Just wanted to say I love reading these 
I was at the concert on 10 September too. That’s one thing I noticed too, way more foreigners/tourists (I mean i’m one of the foreigners too lol).
Funny that you said that about the merch thing when trying to talk in Japanese. I felt really bad, I came there for Forbidden but it rubbed me the wrong way when the lady switched to English so I spent more money on Damned instead 
Leetspeak Monster’s Mercurochrome Day 1 - Yoshi’meer’s Birthday 09/13 @Otuka Hearts+
Today, I decided to do something a little different and instead of running for third row, I went for the first row of the second barricade. It was one of those venues with tiered floors and enough room for a few rows in between.
After grabbing my prized middle spot, I went and grabbed my 5000¥ worth of merch to qualify for a 2-shot, which ended up being a t-shirt and Dawnman gloves.
The birthday boy, Guitarist Yoshi’meer is the first to enter the stage to roaring cheers. He starts off with a bit of operatic singing, which almost makes me wonder where Klaha went again.
Cheeky Devil starts up, with D13 guiding a lot of the furi for most of the songs. But I’d still say that most of the crowd only had eyes for Yoshi’meer. That was very much the impression that I got the last time I saw them, that he was very much the most popular member. Several solos throughout the night, plenty of time on the platform and stage antics could help explain why.
Not that the other members were totally ignored, there were a couple of short bass solos, as well as a two minute drum solo half way through the set. D13 also got a short freestyle opportunity before heading into Mr. Halloween, but not before Yoshi’meer got to show off his opera vocals yet again.
After things wrapped up after the two song encore, I quickly got ready for my 2-shot, which took about an hour to come around once all of the Yoshi’meer people had cleared out.
I managed to keep my exchange with him entirely in Japanese this time around, mentioning that we had taken a picture together before and if he remembers. I motioned to my t-shirt, and reminded him about Kansai Rock Summit this May. From Canada, Kate. “Ooooh, Canada”. We said our thank yous and goodbyes, and I headed on my way with my fresh cheki.
Yeah, I say “don’t know whether to love or hate” just because the feelings are a bit complicated. Like, I want to practice but at the same time back and forth conversations outside of English are still a challenge due to some auditory processing issues, so I’m also kind of relieved when they say a couple of English words just to give me further context to respond back in Japanese.
Penicillin O-Jiro’s Birthday 09/14 @Shinjuku ReNY
It was today when I discovered that I was definitely coming down with something. Sucks, but that’s what masks are for.
So I was super psyched to look at my ticket and read “B1”, which on paper, looks great. How many fanclub members could there be?
Turns out, 268 of them
So by the time the A tickets are in, there are maybe 25 of us left. But at least there wasn’t a big line for drinks and merch.
I take my spot maybe eight/line rows back in the semi-circle, near Chiyu’s side of the stage.
The guys all come out, Hakuei rocking the pirate patch, and it looks like the guys have barely aged a day since their glory years. The fans get older, they stay the same.
It was O-Jiro’s birthday, so I definitely expected the attention to be on him. And it was, in subtle ways at first. Like the furi, for example. For about half of the set, most of the furi was kept muted and subtle (not rising above the heads of the crowd, people just kind of vibing to themselves). But it was basically “follow the drum beat” single hand motions.
The guys sound as good as ever, as they went through their set that had a good mixture of older songs and new. It was really after the second MC of the night, going into Nice in Lip+L that the crowd really started gathering excitement.
After finishing with their newest single Kiss, they depart. Now, instead of traditional encor-eh calling, they clap and sing Happy Birthday to “O-SAN!!!” During the Happy Birthday dear sections. It was a welcome change of pace.
After about five minutes, the lights go up to them wheeling out O-Jiro’s cake.
He welcomes the audience to blow out the candles with him, cutting the lights after everyone blows. They then take some time to read out announcements for your plans for the rest of the year before playing two encore songs.
By this time, I am getting kind of antsy. My sore feet and head cold aren’t making things any better but it seems like they’re kind of padding time just to say that they kept us there for just over two hours. After one final encore call, they play Inazuma and then we’re off.
tvAsahi’s 65th Dream Festival 09/15 @Makuhari Messe
I’m still feeling like crap today, but there’s no way I’m missing Zigzag, Hyde or Luna Sea and wasting my 13,000¥, so I mask up and vow to drink a ton of OJ today.
Makuhari Messe is quite the place. There’s a bus that goes there specifically, hell, half of the neighbourhood has “Makuhari Meese” signs up.
So I arrive at the end of the bus line and head into the main hall. There’s also a culinary festival going on at the same time, but it’s pretty easy to determine where the Dream Festival crowd is heading.
After getting my ticket ripped, I walk into this grand hall filled with people milling about. I see merch tables, a bar, a seating area, washrooms, and numerous sparkly sculptures. Signs to where the food trucks are.
This is just the lobby.
So after getting some OJ and a shirt from Luna Sea’s Mother tour, I head to the actual area, walking under a corridor of lights. In front of me is this large standing area larger than most of the floors that I’ll be seeing on this trip. And then, after that, over 70 rows of seating, each with about 172 seats. That’s over 12,000 people here.
So I pick up my flyer package and stuff the t-shirt in there. The seating is a little cramped, not going to lie. Especially with me having to frequently excuse myself to go blow my nose in the bathroom.
The festival gets started, and they announce the first artist - Zigzag!
This is my first time seeing them, and I’ll admit that I wasn’t super familiar with their stuff, but I had liked what I heard.
The crowd loved them, and for good reason. The set kept it fresh, not focusing on one style of song for too long. Halfway through Japanese party, they paused to eat an onigiri each. For the fourth song, they ditched the instruments and did some cat ninja dances on the centre platform. Mikoto might have had the best vocal performance of the night, just in my opinion.
Drip
Dazzling Secret
JAPPARAPPAN ~Japanese Party
拙者忍者、猫忍者。～木天蓼三毛蔵と町娘おりん～
Ama
Fukushuu wa Seigi
Kichune no Yomeiri
Promise
So I’m impressed enough to go check out their merch after it was done. Walked away with a full sized bath towel. Which…will be getting ample use while I’m in Japan. After another OJ and bathroom break, I walk back to the area, where 9mm Parabellum Bullet had started. I decide to hang back and watch them from the standing area until a couple of minutes in I’m approached by staff giving me a “move along ma’am” smile.
So I figure that I’ll actually step back and use this opportunity to grab some food.
So a lot of Hyde and Zigzag fans are hanging out around the burgers and hotdog stand, but after 15 minutes of waiting and barely any movement, I realize that I could be waiting here until Luna Sea themselves are done, so I head to the beef tongue and fried chicken spot next door with no lineup.
I chickened (get it?) out on the beef tongue and ate my standard karaage.
So I figure the next band is about to start soon, which I expected to be either TMG or BabyMetal based on the billing on the website.
Nope. Ling Tosite Sigure
I have to admit that I don’t know their music very well, but I’ve heard of them. The set veered into proggy territory early on, which I was all there for. They also had a decent amount of songs with screaming, and vocalist TK often went quite high pitched with his clean vocals, even during the times when the bassist wasn’t providing backups.
After they finish up, the panda mascot comes back out to fire some merch items into the crowd. I decide that I might as well stick around as to not miss the next artist call, because it could really be anyone at this point.
Hyde
So he comes out and stands at this high podium that they’ve erected in the middle of the stage. I know he thinks that it’ll make him look taller, but I don’t know if it’s working.
I don’t know 100% of the Setlist, but for sure we got Pandora, Mad Qualia, Honey, 6or9, Glamorous Sky and half way through, a cover of Linkin Park’s Given Up.
A couple of songs started with Hyde heading over to the cameras to sing directly to the lens. In the second half, he also made a show of stepping onto a stack of crates and attempting to stand on them.
He heads off, and I take this opportunity for one last washroom break. Just as I’m about to blow my nose, I hear the next act’s intro starting…
Luna Sea
So I book it the fuck back to my seat, Sumimasening the crap out of the five people I have to sneak past, in time for the guys to actually take the stage.
Vocally, Ryuichi was somewhere in between when I saw him on May 28, 2023 where he sounded great, and the day after at Rockmaykan free three song set where everyone noticed that he sounded rough. Sugizo worked the crowd as always, in his thigh highs. Was hyped to get In Silence and Time is Dead, which I didn’t get to hear on my first time seeing them last year.
Setlist
And I was holding my breath waiting for Wish, but I guess there was just too much rock for eight songs.
So given that I’m sick and I really don’t care about either TMG or BabyMetal, I guess I’m hitting the dusty trail. Unfortunately, half of the audience had the same idea.
I get a flyer from a small VK band on my way out. He handed it to me and said “Visual kei”, and I was like “oh, ヴィジャル系が大好きです”, earning a grin from him.
MUCC Luv Together 09/16 @Ex Theater Roppongi
Finally starting to feel better, brought my mask just in case. I walk a few minutes to the venue, stopping to admire a perfect photo op that I didn’t take of a police officer in the middle of a group of bangya. Not doing anything per se, just standing at a light ready to walk, everyone a uniform distance from one another. Almost looking like the start of a PV shoot.
So I arrive, and head to the top of the stairs to take my place. They’ve organized it into A and B ticket holders, about 800 A holders and the rest being B. My number? A576.
Like clockwork, they have a water stand ready to hand fresh bottles to people as they march in, trying to get the coveted floor spots.
I keep up with the crowd, not tempted yet by the merch spread. I finally reach the bottom of the three tiered Theater, and reach the bottom section of the floor, as the best rows of the higher sections of the floor had already been taken. I settle around the seventh row of people on the right side of the stage, where the lead guitarists normally are.
The background music was a Setlist of songs from the bands playing, which is a little unusual, because most venues I’ve been to play mainly Western music, sometimes pop, sometimes rock, sometimes metal. You might get the occasional Japanese metal song at some lives. At Shibuya Rex, they played the same Japanese hip hop song on repeat.
So An Cafe come on, and open the set with Maple Gunman, and the set is almost all older songs, which I’m sure everyone appreciated. They announced a couple of shows at Zepp Haneda next April, and the re-release of an old classic and their last song of the night, Cherry Saki Yuki. Everyone collectively nuts.
Maple gunman
Snow scene
Tekesuta Kosen
Sennen dive
You
Kizuna
Cherry Saki Yuki
I move up by a row and a half after they finish.
Yuki with Raphael was next, his back up band featuring the guitarists of BugLug and the rhythm section of DaizyStripper.
It was a trip to hear these old songs being performed in 2024, especially considering the tragic circumstances behind the death of Raphael’s guitarist Kazuki. Yuki seemed to tear up during Eternal Wish, according to a Japanese fan’s report, he said that this song held a special meaning for him because it was the first song he wrote when he was 16. It’s now 27 years later, and people are still listening.
I don’t have a reliable Setlist off hand, but they did play Holy Mission, Eternal Wish, Shoujou 3 XXX Shou , and finished with Ningen Fushin for sure.
I manage to advance yet another row, and move to the centre slightly.
In the words of Kamala “We’re not going back”
Lynch is next, and they teased us with Greed behind the curtain, but didn’t play the whole song.
The show they put on was really more of the same from two weeks ago, only much, much closer and with half of the songs being changed out. Same high energy from the crowd and Hazuki asking us if we’re fucking ready to let’s go.
Setlist:
Gallows
Creature
Excentric
Madara
Invincible
Mirrors
_pulse
Obvious
Evoke
No movement after lynch, I guess they have a lot of crossover fans with MUCC.
Probably the most “VK” of VK bands this show, Kizu had no problem bringing out the most enthusiastic member call fans of the night, pausing for at least three times. While some may have said that Lime struggled a bit, that gremlin gave it his all through the dynamic set. Rieki probably gets the award for audience engagement, though. Doesn’t hurt that I was on his side of the stage, but he was regularly showing off for the audience. I can definitely see how they reached their level of popularity despite being the newest band in this show.
Little Girl wa Yandeiru
Kizuato
Juusei
Heisei
Jigoku
Oni
So MUCC finally come on, and it’s a jazzy set to start off with. Yukke even breaks out the stand up bass a few songs in. Tatsuro and Miya would frequently get up close with the audience, and you could tell that Tatsuro was in a sexy mood tonight.
Around the half way mark, a push pit opens up and I manage to move even closer to the centre. Starting during GG, I start noticing the Japanese equivalent of crowd surfing. Girls, sitting on guy’s shoulders, get led to near the first couple of rows, then they are launched onto the front rows and fall over the barricade.
I think they might be wrapping up, when they invite Hizaki back on stage for Memai. It was possible to predict this might have happened, but still stoked to be this close to the band seeing this. And of course, more push pit action.
A couple of songs later, they also get Reiki from Kizu to come play Ranchu next to Miya, and then the rest of the cast gets invited back on stage for Daikirai to close off a very successful Luv Together.
Suiren
Shoufu
Siren
Ai no Uta
1979
Violet
GG
Memai (featuring Hizaki)
Nirvana
Ranchu (featuring reiki of Kizu)
Daikirai (featuring the whole cast)
So, I’m not staying for final remarks. I want that sweet, sweet merch table. I get a show t-shirt from MUCC, a muffler towel from Kizu and a handful of Kizu and Yuki cheki
Zeke Deux Haruka’s Birthday live 09/17 @Blackhole Ikebukuro
This will be my second time here, my last time being when I saw Ensoku, The Gallo and Old Circus last May.
Lyrica
I take my spot in the fourth row and get ready to start. I chatted briefly with a bangya who brought a friend who just arrived today, and an American student who arrived a week ago that joined our little area. It was both the friend and students’ first VK show, so it was definitely new for them.
The set is fairly reminiscent of when I saw them last week, with three songs being different/added from last time. I was on Kakeru’s side this time, and I did receive a couple of points from him. Maybe he thought I came because of his saucy Twitter posts.
1.Rabbit Parade
2.モノクロ少女
3.ストロベリィマァマレィド
4.公然猥褻
5.Strange Rabbit
6.雨降りの残響
7.バスルームに毒の花。
Vampire Rose
So a confession…I have not actually listened to a single Vampire Rose song. I was going into his set completely unaware and just wanted to follow all of the furi in real time.
And I’ll admit, there were some moves that I had never seen before. So I don’t know any of his songs, but what I am good at is screaming along with the vocalist. And boy, did he notice that. Got some eyes and nods, and a point.
1.吸血審判
2.エリザベート・バートリー
〜MC〜
3.MASK
4.GENESIS
5.DYSTOPIA
6.Blood 〜宿命の薔薇〜
7.DRACULA
After he and his band finished up their set, I decided to go check out merch. Vampire Roses’ staff hadn’t finished up yet, so I loaded up on Zeke Deux cheki to get my 2-shot ticket. I got 1 Kakeru, 2 Haruka and 2 Maya including one autographed by him.
DazzlingBad
壱.水芭蕉
弍.天照
参.奈落迦
肆.カメラオブスキュラ
伍.夜叉
陸.夢花火
漆.花一匁
I got bumped up to third row for DazzlingBad. They were touring with their 呪縛憑霊project, which features more traditional background instrumentations during songs and kimono costumes. IT was a bit quiet at times, but the screams were definitely there. There were a couple songs where we rushed the stage to bump against the Saizen. Getting right up close to IT and Ayaha was definitely worth it. I caught one of Ayaha’s picks that he gave a kiss to before throwing into the crowd.
Thought I really wanted a couple of IT and Ayaha cheki in their specific costumes, so I picked some up
Zeke Deux
The lady who moved up to second row took her spot back, which left me temporarily spot-less…until I noticed a gap in the second row, dead centre. You better believe I was on that.
Zeke Deux is really best experienced close up. It was Haruka’s Birthday live, and despite the first song sounding well to me, the band noticed some sound anomalies and called a tech to help out. After some borderline nasty sounding echos on their microphones, they get the issue sorted out and go into the next song.
So for the next song, there’s a section, like with Vampire Rose and DazzlingBad did before, where the Saizen bends over the barricade and people take turns crashing into them. So I get pulled into Saizen by Kakeru because there are gaps and I bend over to take my hits. I try and go back to my spot, because I don’t want to encroach, but he mouths “C’mon” to me and pulls me back in for round 2 of the pummels.
For the rest of the set, I head back to my 2nd row spot, going just as hard as I’ve been this entire time. They play a couple of songs from the upcoming album. It’s at this point where I think that they’ll wrap it up because, Taiban. But no, they just keep going for longer. So when they leave the stage at 10 songs, I figure it probably is over now, right? Nope.
After the first encore song, the cake is brought out and they gift him a piece of guitar equipment. After some more talking, mainly then going over their upcoming tour schedule including the announcement of their 3 year anniversary at Rockmaykan on November 10th, they go into Lucifer. Once again, the people at the front bend over, and this time I don’t need him to tell me. I run over and bend over for the hits, and they come more furiously than the last time.
This time, I don’t even bother trying to return. I am the Saizen now.
Kakeru does his thing where he bends backwards into the audience, sitting on the shoulders of the front row people and gets further support from the rows behind. He sits on me twice, from both sides and I grab his thigh to make sure that he doesn’t fall totally backwards.
After that song, they invite Lyrica’s Kakeru (who they decide on stage to call Kakeru junior, because he’s noticeably shorter), DazzlingBad’s Ayaha and Vampire Rose with his support guitarist Martha on stage to perform a cover of Luna Sea’s Time is Dead. So of course, I’m insisting on staying in my Saizen spot because what other opportunity will I get to see something like this up close?
大セッション
TIME IS DEAD / LUNA SEA
I manage to pick a Haruka pick off the floor, and scramble for the washroom to freshen up and apply my face for 2-shots. After a little confusion and Kakeru stepping in to clarify that 2-shots come after the A ticket 6 shots, I finally get out of there around 9:30 pm after telling Haruka about the past two times I’ve seen them and wished him a happy birthday.
Senketsu Ako Chan/Hakidame 『激突 09/18 @ 東高円寺二万電圧
So I was in the middle of uploading live reports yesterday, when I look over and realize it’s 4:50 pm. “Huh, doors are in 40 minutes, I guess I better get going”.
The venue is almost an hour away.
Shit.
So I book it to the station, and manage to get there 3 minutes before curtain. I receive what looks like a Hakidame business card despite me saying that I was there for Senketsu. Real hole in the wall venue. Kind of smells. Maybe 50 people there.
Senketsu Akochan come out, Hiro-Kun wearing a children’s backpack, school helmet, and carrying a pair of hedge clippers. He play snips at the crowd with them. They start off with Ijigentougekou, with Hiro using a voice modulator to switch between the chipmunk vocals and his normal voice. The remaining songs are still mainly from the two EPs available on streaming.
I do the furi as best as I can, being near the back of the room, as they continue the set. They pause every couple of songs for a short MC session. Hiro very much has a “watch a mentally ill man unravel” kind of stage persona…which may have some connections in reality if you’re ever scrolled the guy’s Twitter.
Towards the last few songs, he takes the hedge clippers and pretends to cut his wrists with them. I say pretends, as his same wrist is shown in the last couple of songs without any blood or visible marks.
So they finish up after 11 songs, and I attempt to get some cheki only to get confirmation that it was reservation only.
So I move up to the second row for Hakidame next to another foreigner who I again, awkwardly don’t talk to, and they come out in full costume, bandages and all. I don’t know their songs well enough to tell you the setlist, but I can say that they had a decent mix of heavy, slower, creepy and that the members all used ample opportunities to get right up close to the audience whereas Senketsu really felt more about Hiro.
For their MC, Kabane was explaining what to do with those business cards. He said something about “free” and talking about choosing which one you prefer. When I read the back of the card, it seems to be talking about future free one man events that I will not be here for because I go back to Canada on Nov 11th.
For the second to last song, En invited Hiro on stage, stumbling all the way, and got him to do some guest vocals.
At first, Hiro jumps down to join the Saizen, which has a large gap in the middle. But En pulls him back up and they get into the song. It’s another one of those surreal things that you won’t ever get to see again. Both bands are really better experienced up close.
At the end of Hakidame’s set, there’s a bit of awkwardness as the venue staff have to come down and physically pull the curtain closed. But not before En and Hiro lift the curtain one last time to thank people for coming, with Hiro casually grabbing his junk about four times while addressing the audience.
I go and pull ten cheki in hopes of getting something good for someone back home, and head on my way back, knowing that I’ll definitely need some Advil for my incoming sore neck in the morning.
So jealous you got to see hakidame, I’ve really been getting into them lately. Those Okiku cheki look so cool
How was the wait between every band change? It was an antagonizing 20-30mins for the ones I attended years ago, even longer than some of the band’s sets -_-
YES… YESSSSSS
20 minutes is about right. I’d say that each set was around 40 minutes with the exception of MUCC
Luv Parade/Jiluka “Aiming” 09/19 @Ikebukuro Edge
My first visit to Ikebukuro…edge. Gotta get that edginess in somehow.
Unfortunately, there were at least five different things happening at the building, and I thought I had to go up when I saw a couple of girls who might have been attending the show who walked in at the same time as me going to the top and a sign that downstairs was a bookstore. Ikebukuro Edge? BF2.
So, I miss my number call and barely go in ahead of the B holders. By then, almost everywhere on the main floor is taken and I stand on the raised platform in between the bar and merch table.
Ricko really loves to say “Fuckin” doesn’t he? Fucking BaLaDeDa, Fucking Savage, Fucking Kumari…Let’s Fucking Go, make some Fucking noise!!!
Furi attempts were made, but it’s just so hard when you’re at the back and no one around you is moving. Even only the first couple of rows seemed really committed.
As a side note, I was getting a good look at Sena’s outfit and I was surprised he didn’t start telling the crowd about their PVs getting banned on tv for being able to see his junk through his jumpsuit (if you know, you know).
So after an approximately hour long set, I get to go line up for cheki. No 2-shots today as I found out from a moot on Twitter, but I did pick one of each member, plus a signed Zyean.
Now, where to stand for Luv Parade. The place is crowded as hell and it seems like the area right after drink tickets is the only place I can get some peace and quiet.
I return to the main area, and squeeze in between the back row and a foreign couple. If I originally thought that the crowd would have thinned out after Jiluka, I was wrong.
Now Luv Parade are a unique case. Formed with three members of D’espairsRay and the vocalist of Transtic Nerve (then renamed to The Underneath) as a temporary session band playing covers in 2009, they sat on the project largely until 2022, and a physical release didn’t even come until June 1st of this year. They literally have one EP available for streaming, and a fraction of the foreign recognition that Jiluka has.
Yet, they’ve played One man tours. And when the band came out? Instant sea of light up Luv Parade bracelets on my side of the stage. First song? The entire floor explodes in Furi to D’espairsRay’s Mirror. And the only time it lets up? When they decide to break out a cover of Celine Dion’s My Heart will go on. And that wasn’t even their first pop cover of the night.
Musically, I kind of like to say that Luv Parade is what D’espairsRay would be like if Hyde took over vocals. I mean, no offence to Taka but the vocal resemblance is almost uncanny.
After two Monsters era D’espairsRay songs, it did start getting a bit heavier towards the end with Midnight Sun and New World as the third and second last main set songs before going into their most popular song, Tonight Tonight Tonight.
The encore call cemented that this was indeed Luv Parade’s show.
Shazna+Hello Kitty….Must be HEAVENLYYY
Jilukas older songs do have furi, but their new songs doesn’t. At least that’s my impresseion.
When it comes to the f-word, it seems like heavier band like them, Deviloof and Dexcore think it’s cool dropping that word non stop. Like a hidden formula: lots of f-words = extremely heavy and cool. It’s annoying for me and I absolutely don’t like it, but it’s something we have to bear with.
Loving reading these live reports thanks!
Also enjoy that you’re going to small shows and big shows and everything in between.
i see you went to lynch and luv together, will you be going to the lynch x kizu x sadie live tomorrow?
“The next song…FUCKING ______!!!”
I’m just a gaijin in the crowd but it throws me off too but yes just something we gotta deal with 
Tomorrow I’ll be heading off to Nagoya for a few days. Catching Plastic Tree’s Autumn tour, then having a rare off day on Sunday to go see Dir en Grey’s Mode of Withering to Death in the evening. Monday is Vijuttoke’s Festival then flying back to Tokyo Tuesday morning.
Ah i see! I wanted to go to vijutokke too (to see deadman) but I’ve already made way too many nagoya trips this year + reo from lynch.'s birthday live in november. What made you pick flying over the bullet train?
