level 10
The battle between 3 different girls’ rock band exist†trace, FLiP and Kinoko Hotel was held on May 23 at “SHINJUKU LOFT 13/35th ANNIVERSARY master + mind～Go Go Girls!!” celebrating 35th anniversary of Shinjuku LOFT.
The first performer was emotional girls’ rock band FLiP from Okinawa. The first song was “ナガイキス (Nagai Kiss)”. Between the choruses their singer Sachiko shouted “What’s up Loft!!” and excited the audience from the beginning. Then they performed new songs like “CHERRY BOMB”, a lead tune for their 2nd full album “XX emotion” released on May 16, and “ホシイモノハ (Hoshiimonowa)”. They continued to perform songs with speedy sound including “ワンダーランド (Wonderland)” which had been adopted as an opening theme for the TV animation “银魂 (Gintama)”. Sachiko shouted in a deep voice “LOFT!” and finished with “カートニアゴ (Ka-toniago)”. Sachiko screamed “Thank you!” and painted the venue the color of FLiP.Then Kinoko Hotel invited the audience for the trip to the different world. Their sound were mixed with popular songs from Fuzz guitar, electric organ and arranged with the near future taste. It made us feel somewhat nostalgic.
As the noise filled the venue, much awaited Marianne Shinonome, a singer and organist, appeared on stage with a whip in her hand.They performed “球体関节 (Kyuutai Kansetsu)”, “真っ赤なゼリー (Makkana Jelly)”, “白い部屋 (Shiroi Heya)”, “もえつきたいの (Moetsukitaino)”, “砂漠(Sabaku)” on end. In the last song “キノコホテル唱歌 (Kinoko Hotel Shouka)”, Marianne stood on top of the organ between the choruses and played the instrument skillfully with her legs and posed. Her legs stretching from the very short pants looked so erotic. After exploding on the stage, they left the stage coolly saying “Thank you, see you then.”The last one to perform was exist†trace. On the day of this event, they released their 1st full ALBUM “VIRGIN”. They started the live with its lead tune “GINGER”. A singer Jyou and guitarist miko sang together to the jazzy sound and the audiences clapped their hands to the music.
Jyou said “We’d like to play this song instead of introducing ourselves” and started to perform “TRUE”. After their USA Tour in March, their song sounded deeper and heavier. They performed new songs “あなた (Anata)”, “HONEY” and “シグナル (Signal)” from the album just released. In “Anata”, Jyou played the protagonist in the song wearing camisole. In “リトル・メアリーと美しき憎しみのドナウ (Little Mary and Utsukushiki Nikushimi no Donau)”, miko and Omi danced waltz. You can enjoy the world of their songs not only with ears but with your eyes, which is unique to their lives.” On June 23, we’ll hold solo live at SHIBUYA O-WEST! Just come. We won’t make you regret for coming!” Jyou said more confidently than ever and the audiences answered with their fists up. They closed the show with “VANGUARD”.Each band fully performed for 1 hour on each stage. We might not be able to see these 3 bands on the same stage again. Always cool singers from each band seemed to be singing louder than usual this time. The invisible fire seemed to be sparkling between the bands. It was really a good experience to see their energetic performances.(Translation by HK)