- flamma idola tour
- Saturday June 17th, 2017
- Akasaka BLITZ, Akasaka, Tokyo
Intro: The Fairy Empire Arrives in Akasaka
It was a hot Saturday evening in Akasaka, Tokyo, but that didn’t stop hordes of fans from coming out to the flamma idola tour to see Yousei Teikoku (stylized as 妖精帝國), otherwise known as Das Feenreich or Fairy Empire. A sea of fans wearing red and black waited outside Akasaka BLITZ, a popular live house, the anticipation for a dramatic and intense show already high. They were here to see Empress Yui and her band, the majority of them already decked out in their tour shirts. They were ready to celebrate Yousei Teikoku’s 20th anniversary and their 9th tour!
Inside the live house, the stage was already set. The backdrop was made of a large, shredded red curtain and two giant spider webs. Around the stage were imitation candelabras complete with flickering electric flames. The band’s logo was displayed on two large banners hanging on either side of the stage. Finally, the dramatic centrepiece of the stage was a large wooden podium on top of a set of stairs, with the band’s logo draped over it on a red and black cloth. The show hadn’t even started yet but it was clearly going to be quite a spectacle with that set-up. The live house was even playing music like Nightwish and Rammstein to get the crowd in the right mood while they waited.
All the while, the anticipation in the room continued to build. Fans kept pouring in, more and more and more until the entire pit was full to the brim. Most of the fans were male, but there were women there as well. To show consideration for female fans, both of the sides of the pit were reserved as female-only space, to give the girls a place they could safely dance and enjoy the show without worrying about all the men! Everyone was dressed for the show in their red and black outfits, some even wearing Gothic Lolita-inspired outfits and other dark street fashions. And when the lights finally went down and the dramatic introduction music began to play, along with the beginning of what was going to be an intense night of strobe lights and lasers, the first of many deafening roars rippled through the crowd.
Performance: 9th Anniversary Celebration
When the lights finally came up on the stage, Empress Yui was waiting behind the raised podium and the crowd absolutely erupted to see her. The anticipation of waiting and listening to such dramatic music exploded into a high-charged energy that filled the room easily. The audience was jumping and head-banging along right from the first song, and Yousei Teikoku didn’t slow down even a little bit until they took their first MC break three songs into the performance. During the cool downs and breaks that the band took, Empress Yui always interacted with the crowd in a deeper, calmer voice far different from her singing one. It made for nice transition times for everyone to take a breath, recharge, and get ready to rock again!
When Empress Yui announced the next song was “Pray in the Darkness”, the crowd went wild even more! The music opened slowly, and then quickly sped up as she moved with such elegance on the stage. The song was met with a huge amount of cheering and applause when it finished – clearly the fans were happy to hear one of their favourites! The intense songs continued until the band finally played "filament", a familiar song to fans of the anime Mirai Nikki. It gave a chance for everyone to catch their breath and enjoy Empress Yui’s talented singing voice in a slower, more dramatic song – but no less charged with emotion. The next song, “Tsuki Kagami Hangon Cinerarium”, allowed Empress Yui to feature on the stage alone with another slower song as the band disappeared for a little.
What happened next was one of the most fun parts of the show! Instead of just Empress Yui, it was the band members’ turns to shine! Gight, the drummer, went first with a really fun routine that included twirling and throwing his drumsticks and getting a lot of interaction from the audience. Then it was the bassist Nanami’s turn to shine with some dark music featuring impressively coordinated control of his guitar! Finally, Takaha and Sirène, the rhythm and lead guitarists, came onto the stage to join the others and each have their own solos as well! Even without any vocals, the four men created some really awesome music that had the same dark, gothic feel that Yousei Teikoku is known for – and they had the crowd cheering and dancing right along with them in this unique chance to feature how talented of musicians they are.
Empress Yui had another surprise in store for the crowd before the show ended though when she finally ascended the stairs back up to the raised podium again – and took out her signature military hat from the music video for "SHADOW CORPS[e]" As expected, the crowd loved it, and were happy to cry out their praises for Empress Yui and the rest of the band and basically worship her as she stood above them behind the ornate wooden podium. By the time the band left the stage, the hall was already filled with chants of “DAS FEENREICH” hoping for an encore.
Of course, Yousei Teikoku were more than happy to oblige – and returned wearing their tour shirts as well! They had one more surprise in store for everyone, and that was four more songs for a long, grateful encore performance. It included another major fan favourite, “Kuusou Mesorogiwi”, and you can bet that everyone was counting along with German and singing with the band as loud as they could. The dancing in the pit was at its finest, and judging from the smiles on the band members’ faces, they were loving the energy everyone was bringing as well! The show ended with the whole band chanting along with the crowd “DAS FEENREICH!” and everyone dancing and jumping together.
It was a high energy ending to a very, very energy-charged show.
Outro: An Entirely Visual Experience
Yousei Teikoku really knew how to work a crowd! The show never lacked in having high energy, and even when a few of the songs were slower, everyone’s attention was focused on the performance. The fans came ready to jump, head bang, and dance the night away – and they all knew what to do at each moment in the song. The respect that Empress Yui commanded while on the stage was phenomenal. Everyone was silent when she was speaking, even when she didn’t use a microphone, and the crowd praised her insistently.
Few moments were more powerful than when Empress Yui asked everyone to chant with her a chorus of 讃えよ！(Das!) 畏れよ！(Feen!) 栄えよ！(reich!), (roughly meaning “praise,” “fear,” and “prosper”) with the crowd shouting the band’s German name. Each band member even had a chance to lead the crowd in the chanting, and it really kept crowd involvement high. In every song, though, the crowd was heavily invested. Everyone was singing, cheering, or screaming along with the music and showing their appreciation for how hard the band was working to deliver the music to them. And of course not only Empress Yui received their appreciation, but all the members of the band did as well!
Adding to the intensity of the show was an incredible light display that added extra force and power to each song. Yousei Teikoku made use of everything from spotlights, to lasers all over the crowd, to strobe lights in many colours, and even going from full house lights to total darkness and back again to add another element to the music. With the light both on the stage and in the crowd, it helped to keep the energy up for the entire performance (even though it was almost three hours long!).
All the band members were wearing visual, gothic-style outfits (mostly consisting of black leather), and Empress Yui herself wore a Gothic Lolita-inspired red and black outfit herself with a sexy open back. Her red eyeshadow was bold enough it could even be seen from the very back of the live house, and complimented the single red streak in her long black hair. The band matched the colour scheme for the stage, and for their tour shirts – which meant they coordinated with all the fans, as well! It was another small thing that made the fans even more involved in the show in such a simple way as matching all their colours together, really showing Yousei Teikoku connection to their audience.
Overall, Yousei Teikoku delivered a live show that was more than just music you could listen to. It was music you could see. And music you could literally feel. The energy from their show will be slow to die out for everyone who saw it, and the memories from the night will surely never fade completely. The Fairy Empire made its lasting impression in Akasaka!
1. Alte Burg（Kurokami The Animation inserted song）
2. Kikai Shoujo Gensou
3. Naikan Uchu Shisha no Yurikago
4. Akaki kouteki , shiroki sekai
5. Sacrifice
6. Kyuusei Argyros（Tokyo ESP ED）
7. Pray In The Darkness
8. Kami no Souzou
9. Elusion
10. filament（Mirai Nikki ED）
11. Simulacra
12. D chronicle
13. Shadow Corps
14. DISORDER（Big Order OP）
15. Patriot Anthem
16. flamma idola
17. Biroudo Papirio
18. Fantasy Mesology（Mirai Nikki OP）
19. Geki（Big Order OVA theme song)
More about Yousei Teikoku
Yousei Teikoku will appear at the Anisong World Matsuri at Otakon® 2017!
https://www.otakon.com/concerts/anisong/
https://www.facebook.com/AnisongWorldMatsuri/
Get all of Yousei Teikoku's releases here:
iTunes US: https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/yousei-teikoku/id266647368
Yousei Teikoku’s Social Media:
Website: http://www.dasfeenreich.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dasfeenreich/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/yui_fairithm
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3QDSjWEvc3haU0iv65gYVw
Author: Jet Nebula
