For their 20th year as a band, MUCC has been celebrating this amazing milestone with a series of announcement of 20 different events. The first being a new album, then two “Best of” compilation albums. The other event was a nationwide spring tour that ended with 2 consecutive lives at Zepp DiverCity Tokyo.
On the final day of the tour, the venue was filled to capacity and the band performed a total of 20 songs in their main set, one for each year. The live began when the room went dark and multicolored spotlights projected out into the crowd. The lights were red at first, then blue, then green and finally white, making a quartet of colors. The stage was obscured by a black gauze curtain so only the silhouettes of the members were visible as they took the stage one by one.
The first song was “脈拍 (Myakuhaku)” one of their newest releases from the album of the same name. Vocalist Tatsuro began by talking softly into the microphones as Satochi played the drums behind him. As the distorted guitar riffs wove into the melody, the gauze curtain dropped and a loud bang echoed through the venue. The entire room was spurred into action and the crowd threw their hands in the air, swaying in time to the music. The energy was still a bit reserved and the song ended with an almost polite round of applause. Tatsuro fixed that immediately by yelling, “Let’s go crazy Tokyo!” and the room broke out into aggressive chants as they followed with “絶体絶命 (Zettai Zetsumei)”. Miya and YUKKE took center stage, adding more fuel to fire up the crowd.“CLASSIC” brought a fun atmosphere with multicolored lights and had the crowd clapping along to the beat. During “KILLEЯ”, Tatsuro had slung his microphone stand across his back then held out one end towards the audience who immediately began desperately grabbing and clinging onto it. Still singing, kept hold of the mic stand, tossed it aside and threw himself onto the crowd instead. The performance was a blast of raw power over finesse and the result was a frantic energy that had everyone completely captivated.
“絶望 (Zetsubou)” slowed the pace but kept the crowd tossing their heads and hands around without a care. It provided the lead into the first ballad of the night “君に幸あれ (Kimi ni Sachi_are)”. The song opened with Tatsuro on the harmonica as warm spotlights shone over each of the members. The lights stayed subtle, keeping the members in shadow and making YUKKE’s bass and Satochi’s drumming sound even richer. Miya followed with a piercing solo and the lights grew brighter till the end, facing out towards the crowd.
At the end, Tatsuro introduced the band and then asked the crowd to have fun with them till the end.The band moved through a number of songs that showcased their impressive musical range. “黒煙 (Kokuen)” was full of hyperactive energy as Miya and YUKKE moved all over the stage, getting the crowd moving again. An effect was added to Tatsuro’s voice that made it seem like it was travelling from one side of the room to the next and then everywhere at once.
Satochi held his drumstick high in the air and shouted to start “BILLY×2 -Entwines ROCK STARS-”, which kept everyone dancing with catchy beats accompanied by Tatsuro on the tambourine. “りんご (Ringo)” transitioned between gut wrenching screams from Tatsuro as he stumbled and threw his body across the stage to rich reggae-style bass riffs that highlighted YUKKE’s fingerpicking style.
“勿忘草 (Wasurenagusa)” and “EMP” pulled the band back into sharp focus as the crowd stood still, watching the performances unfold on stage. During “コミューン (Commune)” Tatsuro stood perched on one leg, arms outstretched and undulating like wings. At the end, he dropped into an elegant bow as the crowd applauded.
“秘密 (Himitsu)” recreated the feel of a jazzy club with flashing pink lights and a groovy beat. Miya and Tatsuro stood back to back as they performed and then YUKKE pulled out a standing bass, strumming the melody while the crowd cheered. After one more song, “シリウス (Sirius)”, the band took another break. Tatsuro talked about the upcoming Budokan live in June, telling the crowd, “If you don’t come we won’t forgive you!”The members all lounged around stage and chatted some more then took a picture with the audience. Tatsuro told the crowd to do their best the following day in whatever they had to do, whether work, school or otherwise. They followed with “ハイデ (Heide)” which brought a feeling of togetherness to the room as everyone stretched their hands out and sang together.
After that, MUCC went full speed ahead, performing powerhouse songs in succession. The audience kept pace with them, moshing and crowdsurfing with abandon. “ENDER ENDER” was a crowd favorite with explosive energy. “Mr. Liar” was pure chaos, as Tatsuro screamed, “Are you fucking ready?!” and watched as their fans went even wilder. On the final note of the final song, “孵化 (Fuka)” Tatsuro let out a drawn-out piercing scream while the music continued to ring out and the curtains closed.
The fans called relentlessly for an encore and when the curtains reopened, they started immediately with “盲目であるが故の疎外感 (Moumoku De Aruga yue No Sogaikan)”. The artwork at the back of the stage had been covered with a black and white tapestry and the venue was flooded in deep red lights which gave an interesting contrast. During “娼婦 (Shoufu)”, the crowd would pick up singing whenever Tatsuro stopped, giving him the freedom to dance around the stage and climb up near to Satochi’s drumset to hit the cymbals. When Miya’s heavy guitar riffs began for “蘭鋳 (Ranchuu)”, the audience became a sea of bodies, clambering and diving over each other in a frenzy. Tatsuro commanded everyone to crouch down on the floor telling them to, “Forget about everything else and let’s just enjoy this moment!”. Thick plumes of smoke were fired into the air the same time as everyone started jumping.They kept this energy going all throughout “1997” and at the end of the song, the black and white curtain suddenly dropped to the floor, shocking the crowd into a moment of stillness. The band took advantage of this hush and Satochi began pounding away the beat for the final song, “シャングリラ (Shangri-la)”. As the music built up with Miya’s gentle guitar scales, the thrum of YUKKE’s bass and Tatsuro’s voice, another set of curtains opened at the back, revealing the album art once again.
With the last notes still echoing, Tatsuro took a deep bow as the curtains closed around them and brought the live to an end.
Setlist:
- 脈拍 (Myakuhaku)
- 絶体絶命 (Zettai Zetsumei)
- CLASSIC
- KILLEЯ
- 絶望 (Zetsubou)
- 君に幸あれ (Kimi ni Sachi_are)
- 黒煙 (Kokuen)
- BILLY×2 - Entwines ROCK STARS-
- りんご (Ringo)
- 勿忘草 (Wasurenagusa)
- EMP
- コミューン (Commune)
- 秘密 (Himitsu)
- シリウス (Sirius)
- ハイデ (Heide)
- スイミン (Suimin)
- ENDER ENDER
- 前へ (Mae e)
- Mr. Liar
- 孵化 (Fuka)
Encore
- 盲目であるが故の疎外感 (Moumoku De Aruga yue No Sogaikan)
- 娼婦 (Shoufu)
- 蘭鋳 (Ranchu)
- 1997
- シャングリラ (Shangri-la)
Photo credit: MUCC staff
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