Concert Review: PLUNKLOCK & Calmando Qual @ Tivoli (Utrecht)

Sunday, May 19, was the final day of touring for both PLUNKLOCK and Calmando Qual. They performed together three times in total. Roubaix, Cologne and Utrecht were lucky enough to see two great bands perform in one evening. We went to the “Tivoli Spiegelbar” in Utrecht.

There were a lot more people than I expected. When I went to BLACK LINE last year, at the same venue, there barely 35 people. Now the crowd had been almost doubled, which meant that it got super hot real quick. The merchandise table was near the entrance again. Calmando Qual sold T-shirts and three CD's. PLUNKLOCK sold CD's and a poster but they also had signed “special edition” T-shirts. A poster featuring both bands was also available.

Before PLUNKLOCK could kick off the evening there were a few announcements by two staff members. The female staff member was Dutch and the male staff member was German. The man was constantly joking around and said that if anyone tried to get on the stage he would kiss them, and that nobody would like it. Near the end they told us that there was a lottery to win signed stuff like a male mannequin torso. After all the announcements it was time for PLUNKLOCK to get on stage.

The first one to enter the room was Pinky, the drummer. Haruka, the bassist, and Seishou, the guitarist followed. Once the guys had taken their place they gestured that we needed to encourage vocalist Halo to come out. When Halo came on stage the crowd got even louder than before. As soon as the song “Breakout” started playing, most people were screaming, headbanging or jumping around. PLUNKLOCK really got the crowd going from the first few notes.

During the second song, “Ai'iro Regret”, even more people started to jump around. It was all so energetic that the floor was literally shaking, but all that moving around made it even hotter than before. At one point I saw Haruka subtlety sighing and waving his hand before his face to cool down at least a little.

Somewhere in the middle of the concert, Halo gave a female fan an “oh my god” moment. The girl had been standing on the front row and had turned herself a couple of times to say something to her friends behind her. What she didn't know was that Halo had noticed her turning around. As soon as she turned around again Halo ran over to her an turned her head back to the stage playfully while smiling. The girl was so happy and in shock that she didn't know what to do anymore.

Near the end of the setlist, Halo suddenly went backstage and Pinky gave a little drum solo. Seishou then took place behind his microphone and sang the intro part of “≠(not-equal)”. After Seishou was done, Pinky wanted the crowd to continue with the “whoa oh oh”. During the chants Halo ran on stage in his altered PLUNKLOCK T-shirt. He was still as energetic as before.

After the last song Halo thanked the public, staff and Kanzen Music with a screaming voice. He also screamed that Europe had been fun. During the last pose someone threw a white fan signed T-shirt near the drums. Pinky was the first one to get his hands on it so he put it over his outfit before leaving the stage.

PLUNKLOCK gave a great performance. They were very energetic and you could tell that they members themselves enjoyed it too. Pinky and Haruka were usually singing along happily. As far as I've seen there was only one “accident” with the mirror balls on the ceiling. Haruka had hit one of them when he lifted his bass in the air.

Before Calmando Qual took the stage there was a small break and an announcement of the head of Râmen Events. When the Calmando Qual members entered the stage, people were still excited but I think the PLUNKLOCK show had tired some of them out. There was a little less energy than before, but Calmando Qual also got he crowd going from the first song.

Vocalist Hibiki was even more energetic than Halo. He was constantly running all over the stage and leaning close to the public. Guitarist Tak also had a habit of going closer to the crowd. Hibiki also liked to let the fans sing along and he grabbed the whole mic stand so he could reach more people than just the ones in the front row. Bassist Kenka seemed to enjoy the whole concert. If he wasn't singing along then he was playing quite passionately.

Somewhere in the middle of the concert someone threw a signed white underpants on stage. Some of the things written on it: “Kaas is baas”, “arigatou”, fan names, the date and place. Hibiki took the pants, showed them to the audience and hang them on the speaker next to drummer Maya. After that the show went on and Maya got some attention. He had to motivate the crowd but he ran out of things to say and started laughing.

Before the last songs, one of Kenka's strings snapped. A staff member went backstage and Haruka came on stage to lend his bass to Kenka. Both Calmando Qual and the audience thanked the savior for his help before CQ resumed their show. After the last song all the members quickly shook hands with fans in the front rows. Maya also gave away some of his drum sticks.

Calmando Qual also gave a great performance, and I was surprised that they were even better live. They made quite an impression, but it was sad that near the middle of their show, more people got tired. Overall it was a fun evening.