ParaLive: JILUKA THE SYNERGY Tour Final (5/12/2021)

 

On the 5th of December, JILUKA held the final of their THE SYNERGY tour at Shibuya VEATS. The tour set off in early September, and they performed in most of the bigger cities in Japan. 
JILUKA is one of the few bands who actively reach out to their overseas fans. Their outstanding visuals clearly mark them as a part of the visual kei scene, but their sound can easily be categorized into the metal genre, too. That being the case, they hold a bridge-like position within the scene, forging a connection between metal and visual kei.

The concert started with KUMARI, which was released on their latest album IDOLA. If you are interested in details about the album, please check out our interview with them (click here)! The song didn’t grant their fans any warm-up, the aggressive and powerful beats demanding everything from the audience right from the start. Aggressive headbanging from one side to the other or back and forth—the fans were giving their all. The lighting amplified the whole atmosphere by being darker during the intense parts and brighter during Ricko’s (Vo.) melodious singing parts. During Ajna, Ricko pointed at his head, silently asking even the last person in the venue to join the others in headbanging. Raison d’etre has a slightly slower pace compared to the songs before, but due to its intense character, the fans didn’t even rest for one second, continuing to clap their hands or jump in unison with Boogie (Ba.).

 After the song, Ricko thanked everyone for coming. He announced that this night would be one their fans wouldn’t ever forget and asked, with a wicked smile, whether everyone could come along: “Can you do it? Can you?” They then continued with Eclipse. The fans immediately started to clap their in time with the beat and Zyean (Dr.) stood up from his drum chair to get a better look at their audience. The show continued as powerful as it had begun and despite the fast pace of the songs, Sena (Gt.) only averted his eyes from his fans when he had complicated riffs to play. Any other time he was flirting with the fans in front of him, smiling and winking at them while gracefully playing his guitar. When they moved on to Flux, we noticed that you usually don’t truly realize just how fast a song really is until you see it performed. The speed with which Zyean, Boogie and Sena played their instruments was sick! 

Even though JILUKA are mostly known for their metal sounds, they also have songs where they combine this sound with elements from other genres, like Hip Hop for example. M.A.D and BaLa-DeDa are both songs that contain such elements, and they bring a refreshing variety into the show. While Ricko and Boogie moved their bodies to the beat, Sena was on the microphone, singing along. The last song before the encore was Ablaze (extended ver.). The stage was dipped in golden light, which quickly settled the aggressive mood into a calmer one. Then everything went dark, Ricko shouted a “Thank you” and left the stage, followed shortly by the other members. 
After returning to the stage, they performed ZONE, picking up another powerful song. Compared to the main act, they were moving around more freely during the encore. Ricko jogged up to Sena to stand very close to him, Sena in return smiled at him and then continued to play his guitar. After that, Sena and Boogie switched places and were warmly welcomed by the fans in front of them.

Once the song ended, the band used the occasion to talk to the audience for a bit. Every member shared their impression on the tour and thanked their fans, people related to their band and other band members for their support. Boogie also mentioned that people often use the word “forever” pretty casually. Fans, for example, would say that they will be a fan forever, but then someday they somehow disappear and you wonder where they’ve gone. Maybe it wasn’t meant to be forever after all, though he also wondered if those fans would perhaps still be here if they had worked harder as a band. However, he also assured their fans that he plans to be acting with JILUKA forever and that he’s sincere about it. He shared some very profound thoughts with the audience, which luckily didn’t dampen the mood at all. Sena pointed out that some of their shows had been rather short during the tour, so they wanted to extend the final a little to make up for it. He then talked about the meaning of IDOLA for their band. It is an album that was completed during the tour, but he wanted the worldview of IDOLA to be destroyed at the final for them to be able to move onwards. He stressed that he was both really satisfied with how the songs had grown throughout the tour and happy they reached their goal. After Sena finished talking, Ricko once again grinned wickedly and asked: “Should we go one better? Without thinking about tomorrow and that we probably won’t be able to move? Should we??” That was obviously a rhetorical question – of course! And the first tunes of Last Faith resounded through the venue. They continued with Obliterator which was supposed to be their last song. During the outro Boogie, Zyean and Sena played around with their instruments, Ricko went behind Sena, hugged him from behind and played around with his guitar. When he moved back to the middle of the stage, he asked everyone to wait. “I am still hyper, can we do another one?” His wish was their command and the last song was Ultra B.A.L.U.S, coaxing every single fan into giving their very best for one last time!

JILUKA hitting my music taste right on the spot obviously means that there was no way that I couldn’t enjoy the show. Their songs are just made for going wild at concerts, and the transitions from one song to the next were superb. The SEs were well chosen for giving their fans a tiny break in-between the songs. Because of the lack of ballads, these breaks were definitely necessary. All in all: a very successful show and we can only recommend to experience them live if you haven’t yet. 
They gave 3 big announcements for the near future: The MAD PIT FES 2022, a festival organized by JILUKA, featuring metal and visual kei bands; a coupling tour with Leetspeak Monsters and a DVD release of the THE SYNERGY tour final at Shibuya VEATS. So for everyone who’s gotten curious about a JILUKA live show, you will be getting the chance to experience it yourself! The DVD will be released in March, so don’t miss it!
Report: Jenny
English Edit: Franzi

Zdroj:https://paradox-translations.com/2021/12/31/paralive-jiluka-the-synergy-tour-final/?fbclid=IwAR0j-kTNnQtV6qf8cIvzCwRT2m-KTIYzGx077BBJMLk-1JKi2YFrBAc76X4