Plastic Tree C.C.C.C Lemon Lemon [L-ch27] at CC Lemon Hall

The stage was typical Plastic Tree: dramatic and eerie in its own fantasy world. This time, the array of glowing green rods, each of different lengths, was a bit simpler than previous outings this year, but the effect still left an impression. They were remarkably like over-sized television tubes, an idea that fit neatly with the C.C.C.C Lemon Lemon [L-ch27] title. It transpired that these rods would not simply be staging but rather integral to creating some mesmeric, avant garde imagery.

As the band was introduced, these rods began to pulse white, flickering to life as the four members walked out to applause. The music began on a strong note, with Akira's guitar leading into a solid dose of mid-tempo indie rock. There was little movement as the band became silhouettes in front of a piercing yellow light that emanated from beyond the drum kit. They gave a gentle opener before storming into the manic Naizou Mike, and Ryutaro began prancing about the stage with his guitar. As the music shifted back to being single guitar-led, Ryutaro wandered about his stage, encouraging the audience to dance and leading them in an early singalong of Paranoia.

"We're home!" he greeted the audience in his first MC, to warm calls of "Welcome back!" from the largely female crowd. He was referring to the band's recent trip to Taiwan, on which they had all gotten colds. "Do you have a cold?" he asked the audience. A few girls responded and in a cute nod to the sponsor of the venue, he told them to take vitamin C.

Despite the activity of Naizou Mike, the opening of the concert felt rather subdued, as the hypnotic marching tones of Pied Piper became the dulcet and sorrowful Fuyu no umi ha yuuei kinshi de and Yuki Hotaru. Dummy Box injected a little bit of life with its jolting variation between whimsical verse and powerful chorus, but by and large it was a rather peaceful affair. Yuki Hotaru was, as ever, stunning and drew a collective gasp from the audience as the opening piano notes rang softly in the air. With blue spotlights concealing all but Ryutaro, the vocalist sang the verses as if he were alone until the stirring chorus brought the rest of the band in to the song. It was a stunning show.

Ryutaro spoke more about Taiwan and Shanghai in his next MC. A few outgoing fans screamed "Where is our souvenir?" at him. It was loud enough that Ryutaro heard the demand. "How about something like our feelings?" he offered.

Their feelings certainly came through in the next few songs, as well as some neat experimentation with the arrangements that breathed a new life into the familiar. Fukurou's introduction was punctuated by disconcerting, spiky guitar notes behind Ryutaro's otherwise gentle vocals. It gave the fans, who until then had been politely enjoying the music, a jolt of electricity, and a few even head banged through the heavy bridge while Ryutaro jumped about with Tadashi. The following track Ruisen Kairo even saw Akira indulge in a spot of head banging as Tadashi shone, playing with the strong bass line and making it even more infectiously danceable than the original. All the while behind the band, the lights played mischievously on the bars to give a psychedelically mesmerizing effect.

The recent single Sanatorium marked the last of the dulcet numbers. It was lovely to see that it retained its gentle lullaby feel even in the large hall setting. The timing of hate.red.dip.it then, was perfect to wake up any fan who had succumbed to the soothing tones of Sanatorium. To Akira's guitar, the whole crowd chanted "oi oi oi" while Ryutaro called, "Let's go! Shall we go?" The music led to a violent outburst of head banging from the crowd and a passionate call and response with Ryutaro to "hate! red! dip! it!", while Kenken's beat kept their rhythm steady.

Ryutaro went mad throughout this heavier burst, beginning by wandering the stage in a trance-like state to spinning like a top in National Kid. As Akira joined Ryutaro on his podium, the crowd began calling for Melancholic, the sounds of the guitar encouraging their calls. Akira was impressive all night, taking to improvisation where he could, and Melancholic was no exception with him taking his guitar solo in a fun, new direction. The crowd was truly fired up, hurling themselves repeatedly over the seats in front.

It had to come to an end though. The final song was a fitting choice; Saishuu Densha (Last Train) was truly gorgeous. To the simple accompaniment of an acoustic guitar, Ryutaro's soft vocals resonated with tender emotion. As the other band members gently joined the song, snow began to fall on stage. Suddenly - the stage, the performance, everything became a little magical as the stage became a blanket of pure white.

As the band left, the audience began to shout for an encore. Their calls were silenced though, by a screen that was lowered over the stage. To entertain the fans while the band rested, Plastic Tree had made a movie. It was a hilarious pastiche of a cheesy 1970s detective story with Ryutaro as the lead investigator, the other members in amusing matching outfits and a transvestite diva. Hasegawa Tadashi and Sato Kenken were adorable in respective lime green and yellow shirts, braces and glasses, while Nakayama Akira wore a long red wig and a poker face. The boys were chasing a devious killer with a ghost-like white face who had been chasing their transvestite diva. The first scene had Kenken running, quite adorably, after a Yamanote line train waving a yellow handkerchief at it in vain. After a few red herrings and double crosses, Ryutaro saved the day with his thinking. It was another successful day for the Plastic Tree detective agency.

The fans, having laughed continuously for the past ten minutes, gave the band extra loud cheers of appreciation when they returned. Ryutaro bantered a little with Tadashi over who looked cuter in the lemon coloured tour T-shirts for a moment, but they were quick to resume playing with a new song: Gagaji from their new album Dona Dona. It was heavy in character, although Ryutaro still floated across the stage as he sang.

Throughout the encore they paced their time, alternating songs and MCs. Prior to Ghost, the talk again turned to Taiwan and particularly how Akira had apparently spent 10000yen on medicine! These cute anecdotes somehow fired up the audience even more, so when Ghost began, so did an outbreak of wildly moving hair. Ryutaro crouched low on his podium, leaning close to the fans as he sang while over the collective heads of the fans, lemon coloured streamers shot out, turning the hall a lovely shade of yellow.

The band had as much fun with their lemon streamers as the fans, particularly Ryutaro. He decided to make a necktie out of one and put it around Tadashi's neck. This time, it was finally Kenken's turn to speak. "Let's get happy!" he shouted in English, in a reference to a scene in the movie, "Let's get happy with a yellow handkerchief!"

There was plenty of reason for the fans to feel happy too as Plastic Tree offered a classic and oft-unheard oldie, Psychogarden, as the final song. The fans chanted in time, punching the air with all their might while Plastic Tree closed the first half of the C.C.C.C Lemon Lemon lives in style. Akira went off in a chaotic solo, and he refused to stop playing as the song drew to an end, continuing the main riff by himself until Kenken joined in and the two of them went all out.

Ever the Duracell bunny, Ryutaro spun with energy until the end, only matched by the fans for his enthusiastic movements. As they left the stage, his message was short and sweet: "Thank you for today and see you tomorrow." The L half of C.C.C.C Lemon Lemon was complete, it was now time for the R half.


Set list:

01. Fujunbutsu

02. Naizou Mike

03. Paranoia

-MC-



04. Pied Piper

05. Dummy Box

06. Fuyu no umi ha yuuei kinshi de
0
7. Yuki hotaru

08. Planetarium


-MC-

09. Fukurou

10. Ruisen Kairo

11. Kuuhaku no hi

12. Sanatorium



-MC-

13. hate.red.dip.it

14. National Kid

15. Melancholic

16. Saishuu Ressha



Movie: [Doyou PuraTuri Gekijou] (Saturday Plastic Tree Theatre)



Encore:


17. Gagaji
18. Ghost

19. Psychogarden