CAROLE & TUESDAY, an anime about two young girls trying to become musicians. With music provided by famous composers from around the world, each episode features an interesting and unique insert song.
CAROLE & TUESDAY LIVE: The Loneliest Girl, which was held at Harajuku Quest Hall in Tokyo on August 11, was an opportunity to experience that setting in the flesh. This report will cover the afternoon session.
The performers were the three artists who provide the singing voices for Carole, Tuesday, and their rival Angela. All three were chosen on merit through the global singers audition, and fans will already be familiar with their voices based on the anime and CDs released thus far. Two of the three artists live outside of Japan, so concerts are rare. Naturally, tickets were sold out almost immediately.
First to appear on stage were Carole’s singer, Nai Br.XX, and Tuesday’s singer, Celeina Ann. Nai appeared carrying a hand microphone and Celeina an acoustic guitar, and together with two backing musicians on guitar and keyboard, they began playing their opening number. The first song was the intro from the first cour, “Kiss Me”. With scenes from the anime playing on a large screen behind them, the girls’ beautiful voices immediately drew the audience into the world of CAROLE & TUESDAY.
Celeina, who lives in Japan, took a moment to welcome the audience in Japanese, after which they began their second song, “Round & Laundry”. This is the light, catchy tune from the laundromat scene in the anime, and the audience naturally started clapping to the beat. Afterwards, the girls exchanged a few remarks on how fun it is when everyone claps along to the music, with Celeina translating Nai’s comments into Japanese for the audience.
According to Celeina, this live performance was modeled after Carole & Tuesday’s first live performance in the anime (episode 5), where Carole & Tuesday play in front of an audience of only 10 people in a tiny livehouse. It’s a small first step, but for the girls, it’s a night to remember.
As such, the third song was “Someday I’ll Find My Way Home”, the ballad sung during that scene. During the fourth song, “Whispering My Love”, the girls shared a look of pure enjoyment during the catchy “bada-bababa” of the chorus.
The fifth song was “Lost My Way”. In the anime, this song is performed without a guitar due to Tuesday’s arm being injured. Going along with the story, Celeina put away her guitar, and girls sang to the accompaniment of the piano.
At this point, Nai & Celeina left the stage, and Angela’s singer Alisa made her entrance. With Angela scenes from the anime playing out behind her, Alisa opened with “Move Mountains”.
In contrast to Carole & Tuesday’s acoustic songs, Angela’s songs have a more digital sound. This is based on the story, where Angela’s songs are created by the virtuoso producer Tao using the latest AI technology. However, Angela’s passionate voice is only enhanced against the backdrop of this industrial sound. “Move Mountains” is a song about going to extraordinary lengths for someone you love; the perfect song for the confident Angela.
This was followed by the coquettish song “All I Want”, which displays a different side of Angela’s charm, and “Breathe Again”, her major debut song in the anime. Following these tunes, her fourth song was “Light A Fire”, which Angela sang in the finals of the audition program Mars’ Brightest. Alisa went through a great deal of trouble during recording to get this song just right.
Performed live, “Light A Fire” was an incredibly powerful number that awed the audience and made for a truly Angela-like performance.
Angela’s final song was “Not Afraid”, the outro of the second cour. Ending with this cool tune, Alisa’s part was done. Celeina & Nai then reappeared on stage, and the three girls took some time to chat with the audience. After introducing themselves, they announced that Carole & Tuesday would be broadcast all over the world from August 30, with Nai remarking that this was “very exciting” for overseas audiences.
Carole & Tuesday began their second round of songs with “Polly Jean”, the second cours’ intro song, followed by other cour two songs that haven’t been released on CD yet. This included “Army Of Two”, Carole & Tuesday’s debut song in the anime, “Day By Day”, which was featured in the latest episode 16 (the audience sang along to the chorus here), and “Give You The World C&T ver.”, Carole & Tuesday’s cover of the fallen star Flora’s major hit. For the fans, this was a valuable chance to hear the full versions of the songs early.
And so, with the live reaching its climax, Carole & Tuesday performed the song everyone was waiting for: “The Loneliest Girl”. This was the first song Carole & Tuesday wrote together in the anime. Dedicated to lonely souls, its final harmony is especially beautiful.
“The Loneliest Girl” was also the first song that Celeina and Nai recorded after meeting each other. According to Celeina, “There are other songs that appear earlier in the story, but Director Watanabe changed the recording order to match the story. When I found out later, I was really moved.”
The final song of the live performance was the first cour’s outro, “Hold Me Now”. Nai thanked audience in English, and Celeina grinned and told them this song would send them home in a cheerful mood. True to her words, the audience began singing along, and everyone was caught up in the mood of this feel good song.
At the end, Alisa reappeared on stage, and the three singers and two backing musicians made a final bow to the audience. At only one and a half hours, it was a short live, but one jam-packed full of powerful contents.
During the evening session, CAROLE & TUESDAY 2nd LIVE: Army Of Two was announced. This will take place in a bigger venue and feature even more songs from the second cour.
The second CAROLE & TUESDAY live will be held at the Stellar Ball live house (Shinagawa Prince Hotel) on October 6 (Sun). In accordance with the storyline of the second cour, this live performance will feature a full band. Tickets can currently be obtained via the first official pre-sale lottery, which will last until August 18th.
Photos
CAROLE & TUESDAY 2nd LIVE: Army of Two
Venue: Stellar Ball, Tokyo Prince Hotel
Performers: Carole & Tuesday (Vo. Nai Br.XX & Celeina Ann), Angela (Vo. Alisa)
Date: October 6, 2019 (Sun)
Doors open/show starts: 17:00/18:00
Ticket prices: ¥6,800 (including tax, all standing, separate drink charge)
First official pre-sale lottery:
Until 8/18 (Sun), 18:00
URL: https://eplus.jp/carole-tuesday/
Official Website: http://caroleandtuesday.com/?lang=en
Twitter:@carole_tuesday
(C) BONES, Shinichiro Watanabe／Project CAROLE & TUESDA
