Puffy Live In Hawaii!!!

Puffy Yumi and Ami Hit The Stage in  Honolulu Tonight!

Ahhhh, I got to see another one of my favorite j-pop artists from my golden age tonight, this time Ami Onuki and Yumi Yoshimura, better known as the eccentric and electric duo PUFFY, who were in Hawaii as the “Official Supporter” for the Honolulu Festival this weekend! Seems they always invite a J-pop act to perform at this yearly event, and my friend Sabu, who was lamenting that he’d missed last year’s act ULFULS, asked if I wanted to go check out THIS year’s act, the wonderful Puffy & Co. and I said SURE! 

Honolulu Rainbow Ekiden Announcement

 Readers of this blog know of my love for Puffy with articles on both their debut single and their TV appearances, and though I admit I haven’t been keeping up with what they’ve done recently, back in their early years I bought every album and single they made! 

My PUFFY Collection

As most of you know, Puffy made a splash here in America with their songs from shows like Teen Titans and their own Hi Hi Puffy Amiyumi so I expected that they’d foucs more on those songs, the ones that the kids and younger fans would know. As far as their older hits,  I didn’t think they’d sing my favorite single “Asia No Junshin”, but was sure they’d sing at LEAST “Kore ga Watashi no Ikiru Michi” as that seemed to be their “signature” song of sorts!

 After a few opening acts (rap duo Hilchryme and crowd-rousers Mongol500) who both did half hour sets, it was time to see my girls PUFFY in the flesh for the first time! And MAN, from the moment they came out, they were as sweet, fun and nutty as I’d expected them to be, and I have to say I spent quite awhile disbelieving I was actually seeing them right in front of me singing!! They sang with a rocking live band, and each and every song was jangly and catchy and bouncing, though, true to form, I didn’t recognize a lot of their newer songs. Gomen Ne, Ami and Yumi!!

 Puffy’s stage was dubbed a “Mini-Concert” in the promotions, and sure enough their set lasted exactly a half an hour with about eight or nine tunes fit into the timeframe. I was surprised when they sang “Nagisa, Matsubara, Etc” as I thought it was a lesser known song, but I LOVE this song and sang right along with the crowd (I remember yelling at the top of my lungs the line SUGOI LUCKY GIRLLL!!!”!!

And then when I didn’t think it could get better, the girls came to their final song, and as soon as I heard the synthesizer intro, I leapt up in my seat and yelled at my friend, “THEY’RE DOING ASIA NO JUNSHINNN!!!!” Aw MAN, what an awesome way to end the concert, rocking out to the song that introduced my to the girls all those years ago (20 years!) and singing with the crowd the lyrics I love so much!

Such a great little concert and my friend mused, “So who do you think they’ll bring here for NEXT year’s Festival? What about...Chisato Moritaka, perhaps…?” Oh MAN, I just couldn’t wrap my head around something like THAT! But one can cross fingers and hope, right?!
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com