The co-ed dance and vocal group “lol” finished their nationwide tour “lol live tour 2022 -laugh out loud-“ in Otemachi Mitsui Hall Tokyo, on May 28th. It has been approximately two and a half years since the group has been on tour. This tour began in DIAMOND HALL, Aichi Prefecture, on April 29th. After touring Osaka, Fukuoka and so on, the finale was held in Tokyo. Holding two concerts per day, their new single “Baby tonight,” released the same day, was performed for the first time. At the concert, when they announced their 7th anniversary event would take place in August and a new album was planned for the fall, the audience were overjoyed. ENCOUNT reported on the 1st concert of the day, which included the performance of 14 songs in total. (interviewer/writer: Ayano Nishimura)

The concert hall was filled with excitement even before the curtain rose. As soon as they could see the five figures, the audience greeted them with applause.

Their opening number was “blaze” with the stage dyed in deep red “blaaw” heated things even more. In the intense dance number “spank!!,” when the members called out “spank you up!” and “hey!”, the audience responded by raising their fists.

During the first talk time, the members reflected on the seven cities they visited during the tour. And hibiki called out “Just from the three song we just performed, I feel that Tokyo is the best at communication. Let‘s keep it up until the end!”

In the three-song medley of “#love_xxx,” “party up!!,” and “perfect summer,” hibiki called out “Will you spend this summer with lol?” to which the audience responded by waving their glow sticks. Due to Covid-19, the audience could not make any noise. However, when the members saw the fans waving signboards with their names written on them, they smiled in appreciation.

The lyrics to “my bestie” reflect honoka and hibiki’s feelings toward each other. The interaction and dance in this number were fascinating. At the end of the song, the two of them spread their arms and created a big heart together.

Exchanging places with honoka and hibiki, Yusuke Sato and Naoto Komiyama jumped onto the stage and sang “luv me” in their soothing voices. Usually sung by five members, on this day as a special performance, moca joined them afterwards. The crowd was astonished with her beautiful falsetto.

The members, who also perform as actors, actresses, models, etc., conveyed their bittersweet feelings through songs like the journey song “ONE LAST SONG” and “アイタイキモチ,” whose theme is long distance relationships. When they performed their new single “Baby tonight,” which is about the inability to forget after a breakup, there were tears flowing from the female members in the audience.

In the second talk time, honoka announced “After the medley, we just flew through the songs. From here, we’re going to take it nice and easy.” Hearing this, the audience sat down. Sato and Komiyama also sat down on the stage with their knees bent in front of them, making the audience laugh. When Sato asked the audience for their reaction to the lyrics he wrote for “Baby tonight”, they responded with a large round of applause.

Komiyama began a lecture about the dance in the chorus of “pump it up,” the next song. As he asked the audience “After the chorus, I am going to do an improvised dance so copy me, the disco ball above him began to beam lights. Sato called out “From here on forward, we are going to seriously pump up this concert to the max!” In response, the audience began to dance with the members. “Don’t be embarrassed!” Swayed by Komiyama’s voice, a big dance wave spread among the audience.

“pull the trigger now!” With Sato’s shout, “trigger” began. This immensely popular dance number had the same force as a gunshot, with the audience forming a gun with both hands as they danced.

A shift from the red and black based costumes. Reappearing on stage for the encore in matching tour T-shirts, they sang the first song the five members co-wrote together “愛おしい時間,” etc., for a total of three encore songs. The warm lighting evoked a sunset which overlapped with the thought “this precious time is my cherished treasure.”

And there were a series of announcements which thrilled the fans. In addition to the 7th anniversary event being held in August, there was an announcement a new album would be released in the fall. Also, it was reported that Komiyama “will be performing in the play ‘アンビエントボーダー’ at the end of July. ” Sato, who stars in the MBS drama “Mr. Unlucky Has No Choice But To Kiss,” said “I’m playing the role of Naoya Shinomiya and co-starring (with Ryosuke Sota). This drama portrays boys love in a pop style. Please watch it via a streaming service,” he said as each member talked about their own activities.

After they have finished all 14 songs, the member stood in a row to say a few words. Sato said “I remembered how good it felt to perform in front of a live audience. Though the audience wasn’t allowed to make any noise, your ‘I’m having fun’ signals via your glow sticks made me happy. (Due to Covid) we couldn’t perform for these two years, but we consider this to be our new start and we will do our best,” he pledged emotionally.

【翻訳：OCiETe】