Digest video footage from We Are The Times Tour Day 1 – Liquidroom, January 28, 2022

We Are The Times Tour Review (Liquidroom, 01.28.2022)
Text: Dai Onojima

(English translation)

On January 28, the first day of the “We Are The Times Tour 2022,” the tour to support Buffalo Daughter’s eighth album “We Are The Times,” was held at Ebisu Liquid Room in Tokyo. The event was held in the midst of confusion, as the door time were moved up at the last minute in accordance with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s request for the “Priority Measures to Prevent the Spread of COVID-19 Omicron” due to the rapid spread of the strain. As a result, it was a fitting opening for the tour of the album “We Are The Times,” which captures the chaotic state of the world and the depths of a serious era…….so to speak.

The content of the show was also a strict and uncompromising embodiment of the theme of “We Are The Times”. As this was a tour to promote their new album, there was no wonder if they would play songs mainly from “We Are The Times”, but all the old songs played in between were also chosen to fit the theme and concept of “We Are The Times”. They were modified to fit, and played appropriately, so that the whole show was meticulously constructed to form the world of “We Are The Times”. Many numbers that are not usually played were chosen, but they were surprisingly in line with the flow created by “We Are The Times”. As far as I know, Buffalo rarely plays such a conceptual show, even when it’s a new release show. As their show has always consisted of a wide variety of songs and sounds to show their versatility, diversity, and flexibility, this show made me feel that what they wanted to express was clearer than ever. The year is 2022, and the situation is so urgent that it must be so, which is why this show was filled with a different kind of tension than usual.

The show began with the opening number of the new album, “Music“. The soft vocals and simple sound sung a cappella, “Music is vitamin/thank you music,” was the entrance to the world Buffalo Daughter presented.  Then followed by two songs from The Weapons of Math Destruction (2010), the show took a sudden turn into a hard and aggressive soundscape. This was a surprising choice, but considering that this album, like “We Are The Times,” had a hard social perspective and a stoic, gritty sound in the vein of post-punk, it was a natural choice that showed their consistent philosophy and attitude. The sound coming from the speakers were surprisingly cutting edge, as their funky yet sharp-as-a-whip performance was mixed as unambiguous hard-edge house sound. The combination of Yumiko Ohno‘s thick heavy synth bass was propelled dynamically with Atsushi Matsushita‘s drums.Sugar Yoshinaga‘s guitar sounded tense and raw, like iron creaking, MoOog Yamamoto‘s scratch noise stimulated my brain. In particular, Matsushita’s powerful and precise playing not only supported the band’s foundation, but also seemed to be the driving force that pushed them forward strongly. Takeru Okumura also played a big role as a support musician especially for some of the songs with intricate arrangements with a lot of notes, as the band obviously seemed to play free by his contribution.

The aggressive flow of the first half of the show turned into a deep and psychedelic one after “Global Warming Kills Us All” from the new album, yet the hard flow that runs through the whole process remained the same. I guess that was how Buffalo Daughter was seeing the reality of the world as. The simple stage set with only lights and 10 flickering LEDs with no visuals precisely reflected their such intentions.

The band played from their early albums such as Captain Vapour Athletes (1996) and New Rock (1998), but there was none of the fan-service nostalgia, and sharpened their expression to the present. These old songs, which I’m sure I had listened to and savored so much, sounded so freshly exciting because they are firmly integrated into the overall world of “We Are The Times”.
The climax was a cover of DMBQ’s “No Things” (from a split single with DMBQ covering each other’s songs), followed by three songs from “We Are The Times”.
You might have been blown away by Ryoichi Kurokawa‘s music video ET (Densha) when it was released, but the band did not use any video at the show yet developed a dark ambient sound that was even deeper and dopier. Then the show ended with Times manifesting singing “We are the times”.
The tense atmosphere became a little more relaxed at the encore with the last song played (I dare not mention which song), the world of “We Are The Times” finally came to an end.  To use music to break through the current society dominated by anger and despair.  You can regain a neutral mind as long as you have the vitamin called music.  What they were trying to convey was the power of the dream of music to survive in a hard world, and we were not pulled back to reality after the concert, but rather were given the energy to survive.

Buffalo Daughter – We Are The Times Tour

●2.23, 2022 Wednesday/holiday Nagoya – Tokuzo
DOOR 5:30 PM SHOW 6:00 PM   ADV. 4,500 yen + drink order
Info: 052-733-3709 (TOKUZO)
Tokuzo: http://www.tokuzo.com
Tickets: Reservation by email (mail@tokuzo.com )
Reservation by phone (052-733-3709)

●2.25, 2022 Friday Kyoto – MUSE
DOOR 7:00 PM SHOW 7:30 PM   ADV. 4,500yen + drink order
Info: 075-223-0389 (MUSE)
MUSE: http://muse-live.com/kyoto/ 
Tickets:
e+ （https://eplus.jp/sf/detail/3523390001-P0030001
Pia（207-033）

●2.26, 2022 Saturday Okayama – YEBISU YA PRO
DOOR 5:30 PM SHOW 6:30 PM   ADV. 4,500yen + drink order
YEBISU YA PRO: http://yebisuyapro.jp
Opener: Hidenori Kuroda (DJ)
Tickets:
e＋ https://eplus.jp/sf/detail/3551630001-P0030001P021001
Lawson (63097)
Pia（209-758）

●2.27, 2022 Sunday Osaka – Shinsaibashi ANIMA
DOOR 5:30 PM SHOW 6:00 PM   ADV. 4,500yen + drink order
Info: 06-6535-5569 (SMASH WEST)
ANIMA: https://liveanima.jp
Tickets:
e+(https://eplus.jp/sf/detail/0435540001-P0030008P021001)
Pia（206-895）