Making their American debut at the Hynes Convention Center this past Saturday (during Anime Boston 2009), the female vocal trio that makes up Kalafina performed a 60-minute set that included beautiful visuals and a wonderful light show backing the women. However, the use of pre-recorded music instead of a live backing band showed that this new group still was nowhere near flawless.
Founded in 2007 by composer Yuki Kajiura (one-half of the popular duo See-Saw), Kalafina consisted of vocalists Wakana, Keiko and Hikaru; who seemed very happy to be performing for the American crowd. Throughout the show the trio sang and danced to their hearts’ content, though at times when they weren’t singing they stood idly waiting for their time to perform. Think of how a puppeteer would use many of his wooden friends during a show, but can only use two at a time; so one would sit motionless until their lines are given. In some moments it was very reminiscent of that.
That’s not to say that Kalafina is a bad group; far from it. These ladies of the Orient had wonderful voices that shined even better than what can be heard on their debut album “Seventh Heaven.” Their opening song “oblivious” (their first hit single in Japan) was the ideal choice to introduce Kalafina to those unfamiliar with the group as it showcased the multiple vocal ranges of the three ladies. Songs such as “love come down” and “Mata Kaze ga Tsuyokunatta” (translated as “The Wind Becomes Strong Again”) rely heavily on loud techno thumps and ear-piercing guitar solos. Even though the crowd got into it, the fact that there wasn’t anything backing Kalafina besides the visuals made it difficult at times to feel any sort of a true live experience. The only time they were backed by an instrument was during the encore, when Kajiura came out to play the keyboard while the ladies sang “Kimi ga Hikari ni Kaete Iku” (You Turn It Into Light”) and “gloria”, two soft songs that helped close the concert on a beautiful note. Having said that, the show lacked a bit of appeal.
If only Kalafina had enlisted the help of Boston’s Video Game Orchestra, the opening band, they could have compensated their inactivity with an electrifying backing band. Unfortunately, this was not the case, and because of that Kalafina showed that they still need help when it comes to fully entertaining a crowd.
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Labels: Anime-Boston, Concert, J-POP, Kalafina, King Baby Duck, reviewers
