Megamasso at Shibuya AX

Waiting outside Shibuya AX for Megamasso's one-man called Enlarging the Shibuya nightsky, were what seemed like over a thousand excited fans. As was to be expected, they were mostly girls, but there were also a lot of guys, who were mostly crowding feminine guitarist Ryohei’s side of the stage. Above the wide stage hung the band's logo, which was later raised, announcing the beginning of the live. Beneath this was a large screen, onto which a video introduction of each of the members was played, accompanied by dramatic classical music (Richard Strauss to be precise). The fans grew excited, clapping and screaming their favourite member’s name.

As the usual starting SE came on, the smiling support drummer urged the audience to clap their hand, and one by one the band members came on stage, greeting the audience. Gou looked cool and relaxed, Ryohei was energetic and bouncy, with a shiny smile on his face and finally Inzargi came out in a loose outfit that reminded the viewers of his hip-hop roots. As the first song gyuunyuu (mjolk) started, the audience began dancing enthusiastically to its positive melodies. The vocalist screamed for the fans to raise their hands. This was followed by the harder Sweet skin like a candy and a thousand fists shook the air, encouraged by the members coming forwards, switching places and using the entire stage to interact with the crowd. The set gradually became harder with Goshikiyuutenmazochii and as Inzargi walked from one side of the stage to another with a triumphant look on his face, singing in a deep, sensual voice, the audience headbanged and jumped. Amegakkitai had a very different mood, starting with rhythmic keyboard music, which, although it was perhaps unusual for a visual kei band, was extremely catchy. The crowd followed as Inzargi clapped and waved his hands and he put his hand on Ryohei’s shoulder during what seemed like a musical dialogue between the vocals and the guitar. An original and interesting moment was as the vocalist performed something resembling a boyband dance, while the other two members simply span around. Minazuki missou was a bit calmer, but the members did not stop their simple but charming choreography and the audience continued dancing and showing their love by raising their hands with heart signs.

An entertaining MC followed, revolving around the theme of New Year, as the one-man was the first show of 2009 for the band. When Inzargi asked the audience such things as whether they ate traditional food for New Year’s, the audience replied by raising their hands. As the vocalist announced that he wanted everyone to listen to a song of the season, the live resumed with a winter’s day. An atmospheric, bright video was shown on the big screen and Ryohei softly started playing an acoustic guitar, allowing Gou's elaborate, intense bass lines and Inzargi’s powerful, touching voice to come through in a moving performance. Next came hoshifurimachi nite,and once again the fans danced, singing along. The new song, raiden mushufushu, which the audience was not used to yet, started and Gou came to the front, encouraging everyone to raise their hands. Ryouhei smiled and sang along to himself, stepping from side to side in an incredibly adorable manner. Inzargi’s high-pitched voice had a bit of a tremolo, making his distinct vocals even more captivating. During the MC that followed, the band discussed the rather strange name of this new song and made jokes about it, since many of Ryohei’s song titles are difficult to understand, even for the Japanese fans.

The members screamed, warming up the crowd as they got more company on stage. One peculiarity about Megamasso lives is the presence of ghetto-like hip-hop dancers onstage during some songs. For mitsu to ga, Inzargi, along with the two men, performed an impressive dance, which surprisingly did not seem that out of place. The darker number MIDI. followed and a number of fans headbanged to the harder parts, while most of them were busy watching the dances on stage. As beautiful girl started, the dancers left the stage, but Inzargi continued dancing, now in a more typical manner for the genre, and the audience copied him, stretching their hands out to the members, as they switched places and came forward. The more sinister vocals and hard, almost heavy metal instrumentals of yoreru monooki had the fans shaking their fists, screaming and headbanging violently. The members came together in the middle of the stage for the upbeat gymnasium before bouncing energetically all over the stage and the audience jumped and waved their hands. Menou had a bit of an ethnic Japanese feel to it, coupled with intense rock instrumentals, and all of AX continued going wild, as the members came forwards to observe and encourage them, with visible satisfaction. Gou screamed into the microphone, asking the audience to move more, and at last Inzargi called out to them: "Let’s become one!". The quieter White, White had a more positive atmosphere and as the vocalist stopped singing for a while, fans' voices could be heard singing along over the instrumentals and Ryohei performed another one of his amazing solos. Finally came LIPS, positive and upbeat, in which the audience became one, dancing and waving their arms. The members seemed to have fun as well, moving around the stage, switching places and flirting with each other, before they finally came to the middle of the stage to play the last moments of the set together. Thanking the audience, the band left the stage. Ryohei smiled and greeted the fans, as Gou blew them a kiss and they left the stage to loud screams.

Immediately, requests for an encore could be heard, but instead of coming onto the stage, interviews with the three members, which had been recorded the previous day, were played. The fans laughed, especially at Gou’s interview, as the fashion point of the day for him turned out to be nothing other than his face. Ryohei’s interview had the fans screaming: "cute!" and Inzargi’s seemed serious at first but then made the audience laugh. Jokes, especially about their costumes and Ryohei’s hair, continued as the band came out onto the stage. They then introduced the support members - the two hip-hop dancers and the drummer - and the audience cheered and applauded. The encore kicked off on an aggressive note with the new song SUPERNOVA, which had a heavy, loud sound. Even Ryohei did a bit of headbanging, in a very cute way, and as Gou screamed into his microphone the audience jumped along. Absolute madness broke out during furarako, another violent song with an ethnic touch to it, as Inzargi screamed for the audience to "become aggressive". Ryohei skipped down the stage, switching places with Gou, who walked slowly, giving off cool, confident vibes. The band prolonged the song for the audience to fully enjoy their moshing and a rare sight for this genre was seen as a whole bunch of croud-surfers were carried off by the waves of the excited crowd. The crazy headbanging continued throughout to the very back of the venue for imomuchi no nushi, mixed with dancing, jumping and moshing, and the tension in the huge hall was at its maximum. In the final MC, Inzargi asked the audience to sing along and let him hear their voices. In the calmer and more melodic namida neko, the warmed-up audience seemed to have truly become one sea of happy eyes, watching the satisfied band passionately performing their final song.

As if unwilling to leave, the band took a long time to thank the crowd. They threw their picks and personal belongings, hugging each other and smiling. The last to leave the stage was Gou, saying his final word into the microphone, and as the audience tried to scream for another encore the screen showed big news: The announcement of Megamasso’s new tour and its final one-man in the larger venue of Akasaka BLITZ. This was met with excitement by the fans.

Megamasso surely know how to rock a large crowd with their positive sound and unique style, enveloping several genres at once and their upcoming lives are bound for big success and will bring the audience only happy emotions.


Set list:

01. Gyuunyuu (mjolk)
02. Sweet skin like a candy
03. Goshikiyuutenmazochii
04. Amegakkitai
05. Minazuki missou
-MC-
06. a winter’s day
07. Hoshifurimachi nite
08. Raiden mushufushu
-MC-
09. Mitsu to ga
10. number MIDI.
11. Beautiful girl
12. Yoreru monooki
13. Gymnasium
14. Menou
-SMC-
15. White, White
16. LIPS

Encore
01. SUPERNOVA
02. Furarako
03. Imomushi no nushi
-MC-
04. Namida neko