MORRIE not only played his own works, but also covered David Bowie and Joni Mitchell during the finale of his second one-man tour.
MORRIE held his second one-man tour SOLITUDE Season 2 from November 1st through 21st, about half a year on from the previous season. As with the last tour, each of the performances was given its own episode number and title. The finale of Season 2, episode number ten, bore the name Death is the plan, the plan is Nothingness.
MORRIE chose the same venue he had the finale of the previous season. Fans gathered in the intimate all-seater venue, and they welcomed their icon as he appeared onstage wearing an eye patch. Fortunately, his right eye was almost fully recovered from a corneal abrasion. MORRIE drank from a glass of water, rolled up his sleeves, and stepped on his effector pedal a few times in the silent venue. Soon after, the clear and gentle strumming of his guitar introduced fans to the opening song Spring Insane. The grace and transparency of his high-toned voice and falsetto drew fans into his metaphysical mindscape, and they gazed at this iconic figure illuminated in the darkness while his fingers kept on plucking the guitar’s strings.
MORRIE continued with Kanpeki na sora and Unchained. The artist showed his unpredictable nature by suddenly speaking to fans during Unchained. “Sometimes, I have a dream of myself getting killed and I wake up from it when I am just about to die”, he said, his tone unusually casual for such an ominous statement. Afterwards, he revealed that both songs were dedicated to the same person, the one he referred as his ‘eternal existence’. “There is a time gap of 22 years from Kanpeki na sora to Unchained. I must be a single-minded person”, said MORRIE. The artist was free to be himself onstage. Laughter rose when he rebuked his guitar effector before he started with Killing Me Beautiful. During the song, his glamorous voice projected his reverie into his desert-like mindscape and the presence of this ‘eternal existence’ of his.
MORRIE took an acoustic guitar and spoke about the song he was about to cover: David Bowie’s classic Space Oddity. The song was initially released in 1969, a few days before the spacecraft Apollo 11 landed on the moon. “I listened to the song on the radio when I was a primary school kid. I recorded it and listened to the song many times”, he recalled. Then, MORRIE sang a dramatic song of the last moments of an astronaut, alone in the universe. Continuing to show different sides of himself, he played DEAD END’s ominous Sinen and Anohito ni au, a love song from his solo career. MORRIE later played Creature Creature’s Andromeda, in which the arpeggios of his acoustic guitar created a cosmic atmosphere. Then, the artist’s voice projected images of solitary journey through the universe while his precise guitar technique controlled delicate modulations throughout the song.
After the last guitar note left fans awed, MORRIE spoke about another song he was going to cover: Joni Mitchell’s Woodstock. “I’ve been listening to Joni Mitchell since this summer. She’s the best singer I’ve ever known. Her guitar sound is like the wind and it makes me wonder, how does she take the rhythm?” He switched to an electric guitar for this song, and he mesmerized fans by singing the song in his otherworldly voice. The show closed with Atowa Notonare Yamatonare. “Until there is nothing anymore”, MORRIE sang out before finishing the number with his final guitar stroke.
During the encore, MORRIE made an announcement about his birthday live, to held at Tokyo Kinema Club on March 4th, 2016. “It would be great to have a solo live in Nippon Budokan”, he continued, and fans responded to the remark with laughter. Shortly after, MORRIE wrapped up SOLITUDE Season2 with DEAD END’s Luna Madness. “Thank you. See you again,” said MORRIE amid an ovation from the audience, showing their appreciation for over two hours of musical rapture.
Set List
01. Spring Insane
02. Sign
03. Kanpeki na sora
04. Unchained
05. Last day
06. Go Under
07. Killing Me Beautiful
08. Space Oddity
09. Sinen
10. Anohito ni au
11. Andromeda
12. Woodstock
13. Ataraxia
14. Atowa Notonare Yamatonare
Encore
01. Luna Madness
