Pop Culture Punch

Look, until we get a full fledged US tour, I am fine with settling for the live viewing of &TEAM’s second Chiba show from their Blaze the Way tour in my local theater. Firstly, I was shocked that the show even made it to my local theater, so I’ll take that as a win! I was also happy to see that the theater ended up at least half full.

I showed up in my custom Fuma baseball jersey and settled in just before the show began. They opened with the Japanese version of “Back to Life,” which did suffer a few buffering hiccups, but after that, there were no more issues, thankfully. To add maximum impact, they followed up that immediately with “Lunatic” and “War Cry” – talk about high energy! I liked how they paced the show with some short VCR or talking breaks in between blocks of songs. All of the VCRs stayed with their Blaze the Way theme, so it was all very dark and moody…and hot. The talking bits remained light and fun, even when they worked through their final thank yous at the end.

“Rush,” “Mismatch,” and “Heartbreak Time Machine” also made it onto the setlist from their Back to Life album, as well as all of the tracks from their most recent We On Fire album, much to my delight. “Sakuro-ira Yell” was so, so good! Classics like “Under the Skin,” Firework,” and “Yukiakari” all made the cut, as well as favorites like “Koegawari” and “Aorarashi.” I was also so happy to hear “Run Wild” earlier in the set, as well as a very extended version of “Chinca Okashii.” There were a few songs that I was really surprised didn’t make this show’s particular setlist, like “Big Suki” and “Beat the Odds,” which bummed me out, but the whole set was really stacked from start to finish.

There were several outfit changes throughout the blocks of songs, as well, but my gosh, there were some that seemed way too hot for as much as they were sweating. But the final hour they got down into their casual custom made tour shirts and ditched the coreography for a more carefree execution and plenty of crowd interatction. Speaking of coreography, they were as tight as ever, and their vocals were truly incredible. There are always moments when I see them perform live that I question whether or not they are actually doing them live, but then they pause or take a deep breath and my doubts are cast away.

Watching this, as live as it can get for now, just makes me want to see them more and as often as possible. Anyway, for those who missed the event, I feel sorry you. And I guess you’ll just have to settle for fan captures.