Descending to the Depths of Idol Hell and Loving It - Musician's Perspective on #NWIF2022

When it comes to idol culture, I am personally obsessed with the culture surrounding LoveLive! and its currently active groups. With Aqours still running strong and Nijigaku and Liella! taking a strong grasp on fans, I am hooked by the amazing music and personality of the characters in the anime and their real life seiyuus.

In the midst of this situation for me, a composer by the name of Feris and his friends mentioned they were going to be going to a con known as Northwest Idolfest. This is the first time I had heard of such a convention properly, although the name was familiar and I vaguely recalled that name having a table at my local anime con, Tekko. Looking into it and seeing the focus on promoting and celebrating idol music and idol culture, I knew that I needed to check this con out.

Northwest Idolfest takes place every year at the Doubletree Hotel in SeaTac, Washington. This was another draw the con had for me; the Seattle and overall Washington state areas were places I was considering checking out to move to for my career in teaching, so coming would ultimately kill two birds with one stone!

That said, I almost didn't go this year. I was worried that it wasn't feasible economically for me or that it would be a waste of my paid time off for work.

…Then my close friends gave me a kick in the ass, essentially telling me I'm just making excuses and should just go for it or I'd make that same excuse again next year.

Before I knew it, I was on my flights to make my way from southwest PA to Seattle, and (unbeknownst to me) to one of the best weekends I'd ever have in my life.

DAY 0

My Thursday was spent doing a lot of flying. And I mean a lot of flying. I flew from southwest PA to JFK in New York, spending about a 4 hour layover before flying to ORD (O'Hare) in Chicago to spend a 2 hour layover. Only then would I be able to board my flight to SEA which would last about 5 hours. As you could imagine, all this time being spent up flying was certainly tiring. That said, I enjoyed getting a chance to explore a small sampler of what New York and Chicago had to offer on my way to Seattle. (Also, saving about $200 on my flights was a good incentive to deal with the extra flying!)

Unfortunately, that did mean I missed the pre-con meetup being held at Round1. I was kinda looking forward to that, but what can you do? At least I got the chance to let Dia travel cross-country!

After all that, I finally walked to and checked into my Airbnb. In hindsight, I wish I got a room at the hotel. For all the Lyfts I purchased this weekend in tandem with my Airbnb, I ended up spending about what I would've spent getting a hotel room anyway. In addition, the convenience would have been really nice. That said, lesson learned for next year! I got some well-needed rest to prep for the con's start!

DAY 1 (FRIDAY)

After getting some based breakfast from Taco Bell, I made my way to get my badge and get ready for Opening Ceremonies. As I went to Registration to pick up my badge, everything went smoothly and I was able to get all of the extra goodies I was supposed to get as a Gold Supporter. (I want to mention right now by the way how supportive and kind the staff was for NWIF! Every experience I had with them was a pleasant one and the positive atmosphere they cultivated at this con was absolutely beautiful!)

At Opening Ceremonies, I could already feel the electricity in the air. The excitement that everyone was feeling for the upcoming three days could not be misplaced by any other emotion. After meeting the guests, being introduced to the con chairs, and all the other fun things that go into opening the convention floor, we finally began day 1 proper.

To quickly sum up my day, I went to the panels "Introduction to Wotagei: Call and Mix Culture," "Name That Idol Tune," "Iyashikei - The Power of Healing," "Lucia's Idol Industry & History Banter Power Hour," and "Content Creation Q&A with RinTaichou." These panels were so much fun to attend! The wotagei panel was a great start to the day as I have seen how that type of penlight choreography works but never truly understood how it works, so checking that out was great for the night to follow. "Name That Idol Tune" was fun because I play the LoveLive! Heardle all the time so trying to name music based on clips quickly is a fun pastime for me. Even though our team lost, it was still fun! The panel on healing anime was a good break in the action, giving me some new anime to check out and thinking about how healing is used both as a story concept and as an action the story can have on real people's everyday lives. Lucia's panel, as advertised, was an insightful look into the life and ideas of a current Bushiroad employee (and a community manager, at that). Finally, RinTaichou's Q&A panel was a blast! I didn't know about RinTaichou before the con, but a lot of people I knew were coming to that panel so I decided to stop by, and I found myself loving RinTaichou's dry style of humor! Definitely earned a new viewer in me.

During the breaks, I spent way too much money and got some merch to take home. The highlight has to be the Kanata burrito, which my friends really wanted me to get. So, I gave in to peer pressure. That said, all the other goodies were so worth it as well! (NOTE: As I wrote this Wix refused to let me upload the pictures of the goodies I bought, so I'll try to come back and add them later!)

I wrapped up the day's events quickly so I could talk about the best part of day 1: the Northern Lights Festival. A five-hour extravaganza featuring idols both new to the scene, established veterans, and even for one of them a bonafide professional idol from Japan. To put it simply, what is there not to love? The room was jam-packed with fans from the entire con ready to wave their penlights, cheering on and showing their support for both the idols they knew and the idols they would come to know.

Before continuing, I need to share something about myself: I am a very introverted and introspective person. For me, one of the ways the combination of those traits rears its ugly side is that I can rarely just let myself go and have fun. As counterintuitive as it sounds, I usually have to push myself to have unrestrained fun. (Like, I have fun with a lot of things, but I almost never can just let myself go and fully enjoy myself.)

I can't tell you what it is. Was it the penlights? Was it the idols' hard work and dedication shown through their vocal and choreography practice coming to life on the stage? Was it the crowd's energy? Was it the calls and mixes? A combination of these things? I couldn't give you the answer. The only thing I know is this:

I was able to fully let myself go and just enjoy myself!

For five hours, I enjoyed so much of the amazing performances that came from everyone on that stage! Excepting the guests, the names that still stick in my head from this concert were COOL DIA, Alex Pinku, CODE:MiAO, Project Constellation, and Bunny Kaisui. That said, every idol up there performed amazingly and I am so glad I was able to support them all, but these were the names that stuck with me after the fact. I absolutely loved the energy a lot of them brought. Some were polished, some were raw, but all of them showed such a beautiful love for music and for performing that became such a tangible feeling on that stage.

I can't complete this review of day 1 of the Northern Lights Festival without mentioning the stellar performances of the special guests of the con, Isiliel and Phoebe. Isiliel is an amazing idol from Japan, being a member of NECRONOMIDOL and having her own solo projects which blend so many different genres of music together (my favorite being her mixtures of folk, city pop, and metal). Her performance was awe-inspiring and so well-polished that I was truly swept away by her music.

The other guest of honor for the night, Phoebe, I will talk about more when I get to Day 2, but I must say that during her cover of "Snow halation," one of the best moments of the night for me happened. Something I forgot about and never expected to truly happen live for me to experience.

For those who may not know (I am aware I am mainly preaching to the choir but I want to make sure this is still accessible), the idol group µ's was officially disbanded after their final live in 2016. In that live, one of the songs they sung was their massively popular (arguably their most culturally popular) "Snow halation," a song about friendly, platonic love themed around the winter vibe. At the final chorus of the song after the guitar solo in the bridge, the MV they have changes the stage from blue to orange. Because of this, at this final live everyone in the audience popped UOs ("Ultra Oranges," short-lived but extremely bright orange glowsticks) which glowed the entire Tokyo Dome in a bright, powerful orange light.

That happened (albeit in a smaller venue) with us as Phoebe sang "Snow halation."

At this point, I didn't notice that people around me were pulling out UOs. It took me until I saw the first few pop and I noticed where in the song we were that I fully knew what was going on. While I have pictures from my bad camera (which I won't show because they were truly awful), they don't do justice to just how bright orange that room turned as everyone popped their UOs to that final "Todokete setsunasa ni wa" reverberating around the room. As I waved my penlights, chanted my "Hai!"s to the chorus in that brightly lit room lit by both the UOs and the hearts of performer and audience becoming connected as one group, one collective voice... I knew that I had seen (at least for me) one of the most beautiful things I would ever experience. I am so grateful that I was able to experience that live and finally understand why this moment for that final live was such a powerful moment for everyone in the audience that day. I had my Snow halation UO moment, and it truly was beautiful.

As the clock struck ~12:30a Saturday morning, the concert was a wrap and everyone went home to sleep. I didn't eat so I quickly grabbed some Denny's, panicked as my bank thought someone in SeaTac, WA stole my debit card (spoiler alert: it was me, I stole my debit card), finally got my food paid and hit the sack as soon as I got to my Airbnb. All of this to wake up and do it all again!

DAY 2

This day was a lot more chill. Everyone was tired from cheering their heart out at the Northern Lights Festival, so it took me (and presumably others) a while to get their energy back up. I started the day with a panel learning about Symphogear (which is now on my watch list) and talking about the world of "chika" idols, or underground idols. Those panels were vastly different in content and style, but they were both so informative and so much fun to watch!

Afterwards, I attended the solo Phoebe concert. As mentioned, I was still really tired so I started out just in my seat relaxed and enjoying the music. (Might I mention by the way that Whimsyland is such a well-written song? From the lyrics to the amazing instrumental choices I was hearing, everything about that song is so tastefully done!) However, when Phoebe mentioned she was going to be covering a song from Suzuki Airi, I was back up on my feet ready to cheer on. And of course, the song was "Heart wa Oteage" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSuselwRqcE) which was created as the ED for "Kaguya-sama: Love is War ~Ultra Romantic~." As someone who absolutely loves

Suzuki's music, combined with Phoebe's this immediately brought my energy and spirits back up. Before I knew it, I was cheering on every song for the rest of that concert and really giving my all in enjoying myself!

Once the concert ended, I took a break to get food and then check out the arcade. I only played "Hatsune Miku: Project Diva X" for PS4 while I was there, but I am a sucker for that type of rhythm game and they had the arcade-esque controller for the game. I mostly grinded "the world is mine" while I was there and I got about 85% accuracy on my best attempt, which I'll take having only played the game for about 30 minutes!

Next was NWIF's first Cosplay Masquerade, and I must say that those who competed did amazing work! I am nowhere near qualified to critique what they did knowing so little about how cosplay works, but each person who went up there really made incredible cosplay and showed off such amazing performances! Everyone who participated (judges, staff, and competitors) should be very proud of what they accomplished.

I then briefly attended the panel hosted by one of the Masquerade judges about making your own cosplays, which was a fun and informative panel! However, I left midway so that I could be at the Northern Lights Meet & Greet, where all the non-guest idols who performed in Day 1 of the festival could meet their fans. For the most part, I hung out with the members of COOL DIA, Steph and Clairy, alongside the people helping them behind the scenes (Feris composing music, and Nacchi helping with the choreography and graphic design work). Getting to hang out with incredible creative people like these four is one of the many reasons I love making music! I'd never get these kinds of opportunities if I wasn't a musician.

Pictured, left to right: Feris, Steph, Clairy, Nacchi, me

What an amazing time!

After this, all that was left was Day 2 of the Northern Lights Festival! While Day 1 was focused on the idols' performances, Day 2 was focused on DJ performances. At the beginning of the show, they announced the winner of the fan vote for the NWIF Grand Prix Song Contest, which was a contest where anyone could submit their original music or their cover/remix that was centered around the theme of "idols." There were four submissions, and the winner of the contest was "In the Middle of Forever" by Feris ft. Various Artists. We got to hear the song in full at the beginning of the set as congratulations to his victory in the contest, and it was such a heartwarming experience to witness the celebration his friends held for him as the song blasted throughout the hall the concert was held in. And let me say, a victory well-deserved!

After that, the DJs sets began. I stayed around for a little over an hour of the sets, but the exhaustion was just getting too much for me. With that, I grabbed a Lyft to my Airbnb and threw myself in my bed.

Earlier in the day I thought about this idea, but as I laid in my bed, I thought about something: I brought my trumpet with me to the con because I had a gig coming up and still needed to practice. Why not learn some tunes real quick and play them tomorrow in the lobby just to have some fun and jam? I thought about a potential setlist, asked my friends back home for some advice, and then I fell asleep while doing all that.

Little did I know, the final and shortest day of the con that I thought would be the most uneventful would be one of the most exciting for me.

DAY 3 - DAWN OF THE LAST DAY (7 HOURS REMAINING)

As the number of remaining panels and concerts dwindled down as the shortest day of the con began, I was determined to make the best of it. I started at a LoveLive! panel where we just had a discussion about the four groups in the franchise and different topics related to them. It was a fun discussion and I had a great time learning about other people's perspectives on the same show I have been watching since around 2019, the show that would ultimately lead me here! It was a great time to be had.

Following this, I took my horn and set up shop near the piano in the first floor lobby, right underneath the stairs. It took me a while to get started playing, as I was incredibly nervous. I felt comfortable in my playing skills, but I was nervous that some guy playing trumpet was going to annoy the other hotel-goers or cause disturbances people didn't want. After grappling with this for like 5-10 minutes, however, I decided to just go for it. After all, if it was truly a problem, hotel staff would almost certainly come and tell me to stop. So I started playing, initially with "Aishiteru BANZAI" by µ's. I had a fun time playing, and even though it was rough because I learned the tune the morning of, it was still a great experience and I loved playing for the few people who passed by during that time.

...Or rather, I thought it was only two or three people. I was immediately proved wrong by the raucous applause that came from the stairs above me.

So apparently, I started "Aishiteru BANZAI" right as the staff were taking their group picture together above me. This was COMPLETELY unplanned, as if I had started any sooner or didn't have those moral quandaries I would have not played as they were doing their photo. Yet thanks to sheer luck alone, I was able to make the staff above me feel even happier and more fulfilled because idol music was serenading their final pictures. That moment humbled me more than you could ever know, and there were only more humbling moments to come.

A couple songs in, a pianist and composer by the name of Zeta came through and asked if he could play some tunes on the piano. I of course obliged, and listened to the wonderful sounds of his playing. There were a couple of tunes I recognized like "Thrilling One Way" which I joined in on (learning as I went because I only knew the melody by ear, not on the trumpet). Being able to play music with people who share the same interests as me was truly such a thrilling experience, and that only humbled me further.

I played a couple more tunes on my own before packing up and heading to the panel hosted by net idol group "Connections!". This group was organized by lyricist Azia, and included staff members such as Feris (composer), Steph (composer, lyricist, vocalist), and Sneak (lyricist, vocalist, artist). Learning about how they came together, their creative processes, and the things they learned throughout their journey as a group was a wonderful experience. One of the things from that panel that stuck with me was this quote (paraphrased): "You don't have to do everything by yourself."

As someone who usually takes charge and tackles a lot of responsibility on my own, these were words that I had heard before but this time hit harder than they ever had before. I am so used to just working on everything on my own, that I never stopped to think about all the connections (pun not intended), friends and acquaintances I have met over the years both on- and offline that could help me if all I did was reach out and ask. It was because of this that I reached out to an online friend I worked with on a project years ago and asked for their support on guitar and bass performance for tracks I am working on. I was prepared to make multiple compromises before thinking: "Wait, why am I taking on this burden alone?" I am very used to holding that weight alone, but I needed that reminder that people are not only there to help as I have helped them before, but they often want to help.

After that panel, I walked around for a bit before grabbing some lunch. As I did, I was able to hang out with a lot of the people I mentioned before plus some extra people popping in and out. Again, those connections with those people and the stories I heard as I got to know them more truly emphasized why I love being a creative person and love working as a musician. Following up lunch was a quick drop by the swap meet where I dropped even more money than I would care to admit.

With all of that, we hit the next to last event of my #NWIF2022 experience. This was again another event that was not on the calendar, another jam session happening under the stairs at that grand piano. While there was some jamming going on before I got there, when I got there I found Zeta back on the keys and friends singing along. I joined in on that singing action and was just having a ball with everyone there. As this was happening, Phoebe who was roaming the halls randomly joined in, turning the jam session into an impromptu acoustic concert of Phoebe tunes! Not soon after that, once that wrapped up Feris took his turn at the piano where we got to enjoy some of his songs that he wrote! (This included a weird like 6-7 minutes of silence where absolutely nothing happened, we swear. ...Weird, right?)

Being able to enjoy idol music and anisong with others like this in an environment like this was something I didn't realize I needed until that point. Singing as one voice and performing with one heart is something I always understood in concept (and I thought I understood in practice from my time working with my jazz quartet of three years), but feeling the emotions and colors that were radiating from those moments was where that finally clicked for me. I have a gut feeling that that will be a feeling and experience I will be chasing after as I continue my creative pursuits, because that was something that truly cannot be described with words. It's something you have to experience to understand.

With that final pop-up closed, I moved to Closing Ceremonies, where we all said our bittersweet farewells to Northwest Idolfest. As we did, however, the confirmation of #NWIF2023 at the same location (and likely around the same time) as well as a one-day version taking place in SoCal, SCIF, gave us all something to look forward to as we packed our bags and prepared to return back to our daily lives. Koto.ri from the IdolFest Discord server said it best:

"NWIF was like Truck-kun hugged me by surprise somewhere and I got isekai'd to fantasy world of idols, but then someone resuscitated me on Monday..."

A final surprise was in store for me as I packed up my belongings as said my last goodbyes, as Brian, one of the NWIF attendees, told me he liked my trumpet playing and was practicing his photography and wanted to take some photos of me. I obliged, and let me say that his photos turned out fantastic! Keep an eye on his work (https://www.instagram.com/mrdangphotos/ on Instagram or https://twitter.com/mrdang on Twitter) because he's got some great skill building up and his photos are only gonna get better from here!

And with that, the con was closed. I walked my way back to my Airbnb, talked with some friends back home, and went to bed. When I woke up the day after the con, I packed all my bags up, walked around for a bit, and then got my Lyft to grab one final Taco Bell breakfast before making my way to the airport and finally heading home, giving Dia one last cross-country exhibition as I made it home to wake up at 5:30a for my day back to teaching middle schoolers.

PLACES TO GROW, PLACES TO GO

With NWIF only being in its third year of existence and second year of in-person activity, this con is still small and brand new. And yet, they were able to manage to triple their attendee count from last year to this year, being around 100 attendees last year to having around 330-ish this year! It is very obvious that this con is going to become something worth keeping on so many people's radars! With how young it is, however, growing pains and challenges are necessary and expected. There weren't many, but here were the things I felt could be improved upon for next year.

- Whoever was working the A/V equipment this year definitely could have used better communication. The wait music before/after events was very off-mood from the rest of the convention. I love "Oye Como Va," don't get me wrong, but not really the type of music I think tracks for an idol-themed convention!

- Along that thinking, the mixing for the room definitely felt a bit muddy. It was sometimes hard to hear the vocalist and the instrumentals being played. Being a week separated from the event at this point, I can't give concrete feedback on this, but definitely some room to improve there with that team.

- The time to switch between panels was not consistent. For example, I was aware of at least two or three times where a panel went over in Classroom A and the panelists and audience members for the next panel would just be waiting in the hallway awkwardly as the prior panel just kept on going. Having more space or more rigid checks for time I think would be helpful to keep those delays from occurring.

- There were certain conflicts of interest when it came to the solo concerts during the weekend. For example, there were excellent panels going on at the same time as very popular solo concerts, so you would have to choose between the two and the attendances of both events suffered as a result. Again, I think this is just a growing pain of a con that is becoming much larger in a short timespan and can be solved with different programming choices or more space for existing panels. Panels having to share similar timespans makes sense and is common at cons, but concerts and panels having to share similar timespans is usually not common.

- Communication on delays should be more consistent. When the delays for events occurred during the con, sometimes those delays would be communicated to us, and sometimes they wouldn't be. In addition, delays here and there throughout the con are typical for any size convention, but there were multiple, frequent delays during the weekend that sometimes were not even communicated. In addition, during the Masquerade we were told that Day 2 of the Northern Lights Festival would start at 9:30p (delayed), but then still started a little after 9p anyway. Given all of this, in my opinion the communication on these time issues needs to be more consistent and apparent.

Those are the only things I really had issue with over the weekend, and are ultimately nitpicks in the grand scheme of things. I had a blast during #NWIF2022, and if these were the only problems I had then I think that overall this was a very successful event!

LOOKING FORWARD

As an educator and musician, I always like to reflect on the things I do and look forward towards the future. If there's one thing that I took away from this con, it's that I've been away from creating things for far too long. It's funny, actually; when I heard "In the Middle of Forever" for the first time, it had everything I loved when it came to how it was written. I couldn't be more thrilled with the piece, but there was still negativity in my heart when I heard it. I couldn't place the emotion. Was it jealousy? Envy? Annoyance? None of these felt right, because I truly felt happy for everyone involved in that project and how it was ultimately a huge success.

Thanks to being involved with Northwest Idolfest, I finally figured this emotion out, and it had nothing to do with "In the Middle of Forever" at all. It just was the catalyst towards emotions festering within myself: I was frustrated and upset with myself for not making these types of things when I had everything I needed to make it happen. Literally my toolbox is overflowing with what I need to write, I just don't do it. Thanks to NWIF and getting to perform with others in even small capacities, I figured this out, and now I can do something about it.

With all of this, I look forward to #NWIF2023. While I will not get to see the inaugural SoCal variant because of my work, I will definitely be back next year. I was actually invited (unofficially) by one of the chairs of the con, Shir, to consider holding a jam session-style panel next year. I think I might take them up on that offer! In addition, I have a couple other plans which I'm going to keep on the down-low for now... you'll just have to come to Northwest Idolfest in 2023 to find out!

I am grateful to all the friends I met and all the bonds I created and reinforced over this past weekend. Truly, I already miss a lot of you guys and I cannot wait until next year to see you all again! (Or, for some of you, I'll see you at Tekko in July!)

Until we all meet again in person, keep on shining!

- tom (TomStrike)