CRAZY CRAZY CRAZY - girugamesh at SHIBUYA-AX

girugamesh concluded their lengthy tour with a final show in Tokyo at Shibuya AX. The band had not played in Tokyo for a while, since they were busy touring each of the 47 prefectures of Japan. It was thus not surprising that the large venue was sold out, with both the downstairs standing area and the seated balcony full of excited fans, many of them male, wearing their T-shirts and hoodies or even cosplaying the members. Before the show started, Linkin Park was played over the speakers, like at other shows of the tour. As the lights went off, the band name appeared on the screens above the stage, with a talking skull that welcomed the audience to the "crazy show."

As the members walked out onto the stage together, the audience screamed, and straight away the show kicked off at a high pace with Break Down; the PV was played on the big screen as the members worked the whole stage, moving around and firing up the audience. Satoshi exclaimed, "Let’s enjoy until the end!" and as the set continued energetically with ULTIMATE 4 the masses broke out into headbanging. For the upbeat FREAKS laser rays pierced the hall and the crowd jumped as one, making the walls of the hall shake. As the audience clapped to angry juice, the members jumped around the stage energetically.

Satoshi thanked the fans in the MC and welcomed them to the finale of a tour that had lasted half a year. “Let's free our minds and get crazy!” he screamed.CRAZY-FLAG followed, with Яyo urging the masses to move as Nii and ShuU switched places, running across the stage and jumping on and off the pedestal of the drum set. The fans shook their fists and screamed the lyrics in unison before the positive Dance Rock Night had the entire hall jumping and responding to Satoshi’s singing with loud screams.

Next was shadan, a song that used to be played at almost every live in the past but is rarely performed nowadays, so dancing and jumping could be seen all over the hall. “Raise your hands!” the band shouted and the live continued as the crowd clapped, jumped and danced furitsuke choreography to DEAD WORLD. Satoshi strolled around the stage looking cool, Nii and ShuU screamed into their microphones while Яyo sang along to himself with a wide smile on his face. Following was the slower-paced but still heavy Asking why, after which a short pause with background music followed, during which the audience cheered the band on.

A quieter part of the set started with a sound of child’s laughter, leading to the brighter puzzle, to which both the band and the fans became calmer. The even slower-paced and spectacular Ishutar immobilized the audience: Satoshi sung in a fragile, trembling voice, trapped in a ring of green laser lights, spreading his arms out and looking up dramatically as the song drew to a close while flames were shown on the screen behind him. After the applause, an MC from ShuU followed. He greeted the enthusiastic crowd, asked whether there were any men in the audience and was surprised by the roar of masses that responded. The bassist asked them to take care of the girls if they see something wrong happening during the live, then continued his amusing MC talking about girugamesh’s image as a visual kei band, and how they want to create their own unique image and conquer the world with it.

Satoshi took over, urging the audience to cheer, before the live continued with the heavy patchwork, and as Nii jumped all over the stage, the crowd screamed and headbanged. Next was another hard song, Vermillion, during which the audience shook their fists and headbanged together with ShuU and Nii as Яyo, with his radiant smile, stood up behind the drum set, firing the masses up. “stupid!” Satoshi announced, and for this short but hot song all of AX went wild. smash!! started with the vocalist going from one side of the stage to the other encouraging the fans to clap, and he sang intimately to the front rows as the other members moved around the stage energetically. Nii asked the audience, “Are you having fun?” and receiving a loud response, the band continued onto the last song - the hit evolution. Shaking their fists and jumping, the audience sang along to the catchy song so loudly, it could be heard clearly over the intense instrumental sounds. On this positive note, the band finished the set and thanked the crowd, and as they screamed, the members left one by one, throwing picks, drum heads - and ShuU even threw his hoodie into the crowd.

Screams for the encore continued getting louder and louder as time passed, so the members came out onto the stage once again, thanking the fans for their call. The band proceeded to make two announcements - a DVD will be released with the recording of the live, and three consecutive singles are to come out starting in June. The first song of the encore was one from the upcoming release ALIVE; it was an upbeat song with some rapping that had a rather positive sound to it. Since it was performed for the first time though, the audience’s reaction was at first a bit clumsy, but they gradually got more and more enthusiastic. Applause and cheering followed, and thanking the crowd, Satoshi said that he wanted to give the other members a chance to talk, since usually he and ShuU did all the talking at lives.

Яyo repeatedly went “Yay!” and with an expression of delight, he listened to the fans response, then simply said, “Ah, this feels good!” When asked whether he actually had anything to say, he simply announced “I love you!” to the fans, to be met with an enthusiastic reaction. Nii simply thanked the crowd for this live selling out, then bashfully stopped, not knowing what else to say, finally adding, “This is fun, this is great! Thank you!” As everyone in the audience laughed, he confessed that he was weak at speaking. ShuU took over, looking more comfortable talking on stage than the others, and spoke about the design of their new band shirts, then mentioned that from now on the band was off on a US and Europe tour, asking the fans for their support. As the lights dimmed, the encore continued with the slow and heavy volcano, during which Satoshi’s voice sounded especially moving. As the members came forwards to the edge of the stage, firing the masses up, omae ni sasageru minikui koe exploded with crazy moshing from the front to the back rows, sending shivers down one’s spine just from watching it. The atmosphere became hotter and hotter with more headbanging and screaming. After the song ended, Satoshi simply walked off the stage. The other members clapped their hands and waved to the crowd, and the encore screams restarted.

The band came out once again, looking satisfied with their achievement at the live and thanked the crowd once more. The vocalist announced that the next song to be played was about one’s most important person, and the second encore started with enishi, a brighter and calmer but strong and captivating song. The audience applauded, and as Satoshi thanked them, saying that more than any words, the next and final song shining would express the feelings of gratitude that the band has towards the fans.

Lights filled the hall and a forest of hands could be seen in the air as the crowd waved their fists with enthusiasm. Satoshi’s touching voice and the atmosphere of unity created an amazing positive impact. “Thank you!” the vocalist exclaimed without the microphone, and the masses responded with clapping and screaming. Slowly, the members left the stage, throwing things into the crowd and waving good-bye. “See you in the summer!” screamed Satoshi, as applauding and happy screams concluded the live.

girugamesh’s powerful shows are definitely a sight not to be missed. With every release and tour, the band’s success grows in amazing proportions, and as they continue touring around Europe they are bound to gain popularity all over the world.


Set list:

-INTRO-
01. Break Down
02. ULTIMATE 4
03. FREAKS
04. Angry juice
05. CRAZY-FLAG
06. Dance Rock Night
07. Shadan
08. DEAD WRLD
09. Asking why
-INST.-
10. puzzle
11. Ishutar
12. patchwork
13. Vermillion
14. stupid
15. smash!!
16. evolution

Encore:
En1. ALIVE
En2. volcano
En3. Omae ni sasageru minikui koe

En4. enishi
En5.shining