wah’s Summer of Music: Part 3

Posted On December 31, 2025

I didn’t mean to still be posting about concerts I saw during the summer in the dead of winter, but here we are! In this third and final part of my Summer of Music series, I will once again close out the year with a report on an Omokage Lucky Hole show.

Read on!

Omokage Lucky Hole – August 2nd, 2025@Shibuya WWW

Omokage Lucky Hole is back, baby! After leaving us hanging in 2019, the band is back at full power in 2025. 

But first, let’s rewind a bit–back in April, OLH announced that it would be releasing vinyl versions of its 2000-era albums: Whydunit?, Typical Affair and On The Border. To commemorate these releases, the band also announced a series of shows to be held in August and November of 2025, and in February of 2026. The idea is that each show would focus on performing the tracklist of each album, starting with Whydunit?. This band dubbed this series of shows Mittsu Kazoeru Mae ni Anta wa… or Before You Count to Three, You Gonna… which is a reference to the Jagatara song Tango^[1]If I remember correctly.. While the band had a sudden soft comeback near the end of last year with a limited amount of its members, this series of shows marks their return as a full band.

The first show in this series was held in the oppressive heat of August, but thankfully the venue WWW was very nicely air conditioned. The show was sold-out, and fans were waiting outside the venue for the numbers on their tickets to be called so they could cram inside. I didn’t want to miss my chance to get the merch on offer–a 45 record of Ore no Sei de Kōshien ni Ikenakatta, along with a t-shirt of said record’s jacket artwork–so I waited in the heat for my number to be called as well. There was another show happening across the street at the WWWX, and everyone from either Chiba or Saitama who couldn’t read were mistakenly also waiting in the OLH crowd before they figured out the venue they wanted to go to had an “X” at the end of its name. Amongst the chaos, aCKy suddenly appeared, and seemed surprised at the crowd. He unfortunately didn’t seem to notice me, despite standing more or less right in front of him. Maybe senpai will notice me next time.

Thankfully I managed to get in alright and snag the objects of my desire. After shoving my shit in a coin locker, I entered the already-packed venue. After looking back at some old posts, it seems like the last time OLH performed in WWW was 11 years ago in 2014. So it made sense that I barely had any memory of the space–it was far smaller than I remembered, likely holding around 300 people. The space is constructed to provide a nice incline, which gave me a pretty good view of the band. As we waited for the show to start, the venue was playing retro theme songs for regional supermarkets^[2]I would really love to know who’s idea this was..

YouTuber and singer-songwriter Kobayashi Watashi kicked off the show with a few songs as the opening act. Based on the images of him online, I assumed he would be something of an obnoxious late-20s pretty boy. But who actually appeared on stage was a young man almost as thick as me, aged 26 but going on 40. He put on an energetic and soulful acoustic set, and even covered two OLH songs–Konya Sugamo De, and Yoru no Mizutamari. For music that is so rich with instrumentation and arrangement, it was amazing how Kobayashi managed to render OLH’s music as emotional folk songs with a singular guitar. Both covers were great, but I think his take on Yoru no Mizutamari was especially inspired, given the dramatic nature of the song and its lyrics.

After a short break, the lights went dark and the dramatic enka number Atami no Yoru by Hakozaki Shinichirō started playing, opening with a shmaltzy sax solo. On cue, the music started to jump as the lyrics hit the word omokage, prompting aCKy to jump in and scream LUCKY HOLE. Like their show last year, OLH seems to be bringing back their old opening number of Konna Kakkoii Band Mita Koto Nai (You’ve Never Seen a Band as Cool as This) to kick off their shows and announce the personnel for each performance. 

Given the short runtime of around 40 minutes for a typical OLH album, the main portion of the show prior to the encore was shorter than usual. As promised, they covered all eight songs from Whydunit, with the song order rearranged to play better for the live crowd. After the introductory number, the band kicked off with an energetic performance of Watashi ga Kurumaisu ni Nattemo (Even if I’m Stuck in a Wheelchair), and immediately shot me back to 2019–the last time I saw them playing as a full band. 

We were so back, baby.

The setlist is as follows:

• Konna Kakkoii Band Mita Koto Nai (You’ve Never Seen a Band as Cool as This)
• Watashi ga Kurumaisu ni Nattemo (Even if I’m Stuck in a Wheelchair)
• Icchimattara (If I Came, If We Split, If You’re Gone)
• Naka ni Dashite ii Yo, Naka ni Dashitemo ii Yo (Come Inside, Please Come Inside)
• Ano Hito no Ryō ga Ōkatta (His Load was Huge)
• Omisoshiru Atatamete Nomi na Ne (Warm Up Your Soup)
• Atashi Yuube H Shinaide Nechatte Gomen Ne (Sorry For Falling Asleep Before We Could Do it)
• Pachinko Yatteru Aida ni Umarete Mamonai Musume wo Kuruma no Naka de Shinaseta… Natsu (That Summer I Left my Newborn Daughter to Die in the Car While I Played Pachinko)
• Kore ga Kore na Mon De (The Missus is Knocked Up)

Encore 1

• Konya, Sugamo De (Tonight, in Sugamo)
• Suki na Otoko no Namae Ude ni Compass no Hari de Kaita (The Name of That Man Written on Her Arm with a Compass Needle)
• Yoru no Mizutamari (Puddle of Water by Night)
• Ore no Sei de Koshien ni Ikenakatta (It’s All My Fault We Couldn’t Go to Koshien)

Encore 2

• Tokyo (Ja) Night Club (Wa) (At The Tokyo Night Club)

The challenge faced by performing a full album is that the gig is slave to the record’s tracklist. I love Whydunit?–it’s probably my favorite OLH album–but it definitely skews heavily towards slower tracks, be them smooth grooves or more dramatic ballads. It’s always great to kick back and listen to these songs on the record in the comfort of my home, and while it was great to hear these slower tracks live, perhaps it would have been nicer to sit down at some lounge with whiskey and mixed nuts to better enjoy them, as opposed to standing up in a tight live house. However, this feeling is on me and my expectation-setting, and I imagine the heat outside wasn’t helping either.

Two of my favorite songs on Whydunit? are the opening track Ano Hito no Ryō ga Ōkatta (His Load was Huge) and the b-side track Naka ni Dashite ii Yo, Naka ni Dashitemo ii Yo (Come Inside, Please Come Inside), and I was really looking forward to hearing them rendered live. Needless to say, I wasn’t disappointned–while I love the tight studio arrangements of these songs, the looseness of live performance lets you soak in them even deeper. I had heard Naka ni Dashite ii Yo live before when the band had their last full show back in 2019, and I was thrilled to get lost in its sultry delinquency again, with its raunchy brass and low key funk guitar backing. From there they seamlessly moved into Ano Hito, and chills came down my spine listening to it live for the first time. With the death of the band’s old keyboardist Sone-chan, OLH was missing a key part of its lineup for a long while. This show saw the introduction of a new keyboardist–a man named Itō Takahiro, who has played with the likes of Yuzu and Kirinji, among other bands–who opened up Ano Hito with an oozy organ solo, and closed it out with a more funky and soulful exploration. Much like the album cut of the song, much of the instrumentation was sparse and quiet, which was even more striking in a live setting, without studio production. Tecchan let his guitar cry more than he did on the album, and the horns were nice and brassy in person. 

While a bulk of the first set was quite slow and goopy, OLH closed out strong with Pachinko Yatteru Aida ni Umarete Mamonai Musume wo Kuruma no Naka de Shinaseta… Natsu (That Summer I Left my Newborn Daughter to Die in the Car While I Played Pachinko) and Kore ga Kore na Mon De (The Missus is Knocked Up). During the former, aCKy yelled “TODAY IS SONE-CHAN’S BIRTHDAY,” in tribute to the fact that he composed that number. Once again, rest in power Sone-chan. 

The show had two encores, which is probably a first for me, but makes sense given the abbreviated nature of the first part of the show. When they closed off the first encore with Ore no Sei de Koshien ni Ikenakatta (It’s All My Fault We Couldn’t Go to Koshien) without aCKy stripping down and throwing his sweaty clothes into the audience, I was a bit puzzled. “Perhaps he finally realizes he’s getting too old for that sort of thing,” I thought.

Of course I was proven wrong when they unleashed the final encore consisting of one song, Tokyo (Ja) Night Club (Wa) (At The Tokyo Night Club), which is their usual closer. aCKy came out in the t-shirt of the night, wearing a fluffy hat in the shape of a pig’s head, and giant fluffy fur sunglasses. And on cue, he stripped down, and was sure to rub his sweat all over his t-shirt before throwing it at the audience for some lucky (?) fan to catch.

For the 1.5 people reading these reviews^[3]Or for anyone reading who has happened to see an OLH show., you’ve probably come to realize that the MC interludes in OLH’s shows can be a highlight of the experience, and this time was no exception. “You know, when I look at a crowd… I can tell what kind of topics they want to hear about,” aCKy opened, “Do these guys wanna hear about the tariffs? Or do they want my thoughts on the recent lower house election? Well, I got you guys pegged down.” 

He paused. 

“So the other day, I saw something weird on my dick.” 

The crowd immediately erupted into laughter.

Across two of these MC segments, aCKy talked about his trials and tribulations of visiting multiple doctors to figure out what was wrong with him and his member. He even made multiple nods back to his (fictional?) girlfriend “Maki” who came up in the last show, in regards to how he may have come to be in this situation due to her being promiscuous. “Finally, I ended up at a dermatologist, and this nurse took out a huge magnifying glass and started examining my dick. ‘What kind of fetish is this?’ I thought to myself,” he narrated. Ultimately, it seems aCKy just had a pimple on his dick. All’s well that ends well.

He also took the time to introduce their new keyboardist, but was worried if he would join them for the next show. “I’ve only been talking about my dick this whole time… so who knows if he wants to play with us again.” aCKy looked over, and Itō looked a bit shy. “Oh no…” aCKy muttered. “…I’m good with the dick jokes!” Itō then enthusiastically responded, almost as if to cheer aCKy up. Similarly, while praising the opening act of Kobayashi Watashi, aCKy was also clear to state his intention of leading off his routine with a dick joke. “I figure if I open the show by talking about my dick, the people who just came to see Kobayashi-kun would leave,” in a faint attempt to save the few civilians who may have found their way into WWW with no intention to see OLH that night. These talk segments weren’t all about aCKy’s dick though–near the end the band led an appropriately twisted call-and-response routine. “Aiko likes to engage her audience by yelling BOYS and GIRLS, right? But for us…? You know… we need some diversity here. WHO HERE HAS ADHD??” aCKy then went on to call out other mental afflictions and fetishes, including social anxiety, sadism, masochism… and the greatest affliction of all… “SUBCULTURE SHITHEAD”. 

On the whole, it was great seeing OLH back at full power for the first time in forever. However, since they’re always on top of their game, once they started playing, it didn’t feel like 6 years had passed at all. As always, aCKy likes to pretend he hates performing live, and passed off this and future shows as mere “promotion” at the request of P-VINE for their upcoming record releases. But from what I could tell, he really had the same fresh energy that he had back in November, and it’s unlike any energy I’ve seen from him pre-covid. I think perhaps all the time away from the stage helped him realize that he may enjoy doing what he’s doing. And hell, this show was sold out! “If only we had sold out in the past, then maybe we would have tried harder back then!” 

Here’s to many more sold out shows, aCKy.

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And that’s it! It was a fruitful summer with a bunch of fun gigs, and probably a great way to enjoy myself before getting shitcanned by some evil gaming company. But now that I’m back on my feet, I can look forward to enjoying more great performances in 2026. For starters, I do hope to cover off the final two shows in OLH’s current ongoing series, so look out for posts about those gigs in the new year.

2025 was crap–let’s all hope 2026 is ever slightly better. Happy new year!