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| Japanese pop-rock singer LiSA singing "Home", one of Singapore's National Day songs |
Declaring that Singapore was her second home, LiSA performed one of the city-state's most beloved National Day songs to the amazement of the audience. It came as little surprise that she regarded the little island as her home though. Singapore was after all, a launchpad of sorts for her burgeoning career, when she was just a newcomer to the anisong scene but invited to perform here at Anime Festival Asia (AFA) 2011 four years ago. She has performed at the convention annually ever since.
As the XDantheManX Online team was writing the post-event highlights of LiSA's 5th time in Singapore, we kind of lost ourselves while doing so and the report turned out to be a very lengthy one. For the convenience of our readers, we will be releasing it in parts.
LiSA in Singapore 2015
Part 1: The Beginning
Part 2: Airport Welcome
Part 3: An Unforgettable Concert
PROLIFIC ANISONG SINGER
For those who are unfamiliar with LiSA, she was one of the vocalists for the band Girls Dead Monster which performed many songs for the popular heart-stirring anime Angel Beats. She has also released many hit pop-rock anisongs in her solo career, singing the opening themes such as "crossing field", "Rising Hope" and most recently, "Rally Go Round" for the animes Sword Art Online, The Irregular of Magic High School (Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei) and Nisekoi: respectively.
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| LiSA sang the opening theme to The Irregular of Magic High School (Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei) |
Since then, she has been travelling around the world, performing in the United States and Mexico and even holding her first Asia live tour this year. The Asia tour boasts a different and more varied setlist from her nationwide "LiVE is Smile Always ～Launcher～" Japan Tour, comprising of fan-favourite classics, recent anisong hits and also tracks off her new third album. The tour launched in Hong Kong on July 4th, with stops in Shanghai and Taipei and concluded with a bang in Singapore last Saturday.
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| "LiVE is Smile Always ～Launcher～" Tour in Japan (Credits: M-ON) |
OUR HISTORY WITH LISA
XDantheManX Online was invited to attend the concert on the night of July 18th but we were so excited when we first heard Japan Music Festival's announcement that she would be having a solo concert in Singapore that we scrambled to buy early-bird tickets in April, being huge fans of LiSA and her rock songs. If you are unaware, I love rock and I enjoyed the SCANDAL concert back in April tremendously.
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| VIP tickets for LiSA's first solo concert in Singapore sold out within 45 minutes of sale |
Moving on to the concert, I went with my good friend, Eugene and we managed to get some pretty good seats with a great view of the stage, in the third row! Eugene will be sharing his experience of the concert with me.
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| Row C! |
Talking about LiSA, her songs were the first few which I had listened to when I watched my first full anime back in 2013. I was introduced to it during my school's sports day by a schoolmate whom I had never met before. Looking back on it, it was a really serendipitous encounter. He showed me some trailers of Angel Beats on YouTube which piqued my interest and led to me watching the anime.
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| Resorts World Theatre is a great venue for Japanese concerts |
LiSA was one of the vocalists of the in-anime band Girls Dead Monster and I really loved some of the songs which she sang as Yui such as "Little Braver" and "Ichiban no Takaramono". However, my favourite was really "Thousand Enemies". I remember playing it back repeatedly and listening to it so many times. Shortly after, I watched my fourth anime, Sword Art Online. That was when I heard "crossing field" and instantly fell in loved with it.
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| LiSA provided the singing vocals for Yui in the anime Angel Beats |
I took note of her and kept an eye out for her future releases such as "Shirushi" and "No More Time Machine" before attending the I Love Anisong concert at my first AFA last year. There was no doubt that her set on Saturday night was one of the best. I remember her bursting with energy, jumping all around, singing her heart out and she was really good at interacting with the audience. Her performance did not disappoint and that was why I decided to get tickets to her solo concert.
Lisa debuted an English version of "crossing field" at AFA 2014's I Love Anisong concert
Eugene: I was expecting a lot from her solo concert this time, especially after attending the I Love Anisong during AFA! To my surprise, I was shocked and absolutely taken aback in amazement when her solo concert blew me away. I had thought to myself that she was always amazing as a singer but in this concert, she gradually made me realised that she was really dazzling and full of energy! Her energy powered the concert and the audience.
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| LiSA was bedazzling on stage at AFA 2014's I Love Anisong |
I’d first heard her songs from Angel Beats and yes, I immediately fell in love with them and her vocals. After watching Angel Beats and a few more anime series, I had heard “crossing field” from SAO. To be absolutely truthful, I’d never once skipped the opening song. I was mesmerised by her strong vocal powers that had introduced the setting of SAO right from the opening song. That was when I had actually started to look out for her songs and constantly kept them on repeat.
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| Landed in Singapore safely (Credits: LiSA Singapore Fan Club) |
That was how we both got to know LiSA and came to love her songs. I think that each of us who attended the concert would have our own special stories in which we came to know her. We would love to go straight to talking about the concert but before that, let's look back at the events on the day before the concert.
Stay tuned for Part 2: Airport Welcome!
Part 2: Airport Welcome
LiSA in Singapore 2015
Part 1: The Beginning
Part 2: Airport Welcome
Part 3: An Unforgettable Concert
