Sunday, 18 June 2017

MIYAVI NEOTOKYO15 Concert With Special Guest Crossfaith Report

Miyavi 15th Anniversary Neo Tokyo 15
June 15th at Tsutaya O-East. Special guest Crossfaith.


I wasn’t sure I would write a report about this concert. After all, I’ve already written about the first concert on this tour, so what else can I say?
Well, let's find out.

This was Miyavi’s 9th concert in his NEOTOKYO15 celebration and this time, Crossfaith were the special guests.
Crossfaith, an electric metal band (my own description, not an official one) has been on my radar for a little while now so when I saw that they would be the special guests for Miyavi AND that the concert wasn’t sold out, I jumped right on it and got myself a ticket.
Tsutaya O-East has the same capacity as Akasaka Blitz and yet manages to feel much smaller. Maybe it was because the concert never sold out, or because of the way it’s built, either way, the ambiance was very different.
Although this was Miyavi’s concert, one would think it was a Crossfaith concert with Miyavi as the guest if one looked at the crowd. 80% of the attendees were wearing Crossfaith tshirts. At the ticket check, the bouncers were asking who people came to see and separated the tickets accordingly. The Crossfaith ticket bag was full and the Miyavi one had a couple of tickets. The goods lines were similar too. A long line for Crossfaith goods. No line for Miyavi. This was a bit heartbreaking as this was Miyavi’s concert after all, but if it bothered him, he definitely didn’t show it on stage, and the crowd was all in the entire time.

The concert started late with Crossfaith getting on stage to the sound of System X, a dramatic electronic instrumental piece with lots of violins. The crowd went wild as the 5 member group got on stage one by one. Finally, the lead vocalist, Kenta, got on stage, screamed a bit to get the crowd riled up and dived into Xeno, the title track from their latest album. The crowd was all in with mosh pits and crowd surfing from the get go and Crossfaith gave them every opportunity to do so.
This band’s energy is not something to be messed with. They were giving 300% 100% of the time. It was quite a sight to behold. They barely finished one song before starting the next one, just dropping the name of the next song, seasoning the titles with a few expletives along the way.
At some point, Teru, the DJ and backup vocalist, got tired of the stage and dived into the crowd which was more than happy to have him.
Finally, Kenta introduced the last song “Countdown to Mother Fucking Hell” by flipping everybody off. This was no regular flipping off though, oh no. Kenta was Metal Moses and was splitting the audience like the Red Sea, aka Wall of Death. The song started and the audience waited until the big Metal drop of guitar, drums and Kenta’s roaring “FUCK YOOOOOOU!!!!’ then they ran straight into each other in full force. Really quite a sight to behold.
I recommend moshing to anyone who needs to get their aggressions out. Never have I seen people more happy than they were in that pit.
With a farewell to everyone, Crossfaith thanked Miyavi for having them and cleared the stage. They warmed up the crowd well and now the crowd switched to let the Miyavi fans get closer to the stage. Early 2000s emo music was playing as the stage was set up and the audience got to catch their breath.




Miyavi’s set started like the first one, with the video showcasing all his videos from 2002 until now through the Miyavi VR app. Bobo, DJ Johnny and Miyavi then got on stage and went straight into What’s My Name?
This was already a departure from the first NEOTOKYO15 concert. This felt much stronger, tighter. Miyavi seemed more relaxed.
While the concert overall was still very instrumental, Miyavi was definitely more vocal this time. It could be because he’s gotten more comfortable with the tour as the days went on, or that he felt more relaxed because his family was in the hall; probably a combination of both.
Courtesy of Miyavi VR application

There was no new song this time around and no touching MC about his family. This was both good and bad. The new song he performed on the first day was beautiful and his MC about his daughter was very moving, but it definitely didn’t fit the crazy atmosphere of this concert. This concert was all about dancing and rocking out to Miyavi’s killer guitar.
There were more uses of the big screen on stage too. During Live to Die Another Day, some clips from the movie Mugen no jūnin, for which the song was the soundtrack for, were shown.
During other songs there was a camera as well so Miyavi was projected behind himself to create a cool double effect.
Courtesy of Miyavi VR application

 For the final encore, Miyavi brought back Kenta and Teru from Crossfaith so sing What’s My Name -Day 2 Mix- with him. This is a staple in all the concerts for the tour and it was great the first time with The Oral Cigarettes and it was even better this time around. Kenta had no problem growling the lyrics to the song and Miyavi decided to mosh against him even while playing the guitar. It was quite a sight to behold.

Courtesy of Miyavi VR application
Courtesy of Miyavi VR application














In the end…

No one screams like The Myv.
No one rocks like The Myv.
No one plays the guitar quite as hard as the Myv.
For there’s no man in town half as lovely
Perfection of pure Rock n’ Roll!
You can ask anyone in this city
And they’ll tell you who’s the best rocker no doubt.



Crossfaith Setlist:

01 System X
02 Xeno
03 Devil’s Party
04 Kill ‘Em All
05 Eclipse
06 Jägerbomb
07 Wildfire
08 Countdown to Hell

Miyavi Setlist:

01 What’s My Name?
02 So on it
03 In Croud
04 Firebird
05 Epic Swing
06 Dim it
07 Live to Die Another Day
08 HA!!!!
09 Survive
10 FUTURISTIC LOVE
11 Let Go
12 Cry Like This
13 The Others
14 Day One
15 Horizon

EN1 Strong
EN2 素晴らしいかな、この世界 -WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD-
EN3 What’s My Name - Day 2 Mix- feat. Kenta & Teru from Crossfaith
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