iri's last one-man show in Tokyo this year, "iri Presents ONEMAN SHOW "East/West,"" featuring a new song "Pick you up," was a great success.

Singer-songwriter iri held a solo live "iri Presents ONEMAN SHOW "East/West"" in Tokyo at the Tokyo Garden Theater on Thursday, November 28.

In 2024, iri performed at a number of large summer festivals including Fuji Rock Festival '24, ROCK IN JAPAN FESTIVAL 2024, and 30th Sunset Live 2024, as well as the first Nippon Budokan concert in the eight years since her debut. Although she has not released an album, she has released four singles including "Swamp," the theme song for her first terrestrial TV drama, and has collaborated with Hanaregumi and TAIKING of Suchmos. Producer Grooveman Spot took the stage as the opening DJ before the show began, filling the venue with superb R&B spun from two turntables.

　And to continue the pleasant flow, the band members consisting of Natsuhiko Muraoka on keyboards and George (Mop of Head) on manipulation/electronics, Shige Murata (Kuchi-Roro) on bass, Ken Yamashita on drums, and Ikuya Takemura (Yogee New Waves/ampel) on guitar appeared on stage. The live performance of the day began with the appearance of iri singing along to the mellow groove of "Never end" that they created. The tension built up as they seamlessly connected songs from "breaking dawn," a spacy funk number that evokes the transitions of time and emotion, to the gentle dance track "CAKE" and the twinkling of an eye "Sparkle.

As I checked out the venue's layout, with seating up to the fourth floor surrounding the stage, Iri, guitar in hand, said, "It looks a little like the Budokan, doesn't it? We've just started, can you all make it? The first song was "Swamp," a cross between rock and hip-hop. The song was a new innovation with a heavy sound that was a cross between rock and hip-hop. The band then kicked it up a notch with "Skyscraper," a song filled with urban vibrancy, and "Run," a liquid funk tune released on the day of the Nippon Budokan concert, as if they were running through the crowd.

After a relaxed MC, the band played "Girls Talk" from their second album "Juice". After the song, a funk-rock song "Freaking" with guest Rei, the band played a personal scene on a groove that conveyed the temperature of everyday life. Fueled by an eye-opening guitar solo, the first half peaked with the gospel soul "24-25" accompanied by handclaps from the audience, which quickly rose in voltage.

In the second half of the concert, which began with "I want to see you," an unusually long hit song, with guitar in hand, the singer-songwriter-like "Night Groove" and "Corner" projected inner fluctuations in the mellow waves of sound that followed. After a reminiscent MC reminiscing about the live performances in 2024 including the Budokan, iri performed "miracle," an authentic R&B number that she had not performed in a while, and "Season," a song with a lively Latin manner on the piano. She has been performing throughout the year, so she must be feeling warm and relaxed in her home venue, her own one-man show. She began with the words, "I'm sure you all practiced this song on the last tour, so you can sing it, can't you? The audience sang along to "Wonderland," a song that has been certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan, and the venue became one. Then, as if saying to himself, "Let's keep your own rhythm," the opening DJ performed "rhythm," followed by "Pick you up," a fresh house track produced by grooveman Spot and created for this one-man live, as the last song of the main event. The last song of the show was "Pick you up. The song contained the message that iri was going to "pick up" her fans from all over Japan, and another message that iri was going to "pick up" herself from the past, The song was played with the comfort of where iri is now and where she stands.

For the encore, iri sang "hug" with straight vocals and a simple band arrangement while thanking her fans for their support over the past year. After this invigorating one-man live concert, a reunion with iri with new music is sure to be right around the corner in 2025.

TEXT: Yu Onoda
PHOTO: Seitaro Tanaka