to mind (seeing as there weren’t really people outside of the room) and it was completely worth it. As I was sitting there, I was happy to find that one or two other people sat down at the table I was sitting at. (Normally people try to avoid sitting next to foreigners at all costs, so it made me a little happy.)
As they let us into the room, we had a choice of taking either the bright blue “Summer Love Lady” cocktail or the bright red “Summer Dream Girl” soda with ice. The blue cocktail was in a tall champagne glass, and the red soda was in just a normal round cup. I went for the sexy blue cocktail in the champagne glass.
My table was named “Mickey” (all of the tables were named after Disney characters) and my table was the absolute closest one, dead center to the stage! I was the first one to get to my table, which was good because it gave me a chance to walk around it, looking for my name tag without feeling too stupid. (The reason for this was because I wasn’t entirely sure that they were name tags, seeing as I couldn’t read any of them. Yet I didn’t want to take a chance and randomly sit anywhere in case they were.) It turned out they were name cards, and my seat was at the back of the table, so I was directly facing the stage head-on.
At each place setting we had our little name card resting on our plate, a small printed out menu, and a picture of Hayami-san. On the back of the menu Hayami-san wrote us a little message.
I’ve translated the menu here:
2009 Hayami Show Birthday Dinner Show
~Menu~
Various hors d’oeuvres
The hotel's special white asparagus cream soup
Mousseline made from steamed, white-fleshed yellowback sea bream from Nagasaki
Seaweed dressed with white-wine flavored cream sauce
Steak fillet from domestic cattle
with green-pepper flavored red wine sauce and small sweet potatoes on the side
3 different kinds of the hotel's bread
The pastry chef’s special, enjoyable dessert
The hotel's special blend of coffee
Original Cocktails
Summer Love Lady - Alcoholic - Blue Curacao with grapefruit juice
Summer Dream Girl - Non-alcoholic - A ginger ale base with Grenadine syrup
On the back of the menu card, Hayami-san wrote:
Welcome to the 2009 Birthday Dinner Show. Today on my birthday, August 2nd, in Tokyo, (well strictly speaking we’re in Chiba) it seems like a dream to be able to have a full-blown-out show, so I’m really happy. This is thanks to all of you. Thank you very much. This dinner show is the same as the ones that have been held in Kyoto for the past 10 years, and as an answer to your request, “When will there be a Tokyo show?” today, Team Hayami will have one here at the Sun Route Plaza in Tokyo. Please enjoy yourselves to the fullest tonight in my Hayami-like world as I add on another year.
August 2nd, 2009
Hayami Show
The rest of the girls at my table came and sat down, and none of them really seemed to know each other, so everyone was extremely quiet.
The stage was elaborately decorated. It had long, draping white curtains in the far back and gorgeous flowers amidst the instruments.
Around 5 pm the show started with a woman’s voice coming on over the speaker saying that the show was about to start. Then the guy that with big grey hair that I’d seen earlier outside of the hall walked out onto the stage and stood over on the left-hand side. (His name is Ooshima Gorou.)
Gorou: “Welcome, tonight is Hayami Show’s birthday dinner show.” (Insert some normal intro-talking about the event stuff here.) “We’ll be singing the happy birthday song. With that being said,” (Insert the start of some music here.) “Ah, yes, that’s the key. It starts off, ‘Happy Birthday Day,’ right, then next is (in a high pitched voice) ‘happy birthday too you, happy birthday to you,’ Oh, do you guys know it? Then say ‘Happy birthday dear Hayami-san,’ then it’s, ‘happy birthday to you.’ That’ll all probably be bad if you guys sing it, so I’ll do that part. ‘Happy birthday to you.’ (insert talking about splitting us into two groups and the left group going first) ‘Happy birthday to you.’ Okay, let’s practice. Ready, go!”
People on the left side of the room: “Happy birthday to you!”
Gorou: “Ah, yeah, it’s a bit off on the ‘you,’ it’s a bit more like ‘you.’”
Everyone in the room laughed, and at this point a girl at my table was like, “That’s so strict!”
Gorou: “Okay, go!”
People on the left side of the room: “Happy birthday to you!”
Gorou: “Ah, okay that’s good. Next, from this table on, you guys won’t sing.
All the people on the right side of the room: “Ehhh?!!!”
Gorou: Okay, you guys will sing, ‘Happy birthday to you,’ like that, ‘happy birthday to you.’ Let’s go, ready, go!”
He sang both of those lines an octave higher than how the people on the left had to sing.
People on the right side of the room: “Happy birthday to you!”
Gorou: “Okay, so when we sing, this half of the room is going to sing it like, ‘Happy birthday to you,’ (with his voice going up on the end of the ‘you’) and then this other half of the room is going to sing it like, ‘Happy birthday to you,’ (with the ‘you’ part also being higher again) and then I’ll sing it like ‘Happy birthday to you,’ on C. Okay, got that? Let’s practice. Happy birthday, happy birthday! Ready, go!”
At this point one of the girls at my table said, “I don’t get it at all!”
Everyone together: “Happy birthday to you!”
Everyone sang it with the right side of the room singing it an octave higher than the left side. Actually, I was a little surprised, everyone sounded really, really good! The first time the left side of the room sang, I was also very shocked.
Gorou: “Okay, that’ll work, let’s bring him out now!”
Hayami-san walked out onto the stage from the right side and stood in the middle of the stage directly in front of me. Even when he’s just walking across the stage, he’s got such a presence about him. Every time I see him live, one of my favorite moments is when he first steps out onto the stage.
He was wearing black leather pants (okay now he’s just purposely trying to torture me) a black button up shirt with the first two buttons un-done (the one right by the collar, and the next one down). It was enough to show a nice amount of skin, and it showed off the necklace that he was wearing. It was a normal pretty chain with an extra piece of chain that hung down off the main one, and on the very end of that extra piece there was a small stone. I could tell because it kept catching the light and changing colors with the lights. Over his black shirt he had on a black/shiny silver jacket that was so shiny that it changed colors with the light every time the lights changed. He also had a shiny silver feather-shaped thing on his jacket, and two shiny chains hanging down on his left hip. He also had on his normal 1-2 inch high black shoes, brown sunglasses with black sides, his normal ring with the brown stone on his ring finger, and his normal pinky ring.
. . . Shit he looked good.
It’s so weird to think that he’s actually 51 years old now, but the thing that’s even weirder is that I’ve been able to spend his past two birthdays with him . . . This year actually on the day itself.
As Hayami-san came out, Gorou started to sing the song, and since he’s the back-up singer, he did an awesome job.
Gorou: “Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Hayami-san, unn, (he motioned for all of us to sing the last line) happy birthday to you!”
Then the band started to play this really bass-y upbeat version of the song, and Gorou started singing again and everyone started clapping to the music. This time he sang with more volume and a more modern feeling to it.
Gorou: “Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Hayami-saaan-aaan-aaaaaaan, happy birthday to yooouuuuu!” (Everyone joined in on the last line again.)
Hayami-san: “Thank you very much! Thank you! The prose was amazing!”
Gorou: “Ah, well, Hayami-san, I have a little present for you.”
Everyone: “Oooooohhhhhh!”
Hayami-san: “Ah, thank you!”
Gorou: (Some stuff I didn’t understand.) “We had to think about it for a little while. It’s from all of the staff members. It’s the Hayami Show-san o-sashimi set! It’s got (something something and something something)!”
Hayami-san: “Ohhhh, thank you!”
(More talking I didn’t understand.)
Hayami-san: “Thank you. Um, everyone, I turn 51 today. Thank you.”
Then there was more talking that I didn’t understand, and Gorou said something about the feeling of the song from earlier. I think he was asking if we could sing it again.
Hayami-san: “Right now you mean?”
Gorou: “Yeah, ready, go!”
Everyone: “Happy birthday to you!”
Hayami-san: “Thanks! Thank you! (something something) “You all want to eat right? Do you want to drink? Is it all right? Okay? Ah, okay. Well, then, uhh, this day has finally come, here in Tokyo. Shall we do a toast? . . . toast? . . . toast? . . . . . . . . . can we do one tonight? Can we do one? . . . We’ll do an air toast! Yeah.”
At this point Hayami-san and the band members had all lined up on stage, but they didn’t have any drinks. They kept looking off to the side to see if the staff had drinks for them, but there was no one to be seen, which was why Hayami-san said that they’d do an air toast. They all held up their hands, pretending to hold glasses, and right as they were raising them the staff hurriedly came in with red summer dream girl non-alcoholic drinks, and Hayami-san said some stuff that I didn’t understand. I thought I heard the words “love” and then a bit later “summer” in there though, but who knows.
Hayami-san: “Cheers!”
Everyone: “Cheers!”
The staff already had the cake out with the candles lit on top, so Hayami-san blew out his candles, but he was really failing horribly. It was the cutest thing ever. His initial blow blew out maybe one or two candles (if any at all) and then he blew out each candle individually after that (a big, short blow for each one), but he had missed one that was closer to him, and it kind of surprised him a bit, and he hurriedly blew it out last. Cutest. Moment. Ever!
Hayami-san: “Okay! Thank you! (stuff I didn’t understand) Yoroshiku onegai shimasu!”
As he was leaving the stage so everyone could start eating, he saw the blue champagne glasses that we had at my table, so he turned to my table and said:
Hayami-san: “Eh?! There’s blue?!”
The people at my table: “Yeah!”
Hayami-san: “Damn, I would have wanted one!”
The Japanese verb that he used at the end of his sentence was “shimatta . . .” and just the way he said it was so cute. After he walked off the stage a second later everyone at my table was like “he said shimatta!!!!” It was really funny because all of us had the same reaction at the exact same time.
Each table had a round turning table type thing in the middle, and the waiters came around and starting putting the hors d’oeuvres on them while light music played in the background. The hors d’oeuvres consisted of cheese cut into little wedges, tiny slices of ham, sashimi, and some bread. Everyone took turns getting food and turning the table in front of us, and everyone was so polite and careful (me included) about the whole process that it appeared that if one of us even blinked wrong that we would be terrified that we would be shunned from the group. The level of timidness at our table was astounding, but at the same time I liked the fact that I wasn’t the only one carefully watching what I was doing. As people were getting their hors d’oeuvres, the staff brought the cake out so that people could take pictures of it. I was going to wait until I got my food and then go take some pictures, but right as I stood up, I realized that the cake was gone and they already took it away . . . There were two other girls that had done the same thing as me, and we all looked around sadly, looking very lost, confused, and heart broken. Honestly, the three of us looked like kicked puppies.
The next round of food was steamed yellowback sea bream fish on top of seaweed with a white wine flavored cream sauce over the top along with a white asparagus cream soup. The soup smelled absolutely divine, and the other girls at my table also commented on how good it smelled. Next was the steak fillet with green-pepper flavored red wine sauce and small sweet potatoes on the side. I almost didn’t try the steak fillet because it looked a little tough, but I wanted to try everything so I took one anyways. I’m really glad I did because it was so tender and absolutely delicious.
As for the drinks, The Summer Love Lady had a strong grapefruit flavor to it, so you couldn’t really taste the alcohol very much. It was the type of drink though where even though the alcohol taste is masked, you can tell there’s a lot in it. The Summer Dream Girl (which I later asked for) actually surprised me a bit because I didn’t realize that it was a soda at first, so I wasn’t expecting it to be carbonated. It had a fruity taste to it and was really good.
Lastly was the dessert. Every plate had a small piece of Hayami-san’s birthday cake, half a strawberry, a slice of kiwi, one blueberry, a small sliver of chocolate, and a fluffy strawberry flavored dessert. All of it was served on one plate with powdered sugar and strawberry sauce over the top. The birthday cake was white with white frosting on the top, and in the middle there were strawberries and more frosting. It tasted absolutely heavenly. Served with the dessert was a small cup of coffee. I don’t really drink coffee at all, so it just tasted like normal coffee to me.
I was a little disappointed that when we ate, Hayami-san and the band weren’t around . . . from some of the pictures I’ve seen of previous dinner shows he used to go around to every table, but he was nowhere to be seen. I suppose that’s what happens when these things get a lot bigger. I’m estimating there were about 100 people there.
Around 6 pm the show started, and a fast, up-beat song started to play. It actually sounded very middle eastern with a heavy tribal-type drum beat in the background. The band had come out first, and the grey-haired back-up singer Gorou had us all start clapping to the music, and then Hayami-san came out. As he did, the song added an extra level of bass and the song turned into Monsoon a bit before Hayami-san started to sing. The song sounded great, Hayami-san sounded great, and the sound quality of everything was absolutely perfect. It’s the best I’ve ever heard the song sound. (And this backs my theory that Hayami-san sounds godly live, but when his voice is recorded, it loses a lot of the beauty, power and subtlety that he’s got behind it.) Also, watching him do that one high note on “koko no ga” was oddly very fascinating.
During this song, some of the people in the back started to stand up, and everyone at the front table that I was at didn’t realize that other people were standing up because they were behind us, and we were obviously staring quite intently at Hayami-san. When I did realize that other people were standing though, I was a bit torn. There were still people behind me sitting down, and I was afraid that if I stood up, they wouldn’t be able to see, but at the same time, I wanted to show my support and show that I really liked the show. I’ve always felt really bad for performers when the people in the very front rows look like they’re not enjoying themselves and not getting into the show. Since no one else at my table was standing, I decided to wait it out.
The next song was 5 Funkan No History. At first, all we heard was “oohh ohh ohh oh oh oh oh oooh” (you know how the song starts off with that woman singing) and everyone was like “OOOHhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!” all at the same time. I found this hilarious because I was right there with everyone going “Ohhhh!!!!!” The band really let loose on the bass for this song, and Hayami-san didn’t hold back either.
Hayami-san: “Thank you very much. Umm, welcome to the Hayami Show, birthday dinner show. I’m really happy to be able to have the dinner show in Tokyo this time.”
Then he said some stuff that I either don’t remember or didn’t understand, but I think he did mention the rainy weather in Tokyo. Then I think he said something about the stage, maybe the height of it or something? I think he said that it was too high and he’d like a lower one because standing on a high stage was embarrassing, and that he only practiced on it for two hours. (The two hours before the show when I was listening to him rehearse from outside the hall.)
Hayami-san: “Next, I’ll introduce the band members. Which one, which one of you do I always start with? But . . . no . .”
Hayami-san said that as he went up to his band members, trying to figure out who he wanted to introduce first.
Hayami-san: “Bass Matsumura Ken!” (Pause) “Charlie, add the echo effect to the member intros, k? BASS! MATSUMURA . . . KEN!!!”
This time as he said “Ken!” the echo was added, which actually made it sound really cool.
(Insert more talking.)
Hayami-san: “Keyboardist Shimizu Hisayuki! And next, the lovely pa . . . pa. It’s the lovely papa, ehh, right? Ooshima Gorou!”
As Hayami-san said both names, each time the sound guy (Charlie) did an echo, and each name was louder and echoed more than the first. Gorou made a comment about it, and Hayami-san was like:
Hayami-san: “It is, isn’t it? This. Well, make the next one even bigger, okay, lets go. Drummer Nakai Seigou!!!!”
The echo on that one was reeaallly loud and really long, and just plain awesome sounding. At the point the audience was really clapping and laughing like crazy.
Hayami-san: (Insert talking) “The guitarist Ueki Gen!”
Hayami-san then said that he could say something into the microphone.
Ueki: “Everyone, good evening.”
Hayami-san: “. . . that’s it?”
Ueki: “Uhh . . . yeah, that’s it.”
I’ve noticed that pattern with Hayami-san and Ueki. Hayami-san always gives him a chance to talk and say something to everyone, and each time Ueki has this expression on his face like, “Oh no, what on earth am I supposed to say? Why me . . .” And then Hayami-san always says something like, “. . . that’s it?”
Hayami-san: “Next is the, uh, the second guitarist, (insert talking) Well then, the second guitarist, Kitamura SHIN! That’s right. Ah, and me. I am, Hayami SHOW!!! . . . Show!”
All of the above names had the echo on them, louder and better than the last.
Here’s a breakdown of the band members:
Back-up Vocal: Ooshima Gorou
Guitar: Kitamura Shin
Acoustic Guitar: Ueki Genta
Bass: Matsumura Ken
Keyboard: Shimizu Hisayuki
Drums: Nakai Seigou
Next he sang Eien No Okusoku (Endless Speculation), which of course was perfect. As he was singing he walked down off the stage and walked around us. At this point most people were standing (myself included) and it was really funny because the minute he left the stage, people bombarded him with flowers and gifts. Within one second his arms were completely full, and he could barely hold the microphone to sing, so the staff had to run in and take his flowers and presents from him. He walked around a bit more, and again, he wasn’t able to hold everything, so the staff started following around behind him. They were trying to be discrete though and not block anyone’s view, so they were all buzzing about, completely bent over forward, trying to stay out of the way. He actually missed the start of one of the lines because he had so much in his arms, he couldn’t get the microphone close enough to his face. He made his way around the tables, and eventually he came over by me, so I gave him his present. As I handed it to him I said an apologetic “Sumimasen . . .” Why was I apologizing when I was the one giving him a present? Because I’ve been here too long and the Japanese people have started rubbing off on me . . . (laughs) It was more like an, “I’m sorry to bother you right now but . . .” or “I’m sorry for making you carry this . . .” “I’m sorry it’s a bit heavy . . .” etc. Since I didn’t get my ticket in the mail like everyone else, I didn’t know if they had a time planned where we could give Hayami-san the presents we had for him. Last year we got to give him his presents before the show, but since we didn’t do that this time, I was worried that I wouldn’t get another chance to give it to him. He was carrying quite a bit by this point again, and he carried everything up to the stage (my present included) and put it right behind the microphone stand, so for the rest of the show, my present was sitting right behind him.
The present that I gave him was my painting of “Cloister Cemetery in the Snow,” which was originally painted by the German romanticist Casper Friedrich, but the original was destroyed in a fire, so I did my own painting of it. I had already sold my original painting, but I made copies of it and framed one of them for Hayami-san.
Hayami-san: “Thank you very much. Um, from here on, it will be just me and Gen-chan. We’ve been doing The Reading Show together. How many have there been? 4? . . . 5? Ah, we did 4 of them. I’ve really been trying my best, trying my best to get in touch with it, trying . . . my . . . be . . . s . . . t! It’ll be on Valentines day and . . .”
Everyone: “Valentine’s day??? Ehhh???”
Hayami-san: “Ah, next year. ‘Ehhh??’ You say? Well, for this next one, I’ll try my best.”
Hayami-san picked up his book and was trying to figure out the best position for his little table with water on it and the chair so that he could see the best. Meanwhile making commentary about it. Actually, he said the exact words “Best position,” in English, which was a little surprising because his pronunciation was actually really good, and position is a pretty random word to know and to be able to just use like that o_O Actually, now that I think about it, he knows a lot of really random, hard words in English . . . Then he asked us to just wait a moment as he got situated.
While he had been talking about the reading show earlier, some staff people brought out a chair for him to sit on. It was the exact same chair from the Reading Show! It had the same brown polished wood and white seat and everything. I always just assumed that they used whatever nice chair the hotel had to offer, but I guess they actually carry that one around with them for these things. Oh, I forgot to mention, for the earlier songs, they had a slight mist machine going. Nothing too extreme, but the stage did have a light haze.
He sat down and the lights dimmed, and Ueki-san started playing the guitar as Hayami-san started reciting Onmyoji - Amanojaku, the same one that’s on his Kotoba no Kuukan IV CD.
I was really excited when Hayami-san said that he was going to be doing Onmyoji, but I just about died happy when I heard him do the part from scene 3 where he goes:
Hayami-san:
“‘Naa, Seimei o, kowaku wa nai ka?’ Hiromasa ga kiita.
‘Kowai sa.’
‘Shikashi omae ga iuto marude kowanakute inai you ni kikoeruzo.’
‘Unnn, ore wa kowai.’”
‘Hey, Seimei, aren’t you afraid?’ Hiromasa asked.
‘I’m afraid.’
‘But you don’t sound afraid at all.’
‘No, I am afraid.’
I’ve been waiting to hear him do that scene live for two years now. I have no idea why I love it so much, but I’ve completely fallen in love with those few lines. It sounds cooler in Japanese though. When I went to the Reading Show last year I had really hoped that he’d do that scene and when he didn’t, I was crushed. (But then he sang Noh instead and obliterated any fragment of disappointment I might have had.)
He recited the whole thing (Acts 1 through 5). He didn’t change any of the words or the story itself, but he completely changed the way that he told it. It’s like night and day comparing what he did live to what he did on the CD. The CD was more . . . bland. There wasn’t a very big difference between the characters’ voices, and it wasn’t very suspenseful. In the live show though, there was a huge difference between the characters’ voices, and depending on the scene, he’d change the speed, the volume, and the intensity of his voice. Act 5 on the CD is just sort of there. You can almost sense that there could be some suspense, but not too much. But in the live show, my heart was pounding! I was on the edge of my seat with my jaw on the floor during that scene. He’d go back and forth between an old-man-sounding voice which was yelling really fast, and the calmer smoother voice. Back and forth, back and forth, yelling in two different voices, really, really fast. It was so intense! Everyone in the room had a, “Holy shiiiitttt” (O_O) expression on their face. Right as it ended the room was buzzing with people being in shock at how awesome it was. I was really hoping that he’d throw in some Noh this time too, but sadly he didn’t . . .
While he was reading, during different scenes the lights would change colors. For the night time scenes the stage turned dark blue with the sound of crickets and cicadas in the background. It looked so realistic that it really made you feel like you were outside under a tree somewhere. The same goes for the other scenes. The lighting was gorgeous, and they really did a great job with it.
After Hayami-san finished Onmyoji, he thanked us and then left the stage. Then a woman announced that we would have a 10 minute break. In the background, they played a song with a woman singing, and it sounded like a traditional Itallian song. It was really pretty. Right before our break ended, the background song became more prominent, and Hayami-san walked out onto the stage. This time he had changed his jacket. He was still in his black leather pants, black button up shirt, sunglasses, etc. but this time his jacket was a solid black, and he had one of this “attach flowers” that he always likes to wear attached to it. It was a pretty big flower, and it matched the black of his suit.
He started off reciting a character line from Mirage of Blaze first:
Hayami-san: “Utsukushi . . .” (Stuff I don’t remember) “. . . Anata o . . . Anata o ai shite iru.”
(“Beautiful . . . You . . . I love you.”)
Next he sang Sahara, and right after that was another character line. One of Aizen’s actually . . .
I surprised myself; he said the first word of the line, and I instantly knew which one it was . . .
Hayami-san:
“Ogori ga sugiruzo, Ukitake.
Saisho kara dare mo ten ni tatte nado inai.
Kimi mo, boku mo, kami suramo.
Daga, sono taegatai ten no za no kuuhaku mo owaru.
Kore kara wa, watashi ga ten ni tatsu.”
“You’re too arrogant, Ukitake.
From the very start, no one was standing in heaven.
Not you, not me, not even God.
However, that emptiness in Heaven which is very hard to endure, shall end.
From now on, I will stand in Heaven.”
It’s the exact same character line that I asked him to do last year!!!! Exactly! He even had the Ukitake line in there! (I only accidently included it last year, and I was kind of kicking myself for it, so it’s kind of cool that he actually left it in this year.) I couldn’t believe it! I actually squeed and gasped when he started it. Throughout the whole dinner show, this one and the one before it were the only two character lines that he did. He must have really liked doing it last year and thought that it was an awesome line, so he put it into the show this year! It’s a really kick-ass line, so it makes me really happy that he liked my suggestion. I think he did it a bit better this year too, actually. There was a bit more drama and emotion to it this time. He used it as an into to sing Kyouka Suigetsu.
He dove right into Kyouka Suigetsu, and it sounded a million times better than the recorded version for the obvious reasons, but also because the band added some piano into it (even as I type this, if I hadn’t heard it I would probably think that adding a piano of all instruments would just make it sound really weird, but really, it was exactly what the song needed). It was very subtle but it made a world of difference. As Hayami-san was up there singing this sinfully sexy song just 10 feet in front of me, my brain just kind of lost it right then and there. Some things are just far too amazing to be able to comprehend, and Hayami-san singing that song is one of them. Like I said last year, it was deep and dark and fucking sexy as hell. For this song he left the microphone in the microphone stand and stood there as he sung, and by doing so, it sort of added a level of seriousness and evilness to the song. He almost seemed to pull a Dr. Jackle and Mr. Hide type thing during the softer and harder parts of the song. It was so cool! As it was ending, the music dwindled down, then ended with a ‘Booom.’
Hayami-san: “Thank you very much! Before the first song was the very invigorating line that was said by Naoe Nobutsuna from the anime Mirage of Blaze. The song has that same kind of feel to it too. Then Aizen’s line about ascension tied into the next song, Kyouka Suigetsu.”
At this point everyone broke out into an applause and yelled out that it was lovely and amazing.
Hayami-san: “Thank you very much. Speaking of anime, I’m playing an invigorating young man in 07-Ghost. With the addition of this, I really do play a lot of invigorating characters, don’t I? (Laughs) My character vigorously picks on the young, main character, so if you’ve got time, please watch it.”
The next song that he sang was Sirius. It was upbeat, cheerful, and just plain fun. I realized something during this song though-Hayami-san looked so amazingly happy. By far the happiest I’ve ever seen him look. He had this huge smile on his face that reached his eyes as he sang, and I felt like he really connected with the audience this time. Last year, for both the Reading Show and the Birthday Party and Live show, it looked like he was looking at the audience, yet it didn’t seem like he really saw any of us. (I could tell because I was sitting in the front row for the Reading Show.) But this time, I could tell that he was looking at us, and he actually saw us. During this song quite a few of the people from the back tables were standing, but only me and the girl next to me were standing from our table. As a result of this, not only were we two of the closest people to Hayami-san, but it also made us very visible, so for most of this song and many of the songs after it, Hayami-san looked at us and smiled while he sang. He didn’t walk around too much either, which was great, considering he was standing right in front of me, so he’d just go back and forth between closing his eyes happily as he sang and looking right at me and the girl next to me. Shit, I can’t believe that really happened. It was just one of those moments where I was happy, and he was happy, and everyone in the entire room was happy, and we all just completely zoned out into a happy blissful state.
Hayami-san: “Thank you very much. Thank you. Well,” (One sentence I didn’t understand) “On August 14th Lantis is coming out with a pure CD with me and Horiuchi Kenyuu-san called, ‘Ai no Kotoba’ (‘Words of Love’) (Laughs).”
Hayami-san couldn’t even say that with a straight face without laughing, and right as he said the name of the CD everyone in the audience said, “EEEE!!!” all together and all girly like.
Hayami-san: “The tracks have already been written. It’s really surreal, and I think it’ll make you laugh. That being said, I don’t mean to say that it’s not serious . . . probably. (Laughs) Horiuchi-san also responded to my demands. He really is a great guy. (Laughs)”
He said more stuff that I didn’t understand, but he kept getting a bigger and bigger reaction from the audience, and Hayami-san seemed to be getting a bit more . . . hmm, a combination between mischievous and maybe a tiny bit flustered, but in a good way! It was a “I’m going to tease and torture them to death with innuendo . . . tehehe, oh God, I can’t believe I just said that!” type of a thing, but I couldn’t quite pick up what he was saying exactly, just bits and pieces here and there.
Hayami-san: “So definitely please listen to it . . . uhh . . . ehh . . . but if you listen to it in public or on a train, it would definitely be bad.” (Something something) “And when you’re sad, you should listen to it.” (Something something) “I’ll be at the NeoRomance Live event in Osaka on August 15th and 16th and then after that is the NeoRomance Anniversary on September 21st and 22nd . There will be various games and various characters.” (Something something) “And then on September 27th is the Lantis Matsuri.” (Something something) “The S.S.D.S. show at Nakano Sun Plaza now has 9 members,” (something something) “Well, next, let’s all sing together!”
Kimi Dake (Just You) was next, and it was just as light-hearted and happy as Sirius and everyone all sang together. Legend of my Soul was right after that, and Hayami-san started dancing! Cutest. Thing. Ever! Everyone in the audience already knew the choreography for this song (because he sings this one at almost all of his concerts), so we all did it along with Hayami-san. Except for the twirls, those we didn’t do, only Hayami-san did those. We also didn’t do the little side stepping motion that he did. He’d step and turn to the right, and then step and turn to the left, along with the little twirl things. Then he’d do the hand motions.
The hand motions go as follows:
1. Extend your right arm straight to your right at shoulder height with your hand fisted.
2. Make a circling motion with your right hand with your arm still outstretched.
3. Raise your hand up in a semi-circle motion so that your arm is now in front of your face with your hand straight up above your head.
4. Bring your arm down, so your elbow is next to your side, but your right hand is level with your shoulder.
5. Raise your arm up in front of you again with your hand just above your head.
6. With your hand, make 1.5 small circling motions to the left, and then 1.5 small circling motions to the right. (Like you’re washing a car.)
7. Repeat
8. When singing the words “Legend of my Soul” pump your fist in the air three times.
Legend of my Soul was fast, upbeat, and full of energy. All of us really got into it, and it was impossible not to do the hand motions along with him.
Hayami-san: “Thank you very much!”
Then he left the stage.
Everyone: “Shooooww-saaann! Hayaaammiii-saan!!” (Everyone started to clap.)
After a few minutes Hayami-san came back on the stage wearing a white jacket with a giant white flower attached to it. He also had a long white scarf hanging down around his neck. He didn’t say anything to us, he just went to the center of the stage, and Ueki started playing the guitar, while Hayami-san sat down and slowly started to sing an acoustic version of Rakuen. It sounded beautiful, tragic, and completely heart-breaking. He sung it like he had just died, and he was trying to console the love of his life. After just the first few lines, everyone in the room was in tears, and you could hear everyone sniffling in the background. Just thinking about it still makes me tear-up even now. As the song ended, the room was dead silent as everyone slowly came out of the trance that the song put us in.
Hayami-san: “Thank you very much.” (Something something - everyone started laughing) “You just heard the acoustic version of Rakuen. It really had a sad feel to it, didn’t it? It really cooled down in here . . .” (Everyone laughed again) “There are times when I want to start exploring places that no one knows about by myself.” (Something about times when bridges are closed . . . what? I have no idea.) “And with that, I’ll introduce the members once more. The young guitarist, Kitamura Shin! The evening guitarist, Ueki Genta! The usual keyboardist, Shimizu Hisayuki! The mischievous drummer, Nakai Seigou! And the person who was way too demanding with making you do the difficult harmony at the very beginning for the birthday song, and who also asked that of you without me knowing at first, causing my heart to thud in suspense . . . And with that, the playful back-up singer, Ooshima Gorou! This band, that lets me join them, is called ‘The Tender.’ For this performance, on bass is Matsumura Ken! And vocals are done by me, Hayami Show.”
Next, Hayami-san sang Brightness, and the whole room cheered up and became happy again. (Everyone had gotten pretty down after hearing Rakuen.)
Hayami-san: “Thank you very much! Being able to have a celebration like this for my birthday makes me really, truly happy. Everyone, thank you so, so much. We were actually able to pull it off. (Laughs) Anyway, umm, this dinner show is the same as the ones that are always held in Kyoto. Well, even though this is the first dinner show in Tokyo, did you enjoy yourselves? Everyone, let’s do our best. (A sentence I didn’t understand.) Each of the tables here have different Disney names, like Pooh, etc. (At this point Hayami-san walked right up to the edge of the stage and pointed to the table I was sitting at.) This one here is Mickey . . . Lucky! Hehe . . . Ah, but Pooh would be bad. And then there’s . . . Tigger. Tigger, right? Yeah, Tigger. Tigger. What’s Tigger again? Ah, a tiger? Right. What about ***? Ah, a cat? Well, all my friends have come, thank you from the bottom of my heart for allowing all of us to be here together. Ah, well, today’s dinner show will be a lovely memory. Next is the last song, Tokai no Kage, let's all sing together.”
Hayami-san sang Tokai no Kage, and it was just amazing. It’s the perfect song to end with, and everyone sang along with him on this one. It was slightly more upbeat than the album version, and the beginning of the song was played with bongos. The song was sweet and really smooth, and just plain happy.
Hayami-san: “Thank you very much!”
He left the stage, and then a woman’s voice came on over the speaker.
Woman: “And now, this concludes the 2009 Hayami Show Birthday Dinner Show.”
Here’s an overall list of the songs that he sang in order during the show:
Monsoon
5 Funkan No History
Eien No Okusoku - Endless Speculation
Onmyoji
10 min break
Sahara
Kyouka Suigetsu
Sirius
Kimi Dake - Just You
Legend Of My Soul
Encore
Rakuen [Acoustic]
Brightness
Tokai No Kage
Then the staff member talked to us for a moment and thanked us all for today. She then told us that Hayami-san wanted to give us all a presents, so he’d be waiting out in the hallway for us. She then said that they’d be releasing us by tables because of this and to please wait. As we were waiting, Hayami-san’s Monsoon started playing in the background.
As we left, we all got into a line so that we could give him his birthday presents, wish him a happy birthday, and tell him what we thought about the show. This also gave him the chance to give each of us a present! We each got an amethyst power stone. It was said that because the power stone was a present directly from Hayami-san, that it contained even more power.
When I got to Hayami-san, I can’t remember if I shook his hand or not . . . It was a little awkward though because since I didn’t have a bag besides for my purse, and by now I had quite a few things in my hands, he first thought that what I was holding was for him, so he reached out his hand, so then I quickly had to explain that I’d given him his present earlier and that it was currently up on the stage. At the time I had no idea that he was going to be out there waiting for us, which was why I’d given him his present earlier . . . He good-naturedly said, “Ah, hai, arigatou!” (‘Ah, ok, thank you!’) and then I was on my way.
The amethyst was in a little clear bag with a brown and gold ribbon wrapped around the top of it. Inside, there was also a little note card with a yellow background, blue text, and a picture of two sunflowers on it. This is the message that was printed on the card:
Amethyst
To heal a tired heart, I’m giving you my genuine love.
The extent of its power isn’t really understood,
but I definitely put all of the thanks from my heart into it.
Really, thank you very much for today.
August 2nd, 2009
Hayami Show
Overall, the night was freaking amazing.
I went to Hayami-san’s Birthday Dinner Show 2009 on August 2nd. It was at the Sun Route Plaza Hotel, next to Tokyo Disney Land. When I got to the hotel, it was about 2 pm. I didn’t really care that I was 2 hours early, so I went up to the second floor where the Magnolia hall was, and I sat down in the chairs there and waited. After a little while, I could start to hear the sound check for the instruments. Then, I saw this guy with big grey hair almost walk by me looking very lost. At first I thought to myself “Wow, with that kind of hair he cold be in a band!-waaiiittt. He is in Hayami-san’s band!” It took me a half second to recognize him, but it was definitely him. He found the room and went in a few moments later, and after a bit, I could hear him practicing singing. After a while though, Hayami-san started to sing!!! It was so weird to think that Hayami-san was in the room right next to me practicing. I was still one of the only people there for the event, so I just got to sit back and enjoy him singing. It was also nice because I got to find out all the songs that he would be singing ahead of time. Thanks to the rehearsal, it finally started seeming a bit more real.
At 4 pm they had us all line up so we could show the staff our tickets and then go get our picture taken with Hayami-san in small groups. (I bought a picture pack while I was in line.) When I got my picture taken with him, I was 4 seats away from him on his right.
Hayami-san was wearing a summer yukata with geta and his normal brown sunglasses. The yukata was a blue/grey color with a lighter, white reed/plant looking pattern on it. When people usually wear yukata they kind of tend to try to keep it close to them out of habit, so Hayami-san kept putting his hands over the sides of his ass . . . which just drew everyone’s attention to it. He bowed a ton as he approached us and sat down for the picture and then again as he stood up (and so did we). It was interesting, because for every picture, the staff would have all of us sit/stand in our places first, and then Hayami-san would sit down, and after the picture was over, he’d stand back up again and wait off to the side for us to sit again. Which makes sense because I sure as hell would have been intimidated if I had to walk up to him and just sit down next to him. It sounds like an easy thing to do, but he just has so much presence that it would have been impossible.
After the picture, they had us wait around for a little while until we were let into the main hall. I sat down at a table in the waiting area and looked through the new pictures and the ticket that I’d just gotten, and I realized that on the ticket it said to please not come before 3:45 because Hayami-san would be rehearsing. Whoops . . . Ah well, no one seemed to mind (seeing as there weren’t really people outside of the room) and it was completely worth it. As I was sitting there, I was happy to find that one or two other people sat down at the table I was sitting at. (Normally people try to avoid sitting next to foreigners at all costs, so it made me a little happy.)
As they let us into the room, we had a choice of taking either the bright blue “Summer Love Lady” cocktail or the bright red “Summer Dream Girl” soda with ice. The blue cocktail was in a tall champagne glass, and the red soda was in just a normal round cup. I went for the sexy blue cocktail in the champagne glass.
My table was named “Mickey” (all of the tables were named after Disney characters) and my table was the absolute closest one, dead center to the stage! I was the first one to get to my table, which was good because it gave me a chance to walk around it, looking for my name tag without feeling too stupid. (The reason for this was because I wasn’t entirely sure that they were name tags, seeing as I couldn’t read any of them. Yet I didn’t want to take a chance and randomly sit anywhere in case they were.) It turned out they were name cards, and my seat was at the back of the table, so I was directly facing the stage head-on.
At each place setting we had our little name card resting on our plate, a small printed out menu, and a picture of Hayami-san. On the back of the menu Hayami-san wrote us a little message.
I’ve translated the menu here:
2009 Hayami Show Birthday Dinner Show
~Menu~
Various hors d’oeuvres
The hotel's special white asparagus cream soup
Mousseline made from steamed, white-fleshed yellowback sea bream from Nagasaki
Seaweed dressed with white-wine flavored cream sauce
Steak fillet from domestic cattle
with green-pepper flavored red wine sauce and small sweet potatoes on the side
3 different kinds of the hotel's bread
The pastry chef’s special, enjoyable dessert
The hotel's special blend of coffee
Original Cocktails
Summer Love Lady - Alcoholic - Blue Curacao with grapefruit juice
Summer Dream Girl - Non-alcoholic - A ginger ale base with Grenadine syrup
On the back of the menu card, Hayami-san wrote:
Welcome to the 2009 Birthday Dinner Show. Today on my birthday, August 2nd, in Tokyo, (well strictly speaking we’re in Chiba) it seems like a dream to be able to have a full-blown-out show, so I’m really happy. This is thanks to all of you. Thank you very much. This dinner show is the same as the ones that have been held in Kyoto for the past 10 years, and as an answer to your request, “When will there be a Tokyo show?” today, Team Hayami will have one here at the Sun Route Plaza in Tokyo. Please enjoy yourselves to the fullest tonight in my Hayami-like world as I add on another year.
August 2nd, 2009
Hayami Show
The rest of the girls at my table came and sat down, and none of them really seemed to know each other, so everyone was extremely quiet.
The stage was elaborately decorated. It had long, draping white curtains in the far back and gorgeous flowers amidst the instruments.
Around 5 pm the show started with a woman’s voice coming on over the speaker saying that the show was about to start. Then the guy that with big grey hair that I’d seen earlier outside of the hall walked out onto the stage and stood over on the left-hand side. (His name is Ooshima Gorou.)
Gorou: “Welcome, tonight is Hayami Show’s birthday dinner show.” (Insert some normal intro-talking about the event stuff here.) “We’ll be singing the happy birthday song. With that being said,” (Insert the start of some music here.) “Ah, yes, that’s the key. It starts off, ‘Happy Birthday Day,’ right, then next is (in a high pitched voice) ‘happy birthday too you, happy birthday to you,’ Oh, do you guys know it? Then say ‘Happy birthday dear Hayami-san,’ then it’s, ‘happy birthday to you.’ That’ll all probably be bad if you guys sing it, so I’ll do that part. ‘Happy birthday to you.’ (insert talking about splitting us into two groups and the left group going first) ‘Happy birthday to you.’ Okay, let’s practice. Ready, go!”
People on the left side of the room: “Happy birthday to you!”
Gorou: “Ah, yeah, it’s a bit off on the ‘you,’ it’s a bit more like ‘you.’”
Everyone in the room laughed, and at this point a girl at my table was like, “That’s so strict!”
Gorou: “Okay, go!”
People on the left side of the room: “Happy birthday to you!”
Gorou: “Ah, okay that’s good. Next, from this table on, you guys won’t sing.
All the people on the right side of the room: “Ehhh?!!!”
Gorou: Okay, you guys will sing, ‘Happy birthday to you,’ like that, ‘happy birthday to you.’ Let’s go, ready, go!”
He sang both of those lines an octave higher than how the people on the left had to sing.
People on the right side of the room: “Happy birthday to you!”
Gorou: “Okay, so when we sing, this half of the room is going to sing it like, ‘Happy birthday to you,’ (with his voice going up on the end of the ‘you’) and then this other half of the room is going to sing it like, ‘Happy birthday to you,’ (with the ‘you’ part also being higher again) and then I’ll sing it like ‘Happy birthday to you,’ on C. Okay, got that? Let’s practice. Happy birthday, happy birthday! Ready, go!”
At this point one of the girls at my table said, “I don’t get it at all!”
Everyone together: “Happy birthday to you!”
Everyone sang it with the right side of the room singing it an octave higher than the left side. Actually, I was a little surprised, everyone sounded really, really good! The first time the left side of the room sang, I was also very shocked.
Gorou: “Okay, that’ll work, let’s bring him out now!”
Hayami-san walked out onto the stage from the right side and stood in the middle of the stage directly in front of me. Even when he’s just walking across the stage, he’s got such a presence about him. Every time I see him live, one of my favorite moments is when he first steps out onto the stage.
He was wearing black leather pants (okay now he’s just purposely trying to torture me) a black button up shirt with the first two buttons un-done (the one right by the collar, and the next one down). It was enough to show a nice amount of skin, and it showed off the necklace that he was wearing. It was a normal pretty chain with an extra piece of chain that hung down off the main one, and on the very end of that extra piece there was a small stone. I could tell because it kept catching the light and changing colors with the lights. Over his black shirt he had on a black/shiny silver jacket that was so shiny that it changed colors with the light every time the lights changed. He also had a shiny silver feather-shaped thing on his jacket, and two shiny chains hanging down on his left hip. He also had on his normal 1-2 inch high black shoes, brown sunglasses with black sides, his normal ring with the brown stone on his ring finger, and his normal pinky ring.
. . . Shit he looked good.
It’s so weird to think that he’s actually 51 years old now, but the thing that’s even weirder is that I’ve been able to spend his past two birthdays with him . . . This year actually on the day itself.
As Hayami-san came out, Gorou started to sing the song, and since he’s the back-up singer, he did an awesome job.
Gorou: “Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Hayami-san, unn, (he motioned for all of us to sing the last line) happy birthday to you!”
Then the band started to play this really bass-y upbeat version of the song, and Gorou started singing again and everyone started clapping to the music. This time he sang with more volume and a more modern feeling to it.
Gorou: “Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Hayami-saaan-aaan-aaaaaaan, happy birthday to yooouuuuu!” (Everyone joined in on the last line again.)
Hayami-san: “Thank you very much! Thank you! The prose was amazing!”
Gorou: “Ah, well, Hayami-san, I have a little present for you.”
Everyone: “Oooooohhhhhh!”
Hayami-san: “Ah, thank you!”
Gorou: (Some stuff I didn’t understand.) “We had to think about it for a little while. It’s from all of the staff members. It’s the Hayami Show-san o-sashimi set! It’s got (something something and something something)!”
Hayami-san: “Ohhhh, thank you!”
(More talking I didn’t understand.)
Hayami-san: “Thank you. Um, everyone, I turn 51 today. Thank you.”
Then there was more talking that I didn’t understand, and Gorou said something about the feeling of the song from earlier. I think he was asking if we could sing it again.
Hayami-san: “Right now you mean?”
Gorou: “Yeah, ready, go!”
Everyone: “Happy birthday to you!”
Hayami-san: “Thanks! Thank you! (something something) “You all want to eat right? Do you want to drink? Is it all right? Okay? Ah, okay. Well, then, uhh, this day has finally come, here in Tokyo. Shall we do a toast? . . . toast? . . . toast? . . . . . . . . . can we do one tonight? Can we do one? . . . We’ll do an air toast! Yeah.”
At this point Hayami-san and the band members had all lined up on stage, but they didn’t have any drinks. They kept looking off to the side to see if the staff had drinks for them, but there was no one to be seen, which was why Hayami-san said that they’d do an air toast. They all held up their hands, pretending to hold glasses, and right as they were raising them the staff hurriedly came in with red summer dream girl non-alcoholic drinks, and Hayami-san said some stuff that I didn’t understand. I thought I heard the words “love” and then a bit later “summer” in there though, but who knows.
Hayami-san: “Cheers!”
Everyone: “Cheers!”
The staff already had the cake out with the candles lit on top, so Hayami-san blew out his candles, but he was really failing horribly. It was the cutest thing ever. His initial blow blew out maybe one or two candles (if any at all) and then he blew out each candle individually after that (a big, short blow for each one), but he had missed one that was closer to him, and it kind of surprised him a bit, and he hurriedly blew it out last. Cutest. Moment. Ever!
Hayami-san: “Okay! Thank you! (stuff I didn’t understand) Yoroshiku onegai shimasu!”
As he was leaving the stage so everyone could start eating, he saw the blue champagne glasses that we had at my table, so he turned to my table and said:
Hayami-san: “Eh?! There’s blue?!”
The people at my table: “Yeah!”
Hayami-san: “Damn, I would have wanted one!”
The Japanese verb that he used at the end of his sentence was “shimatta . . .” and just the way he said it was so cute. After he walked off the stage a second later everyone at my table was like “he said shimatta!!!!” It was really funny because all of us had the same reaction at the exact same time.
Each table had a round turning table type thing in the middle, and the waiters came around and starting putting the hors d’oeuvres on them while light music played in the background. The hors d’oeuvres consisted of cheese cut into little wedges, tiny slices of ham, sashimi, and some bread. Everyone took turns getting food and turning the table in front of us, and everyone was so polite and careful (me included) about the whole process that it appeared that if one of us even blinked wrong that we would be terrified that we would be shunned from the group. The level of timidness at our table was astounding, but at the same time I liked the fact that I wasn’t the only one carefully watching what I was doing. As people were getting their hors d’oeuvres, the staff brought the cake out so that people could take pictures of it. I was going to wait until I got my food and then go take some pictures, but right as I stood up, I realized that the cake was gone and they already took it away . . . There were two other girls that had done the same thing as me, and we all looked around sadly, looking very lost, confused, and heart broken. Honestly, the three of us looked like kicked puppies.
The next round of food was steamed yellowback sea bream fish on top of seaweed with a white wine flavored cream sauce over the top along with a white asparagus cream soup. The soup smelled absolutely divine, and the other girls at my table also commented on how good it smelled. Next was the steak fillet with green-pepper flavored red wine sauce and small sweet potatoes on the side. I almost didn’t try the steak fillet because it looked a little tough, but I wanted to try everything so I took one anyways. I’m really glad I did because it was so tender and absolutely delicious.
As for the drinks, The Summer Love Lady had a strong grapefruit flavor to it, so you couldn’t really taste the alcohol very much. It was the type of drink though where even though the alcohol taste is masked, you can tell there’s a lot in it. The Summer Dream Girl (which I later asked for) actually surprised me a bit because I didn’t realize that it was a soda at first, so I wasn’t expecting it to be carbonated. It had a fruity taste to it and was really good.
Lastly was the dessert. Every plate had a small piece of Hayami-san’s birthday cake, half a strawberry, a slice of kiwi, one blueberry, a small sliver of chocolate, and a fluffy strawberry flavored dessert. All of it was served on one plate with powdered sugar and strawberry sauce over the top. The birthday cake was white with white frosting on the top, and in the middle there were strawberries and more frosting. It tasted absolutely heavenly. Served with the dessert was a small cup of coffee. I don’t really drink coffee at all, so it just tasted like normal coffee to me.
I was a little disappointed that when we ate, Hayami-san and the band weren’t around . . . from some of the pictures I’ve seen of previous dinner shows he used to go around to every table, but he was nowhere to be seen. I suppose that’s what happens when these things get a lot bigger. I’m estimating there were about 100 people there.
Around 6 pm the show started, and a fast, up-beat song started to play. It actually sounded very middle eastern with a heavy tribal-type drum beat in the background. The band had come out first, and the grey-haired back-up singer Gorou had us all start clapping to the music, and then Hayami-san came out. As he did, the song added an extra level of bass and the song turned into Monsoon a bit before Hayami-san started to sing. The song sounded great, Hayami-san sounded great, and the sound quality of everything was absolutely perfect. It’s the best I’ve ever heard the song sound. (And this backs my theory that Hayami-san sounds godly live, but when his voice is recorded, it loses a lot of the beauty, power and subtlety that he’s got behind it.) Also, watching him do that one high note on “koko no ga” was oddly very fascinating.
During this song, some of the people in the back started to stand up, and everyone at the front table that I was at didn’t realize that other people were standing up because they were behind us, and we were obviously staring quite intently at Hayami-san. When I did realize that other people were standing though, I was a bit torn. There were still people behind me sitting down, and I was afraid that if I stood up, they wouldn’t be able to see, but at the same time, I wanted to show my support and show that I really liked the show. I’ve always felt really bad for performers when the people in the very front rows look like they’re not enjoying themselves and not getting into the show. Since no one else at my table was standing, I decided to wait it out.
The next song was 5 Funkan No History. At first, all we heard was “oohh ohh ohh oh oh oh oh oooh” (you know how the song starts off with that woman singing) and everyone was like “OOOHhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!” all at the same time. I found this hilarious because I was right there with everyone going “Ohhhh!!!!!” The band really let loose on the bass for this song, and Hayami-san didn’t hold back either.
Hayami-san: “Thank you very much. Umm, welcome to the Hayami Show, birthday dinner show. I’m really happy to be able to have the dinner show in Tokyo this time.”
Then he said some stuff that I either don’t remember or didn’t understand, but I think he did mention the rainy weather in Tokyo. Then I think he said something about the stage, maybe the height of it or something? I think he said that it was too high and he’d like a lower one because standing on a high stage was embarrassing, and that he only practiced on it for two hours. (The two hours before the show when I was listening to him rehearse from outside the hall.)
Hayami-san: “Next, I’ll introduce the band members. Which one, which one of you do I always start with? But . . . no . .”
Hayami-san said that as he went up to his band members, trying to figure out who he wanted to introduce first.
Hayami-san: “Bass Matsumura Ken!” (Pause) “Charlie, add the echo effect to the member intros, k? BASS! MATSUMURA . . . KEN!!!”
This time as he said “Ken!” the echo was added, which actually made it sound really cool.
(Insert more talking.)
Hayami-san: “Keyboardist Shimizu Hisayuki! And next, the lovely pa . . . pa. It’s the lovely papa, ehh, right? Ooshima Gorou!”
As Hayami-san said both names, each time the sound guy (Charlie) did an echo, and each name was louder and echoed more than the first. Gorou made a comment about it, and Hayami-san was like:
Hayami-san: “It is, isn’t it? This. Well, make the next one even bigger, okay, lets go. Drummer Nakai Seigou!!!!”
The echo on that one was reeaallly loud and really long, and just plain awesome sounding. At the point the audience was really clapping and laughing like crazy.
Hayami-san: (Insert talking) “The guitarist Ueki Gen!”
Hayami-san then said that he could say something into the microphone.
Ueki: “Everyone, good evening.”
Hayami-san: “. . . that’s it?”
Ueki: “Uhh . . . yeah, that’s it.”
I’ve noticed that pattern with Hayami-san and Ueki. Hayami-san always gives him a chance to talk and say something to everyone, and each time Ueki has this expression on his face like, “Oh no, what on earth am I supposed to say? Why me . . .” And then Hayami-san always says something like, “. . . that’s it?”
Hayami-san: “Next is the, uh, the second guitarist, (insert talking) Well then, the second guitarist, Kitamura SHIN! That’s right. Ah, and me. I am, Hayami SHOW!!! . . . Show!”
All of the above names had the echo on them, louder and better than the last.
Here’s a breakdown of the band members:
Back-up Vocal: Ooshima Gorou
Guitar: Kitamura Shin
Acoustic Guitar: Ueki Genta
Bass: Matsumura Ken
Keyboard: Shimizu Hisayuki
Drums: Nakai Seigou
Next he sang Eien No Okusoku (Endless Speculation), which of course was perfect. As he was singing he walked down off the stage and walked around us. At this point most people were standing (myself included) and it was really funny because the minute he left the stage, people bombarded him with flowers and gifts. Within one second his arms were completely full, and he could barely hold the microphone to sing, so the staff had to run in and take his flowers and presents from him. He walked around a bit more, and again, he wasn’t able to hold everything, so the staff started following around behind him. They were trying to be discrete though and not block anyone’s view, so they were all buzzing about, completely bent over forward, trying to stay out of the way. He actually missed the start of one of the lines because he had so much in his arms, he couldn’t get the microphone close enough to his face. He made his way around the tables, and eventually he came over by me, so I gave him his present. As I handed it to him I said an apologetic “Sumimasen . . .” Why was I apologizing when I was the one giving him a present? Because I’ve been here too long and the Japanese people have started rubbing off on me . . . (laughs) It was more like an, “I’m sorry to bother you right now but . . .” or “I’m sorry for making you carry this . . .” “I’m sorry it’s a bit heavy . . .” etc. Since I didn’t get my ticket in the mail like everyone else, I didn’t know if they had a time planned where we could give Hayami-san the presents we had for him. Last year we got to give him his presents before the show, but since we didn’t do that this time, I was worried that I wouldn’t get another chance to give it to him. He was carrying quite a bit by this point again, and he carried everything up to the stage (my present included) and put it right behind the microphone stand, so for the rest of the show, my present was sitting right behind him.
The present that I gave him was my painting of “Cloister Cemetery in the Snow,” which was originally painted by the German romanticist Casper Friedrich, but the original was destroyed in a fire, so I did my own painting of it. I had already sold my original painting, but I made copies of it and framed one of them for Hayami-san.
Hayami-san: “Thank you very much. Um, from here on, it will be just me and Gen-chan. We’ve been doing The Reading Show together. How many have there been? 4? . . . 5? Ah, we did 4 of them. I’ve really been trying my best, trying my best to get in touch with it, trying . . . my . . . be . . . s . . . t! It’ll be on Valentines day and . . .”
Everyone: “Valentine’s day??? Ehhh???”
Hayami-san: “Ah, next year. ‘Ehhh??’ You say? Well, for this next one, I’ll try my best.”
Hayami-san picked up his book and was trying to figure out the best position for his little table with water on it and the chair so that he could see the best. Meanwhile making commentary about it. Actually, he said the exact words “Best position,” in English, which was a little surprising because his pronunciation was actually really good, and position is a pretty random word to know and to be able to just use like that o_O Actually, now that I think about it, he knows a lot of really random, hard words in English . . . Then he asked us to just wait a moment as he got situated.
While he had been talking about the reading show earlier, some staff people brought out a chair for him to sit on. It was the exact same chair from the Reading Show! It had the same brown polished wood and white seat and everything. I always just assumed that they used whatever nice chair the hotel had to offer, but I guess they actually carry that one around with them for these things. Oh, I forgot to mention, for the earlier songs, they had a slight mist machine going. Nothing too extreme, but the stage did have a light haze.
He sat down and the lights dimmed, and Ueki-san started playing the guitar as Hayami-san started reciting Onmyoji - Amanojaku, the same one that’s on his Kotoba no Kuukan IV CD.
I was really excited when Hayami-san said that he was going to be doing Onmyoji, but I just about died happy when I heard him do the part from scene 3 where he goes:
Hayami-san:
“‘Naa, Seimei o, kowaku wa nai ka?’ Hiromasa ga kiita.
‘Kowai sa.’
‘Shikashi omae ga iuto marude kowanakute inai you ni kikoeruzo.’
‘Unnn, ore wa kowai.’”
‘Hey, Seimei, aren’t you afraid?’ Hiromasa asked.
‘I’m afraid.’
‘But you don’t sound afraid at all.’
‘No, I am afraid.’
I’ve been waiting to hear him do that scene live for two years now. I have no idea why I love it so much, but I’ve completely fallen in love with those few lines. It sounds cooler in Japanese though. When I went to the Reading Show last year I had really hoped that he’d do that scene and when he didn’t, I was crushed. (But then he sang Noh instead and obliterated any fragment of disappointment I might have had.)
He recited the whole thing (Acts 1 through 5). He didn’t change any of the words or the story itself, but he completely changed the way that he told it. It’s like night and day comparing what he did live to what he did on the CD. The CD was more . . . bland. There wasn’t a very big difference between the characters’ voices, and it wasn’t very suspenseful. In the live show though, there was a huge difference between the characters’ voices, and depending on the scene, he’d change the speed, the volume, and the intensity of his voice. Act 5 on the CD is just sort of there. You can almost sense that there could be some suspense, but not too much. But in the live show, my heart was pounding! I was on the edge of my seat with my jaw on the floor during that scene. He’d go back and forth between an old-man-sounding voice which was yelling really fast, and the calmer smoother voice. Back and forth, back and forth, yelling in two different voices, really, really fast. It was so intense! Everyone in the room had a, “Holy shiiiitttt” (O_O) expression on their face. Right as it ended the room was buzzing with people being in shock at how awesome it was. I was really hoping that he’d throw in some Noh this time too, but sadly he didn’t . . .
While he was reading, during different scenes the lights would change colors. For the night time scenes the stage turned dark blue with the sound of crickets and cicadas in the background. It looked so realistic that it really made you feel like you were outside under a tree somewhere. The same goes for the other scenes. The lighting was gorgeous, and they really did a great job with it.
After Hayami-san finished Onmyoji, he thanked us and then left the stage. Then a woman announced that we would have a 10 minute break. In the background, they played a song with a woman singing, and it sounded like a traditional Itallian song. It was really pretty. Right before our break ended, the background song became more prominent, and Hayami-san walked out onto the stage. This time he had changed his jacket. He was still in his black leather pants, black button up shirt, sunglasses, etc. but this time his jacket was a solid black, and he had one of this “attach flowers” that he always likes to wear attached to it. It was a pretty big flower, and it matched the black of his suit.
He started off reciting a character line from Mirage of Blaze first:
Hayami-san: “Utsukushi . . .” (Stuff I don’t remember) “. . . Anata o . . . Anata o ai shite iru.”
(“Beautiful . . . You . . . I love you.”)
Next he sang Sahara, and right after that was another character line. One of Aizen’s actually . . .
I surprised myself; he said the first word of the line, and I instantly knew which one it was . . .
Hayami-san:
“Ogori ga sugiruzo, Ukitake.
Saisho kara dare mo ten ni tatte nado inai.
Kimi mo, boku mo, kami suramo.
Daga, sono taegatai ten no za no kuuhaku mo owaru.
Kore kara wa, watashi ga ten ni tatsu.”
“You’re too arrogant, Ukitake.
From the very start, no one was standing in heaven.
Not you, not me, not even God.
However, that emptiness in Heaven which is very hard to endure, shall end.
From now on, I will stand in Heaven.”
It’s the exact same character line that I asked him to do last year!!!! Exactly! He even had the Ukitake line in there! (I only accidently included it last year, and I was kind of kicking myself for it, so it’s kind of cool that he actually left it in this year.) I couldn’t believe it! I actually squeed and gasped when he started it. Throughout the whole dinner show, this one and the one before it were the only two character lines that he did. He must have really liked doing it last year and thought that it was an awesome line, so he put it into the show this year! It’s a really kick-ass line, so it makes me really happy that he liked my suggestion. I think he did it a bit better this year too, actually. There was a bit more drama and emotion to it this time. He used it as an into to sing Kyouka Suigetsu.
He dove right into Kyouka Suigetsu, and it sounded a million times better than the recorded version for the obvious reasons, but also because the band added some piano into it (even as I type this, if I hadn’t heard it I would probably think that adding a piano of all instruments would just make it sound really weird, but really, it was exactly what the song needed). It was very subtle but it made a world of difference. As Hayami-san was up there singing this sinfully sexy song just 10 feet in front of me, my brain just kind of lost it right then and there. Some things are just far too amazing to be able to comprehend, and Hayami-san singing that song is one of them. Like I said last year, it was deep and dark and fucking sexy as hell. For this song he left the microphone in the microphone stand and stood there as he sung, and by doing so, it sort of added a level of seriousness and evilness to the song. He almost seemed to pull a Dr. Jackle and Mr. Hide type thing during the softer and harder parts of the song. It was so cool! As it was ending, the music dwindled down, then ended with a ‘Booom.’
Hayami-san: “Thank you very much! Before the first song was the very invigorating line that was said by Naoe Nobutsuna from the anime Mirage of Blaze. The song has that same kind of feel to it too. Then Aizen’s line about ascension tied into the next song, Kyouka Suigetsu.”
At this point everyone broke out into an applause and yelled out that it was lovely and amazing.
Hayami-san: “Thank you very much. Speaking of anime, I’m playing an invigorating young man in 07-Ghost. With the addition of this, I really do play a lot of invigorating characters, don’t I? (Laughs) My character vigorously picks on the young, main character, so if you’ve got time, please watch it.”
The next song that he sang was Sirius. It was upbeat, cheerful, and just plain fun. I realized something during this song though-Hayami-san looked so amazingly happy. By far the happiest I’ve ever seen him look. He had this huge smile on his face that reached his eyes as he sang, and I felt like he really connected with the audience this time. Last year, for both the Reading Show and the Birthday Party and Live show, it looked like he was looking at the audience, yet it didn’t seem like he really saw any of us. (I could tell because I was sitting in the front row for the Reading Show.) But this time, I could tell that he was looking at us, and he actually saw us. During this song quite a few of the people from the back tables were standing, but only me and the girl next to me were standing from our table. As a result of this, not only were we two of the closest people to Hayami-san, but it also made us very visible, so for most of this song and many of the songs after it, Hayami-san looked at us and smiled while he sang. He didn’t walk around too much either, which was great, considering he was standing right in front of me, so he’d just go back and forth between closing his eyes happily as he sang and looking right at me and the girl next to me. Shit, I can’t believe that really happened. It was just one of those moments where I was happy, and he was happy, and everyone in the entire room was happy, and we all just completely zoned out into a happy blissful state.
Hayami-san: “Thank you very much. Thank you. Well,” (One sentence I didn’t understand) “On August 14th Lantis is coming out with a pure CD with me and Horiuchi Kenyuu-san called, ‘Ai no Kotoba’ (‘Words of Love’) (Laughs).”
Hayami-san couldn’t even say that with a straight face without laughing, and right as he said the name of the CD everyone in the audience said, “EEEE!!!” all together and all girly like.
Hayami-san: “The tracks have already been written. It’s really surreal, and I think it’ll make you laugh. That being said, I don’t mean to say that it’s not serious . . . probably. (Laughs) Horiuchi-san also responded to my demands. He really is a great guy. (Laughs)”
He said more stuff that I didn’t understand, but he kept getting a bigger and bigger reaction from the audience, and Hayami-san seemed to be getting a bit more . . . hmm, a combination between mischievous and maybe a tiny bit flustered, but in a good way! It was a “I’m going to tease and torture them to death with innuendo . . . tehehe, oh God, I can’t believe I just said that!” type of a thing, but I couldn’t quite pick up what he was saying exactly, just bits and pieces here and there.
Hayami-san: “So definitely please listen to it . . . uhh . . . ehh . . . but if you listen to it in public or on a train, it would definitely be bad.” (Something something) “And when you’re sad, you should listen to it.” (Something something) “I’ll be at the NeoRomance Live event in Osaka on August 15th and 16th and then after that is the NeoRomance Anniversary on September 21st and 22nd . There will be various games and various characters.” (Something something) “And then on September 27th is the Lantis Matsuri.” (Something something) “The S.S.D.S. show at Nakano Sun Plaza now has 9 members,” (something something) “Well, next, let’s all sing together!”
Kimi Dake (Just You) was next, and it was just as light-hearted and happy as Sirius and everyone all sang together. Legend of my Soul was right after that, and Hayami-san started dancing! Cutest. Thing. Ever! Everyone in the audience already knew the choreography for this song (because he sings this one at almost all of his concerts), so we all did it along with Hayami-san. Except for the twirls, those we didn’t do, only Hayami-san did those. We also didn’t do the little side stepping motion that he did. He’d step and turn to the right, and then step and turn to the left, along with the little twirl things. Then he’d do the hand motions.
The hand motions go as follows:
1. Extend your right arm straight to your right at shoulder height with your hand fisted.
2. Make a circling motion with your right hand with your arm still outstretched.
3. Raise your hand up in a semi-circle motion so that your arm is now in front of your face with your hand straight up above your head.
4. Bring your arm down, so your elbow is next to your side, but your right hand is level with your shoulder.
5. Raise your arm up in front of you again with your hand just above your head.
6. With your hand, make 1.5 small circling motions to the left, and then 1.5 small circling motions to the right. (Like you’re washing a car.)
7. Repeat
8. When singing the words “Legend of my Soul” pump your fist in the air three times.
Legend of my Soul was fast, upbeat, and full of energy. All of us really got into it, and it was impossible not to do the hand motions along with him.
Hayami-san: “Thank you very much!”
Then he left the stage.
Everyone: “Shooooww-saaann! Hayaaammiii-saan!!” (Everyone started to clap.)
After a few minutes Hayami-san came back on the stage wearing a white jacket with a giant white flower attached to it. He also had a long white scarf hanging down around his neck. He didn’t say anything to us, he just went to the center of the stage, and Ueki started playing the guitar, while Hayami-san sat down and slowly started to sing an acoustic version of Rakuen. It sounded beautiful, tragic, and completely heart-breaking. He sung it like he had just died, and he was trying to console the love of his life. After just the first few lines, everyone in the room was in tears, and you could hear everyone sniffling in the background. Just thinking about it still makes me tear-up even now. As the song ended, the room was dead silent as everyone slowly came out of the trance that the song put us in.
Hayami-san: “Thank you very much.” (Something something - everyone started laughing) “You just heard the acoustic version of Rakuen. It really had a sad feel to it, didn’t it? It really cooled down in here . . .” (Everyone laughed again) “There are times when I want to start exploring places that no one knows about by myself.” (Something about times when bridges are closed . . . what? I have no idea.) “And with that, I’ll introduce the members once more. The young guitarist, Kitamura Shin! The evening guitarist, Ueki Genta! The usual keyboardist, Shimizu Hisayuki! The mischievous drummer, Nakai Seigou! And the person who was way too demanding with making you do the difficult harmony at the very beginning for the birthday song, and who also asked that of you without me knowing at first, causing my heart to thud in suspense . . . And with that, the playful back-up singer, Ooshima Gorou! This band, that lets me join them, is called ‘The Tender.’ For this performance, on bass is Matsumura Ken! And vocals are done by me, Hayami Show.”
Next, Hayami-san sang Brightness, and the whole room cheered up and became happy again. (Everyone had gotten pretty down after hearing Rakuen.)
Hayami-san: “Thank you very much! Being able to have a celebration like this for my birthday makes me really, truly happy. Everyone, thank you so, so much. We were actually able to pull it off. (Laughs) Anyway, umm, this dinner show is the same as the ones that are always held in Kyoto. Well, even though this is the first dinner show in Tokyo, did you enjoy yourselves? Everyone, let’s do our best. (A sentence I didn’t understand.) Each of the tables here have different Disney names, like Pooh, etc. (At this point Hayami-san walked right up to the edge of the stage and pointed to the table I was sitting at.) This one here is Mickey . . . Lucky! Hehe . . . Ah, but Pooh would be bad. And then there’s . . . Tigger. Tigger, right? Yeah, Tigger. Tigger. What’s Tigger again? Ah, a tiger? Right. What about ***? Ah, a cat? Well, all my friends have come, thank you from the bottom of my heart for allowing all of us to be here together. Ah, well, today’s dinner show will be a lovely memory. Next is the last song, Tokai no Kage, let's all sing together.”
Hayami-san sang Tokai no Kage, and it was just amazing. It’s the perfect song to end with, and everyone sang along with him on this one. It was slightly more upbeat than the album version, and the beginning of the song was played with bongos. The song was sweet and really smooth, and just plain happy.
Hayami-san: “Thank you very much!”
He left the stage, and then a woman’s voice came on over the speaker.
Woman: “And now, this concludes the 2009 Hayami Show Birthday Dinner Show.”
Here’s an overall list of the songs that he sang in order during the show:
Monsoon
5 Funkan No History
Eien No Okusoku - Endless Speculation
Onmyoji
10 min break
Sahara
Kyouka Suigetsu
Sirius
Kimi Dake - Just You
Legend Of My Soul
Encore
Rakuen [Acoustic]
Brightness
Tokai No Kage
Then the staff member talked to us for a moment and thanked us all for today. She then told us that Hayami-san wanted to give us all a presents, so he’d be waiting out in the hallway for us. She then said that they’d be releasing us by tables because of this and to please wait. As we were waiting, Hayami-san’s Monsoon started playing in the background.
As we left, we all got into a line so that we could give him his birthday presents, wish him a happy birthday, and tell him what we thought about the show. This also gave him the chance to give each of us a present! We each got an amethyst power stone. It was said that because the power stone was a present directly from Hayami-san, that it contained even more power.
When I got to Hayami-san, I can’t remember if I shook his hand or not . . . It was a little awkward though because since I didn’t have a bag besides for my purse, and by now I had quite a few things in my hands, he first thought that what I was holding was for him, so he reached out his hand, so then I quickly had to explain that I’d given him his present earlier and that it was currently up on the stage. At the time I had no idea that he was going to be out there waiting for us, which was why I’d given him his present earlier . . . He good-naturedly said, “Ah, hai, arigatou!” (‘Ah, ok, thank you!’) and then I was on my way.
The amethyst was in a little clear bag with a brown and gold ribbon wrapped around the top of it. Inside, there was also a little note card with a yellow background, blue text, and a picture of two sunflowers on it. This is the message that was printed on the card:
Amethyst
To heal a tired heart, I’m giving you my genuine love.
The extent of its power isn’t really understood,
but I definitely put all of the thanks from my heart into it.
Really, thank you very much for today.
August 2nd, 2009
Hayami Show
Overall, the night was freaking amazing.