Do you guys remember when Yurumerumo was going to wrap up their WE ARE A ROCK FESTIVAL tour by playing their own instruments at the finale (inadvertently previewed here)? Like, Younapi with the hilarious Moog synthesizer and Chiffon on bass (of course) and you felt pretty confident about Ano on guitar and, sure, Kechon can probably handle drums?

It’s wonderful.

All right, look, exactly what Younapi does there most of the time is tough to tell, and Kechon “on drums” is really Kechon “on drum and cymbal” and she’s just kind of adding some beat most of the time, but Ano and Chiffon both managed to make some good contributions to what the actual band was playing, especially after Chiffon traded her four strings for six and got the hell down at the end.

As an added bonus: Remember when Dots put out that 360-degree VR live video? You’ll Melt More! added a bit, too, also from the tour finale. I can’t embed it, but you can still watch it in your headset and feel like you’re experiencing something totally cool.

“SWEET ESCAPE” happens to be one of my favorite YMM songs, too, a real treat from the older part of their discography that I’m not sure I’d ever seen done live, period, let alone with the members in support. “The Most Beautiful Thing” is from that stretch on YOU ARE THE WORLD where it felt like YMM was moving onto a level that nobody else could touch. Happy new year to us!