Billboard LIVE Meets NieR Music

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This past weekend, May 11-12, was the Billboard LIVE Meets NieR Music concert in Tokyo, featuring music from NieR Gestalt/Replicant and NieR:Automata.

I was sitting at the half-circle seat on the bottom right.

Since I’ve gotten into the bad habit of arriving late to events, I made it a point to arrive early enough to scope out the area and to even have dinner beforehand. I took the above photos first while the afternoon show as still going on, so there wasn’t anyone lined up for the evening show yet. After that, I went down to get something quick to eat… and on the way out, I randomly ran into Hoashi Keigo. I said hello, to which he replied, “Ah, Rekka-san!” (It’s somewhat embarrassing how everyone knows me by now… haha) I asked if he was going to the evening show, which he said he was, and I mentioned that I would would be there as well! I told him to enjoy the show and then went on my way to get in line.

When I went to scope out the venue earlier, I asked the staff what I should do since I had a non-reserved ticket, and they gave me a number to use on entry. Unfortunately, the other staff seemed to ignore me until all the other people with reserved tickets had already entered (I asked multiple times, and was always told to wait by the wall), and once almost everyone had entered, no one seemed like they were going to help me, so I asked another lady… which then lead me past many other people (maybe I should have been seated before them…? I honestly don’t know!) But at any rate, I was led down to the 1st floor and given the choice to sit either on the left or right side of the stage, to which I choose the left. It was in somewhat of a cave by the wall, but I still had a decent view of the stage.

As for the actual concert, Emi’s vocal performance was one of the best I have ever heard. It’s so easy to get emotional when you hear her sing, but since it’s only been two weeks since our Tsuki Oke NieR:Automata concert, I think maybe the NieR:Automata music was still very raw in my mind. This concert –from beginning to end– was nothing but complete perfection. I also really enjoyed the dinner / live atmosphere of the Billboard LIVE venue as well, which automatically gave a NieR concert a very unique aesthetic that it’s never had before. If there were annual concerts like this, I would be happy to attend every time.

Guitarist Ishinari Masato provided the arrangements of these themes, which seemed to have a very progressive jazz sort of feel to them. I especially enjoyed his arrangement of “A Beautiful Song” which was an amazing rock piece with the additions of the electric guitar and bass. Many pieces also included the sax or flute performed by Suzuki Kei.

Band Members:

As a slight side note, Otsuki-san also performed the drums/percussion for the Shadow Hearts 1 Ending Theme of the same title. I just watching a video of the ending and thought his name sounded familiar… and lo and behold! Really cool!! He also performed on the following tracks on the SH1 soundtrack:

  • ICARO 精霊の歌
  • Wind Which Blows From The Dark/1
  • Sign of him (The creation of god)
  • Shadow Hearts

The majority of the descriptions below are very basic notes that I took during the show. When I list certain instruments, it doesn’t necessarily mean that there weren’t others included in the piece; it’s merely meant to indicate certain impressions. Also, my memory could be faulty in places.

Set List: Sunday, May 12, 7:30pm

  • M01 – Song of the Ancients – one verse
  • M02 – Peaceful Sleep – sax, acoustic guitar, piano jams
  • M03 – Vague Hope – sax
  • MC – Okabe – Band Introductions and Commentary: He mentioned that the NieR 10th Anniversary is coming soon, so everyone on the team discussed doing a smaller the possibility of putting on a smaller scaled concert.
  • M04 – Ashes of Dreams – sax, guitar, piano solo
  • M05 – City Ruins – weird sound, sax main melody
  • M06 – Voice of No Return – acoustic guitar – At the end of this song, Emil walked off stage down the path by my seat.
  • M07 – A Beautiful Song – This was purely an instrumental piece, arranged to be performed entirely in a ROCK style. It was amazing!!
  • M08 – The Tower – This piece started off slowly but gradually fell into chaos as each instrument seemed to flood the stage with their own unique melody.
  • M09 – Grandma – Okabe was visibly nodding his head to the beat.
  • M10 – Amusement Park – Overall jazz feeling; the drums and flute were awesome!
  • M11 – Emil – Emi slowly walked down the stairs from above.
  • M12 – Wretched Automatons – Jazz
  • MC
  • M13 – Kaine – Scattered light like petals lit on the stage backdrop curtain.
  • MC – Okabe – “These guys are awesome, aren’t they? Yabai! The 10th Anniversary is coming soon, so if you want them to do something special for the anniversary, let’s be sure to tell Yoko-sensei, who is here in the audience tonight! Tell him, ‘Yoko-sensei, onegai!!‘ Ready, go!” YOKO-SENSEI, ONEGAI!!! Yoko-sensei was sitting in the center on the 2nd floor, and I could see him raise both hands as he replied, “HAAAAIIII!!!!” So, we need to remember that both he and Saito-san (who apparently said basically the same thing during the afternoon show) agreed to do something special for the 10th Anniversary. I know this is pretty much a given at this point, especially since NieR:Automata has officially surpassed 4 million copies sold, but…
  • EN1 – Weight of the World (Nouveau-FR Version) – The backdrop curtains opened to reveal the gorgeous city night scape.

After the show, I met up with two other girls from our Tsuki Oke choir for food and drinks. Overall, it was a really great night! I’m really hoping they made recordings of this show and release a “Jazz” album at some point in the future!

And here are some official tweets and images!

  • Note that the set list shown in the photo above was different from the final show that I went to. I was taking notes during the whole thing, so I can say 100% that the order was switched up; likely to differentiate between afternoon and evening shows.

EDIT: May 22, 2019

Famitsu just posted their review of the event, including many amazing photos during the show. Feel free to take a look here!