MUCC 2Days CIRCUIT FINAL in Osaka

On Sunday, December 22, MUCC held their tour final entitled "MUCC 2DAYS CIRCUIT 2013 FINAL 'Hypnos vs Thanatos Z -God vs God boomΣ(゜Д゜)-'" in Osaka.

The final performance of their nationwide tour entitled "2DAYS CIRCUIT 2013 'Hypnos & Thanatos'," which began in October, was held at the ORIX THEATER. The tour featured two days of performances in each city. On the "Hypnos" day, MUCC played mellow songs and on the "Thanatos" day, they performed harder songs. But at the tour final, both days of performances featured both types of songs, with stillness and motion colliding on one stage, hence the title "MUCC 2DAYS CIRCUIT 2013 FINAL 'Hypnos vs Thanatos Z -God vs God boomΣ(゜Д゜)-'." This was the first time in MUCC's history that they held a tour final in Osaka, and there was an expectation that they would announce their plans for the following year, so many fans made their way to the ORIX THEATER.

The venue went dark, and following a countdown MUCC began their performance with the song "World's End." While they performed this song, the members were behind a screen on which the music video was being projected. Although the audience could not see the members, the roar of the music raised their expectations and loud cheers of uncontainable excitement broke out within the crowd. Then, all at once, the curtain fell and cheers exploded from the seats.

"Let's go Osaka!" called vocalist Tatsuro, riling up the audience as they immediately raced into the world of "Thanatos." They continued with incredibly hard songs like "Daikirai" and "Bouzen Jishitsu," and the solid and aggressive sound of the rhythm of YUKKE's bass shook the venue. The audience danced as if to say, "The seats in the hall don't matter!" Tatsuro's death voice rumbled in the audience's eardrums like an earthquake, and even though the performance had just begun, the enthusiasm continued to rise.

MUCC continued with "Zetsubou" and "Gerbera." The overwhelming sound that was like crawling into the dark depths of MUCC's muddled worldview, but the feeling was of pure beauty. Their sixth song in the set list that mixed both new and old numbers was "New Song 2." It features a strong sound from the rhythm section that gives the impression of climbing, and it seems as though this sort of sound will make up the new face of MUCC. The performance progressed with the danceable sound of songs like "G.G." and "WateR." Miya's shredding guitar riffs were both rhythmical and hard, making the audience dance along with his constantly changing modes of expression.

As the middle of the concert approached, the members seemed in even higher spirits from their ecstasy-filled performance. They showed their diversity with the ska rhythm and strong, hardcore sound of songs like "Soushin no Koe" and "Shougyou Shisou Kyoujidai Koushikyoku." In contrast, they expressed the profound darkness of the song "Shishite Tamashii" with a funky sound. The beat of SATOchi's drums soaked into the audience's bodies powerfully, as though they had been struck.

During "New Song 1," the lyrics were projected on a screen. The lyrics call forth the darkness and pain characteristic of folk music, and the thoughts contained in the words weigh heavily on the heart. As the venue became submerged in the world of "Hypnos," the audience forgot their earlier movement and simply lost themselves peacefully in the music. The diversity of MUCC's music became more apparent from this point on. They wrapped the hall up in the cheerful sound of "Ryuusei" and "Yuubeni," then immediately raised the speed and entered the last part of the main set.

"Make some noise!!" "The last one-man of the year is about to end. Will you jump?"

As Miya riled up the crowd, the audience answered by raising their fists in the air. "You&I" and "Mr.Liar" rocked the audience with terrible force, and finally MUCC performed their last song of the main set, "MAD YACK." Among the roaring of the music, Tatsuro forced out shouts as though he was straining his voice while Miya and YUKKE ran all over the stage and amused the crowd.

During the encore, the members expressed their gratitude to the people who had gathered to watch the performance and talked about the upcoming Christmas holiday, their excitement to play at the ORIX THEATER, and SATOchi's new ability to operate his smart phone through nasal breathing (?!). But there was no need to worry that the members' enthusiasm had waned too much. They completely changed the atmosphere inside the venue with the song "Nirvana," the strong sound capturing the audience's hearts. And the speed only kept rising from there. They performed "Mae e" and "Flight," the audience becoming one as they sang along. MUCC then performed the last song of the encore, "Ranchu." They attacked the audience with the looming, passionate sound, ending their last one-man performance of 2013 in an air of wild excitement.

"Thank you for this year! We'll do a lot next year, too."

With this promise, the members left the stage. Directly following the end of the performance, there was an announcement that quickly gave shape to their promise. On the screen, the words "2014 Program" appeared, and delighted shrieks arose from the crowd. Firstly, MUCC announced that they will release a new album in June of 2014. They will also hold a project in which they perform six different kinds of tours over seven consecutive months for a total of 55 performances. The project is called "SIX NINE WARS -SEVEN MONTHS WARS-." The tour titles are "Episode 1. MU-P LIVES," "Episode 2. VS," "Episode 3. Thanatos & Thanatos," "Episode 4. TRIANGLE," "Episode 5. THE END OF THE WORLD" (the album release tour) and "Episode 6. ARMAGEDDON." Just seeing the titles increased everyone's anticipation, wondering what would happen at each of these tours. Closing out the tours will be a one-man performance entitled "Final Episode. THE END" at Yoyogi National Stadium First Gymnasium on September 23. As each new piece of information was announced, voices nearly exploding with excitement welled up from inside the venue before the final words were projected on the screen. "Well, let's begin the end."