Survive Said The Prophet concluded their "space[s]" tour with a very special sold-out show at Mynavi BLITZ Akasaka on February 3rd.
Celebrating the release of their album space[s], the rock band Survive Said The Prophet had embarked on a long tour starting in 2018, which concluded with a sold-out one-man show at Mynavi BLITZ AKASAKA on February 3rd this year.
As the venue sank in darkness and hologram-like images of the members were shown on the back screen, the opening SE space[s] started the show. A sudden burst of light revealed Yosh behind the piano and the crowd cheered. Without needing a warm up, the venue exploded with the energetic TRANSlated, the crowd clapping and jumping to the melodic number. As a bunch of crowd-surfers got closer to the stage, they were greeted with fist pumps from the smiling vocalist – this encouraged more and more people to join in in the fun.
Fool’s gold followed, with Yosh’s strong singing interchanging with Yudai’s violent screaming, as Tatsuya climbed on his amp and looked over the crowd with a satisfied smile. A song with a more electronic dance feel HI|LO started, and Yosh challenged the fans to a dance-off, leading by example in a peculiar dance. The crowd gestured along to the catchy chorus lead on by the vocalist. The Happy Song brought out more happy vibes, as the fans waved their hands and sang along.
Yudai welcomed everyone to the show, joking around and screaming without a microphone. Yosh complimented him and explained why he was so set on not using a microphone — when the band only had a few fans, Yudai had said that no matter what he would always reach the fans with his bare voice. The live continued with the powerful Subtraction, then took a turn to a more poppy direction with Right and Left, which started with quiet guitar and vocal duo. As the song progressed, the other members joined in, the string parts jumping around the stage and interacting with each other to the catchy melodies of the song. Tierra’s electro-pop chorus stood in interesting contrast to harder songs offered by the band earlier, and Yosh demonstrated his versatility with rap verses.
In the second MC, the band welcomed all to the sold-out show, and announced that they came to cause chaos. The band followed through with their plan, as spirits rose once again with the heavier found & lost, and a circle pit formed in Bandaid, heated up by the fast, powerful drumming and prominent bass lines. The crowd sang along in a powerful choir to the slower paced, but intense melodies of Let it die, a song where Show’s skillful drumming truly shone. Cheers announced the beginning of the much-beloved NE:ONE, where electronic melodies intertwined with heavier guitar riffs to create an upbeat and catchy number, which seemed to not leave a single member of the audience standing still.
Another change in pace came as Yosh went back behind the piano for the moving ballad Follow. “We are the light, we are the future! If you believe in us, let’s sing together!” screamed the vocalist, and the fans gladly followed his call in Spectrum. Next came a song from the new album, SPINE, and Ashes, Ashes, to which Yosh ran onto the stage waving a big Survive Said The Prophet flag. Fast drumming announced the energetic If You Really Want To, the crowd once again starting a circle pit. As the song progressed, it made an unexpected turn as Ivan grabbed an acoustic guitar. “Let’s groove out a bit!” announced Yosh, and the song ended in chill, acoustic arrangement.
In another MC, Yosh thanked the fans for their spirit and their positive vibes, and talked about how they would practice in Yoyogi Park (a large public park, sometimes used by musicians) when they were broke, and when he looks back on it, he doesn’t feel that “oh, we were young”, but instead feels that he still likes music in the same way as he did back in the day. He announced one of his favorite songs, 3 a.m., which started with just the vocals and Ivan’s acoustic guitar, and was later joined by the remaining members and the choir of fans. After one of the band’s earliest songs, UPLIFTED, came one of the newest songs, still believe. The crowd waved their hands, holding phones with the flashlights on and lighting up the venue. The vocalist proclaimed, “In 2021, we want to play in Budokan! Show us this scenery at Budokan!” (note: an iconic indoor arena in Tokyo, with a capacity of over 14,000 seats)
Sounds of fireworks announced the beginning of When I, which brought a summery feel into the cold winter of Tokyo with its warm melodies. Following that was Conscious and the closing song of the set, Network System. The fast, heavy, but extremely catchy melodies of the song made the crowd boil, and brought smiles to the members’, fans’ and even staff members' faces as the members fooled around on stage. “I will catch you!” exclaimed Yosh to the crowd-surfers, tens of people swimming over the crowd to the stage, and the guitarists ran up the steps on the stage to climb on their amps and jump off them.
The band left the stage, and an end roll showed credits for not only the band, but the large crew that supported them in creating the incredible show. The members came back out, called by the enthusiastic screams for encore, and announced a new song: Heroine. Although this was the first time for the band to perform this bright-toned song, the response of the crowd was warm and the song was clearly to become one of the favorites at future shows. To the BGM of Show’s drums, Yosh announced that the next song would also be a new song, and what’s more, that it might be a difficult one to follow, so he wanted to teach them to do a call-and-response for it. Bridges turned out to be one of the rare songs in Japanese (with many of the songs sung in English), and the fans sang along to the positive melodies of the chorus as if they’d known it forever.
Once the song was over, the band announced a big surprise — the two new songs were to be sold that day at the venue only, made specifically as a thank you to all the fans that got their tickets early and looked forward to this show. Yosh further announced that the band would embark on a 47 prefecture tour of Japan, and that although the band wanted to perform outside of the country too, they still have things to learn and need to have their sense of home in Japan before going out on world tours.
Concluding the evening was the touching Listening, starting with a soft acoustic guitar and developing into a powerful ballad, which united the band and the crowd in a single choir. Once the show ended, one could only appreciate the positive vibes that this versatile band spread to all that had the pleasure to be at BLITZ on that day, not only with their powerful music that is full of variety, but also the playful, free spirit of each member and the band as a whole. They delivered a show worth seeing that would not disappoint, and are definitely worth checking out.
Set list
space[s]
01. TRANSlated
02. Fool’s gold
03. HI|LO
04. The Happy Song
-MC-
05. Subtraction
06. Right and Left
07. Tierra
-MC-
08. found & lost
09. Bandaid
10. Let it die
paces[s]
11. NE:ONE
12. Follow
13. Spectrum
14. SPINE
15. Ashes, Ashes
16. If You Really Want To
-MC-
17. 3 a.m.
18. UPLIFTED
19. still believe
20. Conscious
21. Network System
[]
Encore
EN1. Heroine
EN2. Bridges
EN3. Listening
