Japan Day Festival details

Halcali are set to play at Japan Day in Central Park, New York on June 1st.

Official site

The festival is free and goes from 10am until 5pm, with Halcali performing as part of the 'cool Japan' segement from 3:15.

Unfortunately, they'll be sharing a bill with the utterly awful Gaijin a Go Go, who, oddly enough for a slot entitled 'cool Japan', are from Brooklyn.

As ever, we're relying on those who go for information for those who can't make it!

Halcali's ACEN setlist/audio/New York gig info!

(Picture courtesy of Novaforever)

Details have emerged about Halcali's Chicago ACEN gig and it sounded like it was amazing. Thankfully even those of us who couldn't make it can still experience some of the goodness, as here is a fan made recording of the gig! It's bootleg quality, but certainly good enough. Best of all, they finish the set with a new song!

Halcali at ACEN


Setlist (May 16th):

1. It’s Party Time
2. Marching March
3. Girl! Girl! Girl!
4. Sister Ship
5. Check!! Check!! It!
6. Tip Taps Tip
7. Endless Lovers Rain
8. Giri Giri Surfrider
9. Wakakusa Dance
10. Halcali No Michi

Encore:
11. Twinkle Star
12. New Song: Zig Zag Saturday Night

I'm liking this new tune a lot. It sounds like Halcali doing, and enjoying, exactly what they do best. It's getting stuck in my head already! Come on let's get it released!

As if all this wasn't enough, there is a bit more Halcali news to share- apparently they will be playing a gig in Central Park New York on June 1st at the Japan Festival! Good news if you're in the area! I'm nowhere near it, so I (like all the other fans dotted around the globe) will be turning to whoever can make it for pictures and any other information.

UPDATE:

Setlist for May 17th:

1. It’s Party Time
2. Koi no Bububun
3. Marching March
4. Girl! Girl! Girl!
5. Zig Zag Saturday Night
6. Sister Ship
7. Check!! Check!! It!
8. Tip Taps Tip
9. Endless Lovers Rain
10. Giri Giri Surfrider
11. A One Two
12. Wakakusa Dance
13. Halcali Michi

Encore:
1. Twinkle Star
2. Tandem
3. Continued

Another great set with a varied mix of singles, album tracks and b-sides.


************************

Thanks to everyone who left comments and shared impressions of the gig! Here are a couple of excellent write-ups of the the event.

Here's a great one from EternalSin: An Essay on my Impressions of Halcali at ACEN Anime Central.

Here's one from Novaforever: The Best Weekend of My Life. Be sure to take a look at the great photos too! Speaking of which...


PHOTOS:

Check out the t-shirts Nova got the girls to sign here and here (love those Cyborg designs!)

Some more Halcali at ACEN pictures here and here! (From EternalSin)

Another great set can be found right here (From Mokona.)

Finally, here are some of Halcali and Peelander-Z together (From EternalSin, taken by Ryan)


If you went to the event and took any pictures yourself, we'd love to see them!

Halcali play in France again!

Official site

6月21日は「夏至の日」。
一年中で一番日が長いこの日は、フランスでは１９８０年代から「音楽の日」と呼ばれており、
フランス全土にわたって、ミュージシャンたちが街中で演奏をする。
ここにHALCALIが日本代表で招聘されました。

The 21st of June is summer solstice. This is the longest day of the year and in France this day has been known as 'music day' since the 1980's, and musicians perform in cities all across the country. Halcali have been invited to France as representatives of Japan.

This gig will be held at the Japan Culture Centre in Paris on the 20th and 21st of June. It will be free entry, but you must contact the centre and reserve a ticket- although seating looks to be unreserved. Both gigs start at 8pm.

Great to see Halcali back in Europe. I guess their last trip in January (where they also played that gig to record execs) went well enough for them to get sponsored for another journey out there.

Still, isn't it odd that out of all the Japanese bands who, frankly, enjoy much better sales and popularity, Halcali should be chosen as the representatives (daihyo) of Japan?

With their Chicago gig coming up this weekend too, it's probably already fair to say that Halcali are experiencing equal popularity both at home and abroad now. Although that still isn't very much, it does ease my fears a little bit about them being dropped from their label. If Sony have managed to secure them even a small foothold abroad, that should be enough for them to want their relationship with the girls to continue.

Still, every time I see Perfume in a magazine or hear them on the radio I think "why on earth isn't it Halcali in this position now?"

UPDATE:
Just as I was typing that up, the site got updated again with news of yet another France gig!

This one is a couple of days later on the 23rd of June at The European Centre for Japanese Studies in Alsace. This is another free gig and it will also start at 8pm.

Anyone thinking of getting out to any of any of these shows?

Details on Halcali's free Tokyo gig

Yesterday afternoon Halcali played a free outdoor gig as part of the (scroll down a couple of posts). Here are details on the setlist taken from the Tokyo Midtown Showcase Halcali thread on 2ch.

「It's Party Time！」
「LOOK」
「endless lover's rain」
「伝説の二人/Dentetsu No Futari」
「愛/Ai」
「コンティニュード/Continued」

After the poster writing that they thought they played another too, the next poster says they also played check!! check!! it!!

Sounds like I missed another great gig! I love how, despite it being a short set played to a number of people who were probably new to Halcali, they still don't simply roll out a 'greatest hits' type set, and instead went for a much more thoughtful, mid-tempo set built around regular album tracks, b-sides and other obscurities. Quite right too- both Dentetsu and Continued are classic Halcali!

Did anyone else make it to the gig?

p.s Although the 2ch link I provided is safe for work, often 2ch has dodgy content that probably isn't. Being totally unmoderated, most of the content is garbage anyway, but you should definitely exercise a bit of caution, especially when clicking on a link over there.

p.p.s Just read this on another post on the same 2ch thread

タンデムのTシャツを着た外国人もいた。
There was also a foreigner there wearing a Tandem t-shirt.

Come on, own up, that was you wasn't it?!

Happy birthday Haruka!

Who turned an impressive 20 years old today (21/04)! Old enough for alcohol in Japan, but not quite there yet for America, so watch out at Anime Central!

Halcali play free Tokyo gig/4th album teaser!

Halcali will play a free outdoor gig as part of the Tokyo Midtown Showcase on May 4th. The show will be held at 2:00pm in front of Midtown Vision (presumably a giant TV screen?!).

On their profile on the Midtown official site, after mentioning all their recent (Europe) and upcoming (America) activity (including stating that the French version of Cyborg Oretachi was released over there in February- except to my knowledge it still hasn't been released), they end by saying,

同時に並行して4枚目のアルバムにむけてレコーディング準備中。
At the same time (as all this activity) they are working on recordings that will go towards their 4th album.

Considering we've been totally dry of any new recording/release information for what feels like ages now, this is great to know!

Thanks to Patrick for the reminder!

Pictures from Springroove

Last night (5th) Halcali played a set at the Springroove 08 festival, and the official site has updated with pictures- including a few of H and Y.

We might have to wait until someone over at 2ch posts a setlist to know what they played, but as you can see from the pictures (take a look at the 'attractions and audience' bit at the bottom too) the event was absolutely massive.

Some more great exposure for Halcali no doubt, but the rest of us are still drumming our fingers impatiently waiting for a few new songs. It's now been about 10 months since It's Party Time, and the gap isn't getting any shorter!

UPDATE: According to Yukari's blog, they played a 30 minute set. Still in the dark about the set-list though.