It was just last year when tricot performed in Europe but after releasing KABUKU EP, or more recently their new album 3, they are now back in London! Their rather lengthy UK leg saw them play at ArcTangGent festival, Glasgow, and Leicester before heading to Bush Hall in London. This was where both the audience and support bands were mesmerized by the venue as pinkish-red lights lit it up, exposing the distinct theater-like architecture.

Up first was support band “Wot Gorilla?”, making the most of the early attendees before the second support band “Delta Sleep” got on stage who were on the bill with tricot at their gig last year. Completely outdoing themselves this time round, especially as one moment saw the audience sing as a collective, allowing the vocalist Devin Yuceil to lay off for a brief moment and take it all in. Their staccato rhythms and sudden dynamic transitions prepping everyone for the final band that night.

tricot don’t start off straight away though as tour drummer Yusuke Yoshida bangs away at the drums during sound check, assuring everyone in the room that the band was in safe hands. The members come on soon after and start with DeDeDe that has guitarist Motoko “Motifour” Kida dancing nearing the songs end.

Followed by Wabi-Sabi, it gets all three members singing before going into the energetic 18, 19 with Motifour now lightly moshing with bassist Hiromi “Hirohiro” Sagane in unison. Leading to jumping about with vocalist and guitarist Ikkyu Nakajima soon after when Pork Ginger comes around. Motifour flings herself around once more and waves her picking hand as if she was orchestrating the audience who were also belting out the “whoa’s” in Anamein along with Ikkyu as the atmosphere soon became that of a festival.

The MC had Ikkyu asking if we had listened to the album. “It’s a super cool album!” to then explain that the name of their most recent album 3 is (pronounced) “san” in Japan. Along with mentioning that she can’t be serious because her English is too cute.

Sukima had audience members bopping their heads, along with Motifour and Hirohiro doing relatively the same but moving side to side, taking us to the highlight of the evening with Yosoiki. Ikkyu plays a stripped down version of the chorus to sing “Yeah yeah, woo hoo, aha yeah!” only once for the crowd to sing it back immediately after and over again three times before starting the song. From that point onwards, the audience participation was at an all-time high.

The band raises their hands as they strum for Ochansensu-su and enter a freeze frame, the song somewhat triggering a mosh pit to form! This gets bigger with Tokyo Vampire Hotel, putting the drummer Yusuke in the limelight before Setsuyakuka. Niwa brings out the intense festival atmosphere in full swing that has Ikkuyu stating “I’m tired but I wanna go more! Do you know how to dance? Dance with me!”. Bassist Hirohiro goes towards the audience and is held up by the first few rows while a man nearly loses his shoes in the now unexpectedly big and aggressive mosh pit by this point!

Finishing off with the calmer Melon Soda, putting the bassline at the helm to then leave the stage soon after. The short shout out for an encore assures the band comes back on stage for Ikkuyu to start her final MC, “I’m so happy. Thank you very much. See you again, London. Good night.” taking us appropriately to Oyasumi—which is “good night” in Japanese.

They may have gained a few fans that night as it became clear after eavesdropping on various conversations that some of the attendees hadn’t heard of them before. Ultimately a great night and hopefully many more to come as the trio continues to tour the UK and then lastly Europe!

Setlist:

DeDeDe Wabi-Sabi 18,19 Pork Ginger Anamein Sukima Yosoiki Ochansensu-su Tokyo Vampire Hotel Setsuyakuka Niwa 99.974°C Melon Soda

ENCORE:

Oyasumi

3

Minimal edition CD Tokyo Vampire Hotel WABI-SABI Yosoiki (よそいき) DeDeDe Skimmer(スキマ) pork side Pork Ginger (ポークジンジャー) echo (エコー) 18,19 Namu (南無) NUMASAWAGI Setsuyaku-ka (節約家) Melon Soda (メロンソーダ) Buy at CDJapan, HMV or Amazon Deluxe edition CD Nakajima Ikkyu Tokyo Vampire Hotel Setsuyaku-ka (節約家) Yosoiki (よそいき) Melon Soda (メロンソーダ) CD Kida “Motifour” 18, 19 WABI-SABI pork side Pork Ginger (ポークジンジャー) Namu (南無) CD Hiromi “hirohiro” MUNASAWAGI Skimmer(スキマ) DeDeDe echo (エコー) Buy at CDJapan, HMV or Amazon

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