On March 17th, vocalist Takeru (ex SuG) celebrated the 0th anniversary of his new solo project sleepyhead with a live "Toumei Shigetsu/Transparent New Moon" at Tsutaya O-East. The venue was filled to capacity with fans and Takeru delivered a show of fresh and exciting performances, honest admissions and left fans eager to see what sleepyhead delivers next.
A screen to the back of the stage showed a timer with glowing purple numbers rapidly counting down to 0:00 and a waxing moon, signaling the start of the show. As the numbers counted down, the support members entered the stage followed by Takeru and then a group of 8 dancers, 4 on either side.
At the intro of the first song “闇雲 (Yamikumo)”, Takeru screamed, “Let’s dance Tokyo!” and the venue burst to life with movement and sound. The dancers had masks covering their eyes like they weren't quite ready to wake up but their movements were sharp and precise.
“I like this. Even though it’s imperfect, I’ve returned to the stage,” Takeru said at the end of the first song. The crowd held nothing back, cheering and screaming his name before he continued with the second song, “結局 (Kekkyoku)”. The dancers cleared the stage at the end and Takeru gave a formal greeting:
“Instead of saying ‘I’m back’, it’s more like ‘Nice to meet you’. I’m sleepyhead.”
He thanked the fans for waiting for him and asked that they “search for an answer together”. He told them that in the time that had passed, he had thrown away everything and felt like he was the unhappiest person in the world. That is until he realized that someone like that was nothing but lame and pitiful.
“So instead, I’ll say that today I’m the happiest guy in the world.”
Takeru was both guitarist and vocalist for “熱帯夜 (Nettaiya)” which had heavy riffs and a lively beat that kept the crowd moving and swinging towels wildly in the air.
“WANT ME BACK” turned up the heat even more with a when two female dancers appeared on stage in bunny ear masks and tied up in chains. As Takeru stood singing in the center of the stage, the dancers would reach and grope towards him but would keep getting yanked back by their chains until the end of the song when they collapsed to the ground in frustration.
“There’s definitely people seeing me for the first time and people who have followed me for 10 years. From here on out, I’ll probably be even more of a pervert than you’d expect.” Takeru laughed and gestured to the dancers who were still lying on the floor.
He told the crowd not to worry cause the dancers would come back to life once he gave them their “gasoline”. To demonstrate, he blew a teasing kiss to each of them and they both jumped up and started blushing and dancing, amusing the crowd even more.
The dancers left and Takeru got serious. He explained that 11 years ago on March 16th, he had his first live show at the same live house. Now 11 years and 1 day later, he was able to begin again and take the first new step forward.“A lot of things happened and I was somehow able to overcome it. That’s why it’s no longer hopeless. From now I’ll take one step forward.”
He conveyed these feelings in the next song, “HOPELESS”. The crowd quieted down and watched quietly as Takeru poured his emotions into his performance followed by “HURT OF DELAY”.
The still atmosphere was broken when the dancers returned for “アトノマツリデ (Ato no Matsuri de)” and then the audience was transported to an old-school techno party for “退行的進化 (Taikoteki Shinka)”. The staff brought out a booth with a laptop and synth pad where Takeru, now dressed in a bright yellow, oversized t-shirt, controlled the music while singing and keeping the crowd hyped. It really felt like a party and the music and dancers kept growing more and more frantic until the end of the song and they all collapsed to the floor “dead”.
The stage emptied and there was an immediate call for an encore. While the curtains were still closed, however, the small stage to the side of the audience opened, revealing two dancers. In a series of amusing skits, the dancers pulled up sleepyhead’s website and clicked on a number of links that eventually led to a page that announced sleepyhead’s first full album and tour.
Takeru returned to more cheers and applause and thanked the crowd for the encore. He announced the support band; drummer Yuuya, bassist Shin and keyboardist Kaoru. He talked about meeting each member and apparently he had been a fan of Shin’s band and had gone to see them live. He had so much fun that he ended up crowd surfing, much to everyone’s surprise.
He talked more about making his new music and how he felt that it would be boring to do just a single or a mini-album so he went straight for a full album.
With not that many songs in sleepyhead’s repertoire just yet, the encore included previously performed songs, 酩酊 (Meitei) and 熱帯夜 (Nettaiya). Despite that, Takeru urged the venue to go even crazier than they had the first time around and he didn’t need to ask twice.
Before the final song, there was another pause and Takeru reiterated his determination to the fans and everyone present.
“There were lots of problems and I stopped believing in music. 10 years passed and I decided to properly part ways. It was no good for me to be sad all the time so I have a responsibility to get over it and move forward. During that time I was really helped by a lot of people...”He promised then that “From now, I want to be able to properly convey my feelings to all the people who helped me. I’ll dedicate this last song to them.”
For the final song, “ALIVE” the stage was lit up in bright lights and Takeru used the last of his energy to convey his feelings, ending with the words, “Everyone, the moon is beautiful tonight isn’t it?”
In the end, the crowd cheered and screamed as Takeru took his final leap high into the air and when he exited the stage, the last words on the screen promised to,
“See you next dream.”
Setlist:
1. 闇雲 (Yamikumo)
2. 結局 (Kekkyoku)
3. 酩酊 (Meitei)
4. 熱帯夜 (Nettaiya)
5. WANT ME BACK
6. HOPELESS
7. HURT OF DELAY
8. アトノマツリデ (Ato no Matsuri de)
9. 退行的進化 (Taikoteki Shinka)
10. LAID BACK
11. 狂宴騒々 (Kyoen Souzou)
Encore
EN1 酩酊 (Meitei)
EN2 熱帯夜 (Nettaiya)
EN3 ALIVE
Photo credit: sleepyhead staff
0 comments:
Post a Comment