MIYAVI Live in Los Angeles

MIYAVI finally returned to North America in 2010 for his NEO TOKYO SAMURAI BLACK WORLD TOUR. After his first stop in San Diego was the concert in Los Angeles at Club Nokia on June 12, 2010. The venue was brand new, extremely clean and modern. The general audience area, however, was not as modern or creative in the setup. There was a large flat pit-area blocked off and an even larger flat surface was behind that. The show started about ten minutes late, and although the venue was only half-filled, the fans that were there were extremely excited throughout the night.

Once the light dimmed and the backstage lit up, the crowd quieted down. The stage had a simple backdrop of MIYAVI’s silhouette, a drum set, a keyboard towards the back, and microphone stands scattered throughout the stage. A heavy yet simple drum beat packed the venue and MIYAVI came out on stage. The fans screamed and cheered, calling his name. Dressed in a mostly black blazer with a hint of color, he greeted the audience in English.

After a short greeting, he immediately went into his music, rocking out to one of his newer songs, Survive. A lot of the songs on the set list were either from his album Miyavizm or are very similar; however, all of the songs were simplified. With only the drummer and keyboardist, MIYAVI had his hands on his various guitars the whole night playing songs. The audience’s focus was on fullyMIYAVI as he played as there were few support members. He switched between a few different microphones during the songs Coin Lockers Baby and Ossan Ossan Ore Nanbo. With his last North American tour being canceled, fans were not able to see him for a long time. With these few songs, he really showed off his new and improved guitar skills. Even though he was always talented with a guitar, these first songs really showed his fans his ability with his fingers gliding over the strings without much concentration.

A fan favorite at lives, BOOM-HAH-BOOM-HAH-HAH started off and got the fans moving, the venue shaking slightly along with them. With this more upbeat and poppish song, MIYAVI started to move around more. He even climbed onto the amplifier on the side of the stage to get closer to fans. He also showed off with the guitar a bit, reminiscent of his older showy performance style. With the guitar behind his head, the guitarist played a riff and then grinned as he turned back around.

In between songs, he’d say a few statements in English. But for the first long MC he started off by saying “All the way from Tokyo, I’m here to rock you guys out!” He went on to talk about returning after a long time and introduces the drummer as BOBO and the keyboardist as Coba84. Since the last show he performed in Los Angeles, MIYAVI has gotten more fluent in English and speaks with more slang, even swearing more regularly in his MCs.

The fans got to hear a few more fun rock songs such as Ame ni utaeba ~Pichipichichappuchapuranran Blues~ and My name iz oresama.com. During the beginning of Kimi ni Funky Monkey Vibration, the audience laughed while the entertainer had fun changing his voice multiple times saying “Funky Monkey.” During this song, it was easily noticeable how much in synchrony the drummer, keyboardist and MIYAVI were. MIYAVI even tested this by trying to play a few surprise notes, but BOBO beat the drums not even off by a second. That would be the last upbeat song for awhile as he announced during the next MC that he would be playing new unreleased songs.

Immediately, MIYAVI went into the first one, DEPARTURE. The new single was a pure simple rock sound with the guitar as the highlight of the song. UNBREAKABLE, the next song, was of the same style. The last of the three new songs, GRAVITY was the biggest surprise. The whole stage glowed red, giving it an eerie feel. It was a longer, more emotional, slower song that wasn’t quite rock. It was mostly instrumental except for MIYAVI either speaking softly or screaming randomly throughout the song. Just when the song began to pick up speed, he would scream and it would go back to a slower pace.

After these newer songs was another short MC about his life in the past year. He also mentioned that his “little monster” was out in the audience watching him. Coba84 then came back on stage and beautiful piano music started as the opening to Kimi ni negai wo. Putting a lot of emotion into his voice, the ballad’s lyrics were reversed and maybe even skipped.

Superhero was played next, speeding up the pace for the rest of the show. Eccentric Otona Yamai came as a surprise to the fans and they enthusiastically started to jump around once again, shaking the venue. The fans continued to rock out to Shouri no V-ROCK!! and Are you ready to ROCK?.

MIYAVI then left the stage, and fans started to call out his name immediately. The calls eventually died down and he came back ready for more after ten minutes, thanking the fans for calling out his name. Subarashiki kana, kono sekai -WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD- started and the fans sang along, maybe even louder than the song itself. MIYAVI looked ecstatic and encouraged, regaining a little of the energy he seemed to have lost. As soon as the song finished, Sakihokoru hana no you ni -Neo Visualizm- started and a simple less hip-hop but more rockish version started. As quickly as the encore started, it ended, so soon that fans didn't want it to be over.

MIYAVI departed with a last promise to the fans. “Unfortunately, everything fun comes to an end. As long as you call my name, I’ll be back. I promise.”

When the show was over, the fans could clearly see a new, matured musician with the same old love for his fans.


Set list not available due to J-GLAM request.