Merry - TOUR09 under-world [BURST] at Shinjuku Loft

Part of their TOUR 09 under-world in Japan, Merry's concert took place in Shinjuku, a quarter frequented by young people, where the venue was easily detectable thanks to the line of young women in front of the live house. The contrast between the Japanese and French fans was still a surprise - Merry's audience in France is quite mixed, while in Japan their fans are young and nearly entirely female.

An announcement was made over the mic which sent everyone into laughter. The message finished with the announcement that this concert would be on the next DVD, so cameras were placed all over the live house.

Soon after the fans situated themselves inside, the concert began. Tension was high and the intro to their new album, as always, was very effective. Nero was the first to take the stage, and he began playing solo on his drums right away. He was then followed by kenichi, Tetsu, Yuu and finally Gara. They jumped right into the song Friction XXX. Gara was energetic, the group explosive, and the fans started headbanging immediately.

The mood continued to escalate as the group launched directly into Charlie, which was followed by sweet powder, a song that proved especially entertaining and dynamic when performed live. Gara was even more excited than the crowd, and he was free with his fan service and pretended to give himself a shot in the arm. Enzetsu ~Surrealism~ opened in an unusual way, with a long intro and the arrival of Gara wearing a white rabbit mask. After the long intro, he picked up a megaphone while holding the mic in the little rabbit mouth. The view was certainly surreal, seeing a sickly rabbit singing a strange song on stage.

The audience then got charged up for human farm, a very entertaining song principally due to the guitars. It was at times hyper-rhythmic, at others super melodic. The song compelled everyone to dance, and the sound was classic Merry! Without a doubt, the performance of human farm was exceptional in concert. The highly charged mood of the show continued with Midnight Shangri-la.

Next came another song off the new album under-world called Kanaria. The mood was then carried by some older Merry songs, first with Japanese Modernist. Gara went completely wild, thrashing with his mic, which lent a great intensity to the piece - as if it needed any more! He continued dancing like a mad man, and the crowd was right there with him, going crazy, singing and screaming. Some fans were even crowd surfing. The mood was maintained with the following Aikoku masurao ~BURST~, after which the band left the stage, letting the crowd fight over the bottles they'd thrown into the audience.

Very quickly, calls for an encore rose up, and the group returned, kenichi wearing some of the band's clothes, Yuu and Tetsu wearing tour T-shirts. Gekisei then began, a surprising choice as it is a fifteen-minute long track, but the crowd was elated with the selection. The song felt very complete, with its calm passages and breaks from singing. Like many long pieces, it gave the impression of being a fusion of multiple songs; here, it was a melange of Merry sounds and a real pleasure to hear. Gekisei may indeed be the song that most sums up the actual state of the band. At the end of the song, only Yuu remained on stage, and then he left as well.

Returning after another brief break, Gara came out wearing a black school uniform. They started with two songs from the older album Modern Garde: Haraiso, followed by T.O.P.. Both were entertaining, with considerable screaming during T.O.P., which really got the crowd moving.

Next came the song the fans really went wild over, Oriental BL Circus, which opened with a little Nero-ism, followed by a nice guitar transition. This was followed by the catchy PLTC, a known fan service song, and the fans went crazy while watching Gara pour water down his pants.

After one more break, the band finished with identity and under-world, and the audience went crazy for the last time. The concert concluded with Nero standing on the center riser with Gara, playing a little on the guitar and then throwing out drumsticks and a little piece of his drum that was signed by the band. Considering the excitement seen at this show, no doubt many fans were already looking forward to another show from this tour.


Set list:

01. GI.GO
02. Friction xxxx
03. Charlie
04. Sweet Powder
05. montage
06. Enzetsu ~Surrealism~
07. [human farm]
08. stupidxcupid
09. Midnight Shangrila
10. Kanaria
11. Japanese Modernist
12. Aikoku masurao ~BURST~

En-1

01. Gekisei

En-2

01. Haraiso
02. T.O.P
03. Oriental BL Circus
04. PLTC

En-3

01. identity
02. under-world