On September 12th, the 10th anniversary of their formation, 16-member dance and vocal group THE RAMPAGE held a solo concert at Tokyo Dome, “THE RAMPAGE LIMITED LIVE 2024 *p(R)ojectR at TOKYO DOME”. This concert took place over two days, September 11th and 12th. On the second day, which was the anniversary, their senior members EXILE (AKIRA / TAKAHIRO / Tachibana Kenchi / TETSUYA / NESMITH / SHOKICHI), GENERATIONS’ Sano Reo, guitarist MIYAVI and others joined in, adding a festive touch to THE RAMPAGE’s birthday.
This is the second time they have performed alone at the Tokyo Dome since July 2021. The last time, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there were limited seating capacity and they were not even able to sing out loud. This performance is a revenge to clear up the disappointment of that time. Their extraordinary determination and passion overflowed from every corner of their performance, overwhelmed the audience with their production and composition that were meticulously crafted down to the last detail.
The concept of this performance was that THE RAMPAGE held a meeting with RAVERS (the name for THE RAMPAGE fans) at the Tokyo Dome to expand the possibilities of the future, the R Project, and sublimated the desire to change the unstable world into THE RAMPAGE-style entertainment. As planned, the live started with a monochromatic, heavy opening video expressing suffering, anger, and screams. The words “R” that each member carries — Real (LIKIYA), Red (Jin), Relief (RIKU), Reign (Kenta Kamiya), Reveal (Rui Yonashiro), Rapid (Shogo Yamamoto), Resist (Ichima Kawamura), Ray (Hokuto Yoshino), Resolute (Shogo Iwatani), Roughneck (Shohei Urakawa), Rize (Kaio Takechi), Rad (Shin Hasegawa), Rage (Ryu), Resonance (Takahide Suzuki), Raw (Takuma Goto) — and the messages contained in those words were projected one after another.
When the video ended, 16 men wearing black cloaks with large words printed on them came on stage. Then, the scene suddenly changed and the 16 members of THE RAMPAGE, dressed in white outfits, appeared in a vertical line on the central runway, and the show began with “THROW YA FIST.” The revival of the show reminded RAVERS of their first arena tour in 2019, delighting them.
Afterwards, they performed a medley of songs that were sure to get the crowd pumping, including “Lightning,” “FULLMETAL TIRIGGER,” “16BOOSTERZ,” and “The Typhoon Eye.” The members spread out to the left and right of the stage, ran down the runway, and pumped up the crowd with full power from the start. The sense of freedom and the boost in heat during “16BOOSTERZ” in particular was incredible, and by “The Typhoon Eye,” as the lyrics say, it was “unstoppable.” The RAVERS were waving glow sticks and flags in the audience, and 25 minutes into the concert, the concert reached its first peak with a series of breathless uplifting songs.
The stage set for this event consisted of a main stage with a single runway extending in a T-shape from the center, and two runways extending in a V-shape from the left and right sides of the main stage, combining to fill the arena. A sub-stage was set up where the tips of the T and V intersected.
The words “THE RAMPAGE x *(R)adically” appeared on the front screen, and the generation-succession krumping dance team RAG POUND appeared on the sub-stage. Kawamura, Takechi, and Hasegawa joined RAG POUND, a group of world-class dancers, and they showed off their physical beauty with an aggressive krumping performance. Radically means fundamental, and on this day, former RAG POUND member Sano Reo of GENERATIONS made a surprise appearance in the middle of the dance. As the venue was filled with screams and cheers, the special collaboration between RAG POUND, THE RAMAPAGE, and Sano powerfully performed “HARD HIT,” raising the excitement in the venue.
While the excitement was still high, the Japanese drum group DRUM TAO, active on the world stage, appeared without a moment’s hesitation. The next collaboration theme was “(R)hytym.” Together with DRUM TAO, they performed “Summer Riot ~Tropical Night~,” “LA FIESTA,” “Fandango,” and “HEATWAVE.” THE RAMPAGE’s characteristically seductive Latin-flavored songs were mixed with DRUM TAO’s Japanese essence, creating a multinational festive mood that seemed to combine a beach party and a summer festival at Tokyo Dome.
The middle part of the live was a mid/slow tempo love song section with songs like “FEARS”, “INVISIBLE LOVE”, “Knocking Knocking” and “One More Kiss”. In “MY PRAYER” and the cover of COLOR’s “Lost Moments~Oki-Wasureta Jikan~” that they performed on their first national tour, Kawamura’s gentle and sexy voice, Yoshino’s sweet and naive voice, and RIKU’s thick and wild voice were all woven together, making the audience entranced. Also, from “FEARS” to the closing song “INTO THE LIGHT”, the lyrics of this section flowed like a love story of separation, the beginning of a new love, and a vow of love, and I took my hat off to the stylish direction. Another noteworthy point was that each performer showed choreography/dance that harmonized with the worldview of the songs, such as the chained performance in “FEARS”, the blindfolded dance in “INVISIBLE LOVE”, and the dance swaying between two women in “Knocking Knocking”. Not only in this section, but throughout the whole show, there were parts where each performer showed off solo performances between songs and in the intros/interludes of songs, and it was wonderful that each performer was able to fully demonstrate their skills and sense.
Afterwards, KADOKAWA DREAMS appeared and performed “PERFORMER’S SOUL,” which was included in the music video for their best album “16SOUL.” The collaboration theme for this section was “(R)eborn,” and they performed an evolved version of the music video, with various arrangements added. The way KADOKAWA DREAMS in blue outfits and THE RAMPAGE in red outfits mixed together was like the veins and arteries of a beating heart. The wide variety of dance formations, with the two groups totaling 32 people, dancing in sync and asymmetrical movements, was simply spectacular.
After THE RAMPAGE, who remained on stage, made the audience bounce with “STRAIGHT UP”, guitarist MIYAVI appeared shouting “Let’s Rock!”. After performing “DAY 1” solo while slowly walking down the center runway, they performed “ROUND UP feat. MIYAVI”, “VIP”, and “SWAG & PRIDE” under the theme of “THE RAMPAGE x (R)ock”, using the entire T-shaped and V-shaped stage to the fullest, and delivered a high-tension collaboration. While MIYAVI wore a white costume and a white guitar, all of THE RAMPAGE wore black suits. The flashy laser lights shining from the stage in all directions and the black and white contrast created a visually stunning stage, captivating the audience.
The concert was nearing the end. After making the audience wave their hands back and forth to songs like “DREAM YELL” and “Dream On,” they heated up the venue with a Japanese cover of Van Halen’s “JUMP,” and then they all waved towels at once to “Shangri-La,” bringing the venue together. At the end of “Let’s Go Crazy,” which was performed in a friendly atmosphere with the members putting their arms around each other’s shoulders and playing around, golden streamers were shot out, bringing the happy mood to a climax.
Up to this point, the group had been performing for about two hours without any MC. After playing over 30 songs without interruption, Kawamura began by saying, “Once again, I’m sorry for the delay, but this is THE RAMPAGE,” and the five members of the group gave a speech on behalf of the group. RIKU said with a big smile, “It’s mid-September, but it’s so hot that it’s almost scorching hot. It’s all thanks to the RAVERS’ spirit. I thought it would be great if I could laugh with everyone every time I saw their smiles.” Yoshino mentioned that today was the 10th anniversary of the group’s formation, and looked back on their journey so far with deep emotion, saying, “I don’t think it’s a given that we were able to come back to this stage without a single member missing.”
LIKIYA said with a choked voice, “There were many times when I wondered what would happen to the group,” and passionately said, “We’re not very skilled, but we’ve been working hard to convey our love to everyone. We will continue to aim to be a group that everyone will love.” Jin shouted, “Live is the best!” and then said, “I’m proud of THE RAMPAGE and RAVERS. From now on, we will run at full speed so that 10 years from now, we can say that today was just the beginning.” Kawamura looked back on the 2021 Tokyo Dome performance, saying, “It was half capacity and I couldn’t even speak, but with everyone’s power it didn’t seem like half,” and expressed his gratitude, saying, “Today is a special day because we’re back at the Tokyo Dome that we dreamed of. Thank you for showing us such a wonderful view.” Then, he added, “This is not the end. There’s still more to come,” and sang the last song of the main part, “Seasons,” with deep emotion. When RIKU changed the lyrics from “I want to give something back to you someday” to “I want to give something back to everyone someday,” the true and honest feelings of the 16 members were poured into the song.
The encore started with the latest single “24karats GOLD GENESIS”. After the song, DOBELMAN INFINITY appeared, and member P-CHO shouted, “I’m here to tell you that 24karats has a long history!”. First, DOBELMAN INFINITY performed a new rap that they had written, and the two groups collaborated on “24karats -type EX-” to inherit the spirit of 24karats to THE RAMPAGE. Next, EXILE’s song “24karats STAY GOLD” started playing, and AKIRA, Kenchi Tachibana, TETSUYA, NESMITH, and SHOKICHI appeared from EXILE. TAKAHIRO also rushed in on the day, and with a huge cheer, he livened up THE RAMPAGE’s memorable dome performance. A special version of “24karats STAY GOLD” was performed, with the five members of MA55IVE and Kawamura newly participating in the rap. With a succession of dream collaborations, the 24karats series completed a huge picture scroll, plunging the venue into a whirlwind of excitement, emotion and enthusiasm.
The last song of the 3-hour live was “100degrees”. As the title suggests, the 16 members performed with their blood boiling. At the end, all the members were shirtless on stage, and the audience was excited by the performance.
Before going into “100degrees,” Kawamura began rapping a cappella as if to vent the weight on his chest: “What can reach people if you’re dishonest? / Our soul is our business tool / What is hip hop if it’s not real / We’re still in the prologue.” At first, he rapped slowly, savoring each word, but at the end, he laid bare his emotions and exploded with anger, piling on the words in one go.
“I’ve heard it many times: the Dome the year after next! Before our hope turns to despair! Let’s go quickly to the National Dome!”
Even though everyone expected them to perform at the Dome, they were unable to achieve it. They used that frustration as a springboard to climb up, and that’s how THE RAMPAGE was. At the end of the ending video announcing the end of the show, the words “*p(R)ojectR is moving on to the next world” appeared on the screen. The day when THE RAMPAGE will perform at the Dome nationwide is surely near.
Writer credit: Takashi Inomata
Photographer credit: Yasuyuki Kimura
■ Release information
RELEASED 2024.10.30(WED)
THE RAMPAGE from EXILE TRIBE
24th SINGLE “Endless Happy-Ending”
★List of links to CD shops and EC sites nationwide
https://THERAMPAGE.lnk.to/20241030_Endless_PKG
(CD)
The following applies to all types:
1. Endless Happy-Ending
2. Title TBA
3. Endless Happy-Ending (Instrumental)
4. Untitled (Instrumental)
(Video Disc)
-LIVE version (RZCD-67109/B/RZCD-67110/B)
THE RAMPAGE LIVE TOUR 2024 “CyberHelix” RX-16 at LaLa arena TOKYO-BAY
-MV version (RZCD-67111/B)
1. Endless Happy-Ending (MUSIC VIDEO)
2. Endless Happy-Ending (MUSIC VIDEO MAKING MOVIE)
▼ 24karats GOLD GENESIS (MUSIC VIDEO)
https://youtu.be/59Uy5evg838
▼ 24karats GOLD GENESIS (LIVE VIDEO)
https://youtu.be/pwZ3Ipq8DWM
▼List of official SNS
https://lit.link/THERAMPAGE
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