=LOVE is an idol group produced by Rino Sashihara.
Today, on Saturday, February 3rd, the final show of their first-ever arena tour, “=LOVE Arena Tour 2024 “Tell me what’s more than “LOVE”” (8 shows in 3 cities), which kicked off at Kobe World Memorial Hall in Hyogo, was held at Ariake Arena in Tokyo. The show at Ariake Arena in Tokyo was the second consecutive day of performances, following yesterday’s, with each performance drawing in around 10,000 people. It was a large-scale arena tour with around 50,000 people attending all the shows of the tour.
The concert started with a bang with the hard rock tune “Junkies”. The members ran down the runway to the center stage and sang “We are the Equal Love” to the audience in all directions. The audience responded with cheers of unity, and the excitement in the venue was at a boiling point right from the start of the show. Furthermore, =LOVE performed a sharp dance on the center stage that rose high, and rode a trolley around the venue, spreading smiles all over the venue, and the performance unfolded with the large-scale production that is unique to arena tours.
The unit song section kicked off with a mature love song, “What Do You Like?”, performed by Otani Emiri, Sasaki Maika, Noguchi Iori, and Morohashi Sana. The four sang softly to a graceful choreography using chairs. Next, they performed a cover of a unit song by sister group == ME, and the rare performance drew excited cheers from the audience. Towards the end of this block, Sasaki gave a passionate solo performance of == ME’s popular song, “You Are Sparkle,” and the cheers grew even louder.
At the end of the unit corner, Saito Kirara performed her solo dance number “Kiara Tiara,” capturing the attention of the entire audience with her cool performance with a strong girl crush vibe. Continuing from this flow, the group performed serious numbers such as “Dare na Barezu,” a track from their latest single “Norotte Norotte,” with Sasaki in the center, and the audience was greatly overwhelmed by the members’ realistic expressiveness. Also on the set list was the sad graduation song “Kimi no Daisan Button” from the latest single, with Saito in the center. A huge amount of cherry blossom petals rained down on the members as they sang on the center stage, creating a fantastical sight.
The second half of the show was backed by a virtuoso live band, bringing even more power to the show. The first song performed in this band set block was the title track of the latest single, with Noguchi in the center, “Curse, Curse,” a “dark, ultimate love song” that asks, “I want you to love me more deeply by cursing me.” To the jazzy sound of the band, the members put on a crazy stage using microphone stands.
During their debut song “=LOVE”, leader Anna Yamamoto shouted to the audience, “We will always be equals. I love you all!”, and silver streamers were released in unison. In the following song “Find the Diamond Lily”, the members held up the microphone to the audience from the center stage and encouraged them to sing along with them with smiles, and the audience immediately sang along in unison. The venue was filled with a comfortable sense of happiness.
=LOVE continued their energetic performance even during the encore, never slowing down. Takamatsu Hitomi said with a smile, “Everyone’s cheers and support with their penlights were so amazing that I was so happy and gave it my all!” And just as they were about to move on to their final song, a special video suddenly appeared on the screen in the venue. It was announced that a 7th anniversary concert will be held on September 7th at K Arena Yokohama in Kanagawa Prefecture, the largest capacity venue to date. The audience was excited upon hearing this news. The members also exclaimed in surprise.
Sharing their joy with the entire venue, =LOVE left the stage after singing “Kono Sora ga Trigger”, but then reappeared in front of the audience and surged into a double encore. The final performance of this massive performance was marked by a song that declared their determination to push forward toward their goals, “Egao no Recipe”. After the performance, Yamamoto, who was the center of this song, said with a cheerful voice, “We were able to complete it with all 10 of us!”, appearing to be overcome with emotion, perhaps from the relief of having safely completed their first arena tour.
On the previous day, April 13th, it was announced that the video product of “=LOVE 6th ANNIVERSARY PREMIUM CONCERT” held at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama on October 18th and 19th last year will be released on June 26th this year. As they approach their 7th anniversary, =LOVE will continue to gain momentum and will be attracting a lot of attention.
★4/14 (Sun) =LOVE Arena Tour 2024 “Tell me what’s mora than “LOVE”” @Ariake Arena
[SET LIST]
-Overture-
M1. Junkies
M2. Be Selfish
M3. Weekend Citron
M4. Heroines
-MC-
M5. Tell me what you like about it (Emiri Otani, Maika Sasaki, Iori Noguchi, Sana Morohashi)
M6. Ultra Rare Kiss ※≠ME cover song (Otoshima Risa, Saito Kirara, Yamamoto Anna)
M7. #Officialnit ※≠ME cover song (Emiri Otani, Hana Oba, Shoko Takiwaki, Sana Morohashi)
M8. 2:30 Rokenro ※≠ME cover song (Takamatsu Hitomi, Noguchi Iori)
M9. You are Sparkle ※≠ME cover song (Maika Sasaki)
M10. Kiara Tiara (Saito Juara)
M11. Poison Girl
M12. Kyousou Catastrophe
M13. Without anyone finding out ※B-side of the 16th single “Norotte Norotte” released on 3/6 (Wed)
M14. Your Third Button ※B-side of the 16th single “Norotte Norotte” released on 3/6 (Wed)
M15. Curse, Curse ※16th single title song released on 3/6 (Wed)
M16. I don’t need twin tails
M17. “Drive Date in Tokyo”
M18. Natsumatope
M19. Summer Festival Love
M20. Youth “Subliminal”
M21. =LOVE
-MC-
M22. Search for the Diamond Lily
【ENCORE】
EM1. Get on this ship now!
EM2. Oh! Darling
EM3. “I thought our eyes would never meet during club activities.”
EM4. Make me a princess!
EM5. This sky is a trigger
-MC-
EM6. Recipe for a Smile
★The largest-ever =LOVE 7th anniversary concert, “=LOVE 7th ANNIVERSARY PREMIUM CONCERT” has been announced!
[Date]Saturday, September 7, 2024
[Venue]K Arena Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture
★”=LOVE 6th ANNIVERSARY PREMIUM CONCERT” video product to be released!
It has been decided that the video of “=LOVE 6th ANNIVERSARY PREMIUM CONCERT” held at Saitama Super Arena on October 18th and 19th, 2023 will be released as a video product!
＜Product Overview＞
Title: “=LOVE 6th ANNIVERSARY PREMIUM CONCERT”
Release date: Wednesday, June 26, 2024
■First press limited edition (2 Blu-ray discs)
VVXL-205～206 / ￥10,780 (tax included)
*First press limited edition bonus: 2 random photos from 20 types
■First press limited edition (Blu-ray)
VVXL-207 / ￥7,480 (tax included)
*First press limited edition bonus: 1 random photo from 10 types
■First press limited edition (DVD)
VVBL-205 / ￥6,380 (tax included)
*First press limited edition bonus: 1 random photo from 10 types
★New song “Curse, Curse” Music Video
“Curse me, curse me”
Lyricist: Rino Sashihara
Composer: Kazunari Shirane
Arrangement: APAZZI
Sound Director: Takayuki Yayama (Sony Music)
Recorded by Sony Music Studios Tokyo
(MUSIC VIDEO)
Director: HAN SAMIN (DEXTOR-LAB)
Choreographer: Shoji (s**t kingz)
★Click here to download the 16th single “Curse, Curse”
https://equallove.lnk.to/NorotteNorotte
★Product details for =LOVE’s 16th single “Norotte Norotte” to be released on Wednesday, March 6th can be found here
https://equal-love.jp/discography/detail/92/
★Product details for the video product “=LOVE National Tour 2023 “Today is your Trigger”” to be released on Wednesday, March 27th can be found here
https://equal-love.jp/news/detail/8289
★Profile
An idol group produced by Rino Sashihara. They made their major debut on September 6, 2017 with their first single “=LOVE” from Sony Music. They have released 16 singles so far, all of which have made it into the top 10 of the Oricon weekly single rankings. (Their 6th single “Zuruiyo Zuruine”, 8th single “Seishun Subliminal”, 12th single “Be Selfish”, 14th single “Natsumatope”, and 15th single “Last Note Shika Shiranai” debuted at No. 1. Their first album “Zenbu, Himo.”, released in May 2021, also debuted at No. 1 on the Oricon weekly album rankings.) In October 2023, they will hold the “=LOVE 6th ANNIVERSARY PREMIUM CONCERT” for two days at Saitama Super Arena, their largest venue to date, and will be a huge success.
On Saturday, February 3, 2024, she will start her first arena tour, “=LOVE Arena Tour 2024 “Tell me what’s more than “LOVE”” at Kobe World Memorial Hall (4 venues, 8 performances in total). On Wednesday, March 6, she will release her 16th single, “Norotte Norotte”. The name “=LOVE” is filled with Rino Sashihara’s thoughts that “Idols have to be loved by their fans. And they have to love their job as idols.”
Official websitehttps://equal-love.jp/
Official Xhttps://twitter.com/Equal_LOVE_12
Official YouTube Channel
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