Header Photo by Kanta Nakano (SMS)
DURDN held their first ever tour of Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka, DURDN Live Tour 2024 “Komorebi”, to promote their latest EP “Komorebi” released in April. The final show of the tour took place on Friday, June 21st at LIQUIDROOM in Ebisu, Tokyo. Below is the official report.
The three-member project DURDN’s first concept EP, “Komorebi,” is themed on the flow of a day from early morning to late night. With this, they embarked on their first ever tour of Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka, starting with Music Club JANUS in Shinsaibashi, Osaka on Saturday, June 15th. After performing at Shangri-La in Shin-Sakae, Nagoya on Sunday, June 16th, the final show was held at LIQUIDROOM in Ebisu, Tokyo on Friday, June 21st.
After the scheduled time, the stage went dark and was backlit, and a dark, spacey synth sound reminiscent of a nightmare reverberated throughout the venue. SHINTA appeared on stage with support members Jun Tomoda (Key.), Takeru Usui (Ba.), and Ruya Inoue (Drums), and soon after, Baku appeared wearing a cap. Huge applause and cheers rose up from the floor. Gradually an alarm sound was heard from the gap, and Usui played a thrilling bass phrase, starting the day’s live with “Alarm” from “Komorebi.”
The next song, “Runner’s High,” is a soul tune with a fast-paced rhythm and an 80s-style synth. The chorus’ chord progression, which goes back and forth between minor and major, the light rhythm guitar, and the floating melody are reminiscent of Michael Jackson’s “Rock With You.” Baku skillfully uses falsetto and natural voices to sing with a smoky voice. In response to the imposing performance that already exudes charisma, SHINTA plays a guitar solo full of songfulness, and the applause rings out again.
Without a pause, they performed “WARUNORI”. Led by a bass line full of flamboyance, the song is structured using an EDM format with a build-up and drop, Baku’s flow that seems to float, yacco’s top line that is addictive once you hear it, and SHINTA’s solid guitar solo that cuts through the air, it’s a killer tune that condenses the charm that only DURDN can produce.
“Good evening, everyone. Today is the last day, and I’m really happy to be singing here at LIQUIDROOM. Thank you,” said Baku, before performing the R&B number “City Drive,” with memorable lyrics that mix Korean and Japanese, and the hip-shaking mid-tempo funk “Sutetaraii.” In the optimistic mid-tempo tune “My Plan,” which sings “Hope will shine forever in an unpredictable future,” the audience was lit up as if to remove the boundary between the stage and the floor, enhancing the sense of unity.
In the middle of the live performance, Baku and SHINTA performed two songs, “Conflict” and “Boku no Yume” in an acoustic arrangement. The sound of SHINTA’s acoustic guitar fully brings out the richness of Baku’s voice, which is full of overtones. “Nanen Ago Mo” starts with Tomoda’s piano, and at the end of the chorus the band comes in all at once, and there was a moment when the grand soundscape reminded me of U2.
“Although this tour is called the ‘Komorebi’ tour, we’ve only played one song from ‘Komorebi’ so far. So, from now on, we’ll be playing a lot of songs from ‘Komorebi’,” SHINTA said, eliciting loud cheers from the floor. Following the up-tempo synth pop song “Spaceship” with a sci-fi motif, he performed “Pretense feat. Howard Lee,” a collaboration with Taiwanese artist Li Hao-wei. The “time-space-transcending duet,” with Howard’s voice playing in sync, reminded me personally of James Taylor’s recent Japan tour, where he extracted Joni Mitchell’s voice from a multitrack.
Furthermore, after turning the venue into a “late-night dance floor” with “Palm,” which could be described as DURDN-style Balearic house, they performed “PRIDE,” sandwiching their single “FAKE MOON.” This is a representative song of DURDN, incorporating plenty of homage to Hikaru Utada, who yacco names as one of her favorite artists, and at the live performance, the interlude where SHINTA’s guitar and Tomoda’s piano played in unison was a masterpiece.
“Everyone, there are surprisingly many mellow songs, so you have a lot of energy left. Can you fly?” asked SHINTA, and cheers erupted from all over the floor. They then performed the syncopated “All of You” and the uplifting “Fizz!” in succession, and the main part of the show ended. For the encore, yacco also appeared on stage, singing “apart” and “Drink!” with Baku.
DURDN has already shown us the energy and charisma that can only be found in a live performance, which is different from the delicate and detailed sound of their recordings. There is no doubt that they will continue to evolve in the future.
Tetx by Takanori Kuroda
2. Runner’s High
3. WARUNORI
4. Vacation
5. City Drive
6. Throw it away
7. My Plan
8. Regrets
9. Conflict
10. My Dream
11. Years Later
12. Spaceship
13. Pretense feat. Howard Lee
14. Palm
15. FAKE MOON
16. PRIDE
17. All of You
18. Fizz! (Remix)
En1. apart
En2. Drink!
■Setlist Playlist Delivery Link
【event information】
“DURDN presents. “Knot vol.1″”
Date and time: Thursday, September 12, 2024 OPEN 18:00 / START 19:00
Venue: Tokyo Kinema Club
Price: ¥5,400 (1D fee not included)
Cast
DURDN:
Billyrrom
Tonoun
*In no particular order
※All standing
*Preschool children not allowed
·ticket
Official advance sale (lottery/e+)：Until 23:59 on Monday, July 15th (National Holiday)
General release: August 24th (Sat) 12:00~
Inquiries: Creativeman 03-3499-6669
