LOKA Again in Europe, for the First Time in Poland

On July 13th, LOKA performed at Warsaw's Klub Progresja. They played the venue's "Noise Stage" on the same night Swedish metal band Arch Enemy played the main stage. The concert was to begin at 7:00pm. The band drew a small group of fans, but they were some of the most devoted and friendly people that I have had the opportunity to meet. Two hours before the concert, the girls from LOKA's Polish Street Team came out to talk to all those gathered outside the club, inviting fans to sign a flag and give their gifts for the band. With unwavering excitement, we eagerly awaited the show.

Shortly after 7:00pm, fans were allowed to enter the club, but around 7:15pm, guys from the band were still hanging around here and there. This slight delay wasn’t a problem and most of the fans managed to get to the scene, not noticing the musicians slipping out for a cigarette. Before guys from LOKA grabbed their instruments, the concert’s organizers warmed up the audience. Girls appeared onstage and greeted the audience. “Thank you for coming, we’re very pleased to meet you.” There was a short speech about the end of the tour, plus announcements about goods. Then the crowd were asked to give it up for LOKA, and especially for drummer KEN’ICHI, who despite a leg injury had chosen to bravely continue the European tour.

The band appeared on stage to the song Slick, which moved the crowd to madness, the room suddenly full of dancing fans. The relatively low attendance didn’t seem to bother the band or the fans – having a good interaction seemed to be good enough for both. Slick was the perfect set opener, and proved just as good live as on the album. KEN’ICHI’s drums took the lead here. Slick segued smoothly moved into Arise, which can be heard on the new album QUATTRO. The song stirs up memories of the music of Linkin’ Park. Vocalist Kihiro spent most of his life in America, which can be heard in his vocal style, but he definitely doesn’t seek to duplicate hackneyed old patterns, instead bringing something fresh and new to his style. What’s more, LOKA exhibit an energy and charisma that many bands unfortunately lack.

It took only a few moments to make sure they knew what they were doing. The guitarist SIN was headbanging with the crowd and Kihiro asked fans for more. The band wasn’t disappointed. “We’ve been waiting for you today, we’ve been waiting for you from yesterday” - these words heralded the next song, From Yesterday. Throughout, the crowd’s cheers and shouts went up so loud, you would have thought there were a lot more people in attendance. The members deftly maneuvered around the stage, gesturing to the already crazy fans. SIN was jumping along with the fans and after a while, even KEN’ICHI stood up and went round the stage, despite his his unfortunately broken leg.

Sexy, bad and heavy? Absolutely! This was obvious in the following song Eleventh Hours, probably the most Japanese song on the whole set list, although it doesn't really have much in common with visual kei, enka or other Japanese musical styles. The song is also on the new albums, and is instrumentally richer than many of their older works, although in LOKA’s case, it can feel a little odd talking about earlier songs as “old” as the band has only been together since 2012.

One song to another, the band’s rapport with the crowd got even stronger. We could hear the words “hajimemashite” from Kihiro, who was giving the crowd one of his rakish smiles. “We will have a great time. I've seen a lot of dancers around Europe, but you have to go the craziest.” He didn’t have to wait long for the crowd to respond.

Daedalus was next song to be played. Stylistically, the band members seemed to present a more mature version of themselves; it was clear that they’re really a group of four people working towards mutual success. We could see it while they were playing. There was no time to rest. After Daedalus, it was time for the heavier and more intense Breathe Me Out The Shadow. The stage was once again covered with a curtain of smoke. The song’s melodic chorus and Kihiro’s vocals tugged at peoples' heartstrings. Fans were singing with the band once again. There was no time for ballads. Someone shouted “Let’s rock”, to which Kihiro replied “Yes!”

The vocalist asked if anyone has been watching their video clips. The response was loud and clear. “Do you know that in other countries like Luxembourg and Spain, girls showed us their bikinis?” he asked, then drummer KEN’ICHI, probably feeling the flow, ripped off his t-shirt, greeted by a great roar of approval from the crowd. The atmosphere went from heavy to sexy, and the song Naked To My Soul put us into the proper mood. Even the vocalist, who was winding around like a boa snake and a samba dancer at the same time, showed his dancing talents.

Katsumi, who’d so far been absorbed in his melancholy musical world, came back to life, sweeping the stage with his long braids. The guys received beautiful fans with the words ‘Saiko’ written on them. Would anyone dare to say the whole show wasn’t saiko? There was headbanging, water splashing on all sides which didn’t cool the enthusiastic crowd, there was the blaze of the lights, aggressively accompanying the melodic lines, but most important of all, there was the amazing atmosphere. A gig can’t be good without an awesome atmosphere; that’s my only concert commandment, and it was beautifully observed during this performance. “Poland” exclaimed Kihiro once again, and then began Yellow Cherry and the party went on.

On another break, someone said that it’s a shame that boys didn’t wear bikinis, and someone else replied that the sight of them in bikinis wouldn’t be so nice. “Damn, Poland!” Kihiro joked and then added: “Girls, if you want to see me naked, you have to visit me at my hotel room”. The next member to shed his T-shirt was SIN, as if “bikini” was the magic word to make the band members undress. KEN’ICHI heated up the crowd with a mini drum solo and after came the next song: Eden followed by Club Rock Shit. Then, Kihiro declared: “Polish girls, you are beautiful”. The musicians seemed to be delighted with their fans. Grinning from ear-to-ear, they gesticulated to the crowd.

“Before we take off our shirts, I wanted to thank you for the first time in Poland. You are all amazing”. Then Kihiro asked if anyone knows the band Pay money To my Pain. There was an affirmative answer from the crowd. “Thank God” he laughed, proceeding to tell the story of his friend K, who Kihiro treated as a brother, of how they shared one dream: to one day play to ten-thousand people at the Nippon Budokan. He also admitted, half jokingly, that he someday wants to have the same kind of gig in Poland and brag to his friend: “Hey, I played for ten-thousand people... in Poland!” Kihiro asked fans to help him fulfill this dream. “In the end” he further continued, “we should always dream and not let anyone else dictate them to us.” This was probably the most peaceful moment of the concert, a moment of mutual agreement. Maybe a lot of the fans shared Kihiro’s dream.

After that, the band presented their latest single Tsubasa Trigger to the audience. It fit the mood prevailing in the club after the speech perfectly. When the Polish flag was drawn on the stage, here and there you could see eyes glazed with tears. Was this the end? After a brief goodbye, LOKA disappeared from the stage, but the fans didn’t give up. Before long, you could hear loud calls of “Encore!”, and the band came back on stage. Everyone was shouting “LOKA SAIKO!” and Kihiro joked: “Someone has to work tomorrow” but the crowd didn’t seem convinced and shouted even more. Kihiro joked several times: “Somebody marry me!” In this, we wish him and his bandmates good luck in finding their one and only.

These considerations were soon set aside as Alive began to reverberate around the club, fusing elements of rap and rock, with the crowd singing in perfect harmony. The energy with which the band started the concert never waned. After Alive, there was another song: Everybody Rock’n’roll and then Make It Through. The barrier which separated fans from the stage was shaking and around you, all that could be seen was disheveled hair. The concert version of Alive and Make It Through sounded harder than those on the album, where the vocal is much more melodic. Everyone clapped to the rhythm of the melody, friendly musicians met friendly fans and thus all came to an end. A few minutes after 9:00 pm, we took a souvenir photo. For those who had more time, there was a signing session with the band, so we had a few moments to cool down before the LOCOS, ahem… LOKA came to us one last time.


Set List:

01. SLICK
02. ARISE
03. From Yesterday
04. ELEVENTH HOURS
05. DAEDALUS
06. BREATHE ME OUT THE SHADOW
07. NAKED TO MY SOUL
08. YELLOW CHERRY
09. EDEN
10. CLUB ROCK SHIT
11. TSUBASA TRIGGER
ENCORE
12. ALIVE
13. EVERYBODY ROCK’N’ROLL
14. Make It Through