What an amazing couple of months this has been for Japanese metal in the USA. In October `05 I got to see Sex Machineguns (my favorite Japanese metal band) play their first US live gig [read the live review], and now in April `06 here comes Loudness to small NC club. I mean, those guys are like the godfathers of Japanese metal...back in the day, being a US fan of Japanese metal was pretty much defined in terms of which Loudness record was your favorite, or maybe if you'd ever heard of Anthem. Even though bands like Sex Machineguns and X Japan have managed to gain some dedicated American fans, most Japanese metal remains a sort of underground entity, and Loudness was probably the band that cracked the mainstream metal market more than any other band. Back in the 80s, the band was reasonably popular and respected, and they even took a shot with an American singer for a while [read the interview with Mike Vescera]. These days, many US metalheads would probably be surprised to learn that Loudness actually never broke up and has continued to churn out records in their homeland. Finally, the band has reformed with its original "classic" lineup, has secured some European distribution for the new albums, and has returned to the US for its first American tour in 15 years.

I'll admit that I approached this gig with a mixture of excitement and apprehension. After all, how could I not consider myself lucky to be able to catch a live show from a legendary Japanese band that I'd been listening to for more than half of my life? On the other hand, I have not picked up a Loudness album in at least 15 years (my last one was Soldier of Fortune back in 1989). I heard some of the midperiod stuff, but by that time guitarist Akira Takasaki was the only original member left and the material seemed different somehow. The original members are back now, but the reunion stuff has consistently ventured into a newer style with lots of drop tuning and groove riffs that are a distinct departure from the band's "classic" sound. The set list for the US shows was pretty much the same for the duration of the tour and included a mix of old and new songs, so I was certainly looking forward to hearing the old material, and I was curious to see how the new tunes went over at a live show.

The "Thunder in the USA" tour included only 13 dates across the entire US, so I was quite surprised to learn that Loudness was playing in Fayetteville, NC, a smallish military town that is less than 90 minutes from my house. I arranged to meet up with one of my best friends, and we showed up very early at Jesters, a small club tucked away behind a grocery store (you'd never find it if you weren't looking for it). We were checking out the tour buses behind the club, and turns out that my buddy knew Loudness' US tour manager (a guy named Danny Stanton, former singer for Takashi and tour manager for Thin Lizzy, WASP, and others). Anyway, we'd hoped to see Loudness before the show, but Danny told us that the band usually arrived at the club late in the evening, just in time to warm up and go on stage. Major drag. In the end, it was a good thing that we did have some extra time before the gig started. As we entered the club, we were frisked at the door and told that no digital cameras were allowed inside the venue. (I believe that this was the club's policy and had nothing to do with Loudness; I've seen nice, clean photos—and even some bootleg video—from other Loudness gigs on this tour.) So we headed to the grocery store to buy a bunch of disposable cameras (hence the average quality of the photos included with this live report — blame Jesters, not me).

We finally got inside the club about 30 minutes before showtime, and we were startled to find that the place was virtually empty. The stage area was a decent size, but the club itself was not large (rather small in light of the arena-sized venues that Loudness commands back in Japan). I had assumed that Loudness would be a pretty big draw, and I knew that the show in Virginia the night before had sold out completely. NC's own Widow was also scheduled to play as the second band of the night, so I had expected some local metal militia to show up for them too. (Japanese metalheads may have picked up Widow's latest album on Spiritual Beast Records in Japan.) Thanks to a connection through HMF's own AK Nakagawa, I'd arranged to meet up with some of the guys from Widow, so we hung out for a bit and shared a few beers while the first band got ready to play.

One of my local favorites, Frexon Zo, was slated to be the first band on the bill for this gig, but FZ had to back out at the last minute. Doh! The replacement opener, a relatively new local band called Hellrazor, took the stage promptly at 8pm—I love it when a gig starts on time. I guess it's tough to open up for a big-name headliner, and it must be even worse when the club is pretty well deserted. I'd seen the band before, so some of the material seemed familiar...decent riffs but not particularly memorable, and too much "are you ready to @*&%$ rock" conversation for me. To Hellrazor's credit, they knocked out their set of original material (plus one Ozzy cover that was probably a mistake) in the face of utter indifference from the small crowd, although more folks had drifted into the place by the end of the band's set.

I'm almost ashamed to admit that I'd never seen Widow play before...the band is practically a NC institution, but this was my first chance to check them out in concert.(Sorry AK!) Unfortunately, the band's set was plagued by technical problems, as the guitars kept cutting in and out while, almost paradoxically, the vocals were buried in the mix. Even so, the Widow crew whipped through a good cross-section of material from their releases, hitting on newer tunes like "Here to Stay" and closing with fan favorite "Angel Sin". I think that the best part about the Widow set was that the band was clearly having a lot of fun...yeah, the sound was lousy and the club was still not very crowded, but how cool is it to be an opening act for metal legends from Japan? At one point in the between-song chatter, guitarist Cristof summed it up nicely by saying something like, "Man, I can't believe that we are opening up for Loudness! I grew up listening to these guys!" Me too, Cristof...me too...

While Widow was tearing down their gear, my buddy and I staked out a good spot right in front of the stage, on little bit on the left side (this turned out to be Yamashita san's side of the stage). There were definitely more people in the club now, although I'd still be surprised if there were more than 100 - 125 people there. As you might expect, most of the Loudness tour crew members were Japanese, and they got the band's gear set up quickly. Earlier in the evening, when we were out back by the tour buses, we'd heard the Jesters crew talking about their setup activities with the Loudness crew. Apparently, the in-house lighting rig could get overloaded easily, but the Jesters team wasn't sure that the Loudness crew understood that they could not turn the lights up to maximum power for an extended period of time. Too much power would blow the circuits, and then somebody would have to climb up to the ceiling to fix the lights. Remember that I mentioned this—it'll come in useful later...

Finally, the lights went down and it was time for the main show...Loudness! Unfortunately, someone went a little overboard with the smoke machine on the side of the stage, because we could barely see the band climb onstage while the taped intro played. Then the lights went up and can you believe that I am this close to Loudness?! I could hardly believe it myself. After watching so many live videos of the band from their 80s heyday, with the crazy hair and flashy outfits, I was really glad to see the guys dressed comfortably in track suits and sneakers.I was also quite grateful that Takasaki san was not wearing his ridiculous dreadlocks wig (check the picture at top of this review to see what I mean), opting for a simple baseball cap instead. And even though the stage was relatively small, there was an elevated drum riser in the back, so I could see Higuchi san really well for the entire show.

The band did not waste any time getting kicking off their show and immediately launched into "Exultation" and "Lunatic", a pair of songs from their more recent albums. I mentioned before that I was not particularly fond of the band's current style of material, and this gig did little to change my mind about that. I'm not really looking for this kind of pseudo-thrash stuff from Loudness, and I like it much better when Niihara san sings instead of shouting a song title repeatedly. So I wasn't familiar with the first two songs, but it was easy enough to pick up the rhythms and find the choruses, so I sang right along. Thankfully, the sound and mix were quite good (much improved from the Widow set), and the band was tight as hell, but could someone please turn off that infernal smoke machine? Anyway, I had already seen the order for the set list (and could see it taped to the floor at Yamashita san's feet), so I knew that the upcoming trio of older tunes was going to be the highlight of the show for me.

Sure enough, Niihara san chatted with the crowd for a few minutes while Takasaki san changed out his guitars, swapping his down-tuned model for an orange Killer axe that was tuned for the older material. When he started off the riff for "Crazy Nights", the crowd definitely responded with all of their shouting power...these were tunes that people had been waiting to hear, and thankfully someone had finally turned down the smoke machine so that we could actually see the band. The excitement did not stop for an instant as the band raced straight into smoking versions of "Crazy Doctor" and "In the Mirror." The audience was fully involved now, screaming out the lyrics and pumping fists in time with the songs. The band responded with equal intensity and delivered absolutely ferocious versions of these tunes, prowling the small stage and exhorting the fans to sing louder and make more noise. Man, talk about dream fulfillment...these are such classic songs that sound just as righteous now as they did 20 years ago, so it was wonderful to experience these tunes live in the hands of the masters themselves...take me away from here forever, indeed...

Unlike the Sex Machineguns show in Nashville, where each band member had a chance to talk to the crowd, Niihara san did all the talking for Loudness. He seemed very comfortable, and he was actually a pretty funny guy, cracking some jokes in between songs. He commented that it was tricky to be an international rock band from Japan, since he had to do so much talking in English, and then laughed and said, "You know, I don't even know what I am saying in Japanese most of the time!" Hah! And of course, he got the crowd cheering when he explained that "some words are very difficult for me to say in English...I had to work on this all day so I could say: Hello North Car-o-lina!" Yamashita san was a bit of clown also, grinning at the crowd and doing bizarre tricks like smoking a between-tune cigarette with his right eye socket (no kidding!).

Back to the new material now, with Takasaki san switching to his drop-tuned guitar and Niihara san explaining that Loudness had lots of new music...apparently, they realized that many of the fans may not have known about the band's current albums. The guitar swap was handled quickly and then up came a batch of "reunion" tunes. I'd heard "The Winds of Victory" before but did not remember it very well, and I wasn't familiar with "Crazy Samurai" at all, although I believe it is a single from the most recent studio release, Racing (which was also released in a separate English version, like Disillusion was back in the 80s). Part of the crowd seemed to be really into the new stuff, so that was very cool, but from listening to shouted song requests and crowd chatter, I got the feeling that there were other gaijin who, like me, were eager for more old songs from the glory days of the band.

It must be very difficult for bands with such lengthy careers to choose a set list, since there is so much material to draw from and so many "fan favorites" to consider. Even so, I question the placement of "Cross" in the middle of the set list. I didn't know the song, and it seemed that few others knew it either, and the slow, doomy pace of the tune kind of killed the momentum that the gig had built up. The song was quite long (or seemed that way), with multiple stops and starts, and the crowd seemed to lose interest, even though Takasaki san was playing a pretty cool guitar that had lights on it. When the tune was finally done, I am not sure that anybody was really sure that it was over...the band hit the final note and let the guitar chord fade out, and there was total silence in the club...only when Niihara san said, "Thank you very much!" did we realize that the song was over. It was kind of weird, really...

According to the set list taped to the stage, the "official" set was almost over, even though the band had not even been playing for an hour. "The Pandemonium" was up next, another new tune, and then it was time for the final song, a brisk older tune called "S.D.I." that was an nice choice to close the first part of the show, with a great riff and a good sing-along chorus. Still, the set seemed far too short, especially since there had been no songs from Shadows of War (aka Lightning Strikes), which was one of more popular Loudness albums here in the US. It seemed that most of the crowd didn't know that there were at least two planned encores, so there were lots of shouts for more songs, and specifically for "Let It Go" (which is a great song, but I think there are much better tunes from the SoW record, such as the killer title track).

And remember what I mentioned earlier about the lighting rig getting overloaded easily? Well, I suppose that the stage crew got a little carried away on the final song and cranked up the lights, because as the band was winding down on "S.D.I." and saying good-bye, the lights sparked and flashed, and the band left the stage in darkness. We weren't sure what exactly had happened, but soon a few members of the Jesters crew showed up, placed a ladder in the middle of the stage, and climbed up to work on the lighting rig. It really didn't take that long for them to fix the problem, but the crowd was ready for more metal, chanting "Loudness! Loudness!" and " Let It Go! Let It Go!" over and over and shouting for more songs. After a few minutes, the crowd started getting rather restless, as if the band were intentionally making us wait for the encore, even though it was pretty obvious that the show could not start again until the lights were fixed. Finally, the Jesters guys finished up and whisked away the ladder, then it was time for more Loudness!

While the band got settled back in with their instruments, Niihara san talked to us for a bit, told us how much fun they'd had playing for US audiences again, and reminded us about their current albums. This little chat led straight into "The Battleship Musashi", a current maxi-single that is more in the thrashier style. I was waiting for a guitar change before the band launched into "Rock Shock", but Takasaki san kept his droptuned axe for a slightly different version of the classic song. I remembered that Loudness had recently released a compilation album featuring rerecorded versions of older material, so I assume that we were hearing the updated live version, which seemed to be in a lower key and also changed the chorus a little bit (but not a change for the better—I prefer the original version, which is probably why I never bought the album of rerecordings). If the different version confused anybody else, I certainly could not tell, because the fans had their fists up and their voices raised to scream along with every word. So much for the first encore...

Another break for the band, and now the crowd was nearly going insane to hear something from SoW, back to chanting "Let It Go!" and generally shouting for more thunder from the East. The band came back pretty quickly, and I must admit that I was delighted to see Takasaki san with his orange guitar—that meant classic material with the original tuning! Niihara san could clearly tell that we were hyped up for more metal, and I think the band just had a good time basking in the moment before beginning the next song. Takasaki san had a wonderfully sly grin on his face as he kicked into the opening riff to "Let It Go", and the whole audience (myself included) pretty much went berserk. Niihara san could have stopped singing at any time, and I think that the audience would have been loud enough to fill in with every word of the song...

But wait a second, why are they stopping after the first chorus? Surely they aren't going to play a shortened version of the one song that fans have been shouting for all night...yeah, that's exactly what they're doing, playing a transitional riff and heading straight into "Like Hell", the final tune of the evening. Don't get me wrong—I think that "Like Hell" is a great song, and the chorus is perfect for a live show since the audience can sing along easily...but what was the point of only playing half of "Let It Go"? I believe the tune was a late addition to the set list for the tour, but they'd played it at several shows before arriving in NC, so it's not like they would have been unprepared to rock out the whole tune. Anyway, everyone was at fever pitch for the last song, lots of shouting and headbanging from the audience ("Like Hell! Gonna rock you like Hell!"), and lots of "Thank you, North Car-o-lina!" from Loudness...and then all of a sudden it was over, and that's a drag...

When the house lights came up, we knew that the show was really finished, and I could still hardly believe that I had been so close to such a legendary band. I was certainly impressed by the show...yeah, I wanted more songs, but I would have wanted more even if the band had played for three hours! Niihara san's voice was still more than strong enough to handle the classic material, and he was an excellent frontman, completely comfortable as host for the evening. Takasaki san proved that his reputation as a veritable guitar god is well deserved, as his deft playing exuded a sense of effortless precision and absolute control. He also came across as very humble in his performance...no showboating or overplaying, just comfortable mastery of his instrument that was inspiring to witness. Yamashita san seems to be often overlooked in this band (or perhaps he just likes to keep a lower profile), but his playing was great and he loved interacting with the crowd (he gave my buddy and me his last two bass picks at the end of the night). He wore a tremendous grin as he nailed down the bottom end all night long, and every now and then he'd throw in a little bass trick or play his lines with his left hand on top of the frets (instead of holding the bass neck in his palm). Speaking as a drummer, I was especially excited to see Higuchi san play in a live setting. He certainly played well this night, but he appeared to be uncomfortable or even possibly in some pain, and by the end of the first few songs, it seemed that he was struggling to play his kit. His performance was still solid and he missed not a single note throughout the evening, but I've watched his playing enough over the years to realize that the fluid grace he usually exhibits was definitely missing.

Tour manager Danny had told us that the Loudness guys usually hung out near the tour buses after the show, so we were quite hopeful that we'd get to meet the band and get some autographs. But it was still pretty early (not even midnight yet), so my pals and I decided to hang out in club for a while to see if the band would show up there first. Sure enough, Higuchi san showed up in front of the stage a few minutes later. I don't think he intended to do a meet-and-greet at that point (he was probably checking on gear or something), but he was instantly mobbed by fans who saw him (actually, most of the crowd did not notice that he was there). He signed a bunch of stuff for people before going backstage again, and it was cool to see fans with classic Loudness items (Law of Devils Land LPs and things like that).

Over the course of the next 20 minutes or so, the rest of the band came out from the back, one by one. I have no idea how concerts are organized in Japan or if fans ever get the opportunity to meet the band members, but I found it almost surreal to be talking to Yamashita san in a small club in NC. He signed all of the CD booklets that my buddy and I had brought, and he seemed amused when we told him we wished they's played "Shadows of War" or "Die of Hunger" during the show. Higuchi san was equally cool, signing everything we had, and even searching for his photo on most of the booklets so that he could sign in the correct place. We found Takasaki san over at the bar, relaxing with a drink and just hanging out. He was so very humble as he signed all of our stuff, and he seemed genuinely surprised that so many of the fans had such extensive collections of Loudness items. I did notice, however, that almost all of the CDs that fans had were "older" material, with only a few newer releases showing up. I also realized that I'd forgotten to bring all of my Loudness-related project stuff...Lazy, Misako Honjoh, Mari Hamada, Animetal, and whatever else I've got. Doh! We finally caught up with Niihara san in the middle of a group of fans. He was very pleasant and gracious, and he gave a "thumbs up" when I had him sign the X.Y.Z.→ A CDs that I'd brought. Of course, I also had him sign my copy of HMF Vol. 2, which features X.Y.Z.→ A on the cover—he was very surprised to see that!

What an awesome night this was, although I was rather disappointed that the set list was so short. I mean, 10 tunes for the "main" set is really not much, especially for a band that has such a massive back catalog of killer albums. I certainly understand that the band would want to hit on a lot of their newer music; at the end of the day, touring is all about promotion, so it makes perfect sense that they would push material from recent albums. But the entire set was only 13.5 tunes - that's less than 90 minutes...if you're going to come all the way over to the US for a tour, then bring a full set of songs, do 2 hours of stuff, add in a few more old classics..."Esper" or anything from Shadows of War or maybe a surprise like "Black Wall". In the end, though, this was an amazing experience, and I feel extremely lucky that I was able to see such a hugely successful band in such a small club, since I doubt that this kind of tour happens very often (I can't imagine the expense involved in orchestrating something like this). I am hopeful that the band enjoyed their quick trip across America, and I hope that they will return again soon...I don't want to wait another 15 years!

For much more info on the Loudness legend, check out the official Loudness web site, which includes English versions of some pages. While you are there, take a look at info on the live DVD that captures the US tour, Loudness in America 06.