Live Album「Kalafina LIVE TOUR 2014」 at Tokyo International Forum Hall A

6th place is a good place... comparing to 5th anniversary best live
 
I don't even know how the 5th Anni Live ranked, was it really that bad? I'd have thought it'd have the benefits of having a ton of material including some songs never heard in a live release before. On the other hand, I guess this release has had the benefit of this particular tour having a good reputation, plus Kalafina are more popular in general now.
 
So do you need it uploaded or has someone found it yet? On disc 2 now. Better so far than disc 1. Disc 1 was kind of weak in my opinion. And I usually like Koichi's playing but for some reason his tangents in this are kind of annoying. //is slapped Maybe just weird? I don't know.
 
6th is a good ranking considering over half the songs have been done live before. It deserves that spot Kalafina sang so wonderfully here
 
Wow. Disc 2 is amazing. Tsuioku, consolation (I don't like the song that much even), Kimi no gin (even though I am still creeped out by that song from my dream), believe (yes, I said it, I love the song), even heavenly blue... which I don't like much either. I mean, I like the chorus (the Wakana part) not Hikaru's (sorry, still like ya a lot). They really were amazing in this disc. The first one was kind of weak like I said. Wakana seemed high like in adore and seventh heaven (Keiko and Hikaru were great in that song though), only I have a dream and to the beginning sounded all right from that disc. I don't know... I wonder why though they decided to do the misterioso prelude and then right into dolce? Instead of into misterioso? Anyone else think that weird? heh
 
Well my copy arrived earlier today, time to give it a listen.

misterioso prelude ~ dolce - This is Prelude (from BEST Red) if I recall, and I believe I called it back when the tracklist was released. It's pretty. dolce itself is a really pretty song, actually, and this performance sounds rather lovely. However, I still don't recall ever having heard it before. I think having it here along with Prelude just furthers my opinion that it feels like an overture rather than an actual song. A really pretty one, though. I doubt I'll remember it by the time I'm done though, such is the way of dolce.
Adore - Contrary to previous comment, I actually really like the way dolce flows into Adore. Hikaru sounds kind of off here near the start, honestly. At least I think it's Hikaru? She sounds better later on however. The violin sounds pretty amazing and that guitar solo is sublime. This is one of those songs that I forget I enjoy as much as I do until I hear it again. The ending reminded me of another Kajiura piece for a split-second but I can't remember which one, but it could flow into something and become super badass.
MC1 - *shrugs* I don't know what's going on. Impressive cheer, though.
Yane no Mukou ni - Also like Adore, this is a song I really enjoy but don't listen to nearly enough. I also keep forgetting the name of it and referring to it as 'that one B-side from Moonfesta'. This performance however, is lovely. Wakana's vocals here are gorgeous, it's performances like this that remind me why I love her voice so much. Keiko too. I can see what Atlas was saying about them in this song, they did such a lovely performance. Not hearing anything that stands out as bad from Hikaru here either, personally.
I have a dream - Not really my favourite ballad, but pleasant. Vocals sound good throughout, especially Wakana. It's not really a song that they've had issues with in the past from what I recall, and that goes for this too.
storia - I still don't care for the vocal opening of this song, but frankly this is one of the best renditions of it I've heard. Many other lives (and the studio version to some extent) make me cringe a little sometimes, I didn't get that here, which surprises me since it's something I've come to accept about storia as a song. I've always loved the rest of the song from there on in anyway. The vocal duel part around the halfway part sounds a little off, but not to a huge extent. I think this might actually be one of my favourite performances of storia, actually.
Utsukushisa - As one of my overall favourite songs, I had high expectations for this and was looking forward to it a lot. For the most part I think it met them. Wakana and Keiko sound amazing here, although Hikaru is a little off. Not too much to distract me from the rest of the song, thankfully, but it's there. The guitar solo in the 5th Anni Live performance is a lot stronger though, I think I prefer that version to this one. I'm still happy there's another live recording of it at all, though.
red moon - Two of my favourite songs back to back? Awww yes. It's a good performance, too. I'm with pretty much everyone else here that it doesn't top the After Eden Live performance though, that thing was practically perfect. I did notice some of Wakana's breathing issues near the end which was a little irritating, but oh well. The finale is pretty grand, I don't see why people are saying it lacks energy.
Magia[quattro] - Something sounds weird about this particular performance. One of my main issues with the quattro version is that the strings are a little TOO bombastic and can often be a little distracting, but it seems like there's less of them here than usual? At some points I was sure I was listening to regular Magia. I think I actually prefer it that way, I want a new Magia mix that's halfway between the original and quattro now. Hikaru's voice sounds pretty damn great here if I'm honest, whatever the issue she's having is, it doesn't seem to affect her ferocious voice style. Guitar solo sounds a little muddy, though. Overall though, it's a good performance and considering Magia was one of the songs that helped further develop my attention to Kalafina in the first place, that's great.
to the beginning - Sounds like to the beginning. It's not really a song that seems to change much between performances from my experience. Music sounds good, girls sound good, that one 'shinjite' from Wakana still sounds too shrill. That's in the studio version though, so I can't blame this particular performance since it seems, for whatever reason, to be intentional. That one single word can go sit in the same corner as the openings to storia and Eden as little snippets of songs I really don't like. That final held note is pretty lovely in this performance.
seventh heaven ~acoustic ver.~ - seventh heaven is always a song I have to be in the right mood for. I'm not usually in the right mood and it comes across as boring. Thankfully right now, I am in the right mood for it and it sounds bloody amazing. I agree it's not really *acoustic* as such, but it's different. This right here is why I want to go to an acoustic live so badly, a heavy focus on the girls' vocals and here they are gorgeous. Hikaru isn't at her best, sadly, but the other two are spot on. Still a little sad that they only did acoustic versions of songs that'd already appeared on the Alleluia single though, I'd have loved to hear some other tracks in acoustic form.
snow falling ~acoustic ver.~ - Eh, I still don't like this song. I can't really compare it to the studio version or the one from the Alleluia single courtesy of not really listening to either of them much either, I can't really remember what it's supposed to sound like. Actually I'm not sure I can remember what this version sounded like, and I'm still listening to it as I type this sentence. Hikaru has issues here. That's all I remember.

OK, I'll take a little break here as that's the first disc done. So far I'm enjoying it rather a lot. Hikaru has issues in places but it's nowhere near as bad as Red Day's first half, there's only a small handful of issues I'd actually pick out and half of them are in snow falling which I really don't care much about. I loved the performances of red moon, storia, Magia[quattro] and Yane no Mukou ni most I think, although the rest are decent too. A little disappointed in Utsukushisa but it's good, I think the 5th Anni Live one is ridiculously amazing and made me realise how much I loved that song, so this new one had a hell of a lot to live up to and it didn't quite meet it.
 
OK here we go, disc 2.

Tsuioku - I don't remember those chimes at the start, but it works. Opening vocals sound lovely. The rest... is perfect. This is everything I wanted, everything I hoped for. Just, wow. Please play this more often, it's one of the best songs released and this live is goddamn incredible.
obbligato - Here's another song they should play more often, I love this thing. That bassline sounds great, why do so many of their live shows seem to fail to capture the bass properly? Hmm, Wakana's kajiurago came a little later than usual, surely? On the other hand holy crap it sounded amazing, I think I actually got shivers. Guitar solo is great, too.
consolation - That opening segment is glorious. In fact this whole live is pretty fine. Wakana is really proving herself in this live, I am so happy she's in such a good way these days, I was really worried about her for a while. I think this might actually be the best this song has ever sounded.
Hikari Furu - I think this song has ended up in the same zone as Seventh Heaven for me. I used to always find it boring until they played in it Paris, now I just end up skipping it sometimes but falling in love with it at other times. This performance is absolutely lovely though, so if I ever feel like listening to a live performance it'll likely be this one.
Kimi no Gin no Niwa - I swear every time I hear a new performance of this song I fall in love with it even more. This performance is great overall, although I'm not too sure what to make of the mini accordion solo. The girls all sound lovely here, no complaints from me.
misterioso - Sure sounds like misterioso. Which is to say, pleasant enough but nothing special.
believe - Nope.
Overture~Ongaku - Woah, this overture. Oh man, that bass kick in when the opening to Ongaku comes in is glorious. Once again, why the hell can't they get the bass right on the live video releases? I just wish Signal sounded this good on the lives, because it sure as hell sounds amazing in person. Anyway, back to Ongaku. It's Ongaku. I don't really care if it's been performed literally hundreds of times, it's a really damn good song and the live performances of it are even better. And so much power! I know some people are fed up with it being on literally every setlist, but its worthy of its place. I'd honestly say that Ongaku is part of the reason I want to go see them live in full concert again because god damn it's such a crowdpleaser of a song and feels *incredible* to actually be there, I didn't want it to end. Ever. This particular performance is totally on point, but what do you really expect these days when it comes to Ongaku? They've had aeons of practice. All three of the girls sound amazing here, too, no problems in sight (or earshot, I guess).
heavenly blue - Hm, something about this performance bugs me, I can't really tell what because I rarely ever listen to heavenly blue. heavenly blue is an odd song for me, I used to hate it but I can just about tolerate it these days as long as it's a live performance, since they usually sound a lot better than the studio version and the girls obviously put a lot of effort and ferocity into it that's not really there in the original. So yeah, I can't really tell what about this particular performance it is that feels off. I don't really care what it is to be honest, since I don't really like this song as it is.
MC2 - I still have no idea what's going on, and half of this MC is cheering from the end of heavenly blue. I guess they left it in because cutting it wouldn't have made much difference.
Alleluia - Alleluia is another song that sounds significantly better live, which is good since I enjoy the studio version. It also makes for a good ending song. This performance is kind of what I've come to expect from it, actually. That is to say, it's bloody gorgeous and made me a little emotional. Possibly not quite as much as the one on Red Day or even their performance in Paris, but it's still there, I could feel it. I remember I didn't really like this song much when it came out, now I cannot get enough of it, at least in live form. It's rapidly becoming one of my favourite Kalafina songs to hear live. The cheer at the end says it all, really, impressive.
Lineup~Ending MC - Band member introductions and a whole ton of crowd cheering, followed by clapping and BGM Mirai. Not really worth much honestly, other than that adorable 'yay!'. Seems kind of pointless to have this sequence with no video.

Disc two was pretty great too. Tsuioku was phenomenal and exactly what I hoped for, hoping that we get a FotW live release and the girls aren't too exhausted so we can get live In Every Nothing, lapis and Koibito to go along with it. obbligato sounded great, consolation is one of the best performances of that song so far and the Hikari Furu/Kimi no Gin no Niwa combo was lovely too. Ongaku was Ongaku and thus great fun, and Alleluia, I love you.

Quick thoughts on the whole live: It was good for some parts, great for most. No issues at all with Keiko, a couple of slight breathing issues with Wakana that I noticed on 1-2 songs, Hikaru was struggling in moments but still managed to pull off a good performance for a significant part of the live. All three of them sounded good enough for me to enjoy it as a whole, though, and that's what's important. The FBM all did a grand job, too, some of the instrumentation in these lives sounded wonderful and surpassed the studio versions. If they could've just swapped believe out for literally anything (maybe except Mirai) it would've been even better, maybe put in Destination Unknown or Signal or something, both of those get played quite a lot which I guess could be a negative, but it'd have still been an improvement.

Overall favourite tracks: Tsuioku, Alleluia, red moon, Yane no Mukou ni, Utsukushisa, obbligato, consolation, Kimi no Gin no Niwa.

OK that's literally a third of the tracklist including the MCs, but they were really good.
 
OK then, as some of you may know, the 8th Anniversary Live event had a special promotion going where if you spent enough at the stall there, you'd get a free promotional poster for the album release. In fact, the image that it uses is the same one as in nodame's signature, with the usual promotional info if you haven't seen it before. Kiasukid's blog also posted the design up a while ago. As far as I'm aware, attending the live and buying from the stall was the *only* way in which to acquire these posters, I don't recall even seeing them used in any of the displays people have been sharing from Animate and the like.

Why am I telling you this? Because a couple of them went up for auction over the last few days. As it's a really nice poster and I want to frame it, I bought both of them. I'll be deciding which is in better condition and framing it once they arrive. Sooooo, that leaves me with a spare copy. Considering how rare these things probably are, I don't know how likely it is that another one will show up, I'm actually surprised two of them did already. The cheaper one of the two only cost me 3000~ yen, so I'll be willing to sell it for around that or a little less depending on the condition it turns out to be in.

The real question is who do I sell it to. I'm kinda hoping only one person will show interest as that makes it easier to decide, but I'll have to think of something.
 
Seasonreaper said:
OK then, as some of you may know, the 8th Anniversary Live event had a special promotion going where if you spent enough at the stall there, you'd get a free promotional poster for the album release. In fact, the image that it uses is the same one as in nodame's signature, with the usual promotional info if you haven't seen it before. Kiasukid's blog also posted the design up a while ago. As far as I'm aware, attending the live and buying from the stall was the *only* way in which to acquire these posters, I don't recall even seeing them used in any of the displays people have been sharing from Animate and the like.

Why am I telling you this? Because a couple of them went up for auction over the last few days. As it's a really nice poster and I want to frame it, I bought both of them. I'll be deciding which is in better condition and framing it once they arrive. Sooooo, that leaves me with a spare copy. Considering how rare these things probably are, I don't know how likely it is that another one will show up, I'm actually surprised two of them did already. The cheaper one of the two only cost me 3000~ yen, so I'll be willing to sell it for around that or a little less depending on the condition it turns out to be in.

The real question is who do I sell it to. I'm kinda hoping only one person will show interest as that makes it easier to decide, but I'll have to think of something.
Click to expand...
Considering it's rarity I'm surprised you'd even be selling it for that much, I'd have to know the poster's size and a shipping estimate to consider it and even then I mightn't be able to take it off your hands.
 
I don't know about shipping estimates, the posters I got from eBay were $9 shipping, whilst the ones I got from my proxy were 1800~ yen, but those were from a Taiwanese and Japanese seller, specifically.

They're B2 size, regular size for Japanese promos.

I could possibly sell it for a lot more, for sure. I was expecting to pay a lot more in the first place. But I don't wish to make a huge profit on it, it could well be rare and I want to give you guys a chance to get it for the same amount I did. If I hadn't been there and you'd stumbled across it instead, you'd have it for that price, after all. I might boost it up to around 5000~ or so if both are in near-perfect condition, but I don't want more than that.
 
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