Palpable EGM Energy

When Japanese bands come to America it’s hard to tell if it will be a huge crowd or if it will be a small intimate gathering of music lovers.

With the EGM (Electro Gothic Metal) style of JILUKA you knew it was going to be a big crowd full of energy before you even saw one person in line at the door. I have lived in Japan for quite some time, I have had my ears open for many years on Japanese music. Some of my favorites have always been the classics. X Japan, 聖飢魔II (Seikima-II) among others, but recently I discovered JILUKA. It was the Visual Kei style from X Japan that I had enjoyed for many years with a more loud and hard hitting metal in your face music. I listened to a few tracks on the train in Japan and was hooked.

A Big Welcome

I knew that I had to be there for the start of this huge bands opening tour. I came back to America for some family obligations that needed to be addressed. My new home was missed immensely. When I found out Jiluka would be opening their tour in my back yard of Greenville, South Carolina, I took the opportunity. This after all is A small town in the southern U.S. where you get the best (and sometimes the worst) of America. I felt like this would be the perfect chance to see them, get some amazing V Kei photos for the portfolio, and get a taste of the country I missed so much.

Created by Ricko, Sena, Boogie, and JaiL the band eventually broke up in 2013, to reunite in 2015 with new member Zyean on drums. Their music is for sure an attack on all senses but in a good way. Their style is unmatched in that big hair, dark themes, and the makeup that makes you wonder If it contains the fountain of youth inside of it somewhere.

Once I arrived to the concert I noticed that they were already parked outside with the other bands already there as well. The concert was stacked with a lineup that would make anyone who enjoys heavy music happy:

TSS

VCTMS

JILUKA

The Bands

The Sunday Sadness

Once inside the venue I awaited the first band to play, TSS. The Sunday Sadness, all the way from Bordeaux, France, came out and made sure that the crowd knew what kind of show this was. Bringing Hard hitting songs with some melodic French language woven in-between English lyrics, It was a very nice way to open the show. A band not unable to ratchet up the energy, they brought a killer opening.

The members seemed incredibly happy to be there, and went to their merch table and hung out with fans all night taking photos. It was clear how much they were enjoying this, and the fans were as well. I absolutely would watch them with a headline set because they could do it anytime anywhere. Please be sure to check them out on IG:

VCTMS

The second act out was VCTMS. The band hailing from Streamwood, Illinois is CRUSHINGLY heavy. I have to give kudos to VCTMS for hooking up the photo access to this show. When they took the stage it was my first time seeing them and I was not disappointed. They played some absolutely killer songs but hearing “Carefully // Caged” and the energy they brought with it made me a huge fan.

During the last 2 songs, the vocalist: John Matalone pulled out a Pokemon card pack. He proceeded to do a live pull while singing the song. he tossed most cards out to the crowd but managed to pull a “Mega Audino EX” not the biggest pull but hey did you pull a mega EX during your set in front of a huge crowd? No? He did.

During their set they had lots of energy, and had stage divers jumping on stage just to fly back into the crowd. This feeling was like I was back in the good old days of being young and stage diving at ICP shows. A band giving us absolute mayhem, and we loved every second of it all.

After all of this, I have to give a huge shout out to VCTMS. Along with them came massive fun, heaviness, mosh pits, and Pokemon. That is literally everything I need in life. Here’s where you can check them out

VCTMS SETLIST:
Twenty/Eight
Burn Victim
The Nine
Devil’s / Speak
Burning / Bones
Snuff Tape
Kill.Me_Please
Trauma / Response
Mental // Prison
Carefully // Caged
Hell Is Other People

JILUKA

Now, on to the main act of the night. Our guys in JILUKA are why everyone was here, and The Radio Room was filled with energy. You could feel it in the air… if you could bottle the electricity I was feeling from the crowd, you could power an entire city with it.
The crowd was ready, the lights went down and they came out.
one at a time. In old school X Japan fashion.

ZYEAN
BOOGIE
SENA
RICKO

one by one taking the stage and introducing what was about to take over Radio Room. For the uninitiated they were introduced to EGM and for those that knew… it was time for them to let that energy they have been holding onto out.

Channeling Greatness

JILUKA is not just a concert, it’s an experience. I have been a huge fan of X Japan for years, and the feeling of seeing Sena come out with their guitar glowing with a stripe of pink and hearing the crowd scream reminds me so much of watching my old VHS tapes of X Japan when HIDE would come out on stage and the crowd would erupt in an explosion of cheers and screams.

Just listen, and you can feel the band harness the spirit of V KEI legends of the past, and they’ve used that to break glass ceilings in Japan and beyond. They are no strangers to playing huge festivals, like “Welcome to Rockville” in America, entertaining massive crowds back home in Japan, and even taking over Europe. This band gets it, and the skies the limit.

They use not only their heavy electro gothic metal to rock the crowd but have the same power of them that the V KEI legends had. I had the privilege of seeing them in a venue in South Carolina where the capacity is around 500. They brought the same intensity as they would a large festival or mid size venue. They started hard and heavy with the tours title track, DeViLs, and didn’t let up until the climax.

Visual Kei unleashed

While taking photos I had one huge criticism: The radio room’s photo pit. The biggest issue they have is a photo pit that is less than 2 feet wide. There were 3 photographers in the pit during their set, and very little breathing room. I think it’s needless to say, we all felt like sardines, as The Radio Room’s house photographer, JILUKA’s Media guru, and myself were all packed in. Also, shout out the the guru, who was putting in crazy duty and my hats are off to him for having like 5 camera’s going at one time.

I decided to take 2 songs worth of photos and then leave the pit because I have other equipment in my bag and always want to capture the show from different places than just the photo pit. I was walking to the back of the venue to change out my camera equipment when I saw the crowd swell. It was like watching a small tidal wave in the room… but we all know how waves work… if it goes forward some force will come back.

I watched the crowd blow backwards so hard it took out the radio room’s house photographer, and a bunch of fans… they all fell back into the sound board and killed the sound to the entire show. Either the band was so enthralled, or incredibly good at just continuing like everything was fine. You could hear the drums and RICKO screaming but that was about it.

Turn it around

I feared the show could have been over just 2-3 songs into the set, but no. The band pushed through, and the crew FRANTICLY tried to get wires plugged back in, the boards set back out, and the show back together and they did so in record time. JILUKA’s team is a well oiled machine, as is much of anything from Japan as I learned living there.

Once the band finished their song they took a few short breathers between songs. I assumed it was to recuperate but after looking at how hard the crowd had been moshing and going; I’m more of the belief it was to give the crowd time to breathe before going crazy again.

A bright future

The band played 14 songs and as someone who was watching the room and show at the same time I realized how long this set actually was. Genuinely, it felt like it was over 1 and a half hours. I could be wrong but it felt like they were giving the crowd everything they had to open the tour in Greenville. We watched, as RICKO would scream at the crowd to do circle pits, walls of death, and just pump them up to go even more crazy.

Crazy didn’t let up, as they kept feeding this crowd all the energy they could. They pulled the strings over the crowd, just like a puppet master. It reminded me of Babymetal, a hugely successful Japanese metal band. Just give them a look and you will understand what I mean by control. This was such an incredible feeling, and you can tell the band enjoyed every bit of it.

The concert went on without anymore issues sound wise, and the crowd seemed genuinely happy that they brought the DeViLs tour to Greenville. It’s a town that doesn’t get much outside of the normal “Dad rock” or “Country boy” shows, and it’s always refreshing to see something most have never heard of.

I think I like it better that way though. JILUKA and V KEI isn’t for all, but I like it in a room of 500 people on the same wavelength. I hope to see them come back to Greenville or South Carolina again because they are just that damn good. All my fans of metal, if you haven’t given them a try I urge you to look them up. I 100 percent know you will find something you like from them.

JILUKA SETLIST:
DeViLs
OVERKILL
VENΦM
KVLT
BLVCK
S4VAGE
Eclipse
BaLa-DeDa
Twisted Pain
Drum Solo
KUMARI
Obliterator
SUZAKU
Lethal Affliction
Ablaze

Catch the Phenomenon

I wanna give a shout out to JILUKA’s team for being so professional. They were super nice to the fans when interacting with them which goes a long way in today’s shows. They helped bring a small part of my life in Japan back, and I want to go home even more. To them I say 今日は写真を撮らせて頂いてありがとうございます。本当にありがとうございます。

Make sure you go see JILUKA on tour RIGHT NOW
For tickets and dates check the link below
https://jiluka-web.com/2026wt-usa/

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Photo credits go to Randall McNeill at Hanka Media

https://www.instagram.com/hankaphotos