Japan Tour (October 29 - November 1, 2024)

Talks and reviews about Libera concerts or public appearances

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Mercurial909
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Re: Japan Tour (October 29 - November 1, 2024)

Post by Mercurial909 »

And a few more concert pics including this special one of Master Nathan…
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Mercurial909
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Re: Japan Tour (October 29 - November 1, 2024)

Post by Mercurial909 »

And that’s a wrap, folks!, Same time next year (hopefully)? 🤍🌟

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Is Cory looking at Mount Fuji??

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Surpinto
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Re: Japan Tour (October 29 - November 1, 2024)

Post by Surpinto »

Mercurial909 wrote: <span title="Sat Nov 02, 2024 11:01 am">1 month ago</span> And that’s a wrap, folks!, Same time next year (hopefully)? 🤍🌟
Thanks for sharing all the pictures! We can see why they love visiting Japan so much.
Mercurial909
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Re: Japan Tour (October 29 - November 1, 2024)

Post by Mercurial909 »

There will likely be quite a few more images from the Japan 2024 Tour up until the release of the Dream album. But I may post any subsequent images on the videos and photos board.


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Luckdragon
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Re: Japan Tour (October 29 - November 1, 2024)

Post by Luckdragon »

I'd like to express my deep appreciation to Libera and the LD members who went to Japan for the great tour coverage. Thank you!
Cat-a-tonic
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Re: Japan Tour (October 29 - November 1, 2024)

Post by Cat-a-tonic »

Luckdragon wrote: <span title="Sun Nov 03, 2024 12:06 am">1 month ago</span> I'd like to express my deep appreciation to Libera and the LD members who went to Japan for the great tour coverage. Thank you!
Completely agree. Thank you everyone - it's the next best thing to being there.

It seems like the tour was a success and it's great to see new and younger boys coming through and getting speeches and solos. From reviews I think I counted 18 boys with solos pretty much two thirds of the group which is incredible.
Mercurial909
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Re: Japan Tour (October 29 - November 1, 2024)

Post by Mercurial909 »

Sayonara…


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Mercurial909
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Re: Japan Tour (October 29 - November 1, 2024)

Post by Mercurial909 »

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Luckdragon
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Re: Japan Tour (October 29 - November 1, 2024)

Post by Luckdragon »

Mercurial909 wrote: <span title="Sun Nov 03, 2024 4:25 pm">1 month ago</span> ...
Hey Merc,
Thanks for posting.
It looks like you might not be seeing the photos in in the threads below each post. Be sure to check!
Lavendel
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Re: Japan Tour (October 29 - November 1, 2024)

Post by Lavendel »

As announced, hereby the second part of my review.
Thank you for giving me a place to ramble about my experiences ;).
And for posting tour updates and photos; it is much easier to follow along with everything that happens this way :).

Speeches
I enjoyed the speeches and they really added to the concert, but I don’t remember them in detail. Here some of my highlights:
  • They said that this time none of the boys speak Japanese, however that Liam does speak some Japanese. Then Liam turned to the audience and said some sentences that sounded impressive to me; the audience laughed, so he must have made a joke.
  • During the speeches there were (I assume) Japanse sub-titles above the stage.
  • They said Libera combines old and new, innovation and tradition, just like in Japan.
  • Federico and Nathan, in relation to the Dream album, told the audience about their dreams, which I thought was beautiful. I won’t spoil them in case they tell them in the December concert as well.
  • I was great that they brought back the Libera demo. Lost count on how many layers there were each time though. I think they showed hands for who was in which high-to-low group first, which went super fast so I only saw some hands, plus for some reason I thought they had seven or eight groups the first night and only five or six the second. That got me extra confused listening to the Libera demo which followed. Anyway, I got the general idea, and it sounded great. (I’ll loop the video with the demo when at home, with good speakers, and see it if I can finally understand it :D.)
  • When talking about the young and “old” members, Victor W and Tadhg F were also mentioned and the two then waived at the audience from the edge of the stage.
Signing
I went to one signing session, because I wanted to experience it for myself instead of via videos of other fans, but actually I was a bit nervous about saying the right things.
You could only go to the signing session by getting a ticket through buying merchandise. So after the concert I held the ticket in my hand and left the concert hall expecting to add myself to some waiting line. However, there was no clear line, so I was confused. Upon showing the ticket to a venue employee, she used a translator to tell me “please go back to your seat and wait”. Ah… right, left too efficiently :D, there were indeed people that had not left their seats yet.
Walking to the signing happened in order of seats so being quite at the front, I didn’t have to wait long.
In a different part of the building, three rows of tables were setup. Again, people were managed very efficiently and I just took the row where an employee directed me at. I totally forgot to make any photos or videos. I did try to interact with the boys at least a little bit.
The nervousness had not been necessary. The boys were very confident in saying things themselves (thank you for coming etc.) and very efficient in signing. Luckily my row didn’t go too fast to ask a quick question here and there and also here came very confident and genuine responses. Veni Sancte was often mentioned as favourite song of the evening :) (which I understand well).
So it was fun to be able to speak with the boys and I enjoy the colourful squiggles in my CD booklet.
However, still feeling a bit shy, the next evening I was also happy with my decision to go straight back to my hotel.

Libera merchandise
This part is me rambling about buying Libera CDs… you are warned ;).
► Show Spoiler
Met some other fans
To my pleasure I talked with some other fans, of which at least some are forum members. During the merchandise sale I was a bit too focussed on buying the right stuff and getting it back to the hotel safely (and without getting rain on it), so I’ve only spoken briefly with everyone there. But I enjoyed it very much to share our enthusiasm for Libera for a bit.
Mercurial909
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Re: Japan Tour (October 29 - November 1, 2024)

Post by Mercurial909 »

Universal Studios Japan (USJ).

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Surpinto
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Re: Japan Tour (October 29 - November 1, 2024)

Post by Surpinto »

Lavendel wrote: <span title="Mon Nov 04, 2024 11:54 am">1 month ago</span> As announced, hereby the second part of my review.
Thank you for giving me a place to ramble about my experiences ;).
And for posting tour updates and photos; it is much easier to follow along with everything that happens this way :).
Thanks for sharing your tale of adventure and music. :D It sounds like despite your nervousness everything turned out okay as the concert was a success, and you now have plenty of souvenirs by which to remember a fantastic and unique experience.

If anything else comes to mind when you're recalling your trip please share it here as we love reading about the ways other fans experience these concerts - particularly concerts in places like Japan to which many members of this forum have never traveled!
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fan_de_LoK
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Re: Japan Tour (October 29 - November 1, 2024)

Post by fan_de_LoK »

It may seem dull or pointelss but I’d like to revisit here some movements on 4 songs that impressed me at the concerts in Japan.
Skip reading this, should you want to avoid any spoil for the coming concert in 10 days ;)

For sure there was clearly a lot of originality, novelty, and attention to details in enhancing the movements on stage for the Japan tour.


Let’s start with Happy Christmas.
The choir was arranged in two concentric arcs, with no one positioned at the centre at the beginning.
After the introduction, Frederick H and Caleb moved forward from the inner arc, with Frederick standing to the centre left and Caleb on the centre right, where they sang the first and second verses.

What was remarkable was not just that they started their walk simultaneously, but mainly the way they moved.
Their steps were slow and perfectly aligned with the song's tempo. It wasn’t just walking. Il felt as though their movements were an integral part of the performance, complementing the rhythm. The flow was smooth and graceful.
After singing their verses, they returned to their positions in the arc by walking backwards, once again matching their steps to the song’s tempo.

The attention to detail in the movements was impressive. At the second Tokyo concert, I noticed another change in the positioning of the inner arc for this song. Cameron, who was usually in the outer arc for other songs, joined the inner arc. This adjustment allowed him to step forward directly with Hal for the third and fourth verses without having to cross through the inner arc, ensuring their walking distances matched. Once again, their steps followed and accompanied the song’s tempo.

Finally, for the fifth and sixth verses, sung by Frederick H and Ben, Frederick moved this time to the centre right, while Ben moved to the left, avoiding them crossing paths. And, of course, their steps remained in sync with the song's rhythm.

It might seem trivial to describe the walking here, but believe me, once seen on stage, it was truly captivating.
It enhances and contributes to the song's sense of softness and harmony.


In Sea Bird, the performers formed a beautiful formation behind the soloist, Joseph.
The others aligned themselves into four vertical columns, which gradually spread apart while keeping Joseph as the focal point.
By the end, they created the two large wings of a white bird, with Joseph at the head.
This lovely choreography had already been seen earlier this summer and at Ely.


In Veni Sancte Spiritu, something entirely new: the boys sang while constantly moving in what appeared to be chaotic or random patterns. However, when observed individually, it became clear that each had a specific and deliberate movement. Some created circles while keeping their gaze on the audience, while others moved in straight lines.
At key moments in the song, everyone suddenly stopped in perfect unison.
Once or twice during the performance, they all aligned into two rows facing the audience. Here, there was a particularly unique move I had never seen Libera perform before: in an instant, the back row moved forward, and the front row shifted back in a seamless exchange.
Those in the back stepped forward to weave between those in the front, who turned sideways and stepped back.
The result was a complete inversion of the two rows in a single fluid snap.
Towards the end, after all the constant movement throughout the song that had seemed random, everyone ended in the exact positions required to start the song next.


On Once, there were numerous movements throughout the song, but two stood out to me.
At one point, the boys were scattered across the stage in what seemed like a random arrangement, but each was facing a specific direction: those on the left side of the stage looked to the left, while those on the right looked to the right. Then they began walking slowly backwards toward the opposite side of the stage.
Surprisingly, the two groups, left and right, managed to cross paths without colliding (or almost), despite moving blindly in reverse.
By the end of this sequence, those who had started on the right ended up on the left side of the stage, and vice versa. Since they hadn’t changed the direction they were facing, they all ended up looking toward the centre of the stage, essentially facing each other.

During the third concert, I noticed something that I wanted to confirm at the Christmas concert: as the song ended, everyone seemed to finish the final note while stopping in exactly the same spot they had been in at the beginning of the song.
This might sound simple, but after all the constant, seemingly random movements throughout the song, the fact that each boy managed to return to his precise position, perfectly timed with the final note, showed their remarkable preparation and rehearsal :)
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Surpinto
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Re: Japan Tour (October 29 - November 1, 2024)

Post by Surpinto »

Interesting that they have decided to make their choreography that much more elaborate! You obviously posted about this before in the direct aftermath of the tour in Japan, but these new songs seem especially challenging in terms of the movements the boys have to make on stage. I'm especially intrigued by Veni with the backward movement and lack of collision :shock: , that's not easy and the amount of practice that it must have entailed would have to be enormous. I wonder what compels Sam to spend so much time on choreography, and whether this in any way takes away from the actual rehearsal of the music for them. I don't ask this question as some kind of criticism, but I feel like there is a limited amount of time for rehearsing any choir and elaborate choreography would have to take especially long to rehearse properly.

Whatever their internal logistics, they clearly continue to evolve and change under the new leadership model under Sam....and in a good way! We are seeing just the opening curtain of the changes that are yet to come under the leadership of the current director and his various helpers.

I hope I can see these songs for myself which is possible if they travel to the US in the next few years.
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Padmachou
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Re: Japan Tour (October 29 - November 1, 2024)

Post by Padmachou »

That is super interesting... I hope they will do the same choregraphies in London, though the stage might be smaller and more packed since Christmas concerts are usually full with older boys and young ones.
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