Tenth Day – 15.09
Lynch. / D’ERLANGER / Plastic Tree / KIRITO @ Zepp DiverCity – or maybe not? 
Father, forgive me for I have sinned.
I have a confession to make. I committed a blasphemy some of you probably wouldn’t understand. But hear me out – it was a tough decision, and yet I feel that by doing what I did, I stayed true to the spirit of OG visual kei.
There was no cultural enrichment today. I stayed in bed and took care of some personal stuff. While doing that, I started thinking: here I am with a ticket for Lynch / D’ERLANGER / Plastic Tree / Kirito.
I am a Lynch stan – and like many of you, I stan the pre-2014 material. I literally don’t care about almost anything they released after 2014. I even checked my Spotify likes: only REBORN and ALLIVE made the cut. As for the other bands… well, as horrible as it might sound, I just don’t care.
So this gig was literally just for me to see Lynch and hope they’d play songs from THE AVOIDED SUN or SHADOWZ as their remakes are about to be released in two weeks. And that’s the problem – it was just hope. I checked their setlist from a show two weeks ago and didn’t like it at all. To make things worse, Lynch didn’t publish the schedule, so there was a good chance I’d be stuck sitting through three bands I don’t really care about (legends, sure, but still) only to get a Lynch setlist I might not enjoy.
Under normal circumstances, I would have gone. Seeing these legends live is worth it, especially if there’s even a chance of older Lynch material.
But here’s the twist: there was a super-session happening at Ikebukuro EDGE. Maro (ex. Objet De Neige, 【_Vani;lla】, L&DS, ABOO, etc.) was officially ending his music career. He revived ABOO for one day, plus lined up at least five session bands with members from DIV, Irokui, ZOMBIE, REIGN, Nazare, and more.
I’m not deeply familiar with all of Maro’s bands (I’ve heard them all, but don’t care much, except for【_Vani;lla】), but this put me at a real crossroads. On one hand: respected, long-standing VK bands and a chance – just a chance – to hear older Lynch. On the other hand, a once-in-a-lifetime festival with songs from the 2000s and 2010s, featuring members I might never see again – Ikuma and Kazuharu from REIGN, Issei from Nazare, Kanata from ZOMBIE, Nao from REALies, and others.
And there was no way to attend both – if Lynch weren’t the first band, I’d miss Maro completely since it’s about an hour from Zepp Diver to Ikebukuro EDGE.
Then I saw the setlist for the session bands – and honestly, once you see it, I think most of you would have abandoned the Lynch gig too:
18years Guild
NEXT⇒REALies
メカウサギ / イロクイ。
人魚 / ヴィドール
新聞マスコミ関係者の方へ… / ヴィドール
ファンキーボーイ / イロクイ。
L&DIVs
Bonds / L&DS
Life is / L&DS
夏の行方 / DIV
L & frienDS / L&DS
毒彩ギーク / DIV
ROYAL CAST
sugar blue ocean / L&DS
#夏の微熱 / CLØWD
腐り姫 / ZOMBIE
Worry? / CLØWD
Bump Live
Ghost Labyrinth / REIGN
ブラックアウト / アンド
ウソつき / 【_Vani;lla】
Trigger / アンド
Hearing ZOMBIE – Kusari Hime with Kanata? AND – Trigger with Ikuma? Irokui – MEKAUSAGI with Yuuri? DIV – Natsu no Yukue with Chisa?
Count me in immediately.
So that’s the real title of today:
Tenth Day – 15.09
Maro Last Birthday Live @ Ikebukuro Edge
The venue (capacity ~250) seemed sold out or very close – it was packed. I managed to get a good spot with a clear view of everything. The audience leaned on the older side, which isn’t surprising given that many of the musicians on stage started 20-25 years ago. Right next to me was a lady in her 50s who clearly came for Yuuri and the Irokui material – she did furitsuke to the best of her abilities.
First up was the session with Ikuma (ex-AND, REIGN). His voice was a bit rough around the edges as he didn’t really perform in the last four years, but overall, it was a solid performance. Hearing Trigger by AND was definitely a highlight. Issei looked bored as always – classic grumpy grandpa energy. Plus, they played a 【_Vani;lla】song I liked, so that was a win.
Then ABOO came on and played four songs. I’m not particularly into their material, but I still enjoyed the set.
Next was a session with Chisa (DIV, ACME). Plenty of Chisa fans in the crowd. Compared to Ikuma, Chisa had much better vocal control – not surprising given how active he still is in the scene. I never cared much for L&DS material (I’m more of a【_Vani;lla】guy), so I was mainly waiting for DIV’s Natsu no Koe – and they delivered.
After that came a short two-song micro-session that was gathered specifically for Kru (the drummer from【_Vani;lla】and L&DS) by Maro: one song with ABOO’s vocalist and one with Ikuma, which seemed like yet another【_Vani;lla】song – of course, it made me happy.
Then came Kanata (ex-ZOMBIE). Let’s thank Kanata for taking a break from his busy host-club schedule to show up. Let me remind you a bit of lore about Kanata and ZOMBIE in general. Basically, there’s a claim from their drummer that he was the only one who really played his instrument (yes, the voice is also an instrument) without relying on playbacks.
Obviously, I was curious about Kanata’s abilities. So, what can I say about Kanata? Mid at best. Not terrible, not insanely out of tune, but nowhere near the recordings. His range felt very limited. Overall, just… mid. They played two CLØWD songs, and when Kou from CLØWD stepped on stage for these two songs, the difference was instant – he’s just on another level vocally. Yet, hearing ZOMBIE’s Kusari Hime live made it all worth it.
The last session featured Yuuri (ex-Irokui). They played one REALies song, two Irokui tracks, and two Vidoll songs – which wasn’t on my bingo card, but with Shun from Vidoll on guitar, it made sense. Yuuri did a great job emulating Jui’s voice – surprisingly close to the original.
In the end, skipping Lynch for this festival was absolutely the right choice. No regrets.