News

The previously teased “FRIENDS III” concept album has finally received a release date: December 8, 2021! After “FRIENDS II” made a departure from the concept to follow a narrative with its “AOR” concept, “FRIENDS III” returns to the original concept by telling a story throughout each of the seven tracks featured on the album.

In addition, a newly recorded version of the classic “Itsuka no Merry Christmas” is featured as a music video on DVD on the limited edition of the release.

“FRIENDS III” will see its live debut during the upcoming concerts “B’z presents LIVE FRIENDS” scheduled to take place on November 16/17, 2021.

FRIENDS III

Release Date: 08/12/2021 Price: 2500 JPY + tax 1.harunohi 2.Season End (シーズンエンド) 3.midare chiru (ミダレチル) 4.Friends Ⅲ 5.Butterfly 6.konna toki dake anata ga koishii (こんな時だけあなたが恋しい) 7.GROW&GLOW

News

Just as the band’s most recent and first ever rock project “B’z presents UNITE #01” wraps up, B’z continues their activities by announcing a pair of live shows titled “B’z presents LIVE FRIENDS“. The two in-person shows held at Tokyo Garden Theatre on November 16 and 17 will follow the “FRIENDS” motto under which B’z have already released “FRIENDS” and “FRIENDS II“.

The two in-person live shows are followed by a live stream of the show on December 24th, which is available as a video-on-demand afterwards until January 3, 2022. Fanclub members will get to see an exclusive 30 minute making-of video in addition.

In addition to the live shows, the band has teased the release of their upcoming concept album “FRIENDS III” which marks the release of their first concept album in 25 years following the release of “FRIENDS II” in 1996. The songs for “FRIENDS III” were created by Tak during his quarantine times as he moved back and forth between Japan and the U.S during the on-going pandemic. No further details on the album content are known except that it is coming “this winter” and will be released following the two live shows.

B’z presents LIVE FRIENDS

Tokyo Garden Theatre — November 16, 2021 OPEN: 16:00 (JST) START: 17:30 (JST)
Tokyo Garden Theatre — November 17, 2021 OPEN: 16:00 (JST) START: 17:30 (JST)

Live Stream — December 24, 2021 START: 20:00 (JST)
Video-on-Demand — December 24, 2021~January 3, 2022

Tickets
SS Ticket (front row; fanclub only): 19,000 JPY
S Ticket: 15,000 JPY
Live Stream: 4,500 JPY

B’z Support Members:
Akira Onozuka (Keyboard), Yoshinobu Ohga (Guitar), Yukihide“YT”Takiyama (Bass), Noriyasu “Kaasuke” Kawamura (Drums)

FRIENDS Special Band:
<Percussion> Nobu Saito, <Chorus> Yuiko Tsubokura, <Violin>・1st Rie Kodera, Kie Terashima, Mai Tanizaki, ・2nd Erina Sato, Kei Amano, Momoko Arai, <Viola> Yoko Mitani, Hirono Ohtsuji, <Cello> Kazune Koshikawa, Chiharu Miki, <Flute> Rie Akagi, <Saxophone> Fire Watanabe, <Trumpet> Osamu Ueishi, <Trombone> Azusa Tojo

News

B’z have announced that they will release a new song titled “UNITE” on October 1st. The new song will be available on streaming services as well as a digital single for download. The band has also released a teaser together with the announcement.

The song ties into the Band’s first rock project titled “B’z presents UNITE #01” scheduled to kick off tomorrow, September 18. B’z will be performing together with GLAY and MR. CHILDREN respectively on these dates:

With GLAY

September 18, 2021 — Osaka
September 19, 2021 — Osaka

Live-Stream: October 4th, 2021 ~ October 10th, 2021

With MR. CHILDREN

September 28, 2021 — Yokohama
September 29, 2021 — Yokohama

Live-Stream: October 11th, 2021 ~ October 17th, 2021

News

It’s been a long wait, but B’z fans everywhere have reason to celebrate today: Virtually the entire catalogue of Japan’s best-selling rock band is now streaming worldwide on Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube Music! *Please note active subscriptions are required to listen to the full catalogue on the latter services. And not only can you hear every B’z single and album, but you can also explore the solo works of Koshi Inaba and Tak Matsumoto at your leisure!

Please note that applicable song titles are shown in Japanese, but you can see romanized and translated versions on various B’z Wiki pages, including the Lyrics & Translations page, the B’z singles page, the B’z albums page, and elsewhere!

Also feel free to share any playlists you come up with in the comments!

Stream B’z on Spotify here!

Stream Koshi Inaba’s solo works here!

Stream Tak Matsumoto’s solo works here!

Here’s what you can find streaming now:

・An all-new song! With this streaming debut comes the studio version of “Kimi to Nara” (previously only heard live during B’z LIVE-GYM 2019 -Whole Lotta NEW LOVE-)

・All 53 singles and their B-sides (from 1988’s “Dakara Sono Te wo Hanashite” through “Seimei/Still Alive“)

・All 21 studio albums (the self-titled debut through NEW LOVE)

・The self-titled 2012 English album featuring five English reversions of classic B’z songs

・All 9 compilation albums (from 1998’s B’z The Best “Pleasure” to B’z The Best XXV 1999-2012)

・All 5 mini-albums (from BAD COMMUNICATION to FRIENDS II)

As for what you won’t find streaming on Spotify or for purchase on any other digital stores:

・Just like the Japanese iTunes, some special versions of songs & hidden tracks are not available for streaming. This includes the short acoustic demo of “HOME” found at the end of “RUN -1998 style-” at the end of B’z The Best “Treasure”, the hidden track “spirit loose II” at the end of LOOSE, and the dance version of “Itsuka no Merry Christmas” at the end of The Ballads ~Love & B’z~.

・The 2007 International EP is again not available for purchase or streaming and hasn’t been since 2012. However, the English version of “Home” released here can still be heard on B’z The Best “ULTRA Treasure”.

・The bonus tracks from The Complete B’z (a Japanese iTunes exclusive collection from 2005) remain missing and also have not been available since 2012.

・Both the first and second volumes of the vocal-less karaoke collections released in 1992 and 1996. Special karaoke reversions, and limited versions of songs found on limited prints of certain singles, are also not included.

・Some obsolete releases for which all tracks are gathered elsewhere. For example, the digital singles that would later be gathered as B-sides on the “Seimei/Still Alive” single.

・The studio version of “HINOTORI” released only as a bonus with B’z LIVE-GYM Pleasure 2018 -HINOTORI-.

B’z have also posted a preview of a few songs you can now stream, from a never-before-seen studio performance!

* While it is confirmed that the catalogue is currently streaming on Spotify in every market as of May 21, 2021 midnight local time, availability may vary for other streaming services.

News

B’z have this week announced their online concert event 「B’z SHOWCASE 2020 -5 ERAS 8820-」. This will be the first full online event to take place without an audience for the band. As indicated by the title, the online concert event will be a series of 5 concerts — each dedicated to one of 5 eras of B’z past career. To make that happen, B’z has teamed up with several Japanese streaming services such as “pia live stream”, “LINE live” and “GYAO!”. A “ticket” to view the concerts costs 3500 Japanese Yen.

A special package for the concerts is available to B’z PARTY fanclub members. Before each show, a special interview with the band will be streamed.

In a message to fans that has been posted on the website, B’z share some thoughts on the event. Originally, the SHOWCASE was planned to be an actual concert taking place at the newly opened Zepp Haneda in Tokyo. However, given the current situation, this was not possible. They also promised that the set list for each show will be entirely different. Tak indicated that he now has to practice 80 songs — quite a challenge. Each concert will feature songs specific to that era.

On the supporting staff, B’z have resorted to sticking with previous Japanese support members — making this the first time in a while that B’z has performed with all Japanese support members.

Schedule

Support Members

Day1, Day2, Day5: Takanobu Masuda (Keyboards), Yoshinobu Ohga (Guitar), Ikkoh Tanaka (Drums), Akihito Tokunaga (Bass)
Day3, Day4: Takanobu Masuda (Keyboards), Yoshinobu Ohga (Guitar), Kaichi Kurose (Drums), Showtaro Mitsuzono (Bass)

News

B’z has announced that their live tour B’z LIVE-GYM 2019 -Whole Lotta NEW LOVE- will release on DVD & Blu-ray on February 26, 2020! The home video release will feature the full show performed at Saitama Super Arena in July last year.

This will mark the first official release of the new B’z song “Kimi to Nara”, which served as the Theme Song to the Japanese TV show “Beshari Kurashi”. In addition, dedicated video footage of the three songs, which were regularly switched out in the set list throughout the tour, will be part of the bonus content. A special montage of “Tsuwamono Hashiru” featuring different venues rounds up the bonus content of this release.

The whole package will cost 7300 Yen.

B’z LIVE-GYM 2019 -Whole Lotta NEW LOVE-

[TRACK LIST]

01. MY NEW LOVE
02. MR. ARMOUR
03. WOLF
04. Ore yo Karma wo Ikiro
05. Towa ni Wakaku
06. Konya Tsuki no Mieru Oka ni
07. Uchouten
08. ultra soul
09. Koi Karasu
10. Golden Rookie
11. Rain & Dream
12. SICK
13. Majestic
14. Hadashi no Megami
15. Kimi to Nara (previously unreleased)
16. RED
17. Ichibu to Zenbu
18. Still Alive
19. Deus
20. Tsuwamono Hashiru
21. juice
22. Samayoeru Aoi Dangan

[BONUS]

・OCEAN
・Da La Da Da
・Seimei
・Tsuwamono Hashiru -Tour Digest-