Yuki Kajiura (Studio) Live Vol. 1 Reprise (September 18)

I think it's about Yuriko and Joelle just not sounding as energetic as her in the more upbeat songs.
Well, they're not on stage in front of a live audience so less energy is to be expected. Though I wouldn't really call Wakana an energetic singer hue.
I also thing Yuriko and Joelle are blending better in both songs than Yuriko and Wakana. Wakana tends to stand out instead of blend in.
 
Hard disagree here, actually. For me, Mezame (including Himeboshi) and Salva Nos were the only songs where I was left missing Wakana. I think it's about Yuriko and Joelle just not sounding as energetic as her in the more upbeat songs.

On the other hand, Wakana's got nothing on Joelle when it comes to the English songs and I feel like Liminality should've always been given to Yuriko.

Also, thanks for the translation! I figured the MC had something to do with the distinctive coreography of Zodiacal Sign but didn't get much more than that.
Agree with your disagreement, Mezame without WAKANA doesn't sound as despairing....
 
Well, they're not on stage in front of a live audience so less energy is to be expected. Though I wouldn't really call Wakana an energetic singer hue.
I also thing Yuriko and Joelle are blending better in both songs than Yuriko and Wakana. Wakana tends to stand out instead of blend in.

I kinda think that the Wakana tends to stand out is more of audio mixing thing. In live vol.4 the audio heavily favored Wakana while in vol.2 it was more balanced and I even think that Yuriko's voice is mixed in louder than Wakana's.

Gonna get a crap out of this but I really don't like how "whiny" Joelle sounded in vanity. Made the song felt more like a whiny woman complaining about her spouse rather than the despair the og with Emily or the live vol.2 with Wakana. Not a biggest fan of how the audio was processed in some songs - like in canta per me Yuriko sounded like she's singing in a bathroom. Overall a nice live but I'm glad i didn't spend my money on it.
 
Liminality is perfect! ! ah Yuriko yes absolutely kills.

the violin overall... sometimes I feel Konno wasn't sure of the notes he was playing... i don't think it is a question of style.

canta per me sounds nice to me? :)

Joelle is nice and all but kudos to Yuriko, just great all throughout. Joelle is just different (such great spot on singing I thought) , and Wakana can no longer add those despairing sounds so :(

overall what a great live, setlist suffers from originality but it's reprise so expected.

why is everyone sulking ? ? ? Keiko put so much make-up but still looked so tired :( Same goes for Konno and Kajiura..
 
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Actually what suffers from originallity are the lives that followed the first one 😋

And I can only comPLETEly agree with the agreement to this disagreement!

But wasnt mezame originally by Hanae Tomaru ? (In the ost). Lets see how it sounds the next time she guests
 
IMHO:

Joelle was great. The hardest one for me to get used to with her voice was "key of the twilight" and TBH I'm still not sure if I'm on board with her voice in that one. "the world" took two listens, everything else I was fine with from the start. The instrumental on "key of the twilight" was very lovely.
One thing which Joelle did that I hated (well, there likely was more but I forgot by now so not as big of a deal I guess) was in the first lalala-s of "in the land of twilight, under the moon", right before everyone jumped in. That was an instant "no ma'am" from me.

I thought Himeboshi/Mezame were great except for that last line from Yuriko in the intro to Mezame. That whine-screech was a CHOICE.

Obviously I'm disappointed this was not a real, unedited live stream rather than this pre-recorded, fully-edited&ready-4-release programme but what can we do. Other than that, yea, fingers crossed for a home video release - it would be great to have this in CDquality+ considering there's no audience noise.
 
why is everyone sulking ? ? ? Keiko put so much make-up but still looked so tired :( Same goes for Konno and Kajiura..
Keiko didn't put make up on. Or if she did, it's very very light - she explained in one of her recent interviews that she no longer wears foundation because her skin is just that good with her new routine (and I believe her - I need to get all her secrets to her skin care routine). I don't think any of them look tired, it's likely just that they've become older, which you can't exactly stop. But also, no audience too so yeah it's not energetic really.

About Joelle, if you love Emily, then Joelle sounds damn close in the English songs. And I don't exactly love Emily's voice, so...

I do love Joelle's head voice though. Don't get me wrong, Yuriko's is great, but her voice is still quite light. Joelle's is much thicker and fuller, so she can sub in for the soundtrack vocalists much better. I really loved godsibb and a song of storm and fire here, much more than vol 2's live (because no Eri, ha). The vocal distribution did skew very heavily towards her this live though. Perhaps next time we could get some more Keiko songs.
 
OMG. I just watched it yesterday. I want my own Konno box. lol I think my heart stopped during his part in Key of the Twilight. I watched it again today. Ugh. Can someone please do the MP3s? Was it me or was Joelle a bit loud at times? Like in I talk to the rain. Godsibb too I thought she was a bit loud. Other than that she was great. I wish Yuki would just hurry up and write for her. She could do an English song too! Kaori was cute when she started dancing and playing with the headphone cord. lol I loved Mezame and even Salva Nos, even though they do this a ton now. canta per me was good too. I loved how they had the setup to keep everyone safe. I am glad I didn't watch it when it was on though because it would have been at 5 in the morning here, and Yuki likes to talk a LOT, and I would have fallen asleep. heh Overall 10/10.
 
I just happened to stumble upon those 4 uploads onto Youtube and O.M.G. Joelle is absolutely the lead vocalist that FictionJunction and the Yuki Lives were missing all these years. She absolutely SLAYED those songs. She has the strong, full-bodied, yet flexible, and emotion-filled voice I never got from Wakana. I'm so glad there are tons of Wakana fans, and please no disrespect to you all, but I just never could understand what was considered so magical about her, and hearing Joelle take the lead in all these old songs has breathed fresh life into all of them, and has made me re-obsessed with them all over again. I'm excited to hear the rest of them, and hope to God they get released this year (if at all)

Also I noticed this isn't listed on the Live Events on the main page hmmm
 
Does anyone else ever notice how in every live version of in the land of twilight under the moon, at "as the end will come so soon," the word "soon" has always been a slightly lower note than it was on the original .hack//SIGN recording? In my opinion it the lower note sort of ruins the melody and bothers me everytime I hear it. does anyone else feel the same? maybe it was Emily Bindiger's mistake hitting a slightly higher note or sharp note than what Yuki composed, or maybe in the .hack//SIGN recording, the harmony note took prominence when they mixed it, I'm not sure
 
I think I'm losing my mind. I... don't know what's supposed to be wrong in the "soon" vocals...
Maybe it's the different key and FBM that's throwing it off?

It's likely I'm just 2dum to hear it tho. v( '')v
 
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Does anyone else ever notice how in every live version of in the land of twilight under the moon, at "as the end will come so soon," the word "soon" has always been a slightly lower note than it was on the original .hack//SIGN recording? In my opinion it the lower note sort of ruins the melody and bothers me everytime I hear it. does anyone else feel the same? maybe it was Emily Bindiger's mistake hitting a slightly higher note or sharp note than what Yuki composed, or maybe in the .hack//SIGN recording, the harmony note took prominence when they mixed it, I'm not sure

I relistened to volume 2 and 11’s performances, and I kind of agree with you. I’ve always found the chorus to be pretty weird in live performances but never exactly knew why. I think it’s a bit of a mixing/pronunciation problem honestly. Emily’s multi-harmonies in the chorus lead to a higher and lower take at the same time, but for live performances Yuriko and Wakana/Joelle take the lead and a lot of the lower chorus section disappears. I also think Emily’s emphasis is much smoother in the chorus, while the emphasis in live performances is far more jarring, particularly with the word ‘moon’. Eh, I dunno, I know close to nothing about music technically.
 
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