MIYAVI Tour 2015 WE ARE THE OTHERS at O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire

To kick off the European leg of his WE ARE THE OTHERS world tour, guitarist MIYAVI returned to London’s O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, a venue he previously played in March 2014. For the occasion, several hundred fans from across the UK—and many more from further afield—congregated in the Empire’s Edwardian auditorium to see the Samurai Guitarist strut his stuff. JaME was there to bear witness.

There were scattered calls of “MIYAVI!” from the crowd even before the opening act, English singer and violinist Erica Nockalls, took to the stage. When she and the EN Band came out at 8pm, Nockalls’s brand of violin-infused electropop was well-received by the audience. Once her half-hour set was up, fans were left to listen to ‘hard bop’ jazz while the crew readied the stage for MIYAVI.

The guitarist’s setup was characteristically minimalist. Besides BOBO’s drum kit, the only things onstage were a row of three amplifiers, a Roland sampler, a dizzying array of effects pedals and four microphones. As 9pm neared, the jazz track playing over the Empire’s PA went into a coda, provoking whoops of excitement as the music faded. Sure enough, these scattered whoops became a chorus of cheers as MIYAVI stepped out, dressed in a white singlet vest and black leather jacket with white electric guitar in hand.

He and drummer BOBO launched straight into CRUEL, the opening track from The Others. Fans took great delight in MIYAVI’s energetic rendition of WHAT’S MY NAME; beads of sweat could be seen flying from his brow as he twisted, turned and bent over backwards under the blazing white lights. It came as no surprise that he decided to discard his jacket before continuing with Come Alive—a move greeted with much cheering by some in the crowd.

At the halfway point, MIYAVI paused to speak to the crowd. Despite his impressive fluency, he confessed he gets nervous every time he plays in London because of having to speak English. He also took time to explain the concept behind the tour’s name WE ARE THE OTHERS, saying the term “others” refers to people across the world, and that in these grim times, people need to play music to connect with each other. He said he was happy to be here as an Asian playing his part. After all, he concluded, “Nobody listens to music to feel bad.”

After a couple more songs, the guitarist halted proceedings again to make a special announcement: today was BOBO’s birthday. “We don’t have enough time for a cake,” said MIYAVI apologetically, so his long-serving drummer had to settle for the Samurai Guitarist and several hundred other people singing him Happy Birthday.

Following The Others, the lights went dim without warning whilst the duo onstage engaged in an impromptu jam. Then, as BOBO hammered a cowbell, the lighting rig exploded in a swirl of yellow and purple as the intro of Horizon blared out of the speakers at deafening volume. The song was clearly a fan-favourite, with many singing along, and many more jumping throughout the anthemic chorus.

After an extended outro, MIYAVI and BOBO quietly left the stage under a red haze, feedback still blaring. Inside seconds, collective roars of “We want more!” started sounding. The crowd’s efforts to lure MIYAVI back onstage quickly gained momentum, with many hundreds clapping their hands and stamping their feet amid synchronised shouts of “MI-YA-VI!”

After the fifth such volley, the Samurai Guitarist finally re-emerged, but with a smartphone, not guitar, in his hands. MIYAVI spent a good minute filming the crowd, grinning broadly as his fans down at the barriers vied to get into frame. He then headed backstage again, returning with an electric guitar to commence the encore with one of his greatest musical challenges to date: his new interpretation of the Mission Impossible Theme.

The encore continued with Subarashikikana, kono sekai -WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD- before DAY 1 brought the manic ninety-minute performance to a close. MIYAVI said “thank you” into each of his four microphones, and thanks to one of his many pedals, these words continued to echo longer after the guitarist had taken his leave.

Set list

01. Cruel
02. WHAT'S MY NAME?
03. Come Alive
04. Secret
05. Selfish Love -Aishitekure, aishiteru kara-
06. Calling
07. Cry Like This
08. SURVIVE
09. Let Go
10. The Others
11. Horizon

Encore

01. Mission Impossible Theme
02. Subarashikikana, kono sekai -WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD-
03. DAY 1