Oon's final performance report arrived for "FIRST LOVE TOUR" "A night worthy of being called the culmination"

At the milestone of the 10th anniversary of their formation, N oon finally released his first full album, “FIRST LOVE.” The final performance of the release tour was held at WWW X, Shibuya, Tokyo. The tour final, greeted by a packed audience, was a night worthy of being called the culmination.

This tour will feature a 5-6-person performance, with drummer Kishida Yoshiya and some of the songs being played by Inaizumi Rin as a chorus. Furthermore, on this day, media artist Taniguchi Akihiko, who has been working on the music video for Oon since his early days, participated as a DJ and VJ, and Oon’s worldview was carried out from the SE before the show began to the visual elements at the end.

At 7pm, the scheduled start time, the serene free jazz SE had stopped, and the six of them finally appeared on stage. When six-string bassist Tsukishima Naoto begins to play hyperactive phrases, Kishida places a heavy kick on it. You might think it would be a pretty serious introduction, but the band sound instantly becomes more gorgeous as each member overlaps the sounds with the delicate JC soprano voice signal. The moment the bouncing bouncing phrase rang out in response to the flow, the audience waiting for them began to cheer. The first song is “Amber (Summer ver.).” The beginning seems like a light suddenly shining into the darkness.

The live performance features a set list that combines old and new sets, from the beginning of the live show, with the cosmic funk “Age” that starts with “Nyannyan” by Yuko Uesugi, and “Freeway”, in which the beautiful refrain of the harp leads the ensemble. It also has a strong smooth and mellow impression, but the live performances are much heavier and louder than the record. In “Lobby,” Egashira Kensaku’s clavinet phrases create a tenacious funkness, guest rapper Valknee appears in a dashing appearance, and immediately creates the highlights of the first half of the live show.

After a glimpse into the neo-soul or ambient aspect of this band, Ernest Ling (Long Gen Kou), the vocalist of Taiwanese indie band I’m difficult (I’m a car girl), joined “Pillow.” It was a very heartwarming duet, as he sang happily on an edgy sound that replaced breakbeats with raw material.

The performance continues to accelerate, taking into account the highly flexible sections, including improvisation. It also featured a cover of Madvillain, a sample of Daedelus, and a mashup song from A Tribe Called Quest, and Squarepusher’s “A Journey To Reedham.” The floor was delighted by the band’s superb technique of recreating the programming in the original and the high-speed drill-running bass with grid noise using human power, and the live performance was already at its peak.

However, a small accident occurs here. Just as the excitement in the venue was rising, the band suddenly stopped playing. When they spotted an unwell audience, they had sent instructions from the stage to rescue the person. Once it was confirmed that it was safe, Oon resumed “A Journey To Reedham” from the point where it had reached its peak earlier. As a result, the performance’s excitement grew even more, and with that momentum, guest rapper ACE COOL was invited to move towards “Forest.” It was the moment when I saw the band’s high playability, instant response, and the seriousness of Oon trying to entertain everyone at this venue.

Up until now, I have been touching on their songs while citing existing genres and proper nouns, but to be honest, that is just a superficial explanation. In fact, as the band name you would never read at this first-time viewing tells you, Oon is by no means an “easy-to-understand” band. In other words, Oon is a band that is endlessly loyal to their musical desires, and it seems that they are excited by how this is how enthusiastic they are now.

“We’re a band. We’re doing what we want to do, not someone tells us, and we’re going to do what we can’t help but do what we can.” The junior high school club, who spoke during the second half of the live show, quietly expressing their gratitude to the people who gathered here, resonating with their “things that they can’t help but do.”

The tour final is finally close. After “Sherry” with a modest accompaniment that highlights the high school club’s singing voice and Inaizumi Rin’s chorus, “Kaiya” has an undeniably beautiful development that gradually increases the excitement, “Sniffi’n” symbolizes the avant-garde part of this band, and “Billion” which has an incredible cathartic moment when the band boosts at the end, the main story ends with “Summer Child”. The excitement at the moment Taniguchi Akihiko’s 3DCG footage was synchronized with the songs that have been climaxing live shows many times before, was a bit hard to get away with.

The encore was “Tokyo Family Restaurant.” The night was a love song dedicated to the audience…but the call for an encore continued to stop, and Oon appeared on stage again. The band, which had not anticipated a second encore, suddenly reprised “Summer Child” with the cover song that was suspended once during the main story, and all the guest vocalists on stage. This was the final 2-hour banquet. I hope it continues like this until the dawn begins – it was such a perfect tour final that it made you want to be like that.

Text by Watanabe Yuya
Photo by Miyashita Natsuko

[Release Information]

Hmm oon “FIRST LOVE”
Release Date: 2024.11.20 (Wed.)
Label: FLAKE SOUNDS
Tracklist:
01. To Dog
02. Kaiya
03. Age
04. Forest feat. ACE COOL
05. Sunde
06. Conversation Piece pt.3
07. Pillow feat. Ring Genko Ernest Ling
08. Gary
09. Touch
10. Sherry
11. NANA
12. Billion