PASSPO☆ フライト 2015

How many red cows had to die for those dresses??

This concert was the culmination of a the celebrations for PASSPO☆'s 5th anniversary and Pink's graduation. Being New Year's Day, they decided to make this a massive event and reportedly the concert went for more than 6 hours.

6 hours!

They kicked off without the "Ground Crew" but with some pretty cute blue and red outfits. I tried to understand as much as I could during the introductions, but best I could work out is White loves playing video games, Aqua wants to rock and Yellow just shouts at everyone.

In ViVi夏！Red doesn't even try to sing her parts - she just yells at the crowd. I guess it worked for Yellow before? Now they're all holding mics instead of using headsets, Aqua seems to have tamed things down a bit. But then again, I'd pace myself as well if I had to sing and dance for SIX HOURS!

I just noticed their stage is painted like a runway leading to the drum-kit. That's very cool.

They pull out some huge medley of old songs with newer sounding backing tracks. For example, 無敵GIRL sounds way more rockin' than the original version and it makes it infinitely better. Can we replace the one on TAKE☆OFF with that? Then they slip in Go On A Highway and I'm somewhat disappointed because I would have loved to have heard this with the full band. Then they do a mashup of ハレルヤ and 晴れるよ because they're names are so similar, I guess. It kinda works.

Holy shit, they're even doing ハカナ! That song is so my jam right now, and it's about here I realise they are basically going to do their entire discography (I believe they did but not all of it made the cut for the DVD. Because SIX HOURS).

Now they're doing some sort of split - there's only 4 girls out to sing Starting Over. I'm confused as to why they didn't make this a はっちゃけ隊 part, but I just read that part of the six hours was having them open. Which would have been great fun. But wow. Anyway the other 4 come out to do Turn Around, but then I realise Yellow-Green is still out there. Gosh, what an attention seeker! Aqua and Pink team up on 夢パスポート because they are the smallest and therefore must be the cutest? They're just doing their own thing and having a lot of laughs. Fair enough. Everyone comes back out for 君色のサンバ and Pink really doesn't seem to know what she's doing. Purple is actually a very talented dancer, but instead thinks this song needs her doing the Egyptian. I approve.

I made a note here about Orange, but I can't understand what I was trying to say; the problem with drinking and trying to type while looking elsewhere. I expect more of these mysteries.

Now it's time for Band PASSPO☆！
I didn't expect it so early in the show, but then again I have no idea how long this has already been going for the crowd. I guess if you have the girls play before the Ground Crew, it won't make them look so bad? Turns out Yellow-Green was much better on guitar than Red and Blue - the band actually sound decent here! Blue even rocks the Xylophone for Shiny Road, which was quite the highlight.

Now it's time for the Ground Crew! Fuck yeah!
They are the biggest mish-mash of styles; you have 2 guitarists and a drummer that look like they've come direct from an 80's hair-metal band, a bassist that is punk AF, and then another guitarist dressed as an airline pilot!

The girls decide they finally need to change costumes into the Tracks outfits and what I thought were capes, but it turns out they were just angel wings. Should have been capes. The Ground Crew have added a massive surge of energy and everyone is just going hard now. This may well be the best version of WANTED!! I've ever heard. And before launching into ダムダムフリーダム, Pink and Aqua have a cuteness battle while the Pilot guitarist shreds up a storm.

Some dude is out to play ukulele for 妄想のハワイ and they make quite the big deal about it. I would have done it and required much less fanfare! But I also don't have a sexy white SG like him. Or can play like him...

During 無題 Purple has a total breakdown during her solo part. I can't quite tell if it's an emotional moment or she was just bummed about her singing... she redeems herself in BEAST IN YOU, which also involved live strings and is fucking badass. They're also used in Wish on a Star, which makes for a very interesting sound. Though the end was a bit of a let down. And then they pull out バスタブ complete with bubbles floating around the stage.

Aqua picks up the bass to do 向日葵 - apparently the bass was left to her by the Ground Crew's former bassist, who passed away the year before. Hence this was a very emotional performance of an already awesome song. Then we rock STEP&GO and I always enjoy the hilarity of when this song just breaks into madness; Purple and Orange decide to have a lie down on the side of stage while the others trying to dance. マテリアルGirl has similar craziness.

Pink gives a very tearful speech regarding her graduation. I was actually getting used to her being in the band! But we must bid her farewell with Tracks to end the main concert.

Encore time, and Yellow dedicates Dear My Friends to Pink, before we get Growing Up (very fitting) which makes me realise how much Pink sang in this - and her parts are cool - and then finally end the night with the first PASSPO☆ single - Let It Go!!

Dang, I was trying not to write a huge recap but I did anyway! Not hard to do when you're watching a SIX HOUR CONCERT. Sure, my version was only 4 hours, but still. Six hours, yo!

I wish I had been there.

Highlights:
The medley of older songs that had been re-recorded, 向日葵, Band PASSPO☆ being better than I expected.

Lowlights:
Not having the whole six hour show on DVD.

5 / 7 Glowsticks

JEJEJEJET!! First-Class Bonus Disc

Does the black background mean this is "Evil" PASSPO☆?

Time to hit the bonus DVD that came with JEJEJEJET!!.
First up is a "Growing Up" documentary; this involves each of the girls going to a place that means something to the beginnings of PASSPO☆ and discussing what they were doing 3 years ago. White walks around Akihabara, Orange and Aqua go to the live houses they used to frequent, Purple went to their rehearsal room, Blue harasses some white cats, Red went to the park and found the tree they would sing under, and Yellow goes to the record company office because she's a fucking rockstar. Then they each call someone important to them and that has supported the group and say thanks. It's pretty touching.

Then we get a live performance. And one that isn't a totally ridiculous waste of time!
They open with WING and it rocks. Then we get ViVi夏 and it's a barrel of fun. This reminded me that Aqua is a little goddam firecracker and always seems to be having the funnest of times on stage. She brings the most infectious energy with the way she leaps about and gives it her everything. This continues in STEP&GO where she leads everyone from one side of the stage and back to the other, while waving her arms in the air. Aqua in the centre is always a win.

Now we get two of my least favourite PASSPO☆ songs - LA LA LOVE TRAIN〜恋の片道切符〜 and 夏空HANABI. But luckily these are followed with the live fun spectacular that is マテリアルGirl. Aqua is so great at working the crowd. And finally, we end the party with WANTED!! which features Yellow and White singing really tough vocals. Obviously, this live was a longer than is presented on the DVD, because by this point their voices are pretty much shot. BUT it totally works for their solo parts because it gives their vocals a rougher edge. I dig.

I just don't dig that it's over.

Highlights:
Aqua reminding me that she is as awesome as she is small

Lowlights:
I could do with the whole concert, thanks

5 / 7 Glowsticks

CHECK-IN

"Fembot Airlines now welcomes passengers boarding at Gate 10"

PASSPO☆'s 2nd album - and their "major label debut".
Which means better production, better outfits and every album from here on gets an introduction piece! For CHECK-IN, we kick-off with Boarding; a quick bit of nothingness where White introduces us to our flight on PASSPO☆ airlines and I wish I could understand more Japanese so I knew what she was saying. But that's par for the course with LOGMAN and PASSPO☆.

We get things going proper with PASSPO☆'s biggest hit, 少女飛行. I can understand why it was hit, but then I also think PASSPO☆ have many better songs. Like the next one - キス=スキ. Why didn't you love this one more, Japan? And everything else PASSPO☆ released? Then they wouldn't have disbanded and I would be going to see them live instead of doing this marathon!

Hello is kind of just about at that point of being a typical dancey-idolish song, but without being terrible and is more just fun. Street Fighter is where I'm starting to hear their individual voices a bit more. Like, I can totally pick some solo parts from White and Yellow. They're the only ones, but it's a start! Turn Around is kinda more of the same. This is the downside of a major label debut; they want more commercial stuff, so you get a few filler songs. And less pop-punk awesome. Luckily, the next song is マテリアル Girl - not a cover of the Madonna classic - and we're back to rockin' the party. And I'm back to sulking that I never got to see Band PASSPO☆ rock this out live.

ウハエ！is still pretty rockin'. I can imagine this would have all the idol otaku doing all sorts of chants. I'll never understand that. Probably because I don't know the chants so feel left out. After a bit more of the usual with Starting Over, we move back closer to the 'idol' sound with ViVi夏！except this song is actually great - an excellent example of how you blend idol pop with pop punk. So is じゃあね… , but ハカナ takes it up another notch. I actually forget about this song, which is crazy because it's one of the best on the album. PASSPO☆ are at their best when their hitting the power-pop-punk styles, and if you wanna throw in a cool dance beat to really lift the mood, then I won't stop you. So long as it turns out like this.

ROCK DA WEEK is still pretty rockin', before we slow things down a bit with See You Again. The main guitar melody line in this song is killer. And then 晴れるよ sends us home with good vibes.

I felt like I didn't have a lot to say. This is actually my least listened to PASSPO☆ album, which is really bizarre because there aren't any bad songs. It just all feels kinda... safe. The ones that are great, I tend to forget about. I need to remember this album exists more often, because while it's not a pop-punk masterpiece like their later works, overall it's pretty consistent and a great upbeat listen.

Highlights:
少女飛行, キス=スキ, マテリアル Girl, ハカナ

Lowlights:
None

4.5 / 7 Glowsticks