purple SKY - A Japanese Rock Magazine

Purple SKY Web Exclusive

Taste of Chaos Tour 2008

15 March - Asbury Park Convention Center, Asbury Park, NJ

Words by Brian "boo" Stewart
Photos by Kathy Chee and Leisl Schrader

The hardcore Taste of Chaos tour presents a much more intriguing version of the social experiment started in 2006 when Dir en grey joined the Family Values tour. Where as then Jrock was something of an anomaly, in this post Jrock Revolution world the emo kids and hard rock meatheads are much more aware of the sub-culture and far less likely to meet it with annoyed indifference. At the very least I expected friction sparks as the young fans of import bands like Mucc, D'espairsRay and (possibly) the Underneath clashed with the older road weathered fans of FUSE champions like Atreyu and Avenged Sevenfold. Not to mention the thrash metal of Bullet for My Valentine.

Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on what your hopes were, the event planners at the Asbury Park show wisely saw to it that Jrock was dispensed of early on so as not to interfere with the big boys. While this meant that there weren't as many people in attendance for Mucc and D'espairsRay, and it robbed me of seeing Avenged fans interact fully with Jrock fans, it did cement their domestic popularity in my and other fans' eyes. Even on the large main stage Mucc and D'espairsRay had no trouble filling the venue floor. Mucc's disco groove "Fuzz" seemed to melt the last of the grimaces on the faces of curious onlookers.

While D'espairsRay still won't win any awards for "house tearing down," the band seemed much less confined by their, admittedly pared down, visual look this time, sneaking in bits of rehearsed improvisation that looked less stagey and more interactive than during their last tour of the U.S. The pervasive electronic pulse of the beats and the punishing guitar riffs were unique to them and made Jrock seem all the more special.

Following their bravura performance was Mucc, who looked as otherworldly, shoeless and aggressive as I described them the first time I saw them. If anything they looked even more distanced from normal, wearing a selection of awesomely bad fashion choices the pinnacle of which was vocalist Tatsuro's Ali Baba rags. Like D'espairsRay, the music was metallic, hard, and the band tempered their metallic crunch with sing songey heart that bordered on the theatrical. Like HIM but less an homage.

The setlists for both bands included fan favorites culled from recent releases, but Mucc in particular pulled out a lot of new material from their forthcoming Japanese release, Shion, which was more in the vein of Taste of Chaos, heavy and chugging. At several points rowdy kids in the crowd attempted to compliment the band by opening a mosh pit, only to be confronted by Mucc's odd stylistic sea changes. In the end it was crowd surfing that succeeded in embracing the Japanese visitors.

It was a smart choice to showcase Underneath on the second stage. Compared to Mucc and D'espairsRay, the aged members were much less contemporary, more of a throwback to Visual-kei's glam rock past. Where as Mucc made their performances look like a product of their divergent personalities, Underneath made everything seem like a strained effort. I have no doubt that vocalist Taka's rock and roll persona comes to him like second nature, but it was clear that the lack of authenticity wasn't reaching the crowd. Technically, everything went right for the Underneath, but the constant reminders of their name and the entreaties to the crowd for cheers were a bad follow up to Mucc's awkward and earnest approach to English emceeing — even if it was read from the stage floor.

The grand experiment came to a quick end before Bullet for My Valentine even took the stage, most of the hardcore Jrock fans flocked out after Mucc to line up for signings as the Avenged fans slowly filtered in. The truth is, aside from the T-shirts being for different bands, it was difficult to tell where one fandom ended and the other began.