[Metal] Fuki & Hizaki at Hyper Japan Exhibition London in November

[TimJ]

http://hyperjapan.co.uk/timetable/

not familiar with Hizaki's work personally but will definitely check out Fuki, shame it's such a short set.

[TimJ]

So. 

Fuki was billed as an "anime metal singer", hmm, OK. I wondered what she was going to end up playing but in the end it was 5 or 6 songs, most off the "Welcome!" Fuki Commune album with one I didn't recognise. 

Mao was there on keyboards too and filled in a few extra solos where normally there would have been guitars but all good. 

Fuki turned out to be quite the live wire from the performance standpoint. 

I would hate to play this kind of venue (Hyper Japan is mostly an exhibition/chance for vendors of Japanese goods and food to sell stuff) - where the music is mostly a sideshow to the main event, in a room with all the charm of a hotel convention centre. But she was right into it, fist pumping and urging the crowd on.

The vocals? Well let's just say she hits all the notes you'd expect and then some. She has a few words of English, certainly enough to create a rapport with the crowd. 

Hizaki did a good set. I wasn't familiar with any of his material beforehand, and when I saw that the backline just consisted of a guitar and one Marshall amp (i.e. his) I wondered how he was going to hold the attention on his own, even if only for 30 minutes. 

But he did a good job, and probably was received even better than Fuki to be fair. 

It was quite a shock when he actually spoke that he actually had such a deep, booming voice, having flounced on in a white bejewelled dress and caked in makeup. 

Anyway - he didn't do quite enough to convert me into a diehard fan, but a very creditable performance nonetheless and worth the time to check out.

[Agonymph]

Yes, hearing Hizaki speak for the first time was sort of a shocker for me as well
Althought I thought the thick Kanzai accent was even more shocking than the deep voice. And I don't even speak Japanese...

[TimJ]

A couple of snaps:

[Agonymph]

I'm surprised they let you take photos. Versailles show are notorious for their strict photo rules.

[Painkiller]

Cool! I fixed the image links.

[TadakatsuH0nda]

Sounds like a cool experience. Have either of the two traveled that far west before?

[Agonymph]

Versailles toured Europe and did some US gigs before they even did their first full Japanese tour. They've played in London at least twice.

I think Light Bringer played in Europe before, but I'd have to check that.

[Dudemanguy]

I'm surprised they let you take photos. Versailles show are notorious for their strict photo rules.

I doubt they could really enforce those rules outside of Japan. Sounds like a cool show though.

[Agonymph]

Any management of any artist can pull any photo pass anytime they want. I had my photo pass confirmed for the Scandal show in Amsterdam a couple of months ago and didn't find out they were all pulled until I got to the venue.

And I haven't seen Jupiter in Cologne on their European tour, but all the photos that surfaced from that show were secretly taken with phones, because nobody was allowed to make photos.