''2004 Arashi! Iza, Now Tour!!'' is the fourth video album by Japanese boy band

Arashi is a Japanese boy band consisting of five members formed under the Johnny & Associates talent agency. The members are Satoshi Ohno, Sho Sakurai, Masaki Aiba, Kazunari Ninomiya, and Jun Matsumoto. Arashi officially formed on September 15, 199 ...

. It was released by J Storm on January 1, 2005 and contains concert footage from their Iza, Now Tour, filmed at

Yokohama Arena is an indoor arena located in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. The capacity of the arena is 17,000 and was opened in 1989. The arena was modeled after US sports venue Madison Square Garden in New York City. It is a five-minute walk from the ...

Yokohama is the List of cities in Japan, second-largest city in Japan by population as well as by area, and the country's most populous Municipalities of Japan, municipality. It is the capital and most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a popu ...

, Japan on August 3, 2004. The video album peaked at number three on the

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that ...

DVD chart. It was certified Gold by the

Recording Industry Association of Japan The is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved in the music industry. It was founded in 1942 as the Japan Phonogram Record Cultural Association, and adopted its current name in 1969. The RIAJ's activities include pro ...

(RIAJ) in June 2006.

Background and release

Arashi's fourth summer concert tour, the Iza, Now Tour, promoted their fourth studio album, '' Iza, Now!''. From late-July to late-August, the band played in front of 300,000 people throughout Japan. The concert was recorded on August 3, 2004 at

, watched by a crowd of 17,000. Five months later, the video was released in Japan by J Storm. Backstage footage of the band arriving and departing from each venue, and the MC, a short customary talk during the intermission, was included as a bonus feature on the second disc. It was released in Taiwan on August 14, 2009.

Commercial performance

''2004 Arashi! Iza, Now Tour!!'' debuted at number three on the

DVD chart, with 67,000 copies sold in its first week. In June 2006, it was certified Gold by the RIAJ for shipments of 100,000 units. In 2010, it reached number 49 on the Oricon year-end Music DVD chart. The release charted for 326 weeks and went on to sell over 211,000 copies. In 2019, after Arashi announced a halt in activities, the video re-entered the Oricon DVD chart, peaking at number 48 on the date ending February 11, 2019.

Track listing

Tour

Concert synopsis

Typical of any Johnny's concerts, Iza Now Tour included extravagant sets and

stage design Scenic design, also known as stage design or set design, is the creation of scenery for theatrical productions including Play (theatre), plays and Musical theatre, musicals. The term can also be applied to film and television productions, wher ...

. The main stage consist of a large half

globe A globe is a spherical Earth, spherical Model#Physical model, model of Earth, of some other astronomical object, celestial body, or of the celestial sphere. Globes serve purposes similar to maps, but, unlike maps, they do not distort the surface ...

structure that opens up for Arashi's entrance to new songs or different sets while huge

LED A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light (corresp ...

screens displayed close-ups of the performances or graphics as added effect. The small adjoining

walkway In American English, walkway is a composite or umbrella term for all engineered surfaces or structures which support the use of trails. '' The New Oxford American Dictionary'' also defines a walkway as "a passage or path for walking along, esp. ...

were constructed of inflatable material that made them bounce while walking on it. There was also a concave walkway that was at eye level with a part of the

arena An arena is a large enclosed venue, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, Music, musical performances or Sport, sporting events. It comprises a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for specta ...

area audience. Raising platforms and cranes were also used so that the Arashi members will be able to get closer to the audience on the second floor. Variety of themes can be observed for different parts of the set list. The first set of performance (Overture, Jam, Gori Muchuu, Pikanchi and Pikanchi Double) were presented in futuristic themed wardrobes in addition with use of

pyrotechnics Pyrotechnics is the science and craft of creating fireworks, but also includes safety matches, oxygen candles, Pyrotechnic fastener, explosive bolts (and other fasteners), parts of automotive airbags, as well as gas-pressure blasting in mining, q ...

and lights. The setting changed dramatically to an African

safari A safari (; originally ) is an overland journey to observe wildlife, wild animals, especially in East Africa. The so-called big five game, "Big Five" game animals of Africa – lion, African leopard, leopard, rhinoceros, African elephant, elep ...

like set for Horizon, accompanied by an army of camouflaged Johnny's Junior (back up dancers). The songs for this set (Horizon, Dangan-Liner and ''Nemuranai Karada'') were

remix A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...

ed in accordance with the African theme. Performance of Lucky Man right to Eyes With Delight was done in a laid back manner. Eyes With Delight was recorded in multiple angles focusing on each member plus one edited shots of all of them together. Strumming of a Spanish guitar commenced the beginning of a new rendition of Tomadoi Nagara in a slower beat and acoustic Spanish influenced sound. The beautiful ballad was performed with images of

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

reflected on the screen in the background. ''Kimi Wa Sukoshimo Warukunai'' which was a pure pop song was upgraded with

flamenco Flamenco () is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the Gitanos, gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and Region of Murcia, ...

beat resulting to a fresh new arrangement. Arashi who were dressed in dark magenta suits with lace finishing, danced the flamenco while the fangirls screamed in approval. After the solos by Ninomiya and Matsujun, Arashi performed a rock remixed version of their hit song ''"A Day in Our Life"''. An energetic dance performance of ''"RIGHT BACK TO YOU"'' follows. The dance was performed on an elevated stage. The set of songs after that consist of happy songs setting the mood before they bid their farewells.

External links

Product information

References

{{Arashi Arashi video albums 2005 video albums 2000s live video albums 2005 live albums Arashi live albums Japanese-language live albums Japanese-language video albums 2000s Japanese-language albums J Storm live albums J Storm video albums