Survive Said The Prophet at The Star and Garter, Manchester

The Star and Garter in Manchester is the latest in a line of great independent northern English venues welcoming Japanese bands to its stage, and up the narrow staircase to the gig room an atmosphere is already building for tonight’s one-man show. 

Coming onstage to the ambient SABI—a sound reminiscent of Deftones and a nod to their heavier side, the start of the set is exactly that. Opening with Network System and moving straight into Fool’s Gold, heavy guitars and screaming vocals fill the hall and have the audience cheering and dancing.

Survive Said The Prophet (SSTP) have deliberately chosen an intimate venue for one of two debut shows in the UK, and this suits the band's nature perfectly. Within minutes of taking to the stage Yosh is interacting with the entire room, pointing and meeting people’s gazes. Not one person in the room isn’t given what feels like the attention of a master showman.

With a brief pause to introduce themselves, Yosh thanks the crowd for the warm welcome, with messages of thanks quickly becoming a theme throughout the night. Then, crouching on the edge of the stage he asks the audience, “Do you like anime?” Of course, he’s done his homework and knows that many UK fans discover new bands through intro themes, and with a big grin he introduces found & lost.

Of course this wouldn’t be the only anime theme of the night, but others would come later, following a selection of lighter, more bouncy tracks that helped to establish SSTP as a band capable of variety in their live sound but still maintaining the audience's attention and interaction. The "round and round" chorus of Right and Left has everybody dancing while a more laid back summer funk tone allows some time to relax, with Tatsuya and Yudai making the most of their small space to get a groove on.

Getting back into the rockier side of things SSTP has a great flow to the set, easing the audience back in with an MC slot. While Yosh addresses the crowd, Ivan and Show provide an ambient backing track, something that would become a staple of the evening from this point with the delightful p a c e [ s ] being used to full effect later in the night. The story is simple: it’s about hope, and how the band were so close to giving up, before being offered the opportunity to create the opening for another anime, and with that, they burst into MUKANJYO.

From here, the rest of tonight's set would be punctuated with stories about the band and how they work hard, but love bringing people together with music, to the point where Yosh at one stage becomes literally lost for words. He can’t thank fans enough for coming to support these UK debut shows, and you can tell every word is genuine and full of emotion, seconded by the other band members hitting their chests and making signs towards the audience.

These vocal interludes are supported by more ambient backing courtesy of Ivan, helping to keep the flow of the gig constant and it feels like hardly any time has passed between the arm waving interaction of S P I N E and the sing along introduction of Spectrum’s "We are the light, we are the future".

Entering the final stretch, again setting a perfect tempo for their set, SSTP winds down with HI | LO (but not winding down so much that Tatsuya and Yudai couldn’t enjoy some back-to-back riffing and dancing) and finally ends on When I, the relaxed tone and slower pace providing a perfect respite before heading home. Or at least it should have…

But the audience can’t let them go. SSTP have made their mark in the UK and what was supposed to be a sharp exit is delayed to give the crowd one more song. After a quick deliberation in Japanese, Yosh turns to the people and asks for a request. The answer comes back: T R A N S l a t e d. Again, a quick chat among the band in Japanese ensues, and what follows would be the unintentional highlight of the evening. Played with the ferocity and perfection of an opening, the song wouldn’t have been out of place in any set as a closer, but knowing this is a gift of appreciation from a band that truly felt the atmosphere and appreciation from the audience makes it that much sweeter.

Set list

SABI
01. Network System
02. Fool’s gold
03. found & lost
04. Right and Left
05. The Happy Song
06. Last Dance Lullaby
07. MUKANJYO
08. S P I N E
09. Spectrum
p a c e [ s ]
10. NE:ONE (Burn or fade away)
11. HI | LO
12. s t i l l  b e l i e v e
13. When I 

Encore 

01. T R A N S l a t e d

Survive Said The Prophet recently announced that they will return to the UK to support rock band ΛS IT IS for their Ben Today, Gone Tomorrow tour this coming November for six cities. More details can be found at http://survivesaidtheprophet.com/news/as-it-is/.