MAN WITH A MISSION Asia Tour 2016 in Singapore 27072016

All pictures by KA2@A.D.P…(A.D.P… ALLSTARS)

After their The World’s on Fire summer tour around Japan, the wolves proceeded with their first Asia tour, in Singapore, Hong Kong, as well as Taiwan. The concert in Singapore was held at MILLIAN SINGAPORE, a live house which was newly opened in February this year.

Cheers immediately erupted when the lights went out, and the band members walked onto stage, with guitarist Jean-Ken Johnny introducing the band in fluent English, “Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, we are the MAN WITH A MISSION!” They immediately began with database, a popular opening song from the anime Log Horizon. This song was totally head-bangable and got the crowd really high right from the beginning of the show. Among the crowd, there were fans who came in furry headgear, in the shape of wolves, and there was also one who came as a lion!

“What’s up Singapore!” greeted Jean-Ken Johnny. He was answered by cheering and some howling from the fans. “Are you having fun tonight? Once again we are the MAN WITH A MISSION, and it’s great to be back in Singapore!” he continued.

Attendees could feel the energy exuding from vocalist Tokyo Tanaka, as he flew from one side of the stage to the other side. The next two songs, Dive and Take What U Want kept the fans’ spirits high and the crowd jumping non-stop. The band was not going to give the fans any time to rest, playing fast-paced songs all the way. MAN WITH A MISSION really distinguish themselves from other Japanese rock bands, by combining rock, rap, as well as dance music all into one perfect mix, and the songs they showcased today really emphasized that.

The fans started chanting “Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!” at the beginning of the next song, Distance. Although the members were in their wolf masks, with part of their faces painted black, you could still sort of see their smiles, and feel their enthusiasm when they were interacting with the fans. Kamikaze Boy occasionally entertained the crowd by playfully “munching” the fretboard of his bass.

The next iconic guitar riff announced the beginning of another popular anime song, Seven Deadly Sins from the anime of the same name, in Japanese, Nanatsu no Taizai. MAN WITH A MISSION’s songs are fun even for a first timer, as everyone can join in in singing simple parts like “Woahh ohh ohh ohh” that are repeated throughout the song.

There was a short break before the next song, where Jean-Ken Johnny addressed the crowd again, “Once again ladies and gentleman we are the MAN WITH A MISSION, and it’s so great to be here in Singapore! Thank you very much! How many of you are from Singapore? Thanks for coming tonight to see our show! You guys live in a great country, you know that? The food is so delicious, and you guys know Mr. Unbelievable right? He’s awesome. But I’m not here to talk about him alright. The last time that we were in Singapore we only came for a while, but this time, we’re here to play with you guys. Are you ready??”

Give It Away, the next song, was a song full of power, and again, makes you want to head bang a lot as well! It was the image song for the movie Point Break in Japan, and for those who have seen the movie, you’ll agree that the song absolutely fits the movie. Many MAN WITH A MISSION songs have been used for anime and movies, and the next one, Out of Control, was also one of them. Released in collaboration with American band Zebrahead, this song was the image song for Mad Max in Japan. We were sold after the fantastic guitar riff at the opening, and boy, the band really knows how to make the fans go wild! DJ Santa Monica was dancing around on stage even did a forward roll during the song!

The band left the stage for a short interval, and a dance instruction video for the songs, Fly Again and Get Off Of My Way played on screen, featuring DJ Santa Monica, who demonstrated the dance steps, together with a dance instructor. The comical video not only covered how the steps should be done, but also how the steps should not be done. Everyone had a good laugh, before the second half of the concert started.

After the intermission, the band did their own version of a Nirvana song Smells Like Teen Spirit. For those who attended their concert, how did you guys think of their rendition? Now, the moment for the fans to showcase the dance steps has come, with the song, Fly Again! The music really makes you want to bounce up and down, and sing along and do the simple hand gestures with the band makes the song even more fun!

There was a short MC section by Jean-Ken Johnny before the next song, and as there were some small technical issues with his guitar (lucky or not) there was more talk time!

“This is our first time touring Asia, and it’s great to be here in Singapore. You guys are awesome! Thank you so much for waiting for us! We’ve looked at Twitter, Facebook, and you guys tweeted a lot for the MAN WITH A MISSION to come, and now we’re here tonight. (The crowd cheered.) This year, we went to Europe, and we’re going to America too, and right after this we’re going to Hong Kong and Taiwan. It’s really great to meet new people, new places, and it’s so great to see you guys smile at our music. Talking about the world, there’s a lot of things happening in the whole wide world right now, especially in Europe. We have a lot of problems, and it is never easy, never was, and never will be easy. Even myself, I’m not a perfect human being, actually i’m a wolf, so i’m not even making sense. We still believe, and hope that we know what to do to make the world just a bit better. We all know what to pray for. I believe in that, and I hope everyone else in the world does too. This song is dedicated to all the people in the world, and it’s called, The World’s on Fire”. That was an excellent opening to the next song, World’s on Fire, the title track on their latest album. It was a nice slow number, but an inspirational one too.

Hopefully the crowd had taken the opportunity to take a breather during that song, because the ones that were about to follow would really deplete all their energy! Emotions came first, followed by Welcome to the Newworld, and last but not least, Get Off of My Way. It really ended the set list on a really high note! The cheers in the livehouse were deafening!

“Thank you very much for coming to our show tonight, you guys are awesome, and you guys are unbelievable. I’m glad that we came tonight and met you guys! The tour’s still going on, but hopefully we’ll see you guys again very soon!” said Jean-Ken Johnny as he thanked the fans. The band members then took their leave from the stage. The fans then began chanting “encore encore!” enthusiastically, for almost five minutes, until the band came back on stage. The fans then presented a fan-made banner, signed by all the fans! “You guys made this for us, thank you very much! We’ve got two more songs, are you guys ready?? This one is called “Dance everybody!” said Jean-Ken Johnny. This lively song got everybody dancing, indeed! Fans who brought their towels along were twirling their towels to the beat.

By now, the fans would probably have been thinking, when will the band be playing that song? That’s right, it’s Raise Your Flag, the hit song from Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans! The band did a short version of the song before closing the concert; we wished they did the whole song!

We could see that MAN WITH A MISSION very much enjoyed the crowd and playing in Singapore, and would love to come back to perform again! Shouts of “Thank you!” came from all sides of the livehouse. The band even took a group photo with the audience at the end of the concert!

MAN WITH A MISSION really brought the house down with their energy-pumping songs from the beginning to the end of the concert. We’re sure everyone left the concert feeling more energetic than before! We hope to see them in Singapore again soon!