Touring with Josh Tatofi in 2023
The Love Collection Tour: New Zealand and Australia
2023 brought some amazing opportunities for us to grow the Visionize brand worldwide through music with Josh Tatofi. At the start of 2023, we accompanied the grammy nominated artist to uncharted territories for the first time in his career. Pacific Cast and Josh Tatofi teamed-up to bring The Love Collection Tour to New Zealand and Australia, allowing us to perform in the cities of Auckland, Wellington, Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney. Going to these countries for the first time left our expectations a mystery (we thought each show was going to be in small attendance), however, we should have never doubted the power of social media and our Polynesian cousins. It all started once we left the New Zealand customs, where we were greeted by our Maori cousins to the hospitality shown from our Pacific Cast promotion team.
In New Zealand, we already felt at home and we loved the vibe that Auckland paved for us. Our expectations were shattered at the first show, with tickets being sold out the first night and the second night even more. Auckland and Wellington welcomed us with lots of singing, dancing and great cultural relations. With over 1,000 concert-goers per night in both cities, we were stunned by the turnout and the amount of people singing along. But, this was short of amazing once we got to Sydney.
Once we landed in Sydney, Australia, the Pacific Cast team and the extended friends from both Sāmoa and Tonga greeted us with the traditional Kava Ceremony. At the helm, we were also welcomed with an amazing reception of traditional Polynesian food and Tongan dances. It was a cultural welcome for all of us traveling from Hawaii. Sydney felt like a clone of New York with its cityscapes, but the outskirts of Melbourne and Brisbane were much more suburban and felt like home. Once again, each show shattered our expectations with hundreds attending, singing and dancing. It was so fun to see our Polynesian cousins enjoying themselves and being a part of our journey, as well as receiving our energy and our goal of what we are trying to do: connect all our Polynesian people through music and love.
It was amazing to capture everything and see everything unfold. The images and videos were just enough to show what happened, but to be there and to feel the energy of the people extended to us was on a different level. We are thousands of miles away and to know that lots of these fans connected to Josh’s music and our vision was just a feeling of overwhelming love and gratitude. This was our first time to Australia and we thought there would be more Kangaroos, but that was definitely not the case.
Towards the ending of the tour, the Pacific Cast team became family and we were grateful for their hospitality and support. It was a great way to start our 2023 and this got us motivated to continue our plan and growth with Josh. As we reflected at the airport as a team, we were so moved at how many people could hear us, even though we were not physically there. We knew social media played a massive role in building our presence overseas and still today, we take advantage of these opportunities presented to us. Now that we’ve made it back home to Hawaii, we finally go to finish our last show at the Neal Blaisdell Arena during Valentine’s Day for the people of Hawaii. Josh, Laupepa and Travis definitely made our first tour to both these countries an exciting one and we look forward to it again!
Greenroom at Brisbane, Australia | The Love Collection Tour 2023
Japan Tour with Yasuda International
2023 definitely brought out a lot of firsts for us with Josh. And this meant touring with him to Japan for the first time ever. Since working with him in 2018 until today, Josh’s impact on Contemporary Hawaiian Music has been nothing short of amazing, bringing his style and love for music, vocal arrangements and the taste of Tongan pizazz that he adds to it. His music has been danced to all over the world with countless of Hula Halau (Hula Teams) sharing his music worldwide, but the people that adore the Hawaiian culture, the Hawaiian mele (music), and most importantly the Hula, comes from Japan. Now, is this our first time traveling to Japan? No, it isn’t. We’ve been here before, just not touring for the Japanese people, but instead, we've been touring with Armed Forces Entertainment supporting the families in the US Armed Forces throughout Japan. But this was different because the fan base and Halaus (Hula Teams) wanted him to be there, needed him to sing his songs so that they could dance to it; and we were just tagging along for this ride.
With hundreds of different Halaus, thousands of different Hula Performers and a handful of Kumu Hula (hula teachers), we were able to not just visit these cities, but see these different Halaus from each city perform at each show with Josh, Trav and Laupepa. It was so different because these Japanese Hula Halaus needed Josh to sing these Hawaiian Meles exactly how they were recorded. It was like a robot dancing to a CD. But the boys are so professional that they would perform 20 original songs with multiple different Halaus, exactly how they were recorded at 6 different shows.
Yasuda International teamed up with Josh Tatofi to bring the Summer Tour to four major cities in Japan; Aichi, Osaka, Kanagawa, Saitama. The venues from each city were massive, the hotels we stayed at were amazing, and the people of Japan were friendly and welcoming. Each show played out the same, the boys would soundcheck, rest, get ready and perform. At every show, Josh would spend an extra hour to meet and greet with fans from each city. It was pretty much a typical tour like any other tour. So what was different?!
Let’s start off with the Japanese production crew, they were badass! I mean, the lighting-the sound-the stage-the vendors-the backstage hospitality-the green room. Everything! The crew were on another level with making sure Josh, Laupepa and Travis were taken care of, and even us, the media team. Anything we needed, the production crew made sure to have it or be open to getting it without wasting a second. Every soundcheck was on point, with the time including hula rehearsal & blocking with Josh.
Next, the food. The gaaah damn food. Everything we ate was five-stars. The snacks, the little donuts, the sandwiches, the musubi and most importantly the Yakiniku. Everything tasted so good, but made us realize…how are these people not fat? Crazy. Now, transportation. Going from city-to-city required no headache whatsoever because the trains got us to our destination quick. I mean bullet train to regular train to taxi. We had no trouble until we had a 4-hour mishap due to the typhoon that stopped-by before our second show. However, we managed to still make it on time!
Lastly, the Yasuda International team made us feel safe. Lead by Keiske Yasuda, he was with us every step of the tour, experiencing everything we experienced and he even ate with us as well! He and his team had great hospitality during the shows, traveling to different locations and even during downtime. They made our experience to Japan with Josh such an awesome experience and hopefully one day we can return.
Josh Tatofi at Tokyo Tree
Tour with the fellas was nothing but laughters. Each person has a personality and characteristics that fit the team, but we all knew what the job description was. Most of the time, we were filming everything unfolding right before us without any interference, but to know that we don’t have to worry about drug abuse, alcohol violence, disrespect amongst the team and just hate in general during the tour makes everything so easy. Josh, Laupepa, Travis and Eric made the tour fun and exciting for us and we hope Japan enjoyed it too!
Japan Tour with Kailani International
To end the year off of 2023, we had our final tour with Josh to Japan. But this time, we travelled with Kailani International of Japan. Going into this tour, we knew the expectations of what Josh, Laupepa and Travis are capable of producing. We knew that they were easy to travel with, no complications whatsoever, and we knew that the fellas are simple as well.
But this time, our tour with Kailani was met with different expectations because Josh had an opener and he would be traveling to different cities and playing at more shows. The Kailani International tour consisted of 6 shows throughout Japan with 3 shows having an opening act: upcoming reggae artist Wehilei. The first three shows were much more difficult with traveling because we started on the outskirts of Japan; Sendai, Kumamoto and Yamaguchi. These cities were not in the main Tokyo area so after flying into Japan, we had to take hours more to reach our destination.
Sendai, Kumamoto was amazing and beautiful. Sendai was the first to experience the Josh Tatofi music and they loved it. But Kumamoto and its mountain landscapes were breathtaking. We had the chance to have a short day off in Kumamoto and decided to go golfing, which ended up being our first time golfing in Japan. Did you know that after 9 holes of Golf, you must have a lunch break for a certain amount of time before heading back to your next 9 holes of Golf?! That’s right. And they make some damn good food too.
After the Yamaguchi show, the next morning we headed to the train station, where we took the Bullet Train to Roppongi, where we finally hit the city of Tokyo. We were in the heart of Tokyo and this was where we met with Wehilei and her band. Along with her team consisted of her mother, Lorna Lim, who is part of the famous Lim Family (Hula and Hawaiian Music) and we were excited to add another act, allowing us to give the fans a greater Hawaii experience. We couldn’t be more excited to be in the city and start the second half of the tour.
Our favorite show came up next at the city of Yokohama, known to many Japanese-Hawaii locals who love the culture of Hawaii, the music of Josh Tatofi and the love for Hula. But we had one amazing special guest with us, Mevina! The cousin of Laupepa Letuli (Josh’s lead guitarist) and the dearest friend of Josh, Mevina is such a talented and world renown musician, drummer and entertainer. We were lucky enough to get one show with him, as he graced the stage with his tahitian dancers; and he did not disappoint. After Josh’s set was done, the crowd was in for a treat because we got to capture the dopest collaboration on stage: Josh, Travis, Laupepa, Mevina, Wehilei and her mother Lorna Lim. It was a jam session to remember with each artist adding their flavor to the set.
As the Winter Tour was coming to an end, we reflected on the experience that we were blessed with from Josh and couldn’t be more excited and grateful for it. It was a great feeling to be back in Japan, to be trusted by Josh and to do what we love doing overseas. Our vision was to always capture stories and be the cinematic storytellers we are worldwide, so we continue to put our best attitude forward and give our greatest with each image we take. Because of COVID, we never thought we'd be back here but eventually God gave us the blessings we needed to be where we are today.