Flow In Argentina, “Naruto night”

Flow live at Buenos Aires, celebrating the music from the Naruto series and demonstrating that anime wasn’t just a phase.

As we all know, Naruto, the anime series, dug deep into every fan of ‘shonen’ animations. Alongside Dragon Ball Z, One Piece, and Bleach, Naruto is a must-watch, and with these kinds of series, every time comes badass opening songs.
This time, we’re attending a Flow concert, a Japanese band that composed some of the most remembered ones.
The band is actually on their biggest tour ever, playing in lots of cities for the first time ever and returning to those places that already enjoyed their performances before. Argentina is one of the lucky ones that had the honour of having them perform 4 times before, and now it’s time for the fifth one.
The band arrived at Groove, in Palermo town, on July 2nd. This big tour is really special, because it honours only the music from Naruto. Flow composed songs for many other anime series, like Code Geass, and even the 2013 Dragon Ball Z movie ‘Battle of the Gods'”. But this tour is just for Naruto lovers.
And it was totally in plain sight, as I saw a room full of cosplayers, disguising themselves as their favourite character from the series. And beyond the music, it felt like a massive reunion of fans, who met each other to talk about Naruto. A big feeling of community inside Groove was growing.
The band came onstage at 9 pm and started their set with “Haruka Kanata”, the well-known cover from Asian Kung Fu Generation, one of the first openings on the anime; followed by “Viva Rock” and “Re: member”, the 8th opening.
On the back screen, scenes from Naruto joined every song; Keigo said that they are actually the only band in the world with total permission to use the real footage.
The setlist continued with “Yura Yura”, “Hero’s Come Back”, “Nagareboshi Shooting Star” and “Blue Bird”, one of the highlights of the night. 
Everyone was singing loudly, and the band loved it; they even earned an “Olé Olé” that Koshi recorded with his cellphone.
“Closer” was next, and then a collective heartbreak, the screen playing the scene where Jiraiya was murdered by Pain, as the crowd shouted in unison. It was followed by “Sign” in a ballad version, where piano tape was played in the background while Keigo and Koshi sang on it.
Then “Niji No Sora” from Naruto Shippuden, and the “Member Shoukai” where everyone showed their skills, starting with Hiroshi on drums, playing some fills, joined later by Kotaro on bass, who slapped it really hard and created some juicy grooves. After that, Takeshi appeared onstage, not to play a guitar solo, but with a full-body light disguise to make the crowd dance along with him.

Photos by Juan Bertuggia

Review by Agustin Lopez

Produced Noiseground