Following the release of his new single
Eye of Providence on July 24th,
KAMIJO started his new Japan tour
PERSONA GRATA on July 26th at Tokyo’s MYNAVI BLITZ AKASAKA. Using his signature style of integrating movies and
music during lives to take his grand story of the vampire to new heights,
KAMIJO revealed each episode of
PERSONA GRATA as the tour progressed. Finally,
KAMIJO returned to MYNAVI BLITZ AKASAKA on October 6th
for the tour's finale. During the tour,
KAMIJO also revealed new songs. It was announced after the final show that they will be featured on three consecutive singles based on the trilogy titled “
PERSONA”. You can find more information about the releases
here.
The story of
PERSONA GRATA takes place in New York City in the present day. In the story, the US government is preparing for a reform bill to shift the national energy source to “Emigre”, which is an energy production system powered by the blood of resurrected humans. The story initially started with an investigation into the assassination of the chief of the US Department of Energy, who was the first person
Count Saint-Germain contacted to start the installation
plan of Emigre. As the investigation by the National Security Agency progressed with the aid of
Count Saint-Germain, a conspiracy emerged, led by a shadow organization aiming to establish a new world order by obtaining the power of the
vampire.
Louis XVII, and, much to the fans’ surprise,
Napoléon Bonaparte, also play significant parts in the story.
The sound of a bell informed the fans that the show was starting. With the powerful beats of
MASASHI’s bass and
YUKI’s drums and the sharp sound of
Meku’s guitar backing him,
KAMIJO encouraged
the fans to clap their hands. “Let’s go inside of the story!” At
KAMIJO’s call, the new song
TEMPLE started up. The fast and precise playing of each band member and the song’s beautiful melody carried the fans away.
KAMIJO
sang out his aestheticism powerfully in his rich and glamorous voice. “Here we go, Tokyo!!”,
KAMIJO boldly provoked the fans for the next song,
Nosferatu. The audience responded enthusiastically by head banging along to the guitar riffs and pounding
drum beats. During the song,
KAMIJO had the fans sing along with him and welcomed them into his ideal world.
Later, a movie about the fateful reencounter of
Count Saint-Germain,
Napoléon and
Louis XVII followed. In the story,
Napoléon was rescued from his exile to Saint Helena island
by
Count Saint-Germain.
Napoléon was given the blood of the vampire. For 200 years,
Napoléon was hidden by the shadow organization, and he was referred
to as “
No.3”, the name being derived from
Beethoven’s
Symphony No. 3. Still,
Napoléon retained his consciousness, and he saved the NSA investigation team,
Count Saint-Germain
and
Louis XVII from an attack by the shadow organization. It was revealed that the shadow organization was after the power of
Count Saint-Germain, which had stopped his aging process for more than 4000 years.
Napoléon,
whose heroic character and loyalty to France remained unchanged, asked
Louis XVII to take back his homeland and the world from the shadow organization, whose name was later revealed to be “
Crimson Family”.
In the story,
Crimson Family is a very powerful organization whose international network could even plot a war between the United States and the member nations of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries over conflicting
interests regarding the control of energy sources. Moreover, as the symbol of the all-seeing eye indicates,
Crimson Family actually had the entire population of the United States under their surveillance using the personal data registration
system called “PERSONA”, which was invented by their own IT company “SENTRY”. To counter the threat to national security, the President of the United States gave a direct order to the NSA team to investigate
Crimson Family. However,
such a deep undercover operation would require someone who is not registered with “PERSONA”, that is to say, someone who was not supposed to even exist.
The show continued to the next song,
Emigre.
KAMIJO’s vocals thrilled the fans, describing the sweet temptation of the Emigre system, which allows its contractors to meet their loved ones for a final time before their
eternal death as their reward for helping to produce clean energy for future generations. The singer stood tall on the stage and absorbed the audience’s cheers of “Vive le roi!!” during the performance. “Are you ready!? I will give you pleasure!”
KAMIJO stirred
the fans up for the new killer number
Ecstasy. The audience head banged to
Meku’s edgy and sadistic guitar riffs and clapped along to
KAMIJO’s seductive vocals. During the song,
KAMIJO delivered
the lyrics in a frenzied voice that made fans let go of their inhibitions. “Give me more ecstasy!” The fans sang their desire out loud at
KAMIJO’s lead. “I will get you out of the cage!”
KAMIJO set the fans free with the
following track,
Yamiyo no Lion, while also delivering the song’s message that they are not alone.
Afterwards, the show had another movie part, which revealed that
Crimson Family actually used
Napoléon as a test subject to produce a vaccine that can disable the power of the blood of vampires. As if hinting
at the mysterious connection between
Napoléon,
Crimson Family and
Count Saint-Germain, the show progressed to the next song,
Castrato.
KAMIJO, now playing the role of
Count Saint-Germain,
sang of his aesthetic obsession with creating an ideal world that is not bound by an ordinary sense of empathy. With the flames that rose from the stage, the song’s grand melody and
KAMIJO’s vocals expressed
Count Saint-Germain’s
long term, consistent, yet unpredictable orchestration of the fate of humanity, which even included manipulating a heroic figure like
Napoléon. However, the next song completely changed the atmosphere. The message “Mission: Shake the
MYNAVI BLITZ AKASAKA!” was displayed on the screen as the new song
Conspiracy blasted out from the stage. “This is the tour final. Give me everything you’ve got!”,
KAMIJO provoked the fans. The song’s exhilarating chemistry of
dynamic sounds and melodious choruses set the fans on fire.
KAMIJO head banged along with the fans to the explosive track.
The show continued to another movie part. Data containing secret information about “AGENDA” was sent to the NSA investigation team, as if the sender was asking them to help stop it. In the story, “AGENDA” was a road map of history that aimed
to eliminate national governments and to establish one world government controlled by the ruling elites.
After the movie, the new song
Persona Grata started to play. The fans saw the silhouette of
KAMIJO on the dark stage, singing about an ominous shadow approaching the world. The fans gazed at the song’s lyrics as they
were displayed on the screen: “Dear God. Will humans who betrayed your angels lose their future and civilization?”, as
KAMIJO’s expressive vocals resonated in their hearts. Accompanied by the gentle music,
KAMIJO delivered
the song’s message, encouraging the audience to be themselves and to not be afraid.
After the song, the last movie played. It revealed
Crimson Family’s plan to take away the power of
Count Saint-Germain for the purpose of providing the ruling elites with eternal control over the world. In the
wake of this story about unrestrained human greed,
Eye of Providence started to play. Flames rose from the stage as
KAMIJO sang of the innocent eye looking at the future.
KAMIJO’s breathtakingly beautiful falsetto
lifted the fans’ spirits during the performance of the magnificently structured song. The fans fist pumped to the music, as if they gained a sense of hope while listening. The end credits started to roll afterwards and, at the end, the crowd saw “Continue
to next season. Spring 2020” displayed on the screen.
The show had an encore later, which
KAMIJO described as the “after party” of the tour.
KAMIJO and the fans enjoyed the extended version of
Ecstasy together. Finally,
Sang I and
Sang II filled
the audience with anticipation for the next season. “Thank you! Let’s continue the story together again!”
KAMIJO gave a shout to the fans. Finally, he closed the tour with some sincere words about the deeper meaning behind the story he
had created for the tour. “As I sang the songs, I discovered the messages to be conveyed. As I looked deeper into the messages, the messages became a story that was linked with the real world. The story showed human stupidity that extends as far as competing
with each other over the eternal life of the vampire. What we can do about living in such a reality, not as a collective, but as individuals, is the theme.”
Set list
01. Conspiracy -Prologue-
02. TEMPLE
03. Nosferatu
04. Emigre
05. Vampire Rock Star
06. Ecstasy
07. Yamiyo no Lion
08. Delta-Interlude-
09. Castrato
10. Conspiracy
11. Persona Grata
12. Eye of Providence
Encore
13. Moulin Rouge
14. Dying-Table
15. Ecstasy
16. Sang I
17. Sang II
