hide Film Alive! Part 1: HIDE OUR PSYCHOMMUNITY

Part one of hide’s film memorial with his first solo tour, HIDE OUR PSYCHOCOMMUNITY, started with the crowd heading in early to stake out their spotswhile a DJ spun some familiar tunes. such as the beloved “Rocket Dive.” “Ready? It’s starting now,” the DJ warned. “The fourteenth memorial. Once again, hide’s intense performance will come alive. Furthermore, the band hide began the Lemonade label for is here today: ZEPPET STORE! Welcome to hide’s first solo tour, HIDE OUR PSYCHOMMUNITY, hide no heya he youkosou!”

Having been thoroughly welcomed “to hide’s room,” the crowd’s eyes turned to the screen set into the back of the stage. The show began with an overweight Charlie Chaplain who greeted the audience and took them backstage to meet the band in a voice best known from Star Wars as Jabba the Hutt. Thus the mind-fuck began. “Computer: I.N.A. Drums: JOE. Guitar: RAN. Bass: CHIROLYN. Keyboard: D.I.E. Guitar: PATA.” Following the members out onto the stage, Charlie the Hutt passed by a pink-haired figure in a box and the crowd shrieked in excitement.

Waiting for the explosion that would free the star of the show, the crowd held their breath in anticipation, and with a scream, Charlie’s oversized head was ripped away to reveal hide himself. The shocking betrayal of the crowd’s expectations bred the perfect opening for “DOUBT.” The crowd danced and sang along as footage of black-clad hide in his long red hair being grabbed by the crowd and violently shaking them off interspersed with images of him bashing, kicking, and throwing to the crowd a dummy father/teacher/authority figure (with childish Japanese characters for a face).

“SCANNER” focused on a hide dancing psychedelically with wide eyes and flowing movement whether sporting long red hair or short pink. He showed off his break-dance moves, turning his body into a broken puppet. The eerie atmosphere continued into “OBLAAT,” the various angles of different hide’s creating the illusion of a conversation.“You audience haven’t played enough… Not enough fun! Let me play!” hide cried before showing his kindness. “Play carefully,” he added. He obviously had no intention of doing so, though, as various footage of chaos greeted the crowd: hide pegging junk into the audience, running around madly, grabbing cameras and genuinely creating havoc. Now and then, he brandished an umbrella which at one point he held over PATA to keep the imaginary rain off during a guitar solo. Not to be forgotten was the stuffed T-Rex that eventually got rolled into the crowd, or the security staff whose hat found its way to hide’s head. Of course, the ruthless bullying of CHIROLYN was a highlight as the bassist toppled into the crowd along with hide’s own guitar, or else a dummy CHIROLYN in a wheel chair was rolled right off the stage. Each shot was a reminder of just how creative and carefree hide’s lives were, and how inspiring. A master at artistic destruction, hide made anarchy seem like a day at the beach. With a slowed, a capella twang, hide brought the number to a timely close.

“BLUE SKY COMPLEX” rocked in, groovy with its big band backing broken up by scat rapping. Vocally relaxing yet with high-strung music, the number was often augmented by gogo dancers and a rad guitar solo by hide followed by a trio as RAN and PATA lined up beside the leading man.“FROZEN BUG ’93,” begun with D.I.E. and I.N.A. hitting metal piping to create sparks and an industrial rhythm, really dug into the psyche as a caterpillar crawled across the stage under sickly green lighting. Heavy on the music and angry in vocal style, the dark number featured a painfully distorted guitar solo as web-like streamers burst over the crowd. As hide danced, the video slowed, the effect like a blissful mind-trip. Streams of light filtered about the vocalist as he moved in slow motion. By the end of the number, large pink wings fluttered to either side of hide, symbolizing his evolution. Just to further escalate the celebration, D.I.E. emerged on keytar while CHIROLYN danced about, rockin’ the spirit fingers. The keyboardist eventually break-danced himself to death at hide’s feet.

A funeral began. Pictures of father and son alighting on the screens as hide spoke in a dark drawl. Drum set a powerful mood and guitar rocked in while a white taffeta monstrosity danced up in the box where the false hide was first seen. All of a sudden, hide called, “Drums: JOE!” and a dynamic drum solo intruded upon the number. Just long enough for the crowd to forget the preceding darkness, the drum solo gave way to more photos, father and daughter, mother and son, children playing. The music resumed and the white-clad dancer broke out from her cage, floating out over the crowd and the stage. The final imagery was of hide reaching up to her and staggering about beneath her, trying to catch ahold. Never afraid to take symbolism to the extremes, hide’s staging for “HONEY BLADE” proved just as effective for the audience gathered at Club Citta in 2012.

It was perfect timing to lighten the mood with “50%&50%.” Free and easy, hide floated just above the stage floor on a stirrup. His brightness extended through the years as he planted several kisses on the camera, melting hearts. Just as playful, “EYES LOVE YOU” began with a stylistic Elvis drawl, D.I.E. adding a saloon feel as he played along. Seven shots from hide’s imaginary gun and the rest of the group joined in, PATA sitting with an acoustic style guitar, both hide and RAN adding their sounds to cheer up the atmosphere after the dark moment. Up in the back, I.N.A. sung along, jangling a tambourine. Footage cut all over the place to show a variety of scenes, a brief interlude of “D.O.D” came to a pause as hide thanked “Everyone who attended the tour everywhere.” Then it was time for “TELL ME,” quite laid back in comparison to the preceding chaos. Lights up, arms waved to the music both onscreen and off. In some of the footage, hide bent under the mic, eyes raised to the heavens as he begged, “Tell me. Somebody tell me. Please tell me.”

Moments later, a red-haired hide in a cute beret was dragging a couple of kids up onstage. “I just went and found them, you know. They’re not mine. It’s bed-time,” he said to the boys. “Not that I prepared a bed for the sake of putting some kids to sleep. Ummm, since you’re tired, you could lie down,” he suggested to the two boys who wore matching expressions of confused awe. “Who is this?” he asked.
“hide,” replied the boy in dark glasses.
“What do you think?” hide asked, fishing for an opinion.
“Ii to omou,” (I think it’s good) replied the little boy.
The resounding sentiment was “Aww!”

Not so wholesome, “CELEBRATION” brought unrestrained nudity to the screen. Women dancing about here and there while a hot-pink, boa-clad hide secreted himself away with them in another cut. All sorts of costumes greeted the crowd from a tubed, astronaut style get-up to a neon yellow suit that came with a laser-light ring. Hats, megaphones–hide had all the accessories, even a Phantom of the Opera-styled half-mask that glowed in the UV lighting. Then came something different, footage from the May 2, 2000 memorial, a huge crowd dancing along outdoors. “DICE,” too, scrolled through all sorts of costumes, the strobing lights of the video and the stage meshing into one throughout the exciting melody.

The moving instrumental of “PSYCHOMMUNITY” had the three guitars soaring while deep drums bound the sound together. “Our Psychommunity,” intoned hide, leading into a final outro of video-game proportions. Affectionately, hide introduced his support band once more, this time adding titles such as “ I.N.A.-chama,”“D.I.E.-chan” and for PATA, “Ishizuka-sensei.” With a final “Sayaonara,” he bid both crowds farewell.

Of course, video is not above an encore, and the crowd took the hint of the cheering continuing to filter through the speakers, calling out to hide. “MISERY” brought the balloons crashing down and the fans tossed them about, eventually grabbing ahold to keep the red and blue mementos as they clapped along. The shadows of floating balloons added an extra dimension to the onscreen fun. The highlight, however, was the myriad of close-up shots, allowing the fans to bask in hide’s gorgeously made-up eyes and soothing smile.

Set List

1. DOUBT
2. SCANNER
3. OBLAAT
4. BLUE SKY COMPLEX
5. FROZEN BUG ‘93
6. HONEY BLADE~DrumSolo~HONEY BLADE
7. 50%&50%
8. EYES LOVE YOU
9. D.O.D
10. TELL ME
11. CELEBRATION
12. DICE
13. PSYCHOMMUNITY

Encore

1. MISERY

【Guest LIVE : ZEPPET STORE】

“Good evening, I’m hide. One day, I was in the office and I heard a record someone had left behind and we thought maybe it was a foreign band. I really liked it and when we found out who they were and that it was a Japanese band, we were very excited. I thought ‘What if no-one had discovered The Beatles?’ so I decided to release this band, and for that reason, LEMONed was created.”

The recording of hide telling this fortuitous story served as the introduction for ZEPPET STORE’s revival debut. “Hello!” called Seizi Kimura before launching the gorgeously classic-rock “FLAKE” full of American accented English lyrics and loud with the triple guitar. Obviously excited to be back together, Kimura danced about, twisting and kicking his feet. One by one, the guitars played into “CROSS,” the original, simple sound polluted into a heavy mesh which contrasted the simple vocal line. The musical lines of ZEPPET STORE held a distinctly Western feel though the general ambience and rhythm guitar in particular leaned towards typical Japanese rock. Only Kimura’s performance held much animation, the remainder of the band soberly ringing music from their instruments.

“Hey, we’re ZEPPET STORE! Yay! What should I say? It’s been seven years since we’ve gotten back together like this and there’s all five of us! We’re very grateful to hide and to Headwax who made this possible. I think it might be very loud with all three of us together, but we’ll send this music to the sky. This one’s for hide. ‘LEMONed I Scream.’”

Played by ZEPPET STORE, the cover felt wildly American, Kimura’s deeper vocals taking the playful air of the song and turning it cool. “Thank you. ‘Motto motto!’” cried Kimura, opening his own solo on guitar and vocals with light cymbals from Eiki Yanagita on drums. He kept up a strong chime on guitar, voice floating on the Japanese lyrics and beautiful chorus.

“Today is a very happy, happy day. With the five of us, ZEPPET STORE will release a new album! I wanted you all gathered here to be the first to know,” Kimura explained excitedly. With that news in mind, the crowd cheerfully welcomed “TO BE FREE,” lights coming up throughout the venue to draw the crowd into the scene, streamers and balloons clapping high overhead. With a word of gratitude, Kimura announced the final number, “THE GAME.” A dramatic introduction led into a light verse. However, the full-powered chorus could easily provide the theme for any number of cheerful American TV shows with its arcing notes and free spirit. “Thank you, hide!” Kimura cried before the final chorus.

Concluding the event, the screen flared to life with a series of announcements ending in a touching “hide, THANXX!” which effectively said it all.

Set List

1. FLAKE
2. CROSS
3. LEMONed I Scream
4. Motto motto
5. TO BE FREE
6. THE GAME