LIVE REPORT ~ JRock Revolution: May 25-26 2007

The Wiltern Los Angeles, CA

[featuring]
May 25:
Kagrra,/DuelJewel/Miyavi
Vidoll/alice nine.
May 26:
Merry/girugämesh
DéspairsRay/MUCC

Day One: Friday May 25, 2007

Friday May 25, 2007 marked day one of the much-anticipated JRock Revolution festival. The first music festival of its kind in the USA, JRock Revolution exclusively featured Japanese rock acts. Over the span of two nights at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles, California, nine bands strutted their stuff before a sold-out audience.

Fans began arriving at the Wiltern Theatre as early as Monday, hoping to secure a spot as close to the stage as possible. Despite complaints from the Wiltern staff, fans continued to trickle in, and by Wednesday night, around forty people had lined up and were camped out on the sidewalk along Wilshire Boulevard. Even more people began arriving on Thursday, and by Friday morning, the line wrapped around the block.

Friday night the doors opened right on time at six o’clock and fans flooded into the venue. X Japan’s Last Live was projected onto a screen onstage as the audience waited for the show to begin. The crowd showed their appreciation by cheering and singing along, even chanting “We are X!” along with the DVD.

The audience buzzed with excitement, and let out a deafening cheer as the screen went blank and the curtain lifted. One by one, the members of Kagrra, walked onstage in full costume and began playing. Vocalist Isshi flicked and waved his fan gracefully in time to each song, and halfway through the set he pulled out a sheet of paper and read English off of it; he greeted the audience and introduced the band. Guitarist Shin played a koto through the last few songs of the set, and then Kagrra, left the stage, but not before saying goodbye and promising to return. Kagrra,’s set was excellent, with the live vocals and instruments all rivaling the recordings; it was a great beginning for what would be a very memorable night.

The next band to take the stage Friday night was DuelJewel. They were full of energy, and they worked the crowd even better than Kagrra, had. Fans in the audience pumped their fists and headbanged as music poured from their instruments. Everyone was having fun, and it was all too soon that DuelJewel left the stage, and the crowd restlessly awaited the next set.

After a lengthy set change, it was Miyavi who took his turn on the stage. He strutted onstage to the loudest cheers of the night, and he surprised the audience with a new sound. A DJ, beat-boxer, drummer, tapdancer, and painter all helped Miyavi put a hip-hop spin on his old music.

Halfway through his set, Miyavi had a couple more surprises for the audience. The screen behind him lit up, and a video began playing. Three names flickered on the screen for a few moments apiece, one by one: Yoshiki, Gackt, Sugizo. And then a fourth name was added to the list: Miyavi. The crowd roared in approval. After the video had ended, Sugizo joined Miyavi onstage as a second surprise, and played with Miyavi until the end of the set. After Miyavi’s support members left the stage, Yoshiki joined the two guitarists and spoke to the audience, thanking them for coming and telling them a little more about their band, Skin.

Even after such excitement, the night wasn’t over; after Yoshiki, Sugizo, and Miyavi left the stage, it was Vidoll’s turn to perform. Their set went by quickly, but it was playful and energetic. Rame bounced onto stage throwing candy into the audience and took up his bass with a flourish. Vidoll’s music was the most upbeat set to grace the stage, and they were also the only band to not speak English onstage—though that did nothing to dampen the audience’s enthusiasm. With smiles they had come onto the stage, played an excellent set, and with smiles Vidoll left, leaving the stage to the final act of the night.

alice nine. was the final performance for Friday night. By then the audience was beginning to get tired, but they still gave alice nine. a reception that rivaled Miyavi’s. The band brought the energy level back up as they rounded out the night with a well-executed sound and a strong connection with the crowd. At the end of the set, they wished the fans goodbye and promised to return, and the audience was left to reflect on their night.

All five of Friday’s bands sounded excellent; they kept the crowd on its feet and caught up in the energy and the music. Day one of JRock Revolution did not disappoint, and the audience was already ready for day two, despite their obvious exhaustion—a line had already begun to form as fans filed onto the sidewalk.

Day Two: Saturday May 26, 2007

Saturday saw the line for JRock Revolution stretch three blocks and around the backside of the third block as fresh fans joined weary ones, and all readied themselves for a second, harder night of pure Japanese rock inside the Wiltern. A mirror of Friday, Saturday night the doors to the Wiltern Theater opened promptly at six o’clock, and it didn’t take long for the sold-out venue to fill. Even with only four bands to look forward to on the second night, the crowd was boiling with anticipation.

Merry was the first band to take the stage Saturday night, and they were greeted with enthusiastic cheers. Merry responded with a chillingly amazing performance. Everything sounded perfect, from the instruments to the vocals; vocalist Gara even treated the American audience to the same stage act as the Japanese audiences when he wrote in Japanese on large sheets of paper during the performance. Then, with only a few songs left in their set, Merry turned their backs to the crowd and soaked in a growing chant of “Merry! Merry!” until the chant was deafening. They finished their set, and before they left the stage, their drummer thanked the crowd and promised to return.

girugämesh was the second band to take the stage on Saturday. Even before girugämesh played a single note, the energy between the band and the audience was almost tangible. Once they began playing, there was nothing but the music and that energy; as the band threw themselves into their music, the crowd did, too, headbanging and pumping their fists as hard as they could. It was difficult to ignore the heavy rhythm of the band, especially with the floor pounding with the movements of the audience. When they left the stage, girugämesh left the venue echoing with their energy.

It was after girugämesh’s set that one of X Japan’s songs started playing and Yoshiki returned to the stage. Again he thanked the audience for coming to JRock Revolution, and then he said that he had something else to tell the audience. Yoshiki announced that Skin would make its debut on June 29 at Anime Expo. He also announced that he would be making an appearance at France’s Japan Expo, though few fans seemed to register that bit of news after hearing about Skin. Yoshiki left the stage for the final time at JRock Revolution, the cheers still loud and enthusiastic as the curtain fell to ready the stage for the next set.

The audience had barely caught their breath before DéspairsRay claimed the stage, feeding off of the elevated excitement. Again the venue pulsed with the rhythm of the band, the fans headbanging and pumping their fists this time to the music of DéspairsRay. Seasoned veterans of playing in the USA and other countries outside of Japan, DéspairsRay was able to work the crowd to a fevered pitch. Knowing what songs the fans reacted to the most certainly helped them reach that high, but it was also their body language and vocal communication, making it clear why DéspairsRay has already had such success touring outside of Japan. When DéspairsRay left the stage, there was no doubt that they would return to the USA again.

MUCC rounded out the evening and the festival. Despite all the energy spent headbanging and moving for the previous bands, the audience was still on their feet and showing MUCC the same appreciation as they had all the bands before them, though there were a few that were visibly exhausted and having trouble maintaining that energy. MUCC made it worth staying for their set, however, with an excellent repertoire of music. It put the icing on the cake, to use the old cliché, when a classic stand-up bass was revealed, which Yukke played for the last few songs of the night.

The second day of JRock Revolution proved to be just as exciting and memorable as the first had been—possibly even more so—with another well-chosen line-up. Fans slowly filtered out of the Wiltern Theater for the last time for the weekend, most dead on their feet, but almost all still buzzing with the excitement of Saturday night’s concert.

JRock Revolution featured nine acts that appealed to a large majority of JRock fans, but they were also artists that offered a varied sampling of excellent JRock for newcomers and people outside of the JRock fandom. On top of all that, all of the bands put on great live shows, allowing for an unforgettable concert experience.

For those that missed out on JRock Revolution, or simply want to have the experience again, there’s hope yet! On the shirts being sold at the merchandise booth, “JRock Revolution 1” is written out, implying that this will be only the first of many more JRock Revolutions. Also keep an eye out for a live DVD; with the cameramen filming as much as they were, there’s bound to be one!

report by Melony

Thank you to JRock Revolution for making this possible

LIVE REPORT ~ JRock Revolution: May 25-26 2007

The Wiltern Los Angeles, CA

Day One: Friday May 25, 2007

Day Two: Saturday May 26, 2007

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