The Empty "Revolution Tour 2024" live report from Chiba LOOK on 11/8

On November 8, "Revolution Tour 2024" of the Empty, a rock band from Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture, opened at Chiba LOOK, a place they had never been to before.

As the title says, this time they are touring with their 2nd EP "Revolution e.p." released on October 30, and will be touring with their allies who will build up the core of the rock band live scene in the future, visiting 12 venues across Japan.

On the memorable first day of the event, the first note of the "Revolution Tour 2024" was sounded by Saba Sister, which made its major debut this year and is making a name for itself in the rock scene at breakneck speed.

Around 7:00 p.m., the already hot venue was darkened and Nachi (vo&gt), Ruminasu (gt&cho), GK (dr&cho), and support member Kohei Sato (ba) appeared with Bikke Blanca's "Ca Va?" in the background, which has become a familiar soundtrack among fans.

As soon as the band members got on the set, the SE stopped and the sound of GK's powerful bass drum signaled the start of a heavy band session with the essence of melocoa, followed by "Be Prepared! The live performance started with "Be Prepared!

The audience responded to the roaring sound of the four members at full throttle, and the excitement reached a climax as divers started to appear one after another, showing the physical strength of the band in their live performance!　Let's go home with the best!" Nachi then launched into the song "Strategy Meeting" from the latest album "Ano Yoru no Hanashi - EP".

The audience seemed to already know how to enjoy this song, as they had just finished the release tour of the album ("Ano Yoru no Hanashi Tour") with great success. The song "22" with its punkish melody and the lyrics "I don't want to be 22," and the driving rock number "! a rock number with a nice driving feeling.

From there, Nachi took a break and went on to MC, recounting her first encounter with The Empty.

He revealed that the girls became good friends when they performed together for the first time at "KIRAKIRALOVE TOUR 2023" held in the fall of 2011 and shared his honest feelings, saying, "I think the faces we see when we visit various live houses is one of the important reasons for the band to do live performances. He then performed "Hiace Number," a song he wrote while traveling around Japan in his Hiace.

The song was dropped with the lyrics, "A song for my friends," and on this day, at this place, it echoed through the venue as a fight song for The Empty, who were about to embark on a long tour. were carefully sounded out.

The contrast between the first half of the show, when the audience was enjoying themselves by aggressively moving their bodies forward, and the second half, when the audience was listening to the emotional atmosphere created by numbers that revealed the conflicts in their hearts and nostalgic, sweet and sour love songs, was impressive. During the MC again, the two groups lightly talked about the episode of the launch of the last time they performed together.

The girls played nonstop, including "Jersey," their signature song that helped spread their name, and "Music Prisoner," in which they sang about their fighting spirit in music over a two-beat melody, and the audience's voltage gradually increased. 's THEME," the last song of the night.

Nachi switched to a hand mic and used her whole body to release her inner energy to the floor as best she could, and the audience responded immediately with a full-throated singalong and crowdsurfing. The band left the stage, showing their love and encouragement for The Empty from beginning to end, and showing their solid power that they have cultivated through their recent tour.

While the excitement of Saba Sister had not cooled down, The Empty finally appeared on stage. As the audience was excitedly waiting for the band, "Country Road (Mimi wo Sumeba)" suddenly started to play as the lights went down, and the audience laughed at the unexpected choice of sound effects, Shinnosuke Tokunaga (gt) and Hina Harumoto (vo) appeared on stage one by one. Hina said, "Let's go home and confront each other with the various feelings we have endured until today," and the live started with the song "I'll Take You Out Tonight" from their latest album.

The Empty's previous releases have been mostly straightforward, hot, and untwisted, which could be categorized as adolescent punk.

However, "Revolution e.p." is not only that, but also a package of songs with a multifaceted approach, including an upper tune that sublimates their happy pop feeling and a ska-influenced number, while of course keeping the punk rock they have cultivated up to now at the core of their music. The most challenging of the songs is "I'll Take You Out Tonight". The white light from the back of the stage reveals the silhouettes of the four members, and the song begins in a slow ballad style with the words "I'll take you out tonight/I'll go out with you until I'm done," but as the song progresses, it develops into a two-beat song, a mid-tempo song, a gentle song, and a poetry song. The song is characterized by the way it changes expression within a single song, from two beats, to mid-tempo and gentle, to poetry and many words about the feelings in one's heart,
The Empty's universal bright and energetic power made this song sound powerful and emotional, and the audience immediately responded to the expressive song beautifully with singalongs and claps, while the venue gradually heated up and became more lively,
Without a pause, "Let's rock Chiba LOOK! and they moved on to "Sayonara Tears" and "MY SWEETIE," two standard live tunes!　After two punkish numbers, Ken nosuke dived to the floor with his bass in his arms!

The audience, driven by their impulses, ran riot freely, and the air was so full of excitement that it was hard to breathe.

Taking a break from such a chaotic atmosphere, Hina said over MC, "This morning, I found a different rare item on Mercari that I want, so I'm going to buy it tonight.

I heard Saba Sister play "Jersey" at the rehearsal earlier, and while listening to it, I thought, "They didn't sell it," and when I went backstage to check, they had bought it. Then, she sang a phrase from "Jersey" by Saba Sister!　The audience was excited when he sang the lyrics of the song with an arrangement of the lyrics, "The Bento that was so cute cost 16,000 yen," and then they moved on to "Revolution," the title song of the current tour!　The unique floating guitar sound and pop melody of "Revolution" got the floor going again, followed by "Bachikoi" and "Don't you want to ska dance with Saba Sister? said Hina, and lo and behold, Nachi and Ruminasu appeared on stage, and the two of them did their best two-step to the melody (laughter).

The following song, "Smile at Me," also featured the same dance moves, and the floor responded to their cheerful merriment by laughing and dancing in the same way, making for a very friendly atmosphere.

As the live approached the latter half of the show, the band gently appealed to the audience, "I hope everyone will be on the floor when we play with Saba Sister again somewhere," before playing "Memories Remain Sweet," "Ride on the Galactic Expressway," and "Goodbye Youth" in rapid succession in a relaxed manner.

The lyrics of the songs, which evoked thoughts of loved ones and places, were carefully sung with nostalgic melody lines, and the audience relaxed their bodies and listened deeply while swaying roughly.

The live performance finally reached its final spurt!　The band once again ignited a sing-along with the epic pop-rock anthem "Tonight is Baby," creating a strong sense of unity in the audience. The encore, which was called for by the fans, ended with a rousing rendition of "Kuppo no Uta," a punk song about youth, in which the band sang "For you / For tomorrow / We'll always play the sound.

　The Empty" continued to deliver their message straight and honestly without looking away from the audience for even a second. The Empty's forward-thinking attitude, which always creates a live performance together with the audience, gave me a sense of happiness, and seeing "Revolution e.p.," which has just been released, being performed with such a loud singalong on the first day of the tour, I could not help but wonder what kind of evolution and revolution the band would bring about by the end of this tour. What kind of evolution and revolution will they bring about by the end of this tour?

Writer: Riho Sato (Talking Rock!)