12012 HEADS UP!! at Shibuya AX

The evening started not to the strains of 12012, but of Limp Bizkit, the thudding tones of their Mission Impossible theme filling AX with excitement. They introduced the evening's opening act, Kyoukishoji (12012's alter ego, an "American" 12012 PV band). The band walked in with a cool attitude, wearing simple black suits and white masks obscuring their faces - although this coolness was destroyed a few moments later when vocalist Six came pedaling in on a toy tricycle to rapturous screams from the crowd.

Kyoukishoji began with Hai furu karada. Six (Miyawaki Wataru) switched between strutting with confidence and hopping around his area of the stage like a madman as the guitars played the storming melody. His vocals were rich and clear, making the transitions between guttural screams and singing perfect. Gallows took on a harder note, with the band and audience jumping along energetically. The right side guitarist, John (Sakai Hiroaki) took to crawling around on his knees a bit mid-performance too, obviously having fun with the song. During the intervening MC, Six spoke in heavily accented Japanese (that of a Japanese person imitating a foreigner speaking Japanese) and said that today they were able to play with 12012 thanks to the strength of River Phoenix's (drummer Kawauchi Tohru's) father.

Finishing their set, Kyoukishoji ended with My Room Agony, allowing the bass to shine as John danced on top of his speakers. The whole band seemed to really enjoy their alter egos, and the fixed smiles on the masks somehow made this feeling even stronger. It was at once strange and surreal, but also incredibly fun.

Once Six cycled off on his tricycle, the stage went dark and the crowd waited for the real act. 12012 appeared after a while to a dark SE that pulsated through AX. In a midst of red lights, the backdrop of a hand holding a knife was illuminated on stage to perfect creepy effect.

As the members walked on, the eager shouts from the crowd could be heard beneath the music, shouts that turned to excited screams when the pop introduction of The World began the set. The funky beat and anthemic chorus charged the audience, who moved their arms animatedly to the beat with energy. It spilled over into confident performances of DNA and breaking the modern society. Lasers danced to the aggressive rock beat with particularly strong drums and a prominent bass line in breaking the modern society, showing the skills of the members. As the music led into Cyclone, Miyawaki Wataru rallied the audience into a call and response, the shouting almost as loud as the band. Cyclone began in a storm of strobe lights. Sakai Hiroaki and Suga Yuusuke took over singing the introduction from Wataru so the vocalist could run around the stage a little. The guitarists matched him in energy though, swapping places as they skipped around the stage before a high powered breakdown to the climax of the song finished dramatically with a sole spotlight on Wataru.

The band took a deserved break then, and thanked the audience for coming. Wataru stumbled over his words a little but he eventually found the right ones: "Together let's put our souls into this evening!" He shouted them to announce the next song, "6" party. The headbanging was incredible as a powerful guitar riff from Hiroaki got the audience moving. Later, Hiroaki's solo had the audience clapping along to the beat. The following Psycho Virus had a slightly punk and jazz style to it, with some offbeat ska style drumming from Tohru. Hiroaki's guitar was strong, too, and created an interesting melody, even if the vocals seemed to clash a little at times. Despite that, the band was enjoying themselves a lot, particularly Wataru, who took to rolling around on the floor. After DISPUTE, GENERATION was a nice contrast to the evening so far. A song that verged on being a rock ballad, it was lighter, more pop-sounding and groovier with spiky bass notes. It eased the set neatly into the ballads that followed.

The ballads began with Aitai kara..... It was a beautiful song live, with resonant notes from Hiroaki's guitar blending with the acoustic guitar of Yuusuke and the piano background perfectly. Despite further strong performance from the guitars, flower seemed a little marred by the vocals. In SHINE, however, the power came back with a techno beat and so did the confidence in Wataru's vocals.

The next SE signaled another change in the atmosphere of the live. It took on a darker and more industrial character, and Wataru's question to the crowd "Are you ready to go?" gave the feeling some heaviness would return; and it did, as crazy the city brought back the screams and a thudding drumbeats that almost threatened to envelop the guitars. Wataru had a flag with 12012 written on it, and he waved it about dramatically as chorus was repeated. Then, Wana opened with a powerful scream from Wataru, who spent parts of the song lying on Hiroaki's podium at the right of the stage. He had the audience singing along enthusiastically during a quiet lull before exploding into the full force of Vomit, which had the girls in the audience going wild, headbanging and moshing fiercely. There was no break as the band began Shinsyoku. "Come on and show yourselves!" Wataru roared, leading to another enthusiastically performed song that had Hiroaki spinning around like a top in excitement and eventually collapsing on the floor at the end.

It was then time for the final song, As. It took on a slightly different character from those that proceeded it with a rap-like vocal part shouted by Yuusuke and highlighted drumming from Tohru. In a drumroll finish, Wataru collapsed on the floor before the band left the stage.

The encore was started by Tohru, who performed a neat drum solo to a background of techno music that, together with the slightly tribal sounding beat, gave a trance club feel. As the audience gave him a well deserved round of applause, the guitarists returned, followed by Wataru, who skipped on to the stage. It wasn't long before the first encore song, Venom. Wataru's vocals seemed stronger than during the main set, and the whole band had a lot of fun giving a high powered performance of this aggressive, old song that, with its repeated refrain, caused chaos on the floor below. The crowd cheered loudly as the band made their way off the stage again while throwing water bottles out. One water bottle was thrown with such power that it flew up to the second floor, hit the seated area's barriers and fell onto the safety grating, emptying its contents on the unfortunate girl below.

The band did not make their audience wait long for a second encore. Yuusuke and Hiroaki ran back with arms around each other to greet the audience on both sides of the stage. Wataru thanked the audience in a short MC and made some new tour announcements before the finale began with the pop and fun Merry Go World and closed on a touching note with most recent single Hallelujah. "This song is for everyone here," said Wataru. "So from 12012 with love, Hallelujah." It was a pretty ballad to close the evening with some lovely strumming from Hiroaki's guitar. The lasers made the shape of a fan across the ceiling, and Wataru`s vocals were touchingly heartfelt. As it ended, the members all bowed politely and waved to the loud cheers and applause from the audience.

Setlist:

Kyoukishoji
SE
1. Hai furu karada
2. Gallows
3. My room agony

12012
SE
1. THE WORLD
2. DNA
3. breaking the modern society
4. Cyclone
MC
5. "6" party
6. PSYCHO VIRUS
7. DISPUTE
8. GENERATION
SE
9. Aitai kara...
10. flower
11. SHINE
SE
12. crazy the city
13. Wana
14. vomit
15. Shinsyoku
16. As

En1:
Drum solo
17. Venom

En2:
18. MERRY GO WORLD
19. Hallelujah