Mike Toole's Anime Boston Puffy Concert Write Up (Part 1)

Here is the long promised show report for Puffy's Anime Boston appearance.  What I can say is this may be the biggest concert Puffy has done in the states and from Mike's (and other's reports) it was a fantastic show.  Mike Toole is the Editor-at-Large for Anime News Network and has a column and is the point man for music on that site.  The site seems to be under maintenance, so I cannto provide links.  I am deeply honored he took the time to do the write up and is willing to share that with us Puffy fans.

So without further delay, here is the first part of Mike's Anime Boston write up.  All words beyond this point are his!

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Since there was a lot of "What's an anime convention like? Are the tickets included?" chat when Puffy's Anime Boston appearance was first announced on Amiyumidas, I'll explain a bit. Sometimes concert tickets cost extra at conventions (Anime Expo and Otakon, the two biggest anime cons in North America, have big-deal concerts with 2-4 idol singers and nationally-known bands, so they now charge some extra money for tickets), but usually the ticket is included with membership. This is both a good value for the attendee, and an attractive proposition to the band in many cases - they still get an appearance fee, and usually draw at least 500-1000 fans to see what they're all about.

For Anime Boston, Puffy had four events scheduled - two free autograph sessions (also a nice value, as celebrity guests often host paid autograph sessions), the concert, and a rare focus panel, where fans could assemble in the audience of one of the convention ballrooms and chat with Ami and Yumi.

The Puffy stuff was all on Friday and Saturday, because they were leaving for LA and their mini-tour on Sunday morning. I ran to queue up for autographs on Friday, but the line had been capped. I _did_ get to see and compliment these girls, and their photo-perfect cartoon version Ami and Yumi costumes. I had no idea at the time that they'd made it to Ami's instagram!

Photo Credit: Ami Onuki

Now, I know most of the senior staff at Anime Boston - to me, they're old friends. I also do a lot of programming stuff - I run several popular panels, and this year, I acted as moderator for a panel featuring the Japanese-American culture journalist Roland Kelts and ex-Studio Ghibli production runner/storyteller Mr Hirokatsu Kihara. As a return favor for moderating, the staff let me crash the VIP section of the Puffy concert.

I made a note to arrive early for Saturday's autograph session and headed off to enjoy the con until the evening concert.

Mike's view of the show.  Photo Credit: Mike Toole

The seats weren't perfect - just near the sound board, halfway back in the GIANT auditorium. But I was very happy to get seated there, because the Hynes Convention Center auditorium, in this configuration, seats 3,000 - and it was nearly full when I arrived, so I would've been stuck in the back if I didn't have the VIP access! I've seen several acts at Anime Boston - the Pillows, JAM Project, and Halko Momoi to name a few - and the Puffy concert was by far the fullest I'd ever seen it. The crowd estimate was around 2,500.

Anyway, I took my seat... and then was asked to scoot over by a pal who was helping with guest relations. So I sat about 10 feet directly behind the sound board, next to this one guy who kept getting up and making comments to the audio team. He was an older Japanese man, scruffy, ponytail, glasses...

Yep, it was Kaz. He was working, so I didn't bother the man. But hey, that was neat!

I'll also point out that, while the Puffy ticket was included with the con membership, it wasn't just a situation where you could flash your attendee badge and wander into the concert hall - fans had to seek out and get tickets in advance (one per person) for the purposes of headcount, and plan to attend in advance. So this was a crowd that was very interested in seeing Puffy.

As reported by your pal Chanel, this time Puffy also played with a 3-piece band. I thought this was a gutsy choice, but they sounded GREAT - better than when I saw them at the Paradise in 2002, I think! One interesting note - the guitarist was Koki Okamoto of the band OKAMOTO'S, who've lately done some collaboration with Puffy. They were also on the bill at Anime Boston, so this made sense.

As for the set list, I didn't take detailed notes. Like their other stops, they opened with "Puffypipoyama" and "Call Me What You Like." Later, the crowd went nuts to their renditions of "Teen Titans Go" and their own cartoon show theme - lot of cartoon nerds at Anime Boston, naturally. ;) They ended with "Electric Beach Fever" and "That's the Way it Is." If I had a complaint about their set, it's that it was too short. They only did 45 minutes! This is actually pretty common for bands at these conventions, but I was hoping they'd play a bit longer.

The Night Begins To Shine Review

It has been a while since Puffy released a new song though in this case "The Night Begins To Shine" appears on the "The Teen Titans Go Songs From The Night Begins To Shine Special" which is both long, unwieldy and goofy for a soundtrack album.  I will not use it again as there is no need. I only purchased Puffy's track as the other tracks were not of interest.

Vocally Ami and Yumi are in fine form, though I suspect there is a little processing.  Not a good or bad thing.  The delivery is evocative of 70's disco, which is well within their wheelhouse.  They show a little more dynamic singing which is good.

The music for "The Night Begins To Shine" is basically driven by synthesizers and drum machines and would not be out of place on a Perfume album. The flip side is with the vocal processing the music and vocals are tied together well.  I honestly was not missing anything resembling a guitar on the track.  That feels weird to admit, but I have been listening to Perfume a fair bit as of late.


Engineering for "The Night Begins To Shine" is good, but there are parts where the synthesizers sound a bit muddled and there are a couple bits where I thought I hear a little fuzzy sounds.  There are some neat underlying bits that bounce between the left and right channels.  On headphones the track does not fade out as you would think, it actually goes on quietly for a few seconds fading into a synth classical music sound.

Quick Scores:
Vocals: A-
Music: B+
Engineering: B-

The Night Begins to Shine, New Layout & Sundry

This one snuck up on me, a new song: The Night Begins to Shine.

You can buy The Night Begins to Shine on Google Play or Amazon.

Things have been kind of crazy the past couple of months and writing about anything has been not on my radar.  Changed jobs, kids' school, etc.  Nothing bad, just time and energy consuming.

Things are starting to settle down.  I have a really great Boston show write up in the pipe that a reader (also a fantastic writer) sent me. I will be slicing that into 2-3 parts and posting up the first part within the week.

Apologies for not chunking out content.

Finally broke down and updated the look of the site.  Hats off to Jeff for the old layout, it was great but I have been eager to re-tool for a while.  I may elect to do ads at some point... I could stand to make tens of cents but maybe it would help put a dent in my expenses.  Code for buying albums.

Puffy no Gaki no Tsukai ya Arahende!!

Just a quick update.  I have a write up in hand for the Boston show that Puffy did in conjunction with the Anime Boston convention.  I have to do break it up into a couple parts, but everyone should enjoy it.  Frankly it is by a much better writer than myself.

In the mean time here is some Puffy of a sort.  Tanaka and Matsumoto of Gaki no Tsukai lip syncing to Asia no Junshin, Tanaka and Matsumoto are my favorites so I was very happy to see them imitate Puffy.

Itao's lip sync challenge part 3 by tofupandafansubs2

Also some funny bits with the other guys from the show, but you may have to be a Gaki aficionado and old school J-Music.

Puffy Not Lazy 2017 Belasco Show Report

Reader Chanel No. 2 and I were talking about the April 4th 2017 Belasco Theater stop for Puffy’s Not Lazy US Tour.  They were gracious enough to let me share this conversation with the fans at Amiyumidas. I broke our conversation into more of a Q&A to help convey Chanel No.2’s great experience as a super fan.

Image Via @Puffy

Wes:  Tell me about Ami, Yumi and the support band

Chanel No. 2: I think PUFFY was wearing one-piece outfits with Converse shoes.

The band lineup was one guitarist, one bassist, one drummer and the behind-the-scenes DJ that set up the playback.  A different approach to their music. The band played with all their might so the music was shooting out into the room. Ami and Yumi were master sof ceremonies to interact with everyone in the audience.  I was impressed by their English. They definitely studied for the tour but they used notes.

I'm a drummer so I was able to analyze Cindy's (the audience chose her American name) drum kit. Snare, rack tom, floor tom, kick drum, hi-hats, crash cymbal, most likely a ride cymbal, and a cowbell. A different approach to their music. I was expecting 2 crash cymbals and a keyboardist.

I think the volume was louder than the '07 concerts. The drums seemed louder too. When they performed, it was hard to hear myself singing.

Wes: You did the meet and greet, that sounds amazing!

Chanel No. 2: I can't believe I actually met PUFFY! My heart was definitely pounding! I went with the flow. I didn't know what to expect. I was shocked by the number of people that came. I'll need to remember that (next time).

I approached Ami and Yumi. I think I said hi and my name. I remember Ami saying hi to me. She said my name. :-D

Image via Chanel No. 2

Yumi saw my top and basically thought it looked familiar so I said 'Bring it!'  I think they remembered the top so, in perfect English, Ami asked where I got it. I basically said I bought it from Japan and had it shipped to me. Pretty sure it was only sold in 14 Japanese stores. Had I known, I woulda bought a lot. It's quite a bit of cash but...

 I had staff take a pic of Ami, Yumi, and I w/ my phone. I told them I was gonna do a heart. I think Ami said 'A heart'. Ami and Yumi made heart shapes w/ me. :-)

After I got my pic, I said 'Thank you so much' then went to the stage. I miss them already!!!

Wes: Can you share the set list?

Chanel No. 2:  The set-list was very random. I dunno how they came up with it!

1. Puffypipoyama
2. Call Me What You Like (if you like rock-n-roll)
3. LOVE SO PURE
MC
4. TEEN TITANS THEME
5. JOINING A FAN CLUB
6.UREI
7. TRUE ASIA
MC
8. Your love is a drug
9. SIGN OF LOVE
10. All Because Of You
MC
11. INTO THE BEACH
12. JET POLICE
13. DOKI DOKI
MC
14. Hi Hi
15. RED SWING
16. Darekaga
17. ELECTRIC BEACH FEVER
MC
18. Radio Tokyo
Encore
19. THAT’S THE WAY IT IS

Wes:  That is an interesting play list, some I might have predicted but Urei surprised me!  What were some of your thoughts about the set?

Chanel No. 2:  (Puffypipoyama) I wasn't very familiar w/ the song but I'm not surprised it was the 1st song cos it's recent. They did the dance. I'd leave the song name as is. Pipo seems to mean 'people'? Yama can have multiple meanings. Mountain, peak, hill, climax, etc.

(Call me What You Like) That blew my mind. I don't even know if I heard right. 1 of my favorite songs. I didn't think I'd hear it live. I thought they were gonna sing 'Shall We Dance?' but I guess it's not a big shock. It wouldn't be new. I'm very glad they sang the song.

(All Because of You) My favorite PUFFY song. I'm very glad they performed the whole song. It's the version w/ the extended opening.

(Electric Beach Fever) The opening was extended w/ handclaps

Wes:  Ami and Yumi have always had a knack for entertaining the crowd with banter as MC’s, can you tell me about that?

Chanel No. 2:  I can't remember all the MC details but they asked if anyone from the crowd went to their '07 L.A. show. I said I attended. Ami was asked what music is her favorite these days. She said K-pop. I was shocked!

Wes: Was it fun for you, did Puffy enjoy the performance?

Chanel No. 2.:  Such a fun experience. A+!  I think I was the most devoted fanatic there.

I'm glad PUFFY had fun. Hopefully they'll come back. I wasn't sure if they were gonna return but I guess they still have a sufficient fan-base

Wes: Thank you so much for talking about Puffy’s show at the Belasco and thank you for helping me out with a tour shirt.  I’ll post that up separately as I am the master of padding.

If anyone went to the Boston, San Francisco or Dallas shows please ping me.  Same for more LA show reports!