On the 15th of October it was finally time all dutch Miyavi fans had been waiting for, finally after years, 8 years to be precise, of waiting and hoping the Samurai guitarist had made his way back to Amsterdam. Of course we had the chance to see him once twice, once in 2015 and once in 2017 somewhere in Europe but nothing really beats being close to home. With his new album “No sleep til Tokyo” just being out everyone seemed buzzing and curious what he would play this time. Again he sold VIP tickets where you could enter the venue earlier, buy merch in advance and take your picture with Miyavi. A lot of fans bought VIP tickets and the room was already filled half way by the time the people with normal tickets could enter. In no time the room was packed and buzzing with excitement.
VIP Package
As a VIP you’d pay a little extra and be let in earlier to buy merchandise before everyone else, ensuring you get what you want, a lanyard and the chance to have a picture taking with Miyavi and maybe chat a little bit with him before you get to get into the concert area first, ensuring you of a good spot in front. Everyone who went seemed to be really excited about it. Of course I was a little bit jealous but I’m happy people get to meet their idol.
The show
It took about an hour before Miyavi came to the stage, met with crazy screaming and clapping and he blew right into the first song, Miyavi is a great artist, he has a great stage presence. Easily flirting with the crowd and making everyone dance to the songs. It was a lot of fun for me to sit and watch fans in the front absolutely dance and jump their hearts out. In between songs he took time to make conversation with the crowd and not just talking but asking people questions and listen to their answers before replying back again. It gave a really special and intimate feeling between the artists and the fans. He blew from song into song and the dancing didn’t stop. Taking his time to also promote Angelina Jolie’s new movie Maleficent 2 in which he plays the role of Udo and his work with UNHCR as their ambassador, listening to him talk about going to refugee camps and how they affected him really seemed to impact the crowd. He also blew out of his own pants by accident while dancing and people told him. His reply had people laugh “Yes..I know…I couldn’t fix it…but I don’t care because I have a guitar….so you can’t see it” followed by a handsome smirk. After coming back for an encore and ending the last song Miyavi took his time to take a picture with the crowd and take a video with everyone for his Instagram account. When the halls lights went on and No Sleep Till Tokyo again blasted from the speakers Miyavi started dancing and singing loudly with everyone while giving out happy high fives. It was a lot of fun.
The setlist
- Stars
- Flashback
- In Crowd
- Rain Dance
- No Sleep Till Tokyo
- Samurai 45
- Tears On Fire
- Other side
- Guard You
- Neo Visualism
- Wonderful World
- Under The Same Sky
- Ha!
- Strong
- Firebird
- Raise Me Up
- Day 1
- Fragile
- Long Nights
- The Others
- What’s My Name
All in all this show had attracted a lot of people who hadn’t been his fan before and I got to speak to them a little bit in before and in between songs. They had either been told by someone to go or came to see what the thrill was about, or to spy and try and learn his guitarist ways. I specifically asked about their opinions after the show and all these people could really say was “Wow”.
I really hope it won’t take another 8 years for Miyavi to return to The Netherlands or I’ll be sure to join shows elsewhere in Europe, and maybe this time I will buy myself a VIP pass to finally meet my idol. The only thing that really bugged me, everyone was really respectful during the shows and would keep quiet when Miyavi spoke, except for two, really close to me. Whenever Miyavi would start talking they would find it an appropriate time to start talking to each other. Especially since they were really close to me and it ended up in me barely understanding what Miyavi was talking about while he was talking about his work as a UNHCR Ambassador.
If you want to support Miyavi and spread his love, think about donating to UNHCR
HP: http://myv382tokyo.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MIYAVI.OFFlCIAL/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/miyavi_official
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/myv382tokyo
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/miyavi_ishihara/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7sBtBCNVRujQhaHDODkfTN
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/miyavi/76063095
Also don’t forget to go see the Disney movie Maleficent 2 in the movie theatres!
