girugamesh's 'Here we go!!' World Tour 2011 in London

Fans had obviously eagerly awaited girugamesh's first UK gig since 2009. The queue wound impressively round the corner of the O2 Academy in North London three hours before doors opened, defying the warnings from the venue staff not to do so. Once inside, the blaring enka music that played appeared to grate as showtime approached. Mass groaning occurred every time a song finished only to be followed by another one, rather than the anticipated appearance of the band.

"Nothing begins, if you don't love yourself" stated the voice at the start of introductory track now, prompting a frenzy of excitement as it heralded the arrival of bassist ShuU, drummer Яyo and guitarist Nii. Vocalist Satoshi finally joined his bandmates to the loudest cheers, and after simply asking "Are you ready?" they launched into the raucous bit crash. It was the perfect opener, getting everyone to unleash their pent up energy and join in with the simple yet effective "say woah"s of the chorus straight away. The electro sound prominent in album NOW, from which a large number of the songs would originate, could be heard in the intros of this track and NO MUSIC NO REASON which was played after. ShuU began riling up the fans, encouraging them to make even more noise as the band got going. It worked, and there was plenty of jumping and headbanging. Яyo, who was surprising well-lit in this venue for a drummer, basked in the applause at the end. The extremely upbeat Endless wing followed, bringing Satoshi and Nii to the front to interact with the audience. After thanking the fans for their enthusiastic response, Satoshi told everyone how glad they were to be back in London. "Sorry to have kept you waiting for so long," he began. "But we are BACK!" he announced, and the crowd's pleasure at this fact couldn't be clearer.

The beginning of Vision allowed the vocalist to start some call and response to involve the audience who threw themselves into their hearty replies. They also obliged when Satoshi and the recorded woman's voice at the start of the well-received BEAST commanded "All right everybody clap your hands," doing so to the strong running beat and joining in with the cries of "shout and go." Grinning at the audience, Satoshi stuck both hands up in devil horns before the band began the racing driving time. Яyo pounded out the rapid drumbeat with increased energy, which appeared to be contracted by the other band members. A fun track played with zeal, the catchy tune and good interplay between bassist and guitarist gave it a sense of a speedy night time drive in a soft top. ShuU was introduced and got a chance to impress with his complex bass solo halfway through. There was a huge eruption of "whoop"s as Nii's last chord faded. The band's newer, positive vibe ran throughout the melodic Suiren, a track that showcased some great riffs and a nice solo from Nii. A strong vocal from Satoshi saw him belting out the final chorus with everything he had.

Satoshi reverted to Japanese to say a quick few sentences about how happy they were to be back and playing live in the UK, then introduced the next song: DIRTY STORY. Packed with English phrases, it was full of opportunities for fans to sing or shout along whether they knew what they were saying or not. The crowd were further fired up by BORDER and Dance Rock Night, cheering ShuU along as he played his bass behind his head in the former. People then attempted to join in with the electronic voice that featured in I think I can fly, in-between frantic headbanging and finishing off the chorus on Satoshi's invitation.

Whilst Satoshi went off to give his vocal chords a rest, ShuU took over microphone duties. "How do you do?" he repeated politely. "Are you ok? Are you ready? Are you stupid?" he put forth to the audience. After they had roared their assent after each question and laughed after the final one, he informed everyone that "we are a very stupid team!" He then began his fun song with the audience, with Яyo beginning proceedings with a funky beat as Nii danced around. "Repeat after me," instructed ShuU before counting into a series of simple melodies of "woahs." Then it was "fish and chips," except that it was pronounced more as "fweesh and chips," which was what everyone repeated back at him. After a few repetitions of this, the same was done with "Naritake" — the band's favourite ramen place in their hometown — and then very topically "Pray for Japan" and "Ganbare Nippon," all of which were chanted back wholeheartedly.

The uplifting shining continued the set list after the light interlude, followed by destiny. Both were vibrant and featured good, clean vocal harmonies in the choruses. Яyo then got up and did a little dance during the synth bass intro to MISSION CODE before resuming his drumming. He was obviously enjoying the gig, his huge smile and animated playing evident as it was throughout the rest of the live. They finally got round to the band member intros in the middle, which by that time was merely a formality. Never ending story aptly finished the main set list. The thumping intro had ShuU and Nii headbanging in unison with the fans following suit, and with a lively performance and some towel flinging from Satoshi, it was brought to a close.

Of course this wasn't enough for the hungry fans and after a few minutes of clamouring for more the band reappeared. After an affirmative roar to Satoshi's "Are you ready London?" it was back to business with Break Down. In between moshing sessions the crowd joined in with the rapid, catchy chorus. Then the space age evolution got everyone sing-songing "listen to my evolution" playfully, and at times they were almost drowning out the band. ShuU held up a union flag partway through, eliciting cheers all round. It was a great interactive song and seemed to be an old favourite. Afterwards, Satoshi took a moment to appeal to the audience to offer the Japanese people their love and help following the disaster that befell them only a week before, and brought their attention to the donation collection box at the merchandising stand.

Finally, the last song of the night, Inochi no ki, closed the show. There was a sea of raised arms as they performed the emotive song, and although the band appeared more subdued than before it was no less affecting. Each of the members gave thanks and said their farewells in Japanese or English. "I promise we will be back!" declared Satoshi to a delighted cheer. Fans remained in the venue chattering excitedly, with one even saying it was the best live they had attended. Hopefully it won't be as long a wait until girugamesh's next visit.


Set list

01. now (intro)
02. bit crash
03. NO MUSIC NO REASON
04. Endless wing
05. Vision
06. BEAST
07. driving time
08. Suiren
09. DIRTY STORY
10. BORDER
11. Dance Rock Night
12. I think I can fly
13. shining
14. destiny
15. MISSION CODE
16. Never ending story

Encore

EN1. Break Down
EN2. evolution
EN3. Inochi no ki