Wow, what a tour...

Just finished our UK & Ireland tour... 15 dates! 

I had some really great memories. It was the best few weeks of my life!!

Here's a recap and some highlights of the tour...!

12 Feb - Bournemouth, Old Fire Station

Getting really sick on the first day of the tour... but still did my best to do the entire set! I couldn't speak, but I could somehow still sing. The energy the audience gave me really kept me going!

13 Feb - Exeter, Phoenix

Probably one of my favorite venues to play ever. A huge screen that really captured what we did with the visuals, and to perform somewhere to a sold out crowd of 500 people as far away as Exeter was something I never imagined Esprit D'Air could ever do. I was grateful to had met so many nice fans here too. This was the only time we played Souhou Liar live, too.

14 Feb - Bristol, Thekla

Wow! My first time performing on a boat to another sold out show. I really thought we were going sink that ship when we did that jump in Leviathan. Crazy crowd!! This was the first time I have ever seen people start a moshpit during our ballads (Glaciers, Sazanami... LOL).

16 Feb - Swansea, Hangar 18

By this time, I got a little better because of the day off. We had to load in our equipment up three flights of stairs though!! The venue staff were amazing, with great sound, and the Welsh crowd were really welcoming and energetic. I got to meet a lot of nice fans after too!! It was ALSO Vincent's birthday, so we got him cake on stage!!

18 Feb - Wolverhampton, KK's Steel Mill

This was our tour manager's favorite venue, and I think ours too... the fact that you could drive INTO the venue and load out your equipment, he was in tears... HAHA. It really made our lives easier, and very comfortable, and wow, what a big stage! 

This was the first time I started throwing my guitar to our tech during changes - we practiced it a few times during soundcheck... thankfully, the Schecter was never dropped!! 

We also decided to bring back our Kurenai cover for this show, because it was at a metal venue!!

19 Feb - Sheffield, Corporation

This was Yusuke's special show because he went to University here... to study mathematics...! He spent a lot of time at Corporation at club nights, so it was very special night for him! I think by this point, we brought back the song Reminisce for the first time in years.

20 Feb - Manchester, Academy 3

Probably one of the funnest, and funniest shows we have ever played. A lot of jokes were made during our show, which we do not often do... Manchester is always so nice to us and it's one of my favorite cities to play in (we've been every year since 2022!). If we didn't play Liverpool, Sheffield, and Leeds, we would have probably played Academy 2! Next time, we will be at a bigger venue!

21 Feb - Liverpool, O2 Academy

My birthday show!! My band got me a very nice vegan cake on stage...! It was also Ben Christo's special show because he has recently moved to this city. I loved it!!

23 Feb - Dublin, The Grand Social

We had a really nice and relaxing ferry trip to Belfast the day before, then drove to Dublin. Lovely venue, and our first time in Ireland! It was a very intimate show. There was no way to get on the stage without getting through the crowd. 

24 Feb - Belfast, Oh Yeah Music Centre

One of my favorite shows!! Our first time in Northern Ireland. Unfortunately, the doors were really late in opening due to lack of security staff, so to make up for it, we played an extra long set - 20 minutes more than anywhere else! 

26 Feb - Leeds, The Warehouse

The fans were chanting, 'Yorkshire! Yorkshire!' - it almost sounded like they said, 'you're shit, you're shit!' HAHA! Again, we saw moshpits during ballads! That's crazy. A few members of The Sisters of Mercy also attended this show... it took me by surprise, and I didn't know until the end!! I was really happy to see them.

27 Feb - Glasgow, The Garage

Here we, here we, here we fuckin' go! Another one of my favorite shows... Scottish crowds are always amazing.

...but I can't stop laughing about this. 

We planned a confetti cannon during the last chorus of Glaciers. Before the show, we briefed everybody, to make sure none of us are standing on the stage right riser during this moment, or else we'd get blasted by paper... 

However, Takeshi forgot... Moments before the confetti cannon was shot, I jumped on the riser to tell Takeshi "be careful! Please get off the riser!". He said, "but why...? Oh... Now I remember.", and he got off the riser just seconds before the confetti cannon was shot. I missed the first note of the last chorus because I was sooo worried that Takeshi's ass was about to be blasted... but it was too funny!

28 Feb - Newcastle upon Tyne, Reds Bar

Haha, such a strange venue! It was a very intimate one, much smaller than I thought, but it was a really enjoyable show. For some reason, I felt more nervous about this one than others. Since we returned here three years in a row, it was so nice to see familiar faces from the past few shows! That was the highlight for me :)

29 Feb - Nottingham, Rescue Rooms

Awesome venue! Like many cities on this tour, it was our first time here, and it's so cool to have sold this one out. For almost everyone, it was their first time seeing Esprit D'Air, or actually, it was one of their first concerts ever. I feel so honored for that! Next time, we hope to play Rock City.

2nd Mar - London, The Garage

And finally, London... the final show. It was the best one in my life. By this time, we were all tight and confident. I was in tears when people started chanting our band name over and over - I couldn't believe it. It was actually very special for me too, because this is the venue where Esprit D'Air started - it was where the original band members met for the very first time, just out of coincidence. A few months later, we formed Esprit D'Air. Not many people know this, but it's also one of the reasons why I chose this venue specifically :)

Did you go a show? What's your favorite memory from it? 

Thank you for an amazing tour!