Ayabie Last Indies Tour ~The 7th Color~

The finale of Ayabie`s last indies tour, The 7th Color had arrived, and Studio Coast was packed with a mix of girls and guys all eagerly anticipating the evening`s performance. Just prior to the beginning of the live, the usual "please don`t use cameras" announcement was made, but the male voice sounded somewhat familiar. The announcer asked everyone to wait, with the voice becoming more growly until the answer was revealed with a "Kenzo deshita" that caused half the livehouse to erupt into screams.

A few minutes later, the lights went out. Screams and clapping filled the darkness with noise as spots shone on a screen covering the stage with the name of this finale live. Then, in sudden flash, the band was illuminated, standing in idol-like poses in a line at the top of their two-tiered stage. One by one, they walked down the stairs to the stage, greeting the fans in their own way. With more girlish screams from the excitable audience, it felt like an pop-idol rock concert. Even the first notes of songs were screamed at, a rarity in rock music.

TheMe began the night in a flurry of fireworks. With energetic gestures, Aoi led the dancing and from the second floor, the movement of hundreds of arms waving in time with each other was impressive to see. Cubic [L/R]ock followed with a green laser display, covering the audience's violent jumping that literally shook the ground. The band seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves. Aoi and Yumehito followed each other around closely on Yumehito`s side of the stage while on the other side, Takehito and Intetsu bobbed about in their own synchronized dance. All the members had huge smiles on their faces as they danced about in a dazzling display of the popular song.

Aoi continued his energetic dancing in Harenohi. "Clap your hands!" he shouted in English before the funky jazz beat began, to which he and Yumehito shuffled about from side to side. Yumehito was rather active all evening as well, making small gestures to communicate with the crowd. He and Takehito got their first chances to shine solo as they came together in the centre of the stage to play together in Tsukuyomi, leading into one of Takehito`s impressive solo portions that continually wowed through the night. Each member seemed super confident, and all exuded a lot of charisma.

The quintet took a short break afterward for Aoi to introduce a new song, the stunning mid-tempo Kanaria. With a funky bassline from Intetsu maintaining a strong rhythm, Yumehito's guitar shone particularly with some intricate playing through the bridge. It began a short section of mid-tempo songs that displayed the full range of Ayabie's talent for song-writing. In Artifact, after a beautiful opening of lasers dancing to ethereal sounds, the guitars were minimal compared to the stronger rhythm section: Kenzo's cymbals were a neat contrast to Intetsu's strong bass and Aoi's dulcet vocals. Then, in Senjou Cameraman to saigo, the guitars came back to prominence. With spotlights highlighting Yumehito and Takehito, they played their individual parts before coming together with some neat, quick notes from Yumehito, which preceded another impressive Takehito solo.

The energy was brought back with I'm Vogue, which led to Kirisame and then Yubisaki. Aoi conducted the dancing of hands waving from side to side before deciding to wrap himself momentarily in the stage curtain on Yumehito's side of the stage. Musically, it continued to be impressive with Kenzo's drums particularly mesmerizing to watch.

Another short MC followed, in which Aoi, announcing he had to do a forfeit from a game they had played, pretended to use his mic stand as a pair of dumbbells. The atmosphere sparkled and Masquerade certainly added to the fun, with the fans performing the complex furitsuke choreography perfectly. Aoi's movements were super energetic; his spirits were were high that evening and his voice was particularly powerful in the following Ari to kakuzatou, which also saw some nice contrasting solos from Intetsu and Yumehito.

The live got a little heavier as 0010 started. Intetsu stood at the top of the stairs for his bass solo that led into the introduction of this rather bass heavy song. Every head in the audience was headbanging. Yumehito and Takehito climbed the stairs to play above Kenzo's drumkit and get a better look at the wildly flying hair, before Yumehito decided to join Intetsu and the crowd in the thrashing about. The energy climbed even more as the crowd went wild dancing to Browny. The band, meanwhile, climbed the stairs to do their version of the amusing EXILE style dance. They stood in a line and ducked their heads in a circle, the front person first and followed by the others in a round. This was done a few times, with leader Yumehito altering the speed and Aoi even trying to do the Browny furitsuke while moving.

Sanbyou concluded the crazy headbanging. On the right hand side of the stage, Intetsu and Takehito were an amusing contrast with each other, the former going crazy with the crowd while the latter remained very calm. The pit was a mass of jumping and screaming during which Yumehito began to shout "Aoi" after a few counts of "3.2.1."

It was now time for the final two songs of the live. Aoi introduced them with a long MC. He told the crowd how it has been three years since this lineup of the band came together and that since high school, he had wanted to be in bands. He gave his heartfelt thanks for the major debut to the audience and the band before announcing the first playing of major debut single Aitakute. It was a lovely song, pop-sounding with a light melody and very sweet lyrics.

Finally, Nanairo no sora no octave concluded the main set with blasts of rainbow coloured smoke that obscured every band member but Aoi for a good few seconds. It was a happy song that carried the live to the end with an energetically jumping audience and a band with huge smiles on their faces.

The encore shouts were soon answered as Yumehito and Kenzo strolled on stage. Or rather, Yumehito bounced along like an excited child while Kenzo merely sauntered on. There were many shouts for Kenzo though, which resulted in Yumehito standing on Aoi's podium in mock anger trying to get fans to shout at him. Together, they introduced the tour goods in a funny comedy double act that began with an imitation of a popular Japanese comedy, The World of Golden Eggs, and explained that the pamphlet was cool except for four points where they had weird faces.

After a short while, they introduced Takehito by encouraging the audience to chant his name, but in a slightly wrong way, to which he protested "no, it's not" when he got hold of a mic. He was followed by Intetsu, who engaged Takehito in a long chat of stories from when they had met before Aoi came back. Aoi addressed the crowd again, saying that the first Ayabie live had only had 3 people, but now they were playing large venues and going major.

The crowd remained attentively silent until the announcement of Sakura Mau Kisetsu ni, a perfect song given the season. This was followed by a new song with an energetic guitar driven melody that suited the live atmosphere very well before another fun live song, Shine, during which cute furitsuke that got the audience making rabbit ears with their hands was done. The first encore concluded with electric moonlight, a slow but bright tune that filled the room with stars, courtesy of a spinning disco ball.

The band emerged together for the second encore and started with Digital Neverland, although Takehito began to play the notes of 'Happy Birthday' instead as audience and band wished a very happy birthday to Aoi, complete with cake. "Tonight we could play all night," shouted a very happy Aoi as lasers lit up Studio Coast together with the bright notes of Digital Neverland. The band continued to move around energetically, with the guitarists changing places often, and as the final song Kimi to Koe no yakusoku began, strips of rainbow paper flew out over the audience. The room sparkled with rainbow colors and the audience sang along to the cheerful melody that ended this fun live on a bright, positive note.

Ayabie's live was fun to watch from start to finish. It really felt like a celebration of both Ayabie's indies days and their positivity as they move forwards into their major label career.

Setlist:

-SE-
1.TheMe
2.Cubic'「L/R」ock
3.Harenohi
4.Tsukuyomi

-MC-

5.Kanaria
6.Artifact
7.Senjou Cameraman to saigo
8.I'm Vogue
9.Kirisame
10.Yubisaki

-MC-

11.masquerade
12.Ari to kakuzatou
13.0010
14.Browny
15.Sanbyou

-MC-

16.Aitakute
17.Nanairo no sora no octave

En1:
18.Sakura mau kisetsu ni
19. New song
20.Shine
21.electric moonlight

En2:
22.Digital Neverland
23.Kimi no koe to yakusoku