Plastic Tree Guerilla Live in Shinjuku

Prior to the Tent live, Plastic Tree had been sending their mascot, Neko, around the Shinjuku area to drop hints about a special event to happen a day before the live. His hints seemed to have worked as one hour before the guerrilla live was supposed to start, the little park was packed with eager Plastic Tree fans. Passersby on their way out of the bustling Shinjuku station looked appropriately surprised by the crowd, and many waited around to see what would happen.

Around 6:20 p.m., a banner with the Plastic Tree logo was put up, and then at 6:40, the stage lights went on. The excitement of the fans began to rise so that when the band finally appeared at 7 p.m., people began to scream and pushed forward while others hurriedly grabbed cell phones to commemorate the event.

The music began with the band's latest single, Moonlight. Ryutaro was wearing a red shirt but took it off halfway through the first song, revealing a black T-shirt beneath. Tadashi, meanwhile, made quite a contrast in white while Akira joined Ryutaro in wearing black. It was an energetic song to show Shinjuku the world of Plastic Tree. Ryutaro leapt about the stage in his usual style while Akira headbanged his way through the chorus.

The song was followed by the ever popular Melancholic, and the fans happily joined in, chanting "hey hey" along with Ryutaro. At one point the music and vocals stopped abruptly, leaving just the fans loudly chanting the opening to the song. The amassed fans headbanging was a relief for those standing at the back - it was the only chance for the people in the back to look over the crowd and actually get a glimpse of the band.

By this time, the band had managed to attract a crowd of about 7000 people. The band, reacting well to the numbers who had gathered, launched into Ghost. At the first notes the crowd began cheering and clapping and eventually started jumping as the music became heavier. Ryutaro jumped along enthusiastically too. While the music was fantastic, the surrounding noise caused Ryutaro to scream a bit to be heard and his voice suffered as a result. Still, the fans paid no heed to this and enjoyed themselves fully. Sadly, this was the final song. The crowd looked disappointed, but the police had decided that the live was becoming a risk.

The band had, however, achieved their aim of making a fun, impromptu live appearance in the middle of Shinjuku. They drew more fans to their indie rock and an got the chance to warm up for Tent the following day.

Setlist:

01. Moonlight
02. Melancholic
03. Ghost