vistlip’s 'reveration space' Tour Conclusion at Zepp Tokyo

With a DVD release decided for 2011 and a full album coming in December, vistlip tackled the renowned Zepp Tokyo full of heart on July 7th, proving stronger for overcoming their trials and living out one of many dreams. The festival day of Tanabata was only an afterthought for the live-goers, who were far more concerned with the triumphant return of the band and their anniversary celebrations.

Zepp was packed to the hilt and tension thickened as a clock occasionally popped up on the projector screen counting down from 20 minutes to 19:50, from 10 to 9:50 and from 5 to 4:50 with crackling lightning embellishing the image. Finally the clock appeared again counting down from 60 seconds, the numbers glowing red and crackling with electricity. The voices of the crowd could be heard during the final ten second countdown, followed by clapping and a general commotion as the band were introduced onscreen like characters from a video game. The stage setting, which was a touch industrial with a real rock core and a bit of flashy bling in colorful fluros, enhanced the band’s natural presence and set to either side of the stage were huge platforms for the guitarists to clamber onto at whim.

The pop-rock opening of the very first number, -OZONE-, was met with excited screams. A live video feed scrolled through various camera angles, making it difficult to decide whether to watch the full stage or the selective screen offering well-earned close-ups, even of drummer Tohya. In fact, the drummer was well kept in the fold with vocalist Tomo and bassist Rui turning to face him as they danced around during NEXT. Dead Cherry began with a scream of “Let’s see you all smile!” as Tomo and guitarist Umi took turns singing the lyrics during the verse, giving the number a somewhat boy-bandish feel but coolly executed none-the-less. Of course, with the visual style of a crow personified, Umi would never fit comfortably into a boy band.

“Oh yeah, Tokyo! We’re back!” cried Tomo, inciting warm cries of welcome from the fans. “Thank you! When I came out, I was surprised by how many people there are. Even if I told myself not to get nervous, I was really shocked. Thank you so much. On one hand, there are people who come all the time but there are even people who sent emails saying they are here for the first time today, so I think we should introduce ourselves.” The honor was accorded to Umi who performed an introductory rap leading into FIVE BARKIN ANIMALS, the guitarist’s sweet rap offsetting the vocalist’s lines. Despite the size of the venue, the crowd’s clapping at Tomo’s behest was intensely audible.

“Standing here on this huge stage called Zepp is the realization of one of our dreams,” Tomo announced. “Life can be painful, but in supporting and being supported by each other we can move forward again. I want to sing this song for that reason. Please listen to TSUIRAKU.” With the lyrics onscreen, it was easy for the fans to sing along. The song finished suddenly, but an onset of drumming led nicely into the ballad-style continuation of chapter:ask which also sported a live video feed. The chorus, however, upped the tempo with a cheerful poppy feel. “And with this song,*” Tomo said after a blackout, “I feel like we can walk again. SINDRA.” Nicely summing up different sides of vistlip, the number smoothly alternated between heavy rock and bright pop with a good solid melody and powerful instrumentals and solos. Onscreen spun the fascinating image of a five handed pocket watch decorated with roman numerals.

Heavily intensifying the atmosphere, OMOIDE CG was a strong highlight of the set, accented with smoke jets and enhanced by the live video feed. Without seeming over-the-top, vistlip made good use of the well-equipped venue. “Oh yeah, Tokyo! Can you keep it up?” cried the vocalist. With a vibrant chime to the guitar, despite a continued hard core, LION HEART rocked the masses, not to mention the band. Up on the stage right platform sat Umi, head-banging wildly. Then, all too soon, the crowd screamed in excitement for the final number, Hameln. The music video played onscreen behind the live band and a streamer burst was synced with a similar scene in the video. Rui and guitarist Yuh sat sweetly side by side on the stage left rise, looking out upon the hundreds of streamers shimmering under the lights as they were waved about in the fans’ grasps.

Hameln was said to have been the last number, but the band had barely left the stage before they returned, Tohya making kisses at the drum-side camera on his way up. The guitarists played their way onstage, Umi riling up the crowd in the vocalist’s absence, the band jamming and taking their time enjoying themselves with the fans. Then, with the music switching from a loose jam to a heavy instrumental, Tomo took the stage just in time to see the wildly thrashing scenery of the crowd head-banging along to Aya, spurred on by Umi’s wicked scream. “Come at me, Tokyo,” called Tomo as the number was paused to further ignite the flame in the crowd. A fleeting bass solo brought the number back in, Tomo breaking out his death voice and working hard at it until the number’s end. One sight worthy of note was the hop-skip executed by Umi as he tripped over a speaker on the way back to his mic. The guitarist’s attitude turned a potentially lame fall into a groovy, twitching dance that almost looked planned.

“Tokyo, thank you for the encore,” cried Tomo. He then announced the special present planned for the fans. In response to the continuous cries of “Whatwhatwhat?” he snapped, “Hush! Well, first of all, there’s the new song we’ll let you have for free entitled I am…. Then… We’re going to hold a lottery right here, right now. Come on lottery box!” The crowd actually thanked the staff member who answered the request, the man bowing in surprise before running off. One by one, each of the members drew out a ticket number, teasing the fans with suspense and nonchalance. “Everyone pray,” said Umi as he reached into the box. “What if they’re not your fan?” asked Tomo. “If they don’t want it they can just leave without it,” retorted the guitarist coldly, though the fans were not fooled and laughed at his attitude. When asked the same question, Yuh’s retort was that they could trade with Umi. “What if they don’t like either of you?” pressed Tomo. “Then they can just go home,” Yuh replied with a nervous laugh. Before Rui was allowed to draw, Tomo questioned him about his hairstyle. “Last time, I didn’t get the chance to do it but I wanted to have hair like this and this time I decided to try out something similar to Pirates of the Caribbean.” Tohya and Rui then started playing around, waving at the crowd and taking on strange characters. “It’s weird. You’ve turned into a total Brazillian,” Umi remarked dryly. At last Tomo took his turn drawing. “Should we hold onto these?” he muttered, holding up the ticket stub. In reply, the crowd called for the earlier staff member by name. “Wow, his fans have increased,” the vocalist exclaimed in surprise. “Since we introduced our staff they’ve actually gotten fans. They even get fan letters… First send US fan letters!” cried the indignant vocalist.

Following the draw, the crowd responded to the band’s chatter with a cry of “Let’s start over from the beginning!” “What!?” cried Tomo. “But you won’t be able to go home!” When told that they didn’t care, he said, “I want to go home!” Umi, however, had subtler tactics. “If you wait outside and then enter all over again, we’ll do it again.” “That’s definitely a lie,” clarified the nervous-seeming vocalist.

With a yell of “Dance!” Zero resumed the set, the crowd clapping cutely while the band stayed determinedly in heavy mode, aided by strong bass and drums. Then, cutsey music digitalized into a creepy carnival theme with the onscreen view closing in on a disco ball. Turning very heavy for the intro, the number was then revealed to be Night Parade. On his knees, Umi tossed his head with as much vigor as the crowd, then played a duet with Tomo singing along, the guitarist atmospherically adding harmonics among the vocal line. He continued to play fiercely while the crowd jumped the night away to the high pitched melody. Setting out across the stage, the band kept in constant motion throughout Gizen MASTER, trading off the center position, Rui half walking over a kneeling Umi who reacted violently with partially joking kicks to the head and angry stomping… Musically, the number contained some interesting laugh-like vocalizations from Tomo. The chaos was followed by a total blackout.

Mood sufficiently reset, Tomo addressed the crowd. “We faced a lot of trouble and a lot of emotions,” he said, referring to the recent past. “But in the end, I realized that if it was just us we couldn’t do anything. To the people on the second floor: this is all thanks to you. Truly. Thanks to you we are standing here.” The emotional statement was offset by some light chatter with the crowd, even covering such banalities as the weather. But all good things must come to an end. “Lastly, I want to send this song out to all of you who supported us. And…vistlip, happy birthday!”

July VIITH [Re:Birth], meaningful yet cheerful, was beautifully enhanced by the crowd’s waving of multi-colored glow-sticks. The lovely bridge featured Tomo singing along to a harmonized backing track, the lyrics “All of my dear little stars. We…love you,” a tribute to the fans, written across the backdrop screen. Finishing up with a huge scream of “Thank you very much!” Tomo incited a round of applause during the recorded piano solo finale. As it continued, the vocalist called the members closer. “Oi!” he then yelled at the crowd. “The hell are you guys so quiet for?” Once the crowd’s renewed enthusiasm wound down once more, he adopted a serious attitude. “Today I was able to sing it without crying. This is how people get stronger. We’ll probably show you our soft sides again but just that “again” is…ah. Just being able to say “again” made me feel very happy just now. Thank you. I’m thrilled that we were able to see in our fourth year together with you. We’ll always be together. Thank you. Since there are so many people here, can we all jump together? I wanna see this awesome scene. So hold hands, ok?” Nervously, the five climbed up on the center platform at the crowd’s request. “From now on we’ll work hard so please continue to support us!” came the cue from Tomo, inciting everyone to jump together and Umi to fall off the platform on his landing.

Before the band left their fans bereft, they wreaked utter chaos, attempting to push each other off various platforms, ganging up and attacking each other, impressively throwing picks and bottles right to the very back of Zepp and generally showing the crowd how genuinely appreciative they were. At last, the lights faded and the crowd’s glow-sticks illuminated bodies swaying gently to the continuing piano music. The tour locations rolled along with credits citing all of those who had been involved until the members’ handwritten messages were displayed for all to see with phrases like “To my princesses” and “I wanna be the meaning of your life.” The girls called out to each member, their voices emotional and inspiring until at last came the final message from the band. “All of my dear little stars. We love…you.”

Set list:

01. -OZONE-
02. NEXT
03. Dead Cherry
04. FIVE BARKIN ANIMALS
05. EVE
06. B.P.M. DIRECTION
07. Mr.Grim
08. TSUIRAKU
09. chapter:ask
10. SINDRA
11. OMOIDE CG
12. LION HEART
13. Hameln

Encore
01. Aya (Zepp version)
02. Zero
03. Night Parade
04. Gizen MASTER
05. July VIITH [Re:Birth]