These photos are from the official live report and I really wish there were more! Loved TEEDA‘s hoodie top by the way:

And this is a map of the entire venue – BACK-ON was right in the heart of everything!

Icchan and Kenji03 certainly look as though they were enjoying themselves (see Icchan‘s full blog post):

Finally, to give you an idea of what the atmosphere is like at this massive music festival, take a look at the official Attractions & Audience photos and videos from Osaka – we’ve included a few below:

With warm thanks again to MONSTERSNITE for the news, it is probably the first time the band’s live performance of any of their songs has been released as a DVD! We have seen a few standalone recordings (on Youtube) and even in the BLAZE LINE PV, but nothing like this, although some of us BOO Forum folk would love to have a dedicated DVD!

The DVD will have a Retail Price of ¥ 7,140 and a running time of approximately 240 minutes (4 hours?) . According to this post by Anoop Gantayat on AndriaSang.com :

This is a “set” in that it contains two DVDs, one each for the afternoon and evening versions of the June 14 show. Buyers can look forward to talk shows and skits, much of which differed depending on the showing. In addition, the set will include bonus promotional footage, specifics about which have yet to be shared.

I only wish that the release date wasn’t so far away, but at least we have got BACK-ON‘s European debut at Connchi in Germany to look forward to in September. And before I forget – if you haven’t already heard – we are organising a GIGANTIC FANBOOK PROJECT for the band by fans. All ideas and fans are welcome so please do come and participate if you can!

The band announced on BACK-ON.com that the European version of YES!!! (a.k.a YES!!! EU Edition)  would be available online directly from Amazon France for 20.95 EUR (= $30 USD = £18 GBP) and you can see the CD cover design below:

BACK-ON – YES!!! [EU Edition] Cover

The news release stated that the tracklisting for this European edition of the album would be the same as its Japanese counterpart, with the only difference in the design cover. In case you’ve forgotten what the original YES!!! looked like, take a look below:

Some fans might just prefer the EU Edition as it features all the BACK-ON band members :) Which one do you like best?

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

The CD has been released through the French-based record label Wasabi Records, which also has rather big name artists such as Anna Tsuchiya, OLIVIA, Kanon Wakeshima, Yuki Kajiura and m.o.v.e on their books; the record label even have their own Myspace and Facebook, and according to Mimu-net.net, Wasabi Records announced that they had signed BACK-ON way back in September 2008!

Hopefully we can find out more information about the release soon – which was out on 10th June 2009 according to Asia-Tik – (although Amazon.fr has a dispatch time of 2-3 weeks at the moment, it might be possible to find it elsewhere)  but in the meantime, if you haven’t already got a copy of BACK-ON‘s debut album YES!!!, perhaps the EU Edition will tempt you. It would certainly be interesting to find out which CD cover design you prefer as well with our poll, so please do vote!

p/s: Heads up to ookami for inspiring the poll idea! Don’t forget you can also listen to most of the tracks from YES!!! on our fan radio (scroll towards the bottom of the Music page) now with a new ‘pop-out’ function so you can listen whilst browsing the rest of the fan site.

The festival is a celebration of the Tales of series, as well as an event for announcing forthcoming new games. This year’s festival was held on 14th June 2009 and BACK-ON were invited to perform flyaway and Re:Start, songs that most fans will know as the OP and ED (respectively) theme songs from Tales of the World : Radiant Mythology 2.

According to various reports, they wow’d the audience with their thrilling renditions of both songs:  Gpara said that ‘they single handedly roused the crowd’ during their performance.

BACK-ON later invited Ito Kanae (伊藤かな恵) – Kanonno Earhart‘s seiyuu – who featured in the flyaway [Tales of] remix – to join them onstage; she was too nervous to actually sing in front of the crowd.

BACK-ON with Ito Kanae courtesy of Gpara

The photos are courtesy of Gpara.com,  Dengeki.com and Famitsu.com, and you can view them in full by visiting the Tales of Festival 2009 section of the Gallery.

p/s: Although BACK-ON have posted a photo of the event,  Icchan and Kenji03 also talked briefly about the event in their official blog, they did manage to get hold of some nice programmes!

photo by ooishi nami

p/s2: For fans wanting to know more about the new Tales of games that were announced at the Festival, please visit the dedicated Tales of fansite Abyssal Chronicles for detailed information.

This is definitely the first time that BACK-ON has ever reached the Top 10 of any Oricon charts as themselves (they did reach #1 with Ashiato – their collaboration with GReeeeN – as part of BAReeeeeeeeeeN) and it seems that Oricon is finally recognising the achievements of BACK-ON, and have featured them in this week’ s RANKING パラダイス (RANKING Paradise)!

This news comes courtesy of Sesshy, who posted all the details on our fan forums right here, and even included an annotated screenshot of BACK-ON on the frontpage (yes, frontpage) of Oricon.co.jp. The programme, RANKING Paradise, which is hosted by Yui Kanno and Brother TOM also features a group of 5 girls known as Ranpara Girls. You can watch the full video (there are quite a few Pocky ads and random mini-clips) by visiting:

http://tv.oricon.co.jp/ranpara/

Unfortunately we don’t really understand (fully) what is being asked during the Q&A between the hosts and BACK-ON, but there were certainly plenty of laughs and every single member of BACK-ON made a contribution.

Some of the things that did happen:

• Icchan was asked to describe what GReeeeN were like, to which he replied ‘GReeeeN are like kind older brothers’;
• The band were also asked what GReeeeN actually looked like – a very normal question given that they’re still ‘anonymous’ – and in the end, Teeda was asked to draw a picture of their face!
• Gori had to talk about what ‘type’ he liked (a lot of laughter here)

Oh and as Sesshy said… if you are wondering what everyone is holding in the photo above, they are inflatable Pocky. :) Hopefully we can find out what they actually said at some point, but in the meantime, do click on the link above and watch the video!

The PV, which was uploaded by raykennedy, is 3:56 minutes in length and features BACK-ON performing on a sunny beach and in a dark industrial warehouse with various background images of urban buildings panning in and out. Very interesting camera work imho and it is definitely a must watch for the song AND the video! The director is none other than 須永秀明 (Hideaki Sunaga) who also directed BACK-ON‘s Sands of time PV!

You can watch the PV by clicking on the direct link below or after the cut (as usual):

http://www.veoh.com/videos/v17144930HrJcS5sk

and if you would prefer to watch it in HQ on Youtube courtesy of funkeejap (original by Sok) please visit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kf06dyEmR9o

Now you can even watch the subbed version of the PV (with karaoke effect) with thanks to BenBoomZ right here (in HQ as well):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Md6ukDBj7dY

You can also download the mp3 (PV rip courtesy of Sok) or download the PV (courtesy of Umm) or even view some of the quick photo stills of the PV that we have uploaded to our Flickr account:

Or feel free to peruse some of the ‘PV offshots’ or ‘behind the scenes’ photos taken by Ooishi Nami from BACK-ON‘s official website gallery below by visiting our fansite gallery:

BACK-ON – flyaway PV uploaded by raykennedy on Veoh

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BACK-ON – flyaway PV uploaded by funkeejap (original by Sok)on Youtube

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BACK-ON – flyaway PV (Subbed with karaoke effect) uploaded by BenBoomZ on Youtube

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Brand new BACK-ON.com – flyaway version

It appears to be a TV ‘spot’ ad that is currently playing to people across Japan (we hope!) to promote the new single, but the video was quite small, although we were all very excited to hear a clip of the chorus. However, in the meantime, it turns out that AbyssalChronicles has actually uploaded this clip for everyone to watch on Youtube!

Click on the link below to ‘watch it in high quality’ directly on Youtube!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRHvCLCaOzs

Alternatively you can still watch the ‘normal’ version at the end of this post. For the sake of better graphics in particular, I would really recommend watching it on Youtube directly!

And on a quick side note, JUICE magazine did a quick preview for the new BACK-ON single, and the author seems to say that the theme of this single was:

Friendship & Courage (友情や勇気)

Hope you all enjoy watching the preview! :) Like some others, I am very excited by how good the songs sounds from the clip, and aside from the surprise that the lyrics for the single might already be available online, I can’t wait till we hear the song in full!

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The images we have all been waiting since the news hint of the new single, flyaway, were the CD covers for both the standard or normal flyaway single cover (shown first) AND the limited edition ‘Tales‘ version:

As the news update from Sound Ex put it:

“Even though it’s not “Back-On’s style, I REALLY love the covers.“

I would have to agree wholeheartedly with the latter statement, especially as I also love the covers too (why are the images so tantalisingly small!?) and I am sure you feel the same too (especially fans of the PSP series: Tales of the World – if you weren’t already aware of the news, BACK-ON is writing the OP and ED theme music for the brand new game Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2) although if I were to really ‘look’ for any similarities to BACK-ON‘s previous CD cover designs, I would say that the cursive writing reminds me of Chain, one of BACK-ON‘s earliest singles, which features that nice italic-cursive-style as well.

Anyway, before I digress further, let us move on to the tracklisting. The question we were all (at least several of us?) dying to know was whether the limited/Tales edition of the CD would include anything extra – Chain, for instance, did not – but as the official BACK-ON website confirmed (screenshot), there is an additional track called: flyaway 『テイルズ オブ』Remix or flyaway (Tales of) Remix!

So the official tracklisting is as follows (with the Remix version only available with the limited/Tales edition):

1. flyaway
2. where is the future?
3. Re:Start
4. (flyaway 『テイルズ オブ』Remix)

And if it wasn’t clear before,

flyaway is the OP and
where is the future? is the ED

for the game, although it’s a little beyond me at the moment why the remix version is called flyaway (Tales of) Remix rather than just flyaway (Tales) Remix , but according to the info on BACK-ON.com, the remix is a:

スペシャルヴァージョン (Special version) as it involves the voice cast behind the main characters of the game and also some of the background music (BGM) that features during the battles!

You can watch some of the trailer videos at the official Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2 website but seeing as the musical styles of the BGM and BACK-ON‘s usual musical style is really quite different, it will be VERY interesting to hear this remix imho! Of course, one mustn’t lose sight of the fact there are 3 brand new songs by BACK-ON on this single, where the titles of all the songs seem to have connotations of creating a new beginning… I think. What are your thoughts?

I am really liking this potential ‘return’ to what appears to be themes of light and hope, as they were, I believe, something that the band were aiming for with several of their songs (more noticeable in some than others) and am very much looking forward to hearing previews of the new songs!

Before I forget… the brand new official profile photos for 2009 and to promote flyaway!
Here’s the official group photo:

And ones of each band member:

I love Gori‘s new look in particular this time round, although he looks awfully serious; Kenji03, sadly, is missing the glasses from the promotional photos of YES!!!, although Teeda is still sporting some very nice sunglasses this time round!

We might even see a new official BACK-ON website redesign – the team behind BACK-ON have a pretty good track record so far when it comes to new single releases – and with the single (both editions) out on January 28th 2009, just a day before the launch of Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2, we will hopefully have more news and song previews early into the new year, although there is time for one more message:

HAPPY NEW YEAR FOR 2009 AND ENJOY THE CELEBRATIONS!

Thank you to everyone who has been so helpful and supportive to our site this year. It has been a great 12 months for BACK-ON and ourselves, even if the updates on our site have been a little sporadic, but the band have really gone from strength-to-strength, especially with the release of their first full album, YES!!!

We would also like to say a very special thank you to the fans who have contributed their talent, time and their energy both on our main site and on the Forums. We will see you next year with lots of BACK-ON related updates and very much hope you will all continue to support both BACK-ON and ourselves in 2009!

Although there is no hint of this on their website, the news is official, as it was included on an informational flyer with YES!!! It was quite a surprise when this small sheet of paper came fluttering out as I unfolded the CD insert, and you can see for yourself what I saw:

At that moment, I actually quite *forgot* that I was meant to be excited about YES!!! and jumped around for this instead. If you can read a bit of Katakana or are feeling resourceful enough to find one of those helpful pronunciation tables on Google Images, the blurb at the bottom of the leaflet says something like:

Bandai Namco game: Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2‘s theme song “flyaway” is the title track of the 3 song (single)…

This could be better translated (please let us know in the comments or by email!) but interestingly, aside from the fact that the single will be released just a day before the actual game, like other subscribers of CDJapan’s Artist Newsmail list for BACK-ON, I received an Artist Update email listing TWO different editions of the CD. One is known as flyaway [Jacket A] and the other flyaway [Limited Pressing/Jacket B]!

For an extra 200 yen, flyaway [Limited Pressing/Jacket B] supposedly offers the magical world of First Press, which is defined by CDJapan to be:

a sticker, serial number for cell-phone ringtone and standby screen (valid only in Japan.)

for people lucky early enough to order the first batch of CDs. Now, the BACK-ON fangirl in me screams “HOLY ZOMG First Press FTW!” but from my limited experience of owning two different editions of Chain (one of my favourite singles by far by the way) if you do decide to pre-order flyaway, it will probably NOT be the end of the world if you receive flyaway [Jacket A] instead.

Besides, it’s still too early to make that decision yet imho, as we don’t even know what the CD cover looks like, but please do continue checking back here for more updates as January 28th 2009 draws nearer! In the meantime, I’ll leave you with news of what is to come:

• Fan reviews of YES!!! - 4 members of our Fan Forums have kindly volunteered to write a review of BACK-ON‘s first full length album, which we will be featuring on the site very soon!
• Random tidbits – Bits and pieces of news that we’ve meant to tell you about but haven’t quite got round to it; this includes multimedia and even a remix of Taneuma!

Last but not least, we would like to congratulate Sesshy on becoming Head Admin of Sound-Ex! You can also check out her newest wallpaper for YES!!! on our forums here, which looks professional enough to be an official promotional poster!

Sound-Ex will be launching a brand new layout for YES!!! very soon, so don’t forget to visit them as it is always worth it, although another site that you might like to visit whilst waiting might be the Facebook BACK-ON Fan Group run by Laura; there are currently 74 members and is quite a friendly community!

Click on the screenshot of the player below to visit their official Myspace and listen to the songs yourself! If you don’t have access to Myspace, keep on reading for a special treat that we have for you :)

The chorus of the new song 果てなき道へ [LA mix] (Hatenaki Michi E) feels a little more pop than rock, but as the clip tails off, there seems to be a promise of some heavy rock coming up… and possibly Teeda‘s signature rapping? Definitely an upbeat song and I have to say I really do like it! I can’t wait to hear the full song at least :)

As for the other songs, it will certainly be interesting to hear what everyone thinks; I heard from the grapevine that apparently the [LA mix] versions should be a little heavier and emphasise the ‘rock’ aspect of each song. Unfortunately Myspace are not doing BACK-ON any favours as they convert the original songs to very low bit/sample rates (96kbps and 22kHz apparently) so the songs sound rather unclear and somewhat hollow to me, but I think the bass and guitars are definitely a lot more pronounced! What are your thoughts?

To add icing to the cake, BACK-ON have also updated their profile photos on their website, and you can see thumbnails of their brand new look below, but I would highly recommend clicking on the thumbnails to visit our fan photo gallery for the full size photos! I actually want to do a bit of a fangirl scream here for ALL of the band members (Kya!?) but just to pick out one band member, doesn’t Icchan look so much more mature?

And last but not least, for people who can’t access BACK-ON’s Myspace, fear not, because we have recorded all the 4 [LA mix] song clips into one long mp3 (3:15) that you can download or listen to online below!

p/s: Good news for fans of gangangan03‘s videos! :) He now has a brand new account which you can visit here: http://www.youtube.com/user/MONSTERSNITE