Stylish Wave ILLUSION '08 Vol.3

On Saturday, July 5th, fans eagerly waited around Hibiya Park in Tokyo for stylish wave ILLUSION '08 Vol.3, presented by the magazine Zy. The concert was being held at Hibiya's open air stage.

At exactly 17:00 ,the event started with a short MC by Noboru Yamamoto, introducing the first band, heidi., a pop-rock styled band. The band came on stage to their SE, and was dressed in casual, yet stylish, clothes with a black and white theme. They opened with Slow Drop, an upbeat song off their latest album, Innocence. The heavy bass intro of this song made a good opening song for the event. Although only a few people in the audience seemed to know the full furitsuke for the song, all of the audience reacted enthusiastically anyway.

heidi.'s performance was excellent. The band played well and vocalist Yoshihiko's voice was very clear. The next song, Remu, although not a particularly heavy song, was the audience's cue to begin headbanging. It was followed by Synchro, a song with a nice guitar intro. The guitar line was catchy through the entire song. Yoshihiko ended the song with a grunt, which signaled the start of the next song, Shinkirou. This song was even more upbeat, with a strong drum sound, than the rest of heidi.'s set. heidi. ended their set with Parade. Yoshihiko gave a bit more by doing a little dance before the band thanked their audience and left the stage.

In between songs the audience listened to the MC talk about the previous band and introduce the next band. When he was done, hide's music played in the background before the next band came onstage.

After heidi. it was lynch.'s turn. Accompanied by their SE, and much applause and grunting from the fans, they came onstage. They greeted the fans and started their set with unknown lost a beauty, a song in their signature dark style. The song had a good balance of growling and singing, something they showed well during their performance. One thing that left an especially positive impression throughout lynch.'s set was that the band actively encouraged their fans to clap along and cheer. This worked well and the energy level went up even more as the fans responded enthusiastically. The next song was I'm sick,b'cuz luv u., a great song to hear live because of its interesting vocals. After this, they played an Illusion, during which vocalist Hazuki acted as if he'd lost his mind and spit water at the audience as the fans continued clapping along with the song.

lynch.'s set was longer than those of the other bands and, after ADORE, they continued with a grateful shit and ended with pulse. The band started this song facing their drummer, Asanao, before turning around toward the audience again. Hazuki let the audience sing and, with a grunt, got the audience to jump and headbang for the rest of the song. Finally, the band thanked their fans, "thank you, arigatou," and left the stage.

Next, visual kei band Mix Speaker's,Inc., took the stage, while carrying flags, to their "opening narration." During this opening they performed a little dance alongside their two new dancers, who they introduced later in their set. Unlike before, when the band dressed in monster costumes, they were wearing simple suits. However, although they toned their image down a little, they still wore parts of their signature outfits. After the opening, everyone took their places, greeted the fans and started playing Go!Go!Bremen. The band and their dancers kept dancing during this song and the audience joined in, moving from left to right and occasionally headbanging. During the next song, JUNK STORY, one of the band's two vocalists, MIKI, more or less jokingly introduced the new dancers as Mix Dancer's,Inc. Accompanied by the robotic sounds of the song the dancers performed a dance act. JUNK STORY was followed by Space Hunter.

The vocalists MIKI and YUKI played around with toy guns and the band interacted a lot with the audience. Again the whole band danced. However, halfway through, the dancers left the stage and returned at the end of the song with two small guitars for the vocalists to use for the next song, MONSTIME. The audience was already very enthusiastic but this was no doubt the best received song of the band's set. Bassist seek played his bass with a screw driver, which produced a unique sound. A little later in the song YUKI and seek took a flag and waved it around, while the other members came to the front of the stage to give the last song their all. As the song ended the band thanked the audience and left the stage.

Heavy metal band SEX MACHINEGUNS came on stage during what sounded like a victory song, which set the mood for their whole performance. Music-wise, but also performance-wise, this band was quite different from the other bands performing at the event. With their metal sound and over-the-top performance, they stood out in a positive way. The band opened with Mikan no uta and got the crowd headbanging right away.

After a short and very funny MC, they continued with Aijin28, a song with a very speedy opening. The band added some dance moves to this song and, halfway through, they started playing while down on their knees. Also during the next song, High Speed SAMURAI, they kept their fans happy with another great and funny performance. They finished their set with Famires Bomber, where the bassist did a bit of the vocals and the band got the audience jumping enthusiastically along with the song. The band left the stage quickly, but returned a little later for a funny MC with the whole band.

By the time the last band, Kagrra,, performed, it was completely dark outside. During Kagrra,'s set they used the stage lights in an interesting way, creating a dramatic effect. As the audience clapped along to the SE, the band came onstage. Vocalist Isshi was carrying a fan, representing their traditional style, and the audience members immediately took out their own fans. The band started their set with Kotodama. Isshi started a little off-key, but quickly corrected himself. The audience didn't mind either way and waved their fans around in the same manner as Isshi did. The next song was Shigatsu tsuitachi, followed by Sai, a song with a heavy drum intro. The band members waved around towels and the audience enthusiastically joined in, waving their own towels around.

This song was followed by an MC. Isshi mentioned their upcoming single, set for release on September 10th, and the opening song they're doing for a movie. A dramatic intro followed and Uzu started. Guitarist Shin started the song playing the koto, but switched back to the guitar later on in the song. The koto had a solo part in the song ands along with the vocalss this song surely left a powerful impression. As the last song in their set, Kagrra, played Urei. They allowed the audience to actively participate in the song by making them "reply" to Isshi's vocals. The atmosphere this song created leftthe audience wishing for more, but made for a perfect ending for the evening as the band left the stage.

As a grand finale, all the bands came back on stage for one last MC before they thanked their audience and left the stage for the last time.


Setlist:

heidi.
SE
1. Slow drop
2. Remu
3. Synchro
4. Shinkirou
5. Parade

lynch.
SE
1. unknown lost a beauty
2. I'm sick,b'cuz luv u.
3. an Illusion
4. ADORE
5. a grateful shit
6. pulse

Mix Speaker's,Inc.
~Opening narration~
1. Go!Go!Bremen
2. JUNK STORY
MC
3. Space Hunter
4. MONSTIME
Fanfare ED SE

SEX MACHINEGUNS
SE
1. Mikan no uta
2. High Speed SAMURAI
3. Aijin28
4. Famires Bomber

Kagrra,
SE
1. Kotodoma
2. Shigatsu tsuitachi
3. Sai
4. Uzu
5. Urei