Mix Speaker’s,Inc. ~2nd Travel~ in Kanazawa AZ

Mix Speaker’s,Inc. showed us their original perspective on the world through various expressions; not just through playing music but also via dramatic visual performances and dance. They released their album BIG BANG MUSIC! last September, and since then, they have been active all around Japan.

On November 3, many fans gathered in Kanazawa AZ Hall. Mix Speaker’s,Inc. seemed to attract people of all sorts, from young girls to guys, including foreigners. Most of them wore black, white and red clothes, and there were fans who wore costumes emulating the band members as well. The stage was close to the audience, which allowed everyone to view the venue easily. When the lights turned off, vocalists YUKI and MIKI, playing the role of DoDo & PaPa, appeared, making the audience laugh as they waited for the rest of the members to appear.

When the sound effects began, the audience started clapping and the other members, wearing samba costumes, appeared on the stage. YUKI, MIKI, AYA, seek and S lined up in a row and danced to the cheerful samba rhythm. The members cried: “Uh! Hah!” delighting the audience. Yuuwakusei Rhythm started with lively drums which shook the whole venue as the two vocalists blew their whistles to the uptempo music. AYA and S shook their wings and stood at their positions; YUKI stood at center stage and danced with the audience, who made peace signs on their hands. seek’s bass and S’s drums kept the comfortable rhythm, which supported the melodies and guitar playing from Keiji and AYA. The audience and band members became one, and the venue heated up in an instant.

They dashed into CRAZY TRAIN A GO! GO!, and fans headbanged hard and pumped up their fists into the air. “Come on! Keep on going!” MIKI shouted, and GAMUSHA LaLa started. The blue and red light started to flash alternately, and the band and fans, led by YUKI, jumped all at once. The music was so loud that one could feel it vibrating in the bones. While Keiji, AYA and S kept their pace and space, YUKI grinned cheekily to the fans, stirring them up. Meanwhile, MIKI attracted the audience with his coolness. The audience headbanged and jumped, and the whole venue was filled with a wonderful atmosphere.

The cheers for the band never seemed to stop, even when their performance finished. “Are you cold? Let’s run high and heat up!” YUKI cried, and MIKI added, “Next, spin your towel around in the air!” Then they started playing Hoshikuzu station. The audience took their towels out quickly and spun it around together. Towels fluttered about to the music and danced in the air. seek, armed with his bass, jumped about and the members moved around as they played. Their performance was powerful, their choreography was lovely and with their melancholy lyrics, everything was quite impressive. The audience spun their towels, fixed their eyes on the stage and listened carefully to the beautiful low voices of the two vocalists.

During Zidaiga umidashita kanashiki uso no Butterfly, the mood changed suddenly to a more settled adult mood with blue lighting; the music became soft and atmospheric. seek played a bass solo under the spot light, MIKI talked and YUKI sang so softly that he was almost whispering. There was a feeling of silent communication and mutual understanding between the band and the audience. “Dear, blue planet...” MIKI whispered right before strains of Tsuzuku Sekai began. With the other band members silhouetted in blue light, MIKI continued to talk while holding a book, and YUKI sang as if praying. A red light emanating from their feet made the ambiance more mysterious, further emphasized by the steady drumming of S.

When they finished singing, the two vocalists left the stage, and the other members started playing MUSIC STAR. seek favoured his wood bass this time around. AYA faced S, and Keiji was in deep concentration with his guitar, obviously giving it his all. Their expertise and enthusiasm excited the crowd again. Then, all of them left the stage, and the audience started clapping to the sound effects. Soon after that, talking and sounds like what would be heard in a marionette theater began to play. YUKI and MIKI appeared wearing the costumes of ‘Wonder Traveling,’ which had white long ribbons. Boku. Mikazuki started with the audience’s clapping. The passion in both YUKI and MIKI’s voices, so full of feeling and sincerity, reached out to the hearts of the audience.

Here, DoDo & PaPa appeared on stage, clapping. YUKI played the role of white DoDo and MIKI played a role of black PaPa. The other members, who had also changed to their costumes, returned to the stage, and their original drama started. This time, the story was about a magical hat which would allow its wearer to become invisible. The head cook S tricked the members by using the hat to take revenge against the others, but his plans were thwarted thanks to seek's wit. YUKI forgave and protected S, and the story came to its end with: “We six members will be one and save the earth! Help each other to treasure this earth!” United, they sent their thoughts to the audience, and the story concluded, drawing a lot of laughter from the audience.

The next song was BIG BANG MUSIC! , their new song from an album of the same name. All the band members lined up, holding a rainbow light in one hand, and had a microphone in the other hand. AYA and Keiji sang a duet at center stage, and S and seek rapped. Each of the members took turns standing at center stage and then sang together in a row. Thanks to the familiar melodies and the parapara choreography, the audience was hooked. The band sang and danced with big smiles on their faces, as did the fans.

Then MIKI produced a hand puppet and started to sing in a different voice and taught the choreography of the next song. When the stage became dark and PINKY ADVENTURE started, the costumes of YUKI and MIKI lit up in red, blue, green, white, and orange, much to the delight and surprise of the audience. They had toy hammers in their hands and swung them around, dancing like in a pantomime. When the intro of Romeo no Melody began and resonated throughout the venue, the audience, with their high expectations, clapped enthusiastically. This was a happy and encouraging song, and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

In 13JUMP, the tension of the live reached its climax. “Will you go home with your messy make-up? We won’t let you use the bathroom!” YUKI exclaimed, making the audience laugh. “Let’s really run high in the latter half of the show!” MIKI divided the audience into two teams, and the jumping contest began. YUKI and MIKI were the leaders of each team and made them jump higher and higher. Keiji judged this important competition and decided that YUKI’s team won. During Friday Night Busters, MIKI showed cards with the instructions ‘headbang’ or ‘blow a kiss’ written on them for fans to follow. AYA, who stood at center stage as he played guitar, answered the audience’s cheers with his smile, and when he clapped, the audience clapped too.

During the upbeat song Crash Clover, YUKI and MIKI sang amidst loud explosive effects and wild flashing light. They kept shouting “Break it up!” again and again; everyone was on an absolute adrenaline high. As YUKI and MIKI shouted “Come on closer!” the audience obeyed and crowded the stage - and suddenly, to everyone's surprise, MIKI jumped into the crowd. It was all so much fun. “Next, we’ll do our last song! Please sing as much as you can.” And the last song, little star, began, and the message of 'We’ll go ahead at our own pace' filled the venue. YUKI turned his microphone to the audience, and everyone sang loudly in chorus. “Thank you, Kanazawa!” Then band members left the stage one by one.

Soon enough, the audience started calling for an encore and five minutes later, seek appeared on stage. AYA, Keiji, S and MIKI followed, and soon YUKI appeared. They spoke about the good points of Kanazawa and AZ Hall, and about the impressions of today’s live, one by one. AYA said, “Here, the atmosphere is like my home. We’ll make great songs again, so please look forward to listening to them.” From Keiji: “Don’t get injured and enjoy our lives.” S said, “Kanazawa has beautiful rows of houses and streets. It’s great to be able to do wild lives and to express our world here.” As for MIKI: “I want to come here all the time. Please continue to support us.” seek said, “Kanazawa is far, but we’ll come back as we want to make you have some fun!” YUKI finished the portion with: “Kanazawa is like my second home as my relative lives here. We’ll come back for sure.”

They played White feel from their new album, and the audience swayed slowly to the music. In the following song, JUNK STORY, the members moved around on the stage. They gathered at center stage and sang together under a spotlight. The performance of MONSTIME was impressive, with its beautiful melody and smoothness of the guitar playing. The audience headbanged, jumped and spun their towels around in the air. YUKI then started to talk. “Ever since we started this band and began performing lives, I have never been so happy to be able to see the faces of so many people. I’m happy that I can sing. I’m never been beaten by others' singing. Today, we'll all sing together and complete this live. Please make your voices reach me.”

The pop tune intro of YOU♪AI♪Message began to play, and everyone sang loudly under a warm light. This was a moment of sadness and joy for everyone. As the music got faster, the audience jumped to the rhythm, which shook the floor again. The members waved their hands, thanked everyone many times, and YUKI and MIKI gave the audience their parting words: “We’ll come back again. Thank you." Then the band left the stage for the night.

When the audience walked out of the venue, the background music of BIG BANG MUSIC! played, and some fans started dancing again; it was clear that they were reluctant for the live to finish. Everyone was smiling, showing that they had really had a great time at this live. Very likely they were thinking of attending a future one by these talented young musicians.



Set list

01. Yuu-waku-sei Rhythm
02. CRAZY TRAIN A GO! GO!
03. Gamusha LaLa
04. Hoshikuzu station
05. Zidaiga umidashita kanashiki uso no Butterfly
06. Tsuzuku Sekai
07. MUSIC STAR
08. Boku. Mikazuki
09. BIG BANG MUSIC！
10. PINKY ADVENTURE
11. Romeo no Melody
12. 13JUMP
13. Friday Night Busters
14. Crash Clover
15. little star


En1. White feel
En2. JUNK STORY
En3. MONSTIME
En4. YOU♪AI♪Message