Chile's First JRock Concert: miyavi

On Wednesday, May 21st, while it is a rather normal day to the rest of the world, it was a holiday in Chile. A huge mass of young people waited anxiously for the evening to pass and shorten the wait that had been brought upon them since the announcement, a few weeks prior, to finally see a Japanese rock artist in Chile.

Regardless of the fact that it was a rather rainy day, there were people waiting in line early since the morning of the show. By noon, it was easy to find groups of people wearing mostly black or colorful outfits. As time went by, the crowd became larger and larger. By the time the gates opened, there wasn't space for a single person to enter the line. Despite the ticket prices, people of all ages formed a prominent line that surrounded the whole venue.

Near seven in the afternoon, an hour and ten minutes after the gates had opened, the line continued to surround the whole block, eventually there wouldn't be anything more than just parents and people from the media waiting outside. It was almost time for the first ever Japanese rock artist to play in Chile!

Already inside, the crowd was euphoric, their screaming could make anybody go deaf, and even moments prior to the show, the security people constantly splashed the crowd with water as a result of their demands and a couple unconscious girls had to be pulled out from the audience. Everything showed that the people wanted one thing only: miyavi.

As the time drew near, people started losing their patience and chanted the name of their idol. Only a couple minutes after the scheduled time, miyavi's support band came on stage. The KAVKI BOYZ consisted of drummer Ryo, bass player Shigue-chan, tap dancer Saro and DJ & beat boxer TeddyLoid, followed by the king of the night, miyavi, who appeared behind a curtain that showed only his silhouette. At the beginning of the first song, which is also the opening song for his latest album, JPN PRIDE, miyavi came out from behind the curtain. He wore a colorful violet kimono with fur around his neck over a white shirt and a long pink skirt over tight black pants, aside from a pair of silver sneakers that wouldn't go unnoticed and also a quite characteristic hat. He then began his show swirling around the stage in front of the crowd's screaming.

The show continued with miyavi egging on the audience and playing his guitar, followed by an introduction to the band that would give pass to the beginning of other new songs, such as kabuki danshi-KAVKI BOIZ-. When the song began the artist already seemed to feel the energy from the Chilean crowd, and left his kimono behind to fascinate his female part of the audience with his thin body and his sexy hip movements. The following couple songs were from his indie years. He began COIN LOCKERS BABY with a longer than usual intro, which he used to keep on interacting with the audience. The following, Ossan Ossan Ore Nanbo, miyavi walked all over the stage repeating time after time the most characteristic words of the song, receiving the same response from the audience. Also, bassist Shigue-chan had the opportunity to show his skills with a solo, followed by the solo by tap dancer Saro, which would lead miyavi to continue the rest of the song.

Next, they placed two songs from miyavi's acoustic album. Before starting the first one of these songs, miyavi and Saro had a guitar and tap dance battle! The tap dancer stood in the spot light along with miyavi which would lead to the beginning of HOW TO LOVE; it was played with the help of Saro's tap percussion. Then, they continued with kimi ni funky monky vibration, but this time, TeddyLoid was in charge of helping miyavi with the percussion through his beat boxing as well as some improvisation.

This being a tour to promote his newest work, the show began to focus primarily on songs from his latest releases. BOOM-HAH-BOOM-HAH-HAH also counted with TeddyLoid assistance outside the turntables, and along with Saro, who helped miyavi egg on the audience during this song's performance. With the DJ still on stage, 21st Century Tokyo Blues began with miyavi making the people move their arms up and down in the same way he, TeddyLoid and Saro did.

Later, a pre-recorded track started playing with the beginning of Hi no hikari sae todoka nai kono basho de feat. SUGIZO. As soon as they recognized the song, the fans started screaming louder, and they sang along with the lyrics throughout the whole song. At the end, everybody but the DJ TeddyLoid left the stage, leaving him playing a mix of some of miyavi's previous songs such as Dear my friend and Señor señora señorita, a remix of the latter song made the fans become even more enthusiastic.

After a while, the rest of the members came back on stage, including miyavi, who appeared with a different guitar, a beautiful black Flying V. He was dressed almost in all black, with a long headband, big sunglasses and a black jacket, aide from a white shirt and a reddish skirt over his tight pants. This part of the show began with the song that marked his career as a major artist, Rock no gyakushuu -Super star no jouken-. Then miyavi left the stage leaving Saro doing a typical Japanese drum solo performance with a digital pad, leading miyavi to play his next song shouri no V-ROCK!! Without any doubts, one of the biggest moments of the show happened during Are you ready to ROCK?, which lasted longer than usual. miyavi ran through the whole stage, from side to side, staying for long periods on each side interacting with the audience while repeating the words 'Are you ready to ROCK ?', to which the people responded in the same enthusiastic manner. After this, miyavi and his band left the stage once again.

After the fans screamed for a couple minutes asking for miyavi to come back on stage, his band appeared once again, playing for a while until miyavi came on stage as well. He appeared with the guitar he used at the beginning of the show and with his hair loose under a different cap. To the audience's surprise, he was also wearing the official Chilean soccer team t-shirt with the number 21 on it and his name printed on the back. During this instrumental introduction, he had a couple problems with his guitar, but he could perfectly go on with the show and interact with the audience as if there were no problems at all.

The encore's first song was Subarashiki kana, kono sekai -WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD-, one from of his latest work and one of the most anticipated songs the audience waited for. All of the people sang the lyrics throughout the whole song, which lasted a little longer than usual, and Shige-chan showed his skills once again in a solo near the end. Before the next and final song, the audience spontaneously started screaming "I love you" in Japanese, which was one of the most emotive parts of the show for not only the audience, but also left miyavi really surprised.

Finally, miyavi played another of his most popular songs from his latest album, Sakihokoru hana no you ni -Neo Visualizm-, which since the very beginning, motivated the whole audience who followed the lyrics throughout the whole song. After this song, the band including miyavi left the stage for the last time. The lights of the venue turned on, leaving a crowd of happy fans ready to go.

During the presentation, miyavi would constantly interact with the audience, speaking primarily in English, which caused a little confusion at certain moments. Though the artists did learn a few words and phrases in Spanish, which left the audience even more captivated, saying things such as, "I've wanted to meet you for a while now," in Spanish.

Also, even though miyavi was the center of attention, his band mates had the chance to show off their skills. Clearly, this concert marked an event in terms of the Japanese rock music scene in Chile, and left a very emotive memory of those who attended the show.


Set list
1) JPN PRIDE
Solo performance: We're KAVKI BOIZ!!
2) kabuki danshi-KAVKI BOIZ-
3) Drums IN~COIN LOCKERS BABYー
4) Ossan Ossan Ore Nanbo
S/MC
5) TAP BATTLE~HOW TO LOVE
6) kimi ni funky monkey vibration~BEAT BOXX JAM
7) BOOM-HAH-BOOM-HAH-HAH
8) SE~21st Century Tokyo Blues
MC
9) Hi no hikari sae todoka nai kono basho de feat. SUGIZO
10) DJ TIME/MYV GREATES HITS Medley
-ippiki ookami ron
-2 be with U
-Dear my friend
-Señor señora señorita
11)Rock no gyakushuu -Super star no jouken-
12)shouri no V-ROCK!!
13)Are you ready to ROCK ?

Encore
14) Subarashiki kana, kono sekai -WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD-
15) Sakihokoru hana no you ni-Neo Visualizm-

Many thanks to NoiX Productions for making this live report possible.