lynch. at LIQUIDROOM Ebisu

The first oneman of lynch.'s 2008 Japan-wide tour THE DIFFUSING IDEAL took place in LIQUIDROOM Ebisu on the 24th of October and the tickets to it were sold out well in advance. Accordingly, LIQUIDROOM was full to the back of the hall with enthusiastic, quite hardcore looking fans, a large proportion of them being male.

With a little delay, the lights in the hall went off and it was immediately filled with noise from the excited audience, who began clapping to the opening music. Drummer Asanao, guitarists Reo and Yusuke, as well as the support bassist Junji entered the stage to wild screams and growls from the fans. They greeted the audience, which exploded when finally the frontman Hazuki joined the other members on stage.

The live kicked off with Adore, and as Hazuki screamed, the audience started to bang their fists energetically. As the crowd headbanged, the vocalist jumped around the stage, and as the audience started screaming rhythmically along to the song, the band urged them to make even more noise. The following song was the catchy I'm sick b'cuz luv u., in which the guitarists sang along, showing that Yusuke had a very clear, pleasant voice. The fans screamed rhythmically and enthusiastically to the next song, 59..

In the first MC, Hazuki greeted and welcomed the crowd to the show, and asked for the audience's power, as he needed it for the next, new song. The song was generally quite heavy, it started with a loud intro and screams, but continued with a more soft, melodic chorus. Although the song had not been played before, the band seemed perfectly confident as if they had been playing it their whole lives. Next was one of lynch.'s quieter songs, melt, in which Hazuki's voice sounded incredibly sensual. It was notable that the support bassist Junji, who moved around more during the song, looked very authentic and natural in the band. Lizard followed, to which all the band members headbanged, except of course for Asanao, who stayed perfectly calm and concentrated throughout the entire performance. Hazuki's performance was especially erotic in this song, as he licked the microphone and touched himself seductively.

After a pause, the newest song Ambivalent Ideal, which only just came out as a single, was played, varying between heavy and melodic bits. A complete change in mood came for the next song, the soft forgiven, for which the audience went quiet and motionless. Following was prominence, during which the audience froze as if afraid to shatter the strong atmosphere created by the beautiful song. Only Hazuki danced slowly, and Reo looked very gracious during his impressive solo. After the song slowly faded away into silence, another mood turn came; Following was the still slow-paced and melodic, but heavier quarter life, and more movement both on stage and in the hall could be seen. As the crowd cheered, Hazuki announced another new song. During this heavier song there was an attention shift to Yusuke, since he moved around more and sang most of the melodic parts of the chorus, leaving only the screaming to Hazuki, which sounded very fresh and interesting. Next came the universe and the band came forward, clapping, immediately joined by the audience, who then started to jump.

In the MC Hazuki encouraged the audience to continue going crazy, and the powerful and fast-paced STARZ followed, in which all the members moved around the stage energetically. Even more movement came in alien tune, as all the members headbanged madly and jumped around the stage, Reo throwing some of his most fearsome glances toward the audience. Following was the upbeat a grateful shit, to the catchy refrain which, sung both by the vocalist and by the two guitarists, the whole audience sang along to. Finishing the set was another old song, unknown lost a beauty, which made the audience go wild once again, clapping, jumping, waving their fists around, headbanging and screaming. Both the band and the crowd seemed to give all their energy in this song and enjoy themselves to their limits, putting the best possible ending to such a powerful live.

As the song finished, the members greeted the audience and one by one left the stage, the last one being Asanao, bowing to the audience. Immediately screams for an encore could be heard, which didn't stop until the members of the band reentered the stage silently quite a while later.

The first encore started with an illusion, which got the whole audience clapping. For the first time during the live the somewhat gloomy drummer Asanao could be seen more relaxed and even nodding his head along to the beat at times, and as the four front band members clapped their hands, Hazuki’s wide smile lit up the hall. The positive, bright atmosphere continued all the way through the upbeat above the skin and into the quiet from the end. The audience froze once as the beautiful song and Hazuki's touching voice were able to send shivers down the spine. As the song ended, the lights suddenly went off, hiding the band as they left the stage in silence, leaving a strong impression behind.

The audience started clapping and screaming for another encore, and after a while the members appeared wearing band T-shirts. Hazuki thanked the audience for the encore and started talking, getting "angry" every time his speech was interrupted by laughter from the audience. He pointed out that the hall was full of cameras, meaning that maybe some time this live might be released on DVD. Without much warning, the band broke out into the loud and powerful DOZE, to which the members moved around the stage energetically, gradually increasing the pace, reaching the climax at the end. They continued with the just as powerful and heavy dazzle, during which both the band and the crowd continued going crazy, resulting in Hazuki stage diving. When he eventually got out, the band continued with the aggressive pulse_, and the singing crowd managed to cover the loud music of the band with their enthusiastic screams. The band gave their best and the audience seemed to enjoy this song especially, ending the show on a happy note.
Hazuki fell onto the stage exhausted while the other members greeted and thanked the crowd, leaving the stage. Asanao was the second to last one to go offstage, throwing his towel into the audience, and Hazuki finally got up and thanked everyone that came, promising to come back with a oneman in a bigger hall. Then having thrown his towel into the audience as well, he left the stage.

lynch have once again proven that they are one of the greatest bands out there. These experienced musicians with their perfect skills and their powerful, captivating stage performance moved a crowd of a large hall until the very back row, leaving no one's heart untouched, and it was obvious that this is by far not the limit to what this amazing band can do.

SETLIST:

Adore
I'm sick, b'cuz luv u.
59.
-MC-
New song 1
melt
lizard
-MC-
Ambivalent Ideal
forgiven
prominence
quarter life
New song 2
the universe
-MC-
STARZ
alien tune
a grateful shit
unknown lost a beauty

En1:
an illusion
above the skin
from the end

En2:
DOZE
dazzle
pulse_