exist†trace at Shibuya BOXX

After returning home from their successful performance at Sakura-Con in Seattle, U.S., the all-girl visual kei band exist†trace held the concert Memorial one man show -THE TRUTH- on their home turf in Tokyo. Shibuya BOXX is a small venue, but it was packed to the brim with people, and with a crowd much more mixed in gender and age than you usually see at visual kei events.

When the lights finally went out the black curtain in front of the stage was still in place, but on hearing singer Jyou's voice, "Shall we dance?", the crowd roared in response. The curtain was pushed aside and while the audience danced to the catchy Honnou, all eyes were drawn to the almost fluorescent red colour of the singer's hair as well as guitarist Omi's new mohawk hairdo. Without giving the crowd a chance to breathe the band continued directly into the heavier, but equally catchy TRUE, another track from the new mini-album with the same name released just three days before. Many in the audience were obviously already familiar with the songs and enjoyed the performance to the fullest.

A short pause followed, during which Jyou greeted the audience and apologized for the rain, which according to her, could be blamed on bassist Naoto. The ominous-looking Naoto, true to her habit, only replied with a a deadly glare. The old classic JUDEA followed, where Jyou aggressively growls her way through the first part, and it was hard not to get fascinated by a beautiful woman like Jyou being able to produce such guttural sounds. For the next song, Blaze, her voice was back to the usual clear singing, but the heavy, fast beat and somewhat ethereal melody left a strong impression.

Another new song was introduced, one that they had played in a slightly different version the last time they performed in Shibuya BOXX last January but now wished to present in its finished form. Tokoyami no yoake turned out to be a slow but powerful ballad that really showed off Jyou's strong voice, and it received a loud applause from the audience. The slow Cradle stood out starkly from the rest of the set with its toned-down instrumentals, drummer Mally even using wrapped mallets, and the extremely clear melody made the number sound more like something from a musical than a rock song. However, the rock feeling returned immediately with the next song Jiyuu no sora, chijou no uta, another song from the new mini-album.

After this the band members were introduced, all of them getting to play a short solo while the audience chanted their names. They then launched into the danceable ROUGE, where Miko again sang a background chorus part, while the audience jumped to the refrain. Another old favourite followed, the aggressive metal number liquid, which had the band members headbang, Naoto so intensively that her incredibly long braids flew in the air.

RESONANCE started with an impressive scream from Jyou, and the mix of low, attitude-filled singing and really high notes created an interesting combination. Omi got to shine with a guitar solo at center stage during this song, and the audience happily headbanged to the heavy beat. After the somewhat melodramatic song Maid of Orleans, the band left the stage. In response to the calls for an encore, Mally, Naoto, Omi and Miko came back out on stage and without the singer they started playing the new song KISS IN THE DARK. A few bars into the song Jyou came out on stage as well, and everybody in the audience drew their breath at seeing her in a glittery party dress, leaving her shoulders bare and thus showing off her small tattoos. The sensual, almost jazzy song turned out to be a fun number, and Jyou's spectacular show earned her a kiss from Miko.

The band left the stage again only to return after a short while, waving two large flags, one American and one Japanese. Jyou, now in a more usual jeans and leather jacket style, told about their performance in Seattle and explained that the text written on the American flag were messages from the the American fans to the people of Japan in light of the earthquake. She went on to explain that exist†trace are going to perform in Sendai in August, and therefore she would like the fans in Tokyo to write their messages to the people in Sendai on the Japanese flag. A few jokes about their experiences in America followed, and the band expressed their surprise over the Americans' passion for anime. "It was the first time I've seen people dressed up as Naruto characters at our live," Jyou shared. Miko proved her creative skills by showing off her tour t-shirt, which she had cut up in the back in an intricate pattern, and many admiring "ooh"s and "aah"s could be heard from the audience.

The song KNIFE then followed, where Jyou sang with a high and clear voice, while the heavy beat still gave a powerful overall impression. During forward the audience waved their exist†trace towels in the air to the fast and fun beat, and at last the old song VANGUARD became a powerful final. After this, the band members as well as the members of the audience all joined hands and jumped once in unison, thus ending the concert in the typical visual kei way.

The lasting impression of the concert is that although exist†trace will always be a unique band in the scene due to the simple fact that they are all female, they also impress by their wide span of music styles. From their old, aggressive and dark metal numbers, they have experimented with melodramatic ballads showing off Jyou's voice and now lately they seem to have ventured into the land of heavy but catchy dance tunes. This makes for an interesting and varied show with no boring parts, and leaves you wondering what surprise they will come up with next.



Setlist:

01. Honnou
02. TRUE
03. JUDEA
04. Blaze
05. Hana no sakanai machi
06. Tokoyami no yoake
07. unforgive you
08. Cradle
09. Jiyuu no sora, chijou no uta
10. ROUGE
11. liquid
12. DECIDE
13. RESONANCE
14. Maid of Orleans

Encore 1:
15. KISS IN THE DARK

Encore 2:
16. KNIFE
17. forward
18. VANGUARD