Mix Speaker’s, Inc. Woody Nightmare Before Xmas

On Christmas Eve, Shibuya O-EAST turned red with girls wearing Santa dresses to celebrate Christmas Eve with Mix Speaker’s, Inc. As the lights turned down, the little stage on the right was lit up to show two puppets: DoDo and PaPa. In front of a sparkling Christmas tree, DoDo and PaPa announced that the show was going to start shortly. When the curtain opened up on the main stage, Yuki and Miki were facing to each other to sing a few phrases from “Silent Night” a cappella. Snowflakes were falling down from the ceiling and covered members’ Santa costumes. As the lights got brighter, “My wish [Horror] X’mas” started with a strong beat. While this was a Christmas song, “My Wish [Horror] X’mas” was very different from “Silent Night” in that the beats were so hard that the fluffy snow on the drum set and the white cloths on the monitors were shaking along with the bass sound. Without any break, “No, 5 COASTER” began. The choreography was perfectly matched with the audience and the members.

“Secret Room” was a heated number that ensured  everyone stayed warm through the following emcee. So warm in fact, they needed a cool-down period. “I’m so glad there are so many lonely people here to see us on Christmas Eve. You didn’t have any other plans? How lonely! But thanks anyway!” YUKI’s cheerfulness made up for the cold, hard truth. “Did you think we would only wear Santa Costumes for the encore? Well, that’s what we assumed, so we decided to wear them from the beginning.” After he asked the audience if they were ready for the coming show, “Urameshi Yashiki” started. The audience pulled out their handmade white paper fans with urameshiya writing on them. MIKI threw his fan, with a special “Merry X’mas” written on it, out for a fan to catch as a Christmas present.

After “GREEN,” which featured an amazing solo from seek, the sub-stage on the right opened up again for DoDo and PaPa. They told the audience that now they were going to have to dance. No sooner was this said than light sticks began to glitter in preparation for the dance tunes coming up. Along with the colorful lights, the members took their instruments off and started singing “BIG BANG MUSIC.” Hearing each member rapping and singing up on the middle step was a special treat.

After their perfectly synced dancing in “Cinderella,” MIKI invited everyone to the “basement” while the rest of the members prepared their instruments. All of a sudden, the dancehall turned into a gloomy basement with only dark red spot lights on the stage. Seek’s electrical wooden bass sounded deeply, and then transported the venue to the jazzy “Akai Makigamito Neverland.” This smooth change from dance music to jazz truly shows how Mix Speaker’s, Inc. are capable of doing any kind of music. The jazz theme set the mood for the following “Uchu Iro Parasol” in which MIKI’s black umbrella was dramatically spotted under red light.

While preparing for the coming disaster, YUKI and MIKI began chatting. They prepared a big dice with blank faces, saying it was for a fun game they sometimes play in the interludes between songs. MIKI explained that he and YUKI couldn’t participate because, as vocalists, if they stop, the song stops. For the same reason, S was also excluded. MIKI then filled in the blank faces with the names of seek, AYA and KEIJI. He asked who he should put on the three remaining sides. “Not KEIJI, though. Because I like KEIJI so much that I don’t want him to suffer,” MIKI cautioned. He decided to put one more of AYA and two more of seek because his hair looked like a Christmas tree which MIKI thought was just too much, even for a Christmas live. “My hair has always been like this with green and red decorations! That’s unfair!” seek complained, making the unkind audience laugh. Then MIKI brought out bottles of alcohol. The point of the game seemed to be that whoever the dice landed on would have to drink up the whole bottle by the end of each interlude. There was beer, a small bottle of wine and a half-full bottle of sake. While the unfortunate member was drinking, the crowd would shout “Ikki! Ikki! (Skull! Skull!) “But if KEIJI is rolled, you should shout Murishinaide! (Don’t push yourself!) because I like him so much,” MIKI encouraged.

Finally, the game started and “Woody Nightmare” began. AYA got picked first, and he finished the beer quickly. For the second interlude, seek was rolled, and he finished the wine bottle. Finally, it was time for the sake bottle which MIKI said “looks very bad because seek brought.” Whether it was good or bad, seek got rolled and he had to finish the bottle he himself bought. He couldn’t finish the whole thing by the end of the song, but he took a break to finish it while the audience was chanting. As the venue got even hotter thanks to the crazy game, they performed “Fairy ‘Magic’ Jungle.” The venue shook when MIKI ordered the crowd to “Jump!”

“We should let seek wrap this up,” YUKI suggested. “Seek, are there any stories you want to share?” After thanking the fans, seek randomly began talking about his first love. “I had this one girl I liked ten years ago, and that was my first love. Fortunately, when I asked her to go out, she accepted me. So we started dating, but she broke up with me in a few days! And this gets even worse, she started seeing my best friend!” The fans lamented with an ‘Oh no!’ However, the story suddenly began to make sense. “But it’s okay because I don’t think he is with this many girls on Christmas even after ten years, but I am!”

The fists were up on the air, and it was “CRAZY TRAIN A GO! GO!” YUKI divided the audience in two, team MIKI and team YUKI, and started a head-banging competition. When one side was headbanging, the other side pulled out their towels and twirled. MIKI asked KEIJI—who may or may not have been biased after the earlier drinking game–to choose the winner, and MIKI’s team won.

As the intro of “JUNK STORY” played, the lights strobed. “Can you go harder, Tokyo?” YUKI shouted. In the red light, hair was shaking from right to left as the crowd let loose for “Pandora.” AYA spun around as he played. Finally, YUKI said it was time for the last emcee of the night, and asked if the crowd had had fun, raising a big cheer. The song “See you Again…” ended and the outro music played for the members to greet the crowd one last time. Just as they were gathering in the middle of the stage, the sound suddenly stopped. It seemed planned, but turned out to be a problem with the equipment. “To the middle!” seek shouted, and the members gathered in the middle, holding hands and bowing.

The encore call lasted longer than usual, but the reason soon became apparent. The lights went down, and the stage-side screens showed Mix Speaker’s, Inc.’s schedule for 2012, and the release of the new single “Shiny tale.” When the curtain parted, the band appeared in their new costumes for “Shiny tale!” The theme for the new costumes was “ghost pirates.” The audience was trying to guess what each member was supposed to be, but it was hard. S was entirely covered with a monster-like fluffy suit, and he said he couldn’t clearly see out from the little gap. Nobody guessed, but S was a blowfish. AYA showed up in a mermaid-like light pink dress, but he wasn’t a mermaid, he was a clione, a type of sea creature known as the “angel of the ocean.” KEIJI was a sea horse, but everyone thought he was a metallic dragon. Seek was easy to guess as an octopus with long red tentacles attached to his hips and a red face. YUKI was a captain dolphin with a shiny sequined mask on his face. MIKI was the easiest, though, a pirate with a huge hook on his hand.

For the first song of the encore, they performed their new single “Shiny tale” in their brand-new costumes for the first time. It was surprising how quickly the audience learned the movements for a song just introduced. By the end of the last chorus, every movement was perfect. After “Shiny tale,” the old favorites “HAPPyyy!!LAND” and “MONSTIME” reared their heads. It was cute to see AYA and KEIJI playing their guitars while sitting down on the middle speakers.

After a short thanking of the audience came the last song, “Kasa no Shita no Sekai.” The song left the crowd excited and they shouted for another encore long after the show ended.

Mix Speaker’s, Inc. re-wrote the occasion from Crhistmas Eve to MSI day. It was so much fun that after they took of their Santa costumes, it was easy to forget about Christmas altogether. One of the coldest nights of winter so far, Mix Speaker’, Inc. made O-EAST one of the hottest spots to be on Christmas Eve.

Set List

1. Kiyoshi kono yoru
2. My wish「Horror」X’mas
3. No,5 COASTER
4. Secret Room
5. Urameshiyashiki
6. GREEN
7. BIG BANG MUSIC!
8. Cinderella
9. Akai makigami to Neverland
10. Uchuu iro Parasol
11. Woody Nightmare
12. Fairy”Magic”Jungle
13. CRAZY TRAIN A GO! GO!
14. Taiketsu
15. JUNK STORY
16. Pandora
17. See you again…

Encore

1. Shiny tale
2. HAPPyyy!! LAND
3. MONSTIMEKasa no shita no sekai

There are 46 photos in this visual kei exclusive.

View Gallery