CVLTE, “tYpe V tour” final performance report with guest coldrain arrives

Text by Kota Ichijo
Photo: coldrain photo by Masahiro Yamada / CVLTE Photo by Leo Kosaka

CVLTE held the final performance of “CVLTE pre. “tYpe V tour” on Friday, December 6th at Zepp Shinjuku in Tokyo.

CVLTE is making their presence known more and more, such as appearing at the large festival “SUMMER SONIC 2024” in August of this year. This time, the band will be on a nationwide tour, starting with a performance in Hokkaido in November, and touring five cities across the country: Aichi, Osaka, Fukuoka, and Tokyo. At the tour final performance, which we look back on in this article, we welcomed coldrain as a guest, and as previously reported, member Fuji (Ba.) left the band on December 8th (Sunday). This was the last chance to see him on stage as a one-man live. So, what kind of night did CVLTE have for us at Zepp Shinjuku, which we call “home”?

coldrain, a stage of enthusiasm that causes an avalanche of people. There is also a song that HAL suddenly plays in the middle.

In terms of career, Coldrain is my senior and CVLTE is my junior. However, on this day, coldrain took the stage first to celebrate the growth of their juniors. With all 9 songs prepared, it must have been a big culture shock for CVLTE fans.

This is because, although it is still understandable that the “promise” that opened the center of the floor to the sound of loud rock from the beginning of the stage such as “NEW DAWN” and “Cut Me” occurred, depending on the scene. More lifts are about to be created on top of the “lift,” or they are rolling over me. It was like an avalanche of people, and you could see them from the staff area, and by the end of the show, you could start to remember the “regulars” who were rolling in, based on their clothes, hairstyles, and other characteristics.

On the other hand, when playing the above-mentioned song, the rhythm section hardly moved their bodies even as they hit detailed and heavy phrases, such as RxYxO’s pick-picked bass and Katsuma’s precise drumming. Its unmoving figure stood in contrast to the floor, which looked like something out of a zombie movie, and to put it simply, I remember being very scared.

As frontman Masato (Vo.) said in a later MC, he seems to be aware that a situation where “people are falling from above” is impossible if you step outside. However, the live houses in which they grew up were simply such spaces.

“A lot of people will continue to rain down, but are you okay?” There seems to be no other option than “YES” in this situation. Perhaps it was a “reward” for such an affirmation, or maybe it was because he wanted to quickly check the level of enthusiasm on the floor. Even though it was not yet his turn, CVLTE’s HAL showed up and sat down in the drum position for some reason. While saying, “I don’t know if I’ll be able to do it in real life,” the drummers from both bands suddenly decided to leave the performance of “THE REVELATION” to HAL after a discussion.

Katsuma and HAL have different styles, from the way they hold their sticks to the suppleness of their sounds. However, once he started playing, that didn’t matter, and above all, HAL played the drums normally. Along the way, there is a scene where Sugi (Gt.) and YKC (Gt.) turn to the drums and resonate. When it comes to the tour final, there are surprises like this. Not only the floor but also the entire band’s voltage rose at once, and the show continued into the final stages.

“SEE YOU” and “Vengeance” sing of a heartrending desire for revenge and salvation, but perhaps because I listened to them live, I felt a new interpretation of them, as if I somehow found a “light” in them. And at the end, “Final destination”. On the way, Masato entrusted the following vow to the stage. The performance of the reliable juniors that I will introduce now will prove that these words are not wrong.

“I’m inspired by them, and I’m inspiring them,” and “I’m going to make Japan’s rock scene a big deal, so I look forward to your continued support!”

Is CVLTE’s “calmness” in the first half of the live show a sign of sophistication? Masato also appears in “save you.”

When the curtain opened again after the transition, the standby screen of an imaginary game was displayed on the LEDs at the back of the stage. After the show started, when the “GAME START” command was pressed on the screen, the mode selection was “Greedy Mode”, the most difficult mode. I proceeded to set the player voice, spotlight, etc., but when I adjusted the volume, the background music playing from the speakers became much louder. When you touch the light ON/OFF button, the stage lights begin to move from front to back like a living creature. Although it’s not what you would call “4DX,” it’s an immersive live (or game?) experience that gives participants a realistic experience, which arouses anticipation.

At the end of the setup, all the fans on the floor cheered toward the stage for biometric authentication and player level measurement. The game is finally starting.

They performed a total of 18 songs on stage, but I think the atmosphere in the first half of the live performance was unlike any previous CVLTE. It was a series of songs that relaxed their signature loud, hard psychedelic style and were more chill, or rather swaying and pleasant. This may be due to the presence of “smileY:)”, which was performed as the second song in the latest work “eepY.EXE”.

However, I would like to say that this does not mean that the band has lost its so-called “thorns”, but rather that their sound and performance have become more sophisticated. In addition, the second half of the live performance, “eepY.EXE (feat. iRis EXE),” includes the sound of a tabletop bell and a sample of that “cat meme,” making the new songs even more so than before. It incorporates a wide variety of tones.

I felt that the level of the band had improved significantly in terms of visual production as well. You can nod at the evolution of the “image beauty” that is their appeal.

4s4ki appeared as a surprise guest performer on the 6th song “kuromi. (feat. 4s4ki, sacha online)” and Kaito, the band’s vocalist, appeared on the 15th song “eat acid, see god. (feat. Paledusk)”. Furthermore, the 11th song “save you. (feat. Kaito Nagai)” had a surprising turn of events, with Masato unexpectedly participating in the cover.

Right before this, the previous game data was overwritten and saved, and the atmosphere in the venue shifted to a hard atmosphere. Just when I was hoping for an extra push to get through the second half, the best vocals gave me a boost. With the addition of Masato’s brave death voice, the expression of Aviel Kaei’s (Vo.) dignified singing voice stands out, making me once again want to express my gratitude to the band on this day.

The second half of the live performance was very typical of CVLTE. After songs such as “digital paranoia.,” whose sound genre changes completely every time they drop, such as trance and hardcore techno, and “eepY.EXE (feat. iRis EXE),” they hit the final spurt with popular live songs. I successfully cleared the game with “memento molly.”, “tokyo insomnia.”, and “scorpion.”

The end of the stage. I have overwritten and saved the game pattern this time, but when will I be able to use this data again? Or maybe there are updates? I continue to smile every day thinking about that standby screen, but I wonder what CVLTE members can do for me.