With a loud beat,
VAMPS’ entrance music starts up, accompanied by pyrotechnics and jets of flame. The stage opens and a tower, mounted on a vehicle, slowly drives out onstage.
HYDE stands atop the tower, dressed diva-like in a short glitter dress and a blonde wig that get an astonishing cheer from the audience. On a lower platform in front of the vocalist, guitarist
K.A.Z. strums a double-necked guitar.
The tower and costumes are based on “Mad Max: Fury Road”, and that’s the theme of
VAMPS’ show. While the vehicle slowly drives to the end of the stage, bassist
Ju-ken, keyboardist
JIN and drummer stay behind. The band are also joined by two pumpkin-clad people on stilts who dance and walk around.
The famously catchy
REVOLUTION II starts out with
HYDE screaming “Bang on, stomp everybody!” The audience is soon yelling along. The song has a power to it that makes everyone go wild. The tower slowly drives to the end of the stage once more, then is pulled onto a platform that enables the vehicle to be driven amongst the audience. As it does,
K.A.Z points his double-neck guitar towards crowd, blasting them with smoke just as The Doof Warrior shot flames from his instrument.
During the MC,
VAMPS introduce the band, talk about “Mad Max”, and about the creepiest and most realistic costume of the night, worn by
JIN: he’s dressed as the one and only Immortan Joe. The crowd are given a close-up view of his impressive armour on the screens. To continue the show, a jazzy version of
Halloween Party is played. It’s slower, eerier than the normal version, with
HYDE singing in a high, almost hoarse, voice. He changes to a kazoo during the song, giving it a more chilled vibe.
For
VAMPS’ next songs,
HYDE joins
K.A.Z on guitar, all building up to the last song. At the start of
KYUKETSU – SATSUGAI VAMPS Version – , men clad as Immortan Joe’s War Boys rush onstage and capture
HYDE, carrying him to a cage where he continues to sing, climbing around the small space and trying to free himself. Around the cage, jets of flame shoot up, and after a wild guitar solo by
K.A.Z, the fire show reaches its climax, leaving the stage in darkness while the band carries on playing. The set ends once
HYDE eventually escapes from his cage.
© Hideaki Imamoto, Toshikazu Oguruma & Kazuko Tanaka
Last but not least, it’s time for
HALLOWEEN JUNKY ORCHESTRA to perform, with
HYDE leading a bunch of costumed artists.
Wakeshima Kanon plays her cello parts with grace and tries to keep the orchestra together when mistakes are made.
HYDE is a strict conductor, “punishing” errant members of the orchestra with a blast of smoke from his machine.
This party is more like a TV entertainment show than a conventional music performance. Soon, an appearance by the one and only
Lady Gaga is announced. Then,
Anis from
Monoral enters, dressed as
Lady Gaga. He sings a part of
Poker Face and joins the orchestra.
Despite being more entertainment show than concert, every game the artists play has a music element. One game is all about keeping a steady rhythm with the whole group of artists. One artist performs a rhythm, and the others follow, everyone giving one beat of the drum, trying to copy the original rhythm. Every game has a penalty but the most hilarious punishment is when they have to kiss a mannequin at the front of the stage after failing to play the correct part of the rhythm.
There’s a lot of interaction onstage. The members of
HALLOWEEN JUNKY ORCHESTRA are introduced, with
Shinya as Cheburashka with oranges,
Yuki as witch, and
My First Story’s
Hiro as vampire. During this part,
HYDE and
Daigo end up sitting on the bench attached to
Golden Bomber vocalist
Kiryuuin Shou’s Ronald McDonald costume.
Finally, the show ends with
HALLOWEEN PARTY, during which the members walk, skip and run around the stage, throwing candy to the audience. The vocalists of the evening, among them
MUCC’s
Tatsuro and
Aoki, each sing parts of the song while a couple of members, instead of joining in the candy throwing, play the song as they walk around.
VAMPS Halloween Party 2015 was a five-hour extravaganza with music, comedy, amazing costumes and themes with a great Halloween atmosphere that won’t soon be forgotten.
Set List:
VAMPS
1. EVIL
2. REVOLUTION II
3. THE JOLLY ROGER
4. HALLOWEEN PARTY – JAZZ version –
5. AHEAD
6. ANGEL TRIP
7. TROUBLE
8. KYUKETSU – SATSUGAI VAMPS Version –
HALLOWEEN JUNKY ORCHESTRA
1. Penalty Waltz
2. Rhythm Game
3. HALLOWEEN PARTY
