Hana Shounen Baddies - Koufuu Hallo! Otometic Neo Anniversary

The atmosphere in the small space of Shibuya O-West was already tense with excitement. The fans, many of whom wore bright blue t-shirts, smiled and laughed with their friends at the slideshow that entertained them before the live. One could sense it was going to be a good night.

As the lights went down the members appeared on the video screen giving a comical rundown of the various prohibitions for the evening. The warning against leaving bags lying about was illustrated by Minemura, covered up to his neck in the other members' bags. Amidst the laughter it was hard to hear the low tones of Baku singing. One by one though, the fans pulled out pink glow sticks and to a lively circus themed SE the members came on arms linked and dancing in a line.

There was little about the live that wasn't playful and fun in some way. After a sweet accoustic introduction of guitarist Takuma and Baku, the vocalist announced the live: "With Hana Shounen Baddies, go to heaven!" The band were as active as the fans, rushing to the front of the stage and whipping the crowd into a frenzy. They clapped happily along as Minemura soloed in Rockin' Princess and cheered Baku's bright, lively vocals. The setlist gave a neat show of various Baddies styles including some slightly darker numbers like the jazzy Blind Good Girl which was heavy on Tsubuku's bass.

"Wow there are many people here! Thank you for Baddies' first year!" Baku said when they took their first break. As much as they were thanking the fans it felt celebratory too. Through Hiroshi's double pedalled thudded intro came Slim Smart Slender. Baku led the furitsuke while Takuma jumped about with his guitar. Not to shy away in the back, Tsubuku was very active, dancing energetically. Without a break, the music led into an interesting sound of some machine winding and powering up. To Hiroshi's beat the fans clapped along. Even Takuma, with his acoustic guitar, managed to keep the pace with short sharp notes. The song was feeling a little more subdued until a team of kids wearing pink "B-Nation" hoodies (a pun on the annual Avex festival, a-Nation) ran out to dance with Baku.

The kids were a slightly bizarre sight but not as bizarre as the Flag Play which followed. The kids, band and several members of the audience grabbed blue Baddies flags and in a quirky break from the music, danced a cute semaphore inspired routine. It was very cute and led to even louder member calls in the next break, including one from a guest bandman who screamed at Minemura.

The flags were still waving throughout BooCar Go Go, rather suiting its anthemic chanting. The girls had to put the flags down eventually though, as the live took a turn for the heavier. In the flashing lights one could see the hair flying about as everything went a bit more violent for a moment. It was a good time after to slow the set down with a series of ballads. The first gave a calming atmosphere in cool yellow lighting and Baku's delightful vocals earned a well deserved applause. After the clapping had died down, Baddies continued the ballads with a sixties style number. The audience listened patiently to the nostalgic sound even though Tsubuku was singing along and making cute faces at them. It wrapped up neatly with Otomezakura and a hundred pink glowsticks were produced. Even the bandman who had formerly shouted at Minemura stood up and joined in, waving a glowing pink stick. From the gentle xylophone opening notes, the song has a sweet lullaby feel with a simple melody of vocal and piano.

To ease the transition between styles of music, Baku took a couple of moments to talk before the live burst back into life with a touch of 80s metal in the introduction. The rest of Baddies joined in the lyrics with Baku, speaking the English words like "Hello!" and "Good Morning!" as they marched about the stage. They had created a real party atmosphere with the music as the audience danced and clapped along to the 50s jive of Untouchable and the infectious fun of Sunflower Tank. Every song was fantastically active and it looked rather tiring. The fans, buoyant on their enjoyent of the live, moshed relentlessly while the guitarists ran all over the stage. There was much clapping and cheering to greet the announcement of The Bluffer and even the finale Blue Bad Boy. "Thank you, this has been exciting fun!" said Baku. "I didn't think I could see this kind of scene so thank you. Everyone for this last one, without thinking, jump!" Thick jets of smoke brought an extra special touch and as it cleared, one could see the audience indeed jumping with all their might. It was a colourful last song, as sakura petals floated out onto the stage and covered it with pink to match the name of the song. As if the spectacle so far wasn't enough, Baku encouraged a singalong of the refrain "I want to meet you" over and over until the final burst of clouds and music left the audience cheering for more until after the band had left the stage.

Baddies' returned to the stage with a surprise. With arms linked, the members bar Hiroshi came dancing back all in cute white sailor uniforms with flared legs. The screams of delight were ear piercing although not as loud as those that greeted Hiroshi's return. Like the others he had changed but for him, he wore a sparkly silver dress over trousers with a pink feather in his hair. The appearance was something like a flapper gone wrong. His small and slightly awkward gait did nothing to remove this either. With a shaky confidence he assumed the mic as Baku had stolen his drumkit and the first encore song was played with him on vocals. It was a playful show of the fun world that Baddies seem to inhabit.

While Hiroshi's turn as vocalist was cute, it was shortlived as Baku resumed singing duties for a new song, Balloon. It had a perfect sound for summer, breezy and light with vocals sung at a quick pace. It rounded off the first encore well with some adorable dancing that had the whole audience saluting with them.

The second encore began with the band, still dressed as sailors, "swimming" to their instruments. They saved the chatter until after the song, and instead just allowed Hiroshi to introduce the next song, a hard number that worked up a bit of a mosh in the audience. Before the finale, the band took some time out to have a bit of a chat and relay their various feelings about the tour. It had been one year since Baddies came into being and the members spoke about the warmth they had felt from the fans that past year. Takuma's words were particularly sweet. "The biggest thing I realised this year was the warmth and kindness of people," he said. "It's easy to say thank you for supporting us but it is really true!"

These warm emotions gave the crowd extra power to give it their all for the last song, Blossom. They jumped along animatedly to the beat of the pounding drums and headbanged violently, and watching the band's smiling faces through this made a lovely scene. As the song began to slow and the music gradually stopped, Baku led the audience in a call and response style singalong. Takuma jumped on Baku's podium as they sang and stole the mic, singing along. "Wow, what a sight to see!" he shouted. Minemura then grabbed the mic but the crowd, who paused in their singalong, shouted to give the mic to Takuma again. Baku let the guitarist sing, with the music taking on a slight reggae flavour as he sang the refrain a few times with the crowd before Baku once more took over to lead the song to its close.

Baddies spent a while with their fans before leaving the stage. It was clear from all faces that this had been a special concert. Although the members are no juniors to the scene, the success of Baddies' first year was celebrated with all the exuberance of those still excited by every new discovery. Judging by the reaction of the bandman in the guest area, the magic of Baddies reached far beyond their fans.

Setlist:

1. Hikari no gunman
2. Rockin' Princess
3. Blind Good Girl–watashi no kareshi ha toumei ningen-
4. Slim Smart Slender
5. NBL

-Flag Play-

6. BooCar Go Go
7. Sakotsu ni nemure
8. Rakuyou
9. Tuesday –Kaubutsu ha koufuku ni michita-
10. Otomezakura
11. Hito no iki he
12. Untouchable - idai naru kanjou
13. Sunflower tank
14. Book
15. The Bluffer
16. Blue Bad Boy

En.1
17. Bombi man
18. Balloon

En.2
19. Shounen [B] Out
20. Blossom