Music production company WACK,which produced BiSH, held its fourth overseas showcase ‘WACK in the UK vol.4’ at The Underworld live house in London, UK on Wednesday 26 November 2024 (UK local time). The following is a report on WACK’s fourth London performance.

WACK first performed in the UK in November 2023. In the year since their first performance, they have held three standalone shows. This will be their fourth time performing in the UK WACK has booked the venues and organised the local set-up with the help of Tom Smith from JPU Records, making it a truly DIY event. The first show attracted an audience of over 300 people, just 20% of whom were Japanese. Many of the crowd came from the UK and other countries, but this time there was a larger local audience, giving the impression that WACK is becoming more familiar with the local scene.

One of the biggest changes in the past year was the resignation of WACK representative Junnosuke Watanabe, who left to pursue postgraduate studies in the UK. He is currently living and studying in the UK. It is no surprise that ‘WACK in the UK’ expresses such a strong desire to promote the WACK Group abroad in the middle to long term.

In addition to ASP, who have performed at all the shows,a total of three groups performed this time, : ExWHYZ, who were performing for the second time, and MAMESHiBA NO TAiGUN TONAIBOUSHO a.k.a. MONSTER IDOL,
who were also performing for the second time.

When the doors opened, there were some enthusiastic fans from Japan who had come to see the show, but the majority of the audience was from locals . Many of the fans seemed to know each other, chatting about their favorite idols. It’s a great sight to see people from different countries connected by their shared interests.

Before the show started, Junnosuke Watanabe appeared on stage.He greeted the audience with the words ‘I was CEO of WACK… Now sutudent’, which brought laughter.. During the event it was announced that random CHEKI would be given away if people answered a questionnaire. Watanabe left the stage, waving and giving a friendly farewell, asking the audience to enjoy the performances of Japanese underground idols.

■MAMESHiBA NO TAiGUN TONAIBOUSHO a.k.a. MONSTER IDOL

The first act to perform was MAMESHiBA NO TAiGUN TONAI BOUSHO a.k.a. MONSTER IDOL. During the interlude, Leona, who is training of joking, performed a short jokeg. When she performed a joke adapted from Tonikaku AkaruiYasumura’s material in English, the audience responded with “Pants!, Underpants!” They continued with “FLASH”, a fast-paced rock song, and “Soba ni Ite yo Baby angel”, with the audience responding by chanting “Jump Jump!”
In English: ‘I love London. I want to give you, you and you, love. Enjoy the gig!’ She tells the audience and goes on to the electric dance tune ‘Starry Carnival’.The mixture song ‘LiGHTS CAMERA ACTiON’ featured a scene where Nao and Aika sang over a loudspeaker. The audience then turned their attention to the ‘Japanese kawaii’ song ‘Puripuri’, which had the audience shouting out the members’ names. The audience also got really excited when the first song ‘Re この「り」に関しては翻訳迷いますね、、、Re-start’ was performed by a large group of Mame-Shiba with some Gachi Koi Koujou.

They thanked the audience by saying, “Thank you for coming today”!’They sang ‘MUST GO’ in English, with Nao and Leona’s high vocals making it a great listening experience. They continued with ‘Walk’. The song, same tune ‘MUST GO’, seemed to overflow with the feelings of the girls from Aika’s emotional lyrics ‘F**k you, I can still do it’ and the final chorus from all four girls. They left the stage after singing ‘Sing Along Time!

■ASP

The second act to take to the stage was ASP, who have performed at every WACK in the UK so far and looked very impressive. They have grown a lot over the past year, touring 47 prefectures and holding a solo show at the Nippon Budokan on 8th October.

The seven members performed a hard opening sound effect(SE). The show started with the digital song ‘TOXiC iNVASiON’, which was originally composed by The Prodigy’s Maxim. The loud mixture song ‘Black Nails’ started with an enchanting intro, and in Japanese they shouted ‘Let’s all get up!’ to the audience, and then they moved on to the fast tune ‘the MAN CALLiNG’.

They introduced themselves one by one, saying ‘We are ASP from Japan. Nice to meet you, UK! Let’s do a special pose ‘J’ and dance together! They continued with ‘Tokyo Sky Blues’, an electric dance tune filled with ASP’s unique addictiveness, and ‘Anyway’. They also performed their major label debut ‘Hyper Cracker’, which expanded the range of ASP’s music, and ‘darma’, an experimental tune with a dope beat, showcasing the full range of ASP’s unique character.
Mog Ryan said”This is my fourth time in the UK, thank you for coming from all over the world, thank you for meeting me. Thank you for meeting us, we love the UK!” Then she excitedly shouted “TOTSUGEKI!!!!!” They then performed ‘MAKE A MOVE’, a song produced by London-based rock unit WARGASM, followed by the punkish ‘Haikei Rockstar Sama’, their first song, and continued with a set of unique, individual songs that fully showcased their distinct style.”ASP showed an imposing stage presence with songs of overwhelming individuality and a performance that fully expressed them in their own colours.

■ExWHYZ

ExWHYZ, a dance music based four-piece group, announced on 19th November via YouTube Live that mayu had returned to the group after on break. mayu’s official return to the live stage will take place on 8th December with the ‘ExWHYZ TOUR 2024’. As Mayu’s official return to the live stage would take place on the first day of the ‘ExWHYZ TOUR 2024 “HOPE”‘ in Osaka on the 8th of December, the three members, Yu-ki, Maho and Mikina, took to the stage for the live performance.

As the opening soundtrack was played, the audience cheered loudly. yu-ki, maho and mikina appeared on stage and maho shouted ‘We are ExWHYZ! Are you ready?’ and started the performance with the fast paced rock song ‘NOT SORRY’. Right from the start they shouted ‘Come on!’ to the audience, who clapped their hands and swayed their bodies. They kicked off with the hard dance tune ‘Unknown Sense’ getting the audience to jump..’. The floor shook as they sang the melodious ‘You&Me’ with Yu-ki’s ‘Clap Your Hands’, creating a sense of unity.

The band introduced themselves one by one with the words ‘Nice to meet you… We are ExWHYZ! The mellow ‘4:00a.m.’ naturally brought clapping and the crowd swing to the side, surrendering to the song. The body-shaking heavy bass in the following ‘ANSWER’ was also a hit with the crowd.”. It then leads into ‘Des Speeching’, with its seamless four kicks marking a regular rhythm.As the intro to ‘Obsession’ began, the crowd cheered loudly and enjoyed the song in their own way, throwing their hands in the air and dancing in unison. The song ‘Our Song’ filled the audience with euphoria and they expressed their feelings with ‘Hey guys, you are great! They told the audience how much they loved the song.

When they told the audience that the next song would be their last, they asked for more. The audience asked for more, and the members responded with “Let’s be the loudest in London!” The crowd cheered even louder in response.
The uplifting drop section was also greeted with a singalong, and ExWHYZ’s 40-minute live performance came to an end in a great sense of unity. They ended the show with a heartfelt ‘Hope to see you again!’ in English, and they left the stage.

After the three groups finished their live performances, Watanabe reappeared on stage. To his surprise, Mayu from ExWHYZ joined him on stage. When Watanabe asked, “Did you enjoy it?”, the audience cheered loudly. Mayu, who was not able to perform this time, expressed her excitement by saying “Next time, good performance!” and, taking a pass from Watanabe, said “I’ll be back”, a quote from Schwarzenegger in the film The Terminator, which made the audience laugh out loud.

When all the members were called on stage, Yumeka fromASP, said she had been working hard on her English studies and was ‘tired’. She was followed by Rion, who also said she studied English every day and then said she was ‘not tired’. When she told the audience that this was a Japanese joke, the audience burst out laughing. MONSTERIDOL’s Momochi continued, “I study every day. I send love letters to Watanabe in English every day” And she revealed that she sends activity reports to Watanabe in English. Watanabe laughed at the Japanese joke and responded, “Send love to me every day with a photo”.

Watanabe then announced that they would be holding their fifth concert in London. The venue will be the same as before, The Underworld, and the date and time will be 26 March 2025. He asked, “Who do you think will be performing? The audience responded with a variety of voices. ASP was announced as the first act to perform. The second acts, GANG PARADE and KiSS KiSS, were also announced to loud cheers.

At the end, a group photo was taken with all the members and the audience, and WACK in the UK vol.4 came to a great close.

The fourth show in London was another success. All three groups communicated live almost totally in English; all groups were performing in English with few words, but now they all perform in a truly inspiring performance.The audience also seemed to have a better understanding of how to enjoy idol culture. The groups are really growing as they progress. How will WACK and Japanese idol culture take roots in the UK in the future? It was the fourth London performance that reinforced these expectations.