Yes this is about a month late, but better late than never.
Sadly no hijacked photos from this show... The venue was small and the walls were plastered with NO PHOTO! posters.
Firstly lets talk about the venue… The legendary Meguro Rockmaykan. Since before i came to Japan, the Meguro Rockmaykan was a name I had heard. Some of the biggest names in the JRock world have played here. I was expecting something like Shibuya O-West or at least Harajuku's Astro Hall. I was rather disappointed. it was tiny. VERY tiny. Club Fleez in Takasaki is bigger. The walls are dirty and the decor hasn’t been changed since the 80s. It was a hole. Hell it even had seats. Not quite what I had expected… Till the band started playing. A tiny venue makes for amazing sound and a very personal live experience with the band. The aspects of the live house that were a disappointment became a blessing when coupled with the stellar sound. The seats were still stupid though because nobody used them :p
In the end however the One man is about the interaction. The 2 hours of rapture where band and fan become intertwined in a web of music. 2 hours in a lifetime where there is no world. Where your life exists purely for that moment.
It was bliss.
Having already had a taste of exist†trace before, I knew that I was in store for a phenomenal show, but the degree of energy and for that matter the sheer power of their one man was staggering. It was particularly impressive considering they are all substantially smaller than one expects. YES I know they are Japanese girls and compared to me most Japanese girls are tiny but still. Maybe it is their image and power, or maybe its my fandom, but their real life size was even more of a shock than when I saw Hizumi from D’espairs Ray for the first time.
I think that somewhere someone once said that size does not count… Its what you do with it… exist†trace are proof of that.
2 hours of rapture ensued. I could go on about individual songs and how Jyou touched some impressive notes, or the tightness with which the music was played and the emotions I felt through the show but this is not JAME or JRock NYC or any other fangirl frenzy feeding VK fapsite… No it is Darc’s blog and if you know Darc you should know how I react at lives and when the band happens to be one of my favourite ever bands the results are somewhat predictable.
It was no @Versailles_P_Q live at the CC Hall I‘ll admit, but it was pretty damn awesome. They played EVERY SINGLE one of my favourite songs and many of those that I liked a lot. They paced their show well…It was split into 3 parts with 2 encores with all the hits spaced throughout. They gave you time to reflect on their awesomeness and digest the music properly so you could really get the most out of the show. There was also some amazing emotion. Jyou even cried at one point. (as did many of the fans). It was a connection unlike any other.
It was amazing… did I mention that before?
One more thing i need to mention was the demographic. There were actually men at the show. Yes. the ratio was at least 60/40 male which was a big shock… there were even some men who had testosterone, though we were fewer in number. There were some pretty boys but the majority of male fans looked decidedly Akiba. Yes. Exist trace Otaku… Who would have thought? So while I did get a ratio closer to what i feel is a decent level, It did still lack the hormone balance Loud Park had, but yeah, They are not metalheads so it is to be expected.
I wonder if it would be mean of me to call them Jackals (counterpoints they Hyena quite nicely don’t you think?)
Yeah I am a bastard to fans here. I am sorry… no actually I am not sorry.
Who cares. I had an amazing time at the Ambivalent symphony one man… If their next one man was not on the same day as Deluhi’s Yggdalive one man, I would be there like a bear!
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