Live Report

Awoi in Ebisu LIQUIDROOM

20/02/2014 2014-02-20 00:01:00 JaME Author: Amke

Awoi in Ebisu LIQUIDROOM

Awoi gives a tour final in Ebisu LIQUIDROOM to promote their mini-album Owari no melody.


© Awoi
To promote the mini-album Awoi released in October, the band tours under the name -5th mini album ‘Owari no melody’ release tour-. On January 12, the band gives their tour final in Ebisu LIQUIDROOM, a hall with a capacity of 1000 people. It doesn’t take long before the hall fills up with fans who wait patiently till the show starts.

The intro starts playing, a mixture of church bells and ambulances filling the hall. The band members enter the stage one by one, take in their places and wait till the intro ends so they can start going wild. And they do immediately. The first song Zetsubou no taiyou starts off with headbanging, which will happen many times during the whole concert as Awoi’s sound is perfect for this. However, the band also shows they have a different side. The focus on singing and melodies is apparent, and gives a nice mix during the concert aside from the hard riffs and grunting.

The audience is absorbed in the music. One moment they have their arms up in the air, singing along and the next moment their hair flies in all directions, headbanging like there is no tomorrow, followed by jumping up and down. Drummer Ryo sings along while showing his skills on his drums, and guitarist Shou is simultaneously headbanging with the audience. The interaction is amazing, the use of call-response helping with the cozy, but crazy atmosphere in the hall.

Vocalist Otogi shows off his vocal skills in Siva, a song featured on their new mini-album. He produces a variety of noises, along with singing, grunting, half-talking and singing again. The song has different sides, though it mostly remains a rough song that messes up a lot of hairstyles because you just cannot help but bang your head to it. A slight Indian influence is woven into the music, which makes sense with the title being Siva. The a capella melodies Otogi starts flow perfectly with the ending of the song. The use of echo when singing gives a mysterious and calming atmosphere, adding to the variety of the song.

It doesn’t take long before that atmosphere is replaced again with the fans' hands in the air and lots and lots of jumping together and banging heads. The fans can’t seem to get enough of this part during the concert. A big contrast during the whole show is Wasurenagusa, a more slow and quiet song compared to the rest of the setlist. The song focuses on Otogi’s singing and the melodies Sin and Shou produce.

Most of the time guitarists Sin and Shou entertain their sides of the stage during the concert to encourage their fans to headbang along with them and Otogi, who has gotten rid of his shirt by now, knows how to entertain the audience. Bassist Saki stays together with the drummer in the background, both giving a great performance but not much in the spotlights.

The next song Suzumushi continues on the flow of the previous one. Otogi starts to climb to the side of the stage, halfway down the hall, and grabs a loudspeaker to shout into the audience, however, it doesn’t work. The next moment he jumps into the audience and walks through the crowd to end up at the front, where he climbs up to take his place on the stage again. Not long after, he has climbed to the other side of the stage where he just keeps standing. The dynamic on stage changes when Otogi leaves. Saki takes a new place, closer to the fans so he’s in the spotlights more. Guitarist Shou takes the vocalist’s position and lets out a scream towards the crowd. This time Otogi doesn’t jump into the audience but climbs back to take his spot on stage again and the rest of the members take their original places again. The vocalist announces that this is going to be the last song.

It’s no surprise Awoi ends with another song that gives enough reason to go crazy again. The vocalist gives everything he has and Shou walks over to his fellow-guitarist to play some riffs together, at times jumping together or banging their heads to the music. The drummer starts singing along again, energetic and clearly having fun while playing. As soon as the song ends, the members leave the stage. It doesn’t take long before the crowd starts chanting "encore."

The encore sadly doesn’t start how it should. There’s a problem with the bass guitar and while trying to fix the problem, Shou and Otogi entertain the audience, who keep cheery. It doesn’t take long before the band can start the encore off with rainy baby. The MC also doesn’t go as planned. Technical problems strike again, this time a continuous "peep" being heard. The staff tries to fix the problem, and it takes a while this time. Eventually they discover the problem isn’t coming from the bass at all, and after finishing the MC they start Yubikiri. In no time the last song is announced: Kotodama. The vocalist and two guitarists are walking around on the stage energetically while Saki takes in a new spot, next to the drummer to finish the last song there. The last minutes before the ending of the show means lots of headbanging, and everybody does.

The guitars are then held in the air, receiving applause while Otogi says "thank you." The vocalist is also the first to leave and the others take turns at the microphone to talk to the crowd before they too leave the stage, a nice ending to a wild night. This final concert of the tour was a great one. The band gave their all and even though they had a few technical problems, the atmosphere was great. Awoi knows how to give a variable show and please the crowd with their songs.

Set List:

1. zetsubou no taiyou
2. melancholia
3. abelcain
4. Russian roulette syndrome
5. Siva
6. kanashii uta
7. heaven
8. ame to kemuri
9. Dies irae
10. wasurenagusa
-SE-
11. blind
12. calling
13. butterfly
14. suzumushi
15. requiem

Encore
16. rainy baby
17. koufukuron
18. yubikiri
19. screaming idol
20. kotodama
ADVERTISEMENT

Related Artists

Related Releases

Concert DVD 2014-03-12 2014-03-12
Awoi
Concert DVD 2014-03-12 2014-03-12
Awoi
ADVERTISEMENT