On Dec. 29, BUCK-TICK held their final performance of their four-venue tour “THE DAY IN QUESTION 2013” which began in December, hitting venues in the three northern prefectures of Japan (Miyagi, Iwate, and Fukushima) and ending at the Nippon Budokan; a show which would also become their final performance of 2013.
2013 saw BUCK-TICK celebrate their 25th anniversary in June, and the success of their long-running documentary movie ”BUCK-TICK ~Bakuchiku Genshou~ The Movie” which helped the spread of the “BUCK-TICK Phenomenon” nationwide, but as the band also spent the year focusing on their own compositions, it had still been over nine months since their last solo performances in the Kanto area as part of the Eastern Japan Reconstruction Charity Live “TOUR 2013 COSMIC DREAMER Extra ~WE LOVE ALL!” the final of which took place on March 11 at the Nihon Seinenkan.
The day's performance at the Nippon Budokan sold out in minutes, making it even more of a premium live. The air was full of anticipation from the large number of people who had been waiting so long for a BUCK-TICK concert, and as the emotion swelled to its peak as the members stepped on stage to the sounds of “THEME OF B-T”, the band started right away with their newest song “STEPPERS -PARADE-”. Then, the show began in earnest as vocalist Atsushi Sakurai simply invited the audience to “please enjoy THE DAY IN QUESTION”.
Before the surprised and charmed audience who could not hide their excitement at suddenly hearing a new song, before long the venue was full of the melodies and distinct world of BUCK-TICK, as new and old songs mingled together one after the other; “NATIONAL MEDIA BOYS”, “Candy”, “Django!!! -Genwaku no Django-”, “Miu”, “BUSTER”, “CREAM SODA”, “Dress”, “BRAN-NEW LOVER”.
Over the instrumental piece “-Rainy-”, the concert entered its second half. With nonstop performances of “Serenade -Itoshi no Umbrella-”, “Hamushi no You ni”, “Suzumebachi”, “MY FUCKIN' VALENTINE”, “RHAPSODY”, “Kuchizuke” and “KISS ME GOOD-BYE”, the second half of the performance showed a different aspect to the group and opened a brand-new world of a different color to the audience through song. Surely, it was a masterpiece of a performance that words could not hope to describe.
After the main show, the members of BUCK-TICK once again appeared on stage for an encore, answering the warm cries of so many people in the crowd that night who did not yet wish to leave their world behind. Here, they held back nothing as they kept the crowd captive with another mix of old and new songs including “Elise no Tame ni”, “Makka na Yoru”, “ROMANCE”, and “Taiyou ni Korosareta”. Then, to begin what would act as a double encore, Sakurai commented, “Please listen to the song that became the theme song for our movie. Please join our parade, too,” before playing their new song “LOVE PARADE”.
Then, including their indies-era song “FLY HIGH”, Sakurai closed out 2013 for BUCK-TICK with the words, “Thanks. A lot of things happened to us today, but how was your year? Let's have fun again next year! Let's meet again next year! You know it'll end up that way anyway! So please dance with us this last time!” as their performance closed with “Dokudanjou Beauty -R.I.P.-”.
As the members left the stage behind, the impression of it all was much like the lyrics of “LOVE PARADE”: “Now as the curtain falls to applause and happy cheers and with a blown kiss/For everyone to smile for us, it's like a dream that gave too much”. What kind of parade would BUCK-TICK lead into 2014, and where would they go off to? This final performance was enough to make one once again look forward to seeing just that much.
Moreover, a compilation archive composed of live film of that day's performance at the Nippon Budokan will be available via Yahoo!Japan from the middle of January. This content will only be available to premium members of the site, but it is a wonderful opportunity to experience the excitement of that day's events. Also, Nico Nico Douga will be offering exclusive footage on their website of the band's performance in Koriyama (Fukushima) beginning Dec. 23.
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