That title is not only a mouthful, but probably confusing! And I don’t feel like explaining any of it! Kidding~
So firstly, I was indeed a fool and forgot my concert ticket for this live. This concert being on the 9th of November. I drove about two hours from home, got lunch, and when paying for my food realized my ticket was no where to be found. Which of course, sucked because I had paid about 2,000yen (roughly 20$ USD) for this show. Lucky for me, the show was also a “無料ライブ”, or “free live”. That’s right folks, I bought a ticket for a free event, and forgot it.
That’s either incredibly ironic or incredibly stupid, and well, I don’t know which I prefer.
What I lost out on was the perks of having bought the ticket; advanced entry, discount on merchandise, a voucher for a picture with your favorite member (I.e. 2shot). I was mainly bummed about the 2shot as I am a sucker for those types of events.
Still, I was going to the venue early because if you spent 2,000yen on goods before the show, you got a picture with the band. So I asked the manager then if I could still get the perks. I had proof I paid for the ticket (email) but not the ticket itself. He said there wasn’t anything he could do, that it was a free event after all. But if I spent even more yen, that I could still get that 2shot. But first things first, meeting the band!
I ended up being the fourth person in line for the event. I blanked on who to pick to sit next to me of the four members, so I picked the bassist Tamaki. He was really chill and friendly. The whole group was, and we talked a bit after the photo. Mostly ‘nice picture’, and the like. I told them I was excited for the live, and they seemed to dig that. There was a two hour gap between the photo event and the live itself, but I ended up meeting another new to Mathilda, visual kei fan from Aomori! The two of us ended up chatting for two hours until it was time for the live itself!
(TRIGGER WARNING: Abduction, abuse, disposal of a body via gasoline? It ain’t pretty folks.)
So… yeah with that trigger warning came the live itself. My friend and I waited for all the ticketed attendees to enter and headed in ourselves. She was a fan of the guitarist, Ichigo Jam, so we stood together near his section. Our ears during the wait, were greeted with some pretty intense… eating ASMR? Yeah, eating ASMR actually. I’ve listened casually to Mathilda since they got together but I never put the pieces together, and eating ASMR I have found out was not my thing.
I had a feeling that maybe this band would actually be one I didn’t like. But the live hadn’t even started yet! So the curtain was pulled back, and the members quickly filed on stage. I was a bit surprised at the amount of puppets and stuffed animals, as well as… a giant prop fork?
Mathilda, is apparently a band that ties in a lot of aspects of eating. There was of course the ASMR at the beginning, but before even the music starts, Qu the vocalist said “いただきます”. With of course, all of us in the audience following.
I have no setlist sadly, but the band was awesome. It took a few songs for me to really get into the mood, but once I was there it was amazing! Qu is a very dynamic vocalist, who isn’t afraid to play up the duality of his stage presence. On the bands harder songs, he looks like he’d rip out your heart and eat it in front of you. Yet, there was an MC set where he literally used two puppets to explain the furisuke (audience dance) to us. Speaking of the furisuke, they had some really creative ones! A lot of hand holding and crazy leg dancing, as well as using a fork, no not kidding, for a particular song. It certainly made for a distinct experience.
I think my favorite part was the band really having fun on stage just goofing around. We were doing a monkey (literally think the dance move the monkey) for awhile. Qu mentioned that they had been able to do a bit of sightseeing around Aomori. They added to apple stuffed animals to their collection on stage to ‘save for later’. Then the bassist Tamaki, disappeared for awhile. The crowd was starting to wonder where he went, when he appeared during our monkey-ing around pretending to be a Nebuta float! I couldn’t help but laugh with my friend, as it was one of the more creative ways a visual kei band had homaged to Aomori.
One of the best parts of this live was you could tell the band was super into giving their best performance. Ichigo Jam the guitarist, and Yoneda the drummer were laughing and smiling ear to ear the entire time. Tamaki was so earnest about being the float, but also wasn’t above grinning sheepishly when Qu told him there was no time to change, but to finish the live in his Nebuta outfit!
The other thing with this band is they never let up. They just kept chugging from one song to the next. They didn’t even stop long enough to drink water for the most part. Qu didn’t MC for long, keeping it relevant to the live experience and nothing more. We didn’t even get the typical “Tamaki on bass, Ichigo Jam on guitar, etc” for a breather! They just played their hearts out for an hour and a half. I did find it oddly endearing that they have a main set closer song about brushing your teeth, like one would do after a meal. Of course, it’s not just a simple song about brushing your teeth either.
They played one single song for an encore. Then all together the band and us fans ended the live with “ごちそうさまでした”. The theatrics of having a live compared to a fine meal, is certainly a concept I’ve never seen before in Visual Kei. I wasn’t sure about it before, but it’s distinct.
After the live… I of course ended up paying a bit extra on goods to get that 2shot I wanted. My friend laughed at me and told me I fell for the whole premise of a free one-man live and how they make money. I don’t disagree, but I don’t regret my choice either. Once an idea is planted in my head I can’t let go of it!
While I am a bit… confused for lack of a better word at Mathilda’s concept. I mean you’d think they had homaged the horror movie, but no. It made for an interesting adventure. Upon listening to their discography more in depth, their music is a bit of a mish-mash with something for all types of VKei fans.
Certainly not for everyone, but if you get the chance to see them at a taiban, or on their free live tour, you should. It’ll be a distinct experience for sure!
Phoenix Talks Pop Culture Japan 