That’s right, I went to B’z LIVE-GYM 2022 -Highway X-. It’s been 4 years since the last LIVE GYM HINOTORI in Okinawa before Corona, and the long-awaited B’z finally stepped onto the Okinawan soil. What’s more, the main theme of this LIVE-GYM Highway X, the Highway X album, is still unreleased! The songs being played were all new to most B’z fans! This is the first time such a LIVE has been held.
Moreover, the venue for this live was the Okinawa Arena. This is a new entertainment facility in Okinawa that opened during the Corona disaster. Located along the highway, I had seen it from the construction and wanted to visit the venue as soon as possible, but I had to wait quite a long time at Corona.
This is the front of the Okinawa Arena, where the announcement for B’z LIVE-GYM 2022 -Highway X- shines brightly on the electric bulletin board. The joy and fun of the live concert is gradually rising.
Okinawa Arena looks like this. I took this photo from the north and south sides.
I tried to take a picture with the live trailer car, but it was quite difficult to get a good picture, and with my poor technique and my smartphone, I ended up with a picture like this.
The weather in Okinawa on this day was lightly overcast. Even a light overcast would have helped a lot. If it had been sunny, I would have lost a lot of energy before the concert started.
Of course, since it was a live concert venue, the merchandise sales were quite crowded. Even so, the manners in Corona were well observed. I also bought some items for my children as souvenirs in addition to the standard tour T-shirts.
There was also a special gacha-gacha (toy toy machine) for adults, which cost 600 yen for one try. Since I was there, I gave it a try. I can’t tell you what I won.
To prevent corona, entry to the venue was timed by ticket number. However, all numbers were allowed to enter at a surprisingly early time, perhaps to prevent heat stroke. Since it was hot outdoors, this was quite helpful.
This is a view of the inside of the Okinawa Arena venue for B’z LIVE-GYM 2022 -Highway X-. As I said, photography is prohibited inside the venue, so please forgive me for only this one shot. It is usually the home of the Ryukyu Corazon professional basketball team, so basketball games are also held there. With a maximum capacity of 10,000 people, it is one of the largest event facilities in Okinawa Prefecture.
By the way, I wore the T-shirt I wore at HINOTORI to B’z LIVE-GYM 2022 -Highway X-. I found four other fans wearing the same HINOTORI T-shirt, which made me feel like I had made a lot of friends.
Now, here are my personal impressions of attending B’z LIVE-GYM 2022 -Highway X-. I personally wanted to go to the concert with a fresh mindset, so I attended the show without having seen any setlists, tweets or impressions of previous tour participants beforehand. I was slowly getting excited while waiting for the show to start! However, it is hard to tell if you don’t know the song titles, so I searched and looked up the song titles below after the show.
Perhaps due to the delay in the entrance of visitors during “Uchinaa time (Okinawa time）”, the live show started after a 10-minute delay!
First song: SLEEPLESS
The first song is SLEEPLESS, the theme song for Detective Conan, which had been previously released for download, but it’s a new song for me! And as expected of B’z, the power of the live sound is amazing! It’s so amazing. From the bass that resonated in the pit of my stomach to Inaba’s vocals that pierced through to the tip of my head! This is B’z live! A great start!
Before the second song, the band started the classic Live-Gym call, the best call I’ve heard in four years! It made me feel warm and fuzzy, blowing away the bitterness and sadness of the past few years.
Welcome to B’z’s LIVE GYM!
Track 2: Hard Rain Love
This is another song from the new Highway X album. I have never heard this song before, but it got me in the groove at once.
Third song: ultra soul
The third song was “ultra soul”! The groove of the entire venue was brought to the top at once! Damn, I want to scream! I want to throw my towel around so hard! The live B’z sound is the best! I jumped so much! I’m already sweating, I’m at LIVE GYM!
Fourth song: Ichibutozenbu.
Due to the Corona measures, we can’t cheer and can only express myself with applause, but if there is a B’z song that gets people excited with applause, it’s this one. Ichibutozenbu. I could feel my whole body getting into the rhythm of the song.
Track 5: Ai no Bakudan (Love Bomb)
And here’s another B’z classic, “Ai no Bakudan,” where we can clap our hands and get into the rhythm and groove. The crowd goes wild! We’ve got the rhythm of the Uchinanchu clapping!
Track 6: Daydream
Here we went again with another song from the new Highway X album. From the previous high-spirited groove, the song changed to a quiet and mature ballad at once. It was a cool ballad with a mature atmosphere. I can’t wait to hear their new album!
Track 7: Wind on Yamanote Dori
Next was another new song from the new album. Like the song title, it had a refreshing atmosphere. I would love to listen to it while driving. The sound of Inaba-san and Matsumoto-san’s guitar together was impressive.
Track 8: Mamilena
This is another new song from the new album, “Mamilena”. The mood of this song was completely different from the previous two songs, with an upper tune tone. The tension of the venue, which had been quiet, rose dramatically. It was truly a new song from B’z that made me feel like a mamirete.
Track 9: Thinking of you
This is the song that B’z stopped playing during the live streaming of “5 Eras” during the Corona concert. It was great to hear it live! It shook my heart.
The 10th song: “Barefoot Goddess
And the tenth song is “Barefoot Goddess”. This is a classic song of my youth that I listened to so much when I was in high school that I wore out my CDs. Quite a few years have passed since then, and I’m still happy to hear it live! Life is full of pain and sadness, but it’s also really full of joy and fun! I am glad to be a B’z fan.
Track 11: Ripples (Sazanami Tak Matsumoto “Bluesman”)
This is a great song with the melody of rippling waves, bass, and guitar playing as if they were weaving together. I must confess that this is the first time I’ve heard this instrumental piece, but the way the instrumentation sings along with the rippling melody is so moving! I need to hear this one again! The atmosphere was like a jazz or blues, adult live concert venue.
Track 12: Highway X
The 12th song finally unveiled the tour title, Highway X! The set of the venue also represented the letter X. From the mature atmosphere at the Sazanami, the band took it to a rock flow at once. During Tak’s guitar solo, the theme from the popular old TV drama “Taiyo ni Hoero” was played.
Track 13: COMEBACK -Loving Fragments-
A new song that continues to fold in. You will be swept away by various emotions and feelings.
And here are the members. The members were “shini” (meaning “very” in Okinawan dialect), “deege” (meaning “so very” in Okinawan dialect), “SPLASH” (that song by B’z that makes you sweat like a pig), and “mensore” (meaning “welcome” in Okinawan dialect). Welcome to Okinawa!
The performance by these members was great!
Track 14: YES YES YES.
Here we go again with another new Highway X song, YES YES YES, only this one was announced at the last live UNITE, so I had heard this song before on the streaming feed. I want to scream along with the song! I can’t wait for the time to come.
Track 15: Tsuwamono (great soldier), Run.
And here comes “Tsuwamono, Run”, the very song I wanted to hear live as I missed the tickets for B’z LIVE-GYM 2019 -Whole Lotta NEW LOVE-. Hey hey hey ho, hey hey ho. I wanted to shout it so bad. I’m definitely going to scream it on the next tour.
Track 16: Giri Giri Chop
And here comes “Giri Giri Chop”. Even as they approach the end of the show, they keep the audience on their toes, and the grooove was quickly rising. Oh, I wanted to throw my towel around so much. I wanted to scream! It’s so frustrating! But I can’t get over how happy I am to see them live!
Track 17: Rib
And the new song “Rib” from the new album. The song takes the flow of “Soldier, Run” and “Giri Giri Chop” all at once.
Track 18: UNITE.
And the last song is “UNITE”, from the UNITE tour where they played opposite GLAY and Mr. Children. I never thought I’d get to hear it live, so I was thrilled!
And then the live was over. Finally I can sit down and rest a little! I could not cheer, but I still got sweaty at B’z’s LIVE GYM.
Song 19: You are My Best
The first encore song was “You are My Best,” a new song from the new Highway X album. It is a cool song in a hard ballad style. The song started quietly, and when it played throughout the venue, I was mesmerized.
Track 20: ZERO.
And the last song of the day is “ZERO”. This song is another song from my high school days and is a memorable song filled with my youth. My entire body was bathed in the sound of the B’z band, and I was soaked from my toes to my head in the sound of B’z. It was the LIVE GYM in a blink of an eye! I enjoyed it immensely.
Although cheers are prohibited at LIVE GYM to prevent corona, I was still so happy and powerful at the concert that my heart’s voice even jumped out of my body through my throat a few times. After all, a live concert must be live!
Thank you, B’z band!
Next time, I’ll definitely shout from the bottom of my stomach.