One of the most notable bands that I saw live at COUNTDOWN JAPAN 06/07 -west- in Osaka on December 30th, 2006 was The Back Horn. Their performance kicked off the festivities that day as they opened up on the Aurora Stage, one of the two main stages at Intex Osaka.

I was amazed by how well of a job the concert producers Rockin’ On did at organizing this mega event. COUNTDOWN JAPAN has been going on at Makuhari (Tokyo) since 03/04, but 06/07 was the first year of it’s western counterpart in Osaka.

The Back Horn was the perfect band to open the day at a concert like this. Their performance started at 5 minutes past noon and like the other bands, they played for a 50-minute duration. I was fortunate enough to get stand about 10 rows back from the stage.

  An official shot of The Back Horn performing, courtesy of the COUNTDOWN JAPAN quick report

There was much anticipation as the calm intro music played and the crowd went crazy when Masashi, Eijun, Kohshu, and Shinji finally arrived on stage. From that moment on, I was in The Back Horn’s world, rocking out and full of motion. It’s like how I get when I listen to their album X 10. Simply put, The Back Horn’s performance was electric. The only moment to breathe came when drummer Shinji took a couple minutes to talk. They played a diverse array of songs; from older stuff like “Sunny” to the more recent “Black Hole Birthday” to their latest single “Koe”.

The performance of “Cobalt Blue” impressed me as the most intense. I was really anticipating it because the PV for the song is so crazy and fun. The obvious fan favorite was “Koe” which The Back Horn ended their set with.

My favorite song to see live was probably “Black Hole Birthday”. This actually suprised me since it was never one of my top favorite songs. The live dynamics of “Black Hole Birthday” were incredible though. I especially loved the role of Kohshu’s rumbling bass in the song. Any song by The Back Horn seems to be given full justice when played live. From Masashi’s wailing vocals to Eijun’s erratic but precise guitar, the band really puts on a awe-mazing show.

I still want to see live performances of songs like “Hajimete no Kokyou de”, “Yume no Hana”, “Ame”, and “Koufuku Na Nakigara”. Will I ever get the oppurtunity to see The Back Horn live again? I hope so!

COUNTDOWN JAPAN 06/07 official site, rockin’ on Japan
The Back Horn’s official site

Expect a new live report of each of the musicians that I saw live each day for about the next week. Tomorrow’s live report: ULTRA BRAiN.