I had heard months ago via TGU that all of the ex-BiS groups (and Tenten!) were getting together for a show in December, and TGU had speculated that Saki would return to POP on that date because, like, there wouldn’t be much of a point of including POP without her (well, the WACK connection, but still), and then the show never happened and Pure Idol Heart made it sound like it was sort of spur-of-the-moment.

But! Not long afterward, first Billie Idle and then others started to tweet out details about not a single show, but a little tour of the whole shebang!

Brand-new Idle Society presents ANARCHY TOUR & ANARCHY TOUR FINAL “IDLE is DEAD!?” at 日比谷野音 pic.twitter.com/b35mj8f553

— BILLIE IDLE® (@b_idle_official) December 26, 2015

Well, it’s now sold out. And that’s great. Even if Tenten is only going to be included for the final.

I have two thoughtlets:

1. This is very cool, and I’m glad that they’re doing it, but I hope that it doesn’t become a regular thing; I don’t know why Billie Idle is listed as the headliner (nor do I have a problem with it), but the fact that they are kind of says that, for all of the work put into spinning post-BiS into a productive counter-mainstream, they’re still not that far advanced, which, okay, it’s only been 18 months, but I feel like there’s way more excitement right now around the Bellhearts and PassCodes of the world than any of the ex-BiS groups, and the joining of forces between Guso Drop and Screaming Sixties management feels way more dynamic and potential-laden. I guess I wanted more for some old favorites.
   1. This can also be looked at as something of a counter-formational success story, giving the ex-members a victory lap together, a look-how-far-we’ve-come thing. I’m not in Japan and rely on bad translations and English-language media exclusively, so I only have so much data to process. Maybe I’m looking at it wrong.
      1. I just see that Pour Lui’s rather ambitious band project is involved and think, wow, I get why you wanted to end BiS, but did you ever think this would be the result?
2. Notably absent is BiSH. No, none of the BiSH members were part of BiS ever in any way, but between name, legacy, management, songwriting, etc., there are so many points of contact that it would’ve been easy to bring them in. They did have Idol Swindle dates booked, IIRC, so there may be conflict and that’s why, but I think it also says who’s the big winner right now in the post-BiS world, and it’s Watanabe Junnosuke (and SCRAMBLES).

But do take this as a positive thing. No matter the ramifications, this is still all of ex-BiS (well, all of ex-BiS except for Yuffy [who isn’t invited because reasons] and BPM15Q, who are probably too removed at this point to be seriously considered) doing a series of shows together, which means a lot of talent and musical diversity on one stage. And that’s awesome.