Awich’s “THE UNION TOUR 2024” Tokyo performance report arrives, with surprise appearance by YENTOWN

Awich’s Tokyo performance, the final show of the nationwide tour “THE UNION TOUR 2024,” which visited seven cities to promote her latest album “THE UNION,” released last October, was held at Zepp Haneda on Friday, May 24th. In addition to the announced luxurious guests, the show was a huge success, with a surprise appearance by YENTOWN, the crew to which Awich belongs. Here is the official report of the show.

Awich “THE UNION TOUR 2024” Tokyo Performance Official Report

“THE UNION TOUR 2024” toured seven cities across Japan. It was the largest tour in Awich’s history, and just before the first day’s performance in Osaka, they performed at the Coachella Festival in the United States. Tickets were sold out at all venues, and the final day at Zepp Haneda in Tokyo is finally upon us.

Awich was welcomed with cheers. She rapped “THE UNION” as if savoring the moment, drawing the audience in. After “Queendom”, which could be said to be her calling card, she continued with “NWO” and “Guerrilla”, which have particularly flashy sounds, and after calling out “Let’s be free from our hearts!” in the MC, she smoothly transitioned into “Which one should I choose”, “Call On Me”, and “Say it out loud”. In “Call On Me”, her daughter Yomi Jah also participated as a dancer, and performed with a confident smile.

Next, she performed a medley of her representative songs, including “Kamihikouki” (Paper plane), “Remember” and “Brainwashing”, leaving no time to catch her breath. Along with the excitement, it was also a moment where I was able to fully appreciate the richness of the worldview and the skill of expression that her lyrics weave. “If you’re upset, say it after the tickets for the national tour are sold out! Are you doing what you have to do?” she shouted, and then moved on to “WHORU?” and “LINK UP”. With an emotional expression, she also deeply thanked “Hip Hop”, and while listing the names of her predecessors such as 2Pac, Jay Z, Lauryn Hill and Poor Righteous Teachers, she called out, “There are many seniors from Okinawa. When you listen to hip hop, you can find out what is happening in the world. Let’s cherish this music with respect.”

With a deeply emotional expression, she said, “There are many times when people say ‘you can’t do it’. But you can definitely do it. If you can immerse yourself in it, that’s fine. That’s the best revenge,” and then she went straight into “Revenge.” Yomi Jah joined in again for the following song, “TSUBASA.” In addition to rapping, she captivated the audience with her supple contemporary dance. With tears in her eyes, she began, “My daughter saved my life. Toyomi is the one who created Awich,” and then continued with “Wait For Me” and “Hide and Seek,” filling the venue with an emotional atmosphere that shook the heart.

The intro to “GILA GILA” changed the atmosphere. The audience was excited by the sharp rap, and then they moved on to “ALI BABA REMIX” without a break. MFS and Ralph joined in, and excited the audience with their cool power from the stage.

As the concert entered the latter half, guests one after another brightened up the stage. NENE appeared with “Ikemental”. Next, “Bad Bitch Bigaku Remix” started, building up plenty of anticipation. For the first time that day, NENE, LANA, MaRI, AI, and Yuriyan Retriever all gathered together. They joined the stage one by one from the side of the stage with their respective verses, and were greeted with enthusiastic cheers. Each woman, who exudes different charm and strength, gathered together, rapped her own punch line, and the audience responded. It was a truly spectacular performance, and it was a moment when tremendous energy was released from the stage and the audience.

After getting the audience dancing with DJ U-Lee’s skills, they moved on to “RASEN in OKINAWA”. “Give me the microphone too!” CHICO CARLITO appeared. He delivered a stable and passionate rap, and there was also a special performance of their collaboration song “Let Go” with fellow Okinawa-based singer Hiiragito. After performing an exclusive remix version of Hiiragito’s signature song “Suki na Koto” with Awich, OHZKEY from SugLawd Familiar appeared and performed “LONGINESS Remix”. It was a performance that conveyed the warmth and heat of Okinawa, Awich’s home.

As the final stage finally came to an end, Awich reflected on the tour, saying, “I learned a lot and I grew,” and called out, “This is the very last one!” and moved on to “BAD BAD.” Awich also sang with a smile and danced along, including the introduction of the dancers, and the main part of the live ended in a peaceful atmosphere…or so we thought, but then the members of YENTOWN appeared. They made a surprise appearance and kicked off “A blessing in disguise” with kZm, PETZ, JNKMN, MonyHorse, and others. The finale of the tour was also a celebratory song for the 10th anniversary of YENTOWN’s formation, and the finale was a grand finale.

After Coachella, Awich also experienced an overseas performance in New York in between tours. As she said, the fulfilling tour that must have taught her a lot came to an end. Awich shows us new sights one after another with her incredible speed and vitality, but seeing her walk the walk gave us even more courage that night.

Text by Shiho Watanabe

【event information】

“THE UNION TOUR 2024”
April 27, 2024 (Sat) at Zepp Namba, Osaka
Sunday, April 28, 2024 at Hiroshima CLUB QUATTRO
May 2, 2024 (Thu) at Zepp Sapporo, Hokkaido
May 9, 2024 (Thu) at Zepp Fukuoka
Saturday, May 11, 2024 at Sendai PIT, Miyagi
Friday, May 17, 2024 at Zepp Nagoya, Aichi
Thursday, May 23, 2024 at Zepp Haneda, Tokyo

■Awich official site