ONE OK ROCK TORONTO CONCERT LIVE REPORT

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On May 14, One Ok Rock performed in Toronto. It was one of the best (if not the best) concert I've ever been to...considering I've only been to 3 or so concerts. The audience was so into the music and OOR gave an amazing performance. Taka is one heck of a performer. He knows when and how to rile the crowd up. Toru was for the most part, in his own little guitar heaven world. I didn't pay much attention to Tomoyo unforunately. The times I did, he looked like he was having so much fun.


(No I did not take this picture. As you will see later, the photos I took are horrible.)

There was a random band that opened for them and I don't know their name. The opening band played for an hour(?). The concert was supposed to start by 8 at the Phoenix Theatre. Well, I got there by 8, waited in line for a bit , and got in at 8:30ish. There were quite a bit of people since it was a sold out show. OOR started to play at 9 and the concert was over by 10. That's including the encore which was composed of 3 songs. In my limited experience with concerts, I think that's a pretty short concert. OOR only played for an hour...

However they made up for it with an awesome performance. I can't really remember the set list because a) I only know OOR's pre-2008 songs and past 2008, I only know their singles and b) I didn't take notes and c) I'm writing this 2 weeks after the concert. I can recall Kanzen Kankaku Dreamer, Deeper Deeper, The Beginning and that's it. Oh gosh, I feel pretty horrible for remembering only 3 songs. So have some random pictures instead. I took some videos but you can't expect someone to stand still during a rock concert...so it turns out the videos are extremely shaky and last for a few seconds. I won't waste your time on that.



There was a cool backdrop on stage, it was some sort of banner with a cloaked figure and it had ONE OK ROCK written it. Taka and Toru wore tank tops, Tomoyo wore a t-shirt, and Ryouta wore no shirt. I'm sure that distracted some people.



Taka's English has gotten really good. He was so charismatic and got everyone's attention. At one point he told the audience to sit down (or get low as possible) and then jump up all at once. He got the crowd to sing and it was awesome. Most people knew the lyrics to the songs and I pretend to sing along. Actually I think Taka could see me because I stood near the back on a levitated platform (in plain view basically) and I hope he didn't realize I was just singing random words. But the chance of that is pretty slim. I did surprise myself when I realized I knew all the words to Kanzen Kankaku Dreamer.

I did manage to take pictures of Toru's swinging his hair.



One thing that Taka said really touched my heart. He said something along the lines of "We're born in different sides of the earth but because of music, we met each other, right? I'm so excited. We're definitely coming back to here." That was really sweet of him. Then he yelled, "CANADAAAA!"



6 or so years ago, I would have never imagined that they would actually have sold out shows around the world. This might be the hipster inside of me but I can't believe I've known this band for more than 5 years. I get really excited when I see a band that I like getting recognition. I freaked out when I saw that they charted in the top ten of the Oricon charts. It's an amazing experience to see OOR grow as artists, as individuals, and as a group. Although my musical preferences have changed and I don't enjoy their new sound as much as their old sound, I still think OOR is an awesome band.

If you're not too familiar with Japanese music, OOR is a great band to start off with. They have sound that's similar/inspired by Western punk rock/ pop rock. I recommend checking out their old songs like Yume Yume. Also if I'm not mistaken OOR is still on the Warped Tour and they have a couple dates in Toronto, so be sure to check them out. They are such a great live band and you won't be disappointed.

Official Website: http://www.oneokrock.com/index.html
Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/ONEOKROCKchannel
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ONEOKROCK