Messiah Fest (10/13/2025)

Back with the concert report. This was a return to the same area I was in last concert event. This time we were on the 2nd floor of the Spotify O’east when last time I was up and down the block in all of the Spotiy concert venues.

I got to the venue about 10 minutes early and walked up to an empty building minus a single employee moving a small fence; so I thought I had messed up the day or time… But, when he saw me, and my cell phone with the ticket he gestured to the second floor. And as I suspected; this event wasn’t that popular, which didn’t bother me much at all because it gave me more walking around space, because the venue was only about 60% full.

It seemed that the male to female ratio in the venue was about 80% male to 20% female with the vast majority of the men being in their 30–50s. I started the night in the back center, right in front of the sound people.

If you want to get an idea how it’s like to live in Japan… this picture is a bit lower than my eye line…

The first band started with an English bass singer slowly chanting… I was a bit confused until it turned into a sea shanty and the first band came on the stage. They were called black pheonix but when I searched them online I couldn’t find anything… but apparently their name is: Blvkphoenix. From what I could gather the band was a vanity project of the main singer, who is a Japanese model. The the singer and the songs felt American… and when I looked it up it seems one of her parents was from America.

They were a pretty standard 4 person band (2 guitars, a singer, and a drummer). The first thing I noticed was that the bass drum was way too strong… I was worried that I might injure my chest or have a heart attack from the vibrations. After a few songs, when I noticed that the staff behind me were not recording the event, I evacuated to the furthest distance from the stage and set up shop there. I ended up on the far right corner next to the stairs to the 3rd floor (the VIP area). It was still a bit painful but a lot better.

The band itself was fine. From what they said they started in 2024 and it was pretty obvious that they were still getting their footing. The singer had a good voice (and was super nice; where during the intermission she jumped off the stage and took pictures with some of the fans when they gave her flowers) and the guitarists were pretty good. That being said I was not a fan of the music. I noticed that even though she was singing purely in Engish I couldn’t understand what she was singing. I was wondering why…

If you like American rock you might like this band. They aren’t bad or anything…

6/10 (for me 5/10 is completely average anything above that is good)

Bone Down

This time the band had more guitarists. They were a 5 man band: 3 guitars, 1 singer, and 1 drumist. They emphasized the guitar playing more than the previous band. Once again the flow of the songs felt American (or British) and I couldn’t predict the transitions. Sometimes they jumped from a slow to a fast to a slow in quick succession then back to a normal 3 beats with 4 repetitions the rest of the song… it was a weird feeling where it was repetitive yet unpredictable (no matter how much that might be a contradiction). And again I could tell that they were singing some English (I remember hearing “baby” a few times) but I couldn’t make out what they were singing.

Once again, if you like American style rock you might like them… I was not a fan.

6/10

East of Eden

They really left the best for last. Both of the final 2 bands were some of the best I have heard. First one was a 5 girl band: 2 guitarists, 1 violin, a singer, and a drummer.

They started strong and continued throughout the event. The first thing I noticed was the drum bass was back to normal for this group and that I actually could hear the singing. Wow… who would have thought it… having all of the instruments having similar volume makes better music (with the singer maybe being 10% louder).

They played what I consider Japanese rock style. Each song has 3–5 parts. There is a normal beginning, a build up to a strong chorus, a lower back down, and repeat in different ways a few times through out the song. There is also normally a big tonal shift about 70% in the song and they go crazy for a bit. The instrument balance was great, nothing really overpowered the rest, and I could hear the violin throughout. All of the members were great at playing their instruments and each had a solo point to show their skills sometime during the 5 songs (yet it didn’t through off the beat or sound excessive unlike the first 2 bands). I also noticed that a few points in the songs there was another few instruments which were probably BGM from the speakers. This was another thing that I noticed was lacking in the first 2 bands… they were just guitar and drums… it got old.

This band was the first time in the night that I put away my notebook and actually got into the final two songs.

All in all a really strong showing.

8.5/10

Hagane

A 4 girl band: 2 guitarists, a singer, and a drummer. But; they also kept to the Japanese rock style with really impressive buildup and payoff. They also abused the BGM and had many instruments in the background beyond the 3 they brought to the stage which meshed well.

So basically the same as the previous band just slightly better in every way.

I can’t really say much more than that without repeating myself. I put down my notebook after the 2nd song and was rocking the rest of the concert.

8.7/10

I would suggest listening to Hagane and East of Eden. They are great Japanese style hard rock bands.