LIVE REPORT ~ An Cafe: May 25, 2008
Fanime, San Jose, CA
An employee at the Civic Auditorium in San Jose told me, "I've never seen anything like this before," referring to the line for An Cafe which wrapped around an impressive five blocks. San Jose residents unaware of Fanime's presence almost certainly became aware after passing by An Cafe's line, which was far too bright and colorful to not notice. Among the dedicated fans were those dressed head to toe in Japanese street fashion-inspired dreads and also those fully decked out in cosplay. Despite the wait and flickering weather, the mood was cheerful throughout. I have to hand it to An Cafe fans: they're a younger fanbase in comparison to those of other bands, but their hearts are definitely in the right place.
Ramen and Rice performed admirably as the opening act. It is interesting to see a cello and violin duo as the opening act for a Jrock band of such spunk, but they served as the ice breaker for anime fans in the audience unfamiliar with An Cafe. The mood was high with anticipation. Everyone seemed ready to dance and interestingly enough, during Ramen and Rice's segment, several attendees started ballroom dancing. However, nothing could have predicted how wild the atmosphere was about to become.
When the house lights went down, the screams shot up like arrows to the ceiling. The peppy music seemed too epic for An Cafe, but each wave of energizing beats brought forth a new member to the stage and showcased how far their popularity had reached. When the last member, vocalist Miku, took to the stage, the crowd below seemed to be on the brink of an explosion. This was, after all, An Cafe's first performance in the US, and after a career spawning six years worth of fans the emotion was running high before the show had even begun to unfold.
"Lets get crazy!!" Miku's announcement signaled the first song of the evening, LOCK ON the NEW Sekai. The hip-swinging number was a choice opening that allowed An Cafe to show their full personality to the audience. Looking over at Teruki and seeing him so danged happy to be pounding those drums definitely put a smile on my face. Barely allowing the audience a chance to breathe, another uptempo number, Baby King, followed. This song relies heavily on the funky keyboard chanting in the background and so a moment's glory was given to keyboardist Yuki, who positively glowed at tonight's performance.
I had expected, like most An Cafe fans, that the majority of the setlist would be composed of songs off their latest album, Gokutama Rock Cafe. However they continually kept pumping out older tracks. Despite the absence of the original guitar player who played those striking riffs so melodiously in Wagama Koshinkyoku, Takuya clearly holds his own and skillfully mastered the notes in the song. To put it bluntly, Takuya can really shred!
As soon as the keyboard intro of Teketsuta Kousen started up it was like "Oh no, here it comes." Definitely a crowd favorite, Teketsuta Kousen had the whole auditorium following Miku's cute para para moves in sync with him. By the end of the song, it appeared more people had joined in. Escapism followed next and I would define it as a song with its own flare, alternating between polished, choreographed hand movements and hard-paced wackiness perfect for headbanging. Escapism still keeps things uptempo, but it's separate enough to show the audience that no, contrary to the belief that might be sinking in, not all An Cafe songs sound alike. An even more obvious departure from the consistently danceable songs, Nanairo crayon de egaku hikari wo, serviced a moment as gentle as the tune itself. Miku's piercing vocals plunged deep into the hearts of many caffekos and successfully stirred everyone else.
That moment came and passed and wouldn't we know it, the flippantly happy rock An Cafe has become so well known for started back up again right on time. e. t. c. the world and Nyappy in the World 3 somehow spawned a group of fans in front of me to link hands and form a ring-around-the-rosies circle. Clearly no one was caring about attitudes or ettiquette or image tonight. The whole auditorium was a mass pool of limbs being set free to move however they pleased. This is an important factor of An Cafe's performance. Obviously live performances carry peer pressure. No one wants to be the lone bystander among throttles of fans going crazy, but An Cafe has the swift ability to draw people in to their party of goofball, let-yourself-go craziness. In fact, if I could write this live report in two words it would be "dance party."
To be concise, it wasn't all dance party craziness. An Cafe did have emcee breaks. Each member introduction produced such high-pitched screams I felt a tinge of bitterness for the people up in the balcony. That didn't last long however, as the emcee breaks were short, and the happy-go-lucky music madness was on full throttle -- showing no signs of stopping.
Kakusei Heroism is a seriously brilliant song that showcases An Cafe's winning combination of drummer, keyboardist, bassist, guitarist and vocalist. Maybe some bands can pull off their sound with three or even two, but An Cafe's sound requires five, and this song certainly made it clear how vital each member is to the sound. Koritsu Hospital was one of the hardest played songs of the evenings and the mixture of para para and headbanging was very engaging. Cherry Saku Yuuki illuminated the audience with its mixture of sparkling melodies interwined with Miku's sharp, unyielding rapping. His rapping is quite enjoyable I must say. Not all vocalists can pull it off, but between his unique dance moves and edgy rapping skills, I'm wondering if there is anything Miku can't pull off vocally... not to mention Donald Duck. Not hearing his spot-on impression was a minor disappointment that can be overlooked given the consistency of An Cafe's performance. Always bubbly, always engaging, always fun. But it appeared that the fun was dwindling down to an end...
An Cafe saved their trump card for last. The audience knew an encore was coming. It consisted of one song, and that one song was enough. Smile Ichiban ii Onna was definitely the crowd pleaser of the evening, but it's also a song that tests the limits of how far a band can reach out to their audience. The uplifting lyrics have the presence of "last words" to the audience, getting them pumped up enough to not forget tonight's memorable evening but also delivering the message to keep going forward. Rather than feeling down that the live was over, the encore served as motivation. Miku's parting words left the audience with hope, "We will be back!"
The mood was extremely high even after the show ended. Adults accompanying their kids seemed satisfied that their time wasn't wasted and appeared a bit giddy themselves, and the fans could probably cross one less goal off their lists -- feeling satisfied that their devotion to An Cafe resulted in such a resoundingly awesome time. I think of the long stream of thoughts attendees could have had after the concert was over. The plane tickets? Worth it. The nine hours spent in the car? Worth it. The long wait for tickets followed by the long wait in line? Worth it. Shaking it like a polaroid picture at an An Cafe concert? Totally worth it.
set list
Lock on the Go-NEW-SEKAI
Baby King
WAGAMAMA KOSHINKYOKU
-MC-
TEKESUTA KOUSEN
ESUKAPUZUMU
Nanairo crayon de egaku hikari wo
e.t.c. The World
NYAPPY in the world 3
-MC-
KAKUSEI Heroism
Koritsu Hospital
Cherry SAKU YU-KI
encore
Smile ICHIBAN II ONNA
report by Sarah; photos by Kei
Thank you to Fanime for making this possible.
links
An Cafe Official Website
An Cafe Official MySpace
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