Jrock no Tamashii 2

After the last concert I went way back in March, I decided to go again to another one: this time, it's Jrock no Tamashii 2, featuring bands which does - what else - Japanese music, with an emphasis on the heavy sound of rock (and the occasional metal).

The concert was last Sunday, and I somewhat got sidetracked while writing this - you know, the usual.


I was actually not really serious about going to the gig at first, but after considering the fact that I missed one of the band's performance during the last event - that'd be desu! - I decided to make up for it and come over for the performance.

(I dunno if those guys come over here, but thanks guys for letting me hang around. desu! rocks!)

Anyway, on to the performance. Prepare for some picspamming and the sort below:


The first opening act was Rade, which I understood to be more of an opening rather than one of the acts. There wasn't much of a crowd at that time, if I recalled correctly.





The first main (or second performing, however you look at it) band was AniOn Project (Anime Ongaku Project).

As they played their first song, I thought, 'hey, this sounds familiar...' And when the unmistakable part of Mysterious Mountain was in...

I CAME (tho I deserved to be shot for not recognizing the song right from the start :T)

[ADDENDUM: I had the recording of the video, but it's now set for private viewing upon request. Feel free to message me or something at my YT account if you're curious; 's a good rendition]



[As such, these are 2 stills from the video]





Third band (lets stick with this numbering) was desu!, who plays their own brand of 'Akihabara Punk'. They're probably one of the few bands of the night who go for a fuwa-fuwa and moe style with a touch of punk. It's this style that makes me love these guys (and gal).

Their original release

Fourth band was One Inch Closer. One of their song is an original, which is sung in Chinese if I recalled correctly. Can't remember much about this band tho, sorry.





Next band was Gensekii. I love the bassist; he has that 'feel' when he plucks the 5-strings. The vocalist was pretty cool too I guess.






The band after that is the simple named Sky. Their style is a anything but that, with the vocalist/guitarist utilizing a mixer(?) (I don't know what you call it). Pretty unique.






Mystical Mirage comes next. The bassist somewhat reminded me of the guitarist off Maximum The Hormone - what do you think?





The last band for the first section was Flying Pan... and my, they are quite awesome. Other than desu!, I think they are among the few band so far at that point that had a lot of interaction with the crowd. I love the bassist ♥

I actually went smack to foot of the stage at that point, and it was great. I hope to see more of these guys in the future.





After a much deserved break, Strawhats Crew resumed the show, and their name notwithstanding, covering Final Fantasy themes.

I would without a doubt designated the word 'epic' to describe them. While I'm not much of a Final Fantasy gamer per se (you'd be surprised how little I actually played out of the series... but I digress), the music is unmistakably good, and these guys really nailed it.

And surprise surprise, they actually did an encore - clashing between crowd request and organizer's schedule - even after they had really started walking off the stage with their stuff and everything. That's awesome!

I did not record this, but view it to get a perspective on how awesome they are

Flicked Mind comes next, perhaps rivaling desu! in terms of their moe factor. I think they are the only band where some people were actually dancing - or as it appear to me, more like shuffling - to the song. I might upload the video of said dancing if I feel like it, ahahah.





Appearing as a special guest band was Mage Era, with their somewhat slower and ballad laden rock. I'm not much of a fan of slow ballad rock, so they were pretty alright from my side. The bassist, however was pretty funky, and I really like that.





The brutal Dir'en Grey tribute band, Strawberry Jam, starts the headbanging fest that is to last for the rest of the night. Some commented how they don't actually go for the real deal like the original band, but I suppose a tribute can only go so far. Still, no shirts thrown of the stage?

Those who don't get or can't stand metal would have probably went out by then. To those who are otherwise, headbanging is not only accepted - you could say that it is to be expected. Seriously, how could you listen to them and not get the urge to do so?





The cheetah patterned Temjin was the thirteenth (bet you lost count already eh?) to perform for the night. Apparently they have quite a strong fanbase, performing original non-Japanese music outside of convention and the sort.

The highlight was of course their cover of Satsugai off Detroit Metal City. Also, I experienced my first moshing here, although admittedly the song - not Satsugai, but another song - isn't as heavy as those of other band. I was afraid I was going to at least get bruised in the face, but it was cool.





The final performance off the event was from Drako'Zen, which was strictly a metalfest. People - present company included - were headbanging all the way, but the absence of moshing was somewhat a downer. You don't get crowd surfing either, but I guess there's so much you could ask eh?

I prefer Strawberry Jam over these guys, but the guitarist - it's the same dude who's on the poster by the way - was pretty awesome. Dat Ibanez.





Fortunately, no incident happened after the show was over (those who read the other post would know what I meant).

Overall, a very satisfying event, or as one guy said, 'it's a shame those that missed this, because everything about the concert is tight and excellent'. My only complaint is... why must it be Monday the day after the concert? I've never hated Monday more than this.

The rest of the pics at my FB album

Here's looking to Jrock Tamashii 3 next year. Hell yeah!