Epilogue to Parade at Ikebukuro Chop

The livehouse, Ikebukuro Chop, is a teeny tiny hole in the ground with a fantastic atmosphere. Live-goers can’t help but feel a sense of community with their fellow fans. Somehow, that sensation was only increased by the video projection of a traditional Japanese enka performance onto the stage curtain. There to see a rock concert, fans watched on, fascinated by the very opposite, chatting softly and giggling until the lights dropped.

“Are you ready?” asked the screen. The crowd cheered with pent-up excitement. A silent count-down began, voices quickly taking up the chant. A pause,and then the word “Start!” flashed on the screen, echoed by a lone voice.

“Target” took off hot and heavy, no such thing as a warm-up for the crowd who were headbanging and jumping with absolute dedication right from the get-go. Letting rip, thoughout, vocalist Masataka even screamed the final “Omae DA,” embellishing the vibrant guitar of the outtro with a volley of vocalisations. “Chop! You guys are on fire!” If they weren’t, Zun’s bass solo which opened “Tsumi to batsu” would have kindled the flames. “Let’s hear it!” Masataka yelled, inciting the crowd to shout out. “Can’t hear you!” he shouted in a lie over the introductory guitar, Toshi bounding in circles. The number raced on into the unofficially titled “Oboreta koe.” “Shall we dance?” Masataka suggested. The number, while keeping up the heavy nature of the music, had a lighter atmosphere, Zun and Toshi fooling around and grinning brilliantly at one another. In fact, Zun had his groove on from start to finish as Masataka belted out notes at the top of his range. Compensating by the end of the number, he turned those hard-to-reach vocal climbs into guttural yells, beautifully executed.

In the following black out, the crowd roared the names of each member until Masataka prompted from the darkness, “I can’t hear you.” The yells doubled in volume. “That’s more like it, Chop!” The vocalist stepped up at last to address the crowd. “This is our first oneman,” he said. “But all that’s different is that unlike a combined event, this world is for you guys and us alone.”

“Chain” was a fine example of that statement, the number exploding in a flair of energy after the comparative quiet of the emcee. Toshi’s growls of “Break through!” followed smoothly by Masataka’s “Break through the night!” had the venue in upset, the gorgeous high to the chorus melody inspiring chaos as the fans went wild. Stealing Toshi’s mic, Masataka screamed the crowd into a frenzy. During the shouts accompanying the opening vamp of the next song, drummer Lotto stopped cold. Masataka responded to his prompt and carried the mic back to him. “Think you can shout a bit louder?” Lotto requested. Laughing, Masataka warned the crowd, “You’d better do as he says or the song just won’t start.” Loathe to disappoint, the fans dug deep and shouted down the house, allowing “Pistol” to take off at last. Enacting the title, Masataka posed through the intro, gun-hand aimed at an imaginary figure in the distance. Calling the song heavy at this point might insinuate that the previous numbers were not. Rest assured, they were, however “Pistol” brought a new level of rock to the set. Masataka hauled the mic stand over his shoulder like a Nazi with a rifle, Toshi played out his guitar solo half hidden behind girls who jumped up on the barrier to make finger-hearts at him, and Zun saluted the crowd after a short, sweet bass solo. Thomas went on manipulating the basic pattern of the song, continuing for an eternity without the crowd ever getting bored, instead catching on to different nuances with a new physical reaction of jumping, headbanging or diving over barriers and friends. “Paranoia” (also unofficially titled) was no less entertaining with an awesome guitar line to open and a sweet rhythmic lilt to the verse with a fresh edge to the chorus. A number purely for the crowd’s enjoyment, “Paranoia” continued to change throughout; sexy and dangerous, fun and exciting. “Oi, are you jumping?” Masataka teased during “Buranko.” A mass of bodies suddenly leaped into the air at his command. Enjoying the scenery, the vocalist stood up on the speaker to watch the fans go-go-go whilst onstage, Zun and Toshi jumped around in circles to the fun riff.

The cymbals never stopped clashing, keeping up a constant chime to which Zun added sultry strains of bass. The simple jamming session enticed the odd strum of guitar, all setting the scene for the first ballad of the evening, “Cold Delay.” Standing side-on in the darkness, Masataka sung the first soft lines. With an inherently Japanese cadence, the number had the crowd transfixed. However, any gentleness to the melody was stripped away by Masataka’s gruff vocal style, giving the piece an unusual and intriguing edge. However, powerful music in small venues often results in difficulty hearing from the stage, and the final harmony from Toshi fell out of tune. The unfortunate dissonance was brought into check by the final instrumental, ending in Masataka raising an open palm and clutching a fist around the last chords. The strength of the gesture balanced the atmosphere for the second ballad, “Wasurenagusa.” Full of fascinating melodic techniques, the number, named for a Japanese flower that rings like a bell, exhibited a gentle melody once more made harsh and poignant by the vocal style. With a skilful guitar solo to segment the number, the latter half escalated impressively into a strong final chorus, ending in a pop-rock “Yeah~” over neat guitar.

Then it was time for a special treat, Lotto, Zun and Toshi taking over for a rhythm session. As the rhythm section jammed away, Toshi took to the mic. “Good evening… Are you enjoying yourselves? Hey, let’s play around for a bit. Start me off with a ‘Hey! hey! hey!’” The crowd did their part, upping the ante when asked for “A little bit more.” “Okay, now let’s try a ‘call and response,’” Toshi instructed. He began to lead the crowd in a series of melodic calls, starting off too high for them to follow before taking it down the scale. “Oh, you guys are good,” he praised. In response, he leaped to operatic pitches mid-call, teasing the crowd for following him after all. Zun grooved away throughout, the guitarist pitching in musically for a short time.

“Will we call the vocalist out, then?” he prompted. “Come on, vocal!” Upon his re-entrance, Masataka scolded the crowd for their quiet voices before leading a wicked round of shouts, inspirationally returned. “Now let’s dance!” Masataka commanded. ““Crazy Disco”!” As Toshi renewed the energy of the crowd’s yells, the vocalist set the disco scene. “Shake it down!” he cried, towels whipping into the air all around as a disco ball decorated the club in revolving white light. Masataka broke out his best club moves, transforming the venue as a whole until a heavy riff brought the livehouse back into focus. Sweet bass kicked off “Psychedelic Mobile,” the whole pit breaking into a moshing frenzy cued by a wicked guitar line. The number was pure Thomas from raving instrumentals to work-up verse to the rocking chorus melody. Bassist and guitarist met at centre stage for a solo, Zun reaching out to tousle Toshi’s hair before the two split for a hard riff. The thin sound to the final chorus was blasted away by the resumed guitar/bass combo, the vocalist’s improvised repetitions of the final lyrics continuing until the very end.

“Last!” he screamed. “Personality” incited a headbanging fest that practically screened the band behind a curtain of whipping hair. “Mix it up!” Masataka cried, the entire crowd jumping around each other in a mosh that covered the floor. Practically on his knees, Zun disappeared for long periods behind the rampaging crowd, bass and drums driving the relentless rhythm. Violently sung and embellished by animated guitar, it was a perfect ending.

Shock seemed to hold the crowd in place until they realized they wouldn’t get what they wanted without asking for it. The belated encore call was then cut off by a projection onto the stage-front screen.

Thomas

Big Announcement

The crowd held their breath:

Winter 2011

New mini-album release

Excited squeals and applause greeted the news, the curtain rising almost immediately to welcome the encore. Lotto was the first to appear, at last visible to the whole crowd from up front. He admit that Thomas had considered cancelling the oneman tour final following the disasters of early March. “Last year we finished our tour with a two-man here at Chop, but now we’re here for a oneman and glad to be,” he stated to agreeable cheers. Zun had to adjust the stand down, complaining about the unusual heights of his fellow members. Introducing himself, he had the crowd laughing easily. “Bet you were all thinking ‘Who’s that dark little bassist?’ Well, I’m Zun!” He rambled on for a while before Toshi jumped in causing Zun to make a confession. “I have no plan for this little chat.” “You really don’t, do you?” Toshi commented. “Should it be more exciting?” Zun asked self consciously. “You did fine,” Toshi replied before turning his attention to the crowd. “Wow, what a great view. A lot has happened since we formed and it’s been a long journey. Thank you all so much.” Lastly, Masataka joined the crew, complaining that all the good lines had been stolen. “You know,” he said. “It’s been exactly two years since I joined. There’s been all sorts of member changes and hard times but it’s great to be here. This is my very first oneman ever.”

Then Masataka related his hope for the band. “Friends, members… It wouldn’t be unusual for anyone to pass away tomorrow. The recent disaster proved that. Yet, never once have I thought that Thomas might come to an end. So when you experience hard times, believe in us. Believe in Thomas. On that note, I think it’s time for a song we’ve only performed live three or four times before. “Kousui Architecture.””

Despite very still staging on Masataka’s behalf, Zun remained his usual, groovy self. What would be a very gentle and potentially uninteresting song by another band, was skillfully enhanced by strong guitar and sweet vocals turned harsh. Thomas seem to have the ability to turn even the gentlest piece into “fighting words” to bring a fresh perspective to the word “ballad.” Pulling the mic away amid the chorus, Masataka’s raw voice travelled regardless to the back of the venue. “Thank you,” he gasped. “Now can you keep it up for the last song?” The bright guitar and lofty melody of “Namida Iro Laboratory” brought the set to a close. Despite the trials of the previous numbers and the slightly off harmony sung by Toshi, Masataka sang even the highest notes spot on pitch before shifting even higher into a scream prior to the instrumental. The next time around, the instrumentalists paused mid-chorus for Masataka to sing out hoarsely into the silence, abandoning his mic. The number came to an end with Zun flashing a blinding grin and the vocalist screaming out ecstatically. When the atmosphere calmed, Masataka herded the crowd into a central huddle before the stage, calling up a photographer to capture both band and fans in a memorial image of Thomas’ first oneman. High-fiving as many of the massed fans as could be reached, the band said their farewells. “Don’t go drinking too much!” Masataka warned with a laugh. Already drunk on adrenaline, Zun stumbled into his mic stand on his way off, laughing along with the fans as he waved goodbye.

It was a testament to the crowd’s persistent roaring for another encore that the band clambered back onstage one final time. “What, you guys can still go?” Masataka asked incredulously. “Okay, I’ll kill you off this time. What do you want to hear? …Come on, this is embarrassing,” he chuckled nervously. “What do you want? Will we do “Personality?”” Just like that, it was decided and the crowd was graced with a bonus round of “Personality,” double the violence. “Think you can still head-bang? Can you? Come on, Tokyo!” Masataka roared. The wild screaming tone dominated the number, almost creating a new song altogether and sounding just as great as the original. One by one, Masataka, Toshi and Zun screamed their mic-less gratitude to the crowd while Lotto shyly snuck offstage. Shouts and applause rang out until the crowd finally relented, staggering to the bar for drinks.

The set had non-stop excitement leaping from one song to another, even in the ballads which Thomas have a way of winding tight with tension to be released in the next blast of clever guitar or sinuous bass. Long after it ended, adrenaline doused any signs of exhaustion, the crowd continuing to dance and sing along to the Thomas CDs playing in the wake of the explosive final encore. If that desperation for more is any sign of a good concert then Thomas are going to have a hard time sending their fans home in future.

Set List:

1. Target
2. Tsumi to batsu
3. Oboreta koe (Temporary title)
4. Chain
5. Pistol
6. Paranoia (Temporary title)
7. Buranko
8. Cold Delay
9. Wasurenagusa
10. (Rhythm Session)
11. Crazy Disco
12. Psychedelic Mobile
13. Personality

Encore 1

1. Kousui Architecture
2. Namida Iro Laboratory

Encore 2

1. Personality

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