高橋直純 Naozumi Takahashi – A\’LIVE 2004 \”INDICATE\” at SHIBUYA-AX on 2004.06.27 [2004.11.05] [DVD ISO 7.79GB]

Third live DVD of seiyuu and singer Naozumi Takahashi, featuring footage of the final performance of his \”INDICATE\” tour, held at SHIBUYA-AX on June 27, 2004. This release hit #74 on Oricon\’s general DVD chart, and #18 on their Music DVD chart.

Sports a great setlist, but vocally-speaking, it\’s a step backwards from \”Yes! SUMMERx2\”, owing to Naozumi overworking himself and sporting a fever and worsening tonsillitis by the time this concert was recorded. Relatedly, this would be among his last few concerts before being hospitalized and then taking a break to finish recovering from surgery, and the whole event served as the catalyst for him starting to put more efforts into improving his body\’s overall condition and beginning to polish his vocal ability further with lessons.

Similar to the situation with his first tour, he winds up doing his best work with the ballads in this concert. Recommendations have been underlined/italicized below.
Unlike his first tour, he doesn\’t run as short on breath with the upbeat songs here, and the experience he\’s gained as live performer over the course of his previous tours makes this show feel like it runs a little smoother and gives more of an impression that he\’s in control, even if he hits a snag.
However, because of the overwork on his vocal cords and the burgeoning tonsil issues, there\’s a sort of low-grade strain to his voice across songs here.
Still, in spite of that, I\’d say that this concert is better than his \”A to Z\” tour final overall, even if its high points aren\’t as strong as that one\’s.
On that note, if I were to single out just one or two songs on the disc as its strongest, I suppose it would be down to \”MY LIFE\” and the acapella version of \”stay\”.

A\’LIVE 2004 \”INDICATE\” @ SHIBUYA-AX
2004/06/27 (June 27, 2004)
——-
01.) Break Up!
02.) Keep on Dancin\’
03.) Hajimari no Gogo (はじまりの午後)
04.) ~kiss you~
05.) Real na Yume (リアルな夢)
06.) Kimi no Inai Kisetsu (君のイナイ季節)
07.) Mirai no Canvas (未来のキャンバス)
08.) Boku wa Hero (僕はヒーロー)
09.) Kaeri no Izumi (還りの泉)
10.) MY LIFE
11.) Hikari Sasu Hou e (光差す方へ)
12.) Trouble Maker (トラブルメーカー)
13.) Yes! Lovin\’ you!
14.) WINDY ROAD
15.) Aoi Tamashii no Tatsumaki (蒼い魂の龍巻)
16.) Itoshikute (愛しくて)
17.) starry night cruising
18.) PURE
19.) Go! Go! Over Drive
20.) stay -acapella-
21.) Kimi ni Aete Yokatta (君に会えてよかった)

Performers:
——-
Vo. Naozumi Takahashi
Gtr./Cho. U-Ken! (Kenji Ueki)
Bass. Shiro Maruyama
Dr. Kaoru Suzuki (from IZANAMI)
Key./Cho. Ryo Okamoto (from Sabado Fiesta)
Sax./Cho. Satoshi \”Tag\” Taguchi
Perc. K-ta
VS Manip. Kaname Yano (TOWERS)

NOTE: Starting from 2003\’s \”Yes! SUMMERx2\” and continuing on until 2006\’s \”OKism\”, all of his live DVDs featured lossy (.ac3) audio and slightly jagged video. The discs are not bootleg and I\’ve been able to try several copies (including some directly from a Japanese friend who had bought them in-store back when they were new releases); this is just how the company that his indie label had outsourced the DVD production to made them.
His first live DVD (\”A to Z\”) is unaffected by this, because Koei handled it directly.