New York City is a place girugamesh have stated they wanted to visit, saying they wanted to see Times Square most of all. I don’t think the NYC crowd disappointed them at all.

This venue had VIP tickets, which allowed those ticket holders to enter the venue early and get closest to the stage or have the first grab at merchandise in New York. With a capacity of only 350 people, this lounge was the smallest in capacity on the four-stop USA tour. The audience was filled with a large number of male participants as well as the expected crowd of female fans. As soon as the band took the stage, the crowd surged forward, wanting to be as close as possible. With the stage being only slightly above knee high level, it was a very intimate setting.

The energy exhibited by both band and crowd was astonishing – neither let the level of liveliness drop. “Alright everybody clap your hands!” said Satoshi on vocals, before the beginning of “BEAST”. The audience complied, everyone in the venue raising their hands and clapping along. Those who were further back or to the side stood up on couches that lined the sides of the venue to have a better view of the band. All over, all one could see was faces with all eyes on the stage.

This New York show followed Boston and Philadelphia. The set list was similar to both previous shows, songs changing only slightly. Regardless of it being the same songs, the atmosphere was completely different. The stage was smaller, meaning less room to move around, but that did not stop girugamesh at all. Each took turns taking center stage, with Nii and ShuU occasionally switching sides. Ryo could be seen from all around, keeping rhythm on his drums. All person had moments or highlights in the song where they would move forward and the audience would reach out to touch their hands.

Each member had their own MC, Satoshi first thanking everyone for coming. Following the 6th song “Suiren”, Nii had his MC, which was entirely in Japanese. When he finished his MC, Nii started playing guitar once again, moving to center stage, and Ryo and ShuU began playing as well until they all suddenly stopped. Nii was simply teasing everyone, smirking as he abruptly paused, knowing precisely the reaction he elicited from the audience. People clapped and cheered before they finally began to play “DIRTY STORY”.

ShuU’s MC was toward the end of the set. His MC was in English and he had the audience repeat back phrases. His phrases included, “Woah-woah-woah,” “N-Y-C,” “Pray for Japan” and “New York cheesecake.” Now, New York has fabulous cheesecake, but this was particularly funny because the previous night in Philadelphia, ShuU had said “Philly cheese steak.” Both of these words can sound similar, especially when yelling them. ShuU certainly made his MC enjoyable, and had everyone feeling joyful.

After their final song of the night, “evolution”, Nii, Satoshi and Ryo proceeded to leave the stage. ShuU decided, instead of placing his bass on the ground or handing it to a staff member, that he would throw it into the audience. The audience had no problem taking the bass from him, more than willing to hold and touch it. He smiled, high off the energy of a live, before leaving the stage. A staff member had to rescue the bass from a sea of fans, but not before a struggle ensued.

Just as ShuU left stage, the crowd already chanted for an encore. The band did not let down and came back out to perform two more songs. Satoshi mentioned they would be collected donations for Japan at the merchandise table, where a box had been placed. All donations would go to the Japanese relief efforts due to the natural disaster that happened in March 2011. Before leaving the stage for good, Satoshi again thanked everyone, stating girugamesh would be back! ShuU then threw a few bass picks, and Ryo came forward, waving and grinning at the crowd.

After the show, any person who had bought a copy of girugamesh’s “GO” album was able to line up to meet the band and have it autographed. Every person who wanted to was able to have this done and the band met with everyone.

Setlist:

1 bit crash
2 NO MUSIC NO REASON
3 BEAST
MC
4 ALIVE
5 driving time
6 Suiren
MC
7 DIRTY STORY
8 MISSION CODE
9 I think I can fly
MC
10 shining
11 destiny
12 Vermillion
13 evolution

En1 pray (English ver.)
En2 Break Down