Freestyle Pianist "Kei-chan" starts his Tomeihan Hall Tour with a packed Tokyo show at Tamashin RISURU Hall! Kei-chan's exhilarating piano performance blew away the rainy weather!

The white-walled concert hall with its heavy drapes down. Most of the posters in the foyer announce classical music concerts. It was a rainy Saturday afternoon on June 14, a mixture of sultry heat and cool breeze. It was in such a scene that Keichan's tour of Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka, "Tobu Top Tours Presents Keichan Hall Tour 2025 "Fiaba Sonata"", began.

Perhaps because the performance was held early in the day, many children were present at the Tamashin RISURU Hall, the venue for the event. The curtain rose at the opening time, and the performance began with "Zero Rhapsody" guided by a mechanical voiceover narration. The music is sometimes cold and sharp, and at other times it is soft and tender, reminiscent of the feel of solid wood inside a piano. Kei-chan, dressed in a rough, tailcoat-like style, handled the music comfortably, and the audience applauded and cheered her performance.

The live performance, titled "Fiaba (fairy tale)," will feature Kei-chan, who has a "conductor's stick that can make any sound he can imagine in his head," and will freely and amusingly play with music, from standard numbers to classical music arrangements. The plot is that Kei-chan, who has acquired a "conductor's stick that makes sounds that float in his head," will freely and amusingly play with music, from standard numbers to classical arrangements. Even the classical music in the textbooks will show a new expression when played by Kei-chan, who is not afraid to touch the neighboring keys and is not bound by the "conventions" of the time period or style. The piano responds to the demands of the ten fingers with its large body. When Kei-chan performed the main theme from the movie "Detective Conan: The Last Time I Saw You," which was released this year, the audience applauded the exhilarating melody that emerged from the avant-garde arrangement.

The performance continued smoothly, but then a small incident occurred: just as everyone was watching the performance with bated breath after one song, a loud ringtone of a LINE phone call rang out from the back of the audience seats. The sound was turned off with a panicked look, but the audience looked for the owner of the sound at once. Kei-chan on stage imitated the ringtone on the piano, easing the tense atmosphere and turning it into a brilliant musical variation.

I used to come to Tachikawa when I was a student because my university is nearby. I am standing on this stage with the feeling that I am back as a grown-up pianist. What do you think? It's a performance by an unusual pianist, isn't it?

Kei-chan, a bit shyly, then began the request corner, which is her specialty. She said that she can play all the songs in the world" and asked the audience for three songs they wanted her to play, which she then mashed together. The first song was Beethoven's piano sonata No. 14 "Moonlight," a classical masterpiece in the third movement; the second song was cosMo@Runaway P's "The Disappearance of Hatsune Miku"; the third song was Hideaki Tokunaga's "Rainy Blue," a song Kei-chan was not familiar with, so she asked the audience to sing along to the melody and chords. Keichan was not familiar with the third song, "Rainy Blue," by Hideaki Tokunaga. Watching the arrangement being put together in front of his eyes was like observing the kitchen of a top chef.

The resulting mashup begins with the dramatic opening of "Moonlight. This fast and furious melody, which makes heavy use of its signature continuous beat, flows naturally into "The Disappearance of Hatsune Miku. The atmosphere of "Rainy Blue" is very different from these two songs, and the momentary affinity between the chords is connected by "Moonlight" to a sometimes rainy, jazzy arrangement. The two songs with very different tempos were beautifully woven together to make the audience say, "This is how it's going to be! Kei-chan received a huge ovation as she played through the piece, weaving it together beautifully.

Once the request corner was over, the fun live performance came to an end. Kei-chan's smoky overtones swayed, and when she played with the looper, she took one hand off the piano, then both hands, to frighten the audience. We will have to wait until the next shows in Osaka and Nagoya to see if the "acrobatic playing" shown at the Tokyo show will also be performed at those venues.

How was it? Actually, we've only got two more songs to go today. They say a good time should be a little short.

After playing ten or so songs, Kei-chan took the microphone with a clear voice, and naturally, the audience voiced their dissatisfaction with his declarations. The audience chimed in, but their voices were mixed, and Kei-chan chuckled, "I'm sorry, I don't understand what you're saying, not even one person.

With her back turned to the audience for the last time, Kei-chan used a conductor's baton to call in an imaginary orchestra, which continued to drop "√Future" and "√Advent". The dramatic development of the song was clear in its intense and precise series of strikes, and the lighting conveyed to the audience a visual representation of an unrestrained mind being released through the keyboard. These two songs packed freestyle pianist Kei-chan with all the skill and melody that people demanded. Standing up to the cheers of the audience, Kei-chan released the final strike and left the stage, clapping his hands himself and inviting an encore.

Kei-chan appeared again in his tour shirt for an encore, and with a light wave of his hand, walked up to the piano and began to play the melody of "Rainy Blue". What started out as a mere sound gradually grew into a different musical idea, incorporating fragments of several other songs, until it became a magnificent storm of sound.

After playing the songs as if they were nothing, Kei-chan introduced the tour goods with a light joke. She reported that an additional performance of her symphony reading "Beethoven: Symphony of the Soul" had been decided, and announced the big news that the overseas tour would be held. I would like to finally spread my wings to the world," said Kei-chan, whose first overseas performance will take place in Korea in September.

I know you are all very happy now, but I would like to conclude with one last song. Please stand, if you would."

His tone was polite, but his actions were bold. The audience was on their feet and toweling in the dazzling lights when the band performed "World & Me," for which they themselves had drawn the score on the back of their tour shirts. There, far beyond the traditional barriers established by the classical music world, the audience was simply intoxicated by the skill of the musicians, clapping their hands in the air, smiling to the touch of the beautiful music, and dancing to their hearts' content.

Amidst thunderous applause, Kei-chan bowed deeply, threw a modest kiss, and left the stage. The tour will continue to Osaka International House in Osaka on Sunday, June 22, and to the Nihon Tokushu Toryo Shimin Kaikan in Nagoya on Saturday, August 23.

Photo: Hisashi Mori
Text: Sayaka Ando