I have received the most important release so far during the year for me, after thinking the package got lost in transit and escalating the situation everywhere, it finally arrived to me, Daisuke Asakura’s “DA LIVE METAVERSE 2015 Re-Birth“, I have been waiting so much for this that I can’t even explain how I felt when the package arrived…it was a surreal experience, my mind went blank in a combination of shock and happiness, I survived!
Together with this I also received the ICEMAN Complete DVD box collection which I will talk about later because I haven’t finished watching all the 5 DVDs it comes with… so, I will dedicate this post to one of the best concerts I’ve seen so far, from a one man act, who really doesn’t need other musicians with him in order to shine.
Firs of all, DA LIVE METAVERSE 2015 Re-Birth releases officially in February 14, however Daisuke Asakura’s official webstore Darwin Store had a limited pre-order option that was shipped in advance during January, this edition came with 2 pre-order bonuses: a CD with 2 songs from the concert that are not released anywhere else, and it also comes with a link to a special movie online, which is the song from the encore of the concert, the song “Puppet Master“. I was lucky enough to get a copy of the
pre-order version, and I think it was a great decision, because the encore is amazing, probably one of the best performances in the concert, and the bonus CD is a great addition too.
So, as my first official review, for this wonderful concert, I will talk about my impressions of each song in the concert and the overall experience.
The cover design is very beautiful, it features a star within a shape that resembles a cross and it also has wings, I’ve noticed Daisuke is using this design for all the 25th anniversary related items. And the setlist of this concert is perfect, the majority of the songs are from the Metaverse project, however there are some classic songs from Quantum Mechanics Rainbow and also from 21st Fortune, which were a very nice addition in my opinion.
Opening SE: the concert starts amazing with this intro song, I noticed it contains a piece of the song “Message from 7 lights” with a distortion and it finishes with a heartbeat, where we see Daisuke being in a capsule, like he was not human (which we already suspected 🙂 ), he is either from a different planet or an artificial being created in order to make amazing music LOL, there is a performer dressed in clothes that reminded me of Naruto xD he carries a sickle and he wakes up Daisuke by hitting the capsule with a ball!!! and then Daisuke appears in the stage O_O!
0 game: and just after the intro is done, this beautiful song begins and in the back of the stage we see a ball shape that is rotating and it shows some constellations. We can also see Daisuke’s synthesizer arrangement which includes the famous and legendary Modular Moog !! together with legacy organs and a Nord electro rack 2 on top of them; we can also see the Virus TI, Roland Fantom G7, Roland V-Synth GT, Roland System-1, Roland JD-XA, Roland AIRA TB-3, Studiologic Sledge, Yamaha Motif XF7, Pioneer RMX-1000 and Pioneer EFX-500, all combined and mixed in a Roland MX-1. This is the first time I see this song in concert, and I think it’s a great song to start the concert, it has a lot of energy but not as much as an encore song.
ride on free: this is a very classic song, initially released in the “21st Fortune” album in 2001, now Daisuke comes in front of the stage with his guitar like he always does when he performs this song, and the visuals are amazing in the stage, with 2 female performers on each side and also a clown male performer (who happens to have a whip for some reason?! xD), together with the play of lights, it looks completely amazing. The arrangement of the song is a bit more rock n’ roll than it usually is in previous performances that I’ve seen where he plays the song a bit more slowly.
After these two songs, we have the MC where he welcomes everyone to the world of Metaverse, and he expresses to the audience that he is a bit nervous because it has been a long time since he does keyboard solo concerts, the last time he did was during the Quantum Mechanics Rainbow in 2006, so it’s almost 10 years later that he steps by himself in front of a crowd, and this time he is completely alone with no support musicians, which is even more amazing, this is how wonderful and talented he is, he can maintain the the interest of the audience without the need of any additional musician, really admirable.
創出 (soushutsu): Daisuke starts to get serious with this song and show us what he is capable of, this song really shows his skill with the synthesizers, I see he has some preference with the Virus TI in this song, he also plays some of the piano parts with the Fantom G7 and uses the Roland SYSTEM-1 towards the end to create some loops and play at the same time with the Virus TI, really beautiful combination, and I love the lights toward the ending of the song,
YA・TI・MA: this song has an industrial sound to me, it’s very experimental and Daisuke uses the Roland AIRA TB-3 for the majority of the song, creating very nice sounds and then he switches to the Roland V-Synth GT, in the background we see a figure of an android singing the words “hello, citizens”, like some aliens arriving to earth and saying hi to everybody xD this is the feeling I get.
topology: this is another great song, in here Daisuke plays around a lot with the Pioneer RMX-1000, applying all possible effects this equipment can do, I love the fact that he sings part of the chorus near the end, similar to the studio version but a bit more extended, his voice is a great addition to the song to make it more powerful and melodic.
Dream Ape Metaverse: it’s JD-XA’s turn in this song, for some nice analog sounds, and also the favorite Fantom G7 plays an important role in this beautiful and compelling, at this point we have been completely absorbed in this “Metaverse” deal, the visuals are amazing, the female performers are back, one on each side of the stage, they play the role of shadows or figures, who stay in certain positions while the background video changes with abstract colors, plus the lights and Daisuke’s hand gestures, creating a stage from a different world.
3×10^8 LUCKS: definitely one of the most EDM oriented songs by Daisuke, I read before that this song was inspired in the Hayabusa rocket mission, this song show us hope and the hard work to make the impossible doable, like in this case the Rocket was recovered after 7 years, after overcoming many obstacles such as communication lost with it, so Daisuke inspired on this event to create this amazing song. In the concert, it’s very powerful and we have a lot of usage of the AIRA TB-3 on top of the main sequence. The lights here is one of the best from the concert.
Division by Zero error and Moog solo! if anyone wondered what kind of song this beast is capable of doing, this is the first song in the concert where Daisuke show us the power of the true analog synthesizer, truly sounds I’ve never heard before, from loops to oscillations featuring Division by Zero main sequence, and beautiful visuals with the performers on each side, and a “heart beat” line in the middle of the stage.
Keyboard solo: keep the solos coming! this time Daisuke focuses on percussion sounds using the Fantom G7, it is short but extremely powerful.
Embryonic Trigger: more keyboard mastery display without holding back at all, we see everything in here, from Daisuke jumping on top of the legacy organs that he uses with the Moog, to some keytar beautiful scales to drumming with the Fantom G7, this is one of my favorite songs, he always brings a new arrangement!
Repli eye-program “d”: this is the song I was expecting the most from this DVD, it’s my favorite Metaverse song, and it does not disappoint at all, we see the setting of the stage fit perfectly with the song, the performer is back with an umbrella and there is rain in the stage, to fit with the song lyrics, we feel like we are in another mysterious world, Daisuke’s voice is completely dreamy, we see him smiling so I can see he loves this song as much as we all do, and then we have the most unbelievable solo ever played by a human being, he uses the Fantom G7 to play this beautiful melody, I mean really it’s perfect and the arrangement is different than in the album. I wish they had done more close up scenes of Daisuke’s hands while he is playing the solo, I need to seriously talk with the producer hahaha.
Now we have an interval, while Daisuke is changing clothes, the mime male performer draws a rocket, I suppose we are traveling to the Metaverse in this rocket xD very cute.
Angel Algorithm: another one of the classic songs that cannot be missed in such a concert, now Daisuke is back with white clothes, his amazing keytar and transparent glasses! I love his look, and the images on the screen in the back are great, with a blue angel and a red devil in 3D version, this is a very fun performance as always, we also have the female performers dancing throughout the song, you cannot avoid feeling like jumping and dancing while this song is being played, Daisuke looks like he’s enjoying himself and smiling a lot, really memorable and beautiful. The voice tone he uses in the keytar for the lead melody is different than in previous versions, it’s more electronic, which is great.
Ouranos -te・n・ku・u-: it’s time for the Nord electro rack 2 to shine, we listen to clean and lean electromechanical melodic sounds, oscillation and effects decorate the lead melody, with the help of the Moog as well, we are really traveling into the Metaverse! and we exploring this paradise of unknown sounds.
Classical medley: definitely one of the best parts of this concert, completely unexpected and beautiful in every way, I have no words to describe this part but I will try!. First we start with a song that makes me imagine a march of an army in front of a castle, and dragons flying around, it really feels this way, I think game lovers like me will love this melody, he uses the Moog to provide effects to every melody here, it’s something never seen before, every person who appreciates the wonders of synthesizers should watch this, it’s like the celebration of synth history, he switches to classic songs from famous composers, using this set of sounds, I am a different person after listening to this.
VINTAGE: more classic songs, this time coming from his masterpiece album “ELECTROMANCER“, this is a pure piano song, and he uses the acoustic piano voices in the Fantom G7 to give life to this powerful and nostalgic ballad song.
march hare: probably the most iconic song from the Metaverse project, Daisuke plays the intro of the song with the Fantom G7, it gets very emotional, you can feel the intensity, and then lead EDM melody starts in the most wonderful way, you can see the audience jumping and really getting into it, Daisuke guides the audience with his hands motion, this is one of those songs that go up and up and up…and you don’t want it to ever stop from going up! you can really see how much Daisuke loves this song, he definitely transmit this to the audience, we all are with him together in the journey of this song, and of course AIRA TB-3 has some shining moments in this perfect song. I love the fact that the female performers have bunny ears, and at the end Daisuke makes some gestures about bunny/hare ears too, it’s lovely.
The Transmuters: well, I must admit this is my second favorite song in the concert, and also one of my favorites from Metaverse, I love Daisuke’s fast-paced singing, the unique hand gestures which I learned already LOL, and the solos with the keytar are amazing, specially when he’s spinning around across the stage, and then he runs towards the microphone when he has to start singing again.
Red Coder “anemone”: a classic that cannot be missed, it has the perfect energy to indicate that we are near the end of the concert, it starts with aggressive guitar tones with the keytar, and the female performers are back of course! and finally we have the concert logo being displayed in all its glory on the back just before the hard chorus start, Daisuke is daring and taunting as always in this song, throwing kicks, and being just amazingly cool, he then throws away the microphone and goes to the keyboard cage and starts playing great synth solos in the Virus TI, then on the Motif XF7, and ultra speedy percussion on the Fantom G7 followed by some Moog analog synth madness, while the female dancers try to keep up with the pace of this song. I am completely fired up after this song!
YaTa-raven chronicle: the best way to finish, is of course with the best performance in my opinion, and the best song on this concert, one of the greatest creations from the Metaverse world, we feel like we are reaching to the end of our journey across the this wonderful universe, Daisuke sings the beautiful chorus with spread arms, almost like he was flying across the stage, maybe resembling the raven with steel wings, while the show of lights simply amaze us, and he finish the chorus with hand gestures that the audience can follow through, combined with the most layered and complex keytar solo in the entire concert, the sphere with the constellations is back, this performance is a complete delight in every aspect.
This is the last song of the main performance, Daisuke leaves and disappears in the back, then we see a movie where he returns to sleep in something that looks like a capsule, and we see that there are many clones apparently! I hope they can send one for me hahaha.
This marks the end of the content of the official DVD, the encore song was only available during the pre-order phase as an online link. I was lucky enough to do the preoder.
Puppet Master: When I saw the mime performer at the beginning of the concert, I was sure he would perform this song, just like in Quantum mechanics rainbow, and I am sad this was not included in the DVD because it’s such an amazing performance, and it would have been great to have it in the best quality possible, regardless of that, I am still grateful that I was able to see it. I really love the hand gestures on this song, so powerful and happy at the same time, his keytar solo is astonishing, this performance leaves you thirsty of more! and unfortunately this is the very last song of the concert. And of course, this cannot end without some amazing fanservice thanks to the visit of his two beautiful golden dogs in the stage! Belka and Jon, the latter which unfortunately passed away last year 😦
As final words, the only thing I can say is that it was an amazing journey, the world of Metaverse is another magnificent conceptual creation by this genius of the synth, and it must be one of the best performances I’ve ever seen in my life, I wish it was released in Bluray rather than DVD, so we can experience this world in high definition like it deserves, however I understand this might be difficult under Darwin records, but I hope this changes in the future.
I am looking forward to the continuation of this concert “DA METAVERSE 2016 Quarter Point” which was already announced by Darwin records, however no specific date has been set yet.
For those who are interested in buying DA METAVERSE 2015 re-birth DVD (which I strong recommend!), you can buy it in: HMV, Sony Music Shop or directly from Darwin webstore; the last two options require the usage of a forwarding service in case you don’t live in Japan.
Adding a small preview of the first song of the concert “0 game” from Darwin official Youtube channel:
JAPAN MUSIC SEKAI ~ Jrock & Jpop talk ~ 