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DEVIL’S PARTY, an emotional and nostalgic event hosted by Luv PARADE and its former D’ESPAIRSRAY members Karyu, ZERO & TSUKASA. The event had everything you could wish for and made you wish for more!
Devil’s Party was an event hosted by Luv PARADE, which was formed by Karyu (ex-D’ESPAIRSRAY/ Angelo) and ex-D’ESPAIRSRAY ZERO (THE MICRO HEAD 4N’S/ OFIAM) and TSUKASA (THE MICRO HEAD 4N’S). The event took place on the 20th of June in Spotify O-EAST and, with the participating bands, it seemed like the whole event was circling around the ex-D’ESPAIRSRAY members: OFIAM having ZERO and TSUKASA as a support member, Karyu Session band featuring Karyu, and defspiral, who’s vocalist, TAKA, was taking the part of the guest vocalist in Luv PARADE.
We had the pleasure to watch this epic concert and to report it to you!
Some of you might have watched it, as it was also streamed live on ZAIKO, but this report might be a great chance to see the show from yet another angle and to relive your own memories!
We will start with the first band: OFIAM.
For those who don’t know them yet, we had the pleasure to interview them already, so please check them out!
Although OFIAM only started as a side project, their songs and stage performance are nothing but professional! They do have many acoustic parts, but also parts, where ZERO or kazuya are singing. Their performance was outstanding, with none of the band members being able to stand still for long. They used the whole stage to move around and motivate the fans in front of them to party with them. SHUN.’s fast guitar play was especially impressive during MADARA (斑). They definitely used their time well, with no time to take a breath, and all their songs were really energetic! Another speciality of their lives is definitely the visualization of the music on the screen in the background. For KOE (声), they were simply stunning! The music was accompanied by a lyric video that had impressive and beautiful animations in anime-style. Before they started the next song, ZERO shared how he regretted not being able to have a disbandment show for D’ESPAIRSRAY and that they wanted to make up for it with this live show. The next song was actually D’ESPAIRSRAY’s KAMIKAZE with ZERO on vocals. SHUN. and kazuya were concentrating on their fast guitar play at first, but after a while they started to move around freely. This song felt oddly nostalgic and refreshing at the same time and was definitely the highlight of this performance!
I personally love how OFIAM always manages a very uplifting performance despite not having a vocalist. SHUN. and ZERO both taking turns during MCs or being in charge of vocal parts is very unique and different in a very good way!
Next in line was Karyu Session Band with ryo (HOLLOWGRAM) as the vocalist and Yokoyama Kazutoshi on keyboard and percussion.
From the very first song, HUG, onwards, this band was giving it their all. ryo and Karyu were running from one end of the stage to the other repeatedly, every once in a while meeting in the middle to play back to back. Every so often, Karyu would walk as far as he could to the edge of the stage to look at his fans closer and motivate them to go give more. You could feel how much they enjoyed interacting with the fans and at the end of the song, ryo demonstrated an impressive death growl. The second song started slower and then slowly turned to a wilder pace. The whole venue was enthusiastically moving to the beat. The song then ended with heavy breathing as a transition to the next song: Marry of the blood, originally a D’ESPAIRSRAY song that was created by Karyu himself. The whole crowd was going crazy when the first beats from Yokoyama Kazutoshi echoed through the venue. Karyu and ryo were jumping together with the fans, who were nothing but excited about this song. Demonstrating his amazing skills, Karyu finished the song with an outstanding guitar solo. In their MC, Yokoyama, Karyu, and ryo were taking turns while explaining that they originally planned to play these songs in February at a different event, but ryo fell sick shortly before the event, and they had to postpone their first show together until Devil’s Party. ryo then revealed that they would continue this session band if people wanted to see them again. After the MC, they continued their show with Flash Dancers, which was the perfect opportunity for ryo to demonstrate his skills with more melodious singing parts this time.
Even though it was just a session band, they seemed like a well interacting team and you could feel their energy up to the second floor! All of them were motivating the fans to party with them in their very own style and we can’t wait to see more of this session band in the future!
The third act of the evening was defspiral. As soon as the intro started, the audience clapped their hands, while the members one after another entered the stage. The moment they started with their first song, AURORA, the audience had their hands in the air. The song has the perfect balance of hard beats and melodic parts. Especially during the melodic parts, you were able to experience first hand how talented TAKA is as a vocalist. Every tune was on point and incredibly clear. When he jumped all over the stage at one point, the fans couldn’t stand still anymore either. Their next song, PULSE, started with RYO’s extraordinary bass solo. The song is worth checking out for the awesome bass lines alone! During the song, RYO, TAKA, and MASATO went to the edge of the stage, where the audience directly in front of them got even more excited. MASATO especially showed how much he enjoyed the song by giving his all during the performance, before he changed sides with RYO. THANATOS is a song where RYO motivates you to raise your voice directly in the beginning. However, with the ongoing restrictions during concerts, raising one’s voice is still not allowed . But the audience made sure to raise their hands to show their support as much as possible. KAZUKI has just recently joined defspiral as a drummer, but he played with such enthusiasm that his arms seemed to be everywhere! I was also very surprised how TAKA manages to change his voice from powerful to sinful within mere seconds. MASATO nailed his astonishing guitar solo like it was nothing! During the small MC, TAKA asked the audience if they enjoyed the evening so far and also mentioned that KAZUKI only joined them last month as their drummer and that they are therefore the new defspiral with 4 members. defspiral continued their show with STARDUST, followed by HALO. Both songs are calmer but also create a particularly stunning ambience, especially when the white spotlights were only directed on TAKA. To close their show, defspiral played IRIS, a song where not only the fans but the members moved along to the beat, because it’s impossible to stand still! Shortly before the end of the song, TAKA made sure to thank their fans and to introduce each member.
Even though defspiral performed six powerful songs in a row, all members were as energetic as the moment they entered the stage, showing clearly their many years of experience as a band. This was my first time seeing them live and I was hooked from the first until the very last second! Besides their professionalism and talent, what left a strong impression was their way to interact with the audience by coming to the edge of the stage repeatingly during all songs.
After a small break, Luv PARADE entered the stage and, to everyone’s surprise, started their show with the iconic song Toxic from Britney Spears. I didn’t know that you could actually headbang to that song, but Luv PARADE made it possible with their hard sound and the fans went wild! All 3 members showed their full potential by turning Toxic into a surprisingly well-suited dark version. Karyu on the backing vocals was the perfect addition to transform the pop song into a rock song. The next song was also a big surprise: Poker Face from Lady Gaga. Again a song that you normally dance to, but not even one fan in the audience was not headbanging to TAKA’s powerful voice. Karyu and ZERO also seemed to enjoy every second. After the two pop songs, the next cover song was The Hand That Feeds from Nine Inch Nails. During this song, all members went to the edge of the stage several times.
The following MC was quite emotional, with not only TAKA but also TSUKASA mentioning that it’s already been 11 years since their last concert as Luv PARADE. After so many years, the members were especially grateful for the opportunity to stand again together on stage. They also promised to give their best for the future.
The song everyone hoped for the most was most likely DEVIL’S PARADE, and Luv PARADE did not disappoint! Being able to hear the song live again was incredibly nostalgic and the fans went crazy. But after 11 years, the members were overflowing with energy and happiness as well. The next song was one of their most iconic songs: MIRROR. To my surprise, the big screen in the back suddenly showed live footage of the members and the fans went even wilder. When Karyu sat down at the edge of the stage, ZERO was suddenly directly behind him with a big grin on his face. Before the song ended, TAKA, ZERO, and Karyu faced TSUKASA on his drums, making the end perfect. During all songs, the members were all over the place and interacted repeatingly with each other and their audience. Seeing how happy and grateful they seemed to be really touched me deeply. Before the members left the stage, they bowed several times to express their gratitude towards their fans, who started to clap their hands for an encore as soon as Karyu left as the last one.
Before the encore, ZERO explained that taking photos and filming were allowed for the next song. Because it’s normally strictly forbidden to take any footage during concerts in Japan, the fans were very eager to take photos or a video as a memory of the evening. Especially because the song of the encore was DEATH POINT! It was a version without TAKA, but the song was so powerful it nearly went unnoticed. When Karyu and ZERO played back to back, you could again see big smiles on their faces, which was very touching. After they finished the song, all members bowed deep down and mentioned again how grateful they are. ZERO also said that they definitely have to meet again. They expressed their gratitude to all participating members and with that the show ended
Seeing Karyu, ZERO and TSUKASA performing D’ESPAIRSRAY songs together after so many years was already deeply touching, but seeing so many musicians share a stage for a joint project while enjoying themselves to the fullest was even better. All bands managed to put on an incredible show from start to finish. Even though the bands were quite different in terms of number of members and also partly without vocals, the overall concept was well put together and coordinated. We hope there will be more events like this in the future!
Report: Jenny & Chris
English Edit: Kaity
It would be great if you could support us with a small donation.
It might not be much for you, but it would help us providing more and better interviews in the future.
With a little bit of your support we might be able to realize even more!
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