THE DEAD P☆P STARS Live Report

On October 16th one of several RED-Zone 6th.Anniversary events took place. This special event was created to celebrate the anniversary of the Otsuka RED-zone livehouse. Today's event was centered around various types of rock music, and THE DEAD P☆P STARS were part of the line-up.

The event started earlier in the evening, and around 20:30 it was finally THE DEAD P☆P STARS' turn. The lights went off and a loud, heavy intro sounded, which was dominated by the drums and deep bass. The audience consisted mostly of female fans and they started to shout for the band. It took some time after the intro started before the members appeared on stage, starting with bassist RUIJI, and guitarists HIDETO and TAIJI. KENZI, the drummer appeared next, followed by vocalist AKI.They were all casually dressed, but still looked very stylish. The band immediately picked up where the introduction had left off and the fans started to headbang wildly.

The venue was pretty crowded and THE DEAD P☆P STARS seemed to have attracted one of the larger audiences that night. At the end of the first song, KENZI shook off his hat, which rolled across his drum kit before he tossed it aside. During the second song, TAIJI went up to the front and he played an amazing solo. Meanwhile, AKI was cheering on the audience by raising his hands in the air.

Just before the next song started, KENZI got up from his drum chair and skitted a little round behind the drums. You could tell the band, as well as the audience, was excited.

The band played some of their heavier songs that evening and they often headbanged together with their fans. During the third song both HIDETO and TAIJI went up to the front to show the crowd their guitar skills by playing solo. A short MC by AKI followed.

The song that followed also contained English lyrics and the vocalist's pronunciation was good. The guitarists did the backing vocals and their voices mixed well with the music and AKI's voice. There was an instrumental break during which KENZI energetically jumped up and down behind the drums, while AKI was moving along to the beat. The sound ended with a powerful note from the vocalist and the crowd cheered and clapped enthusiastically.

AKI thanked their fans in both Japanese and English and held another short MC which was followed by a slower song. The intro and verses had a mellow sound, but the chorus definitely rocked. Despite the song being good, the vocals were unfortunately weaker and sounded as if the microphone volume had been turned down. It was to the point it seemed as if even the background vocals were louder.

The lights were turned down and for a few moments both the band and audience remained quiet. AKI started talking to the crowd again and he told them they would play two more songs.

Whilst playing ALIVE, AKI told the people to headbang and half of the audience enthusiastically started doing so. The guitarist and RUIJI headbanged as well. The crowd also threw their fists into the air, pumping them along the beat. This was certainly the highlight of the show and you could feel the energy, both from the stage, as well as the audience.

A fast drum beat followed and the last song had started while AKI began waving his arm in circles while headbanging. It seemed like everyone was letting their last bit of energy out during the final song. TAIJI stepped onto the raised drum stage and with his back to the audience started to move his head wildly. Towards the end, four fans jumped onto the stage and the guitarists, bassist and vocalist all put one foot on the drum stage and moved along to the music. The fans got on both knees on the stage and headbanged until the song finished.

Before leaving the stage, AKI told the crowd that they were great. After he left, the remaining band members played a quick paced outro. RUIJI, HIDETO and TAIJI also disappeared while KENZI gave one last drum beat. The audience applauded and shouted the band's name.

After the entire event had ended, fans gathered around the small merchandise table to chat with and take pictures of THE DEAD P☆P STARS' members KENZI and AKI. The performance of the band had been very energetic and although all songs were received enthusiastically, it was a shame they didn't play any of their ballads.