Juice=Juice LIVE AROUND 2017 ~World Tour~ at FZW, Dortmund

On September 17th the idol group Juice=Juice made a stop at the FZW Dortmund, Germany, on their world tour Juice=Juice LIVE AROUND 2017 ~World Tour~.

By 5:30pm a small queue was already waiting outside the FZW venue in Dortmund. There were German and international visitors waiting in line, among them a Japanese woman who lives in the Netherlands and now had a unique opportunity to see a Juice=Juice live near her home. There were also some French fans that had already seen Juice=Juice’s live in Paris and wanted to watch them again. After an hour’s wait, admission was granted to the premium pass holders. The fans were kept busy before the concert, t-shirts of every singer were handed around which the fans could get autographed, lyrics sheets were given out for a Juice=Juice song so that the fans could sing along together before the encore and a Juice=Juice CD single was handed out to everyone as they entered the venue.

Once the doors were opened the FZW quickly filled and nobody missed the chance to shake the idols' hands at the meet-and-greet. Both the fans and the singers enjoyed this event. Some people wanted to chat a little longer, but this didn’t work out as the performance was about to follow. As the club room of the FZW filled up an expectant tension built among the audience. There was an announcement that the crowd should cheer without stage-diving or starting a moshpit, which can happen in idol concerts, and about five minutes before the idol group’s performance, the chants for Juice began.

Juice=Juice’s performance started at 8 o’clock with their latest song Fiesta! Fiesta! This Spanish-inspired party song, which must have been a great hit at the concert in Mexico, was also one for singing together in Dortmund. So, that’s what the audience did, especially the groups in the back rows.

There was a short MC after the song Date ja nai yo uchi no jinsei wa where the singers welcomed the audience and tried out their German, introducing themselves briefly by name, also in German. This went down well with the crowd, as it would have done in the previous shows in France and England where they probably did the same in those local languages.

It took a few songs until everybody got a little more into the mood. Songs such as Ça va? Ça va? with French lyrics and Jidanda Dance did really well, of course. The latter is one of Juice=Juice’s more recent songs. In between, during the song Tick-Tock Watashi no shun, there was a flying costume change. The group also used pedestals, so that two singers could stand higher than the rest. Before the "real" MC the atmosphere had reached a peak. The seven singers introduced themselves one after the other in more detail, as is usual for idol concerts. They were not only looking forward to the live, they also liked the food in Europe and so they talked about that too.

After that, the show went on with the quieter song Ai · Ai · Gasa, before the fans in the background — probably at least those with Japanese roots — continued with an ‘otagei’ (English: fan dance and singing) during KEEP ON Joshou shikou!!. Romance no tochuu was a very popular song among the fans. Juice=Juice encouraged the audience throughout the show and with Samidare bijo ga samidareru the crowd of about 250 were involved. The FZW has two halls, the main hall and the club. The smaller club has space for 300 people which generated a better atmosphere as the space was fully utilized.

Further songs followed where the singers and audience were in a good mood. After the last song Goal ~Ashita wa acchi da yo~ the singers left the stage, but the audience started a "Juice, mou ippai!" chant, meaning "More Juice!" These calls became louder, only briefly interrupted by the song for which the lyrics were handed over before the event. Unfortunately, not everyone joined in singing Ten Made Nobore!, but certainly enough did for Juice=Juice to hear. They changed costume backstage again, to reappear for an encore of Ijiwaru shinai de dakishimete yo and Magic of Love, before another MC. This time, it was mainly in Japanese, although that didn’t seem to bother the audience at all. The Juice=Juice girls told the crowd that they enjoyed the live very much, but unfortunately their tour in Europe was now over and then they thanked the audience. Kanazawa Tomoko also explained that the grandparents of a girlfriend live in Germany and gave a wink to the audience and presumably her friend’s relatives.

The singers finished the show with an ideal song, the English version of the upbeat Wonderful World, with several German "Danke schöns" (English: Thank you) included. The crowd joined in enthusiastically with the actions and fortunately, unlike the live in London, all the group’s members, including the two youngest, Yanagawa Nanami and Dambara Ruru, could sing until the end of the live because Juice=Juice finished the show before 10pm.

The live was great for both the audience and the members of Juice=Juice, with the evening going off without a hitch and full of fun idol-like atmosphere. The only downside was the fact that, even though performances by idol groups are rare in Germany, the show wasn’t sold out, despite the support from neighbouring countries, but there is always hope that this will change in the future.

Set list

01. Fiesta! Fiesta!
02. Hadaka no hadaka no hadaka no KISS
03. Date ja nai yo uchi no jinsei wa
04. MC (in German)
05. Hajimete wo keiken-chuu
06. Ça va ? Ça va ?
07. Tick-Tock Watashi no shun
08. Jidanda Dance
09. MC
10. Ai・Ai・Gasa
11. KEEP ON Joshou shikou!!
12. Romance no tochuu
13. CHOICE & CHANCE
14. Samidare bijo ga samidareru
15. Watashi ga Iu mae ni dakishimenakya ne
16. Goal ~Ashita wa acchi da yo~

Encore

17. Ijiwaru shinai de dakishimete yo
18. Magic of Love (J=J 2015 version)
19. MC
20. Wonderful World (English version)