Just managed to free up some time and sit down to watch the 58th Kōhaku Uta Gassen. For those that are unaware, Kōhaku Uta Gassen [紅白歌合戦] is an annual music show that is held on the eve of New Year, 31st December.
The song battle is contested between 2 teams of red and white. The red team is composed of all female artists, while the white team is all male. Since this event is by invitation only, only the hottest artists and enka singers of the year would can perform on this stage.
The event kicked off with Morning Musume’s “Love Machine”
My favorite performance of the night was Angela Aki singing “Sakura Iro”.
AKB48 also made their debut on this event. AKB48 is a huge idol group consisting of 48 girls divided into three teams: Team A, Team K and Team B.
Shoko-tan making her debut, singing Sorairo Days.
Porno Graffitti – Link
Gackt performing his first oricon #1 hit – RETURNER
Another one of my favorite female artist, Koda Kumi singing Ai no Uta
Ken Hirai giving a great performance with Elegy.
In the end, the white team won this year. Its the 3rd year in a row where the white team has won.
Somehow I preferred last year Kōhaku Uta Gassen than this year. Nonetheless it was still a nice music show to sit down and watch to enjoy your favorite artist performing their best hits of the year.
I watched about 80% of it live on TV, but the fact that I can’t recall more than half of it now probably isn’t a good thing. DREAMS COME TRUE was the best act of the whole night for me followed by aiko & Angela Aki, and the enka songs was solid as usual.
Apart from that, highlights were few and far in between – Leah Dizon was especially horrific and made Shoko-tan’s performance sound like a vocal masterclass; the rest of the Jpop sent me to sleep. I got more joy out of seeing Fujiwara Noriko, Miyazaki Aoi and Aragaki Yui up on stage introducing the artists….
I’ve watched the last 6-7 Kohakus and it’s gotten worse every year, best to stick to the more commercial stuff like FNS or MS Super live methinks, where the ‘real’ hottest acts of the year get to perform instead of NHK’s usual old favourites.
Oh, and ratings for each artist’s performance if anyone’s interested: http://www1.plala.or.jp/nakaatsu/07sityouyosou.htm
Lol at Hamasaki Ayumi being the lowest rated for the second half.
For the last three years, it seems that white always has the most elaborate stage shows…..Gackt being a good example. I’d like to know who decides what to spend on each performers set.
What is Shoko-tan wearing!?!?!?
@j1m0ne: I totally agree Leah Dizon performance was horrible. It appears she was lip-synching at the chorus.
@Soshi: She was wearing a blue dress with a big bow on her head.
Y-yeah I know, but I’m just kind of surprised that she’d wear something so… I don’t know. Weird.