From the heaviness of Sadie to a classic icon of visual music: Day 2 on R Stage at V-ROCK.
Sunday on R Stage kicked off with a bang. In a swirl of dark heavy sounds and ominous red lights, the members of Sadie strode confidently onto the stage, assuming their instruments with the cool swagger of true rockers. Their gathered fans roared the members' names, overpowering the music until the heavy opening notes of Grieving the Dead Soul brought on a wave of headbanging.
The crowd, neatly warmed up by the opener, screamed their appreciation loudly. “More! More!” screamed the vocalist Mao, punching the air wildly. The audience raised their fists in response as the stage was bathed in more red light during Kagerou. As the assault of Kagerou came to an end, Mao's unearthly shriek moved the set into Shingan and everyone went wild, jumping along with Mao's shouts and the strong guitars. There was barely time for a breather before Sadie's last song, the popular and fun Meisai. It gave their fans one last chance to headbang before the band swaggered off stage again.
Set List:
1. Grieving the Dead Soul
2. Kagerou
3. Shingan
4. MAD-ROID
5. Meisai
The calm break was interrupted by a tinny announcement, a mangled voice that greeted the audience and announced the next band on R Stage, Merry. As the urgent clashing percussion of GI.GO filled Makuhari, the members appeared one by one, with Gara, the vocalist, wearing a plastic rabbit head. Beginning with Enzetsu Surrealism, Gara held a megaphone to his rabbit mouth and a distinct tone of refreshing weirdness was set. It made for a welcome change from the straight-laced bands that had gone before. Their catchy, aggressive avant-garde punk grabbed the attention of many who were simply passing through, and the crowd grew significantly as the live went on.
The band was enjoying their time on the main stage, too. Guitarist Yuu strode confidently around the stage as he opened the song Kanaria, his arms outstretched to receive the adoration of Merry fans crowded near the stage. They closed with two definite crowd pleasers: Japanese Modernist and Violet Harenchi. They got the audience jumping along vigourously and ensured the memory of Merry at V-ROCK as a band who really knew how to rock.
Set List:
1. GI.GO
2. Enzetsu surrealism
3. Friction XXXX
4. sweet powder
5. [human farm]
6. Kanaria
7. Japanese Modernist
8. Violet Harenchi
Following Merry was a very different band though, as happy pop took over the grungy metal sounds with CASCADE. The roars for the members became cheerful, warm screams as a host of outstretched arms greeted their arrival. CASCADE began with probably their best-known song, Sexy Sexy. As it warmed up the audience neatly into energetic dancing, it was a great choice to kick off their performance.
TAMA's unique, high pitched vocals only served to further a frivolous atmosphere. Some heavy pop by way of VIVA NICE TASTE and the following Dance Capriccio delivered a kitschy, 90’s electro pop mood to the venue. Jumping around on stage as much as TAMA, the guitarist Masashi responded well to audience's calls for him as he moved nearer to the edge of the stage.
Their sense of fun continued with more electro pop-rock during FLOWERS OF ROMANCE. TAMA produced a toy hammer that remained in his hand only until the end of the song, when it was thrown to the floor. He continued to run around excitedly though, through YELLOW YELLOW FIRE, until CASCADE concluded their show with Shakariki Masera and huge smiles
Set List:
1. Sexy sexy
2. VIVA NICE TASTE
MC
3. Dance Capriccio
4. S.O.S Romantic
5. FLOWERS OF ROMANCE
6. YELLOW YELLOW FIRE
7. Shakariki Masera
The fun pop didn't stop with the next band, the recently major debuted Ayabie. There were many standout performances over the weekend, and Ayabie's enthusiastic and energy driven performance was one of them. Vocalist Aoi literally ran out on stage and would not stop leaping about for the whole half hour. The rest of the band were in equally high spirits, with the members communicating direct looks via the cameras.
The set was bright and bouncy from start to finish, quite literally during Cubic [L/R]ock, a song that never fails to get the crowd jumping up and down hyper-actively. The members used the stage well, constantly moving around with Yumehito communicating to his audience in glances. The solos were performed with panache too, particularly in Tsukuyomi as Yumehito and Takehito took it in turns to take centre stage. The colourful rock never let up as they finished with the lighthearted, electro Digital Neverland. Yumehito and Intetsu chased each other around the stage a little while Aoi's enthusiasm refused to let up; he introduced Yumehito's solo by shouting, "It's the super guitar solo!" and leaping around until his final moments on stage.
Set List:
1. TheMe
2. Cubic [L/R]ock
3. Tsukuyomi
4. Aitakute
5. Digital Neverland
LM.C continued the colourful party that Ayabie had left behind, taking the audience to their happy, circus-like world. Maya bounced around the stage with seemingly endless energy that - judging by the audience's reactions - was quite infectious. They began strongly with the pop-sounding CHEMICAL KING -TWOON that showed off some confident rapping from Maya. As the band shouted, the audience responded even more loudly, fists raised and punching the air.
The set continued to entertain and not ones to be afraid of gimmicks, a huge balloon was pushed out into the crowd during BOYS&GIRLS. The fans enthusiastically pushed the balloon around the crowd as they danced along. It was a colorful, kitschy world that LM.C created, and as they wound up with popular song ROCK ☆ the LM.C, there wasn't a person near the stage who hadn't been drawn into jumping along.
Set List:
1. CHEMICAL KING-TWOON
2. OH! MY JULIET
3. METALLY
4. BOON!
5. BOYS & GIRLS
6.ROCK ☆ the LM.C
The final act to grace R Stage was the famous Toshihiko Takamizawa (of THE ALFEE). As he appeared in a typically flamboyant outfit, he introduced himself as the originator of V-ROCK. Then he introduced his support band, a dream line-up consisting of super-guitarists Anchang (SEX MACHINGUNS), KOJI (La’Cryma Cristi, ALvino), and LUKE TAKAMURA (SEIKIMAⅡ). The set list was a mix of Takamizawa's own solo tunes and one of THE ALFEE's famous numbers, HIGEKI JYUTAI, a song that really got the audience going.
It was a polished and accomplished performance that showed the new school bands something of classic visual kei rock. Even the guitars were dazzling to look at. Each guitar was a custom-designed piece specially for Takamizawa and included among their number the famous, moulded, ANGEL guitar.
Set List:
1. VAMPIRE~Youwaku no Blood~
2. Byakuya ~Metal Byakuya~
3. Tsukihime
4. Higeki Jyutai 2009
5. HEVIMETA VACATION ~KINTORE HENN~
6. YATTARMAN NO UTA
7. Kaléidoscope
8. Souon Obasann VS Kohonn Ojisann
