Here we go with another concert review! I’m Nostalgia, long time J-music fan and short time J-music cover musician. I created this blog in late 2021 as I was learning guitar and more about Japanese music theory. You can find all my Japanese music related articles here! In late 2022, I started reviewing Japanese artists who visited my city, Toronto!
So far, I have reviewed 4 concerts: Scandal, One OK Rock, Miyavi, and more recently, Radwimps who visited last month. I guess I need new sources to keep an eye on future concerts because the one I usually use didn’t list Man with a Mission’s tour. If not for Wong in the comments of my Radwimp’s review, I wouldn’t have known. Once I found out, I got ticket’s right away!
Now, like Radwimps, I only really heard a handful of Man with a Mission’s anime songs. I think the first was “Dark Crow”. I was actually looking for more anime acoustic songs to learn and came across a tutorial for it. I loved it so much that I learned it and added the song to my favourites. Then I noticed MWAM’s name pop up for one of My Hero Academia’s newer openings, “Merry-Go-Round” which I really love as well.
A few months back, I also wrote an article called 7 Reasons Why I Love Japan’s Anonymous Artists, and included a section about Man with a Mission, even using them as the cover photo, so I watched a couple of their MVs at that time…but I haven’t listened to their other music otherwise. As established in past reviews, I really like going in kinda blind to concerts and just letting their music, stage presence, and banter fill in the blanks.
Japan has quite a few anonymous artists who either never perform live like Yorushika and Yoasobi, or they find a way to stay anonymous on stage like Beat Crusaders and Nano in the past. So when I found out MWAM was visiting, I was pretty excited and curious as to how this would be conducted. Facials are so vital for human connections, so I feel bands like these would definitely have to do more with their bodies to assist in expressing their music….but I guess we’ll see 😛
Funny little side story….The last couple weeks, my roommate/cousin has come across a few cringe Instagram pages, and has mentioned a few times how he doesn’t understand furries, especially those who wear like wolf ears and say they ‘identify as a wolf’. While he is an anime fan, he still found them really weird and wanted to understand ‘what went wrong in their lives to turn out that way’.
I got my tickets on April 27th, and started prepping this intro on the 28th (I always like to get a head start so I can publish asap after the concert). On the 29th, I had my laptop and it’s many tabs open as I was practicing guitar for my acoustic band. I was then in the middle of a little break when he came in to ask what we’re doing for dinner.
He happened to see the “WOLVES ON PARADE” tickets in my email box and got curious, clicking on them. He then saw the photo…and I could tell he was judging me. He walked out saying “I didn’t know you were into that kinda stuff”. I said, “it’s not what it looks like!” But I knew he wouldn’t believe me ;___;. How can you really explain why a band has wolf heads on?
The day after, we were watching the newest episode of Demon Slayer (one of his favourite shows btw). When the opening came on, I heard the voice and was like “Oh yeah! I think Man with a Mission (along with milet) made the opening and closing for this season”, and pointed to their names once it showed on the screen. “That’s who the wolf band is that I got tickets for”. So my ass was saved from future judgement haha
Day Of The Event
Okay so….the ticket only had one time on it: 7:00PM. I figured that would be the ‘doors open’ time, but wasn’t sure when the show would actually start. If you’ve read any of my previous reviews, you’d know I can’t stand for long (I work from home and barely move as it is), so I try to get there later (bus life).
One site that said the show would start at 8:00PM, so I got there around 7:30PM….and there was still a pretty big line outside, went to the other side of the block. Thankfully the weather was really nice today, so I didn’t mind it much.
The security was quite slow, so I didn’t get inside the building until about 7:55PM, and there was still many people behind me to be checked in, so I knew it would still take some time. The venue was actually quite full when I entered, so I figured they sold out recently. The show officially started around 8:25PM.
Now I will say, I didn’t realize how big MWAM was until a month ago. While I wrote about them a couple times, I usually assume most Japanese bands are still relatively unknown in the West. No one has ever mentioned them to me either, so I discovered/noticed them on my own as mentioned in my intro.
But when Wong commented to tell me about this concert, he also asked why they weren’t on my ‘50 Japanese Artists That Are Popular Internationally‘ article. I naturally have a bias for anime bands and artists cause those are who I know best and who are more likely to be discovered worldwide, but I had to boot a lot of them off for bigger pitches.
Anyways, after his comment, I did more research and found out they’ve done quite a few tours and collabs, so they were added to the list a bit after that. I didn’t know this event sold out, but seeing the crowd wasn’t too surprising either since I was now aware of their popularity. It made even more sense after finding out this was their 3rd concert in the city.
Setlist
*Do note that there has been some order changes and different encores compared to previous concerts*
- database
- Get Off of My Way
- Merry-Go-Round
- Thunderstruck (AC/DC Cover)
- Emotions
- Seven Deadly Sins
- evils fall
- Dark Crow
~DJ+Drum Break and Short Video~ - Change the World (Acoustic Version)
- Between fiction and friction I
- Hey Now
- Smells Like Teen Spirit (Nirvana Cover)
- Kizuna no Kiseki
- Dead End in Tokyo
- Raise your flag
- INTO THE DEEP
ENCORE: - Take Me Under
- FLY AGAIN -Hero’s Anthem-
Thoughts On The Show
Even before the show started, there was certainly a ‘wolfpack mentality’ among the crowd. Quite a few people were howling and putting up claw hands as they waited and cheered for the band to come out. The soundcheck and instrument-tuning people definitely got the crowd hyped up a little too soon.
They did make an announcement before it started saying ‘no photos/videos’, (which is how they run concerts in Japan) but like….my whole reason for going to these concerts is to report to you guys and help spread interest, love, and understanding for Japanese music and bands ;______; Even though I wasn’t the only one recording or taking pics, I felt pretty bad, especially cause I got an obnoxiously long selfie stick to accommodate my shortness. Please forgive me guys! Onegaishimasu~~
I always record way more than I ever intend to upload on this blog for a couple reasons. The obvious one is to catch those unique and special moments. But more importantly, these recordings are more like studying material for me. I’m a newbie guitarist who started this blog as I worked to get my rookie anime cover band on stage (goal achieved Sept 2022), so I learn a lot about performing at these concerts. I always stand by a wall so my phone screen doesn’t block or distract others.
And readers, please don’t re-upload these clips on other social medias. This is just to peak curiosity for those who may be interested in buying a ticket, and to share insight for those who unfortunately missed it. It’s not everyday Japanese artists tour, especially to North America, let alone Canada, so I want to create a kind of memorial from a concert-goers perspective.
If any band ever asks me to take down their clips, I will gladly do so…but I hope they will allow this blog to help introduce them to more potential fans in English speaking countries!
So, I was really curious as to how the band would perform in masks. The 3 in front (singer, guitarist, and bassist), had masks with open mouths as they were all singing and/or rapping. Their faces were blacked out (is this technically blackface? LOL THAT’S A JOKE. I’m black, relax guys) and it was actually quite hard to see any facial features of the group, so it was quite genius. There was also a masked lead/accompanying guitarist in the back left O_o I have a lot of research to do before I can name everyone.
Unlike Miyavi who performed at the same venue a few months back, it was definitely a different vibe. Miyavi’s crowd had a wider range of backgrounds and ages, and he was a lot more engaging with the audience, just having fun and showing his personality, so even though I didn’t know any of his songs, it was a really inviting environment.
Other concerts like One OK Rock, Scandal, and Radwimps were also pretty normal concerts in that I feel anyone, even non-Jmusic fans, can go in and enjoy them like they would any other concert, not feeling out of place. This one was definitely the odd one out. The music can be liked by any rock fans (they even did some English covers), but the environment may be weird for some due to the fandom.
This event was mostly younger people, and I could classify all the songs (except the acoustic cover) as rock/hard rock. I could tell a lot of the attendees were hardcore fans and/or have been to their previous concerts, so it was easier for them to get with the program and respond as the band expected. There was also noticeable Japanese hand chant movements (you can look into ‘wotagei’) that I know most people won’t get if they’ve never been to an jpop or idol concert before.
As I said in my intro, I knew a handful of songs but that’s it. Don’t worry about me though, I usually just stand, observe, and record. I don’t mind standing out as I’ve been doing so my whole life. I even travelled to Japan alone as a black person, but I didn’t feel awkward at all. There was one point though where they made us all get low, and I HAD to join cause LITERALLY everybody else did. I don’t mind sticking out, but I don’t need to stick out THAT much by being the only one left standing XD
Okay, but back to the show. The band was amazing musically. Their playing and harmonies were great! No noticeable mistakes or anything, which has been a trend for the Japanese bands I’ve seen so far. They practice hard and it shows. They also had a lot of guitar and bass changes. As I said before, I always like when they allow background members a chance to shine, so it was nice that the DJ and the drummer had a short moment to themselves.
Right after that, at the midway point, they had a 7-minute short film where one member was driving and drifting, and another member was asked to draw him while he was driving. The band manager(?) was also a big part of the film. It really cute, funny, and creative. They said that while it is in Japanese (with subs), the English crowd seemed to laugh and like it more than their Japanese fans did.
They did take a few breaks to speak to us, mostly thanking us for coming, this being their 3rd show since 2019 in the city…and we got a 2nd approval for Japanese food in this city, so HA! Radwimps last month also said our Japanese food was pretty good ^_^
Growing up here, I can’t tell you how many people say Japanese food here sucks, or the ramen isn’t authentic etc, even if they’ve never been to Japan. But people have to realize, Toronto is a multicultural city, and a lot of these restaurants are ran by native Japanese people who migrated here.
Anyways, their English was pretty good, or at least they seemed a bit more comfortable trying to converse in the language than some other bands. While they didn’t say a whole lot, it’s the effort that counts. Having the short film also gave a bit more insight into their characters.
As I said in my intro, I was curious how the band could make up for a lack of facials. Having watched Kpop for a good decade, stage presence does come down to ones facial expressions and charisma, which you can see in their eyes and smiles, along with the energy they give off while they dance and move around.
The band definitely moved quite a bit, not as much as Miyavi who had the whole stage to himself, but they were noticeably energetic. The bassist definitely stood out as the most energetic and bold, followed by the singer. However, I was personally missing that facial connection. You’re pretty much looking at stagnant masks the whole time….up until their eyes glow at the end anyways. That was pretty cool, I’ll admit that 😛
The band……I was about to say they ‘looked like they were having fun’ but how would I really know lol I’m sure they did as they had a riled up and energetic crowd. It was fun seeing their fanbase interact with them. I’m sure that’s the best thing a band can hope for as they tour abroad!
Conclusion
All in all, for the price ($25+$10 fee for a total of $35), there is absolutely no complaints! While I am rooting for Japanese bands to gain more popularity, I’m grateful that every ticket has been less than $80 so far. I definitely had a great time and the music was amazing, so if you get a chance to see them at a future stops, don’t hesitate!
Well, I would give you 2 reasons why you may hesitate. The first is if you’re not the biggest rock fan. The other Japanese bands I’ve seen definitely had a wider variety of sounds and genres, while MWAM stuck to rock. The second is if you’re the kind to cringe around more hardcore otaku types…but if you’re willing to join them, I’m sure you’ll have more fun than you would at an average concert 🙂
If you love any of their anime openings (Dark Crow, Seven Deadly Skins, Database, Raise Your Flag, Merry-Go-Round, Kizuna no Kiseki), and/or you just want to see a pretty hardcore, masked, rock band from Japan and go crazy for an hour and a half, you won’t want to miss em!
I may also make an ‘all anime openings by MWAM’ article as they officially hit 10 songs with the two Demon Slayer songs! But yeah, Imma go to bed.
Ciao~