LiN CLOVERs US debut was set for the afternoon of April 7th, at the Washington State Convention Center. The live show was held during the 10th annual Sakura-Con -consequently, the line for the show was composed of not only typical JRock and JPop fans, but cosplayers as well.
Upon entering the concert hall on the 6th floor, one might wonder if an independent band from Japan could fill such a spacious hall on their first visit. However, after the crowd of Shinigami, Sephiroths and Lolitas began to file in, it was apparent that the hall was not as big as initial inspection might have led one to believe.
People continued to file into the hall until it exceeded the expected turnout of 3,000, with roughly 3,500 people packed in to the room.
The crowd was ready for an amazing show, and luckily,
LiN CLOVER was ready to deliver.
The band came out on to the stage, the crowd already in hysterics. They opened with
rinkaiten, their energy immediately contagious. The band was definitely on.
Nao bounced in time to the music, and
YuRi danced and swayed along with the audience.
The band seemed to have instant rapport with the audience and, during
miracle and
empty, the crowd jumped, clapped and swayed as if they were all long time fans. Throughout the show,
Ren made hand gestures to the audience, and
YuRi sang and gestured as though she was singing to each audience member, making the crowd feel even closer to them.
YuRi gave a brief MC, stating that she was learning English and telling the audience how happy the band was to be appearing in the US. They seemed completely at ease on stage, all dressed casually in T-shirts and sweatshirts, giving no indication of being nervous about performing in front of a foreign audience for the first time.
Next was
risou decibel, which finally found
Nao, who had previously appeared to be completely lost in the music, looking up from his guitar and singing out to the audience.
Iron Will followed next, really getting the crowd revved up, jumping, and singing along.
Some highlights of the show were during the next song,
shuon no tokei, when
YuRi began to skip, hop, jump and run around the stage, taking out the mic stand in the process. The audience joined in her frenzied dancing to the point that the floor began to vibrate, and the
Ren fan contingent got their thrill for the day with the gratuitous booty shake he gave, setting the female half of the audience screaming.
The last two songs of the set,
saidai no BGM and
balance modulator, were performed with, if possible, even more energy and verve. The crowd was completely frenzied by this time, screaming out random phrases to the band in broken Japanese.
YuRi is an extraordinary vocalist with a physical size that far belies the huge voice and amazing range she wields.
Nao and
Ren are equally talented, guitar and bass revving from the get-go. Even during slower-paced songs like
empty, energy and excitement hummed in the air.
Sadly, the 48 minute set ended far too quickly and the band was not able to do an encore, due to time constraints. However, its safe to say that
LiN CLOVER earned themselves a lot of new fans in just under an hour.
Fans new and old came away from this show with the same message:
LiN CLOVER is an amazingly energetic band, packed with talent.
Set List:
Rinkaiten
miracle
empty
risou decibel
Iron Will
shuon no tokei
saidai no BGM
balance modulator
Thanks to LiN CLOVER and JapanFiles.com.
Pictures by Bow
