Plastic Tree has a way of transcending any venue and transforming the space into their own abstract world of unique sound and vision. The famous Sumo Wrestling hall, Ryougoku kokugikan, was no exception.
Plastic Tree have a way of transcending any venue and transforming the space into their own abstract world of unique sound and vision. The famous Sumo Wrestling hall, Ryougoku kokugikan, was no exception. Despite worries about the sound and lighting achievable at a venue not accustomed to hosting rock concerts – or concerts of any kind for that matter – Plastic Tree’s lighting was top notch as ever, the sound almost, though not quite, impeccable, and the set simply gorgeous. Above half the stage hung a huge net, pinned and draped like a massive cobweb and half seen through this hanging masterpiece, projections hit the black curtain concealing a fourth wall of sumo spectator seating.
Of course, one can’t simply pretend they’re not performing live music in a space usually occupied by over-large, wrestling, half-naked men. Nor were Plastic Tree inclined to do so, constantly reminding the crowd where they were with suggestions such as “Shout DOSUKOI!” (a term used in sumo) In fact, fans on the first floor were seated on carpet-like mats rather than chairs, a unique type of sumo spectator seating, though they spent most of the live on their feet.
The first number, Blue Back, was performed almost entirely in darkness. Utterly relaxing, the lullaby featured vocals almost drowned out by the music yet effectually in perfect balance. As the song escalated to a powerful finish, a rectangle of video projected sound-wave imagery and Ryutaro’s vocals turned harsh. Then came Mirai Iro which time and live performance has evolved into a new piece entirely, heavier than the original.
In every pause and blackout, the place rang with shouts. “Yaya,” drawled Ryutaro. Dutifully the crowd repeated his every whim. “Yaya. Yayaya. We’re Plastic Tree. This is Ryougoku kokugikan. Nice to meet you… We’re Plastic Tree.” The lazy, overly casual MC only delighted the masses. “Well. This 2011, Ammonite Dai at Ryougoku kokugikan has begun…’” A long pause prompted a blackout but the assumption was too early. “Um…” The lights snapped back up. “There’s lots of music in Ammonite… Is today sunny? It is? Well, that’s hard. Then… ‘Hare nochi’ (sometimes sunny) Mizu iro Girlfriend.” The friendly number was topped by a lovely guitar solo almost recalling the timbre of a bagpipe after which another blackout and pause reset the atmosphere for the heavier Yuki tsuki hana. Kaleidoscope images shifted between rapid play and lazy crawl, vivid color and cool green for the gentler and speedier verse melodies in turn.
In his very random way, Ryutaro paused for a few very random words. “Hey. Have you gotten used to this atmosphere? Mr. Sumo is up the top there. I think today will be fun. Please enjoy it.” When the crowd called for Tadashi, the vocalist made a sudden connection. “Oh yeah. ‘Tadashi’ is written up there. EAST. WEST… Tadashi. It’s in kanji. Tadashi is written here so it must be lucky. WEST!!! Will you dance? EAST!!! Will you dance? ARENA!!! Will you dance? Well, Arena should be last, but… Lastly I really wanna do… TADASHI!!! Will you dance? Well then. Ryougoku kokugikan. All of you! Can you dance!? Since you can dance, then…. Zange ha yokushitsu de.”
“Changalang,” chimed the guitar along with a broken, laid back vocal line as red beams flashed in the darkness. Ryutaro picked up a high-powered torch which sent a white ray to the far reaches of the venue, rolling over the crowd as the vocalist played around, spinning lazy, vague circles. Echoes of bass rang in the ears during a short, silent blackout and then a piercing, time-keeping chime began, Akira wringing out calm arpeggios while Ryutaro sang rapidly in a near monotone tune. The heavily altered ballad was actually Moonlight with a new, electronic edge. Floating at the finish was a bright full moon in the top corner of the screen. Then another moody pause preceded another ballad, Aria, sung breathily but heavily. Ryutaro paused for breath where other vocalists would not, making for a unique sound.
“Good evening!” began Tadashi under a spotlight. “I’m from Chiba but when I come to Tokyo I ride the Sobu line and I’ve seen this building time and again from the train but this is the first time I’ve been inside. I’d always been interested in it! But it’s amazing to be able to do a live in such a place. And there in the front there’s Tadashi written right there. This is a new piece of history. Have fun with all your hearts.”
The spotlight migrated to Akira. “Welcome to Ryougoku, my dear bangya.” The guitarist joked with the fans for a while before making an admission. “Usually I think about MCs that will go along with the songs but today I can’t think of a single thing. I have no skill. Well, I’ve brought my guitar and the bass is here. Tadashi’s written up there. We’re all set so we’ll perform. Well then… Taikutsu Machine." A sudden pause split the number, the band blacked out by a strong beam of light until Ryutaro resumed, singing a capella before the song raced off to its finale. Immediately, a series of powerful drum beats introduced Tetris, rhythmically strong and decorated with a guitar solo in the foreground while the vocals continued as background noise leading into the more balanced chorus.
“Ryougoku. Ryougoku? RYOUGOKU!!!! You haven’t rampaged enough, have you? I know. I know everything in your hearts. You can still rampage more, right? Shall we play a heavy song?” Wicked guitar and bass was met with a barrage of huge voices from the crowd in rhythmic cohesion over tripping cymbals. Then the opening riff kicked in with a vengeance. Heads flew everywhere as Ryutaro stalked the stage, guitar-less for a change. He swung in slow circles, shirt-tails flying. Lights flared throughout the venue as the vocalist waved cheerily on the lyrics “Hello, hello, hello.” The jazzed up outro saw him take up the torch again, dancing around with light in his hands.
Duet began with a guitar solo in the darkness, lights flaring as the crowd jumped to the heavy music. The chorus seemed to be in a different key from the music beneath, Ryutaro tackling the “duet” playfully. A long instrumental turned wild, changing and rapidly evolving while green lazer lights went berserk overhead. Then, acoustic arpeggios from Ryutaro opened “Sabishinbo.” The touching ballad was enhanced by glowing snow falling across the net and later, the sunset river plastered across the curtain.
Lastly, eerie, warping tones greeted the onscreen announcement of Thirteenth Friday. The music came in loud, Ryutaro’s voice hardly audible. Whether intentional or accidental, the effect was not altogether undesirable, adding to the creepy mystique of the number. Meanwhile, lava-light-filled picture frames and their empty counterparts took the lead onscreen, often accompanied by falling or flying balls of yellow goo. The abstract imagery was well-suited to the song with its repetitive three notes of the vocal melody sounding more like another instrument than a human voice. The drably moody vocals were enhanced by strong guitar, bass and drums. Under a web of white light, the band was in darkness, but their hands, clasped or raised in appreciation, could be made out before they sauntered offstage.
As the crowd chanted doggedly for an encore, a low hum droned from the speakers, the combination almost entrancing until the band returned and cheers resounded anew. Without a word, Ryutaro bowed and Planetarium began at once. Behind, a live video feed was projected in black and white, adding a haunting, surrealistic quality to the upbeat rock ballad.
Out of the following total blackout crawled Ryutaro’s droll voice. “Encore. Is this an encore? It is an encore, right? Thanks for the encore. Thank you so much! This is the last day of the tour. It’s a journey. A journey is a memory. Right? …Right? THAT’S RIGHT!” On that note, he handed off to each of the members in turn to share their memories of the tour. The crowd called first for KenKen.
“Dosukoi!” began the drummer in sumo talk. “Thanks for calling for me. I’m Sato KenKen. Please at least remember my name before you go home. Memories… I have a lot. Well I’m from Kyuushuu, so a Kyuushuu memory… Mid-live, I stopped paying attention. I wanted to stop the number and say can we start again? I didn’t, so it’s only my own memory. Is it okay if I talk a lot? I really looked forward to this show. At every venue I thought ‘It’s great that we could do this tour!’ but what I really looked forward to was this show. I wondered if something may happen. I’m so small down here I might disappear. But I feel like if this finishes I’ll lose my drive as you do when something you really looked forward to ends. When the main set finished, I felt we’d paid back your ticket fees, but I thought… It’s not over. I still want to make a time where people can cry and laugh. I really have no words. I’m just really happy. Please look forward to the encore that remains. Just remember my name when you go home!”
Prompting the next speaker, Ryutaro referred to the kanji denoting the central seating section. “What’s written up there?” “Tadashi!!!” screamed the crowd. He pointed to them. “Where are you?” “Tadashi!!!!”
“Thank you!” Tadashi cried to those in the central area. “West, East and Arena, too, thank you. I don’t have many memories from Summer. I’m really weak in the heat so I hardly left my home. I was absorbed in a 2D world. 'Gundam' etc… and 'Gundam'… There’s a lot of amazing works in the world. It wasn’t pretty. ‘What the heck am I doing?’ I thought. That was the kind of Summer I spent. But here at the conclusion of Ammonite, I’ve recovered! Recovered as a bandman! There was no scenery. Holding my bass like this, it comes back to life. That thing inside me. I can’t put it into words, but ‘that.’ This tour brought it back to life. Going on a such a long tour was a first for us. This album is very special to me, the title too and the time when it was released. I have a lot of memories connected with it. I’m really glad we could dedicate half a year to it. Thank you!”
Next, of course, came Akira. “They talked a lot. Is it okay to treat that as my time? Okay, okay, just kidding. I think those watching from above can tell, but we’re recording this. However, I’ll make them cut out my whole MC. You don’t wanna see it again. Anyway, I have an interesting story. In Osaka there was something resembling trouble. I calculated the length of each strap to each guitar but when we did Barrier, I felt the length was different but I went on with it. It turned out to be this short.” He gestured the drastic difference. “Usually I play down there but playing up here was really hard! The song had already started so I had to do my best but my movements were probably really lame. Well, it was interesting so it’s okay. Trouble like that can become a memory too and that’s the story from this tour. Of course, I’m cutting out this MC.”
“Shall we bring this short break to an end?” suggested Ryutaro whose attempt to get out of talking was thwarted by a din of cries. “I’m Arimura Ryutaro,” he said at last after requesting they call him various names. “We were able to do a lot more songs than usual on the tour. Songs I hadn’t really noticed before really came alive to me. I’m really grateful. I always look forward to new venues and today, at this place I love, I’m having a great time. RYOUGOKU!!! What’s the heaviest song on the Ammonite album?” “SPOOKY!!!!” the crowd responded immediately. “That’s right. Spooky.”
The number began with an exciting burst of sound accompanied by Ryutaro’s airy tones and a live feed now in color. The vocalist overflowed with energy and enthusiasm, shedding his usual lethargic aura with a vengeance as he jumped and bounced with Akira. With a “Three, two, one!” crowd and band jumped as one and then the members took their leave once more, pausing to hug each other on the way.
However, this was Ammonite (L), so of course there was still more to come. Ryutaro came right in with a yell of “ENCORE!!! I heard it. In your huge voices. ENCORE!!! THANK YOU!!!!!” Akira’s guitar line had begun as soon as he started speaking but came to an abrupt halt with one word from Ryutaro. “No… I still want to talk.” Laughing, Akira bid him to continue by all means. “It’s the final…” he said, and the crowd responded with a flamboyant “Whooo!” “Whooo... What is that? Seems like it's catching on. Hmmm. Ammonite’s going to end. It would be nice if Ammonite came back… An Ammonite that comes back, isn’t that scary? Man….. I don’t want to end. I really don’t want to end. RYOUGOKU!!! RYOUGOKU!!! Can you still… still play with us? Okay, then answer with DOSUKOI! Is this place three floors?” “Ahuh.” “THIRD FLOOR! Wait… It’s two floors! SECOND FLOOR! No, I wanna hear ‘dosukoi.’ SECOND FLOOR! Can you still play with us?” “DOSUKOI!!!” cried the fans. “A-a…ari? (ants?) I know. ARENA!!! Can you still play with us?” “DOSUKOI!!!” “Then… all of you… I want you to put out a voice so that you can’t even talk on the bus or train home. CAN YOU STILL… STILL PLAY WITH US!? Okay then. Ghost.”
Loud, fun guitar and heavy drums kicked it off and the screen now split in half with both a black and white feed and a color feed that occasionally switched back and forth, showing the audience or the band in turn and alternating between half screens and full. Ryutaro made use of the whole stage, crouching at the corners as he watched the whole crowd fling themselves into the music. By the end, he was bent backwards singing, pouring all of his passion into the last of his vocal performance… or so he thought.
“Actually, it was supposed to end cleanly like this,” said Tadashi after a venue-wide jump executed by all with no instruction and a lingering moment of posing and thankfully raised hands. “Pick up your guitar, Akira. You, too, Ryutaro. This is the final afterall.” “Wait, really?” asked Ryutaro.
“Yep. Akira, KenKen and I decided without you and kept it a secret. Hmm, what shall we do? Well, we’re not demons so we’ll do something we’ve rehearsed and played on the tour.” Obviously amused, Tadashi observed the vocalist. “You know, I don’t think his surprise has been comprehended by the audience. Okay. I’ll start,” he said suddenly, chiming a jarring chord.
“Oh, nice,” said Akira, replying with his instrument too. Ryutaro still look confused, but soon understanding dawned in his eyes as the chords repeated. “We’re not joking, so let’s get on with it,” laughed Tadashi. All at once, the opening strains of Melancholic struck up and Ryutaro came in splendidly right on cue. He held up to the surprise without a hitch, voice breaking as he poured the last of his strength into the number. It was a perfect ending to the tour, a song all Plastic Tree fans knew well and loved, the band doubly so. Even as he sang, Ryutaro clasped his hands above his head in gratitude.
As the band was sweeping across the stage, waving, bowing and thanking the fans, Tadashi held out his arms for Ryutaro to jump into, but the vocalist attempted revenge instead though his fly-kick which was more of a belly-flop. Finally, the night came to an end with a last hurrah, apparently practiced in Sendai. “Ammonite has really come along during this tour. Thank you so much. I’m glad we could experience this day. Now please hold hands with your friends or even the strangers next to you.” On the last “se” of “I-sse-no-se!” everyone leaped into the air, flinging their joined hands high.
“AMMONITE! ENDED SAFELY!!!” the vocalist screamed in conclusion. As Plastic Tree exited at last, however, he ran back for a last word into Tadashi’s stage right microphone. “Shhhh. Some time, lets meet under this roof again.”
A final video announcement informed the crowd that there was yet more to come for 2011 with a pair of New Year's Eve lives at Tokyo Dome City Hall on December 28th and 29th. Furthermore, the Ammonite DVD would be released, of course, as Akira had hinted. Lastly, the screen burned white and announced one more treat. In February of 2012, Plastic Tree will release a new single with details to be published on the homepage.
A raging success, the Ammonite tour of roughly half a year came to its conclusion, leaving Plastic Tree and their fans with plenty to be satisfied with. The unique venue added an extra dimension to the show pulled off splendidly by the band’s ever-present ingenuity. Where will their inventive nature take them next?
