SIAM SHADE Take on Saitama Super Arena

For the first time, SIAM SHADE took on Saitama Super Arena, a venue they proudly admitted they couldn’t have played before their revival. Over the years, their fan-base has grown exponentially and it’s easy to understand why, with such solidly entertaining music from start to finish at the charity show attended by thousands. Their inexperience with such a vast venue was tangible in a positive sense, vocalist Hideki occasionally seeming overwhelmed with gratitude and excitement. The show itself was well worth every seat, though. What a way to make a revival!

The crowd cheered like mad from the very beginning as SIAM SHADE’s banner rose to wailing electric guitar. A momentary awe-filled hush swept the crowd for the first and last time and then the band entered, rock all over. The opening number, RAIN, re-iterated that sentiment with solid melody, spirited guitar, and the clear, proud vocals that set SIAM SHADE apart, but they soon followed it up with the sweeter feel of TIMES which show-cased the band’s heart, as present as their rock. Then Why not? sported a fascinating opening guitar line, visually enhanced by intricate laser choreography, the gorgeous chorus melody hardened by Hideki’s tone.

“Thank you for coming to this charity live for Tohoku,” greeted Hideki. “It’s been about ten years since we made our major debut and nine years since we broke up but this place is bigger than any we’ve played at!” The vocalist looked like a kid with pyromania who’s been handed a gasoline truck and barbecue lighter and told to go nuts. “Next song is LOVESICK ~ You Don’t Know ~.” Guitarist Kazuma played a more vocal role in the number, singing half the song and sharing with Hideki while bassist NATCHIN grooved away. While not as technically skilled as the lead vocalist, Kazuma sang with passion and the two made a great duo which re-occurred throughout the night. BLACK had a heavier grit full of current musical trends that proves that SIAM SHADE were a band before their time ten years ago. As for ballads, Life possessed a powerful impact through intriguing melody, slowly climbing pitch and a chorus belted at the top of Hideki’s range in raw impassioned tones before a grabbing guitar solo from Daita.

“To all of you, from us, filling this song with love: LOVE.” The second ballad had a hard standard to beat, but gentle drum-work accompanied the vocally poignant melody and the crowd began clapping before the number even ended. Then came some powerful instrumental work before Hideki stepped back in with the catchy pop of Glacial LOVE.

LET IT GO and SHAKE ME DOWN really gave the crowd a good time with lots of clapping and dancing to the wicked guitar lines, shouting and righteous vocalizing. PRAYER kept it cool in a real classic rock sense. It seemed to be over, Hideki standing stunned and watching the crowd with shining eyes until he came to his senses, pretending he couldn’t hear the overwhelming shouts and cheers. Slowly, he raised the mic. “I believe,” he crooned, kicking the song back into high gear before finishing up the set with the aggressive GET A LIFE. With effects laid over the vocal line to increase the grunge, lines like “Don’t you fuck with me” repeated again and again. Daita finally lost his cool while Kazuma simply went off the rails and at last with a few wildly improvised “Yeah”s, the show came to an end.

Okay, not really. An encore chant disintegrated into raw yells in the stands and across the floor, and the band weren’t long in returning, Hideki planting himself behind the drums and starting a fake count-in. In response, drummer Jun-Ji posed coolly as vocalist… a whole head below the height of Hideki’s microphone stand. Yanking it down, he started a call and response while Hideki stomped the pedals of the kick-bass. The real vocalist bowed low as he passed over the drum sticks. “Thank you so much for today! We’re making a DVD of this live so you can re-live it all over again,” Hideki announced excitedly. “Now, we’re going to sing a special song for you all. Please sing along. Dear…”

Thousands of hands waved through the air in tribute to the memorable tune, absorbing the positive message. Hideki had plenty more to say, though. “A lot happens in life, but please keep facing forward. You won’t give up on life, right? I’m counting on you. That’s the meaning of us standing on this stage. Next up is this song: Kumori nochi hare.” Awesome guitar led into another very touching number yet one that held onto the rock at its heart in true SIAM SHADE spirit. Then, a randomly strummed guitar intro led into the tell-tale opening of 1/3 no junjo na kanjou, the legendary number sang cutely but with raw passion in the high reaches of the main melody. All of Saitama Super Arena sang along full-voiced. Then, the beautiful lyrics of DREAMS were belted out throatily in finale.

However, another encore began as Kazumi cartwheeled and back-flipped his way back onstage. “This time when you can enjoy SIAM SHADE’s songs with us is coming to an end. It’s been so much fun!” cried Hideki as emotion began to overwhelm him, manifesting in tears. Fighting them off, he screamed up a storm. “Are you ready? NO CONTROL!” The rhythmical tune and sweet guitar revived the show, carrying on through Imagination and D.Z.I.. Finally, Don’t Tell Lies united the whole arena under bright lights that illuminated every corner and made the final song feel like a party.

“The free live we played in Sendai actually gave us inspiration in return,” said Hideki. “I think we can continue on with the strength that you lend us. Next year it will be ten years since our break-up. We’re really thrilled to be able to play in a place like this. It means rock is the right answer after all! In Sendai, it was ‘Tokyo damashii!’ (fooling Tokyo) but here, let’s do ‘Nippon damashii!’ (Fooling Japan.)” A brief discussion amended the slogan to ‘Yamato damashii’ meaning the same in cooler wording. After a count-in, the whole of Super Arena screamed “YAMATO DAMASHII!” along with SIAM SHADE, and one last cry from Hideki brought the night of dreams and charity to an end. “You guys rock!!”


Set List

1. RAIN
2. TIMES
3. Why not?
4. LOVESICK ~ You Don’t Know ~
5. Destination Truth
6. BLACK
7. Sin
8. Life
9. LOVE
10. SSS
11. Glacial LOVE
12. NEVER END
13. CAN’T FORGET YOU
14. LET IT GO
15. SHAKE ME DOWN
16. PRIDE
17. PRAYER
18. GET A LIFE
Encore 1
19. Dear…
20. Kumori nochi Hare
21. 1/3 no Junjou na Kanjou
22. DREAMS

Encore 2
23. NO CONTROL
24. Imagination
25. D.Z.I.
26. Don’t Tell Lies