MUCC's 10-year Anniversary Concert

MUCC's 10-year anniversary concert, "The Brilliant", took place in Ibaraki Kenritsu Kenmin Bunka Center, which was harder to locate than expected. The outside of the building was decorated with blinking lights for Christmas, which gave a lovely shine from the darkness outside. Clad in black, lots of fans were gathered outside, many of them having copied the characteristic black make-up that Tatsuro sometimes wears. Within the foyer of the venue there was a huge merchandise stand with an enormous selection of goods. Inside there were seats of red velvet set in a steep arch up from the stage.

Eventually, everyone found their way to their seats and after some waiting, Ikari Shinji from Evangelion's voice was heard over the speakers and the audience started getting excited. Several intros were played before the band finally came out one by one. They were each wearing different suit versions, Tatsuro's was possibly the most special which consisted of a long patterned waistcoat over a tuxedo T-shirt and a long red scarf. Everyone was wearing shoes for the occasion which was almost surprising since they often play barefoot.

They opened the concert with their new song Fuzz, green lasers made patterns on the walls in the same style as from the music video. Yukke was playing a really stylish electric contra-bass, and fireworks were shooting around making a spectacular opening. They continued with Suimin and the audience danced along to the music. The third song was the fast-paced and happy Chain Ring, which was followed by Orugooru where Tatsuro had a screaming fight with the audience, egging them on to make more noise. The stage was covered in green light with a single red one pointed at Tatsuro for a dramatic effect. Both the band and the audience seemed to be in a good mood and for Ranchu everyone was headbanging in unison while the stage was flooded with a dramatic red light.

When Saishuu ressha began the backdrop was raised and the wall behind the band was covered with an intricate pattern. The lights blinked frantically while they played D.O.G., and Tatsuro made the audience chant "yeah yeah" along with him while raising their fists in the air. They continued with the calm Panorama where the lyrics were displayed on the screen behind them and the mood changed to a calmer one for a while. Green lasers surround Tatsuro during 25ji no yuuutsu which, combined with its squeaky guitars and heavy bass riffs, created an eerie mood.

At this point Tatsuro and Miya left the stage, leaving Yukke and Satochi to play a drum and bass solo. Yukke's bass-skills were really amazing and they played a long and complex solo consisting of strange elements such as barking and meowing, the Pink Panther theme, some classical music, tribal-sounding drums and screaming. The members showed up on the screen behind them with speech bubbles that brought laughter throughout the audience. After this, the members switched places and Miya and Tatsuro were alone on stage to perform a calm, acoustic version of Yasashii kioku.

The whole band was reunited on the stage again for Horizont where a beautiful picture of a horizon was shown on the screen behind them. The background image changed to a night-scene with a beautiful starry sky for the next song, Ryuusei. The happy songs Utagoe and Mae e created an elated mood and the audience was jumping and waving their arms in ecstasy. The last song was Libra with flames showing up in beat with the music. When the band left the stage the audience immediately started screaming for an encore. After some waiting, the band returned to the stage wearing tour shirts.

Their first encore was a cover of Luna Sea's Dejavu and the audience seemed pleasantly surprised. MUCC's version of this song was not bad and everyone danced and sang along happily. They did six songs altogether, and the audience seemed content when the band left the stage for the last time, throwing drumsticks and plectrums in the process.

It seemed at times Tatsuro had some trouble with his voice, but otherwise the band was in good shape and happy to be playing together. The set list had a good mix of older songs, which surely pleased all of the fans who were lucky enough to be at this great anniversary concert.


Set list:

1. Fuzz
2. Suimin
3. Chain Ring
4. Orugooru
5. Kyousoukyoku
6. Ranchu
7. Saishuu ressha
8. Touei
9. D.O.G.
10. Panorama
11. 1979
12. 25ji no yuuutsu

13. Yasashii kioku
14. Horizont
15. Ryuusei
16. Utagoe
17. Mae e
18. Bouzenjishitsu
19. Libra

Encore
1. Dejavu
2. Leji
3. Namonaki Yume
4. Daikirai
5. Tsubasa
6. Yasashii Uta