chilldspot x muque presents PLAYPARK 3 @ 代官山UNiT

A mini-series of events in Japan.

Unlike ADRIFT, where mitsume played, 代官山UNiT wasn't much of a looker. Nestled between a gym and a 7-Eleven, the venue was unmarked, save for a single A4 paper printout of tonight's acts stuck haphazardly on a peeling railing.

By now, I was intimately familiar with the ritual of gaining access to a show in Japan: open your e-plus app, flash your ticket, and pay your sacrificial 600 yen for a watered-down drink. The usher politely collected my donation, beckoning me down the stairs plunging straight into an abyss. While descending, I noticed the tradition of plastering signed posters on every exposed wall was in full display here at 代官山UNiT too. How were there that many acts in Japan?

Peeking around the corner was the merch booth, staffed a level above from the din brewing below. Holed up in a tiny room, there was the standard assortment of stuff - towels, t-shirts, and key chains. Buying merch at a show is always a challenge. Get it too early and you lose your chance at a good viewing spot. Too late and you end up with the usual suspects of surplus sizes, XS and his friend, XL. Taking my chances, I took a cursory glance at the items but elected to go straight down to the basement.

Creeping further down to the bottommost floor, the action was in full swing. Some 300 odd fans hilariously cramped in an inky black bunker. The crowd was ravenous for something, anything, to begin. I skirted around a couple and approached the counter for my overpriced drink. Doors were at 5 and I was certainly late, seeing how packed the pit was. I darted around the narrow walkway by the mixing console and found a fairly good angle of the stage. Proclaiming the spot mine, I rooted myself there for the entirety of the performance, wary of how quickly a good spot can be sniped.

Minutes passed and the lights faded. chilldspot was on.

chilldspot was my sleeper hit in the slew of shows I attended here in Japan. Despite their short set as the opening act, the band put on a stunning performance with the lead singer, Hiyune (比喩根), flooring me with her sonorous vocals. It's truly wonderous feeling when a live performance outpaces a band's recorded version, but the ambiance was well and away much better in person. The audience interaction was engaging, and they had some really unique live renditions of the tracks 未定 and BYE BYE.

All of this culminated in the song 愛哀. On stage, Hiyune swapped her guitar out for keys, and the song began with a beautifully haunting piano intro before diving straight into a heart-wrenching rock passage. It was nice to see the band had some range with their new album. Graciously, this absolutely emotive live rendition is available online! In fact, the band has a full tour live recording put on as an album which is definitely worth checking out.

chilldspot's time soon came to an end and sadly, the band departed, making way for the next act. I remember the intermission dragging on and the crowd getting testy, with some people actually relinquishing their spots. But as though on cue, as the restless rabble was reaching a peak, Asakura, the singer of muque, jumped right on stage and dove straight into their first song.

To be honest, I wasn't as familiar with muque's discography. The band played well enough, but the songs were just a touch too poppy for my taste. None of the tracks lasted more than 4 minutes and seemed crafted for an easy listen. Nothing wrong with that though, but I just wasn't as engaged as I thought I would be. Perhaps I was just spoiled by chilldspot's phenomenal performance before. Nonetheless, muque put up a solid performance and the little flourishes from the guitarist tacked on the end of each song were the highlight. It was also super fascinating to see Asakura's trademark blue hair glimmering against the darkness of the stage in person.

The audience was also way more animated than at the mitsume show. The fans here seemed well-versed in the catalogs of both bands, with plenty of chanting and hand signs thrown. There weren't any explicit "no photos" signs here and yet, in typical Japanese fashion, the audience was respectful of the unspoken culture, with only a few folks recording snippets of the band. I couldn't resist though, and sneaked a couple of cheeky shots between songs.

There wasn't much else to write as the concert wrapped up. The usual scramble for the exit ensued, and I worked my way up to pick up my merch (and hopefully a breath of fresh air). Funnily enough, the venue locked up the one bathroom right as after this, leading to one very exasperated fan, much to my bemusement.