UchuSentai NOIZ at PMX Live Report

After having written this, and went back to read it, I realized, its not just a report on the lives we saw the band play, but an overall review of our experiences for the entire weekend where the band is involved. It is a review of their live, their music and the gentleman of the band themselves.

We seem to expect certain things from Jrock bands: VK, friendly, dramatic (in a good way) and a bit of eccentricity to add more 'flavor' to the mix. I can honestly say this band delivers it all, and more.

Having never heard the music of NOIZ before heading to PMX, I wasn't sure what to expect. I knew the name and looks of the band members after seeing the merch booth outside, and also a bit from friends in Japan who are fans of the band. I had no idea they had changed members recently or knew any of their names other than Angel Taka and Masato, but I couldn't tell you who they were, or what instruments they played in the band.

Looking at the merch, we were told if we were the first 50 to buy $40 in merchandise, we'd get a ticket to get our picture taken with 2-3 members of the band, our choice! Chibi wanted to do it, so we bought T-shirts and a wristband and got our ticket.

...

We were looking at the headshots and Chibi mentioned that the 'green one' was scary looking, and he didn't want to take a picture with him, but he thought the rest were pretty and cool looking. (LOL)

Going into the concert, we watched a few other bands play including locals Rusika, vocalist duo Papillion from Japan and a few others we did not catch the name of. In between each band was a mini fashion show for Hangry and Angry. All the bands that played were awesome, and the fashion show was fun to watch as we waited for the next band.

(Chibi was also able to meet and take pics with his hero from Excel Saga, 'Nabashin' at the concert! He was so excited it was hard to keep him still and that set the mood for the rest of the night.)

NOIZ came on around 10pm. Machine-gun beat grappler (drummer) YAMATO first, super vibrator (bass) Kyo, neo-electric guitar Kotaro, hyper-sonic guitar MASATO and finally, angel voice Angel Taka, each doing an intro 'dance' in the spotlight before moving to their positions on the stage.

Not knowing what to expect, it was fun to watch everyone's excited reactions as they bounced and sang along to the music and copied the dance moves. There wasn't a single fan standing still, and the excitement on stage was infectious. I found myself singing along even though I didn't know the words, they were fun and easy to keep up with.

There were many MC's and they played a lot of songs (I've no idea what songs unfortunately ><;) but they introduced themselves and read off a piece of paper to speak to us all in English. Their pronunciation was very good, and when they mispronounced something, they laughed in embarrassment along with the crowd.

The most memorable MC was when they decided to share their favorite types of women. Each of them took the mic and not only told us, but gave interesting hand signals and demonstrations of just how big/small/wide they liked their women LOL For the record, YAMATO likes small breasts, Kotaro likes big booties, MASATO likes both boys and girls, Angel-TAKA likes big breasts and the bassist Kyo likes ??.

UchuSentai NOIZ has been described as the 'cutting edge of Japanese rock', and after seeing their shows; I must admit they do deserve the title. Their show was fun, exciting and their pervy level of fun is quite contagious, drawing the crowd in whether you are a fan or not. They had everything from fanservice to teasing and showing off for the cameras, Masato let the fans touch his guitar and Angel Taka seemed to enjoy being right up in the crowd.

They played two shows, one Friday night and one Saturday afternoon which was planned last minute and announced at the end of the Friday night live. We attended both and had just as much fun if not more at the second than the first.

I heard a lot of comments like 'Wow! I've never seen such a great rock show before!' and even con goers who there for the events after the concert were making positive comments and were interested in finding out more.

After attending their panel and meeting the band, it's obvious to me that they greatly enjoy not only the music, but also their fans and everyone's reactions to their music and the band themselves. For every pervy comment Angel Taka made at the panel, another member was there to back him up, or be the 'level' headed one to balance it all out. When a comment or gesture was made that was 'inappropriate', the band would get my attention and make hand gestures to cover Chibi's eyes or ears so they could make their comment. Everyone would laugh and anticipate what would be said.

Angel Taka showed Chibi his 'Pikachu' hip motions and every time they saw each other, they would do it to each other.

They all seem very down to earth and friendly. Chibi was at first frightened of Yamato, but after seeing him on the drums, he was taken with him and every time he saw the poor guy in the halls of the con, he would yell his name and chase him down for a hug. I spent a lot of time chasing him down and apologizing to the band and their management for his excitement and wanting to hug them all when he saw them. Luckily for us, they are VERY friendly and laughed and hugged him back every time, patting him on the head and saying 'kawaii!' over and over again.

They were ALL very friendly and made such an impression on Chibi, he bought them all sushi (Kotaru's favorite food is sushi, and he asked everyone he met if they were sushi!). With the permission of their management, Chibi handed it out to them when he went to get his pictures taken with Yamato and Angel Taka. They were laughing and thanking him and Kotaru was very excited. It was a great experience and I am glad that Chibi got to do it for them, and that they enjoyed the gesture so much!

In a nutshell, I would recommend anyone who enjoys VK, rock music and fun in general to see this band. Their new line-up compliments the band's image and style perfectly and their personalities also work so well together you can tell they are going to do more than bring 'world peace through music', as they mentioned so many times.

This seems to be a common theme among Jrock bands of late, but if it gives them the chance to spread the Love that is Jrock and meet more of their fans, I am up for the challenge of bringing world peace.

Are you?

P.S. Ladies, if you got booty, beware the innocent one (Kotaro); he isn't as innocent as he looks!

Authors note: Apologies to my friend K. I had to mention it! It was too funny not to, and the girls with the booty should know they DO have a chance for some gropage from him ~_^