ConcertReport　NingenIsu　September 4,2022　Japan

*The set list will be displayed. If you don’t want to see it, don’t scroll.

At the beginning

Well, here we go, the first day of “Ningen Isu”’s autumn tour “Wriggling in the Dark”.

The front of Aomori Quarter was already packed with fans.

The shirts for this tour are very cool, so I first bought one at the sales.

Soon it was time for the doors to open and we entered the venue.

Grabbing a beer, I went to the front.

I was in the sixth row from the front, near the right side with Shinji Wajima on guitar.

The audience in front of me was small, so I could see the stage well.

Best position, I got it!

The lights went out on time.

Expectations are high.

Shin-Seinen-Maegaki　Preface for new youth

The entrance SE is this song these days.

“Shigan-Goeika” is also good, but “Shin-Seinen-Maegaki” is more compact and nice.

Tetugoshi-Mokushiroku　 Apocalypse of Prison

I got goosebumps as soon as I heard the bass at the beginning of the song.

For more information, please watch Youtube, I had set the first song as “Tetugoshi-Mokushiroku” in my setlist.

And it was the complete version, not ending in the middle of the song.

Isn’t it amazing that I got it right?

So much for self-praise, I was happy to hear the song after a long time.

Wajima wrote this song when he was 17 years old, the riff, the development, the lyrics, everything was sharp.

It’s a great opener, isn’t it?

Invaders

I haven’t heard this one in a while.

A song from the album “Stranger Worlds”.

It is one of the songs from the space series of “Ningen Isu”, which appears from time to time.

It is a fast and groovy song that gets the audience going.

Hyocho-no-Teikoku　Empire of Signs

The band started by declaring that they would play a difficult song first.

As expected, the band did not use clicks, but rather eye contact.

The beat changes and there are lots of breaks in it, the three members communicated well with each other, and their performance was very impressive.

I’m not saying that clicks are bad, but there is certainly a raw vibrancy to the performance without them.

Ogon-no-Yoake　Golden Dawn

Wow! (in the style of Masa Ito)

I think this was really the first time I heard in concert.

It is the title track of their third album, “Golden Dawn”.

I had many ideas of what to play from this album, which is full of great songs, but this was unexpected.

I am glad to hear a song with a quiet part for the first time in a long time.

Kochoran　Moth Orchid

I haven’t heard this one for a while, they’re all rare songs, aren’t they?

The members’ eye contact was also noticeable in this song.

As drummer Nakajima Nobu recalled, “We played as if we were having a conversation”.

There was no clicking, so when Wajima sang while playing arpeggios, bassist Suzuki Kenichi was looking at Wajima’s pick.

Hmmm, a tense live performance.

Also, I think I’ve mentioned this several times in my blog, but the solo in this song is a great.

Wajima said that it represented a butterfly fluttering in the air, and it was amazing because I could picture the butterfly in my mind.

It is very difficult to express something that is not a sound with sound, like “a butterfly flying”.

I understand this because I am also a musician.

I think Wajima is a genius in this respect.

The solo on “Moth Orchid” is a good example.

The snow piling up in the middle part of “Yuki-Onna” is another example I can think of.

The contrast between the downpour and light rain in “Muddy Rain,” and so on.

After the piece, Suzuki said that when he plays a piece like this again after a long absence, he can understand why he stopped playing it.

I hope they do it again.

Bacchus-Gurui　Bacchus fanatic

A song about drinking from their sixth album, “Infinite Dweller”.

Wajima played the riff while hiccupping.

I love the relentless song development characteristic of the band’s early days.

These days, they finish the songs surprisingly easily.

Wajima said he is now looking forward to drinking after the tour.

ED75

Mmm, I think this is the first time I’ve heard this one, too.

It is a song from their seventh album, “Decadent Art Exhibition”.

The middle part of the melody using Neputa music is excellent.

Maybe Wajima likes it too, because he was playing the guitar while humming along.

The end of the song is different from the album, and the end is very delicate, with Nobu stopping the cymbal with his hand.

The Dunwich Horror

Also from the “Decadent Art Exhibition,” this is a song about Lovecraft.

This is another song with an irregular time signature and a complex development.

Is this tour a reaction to the recent decrease in the number of progressive songs?

Of course, we were very happy to hear it.

Since it was the first day of the tour, there was a sense of tension in the air, unlike the usual relaxed live performance of “Ningen Isu”.

This is something that is not often seen, so it was a valuable experience.

Just before the tour, Nobu had tweeted on Twitter that he had done a lot of personal practice, and the answer was today’s setlist.

Kuroi-Taiyo　Black Sun

The last number from the eighth album “Twentieth Century Funeral Song”.

The riff of the main theme was modern (for them), and the performance was heavier than the other songs, which made the audience’s hearts pound in their stomachs.

I think the swell of the audience started to grow from this song.

Mujo-no-Scat　Heartless Scat

This is a great song, and I think it was the only new song in the setlist this time.

It is long, well-developed, and has Wajima’s direct emotion that seems to cut into our heart.

It is still good no matter how many times I listen to it.

Kumo-no-Ito　Spider’s Silk

This was the Nobu corner!

They haven’t played this song recently, and I love it.

The riff in the main theme somehow made me euphoric, and Nobu’s shouts are nice and high-pitched.

My neck still hurts as I write this because I headbanged so hard during the ending thrash part.

Neputa no mondoriko　 English translation not available

From here, we are plunging toward the ending.

Flammable liquids have an “ignition point,” which is the temperature at which the liquid spontaneously ignites without an ignition source.

The ignition point of kerosene is 260C.

The ignition point of gasoline is 300C.

I have written something irrelevant, but the intro part of “Neputa no Mondoriko” was the “ignition point” for the Aomori performance this time.

The moment the audience started jumping up and down all at once, it was as if the venue was on fire.

It is unique to the Japanese language that the word “Live” refers to the concert itself by itself.

In short, it means “live,” but “live” also means “alive”.

At that moment, I definitely felt alive.

Yurei-Ressha　Ghost Train

I knew they was going to perform this one!

It’s a great song that I have heard many times, but I think this is the first time I have heard it at the end of the show.

The way the train heats up like a runaway towards the end of the song is truly breathtaking.

Hari-no-Yama　 Hell’s Mountain Of Needles

After all the excitement, we come to the usual ending.

I can’t finish without it.

Suzuki’s voice came out well.

Anyway, it’s a live show playing rare songs, but the last song of the show was the only one to be played at the end of the show.

It is the same as the fact that no one gets angry when the last of samurai dramas is the same every time.

The show ended with great excitement.

Ryoki-ga-Machi-ni-Yatte-Kuru　The Bizarre Comes to Town

Rare songs were played for encores, too.

I haven’t heard this one in a long time.

Suzuki had injured his shoulder during the previous tour when this song was included in the setlist.

There are a lot of parts where we have to wave our arm up in the air.

So he started the show declaring, “I’ll never lift my arm during this song again”, but he did lift his arm up to his chest.

I think that’s cool too, like a gut-punch.

Jigoku　Hell

Is this the original of the Hell series?

A standard popular song.

I also like the quiet part of this song.

I still don’t know how to count them exactly.

Dottoharai

The finish tonight is this one.

This one was also predictable.

I felt that this song, which has probably been played many times at the end of the concert, was balanced by being placed at the end of the storm of rare songs.

Oh, this song also has a relentless progressive part in the middle.

The hidden theme of this tour may be progressive music.