Many Merry Days 5th Anniversary Special 2night - Black Sheep Event

The evening's previous live, White Sheep Event (article here) had been a classy and beautiful affair. However, the moment one set foot back into the C.C. Lemon Hall (Shibuya Kokaido) after the brief break between events, one could sense the difference in mood. Many fans had changed out of their finer attire into more casual clothes, which were better suited to a rock concert, and the moment the lights began to go down, their excited screams began to fill the air. The stage had changed as well; gone were the white curtains and checkerboard floor. Three screens rose from the back of the stage, the largest in the middle with two smaller ones flanking it. The school desk seen in so many of Merry's shows had been absent during the first event but it'd now returned to its usual position at the front and center as a coat rack with various hats and other things stood by the drums.

Shortly after eleven, Merry stepped back on stage as the audience cheered, the lights flashed, and Japanese Modernist (trash mix), featured recently on one version of their winter single Calling, played over the speakers. Every member came up close to the outstretched arms of their fans, drummer Nero toting a flag with Merry's ram skull printed on it. As they took their positions on stage, vocalist Gara grabbed the microphone and the Black Sheep Event truly began with an extremely animated Japanese Modernist.

With the energy already nearly off the scale, the band launched into a few of their older songs, such as atama ga zakuro, Seishun neurose and Haraiso. binibon nichoume yachiyokan came next, followed by Ve-Doro. As bassist Tetsu stepped forward, the crowd pumped their fists in their air as they screamed "Oi! Oi!" in time. Gara's performance became rather insanity tinged, his vocals done almost childishly as he clutched and played with a flashing pink yo-yo like toy.

Following this craziness was PEEP SHOW and then Kyoso Carnival, although the latter was interrupted halfway through as it became clear that it was nearing midnight. Nero spoke to the excitedly buzzing crowd, fanning himself lightly as he stood behind his drum set and the screens behind the band broadcast the time, counting down from ten until the midnight hour was struck and the year 2007 was welcomed in. Streamers shot out from the stage, over the wildly cheering audience as Gara knelt atop of his desk, bowing to the fans.

T.O.P. then became the first Merry song to be played in 2007, and the C.C. Lemon Hall was literally shaking as the fans went mad, flinging themselves against their seats and wildly doing furi/hand motions. The energy continued to be completely off the wall as they went into another track from Modern Garde, lost generation. Guitarists Kenichi and Yu came up to toe the front of the stage as the fans in front of them headbanged to the beat. This was followed then by Aikoku ~masurao~ and Gara plucking a black feather boa from the hat rack by the drum set in time for Kubitsuri Rondo. Gara's movements were almost birdlike, alternating between waving the boa and wrapping it about himself, burying his face in the black feathers.

Dekiai no Suisou and Meisai no Shinshi followed, the latter finding the band even more animated than before, despite the late hour. Gara seemed unable to hold still and fans followed his movements from Yu to Tetsu as he held the microphone out for the bassist to sing. Obviously delighted, the fans also sung along even as they danced, seeming to forget the seats, the live hall, and everything else around them as Merry wrapped things up with Mousou rendez-vous. A simply intense performance, the audience remained completely enraptured by Merry as it came to an end, Yu appearing to collapse briefly on stage as did Gara before the vocalist pulled himself up, setting the small chair on stage on top of the desk and staggering off. One by one, the rest of Merry filtered after him.

The moment the lights went down, the chant for an encore began.

The audience did not have long to wait as the largest screen on stage lit-up then, showing a video of Nero at his drum set dressed in the outfit he'd been sporting during the White Sheep Event. The flesh and blood Nero then emerged, still in black, and took his place behind the drum set after "talking" with and gesturing to the recording of himself. The fans were then treated to a Nero vs. Nero drum solo as the drumming switched back and forth between the White Sheep Nero and the Black Sheep Nero before finally falling in sync together to give a superb yet light-hearted performance.

Kenichi, Yu, and Tetsu returned to the stage as well after the drum solo, the latter two men tossing out a red rose to the fans, a theme which would later be repeated, as Kenichi seemed too content to decorate his microphone stand with them. Gara stepped back on stage and they went into their encore with two older, very wild numbers; Yasashisa kid and yellow girl. The entire place was shaking once more as Gara danced and kicked about the stage, Yu and Kenichi hopping up along the walkway behind Nero to stand by the screens.

Nearly as suddenly as they had re-appeared, the band exited again, Nero toting Merry's flag behind him as the live hall darkened aside from strange, swirly red spotlights playing over the stage. The drummer was the first to return to the calls of the fans, carrying an armful of red roses with him which he tossed out to the crowd. Tetsu and Yu again flung a solitary red rose to their fan of choice as Gara then came on, wearing his and letting the fans pluck the flowers straight from his body with their eager fingers. Kyoso Carnival had been interrupted earlier due to the countdown but was re-played now before the band went into Sentimental New Pop and then Kimatteru Taiyo. Another track from PEEP SHOW was next then; PLTC. Wilder than some of its PEEP SHOW counterparts, both band and fans went crazy as Gara made as if to hide beneath the desk, and then a blanket, onstage.

After Merry left once more, blue lights began to swirl over the stage and the fans were nearly yelling themselves hoarse for another encore. Returning and showering the audience with yet more roses, Merry went into the wild Arry as Gara jerked about. mado was very slightly slower but nihilistic was not as the crowd pumped their hands in the air and yelled in time. As Merry left the stage, the lights changed once more, swirling purple and green as the fans yelled still.

The fourth encore found Merry opening with more flowers, Gara handing his to one of the cameramen, and FREAKS A GO GO. The audience's energy seemed to be finally reaching its limit after the long, draining night as many appeared tired but were still obviously enjoying themselves, smiling at their band and throwing themselves about wildly to the music. Nisemono Tengoku was a crazed affair as Gara danced with both feather boa and microphone stand and the crowd yelled the lyrics along with him before they finished their encore with Shambara, which was surprisingly much harder and rockish than that heard on the CD recording. Holding up Merry's flag, Nero bowed to the audience before exiting with the rest of the band.

This time, only the chandelier remained lit; hanging alone in the darkness. The crowd was nearly hoarse by this point, and no doubt exhausted, but every person still seemed to be on their feet as they clapped, cheering for another encore. They weren't left wanting for long as Merry returned once more to the stage and launched into the insanity of hi no ataranai basho and violet harenchi. Tetsu and Kenichi came up close to the reaching arms of the fans as the stage lights flashed wildly before the unexpected firework spinners burst into life during violet harenchi. After the energy of the show, and considering the late hour, one would've thought the audience would be too drained to keep up but the entire live hall shook once more as the fans went wild. Gara held the microphone out for Yu to yell during the chorus before ending the set with a headstand and moment of jump rope.

The lights went down but the chandelier still remained gently glowing as the fans yelled once more, the band remaining on stage in the near total darkness. After five encores and so many songs, one would think the band would be done by this point- but the lights came back. Although some were no doubt near losing their voices entirely by this point, they still cheered and screamed in the following quiet moments as Merry stood on stage, the band members looking out over their gathered fans. The cheers continued until Gara stepped forward to his microphone on its stand, tapping it with a "sshh".

The entire hall fell silent immediately as Gara then spoke to the fans for the first time, having previously communicated only through his calligraphy and the songs themselves. He spoke of the past five years, how hard Merry had worked to get to this point, thanked the fans, and said that they would work even harder from this point forward. The initial shock of hearing him speak soon gave into different intense emotions for the fans, who began to weep quietly, obviously touched.

The opening guitar lines were then gently played for the final song of the night, the lovely soshite, tooi yume no mata yume. Fans continued to weep gently, but happily, as the powerful song unfolded. The members of Merry were affected by the moment as well, driving Gara to begin to hide his tearful eyes first beneath an arm and then to partly tug down his hat. Though he succeeded in masking his eyes, the emotion was still clear in his voice as the fans cried and swayed with each other. As his part came to an end, Gara bowed twice before leaving the stage for the final time.

The audience applauded gently as the rest of Merry finished their parts before the last note was then played, marking the end of the show. Crying and clapping, fans cheered and screamed their adoration as Tetsu and Kenichi slowly left the stage after tossing guitar and bass picks out to the crowd. Yu did the same although paused just before leaving the stage to give a soft, smiling "Thank-you" into a microphone. Nero came down from behind the drum set and was obviously overcome by the same emotion felt by the audience; after taking a moment to compose himself, he thanked the gathered fans as well before bowing, placing Merry's flag behind the drums once again.

It remained there as he stepped off stage and the house lights came on, signaling the end to a truly unforgettable event.

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Set list:
(Japanese Modernist (trash mix))
01. Japanese Modernist
02. atama ga zakuro
03. Seishun neurose
04. Haraiso
05. binibon nichoume yachiyokan
06. Ve-doro
07. PEEP SHOW
08. Kyoso Carnival
09. T.O.P.
10. lost generation
11. Aikoku ~masurao~
12. Kubitsuri Rondo
13. Dekiai no Suisou
14. Meisai no Shinshi
15. Mousou rendez-vous
- (encore 1)
- (drum solo)
16. Yasashisa kid
17. yellow girl
- (encore 2)
18. Arry
19. mado
20. nihilistic
- (encore 3)
21. Kyoso Carnival
22. Sentimental New Pop
23. Kimatteru Taiyo
24. PLTC
- (encore 4)
25. FREAKS A GO GO
26. Nisemono Tengoku
27. Shambara
- (encore 5)
28. hi no ataranai basho
29. violet harenchi
30. soshite, tooi yume no mata yume