author: Kay

© MUCC - JaME - Jessica

The European leg of the emo punk rock Rockstar Taste of Chaos tour, kicked off on Wednesday October 8th in Tilburg, the Netherlands. Unlike the American tour earlier this year, MUCC was the only Japanese band taking part in it; D’espairsRay and the Underneath had stayed home this time.

The doors opened early at 5pm, but because MUCC wasn't scheduled to play until around nine, the majority of their fans came later, which resulted in quite a lot of people missing the completely unannounced signing session which took place around seven. The session was over quite soon, the four band members politely thanking their fans in English as they signed the concert tickets, posters and other merchandise.

The concert took place in the big hall of the 013 venue, which had space for over two thousand people. Unfortunately, not that many people came and most of the time, there were maybe 600 to 700 people present, leaving lots of space. The majority of the audience was in their mid or late teens with a few exceptions, and during most performances, they just stood around and gave a weak applause to the performing bands. Fortunately, this started to change when MUCC played.

A little before nine o'clock, it was finally time for MUCC to take the stage. A large MUCC banner decorated the stage next to two of Rockstar Taste of Chaos, making the excited fans draw nearer to the stage. By now, more people seemed to have gathered, and the noise they were making when the four band members came out one by one was more effusive than it had been for any of the other bands so far. The opening SE was an instrumental track that kept on growing louder and louder, and so did the screams every time one of the band members appeared. Drummer SATOchi was the first to come out, then bassist YUKKE who stood on the left side of the stage, guitarist Miya on the right side, and finally vocalist Tatsuro who took his spot on the middle of the stage.

After a short thanks from Tatsuro, they started on Ranchuu. Whereas the members of the other bands had looked chaotic in their stage presence, MUCC immediately gave off a very confident and professional vibe. At the heavy part of the song, they came forward on the stage and moved around wildly, and especially Tatsuro, not hindered by his instrument like the others, trashed around with his trademark crazy moves.

All the band members were barefoot and wore casual outfits. Tatsuro was sporting a moustach and a goatee, which made the black-haired vocalist carry a strange but striking resemblance to Johnny Depp in his Captain Jack Sparrow movie role.

Unfortunately, the sound was not so great; all the instruments just distorted into one big noisy mess, and it was pretty much impossible to distinguish the instruments in the big sound-soup. The vocals were slightly hard to hear and during the second track, Fukurou no yurikago, the band members seemed to be troubled by this. Guitarist Miya joined in with the vocals, singing the backing vocals to the verse, but unfortunately their harmonies didn't come out quite right, which most likely had to do with their monitors not being adjusted well enough.

During Shion, the crazy mood changed and became more serious and grave and during the bridge with its slow, threatening atmosphere, Tatsuro's vocals sounded downright creepy. Instead of jumping around like a madman, the vocalist stood mostly still during the verses while YUKKE and Miya focused on their instruments. SATOchi, at the back of the stage, was pounding the drums with vigor, providing a tight, precise rhythm. Unfortunately for the SATOchi fans, the drummer was mostly hidden behind a cloud of smoke, making it nearly impossible to see him.

Then it was time for a little MC, in which Tatsuro spoke in English. It was heavily accented, but he did a great job and the fans cheered enthusiastically. He announced the next song as a 'very easy' one, which turned out to be FUZZ and indeed with the "woh-woh-woh" chorus, the fans yelled along, jumping up and down with the catchy beat. YUKKE was playing an electric double-bass for FUZZ, but unfortunately the difference was hardly audible.

During MUCC's set, the audience was growing little by little, more and more people drawing to the front of the stage. When they played Ageha, their newest single, the majority jumped up and down and head banged together with the band, and more and more fists were pumped into the air with the catchy rhythm.

Then Tatsuro announced the last song: Libra. Judging by the screams from the audience, it was a fan favorite. During the heavy parts, the band members jumped around again. Miya was almost folded double over his guitar while he head banged and YUKKE on the other side of the stage moved around with less frantic moves, yet still energetic. During the chorus, the lights changed with the mood, starting with dark during the verses and gradually turning lighter with the more uplifting sound of the chorus. At the end of the song, Tatsuro bowed with his hands folded, showing his thanks to the audience.

The four band members said their thanks and then left the stage. The fans still called out for an encore, but the lights went on again and background music started to play, signaling that it was really the end of their set.

MUCC kicked off the RTOC tour with a great, energetic show, which even managed to draw in some new fans. The poor sound quality was definitely a downer for the whole show, though the majority of the fans that came especially for MUCC didn't seem to mind this and were simply happy to see their favorite band live, since they'd skipped over the Netherlands on all their previous visits to Europe. We wish the band good luck on the rest of their tour, and hope to see them back on the Dutch soil once again!


Setlist:

SE
01. Ranchuu
02. Fukurou no yurikago
03. Shadan
04. Shion
05. FUZZ
06. Shiva
07. Ageha
08. Libra


JaME would like to thank MUCC, RTOC and the 013.