On August 7, 2016, four legendary bands gathered for a gorgeous show,
“Earliest Memories”, held at TSUTAYA O-WEST. The four bands were LAID,
ILLUMINA, JURASSIC, and Dear Loving which has never disbanded and is still
active. The bands made a new legend when tickets sold out about six minutes
after the release, and newly took the V-kei scene by storm.

(2016年8月7日、伝説の4バンドがTSUTAYA O-WESTにて顔を揃えた豪華な共演、Earliest Memories。そのバンドとはLAID、ILLUMINA、JURASSIC、そして一度も解散することなく今も現役であるDear Loving。チケットは発売から約６分で売り切れるという伝説を作り、この音楽業界に新たな旋風を巻き起こした。)

LAID
When the venue darkened, several clocks were displayed on the screen. Time passed on the screen as if following the past, and the four bands’ pictures were projected. Suddenly, a whistle rang, and LAID appeared on the stage to up-tempo opening music. The vocalist RYO is still active in KING, and he attracts the fans with his soulful vocals. The first song by LAID, the members getting back together after a long interval, was a rock tune, “Kimi Shidai”. Silver tape flew over the crowd in the intro, and that heated the audience up more. “Get excited! We are LAID!” RYO shouted with a smile, and he looked happier than anyone. In “yes,” which was a catchy dance tune, TAKAFUMI’s drumming rushed powerfully, and KENJI and SHINJI created fine and delicate sounds. The bassist JUNICHIRO brought additional excitement to the dance number by swaying his hips playfully. In the emcee, RYO expressed, “The members are a little mixed up, but we are LAID! How much I can show off for the first time in 15 years… Yes, I didn’t talk so much before. 15 years ago I got cheers just by opening my arms like this.” The fans enjoyed the nostalgic choreography in “love & desire”. RYO’s soulful voice was delivered to the audience in “Hoshi ni Negai wo”, which had a sweet melody. In the last song, “LIKE A MONKEY”, the vigorous guitar sounds excited the fans more. The experienced members had the leeway to enjoy playing even though they were playing the songs for the first time in years. Their feelings were transmitted over the hour that the members enjoyed performing as LAID with all their hearts.

(会場が暗転するとスクリーンに映し出されたのは数々の時計。過去を辿っていくかのように時が刻まれ、4バンドの写真が映し出される。そしてホイッスルがなるとアップテンポなSEに手拍子の中LAIDが登場。ヴォーカルのRYOは現在KINGとして活躍している魂ある歌声が魅力のアーティストだ。久々に再結成されたLAIDとしてまず1曲目に演奏されたのはロックチューンの「キミシダイ」。会場にはいきなりシルバーテープが舞い、そのステージをさらに盛り上げる。「騒げー！LAIDだぜー！」と誰よりも嬉しそうなRYOは笑顔で叫ぶ。続いてサビがキャッチーなダンスチューン「yes」では、TAKAFUMIのドラムが力強く駆け抜け、ギターのKENJIとSHINJIが細かく繊細な音を作り上げていく。ベースのJUNICHIROは楽しそうに腰を振りダンスチューンを盛り上げた。MCでは、「ちょっとメンバーが入り乱れているけどLAIDだぜ！15年ぶりでどこまでかっこつけられるか、そう、昔の俺はあまりしゃべらなかった。15年前は手を広げるだけでキャーと言われたもんですよ。」と会場を沸かせた。「love & desire」では、懐かしむように完璧な振り付けを楽しむファン。優しいメロディーの「星に願いを」ではRYOらしい魂こもった歌声がファンに届けられた。ラストの「LIKE A MONKEY」では、勢いのあるギターサウンドがファンをさらに掻き立てた。熟練のメンバーたちには久しぶりの演奏曲にも楽しむ余裕がある。またLAIDとしてステージに立てたことを心底喜び楽しんでいる、それが伝わる1時間であった。)

ILLUMINA
ILLUMINA, marking their 20th anniversary, was the second act. The members came onstage to a big cheer, illuminated by the blue lights, and “Style & Soul” started quickly. SATOM created the rhythm with bass-drums and cymbals quickly matching the distorted deep bass made by the bassist TAKA. NAO, the vocalist and guitarist, delivered the powerful vocals, playing the guitar and dancing. In “Wasurenaide”, the bittersweet guitar melody from NAO and TAR in harmony was impressive, and NAO’s vocals soared in the sweet melody. In the emcee, NAO praised, “Wow, you all got tickets. They’re premium tickets!” Then, NAO expressed his passion for this show, “We are talking about the old days backstage. ILLUMINA marked our 20th anniversary last year. We have motivation, and we have never been so happy. I don’t even have words to express it.” The big cheers from the audience arose when they heard the title of the next song, “Love Sick”. The ear-breaking guitar sounds from TAR echoed on the floor, and also, the fans made hearts with their hands and sent them to the members again and again for the chorus as if the song itself was a call and response. It was clear that the song was very enjoyable for both the members and the fans. Lastly, NAO said, “We would like to end the show today with this song.” Before “maybe tomorrow,” the pop, catchy guitar riffs of which remained in the audience’s hearts, started. NAO and the fans showed they desired each other by reaching their hands out for the last song, given full-heartedly.

(2番手は昨年20周年を迎えたILLUMINA。青いライトに照らされ、歓声の中メンバーが一気に登場し、始まった曲は「Style & Soul」。TAKAの深く歪んだベース音にSATOMがバスドラとシンバルで素早くリズムを作り出す。ヴォーカル＆ギターのNAOはギターを弾き、振り付けも踊り、それでも力強い歌声を届けた。「忘れないで」ではイントロの切なさ漂うNAOとTARのハモるギターメロディーが印象的で、聴きやすいメロディーにNAOの歌声が力強く伸びる。MCでは、「皆さんよくチケット取れましたね！プレミアチケットですよ！」と称賛すると、「楽屋では昔話に花が咲きますね。去年20周年を迎えて、またやる気をいただいてこんなに嬉しいことはないです。もう言葉にならないです。」とNAOから今回のライブに関して熱い思いがファンへ届けられた。タイトルコールだけでファンから歓声が上がった「Love Sick」では、耳を貫くようなTARのギターがイントロで会場に響き渡り、曲自体がファンとのコール＆レスポンスのようにファンはハートを手で作り、何度も何度もメンバーに送る。メンバーにとってもファンにとっても楽しい曲であることは明確だ。NAOが「最後にこの曲をお届けして今日はお別れしたいと思います。」と伝え始まったのは少しポップでキャッチーなギターリフが心に残る「maybe tomorrow」。ファンへの想いを込めて贈られたラストソングにNAOとファンはお互いに手を伸ばし求め合った。)

JURASSIC
Next band was JURASSIC. They were formed on 1998 at Nagasaki,Japan which is member’s home town. Since the beginning all the members were wearing brightful white costumes.
JURASSIC took the Visual-kei scene at the opposite movement, because at this moment the standard of this industry were dictated by black stuff.
Their particular sound; with a rapid and loud rythm attracted many people with their amazing liveshow’s performance.
Even now, JURASSIC are very famous as “The Visual-kei band from Nagasaki”.
All member came up on stage,wearing all white costumes as expected, and Vocalist YUKI took his place at the center slowly and put his left hand up.
“one or eight” started and the same time, the sounds producted by the 4 musicians(2 guitars,bass and drums) went along all together beautifully, and YUKI’s voice perfectly fit on this music. The stage’s lights were reflecting pretty colors on member’s white costumes. Guitarist SHU’s chorus overlap with them.
YUKI inflamed audience before “ZERO” was launched.
Guitarist KOSHIRO was impressive with his guitar play during his solo part.
「Cold Rain」 and the song that was created after the band’s reformation “Gattsuki masse!!!” was played.
SHINGO’s play was very dynamic during “The brightest”.
You could hear a lots of acclamations from men’s fans in the audience.
During the YUKI said 「I’m very glad that a lot of people had remember JURASSIC. We had activities during only 7 years. However it was not a waste of time.」 and he looked back on past days.
They continued their fierce performance with “RESCUE U”and then one of their very famous song　”Speed~Look for Love~”　,
YUKI came closer to SHU and they sing along together. YUKI also went to the Bassist’s place Anji and both were laughing.
The audience holds each other’s hands and listened YUKI’s sweet voice on “Honney”.
When YUKI introduced the members, Anji did his best to sing « Fuji Safari Park ». SHINGO, with such a lovely smile was beating hardly his drumset, playing very seriously.
5 member’s keep their striking rhythm on their performance and gave all their heart into this live down until the last song “Go to the limit” .
It has been already 12 years from their disband, 6 years from their reformation and even if they already went to separate way, they keep growing up all together and have things in common even now.
Maybe is it thanks to “Nagasaki blood”? JURASSIC very talented member’s were guided by their destiny to create this band. We can feel this when you see them on stage.

(続いては、JURASSIC。1998年にメンバー全員の地元である長崎で結成され、衣装も髪の毛も真っ白な姿で登場し、ヴィジュアル系シーンに新しい風を巻き起こしたバンドだ。彼らのスピード感ある音楽とライブパフォーマンスは多くの人を魅了し、長崎出身のヴィジュアル系バンドといえば、今なお彼らの名前を出す人がほとんどだろう。
メンバー全員、期待を裏切らない真っ白な衣装で登場し、最後にゆっくりとVo.YUKIがステージに姿を現し、左手を挙げた。「one or eight」のイントロが流れると同時に、４人の音は見事に重なった。そこにYUKIの高く伸びる声がカチッとはまり、グリーンのレーザー光線とカラフルな照明が、真っ白な衣装を鮮やかに映す。Gt.SHUのコーラスは一切ブレることがない。YUKIがオーディエンスを煽り、「ZERO」がスタート。耕史郎はギターソロで、存分にギターをかき鳴らした。そのまま「Cold Rain」、そして再結成してから作られた「ガッツキまっせ！！！」へ。Dr.SHINGOのダイナミックなリズム煽りから、「The brightest」へと続いた。オーディエンスから飛び交う声援の中に、男性の声も少なくない。
MCでは、「これだけの人がJURASSICを覚えていてくれて本当に嬉しい。たったの7年間だったが、無駄ではなかった。」と、YUKIは当時を振り返った。
「RESCUE U」から、彼らの代表曲の一つである「 Speed~Look for Love~」へと続き、YUKIとSHUが顔を近づけ声を重ね、そのままBa.ANJIにもマイクを向け笑いを誘う。
オーディエンス同士が手をつなぎ、YUKIの美声に耳を傾けた「Honney」。
メンバー紹介でANJIは“富士サファリパーク”を熱唱し、SHINGOはあの笑顔とは真逆の破壊力でシンバルを叩いた。
ラスト「Go to the limit」まで、５人のパワーは終始衰えることなく放たれ、彼らはステージを後にした。
解散から12年、再結成から6年の時が経ち、それぞれ違う道を歩んでいるにも関わらず、現役時代と変わらないどころか、進化していると感じたファンも多いだろう。これは、地元“Nagasaki”の血なのだろうか。彼らはその天性を運命に導かれ集結していたメンバーだったのだと思わざるを得ない。本当にそんなステージだった。)

Dear Loving
The final performer of this dream event was Dear Loving who celebrated their 23rd anniversary.
Dear Loving was the only band who never stopped their activities and are still performing on this event.
They win the whole audience’s hearts by playing“Fly high”, the first song release after their major debut, and vocalist MASA sang “I can’t love” like he did a timelaps into 90’s years.
Dear Loving’s characteristic point is MASA’s voice with strong message behind their lyrics.But they played “FLASH BACK”and show off they’re very strong as a rock band.
During the mc MASA just said a joke「Today’s event title is… “SHOCK WAVE~Natsu no jin” ? 」and the audience was laughing. And he talk about episode that happened in the back stage, likes everybody were talking about “hairloss” or “gaining weight”. Guitalist YUKI was interacting during MASA’s talk and make the venue laugh a lots.
Dear Loving always create shows when you laught non stop. Bassist KURO kept an eye on MASA and YUKI’s talking while smiling. They played “DOOR” from their new album that was released on Aug 10th, and catched their fan’s heart. After YUKI proclaimed himself as“the funniest guitarist in Japan”and so on did some gag and made the whole livehouse turn into laughs. They played rock songs “I’m here” from their new album, then the basic song at their live show “CLIMBER” , “LOVE ME”and they sent message to the audience.
MASA claimed「Band as a miracle」. They said 「To be able to continue it is not easy.」However, on this event, Dear Loving proved the meaning of their word「 Endurance is what makes your treasure.」
At last song “365” , MASA sang “Nobody supporting part in each life” and celeblated this event with all people in here.

(ファンにとって夢のようなこのイベントのラストを飾ったのは、今年結成23周年目を迎えたDear Loving。今イベントの出演者の中で、唯一現役を貫いているバンドである。
メジャーデビュー曲である「Fly high」 でしっかりとオーディエンスの心をつかみ、続く「I can’t love」では90年代にタイムスリップしたように、Vo.MASAは変わらぬ“あの頃”の声を響かせた。
MASAのメッセージ性の強い心ある歌声が特徴のDear Lovingだが、続く「FLASH BACK」ではロックバンドらしさを見せつけた。MCでMASAは「今日のイベントタイトルは“SHOCK WAVE~夏の陣~”ですか？」とオーディエンスの笑いを誘い、楽屋では「ハゲた」「太った」の会話が飛び交っており、年齢を感じたと面白おかしく本音を漏らした。MCでGt.YUKIはMASAのフリに期待以上に答え、笑いをとる。メッセージを強く放つバンドDear Lovingのライブには笑いが絶えない。今日も彼ららしいステージだ。Ba.KUROは大阪人らしくグイグイ来る２人を常に笑顔で見守る。この笑顔で全てが調和される。
3日後の8/10に発売されたNEW ALBUMから「DOOR」を披露し、またオーディエンスの心をつかんだと思ったら、メンバー紹介で自らを“日本一面白いギタリスﾄ”と称するYUKIは、迷いのないネタを披露し場内の爆笑を誘う。芸人顔負けのYUKIの一人ショーに、音楽界で肩を並べる者はいないだろう。
同じNEW ALBUMより「I’m here」、そして「CLIMBER」とハード曲が続き、メッセージを届ける「LOVE ME」へ。
MASAは「バンドは奇跡だ」と断言した。「続けることがエライわけではない」と言っていた彼らだが、このイベントを通し、一つ前のアルバムで自らが放った「継続とは宝でした。」という言葉を、まさに証明させたように思えた。
最後に「365」で、“誰も脇役ではない”と歌い、この日この会場に集まった全員とこのイベントを祝福したのだった。)

All bands came back on stage for an encore’s session and decided to sing the symbolic “Melty Love” from SHAZNA. This song was very famous and marked their generation. Everybody wanted to have a major debut and follow their dream to reach success.
(アンコールでは、全員でSHAZNAの「Melty Love」を熱唱した。まさにこの時代を象徴するような選曲である。バンドマンが皆メジャーデビューを目指し、成功を夢見た。そんな時代だった。)

On Aug 7th, 2016 the members from the bands who gather at TSUTAYA O-WEST in Shibuya, were all from the “WEST part” in Japan.This venue might had been a bit small for this event, but the choice of this livehouse definitely had a special meaning.
the theme of “Earliest Memories” was to “reform in order to go back on stage” .Even if on this event we saw bands come back from their past activities it also marked a step for a new history in Visual-kei scene.
Plus another theme was the birthday event for Mr.YTK who is the producer.
Mr.YTK keep his identity secret from everyone, however you should better check his event in the near future because he’s very talented for making great events in order to make happy fans and also artists.

(2016年8月7日、渋谷TSUTAYA O-WESTに集結したバンドは、東京を中心にして全て西(WEST)出身のバンドだった。この会場では狭いかのように感じたが、もしかしたら意味があったのかもしれない。
Earliest Memoriesは、伝説のバンドの復活や再現といったテーマが掲げられたが、このイベントは決して再現なんかではなく、ヴィジュアル系シーンに新たな伝説を作ったと言えるだろう。
そして、このイベントの裏テーマは、プロデューサーYTK氏のバースデーイベントだった。
YTK氏は正体を明かさないものの、今後も彼の主催するイベントはあるようだ。ファンだけでなく、出演者や関係者までもを夢中にし、心から楽しめるイベントを企画するYTK氏の今後にも注目だ。)

【SET LIST】

LAID
1.キミシダイ
2.yes
3.love & desire
4.TRANCE
5.wild world
6.星に願いを
7.smile
8.in the sky
9.butterfly
10.BAD VIRUS
11.LIKE A MONKEY

ILLUMINA
1.Style & Soul
2.忘れないで
3.遠い夜明け
4.Time Limit
5.LIFE
6.voiceless
7.Tun For Your Love
8.Love Sick
9.maybe tomorrow

JURASSIC
1.one or eight
2.ZERO
3.Cold Rain
4.ガッツキまっせ！！！
5.The brightest
6.Speed~Look For Love~
7.Honney
8.Go To Limit

Dear Loving
1.Fly high
2.I can’t love
3.FLASH BACK
4.グリコ
5.Door
6.I’m here
7.CLIMBER
8.LOVE ME
9.365

LAID, ILLUMINA: TEXT and Translated by Chika Yoshizawa
JURASSIC, Dear Loving: TEXT and Translated by Oscar N.B/ Edit by Seka
PHOTO by Seka