I promised Xanvala, here comes Xanvala’s Tour 2024-2025 “Ark” #5 Grand Final
at EX THEATER ROPPONGI on 5/5/2025
Since it was a holiday in Japan on this Monday the doors for this concert opened pretty early at 04:30 pm.
I was a bit in a hurry when I got ready so only remembered to take an outfit photo at the station zoilette (but what’s more vk than toilette photos, right?).
I checked the weather forcast but 23°C feels hotter in Japan than at home, probably because of the humidity 
sweating…
When I came closer to the venue, the way felt kinda fimiliar.
When I reached this waiting area, I knew why it felt familiar. I have been here before 
I think it was a United Killers show (Taiban organized by Sadie).
There were 3 ticket categories: S, A and B
S goes in first and I think these tickets you got from the first lottery round.
My Ticket was S 337 so I tried to cool myself down a bit in a windy area near the staircase until my number is called. 337 does sound bad but I didn’t wait longer than 20 minutes.
The Ex Theater is a bit confusing inside. The entry is on a higher area but the concert hall is in the basement and there is a lot of stairs x___x
There is no bar or anything open, just some employees heanding out water and tea bottles for drink tickets. 600 Yen for bottle of water. Now you know how live houses pay their bills 
This venue is a mix of standing and seated area. Directly in front of the stage is a large standing area, behind it theater like seats. Since they are ascanding stair like, you can see quite well from all seats.
I still chose the standing area as there was still free space in row three on the far right side.
Haven’t been that close to the stage in ages!
I was on Yuhma’s side but since my fav member is Tatsumi, I didn’t want to risk the 3rd row by checking the other side.
Concert starts about 10 minutes late at 05:40 pm. And in contrast to the heat outside it’s pretty cold inside.
Set list:
- Ark
- デスパレート
- MY BLACK
- 左耳の悪魔
- ビューティフル
- ジャノメ
- ヴァジュラ
- 僕の神様
- ヒトリ舞台
- 東京
- ラブソング
- アーティスト
- XANADU
- CULTURE
- 明日、虫になっても
- 縷々
- 鮮やかな猛毒
- 終幕
en.
19. 独善
20. エンジェル・ドロップ
21. 本能
22. 聖戰
23. NIX
en.2
24. CREEPER
25. CREEPER
The light show was super cool. They even had some pyrotechnic for the final!
I didn’t regret standing in front of Yuhma! That men is raw guitar power! It’s absolutely stunning to watch. And if I had any doubt that this is Yuhma, I lost it when the girl next to me and in front of started SCREAMING his name 
very dedicated fans. (Also when he came back for the encore he gave us all the midfle finger and his fans returned it).
For some bass parts there is a spot light on 70. (I will refer to him as Nao from here on because it confuses me to write 70. …even if get the wordplay )
The stage was quite big so it was hard to see Souma and even with the see through drumset I couldn’t see much of Tomoya.
Tatsumi, well he lit a cigarette for ヒトリ舞台 and kept smoking while singing. But just two songs later Yuhma grabbed a cigarette and shared it with Tomoya and Nao Maybe he also shared with Souma but I couldn’t see. It did look cool on stage, tho. Another kind of …pyrotechnic…
I had checked the set list of the last concert but it was quite diffrent from this final. They didn’t play 東京 in Nagoya, which makes sense. I was happy they choose to play it here and the Yuhma fangirl next to me was so touched, she cried. Good thing she had that Xanvala towel to dry her tears.
For the MC Tatsumi called each member to say something. Tomoya was first and seemed shy. At this point I wonder if people choose to play drums so they can hide behind it on stage 
Souma goes next and is the opposite. At first he has no microphone and just screams to the audience. Raw energy that guy. Tatsumi hands him his and sits down near the drums and he looks like a teacher who is listening to a student presenting his project. At first he made a face that said “wtf is he talking about” but soon it was a friendly nodding. I am sorry but Tatsumi’s face journey was just hilarious.
At some point Tatsumi talked about the tour title “Ark” but I think that was at the beginning after the first two songs. He explained that it is a ship and got a suprised “ehhhh” from the audience. Which surprises him… as he assumed the concept was a bit more clear he had mentioned the ship reference before
Nao later refers to the Ark concept again. Good thing this was not a drinking game, where you had to drink a shot every time he said “ship”! Is Nao the band leader? I think Tatsumi called him “Leader!” when it was his turn to speak.
As you can see in the set list they did two encores. Usually I wouldn’t mind but I had planned to be home by 10:00 … and the merch sell only started after the concert. 
For every song they played more I hoped it would be ジャバラ but they didn’t play it saaaaad
At least with all the jumping and the pyrotechnic, I finally got warm again😅
From the merch I got:
(The second varja CD is not taken yet btw)
Overall it was a great show, with great energy and I might be biased because I really love Xanvala and was eager to see a oneman after I saw them at Kansai Rock summit last year.
They sound fantastic live and it’s a pleasure to watch. I think they still have a lot of this “younger band” energy that I missed a bit from Sadie.
They were so happy to play at this bigger venue and I think they deserve so much more recognition. For me they are in my top 3 of recent bands. They put out a lot of music and a most of the time they still manage to make songs that are easy totell apart and recognizable. I also like their “balance” between screaming and clean singing. And somehow while being heavy the music has still this livelyness that says “let’s dance! This is a party!”. A dark party nontheless… (This was also something I liked about DéspairsRay)
Also they mentioned v-kei several times so I assume they do vk because they love visual kei and not just for attention.
Yeah… what I want to say is probably Xanvala are great! Please give these guys a chance so they can become rock stars and not combini employess!
Their next tour will be in September 
This was their tour final but a later they had a mini oneman for Nao’s birthday and the special Nao outfit they all wore is worth seeing:
https://x.com/XANVALA/status/1919725386939957483
Next up: (probably) KAKUMAY
)
Evidence here: 
)
that does not spot me! 