ONE OK ROCK at Beatport Stage, Vans Warped Tour '14

Tension was high as thousands of teenagers and young adults roamed the open-air venue, waiting to see several of their favorite bands at the Vans Warped Tour '14. Unpredictable but typical Washington weather ran its course throughout the day, where it switched between a heavy downpour and brilliant summer sunshine every 10 to 20 minutes. Just before 5 pm on a summer evening with winter-like rainfall, a couple hundred people crowded around the Beatport Stage in anticipation for ONE OK ROCK. Having rocked out across California the week before, countless fans were beyond excited to finally experience ONE OK ROCK for the first time in Washington State.

In the midst of a heavy, rather sudden downpour, Tomoya surprised everyone when his drumsticks struck the snare drum and led into a short drum solo. It took the crowd by surprise as most of the other groups hadn’t started their sets with a simple drum line. Toru and a shirtless Ryota followed moments afterwards, gradually building up tension.

While the rain continued to pour down, Taka suddenly darted onto the stage with his hood up over his head. He grabbed the mic stand, swung it towards himself and screamed into the mic at the beginning of Deeper Deeper. Ryouta immediately stuck his tongue out and headbanged while Toru bounced around the stage. Taka asked the crowd to sing along during Nothing Helps. During the instrumental portion of the song—like clockwork—the clouds parted and the sun came out. An ethereal feeling washed over the crowd as the emotion of the song seemed to match the weather perfectly.

Though the size of the crowd around the Beatport Stage was a little small initially, it grew as the set went on. It may not have been the same as one of ONE OK ROCK’s lives in Japan, but it was surely memorable. Taka said “I love you guys” before diving into the melodic number Clock Strikes. He roused the crowd by asking everyone to sing along with him to the “woah-oh-oh-oh” parts towards the end of the song. While Tomoya exuded energy with every beat and a passionate facial expression every second, the sun shone brighter and Taka confidently let the mic cord drop a few inches from his hand and swung the mic around in front of him.

Time had passed by quickly: the show was already coming to an end. ONE OK ROCK finished up the surprisingly short set with a powerful rendition of The Beginning. Fans both old and new sang along with Taka, and the language barrier seemed to evaporate as some joined him on the Japanese lyrics too. The tension was high until the last chord was struck. Taka quickly leant into the mic, saying “We are ONE OK ROCK and thank you” as the members turned to dart offstage. Tomoya immediately began to dismantle his drum set and the crowd hung around for a few moments, unsure of what to do next.


Set List

1. Deeper Deeper
2. Nothing Helps
3. Clock Strikes
4. Stuck in the middle
5. The Beginning