stylish wave ILLUSION '08 Live Reports Part 1

On January 19 and 20 the stylish wave ILLUSION '08 event took place at Zepp Tokyo. Together with Zy / starchild, JaME had organized a contest in which you could win tickets for this event. There were 20 tickets available, but starchild decided to invite all of the participants. Unfortunately, a lot of the contest winners didn't show up at the event, even though starchild had reserved excellent seats for the JaME winners. We were disappointed by this, but we hope that the people who did attend the event had a great time and enjoyed the performances of Vidoll, Mix Speaker's, Inc., Wizard, Jinkaku Radio, ayabie, Kra, Lolita23, Sadie, lynch., Moi dix Mois, D'espairsRay and Plastic Tree!

Below you can read the first part of the live reports by the winners of the contest. The second part can be found here.

Live Reports

After hearing that I had won the tickets, I could not believe how lucky I was and started planning my trip to Tokyo immediately. Entering Zepp Tokyo, the concert hall, I was astonished by how many people there were and how much effort they had all put in to their detailed costumes. There were so many girls dressed in corsets, high-platform shoes and wearing the cutest accessories.

The seats were absolutely superb! We sat on the second floor, front row, with an amazing view to the stage. Down on the ground floor, people were packed between the fences dividing the pits. Although it would have been nice to be in there jumping and dancing, I am not sure how I could have stood there for five hours.

My favorite band of the whole event, ayabie, performed the first night, and they were as good as ever. The other bands that I had also heard before, Plastic Tree and D'espairsRay, did not disappoint. The most memorable song was Melancholic by Plastic Tree, in which Ryutaro took out a guitar and accompanied the others. It is my favorite song in the world!

Among the bands that I had not heard before, I was impressed the most by Vidoll and lynch.. Also Mix Speaker's, Inc. owned the stage with their crazy, over-the-top costumes. Their show was really well planned and it was a pleasure to watch.

Overall, the event was a lot more than I had expected and I had tons of fun. I am pretty sure it will be hard to top this experience and find such a great line-up anywhere else!

- Marika Pasanen, Finland

After I got the notice that I had won one of the tickets to the stylish wave ILLUSION '08 event, I couldn't wait to go and see twelve different bands at once. On the 19th of January, the first of the two nights was about to start and the bands of the first night would be: Vidoll, Mix Speaker's, Inc., Jinkaku Radio, ayabie and Kra. Zepp Tokyo is a really nice, big location (some of the bands stated that the stage was so big, they didn't really know what do to with so much space!) with a second floor, where the contest winners were seated. The show started with an introduction of the bands playing that evening and a statement about the new cooperation between JaME and star child/Zy. They even told the audience that foreigners from all over the world would be sitting on the second floor. They shouted a friendly "nice to meet you" in English to us, which was quite cute considering that the whole explanation before was in Japanese. After this the long awaited live started with Vidoll.

After many years of not following this band's activities, I was quite pleased with their show. The audience was really into it right from the start, but went quite wild when Mix Speaker's Inc. entered the stage. This was the second time I had the chance to see this band and I had my share of fun. The costumes were interesting and their play-like show is fun to watch. Besides Mix Speaker's, Inc., I liked Jinkaku Radio and Kra the most. Jinkaku Radio had really nice songs and I liked listening to the singer's voice. Interesting for me was the behavior of the audience: during the entire performance of Jinkaku Radio they stood like statues and were extremely quiet. This of course suited the songs of Jinkaku Radio, but such a thing would be impossible in Europe. Wizard and ayabie were cute and fun, but in terms of music not really extraordinary.

After hours of spending time in the hall, I left Zepp Tokyo extremely tired but really happy with the bands I had gotten the chance to see!

- Anna Boehm, Germany

My favorite band of the event was Jinkaku Radio. After seeing them at stylish wave ILLUSION '08 I became interested in them; that's why I choose to write about their performance.

The crowd at the Zepp Tokyo Arena fell into a hush as Jinkaku Radio took the stage. Hands, previously raised in para-para, lowered as the lights dimmed to a mix of smoky blue and orange. Despite the chill night outside, the concert-goers were warm, some shedding their coats and cardigans as the members of the band - vocalist Yuuki, bassist Naoki, support drummer Shin and support guitarist John - walked on stage. Unlike the previous musicians, Jinkaku Radio entered to a stage that seemed strangely quiet after the previous act. Set apart by this one inconsistency, those who had not yet heard of Jinkaku Radio had to straighten up and take notice.

Their music was a mix of rock, ballads and upbeat songs mingling side-by-side. They played with heavy use of the guitar, holding long notes that trickled into silence only to be met by rare clapping from the audience instead of the spread-eagle hand waves of earlier. After each song, Yuuki said a quiet "thank you," that seemed to reflect their fans' respect for them. At the end of their time on stage, Yuuki's emotive singing seemed at odds with his loud joking, which the audience ate up and laughed at as he poked fun at his fellow band members. They gave a long bow and left without a backward glance to loud applause that slowly broke into screams. The applause left the most significant impression: they were a band that drew fans in with their music and everything else came second.

- Stacy, USA

The stylish wave ILLUSION '08 event on January 19 and 20 took place in the ZEPP Tokyo, which is a well known place for concerts of different bands here in Tokyo. At the foyer, merchandise for every band from the respective evenings was waiting for the fans. Inside the hall there were two floors, which offered standing sections and some seats. The background of the stage was decorated with a big banner of Zy.

After both of the hosts welcomed the fans on Saturday, Vidoll opened the evening with their song At Age 13, which made the crowd raise their arms up, right from the first second. The next band, Mix Speaker's, Inc., didn't only impress because of their famous members AYA and seek, but also because of their very interesting costumes. Both vocalists entered the stage as black and white elves; Aya was dressed up in a red princess-like dress and the drummer was hidden behind a big 3-faced cat mask. The use of tambourines and funny dances particularly made the fans laugh and dance.

The bands Wizard and Jinkaku Radio, my favorite band of the first day, followed. Jinkaku Radio might have been the biggest contrast with all of the other bands that performed on Saturday. In black suits, white shirts, a tie and with the "Jinkaku Patch" on their arms, they bowed in front of the crowd and just started their show. Instead of jumping and laughing, the fans stayed very quite, a gloomy and oppressing atmosphere filled the hall. It made the exhilarating feeling between their songs even better. After some funny dances from the next band, ayabie, Kra closed the evening. The two hosts entered the stage to say goodbye for this evening as the crowd started asking for an encore. Kra came back on stage for a last song before the evening was finally closed by the hosts and some members of the bands which had played earlier that evening.

On Sunday, the second day of the stylish wave ILLUSION '08 event, Lolita23 took the stage as the first band of the evening. In contrast with most of the other bands on Sunday, they were going for a very visual look. Before they left the stage to make room for Sadie, they played songs like Supernova and made the fans raise up their arms. The vocalist of Sadie, whose looks remind of Kyo from Dir en grey, impressed especially with his melodic voice. Some songs later, the bands lynch. and Moi dix Mois followed. Moi dix Mois, who gave a dark show with complex costumes, was maybe the biggest surprise for me this evening, because I didn't like their music too much but their show and their live music really rocked. The band I was waiting for the most finally entered the stage: D'espairsRay. They started their performance with Mirror, which was followed by SIXty∞NINe and Fuyuu shita risou. Full of enthusiasm, the crowd started headbanging and waving their arms to the hard sound of D'espairsRay. Ending with Plastic Tree, who also gave an encore as the last band of the evening, the stylish wave ILLUSION '08 event had a good finale.

- Franziska, Germany

Sadly, I was ill so I couldn't attend the first day of the stylish wave ILLUSION '08 event. So I will just tell you about the second day.

The first band of that night was Lolita23 and I had never heard of them before. Their performance was nice and the black and white outfit of the singer amused me. The second band was Sadie. They were okay, but they somehow reminded me more than just a little of Dir en grey...but that's just my opinion. After them came lynch., which I have always wanted to see because they had done some lives together with deadman. I didn't like the death voice too much, but somehow the singer impressed me.

Then finally came Moi dix Mois, who I had waited the whole night for. All of their fans tried to get in the front rows, including me. I had already been to countless Moi dix Mois lives, but this performance was fantastic and I was overwhelmed. This live just impressed me so much I cannot put it in words. They just had this very special atmosphere, which no other band could deliver that evening.

After them came D'espairsRay. For me it was just an average show, but all their fans freaked out, did some para para and the whole room was filled with shaking heads and hands. Then the final band of the evening came: Plastic Tree. I didn't know what to expect but at the end I came to really like them. I was very impressed by their song Melancholic. After this live I wanted to buy their new album.

At the end all bands came back on the stage and everyone said a comment about the event. All in all, I liked this event very much. Thank you JaME for giving me the opportunity to attend it!

- Laura, Austria

On Saturday I was looking forward to Vidoll the most, who eventually also turned out to be my favorite artist of that day. It was too bad that they were the first act to perform, so that I had nothing left to look forward to at the event. Even though Jui had a cold, the performance was really good. I also thought Wizard was very interesting, and from now on I will definitely check them out more. Because not all the people who won were present, the Japanese fans kept asking to trade seats as their favorite bands performed.

I was really looking forward to Sunday, because I would finally be able to see Sadie live. Even though I think that the influence of Dir en grey could be heard - and seen - clearly, I still think their performance was very good. I thought the band's performance was too short, but unfortunately that happens with these sorts of events.

- Susanne, Switzerland

Not only was this event the first concert I'd ever been to in Japan, but I'd also never seen any of the performing bands live before, so both days left me with a lot of new impressions and were a great experience.

Two of the main differences from western concerts that I noticed were the crowd and the MCs. The crowd was more ordered and in unison. Also, especially on the first day, the fans of the different bands had special hand movements for almost every part of each song. This was very fascinating to watch, but unfortunately a bit harder to copy. The MCs were a lot longer and more spontaneous than I was used to. And while I didn't understand all of it, what I understood was very funny.

The two bands that impressed me the most on the first day were Jinkaku Radio and ayabie. Jinkaku Radio's music was beautiful and haunting as I had expected, but I hadn't been prepared for their vocalist to be a complete clown the rest of the time. This was a contrast to their performance and made it stand out all the more. I enjoyed ayabie in a completely different way. They were so filled with cheerful energy, it was impossible not to be pulled along with them.

The highlight of the second day for me were without a doubt Plastic Tree. I had heard some of their softer songs before and while I liked them, I didn't really have an interest in the band. But their performance completely blew me away. They were much wilder and more energetic than I had expected. Also, Ryutarou's awkward puppet-like movements and his childlike way of speaking really fascinated me. But I really like the band as a whole and seeing them live left me with the firm resolve to buy one of their CDs as soon as possible to check out what I'd missed up to now.

- Christina, Switzerland

Set list first night

Vidoll
at age 13
Lost voice
Ningyou
Tree
Waisetsu ningyou

Mix Speaker's, Inc.
~Opening narration~
Monster Start Instrumental
JUNK STORY
DoDo & PaPa ~MC
Go!Go!Bremen
MIKI~MC
My wish[horror]X'mas
Seek ~SMC
MONSTIME
Fanfare ~ED SE

Wizard
Trap lunch
Cocktail
Hanaichimonme
Okama no yoko
Materia

Jinkaku Radio
Houkaishita machi shihaisarenai basho
Saisei no ssa
Taion
Oborozuki
Milk

ayabie
SE
DAYDREAM
Kirisame
Izayoi no kaze
Yubisaki
Cubic'「L/R」ock

Kra
Extra Kingdom
Yell(New song)
LOST NUMBER
Ashitaya
Show Time

Set list second night

Lolita23
SE
Red Room
Supernova
Mikansei Sapphire
Jenosence

Sadie
under the chaos
confusion
Psycho Culture
a holy terror
Meisai

lynch.
I'm sick, b'cuz luv u.
liberation chord
new song (Untitled song)
a grateful shit
unknown lost a beauty
pulse

Moi dix Mois
SE~ sacred lake
unmoved
exclude(loudspeaker version)
Perish
Immortal Madness
dues ex machine
END SE (rumbling of the earth)

D'espairsRay
SE
MIЯROR
Angeldust
SIXty∞NINe
[Fuyuusita risou]
Hollow

Plastic Tree
SE
Kuuchuu buranko
Melancholic
Makkana ito
Barrier
hate red, dip it


JaME wants to thank starchild for making this event possible. We hope all of the contest winners enjoyed "stylish wave ILLUSION '08" and we want to thank you for writing these live reports.