the studs at Thundersnake Atsugi

The rather small hall in Atsugi was packed with diverse fans of the studs, many girls dressed in dark punkish clothes, others looking more elegant and glamorous, and some male guests looking pretty tough, awaiting the show with excitement.

As lights in the hall dimmed, the live began with the start up song that plays before the band's appearance, and the fans clapped and screamed, as the members came out looking cool, although much less styled up than in recent photos. As the new song spidernest kicked off, the fans rushed to the front, moving pretty violently for a Japanese live. The song was on the heavier side, quite energetic and with a very typical the studs flair to it. dread continued the high speed feeling of the show with the band moving around the stage and the fans jumping and singing along. Daisuke came forwards to the very edge of the stage, as he continued doing throughout the live, being as close to the audience as he possibly could. For the crazy song, disclosure, aie and yukino followed the vocalist’s example, firing up the fist-shaking audience to move even more.

After a short break the pace came down slightly for unslightly stupid, but occasionally, shaking fists and could be seen, as Daisuke voice pierced the air, moving the audience with its power. For the next song as it is the atmosphere became even calmer and seemed more positive. As aie sang along in a soft voice, sometimes sounding slightly out of tune, Daisuke ended the song on his knees. The audience sang along to another steady song, nageku akairo, as requested by the vocalist, who seductively licked his finger, and a bit more motion both on stage and in the audience could be seen as the song progressed. The tension rose even more for creepy crawly, and girls could be seen doing the furitsuke (choreographic dances/hand movements) in unison, while yukino shot piercing glances through the audience and Daisuke once again came dangerously close to the edge of the stage.

In the next break, as the audience screamed for the members, the vocalist and the talkative guitarist took some time to greet the audience and joke around, making the fans laugh and scream even more. With hyouryuu no hana the audience became quieter, still occasionally doing the furitsuke, and reinforcing the chorus as yukino and aie sang along with pleasant and clean voices, contrasting with a little roughness in Daisuke’s voice. Next was one of the band’s new creations, tobari, followed by shakunetsu wa reido, for which the audience, blinded by the lights, froze and nothing interrupted the flow of the song. For the soft and touching song, ano oto, Daisuke squatted on the very edge of the stage, singing intimately to the fans, looking into their eyes. The calm mood continued through missing vain, and in the silence it was more noticeable that the main and back vocals were slightly dissonant. At the end of the song, the band members all came together in front of the animated Hibiki, a habit reoccurring throughout all of their shows.

During the pause, the fans screamed and clapped loudly, and as Daisuke took off his jacket and unbuttoned his shirt, the screams became even more enthusiastic. The mood warmed with the upbeat bits of gaze, and banging fists shook the air. For tonight is the night, yukino looked especially elegant, taking cool poses while playing his bass flawlessly, and Daisuke behaved extra dramatically. Following was false the skin, and streams of sweat could be seen dripping from the members faces, although they seemed fresh and full of energy, mouthing the lyrics and making eye contact with the audience. With niji no iro, the audience became more energetic, dancing the furitsuke and banging their fists, as the band gave their best in this positive, lively song.

What followed after another pause was a rapid and surprising change in the atmosphere of the live that did start kind of sluggishly. The band and the audience exploded with a yet unreleased, but very enjoyable live song, keishou. While yukino hit his bass against the wall, Daisuke outstretched his arms into the frantic crowd, who seemed to almost have pulled him off the stage, and taking of his shirt, he flirted with the bassist to the fans' pleasure. As the band started advanced insane, all three of the front members standing at the very edge of the stage, playing with the public, while Hibiki swung his arms around energetically. Next was toketsu, an live only release that was familiar to the regular public, as the band has been playing it quite frequently. The audience moshed and shook their fists violently to the irregular beats of this fast-paced and catchy intense song, and as aie fired on the public, yukino jumped onto the big drum, continuing to play his bass on top of it, facing Hibiki. At the start of thursday, Daisuke jumped into the audience and started singing engulfed by it. Back on stage, he walked towards aie and, after having made eye contact, as if it was the most natural thing to do, gave the guitarist a passionate tongue-kiss, that made the girls in the audience scream. Continuing in a crazy pace, as Daisuke unbuttoned his trousers, teasing the crowd, aie played his guitar, rubbing it against the wall. Having reached the end of the song, the show was over, and the musicians, drained in sweat, left the stage sluggishly.

The audience screamed for an encore, and after a while yukino went onstage, looking slightly puzzled that no one seemed to be following him. The others eventually joined, and aie announced that that day one of the band members was having his birthday. The audience immediately started singing "Happy Birthday" to the radiant Hibiki, but Daisuke did not waste a chance to tease the drummer, cutting the little celebration off in an amusing way. The encore started with the slow-paced rain drop, and the band played the tune looking very content. As it finished, Daisuke and Hibiki switched places to play the next song, as was apparently planned, and spontaneously aie and yukino decided to change as well. In this original line-up - Hibiki on vocals, yukino on guitar, aie on bass and Daisuke on drums - they once again started performing the catchy toketsu, visibly enjoying themselves, especially the roaring vocalist Hibiki, smiling widely. Having messed up half way through, they switched back to their usual positions and ended the song on a positive note, to the audience jumping and cheering. The band men left the stage smiling and saying good-bye to the fans, last was Hibiki, who threw a bunch of CDs into the crowd.

The fans did not want to let the band go after such a hot encore and continued screaming for more. The members came out on stage and Daisuke announced that it just couldn’t be helped, since the fans were so cute that day they just had to play another song, which turned out to be Thursday. The band and the audience once again exploded with energy, uniting in their madness, visibly exhausted but satisfied, and ending the show Daisuke jumped into the crowd once again, aie threw his guitar into the crowd and the all the members greeted the cheering fans before stumbling off stage.

At first the live did not seem to bring anything special, being nice and enjoyable, but pretty average, however as the show progressed it turned into an amazing tornado of emotions, capturing every single member of the audience to the back of the hall. the studs never fail to surprise and show that they are not just a group of highly skilled professionals, but great entertainers that overwhelm any hall with their energy.


Set list:

spidernest
dread
disclosure

unsightly stupid
as it is
nageku akairo
creepy crawly

hyouryuu no hana
tobari
shakunetsu wa reido
ano oto
missing vain

gaze
tonight is the night
false the skin
niji no iro

keishou
advanced insane
toketsu
thursday

EN1:
rain drop
toketsu (special)

EN2:
thursday