Francis Law
“Minna-san suki des!” (I love you all!), yelled lead singer Haruna Ono, to the delight of the fans packed in The Coliseum Hard Rock Café Sentosa on May 8.
Hailing from Osaka, Japan, the all-female rock band Scandal are no strangers to Singapore, having performed here at the Anime Festival Asia in 2011 and Scandal Live in Singapore in 2013. This year, they were back for their third solo concert to promote their latest album, Hello World.
At first it was quiet, and only the buzzing of excited fans could be heard mixed with the music from the DJ spinning in the background. Chants started as the band started their warm-ups, but even those died down after awhile. The background music faded away, the crowd staring with anticipation at the pitch-black stage… Silence.
Then lights flooded the stage, revealing the four members of the band as they rocked the house with “Love in Action”. Everyone went nuts. The light sticks came out, hands were raised and we could swear the ground was shaking as ecstatic fans bounced to the beat. The energy was contagious; one couldn’t help but join in the fun.
The crowd was uncannily coordinated, it was almost as if they had practised their cheers before the concert. From the shouts of “Hey, hey, hey, hey”, to clapping in time with the snare drum, to pumping their fists in the air, the masses moved together like cogs in a well-oiled engine.
Pausing to take a break after “DOLL”, Haruna proceeded to introduce the rest of the members of the band, Mami Sasazaki, Tomomi Ogawa, and Rina Suzuki, the fans sounding their support every time their favourite was presented. The adorable Tomomi, bassist and lead vocalist, even attempted speaking Singlish. Her “Thank you lah!” drew both laughter and cheers from her charmed fans.
Haruna kept the crowd hyped up with her chirpiness as she interacted with the crowd. Commenting on the weather, she exclaimed, “It is very hot!” To which a bold fan replied, “You are very hot!” We are inclined to agree.
Thankfully, we managed to catch our breath every now and then. Mami’s “Hon wo Yomu 本を読む” gave us a change of pace with its relaxed yet upbeat rhythm. The crowd switched from jumping around to singing along with Mami’s strong, smooth vocals.
The highlight of the night, for us at least, was when Rina got off her throne at the drum set for “Oyasumi おやすみ”, a song written by her. Not only did she sing, she rocked out on the guitar as well, sending fans (including us) into frenzy.
Haruna also got us all right in the kokoro (Japanese for ‘heart’) as she introduced the song “Departure”, urging the audience to “feel it in your hearts”.
It ended all too soon as the band left the stage after playing “Image”. Thankfully, everyone else had similar sentiments, and chanted for an encore.
“Encore-ru, encore-ru!” After what seemed like eternity, Scandal returned on stage with not one, but two encore pieces. Crowd favourites “Rainy” and “Everybody Say Yeah!” were the perfect songs to end the night off with a bang.
“Maybe we’ll sing more next time,” hinted Haruna, suggesting that the band might be revisiting Singapore in the near future. Not only did they put up an amazing performance, their constant interaction with the crowd made this concert one the fans wouldn’t forget.
While we were not fans before, we can now proudly tell Scandal: “You’ve got fans in us!”
Setlist:
- Love in action
- サティスファクション
- DOLL
- 瞬間センチメンタル
- SCANDAL BABY
- 下弦の月
- お願いナビゲーション
- 本を読む
- 缶ビール
- おやすみ
- Departure
- 太陽と君が描くSTORY
- 夜明けの流星群
- Your Song
- Image
Encore:
- Rainy
- EVERYBODY SAY YEAH!
Tell us what you think of the SCANDAL concert below!