Ningen Isu 2022 Autumn One-Man Tour ~Wriggling in the Darkness~ September 4, 2022 Aomori Quarter

Ningen Isu 2022 Autumn One-Man Tour ~Wriggling in the Darkness~
September 4, 2022 Aomori Quarter
From around 18:35 to around 20:50

Setlist

SE Shin Seinen Maegaki

1. Tetsugoushi Mokushiroku
2. Shinryakusha
3. Hyouchou no Teikoku
4. Ougon no Yoake
5. Kochouran
6. Baka Suikyoui
7. ED75
8. Dunwich no Kai
9. Kuroi Taiyou
10. Mujou no Scat
11. Kumo no Ito
12. Neputa no Mondoriko
13. Yuurei Ressha
14. Hari no Yama

(Encore)

15. Ryouki ga Machi ni Yattekuru
16. Jigoku

(Second Encore)

17. Dotto Harai

Total 17 songs

It was a festival of the best rare songs and masterpieces.

Personally, it was absolutely amazing to hear "Ougon no Yoake," which I love so much that I've been dying to hear it to the point of writhing in agony.

I was like, "Are you serious?!" during the intro.

Besides that, every time an intro started, there was a stir of amazement and excitement (though we couldn't voice it), it was a heaven of rare songs!!

Below are the details of the live performance, impressions of each song, etc.

1. Tetsugoushi Mokushiroku

The three of them appeared to the SE of "Shin Seinen Maegaki," and as everyone in the audience held their breath wondering what the first song would be, that heavy bass intro rang out.

I thought, "This is going to be an incredible concert." The first song was the full version of Tetsugoushi Mokushiroku!!

2. Shinryakusha

I didn't expect it at all, so for a moment when the intro started, I was like, "I know this! I know this. But what song was it...?"

The moment I realized, "Wow, it's Shinryakusha!!" my heart was filled with ecstasy, thinking,
"This is too much!! Today is a festival, a rare song festival!!"

But how about this perfect reproduction of the recorded sound in their performance?
Especially the intricately crafted performance in the second half and the unusual outro were played exactly as I remembered from the recording, making me think, 'Wow... these guys are amazing...'

In the middle, Mr. Kawabata brought a theremin to the center of the stage.
That spacey interlude starting around 2:15 on the recording was played by Mr. Wajima on the theremin. The sound was spot on.

After the second song ended, along with the usual greeting, Mr. Suzuki said,
'You're probably tired of the usual songs by now, right? So, today we're going to play old songs, forgotten songs, long songs, songs you can't groove to, and songs that are so difficult we'll probably never play them again!'
Those were his words.

It's a festival! It's a festival!! (Wild excitement)

Rare songs, old songs, long songs—that is a feast.

And so, bursting with anticipation, we moved to the third song.

3. Hyōchō no Teikoku (Empire of Signs)

The song that came after the introduction of it being a 'difficult song' was none other than this one!!

To be honest, this is a song I usually tend to skip (confession).
Well, everyone has their own tastes...

However, this performance was different.
When you hear it live, it suddenly becomes so cool and fun! I imagine they must have practiced this extremely characteristic 'braking' part intensely since it's been a while.

Now, this applies to everything so far and everything to come, but what I want to highlight this time is that Mr. Suzuki's bass was particularly incredible.
No, it's always amazing, but the sound was so loud it made the ground shake, and the level of grit was tremendous—it was super awesome!!

I wonder if this feeling of the bass being more prominent than usual has something to do with the setlist this time?

Hyōchō no Teikoku, the drums for this also seem quite difficult...
But man, it's really cool!!

4. Ōgon no Yoake (Golden Dawn)

At the intro of the next song,
'Are you serious—!!'
I almost screamed.

'Ōgon no Yoake,' a song I love so much that I've always wanted to hear it live!!

If I had to say how much I love it, whenever something happens, I'm like, 'Ah... I should listen to Ōgon no Yoake...', and every time I writhe in ecstasy, thinking, 'Ugh!! This outro guitar solo is the best! I can't take it!' Since such a song was finally being played live, it was a big deal!

With the intensity of 'Am I the happiest person in the world right now?', I listened intently, watched Mr. Wajima's hands, and shook my head.

The spoken part with Mr. Wajima's falsetto voice, the long, quiet part in the interlude, and that super cool bass and guitar solo in the interlude and outro...

It was a perfect reproduction!
And the live performance was truly even more amazing...!!

They might play it again at the venues I'll be attending later, but for now, I listened with my whole body as if it were a once-in-a-lifetime encounter.
This is it, this is it!!

It's truly a case of 'there is nutrition you can only get by listening to this'...

I was truly happy.
Thank you, Ningen Isu!!

5. Kochoran (Orchid)

The atmosphere changed completely, shifting to this extremely beautiful, acoustic-flavored song sung by Wajima-san.

As for this song, I heard a version with only guitar and percussion during a joint gig with OUTRAGE in Nagano in September 2019, because Suzuki-san was absent due to ureteral stones (ah, the puns every time), but this was my first time hearing the complete version.

Suzuki-san's undulating heavy bass resonated incredibly well! (They must have put a lot of effort into the Nagano show since there was no bass...)

The interlude is complex and feels like an independent song in itself, and the parts where the guitar and bass take turns playing short solos were so cool that I could only groan, 'Ohhh...'

I usually listen to it quite casually, but hearing it live like this makes me realize once again what an amazing song it actually is.

6. Baka Suikyo (Drunken Fool)

There was a lot of talk about alcohol during the MC, so I thought, 'Oh, could it be?' and sure enough, it was 'Baka Suikyo'.

I believe this song was performed during the streaming concert on the official channel in 2020.
I thought 'Ohhh!' back then too, but the day finally came when I could hear it live at the venue!

Hearing it live is truly amazing!
The perfect reproduction of that overly characteristic sound and performance is amazing (in a sense, it's a song where the bass keeps leading. Suzuki-san is truly incredible!!), but above all, it was amazing how the theme of the song permeated every corner, making me feel as if space-time were warping.

I suppose this song is just full of such mechanisms.

When I just surrendered my body to the sound from the stage and swayed, it felt exactly like 'getting hopelessly intoxicated'.

What a marvel of composition and performance ability!!

7. ED75

Hearing the intro (I think they said something beforehand, but I forgot...), I was shocked again, thinking, 'Wait, they're even playing this song!!'
What is going on with today's setlist...!! (Joy)

And then, when Suzuki-san's singing started, I was suddenly pulled back into the atmosphere of the Showa era...
Even though I'm not a local, I felt deeply moved and was on the verge of tears.
Is this a setlist unique to Aomori, or will they play it at other venues too?

And this rhythm is truly the rhythm of a train.
I realized that you can really experience it live!!

Wajima-san's bluesy guitar outro was also wonderful, and at the end, I thought, 'Oh, so that's how it ends!' (Since the ending on the recording is a bit unclear...)

After ED75, they talked about how the middle part is a Neputa melody, then talked about Neputa, and how Suzuki-san loves Donryu Miura-san and thinks of him like the Emperor.
(My head was so full of the songs this time that I didn't catch the MC. I think it will be like that for the whole tour lol)

8. The Dunwich Horror

They played "The Dunwich Horror," which I had included in my rough, speculative setlist for this tour.
From that speculative setlist, they also played "Hari no Yama" (well, obviously...) in Aomori.

As an aside, I heard they played "At the Mountains of Madness" and "The Shadow Out of Time" in Sapporo afterward, so is this a trend where the hits keep gradually increasing with each show!?

Hearing this song live for the first time, the ominousness of Suzuki-san's singing really stood out and it was fantastic.

In addition, it was interesting to see Nobu-san making full use of various percussion instruments during the quiet instrumental section; I thought, 'So this is how it sounds in a live performance!'

For some reason, my memory of the guitar solo in the final outro has flown away, so I want to hear it properly once more.
I heard they played it in Sapporo too, so maybe it's a fixed part of the setlist?
I wonder if I'll be able to hear it again.

9. Black Sun

This extremely unsettling sound introduction followed by the heavy, swaying intro—could this be?
Gyaaaaaa...!!
I can't believe they'd even play this song! What kind of tour is this, seriously!!

So, here is this dark and incredibly heavy masterpiece.
Since Suzuki-san's bass playing is especially amazing this time, songs like this one are just grinding my brain to pieces.

And I'll say it as many times as I need to: the perfection of the reproduction...
I think the drums on this song are quite distinctive (this is just my amateur opinion, but I think Masuhiro-san's drum patterns on the album "Nijuuseiki Sousoukyoku" are freakishly amazing...), so Nobu-san playing them perfectly is incredible!

He tweeted frequently about his personal practice, and I suppose that's because, besides it being a song they haven't played in a long time, the song itself is extremely difficult (he also mentioned this during the MC).
Aniki is great!

10. Scat of Heartlessness

Since it can't be all rare songs (?), here comes a familiar track.

How many hundreds of times (is it really that many?) have I listened to this?
But it is a masterpiece that continues to shine, undeterred by that level of familiarity.

11. Spider's Thread

Aniki tiiiime!!

I was nervous wondering what Aniki song would come next, and it was this one.
It's my first time hearing it live, but the steadiness of Aniki singing while drumming is truly amazing.

And the furious drumming during the speed-up at the end was also fantastic!

12. Neputa no Mondoriko

As soon as the intro started, I was jumping until the end of the song, so I don't remember anything.

13. Ghost Train

At the intro of the 13th song, I went "Whoa!!" again.
I can finally hear that masterpiece live!!

Seeing it live, I realized again that it's the bass playing that continuously expresses the rattling sway of the train in this song.
Suzuki-san, that's tough! And it's a perfect performance.

But to repeat myself, why are they able to reproduce the recorded version so perfectly and play it even cooler by several degrees?
There are only three performers on stage.
These three are just too amazing...

It was such a wonderful performance that it made scenes from the music video, the sight of a leisurely, deserted local train interior, and the scenery outside the window pop into my mind.

The performance at the end where the tempo increases was just like the recorded version, and it felt unbelievable that they were doing this right in front of me.
So cool.

14. Hari no Yama (Mountain of Needles)

I thought maybe a rare song would come before the encore, but it was the usual.

15. Ryoki ga Machi ni Yattekuru (The Bizarre Comes to Town)

When they came out for the encore, they mentioned,
"Suzuki-kun once dislocated his shoulder while raising his arm during this song,"
and I wondered, which song? It turned out to be this one.
"Wow! You're going to hit us with this as a finishing move!"
That was how I felt.

This song is only included on the Ika-Ten version of "Ningen Isu" and the "Ningen Isu Masterpiece Selection" album, so it's a rare track in terms of recordings.

Seeing Wajima-san singing those insane lyrics (there's something about them that feels like 'youthful indiscretion' that makes me chuckle) so energetically after more than 30 years made me truly happy and delighted.
The strange cries that Wajima-san and Suzuki-san trade off in the middle were also perfect!!

And the stylish guitar outro of this song is one of my personal favorite solos.
It was amazing to hear it live.
It really is great...

Just some past tweets related to this song.
Even though they've aged, their appearance while performing on stage didn't feel much different from over 30 years ago.

Wajima-san also said in the MC, "We still think of ourselves as high school students" (amazing), so people who keep doing what they love don't get old.

16. Jigoku (Hell)

This song was on the 30th-anniversary album and they played it on that tour, so it's not a rare song.

But they really do have such a variety of songs.
Is there any other rock band, domestic or international, that has such a variety of work?

As an aside, when I'm driving and someone is tailgating me, I sometimes feel like I want to "stab them with a spear from their rear end."
The influence (!?) of Ningen Isu is alive and well.

17. Dotto Harai (And That's That)

This song was also on the 30th-anniversary album.
I saw Wajima-san's guitar, the PLUTO, for the first time in a while and thought, 'Oh!'

Suzuki-san's performance in this song is cool, isn't it?
The intense headbanging while strumming the bass in the middle, and him coming up behind Wajima-san to pop in and out of view—I got to see many sides of Suzuki-san this time too.
The performance is, of course, also cool.

17 songs in total, 2 hours and 15 minutes.
Looking at this still somewhat short number of songs and duration, I wonder if they still have a policy of keeping performance times short, but maybe it's just that it's too hard to increase the number of songs when they are all rare tracks (laughs).

During the final greetings, Suzuki-san said "E-D-7-5" while doing a train movement (very cute), and Wajima-san was introduced by Suzuki-san as "The Ghost Train Conductor, Shinji Wajima!"—it was unique to today.

Man, the "Wriggling in the Darkness" tour is just the best!!
Actually, as of the time I'm writing this (September 9, 2022. Today is the Sendai live!!), I've received the astonishing information that the Sapporo live show held after this one had 11 different songs from this Aomori setlist.
Man, that's incredible...

Will even more astonishing rare songs appear in the future!?
And will I be screaming "Gyaaaaaaa!!" in my head again at their perfect performance and overwhelming coolness!?

I'm looking forward to it!

(End)