WACK, the music production company that produced BiSH, held its second overseas showcase t “WACK in the UK vol.2” on 27th March 2024 (local time) at The Underworld live house in London, UK. The following is a report from the London performance of WACK in the UK vol. 2, their second overseas tour.

Under typically British weather, with rain coming and going, WACK’s second UK performance took place.

As with the previous show, there were not that many Japanese fans in the venue. Most of the audience members were from overseas. Before the doors opened, there was a queue along the building and out into the back streets.

This show posed a challenge for WACK, as overseas appearances often result from invitations by local promoters or Japanese companies. However, WACK took a different approach by booking and organizing the venue themselves. . It was truly DIY, reminiscent of what Watanabe used to do with the early BiS in Japan.

When the early BiS started in 2010, music distribution site OTOTOY ran alongside Watanabe. Similarly, in the UK, Tom Smith from JPU Records is helping ASP with sound source distribution etc. This time, he picked us up at the airport and assisted the WACK staff during the live show. He is very open and friendly. Although I speak very little English, he approached me kindly and made me feel at ease by talking about a variety of music.

This was such a challenging second UK tour. Before the show, WACK representative Junnosuke Watanabe, who lives in London, appeared wearing rabbit ears and greeted the audience in English. “Please call me JUNJUN,” he said with a laugh. The local fans cheered, shouting “JUNJUN!” and “Daisuki desu!”He then announced the day’s performers to loud cheers and left the stage saying, “Please enjoy!

■KiSS KiSS

The first performer was KiSS KiSS, a six-member group consisting of Kila May, Ca Non, Changbaby, Naruhaworld,Ainastar and Potential, who also appear in GANG PARADE. As the six members entered the stage, the audience cheered loudly. They started the performance with “KiSSES” and “KiSS KiSS SUNSET”, followed by a call-and-response of “KiSS KiSS KiSS” from the audience, and then the techno-influenced “KiSS KiSS KiSS”. The rhythm of 337 beats created a sense of oneness with the audience, who chanted “KiSS KiSS KiSS, KiSS KiSS, KiSS KiSS KiSS”.

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They then moved into “Frankenstein,” featuring a distinctive saxophone sound, followed by the lively “Choco Kiss!” Next, they debuted their new song, “Fanfare,” with the crowd enthusiastically clapping along. The final track, “Cake!”—a breakbeat-based song by Yohji Igarashi—kept everyone engaged until the members took their leave, closing the performance on a high note.

■ASP

Next on stage was ASP,performing in London for the second time.

As the girls took to the stage, the number of people on the floor increased, indicating the high level of attention they were receiving.They opened with “Dear Rockstar”, followed by “NO REASON” showcasing Yumeka’s roar. Next was “TOXiC iNVASiON” featuring lyrics originally written by Maxim from The Prodigy.
. The audience responded enthusiastically to the digital hardcore style songs.

Mog talked in English“We are ASP from Japan. Nice to meet you! Are you ready? The next song is a kiss song!” The song “Blueberry Gum” was followed by shouts of “Chuchuchu! The soulful song “PLEASE!!!l” was followed by “Blueberry Gum” after performing the “PLEASE!!!” Each member introduced themselves one by one. Yumeka talked about how big and delicious the fish and chips she had eaten were. The audience responded with a call and response of “Itadakimasu!

They moved on to “MAKE A MOVE” produced by the London-based rock group WARGASM, then played the punk tracks “A Song of Punk” and “M”,, and then Nameless said in English, “I’m glad that people outside Japan like WACK. I’ll try my best to perform in London again, so I’ll be happy to see you again! They performed their major label debut “Hyper Cracker” and powered through all 11 songs in a frenzy.

■GANG PARADE

GANG PARADE were the final act to perform at WACK’s second show in London. As soon as Watanabe announced their appearance at the previous show, the crowd cheered loudly, showing how eagerly the local fans had been awaiting their performance.
The 13 members appeared on stage to familiar opening sound effects, followed by Yui Ga Dockson’s “Nice to meet you!” and “We are Enjoy Play, Everyone’s Playground, GANG PARADE”,then they launched into their signature song, ‘Plastic 2 Mercy.. The pink psyllium, the colour of Yua Yumeno, who was celebrating her birthday that day, lit up the entire audience, and the crowd shouted in Japanese, creating great excitement from the start.

After performing the musical “SUPER PARTY PEOPLE” and the emotional melody of “lol”, the members introduced themselves one by one. After the introduction of “Do you like Japanese food? Do you like sushi?”. They continued with “Yakudou”, a song that combines Japanese and digital music, followed by “Gangsta Vibes”, a song with a distinctly Japanese flavour. Kila May said, “The fans in London have been waiting for this song for a long time. I’m singing this song for you,” she said in English, before launching into “Tears on the Stage”. They continued with their first song “Happy Lucky Kirakira Lucky” and the latest Gangsta Vibes anthem “Don’t Stop the ROCK! and the latest GANG PARADE anthem “Don’t Stop the ROCK!

After the three groups finished their performances, Junnosuke Watanabe came back on stage. I have some announcements to make,” he said in English, “I am excited to announce that WACK in the UK vol. 3 will take place. When he announced that the next performers would be ASP, BiS, MAMESHiBA NO TAiGUN TONAI BOUSHO a.k.a. MONSTER IDOL, the audience cheered loudly. GANG PARADE’s Coco Partin Coco, although sad that GANG PARADE would not be included in the next performance, declared emphatically, “GANG PARADE is coming back!” The audience cheered.

Watanabe told the audience in English that the next performance would be on the 28th of August and thanked the audience for coming today. He also said in Japanese, “London really is a city of diversity. I want everyone to come here on equal terms, and this is how we make it happen”. He told the audience that he was giving the show under the same conditions for both overseas and Japanese fans. After thanking the audience with “Thank you for coming”, all the members joined hands to greet the audience with the usual WACK greeting “We are WACK! The second London concert ended with all the members holding hands.