You Yokoyama brought his ROCK FOR YOU LIVE TOUR to Tokyo Garden Theater on October 7, 2026. Unlike the usual STARTO concerts I’ve attended, this one was all about rock music. No elaborate idol segments or fan service, just “Yoko” playing guitar and singing with his band.
Of course, that didn’t stop him from spending plenty of time joking with the fans between songs.
The concert opened with photographs and footage from his earlier performances, with the words “ROCK TO YOU” changing into “ROCK FOR YOU” on the screen. When the screen came down, Yoko was standing in the center of the stage with his guitar, wearing a black suit, black shirt, red tie and sunglasses.
He opened with “Yakusoku”, raising his pinky finger during the song as a gesture of promise.
“Rock for you, rock for anata,” he said.
“Rockstar” was one of my favourites, while “Kanjou Maigo” unexpectedly made me a little emotional. I also found myself enjoying “Shield” much more live than I had expected. “Pride” was another highlight, especially when everyone joined in the repeated “woo woo woo” section. Eventually, only the drums remained, with the audience continuing to sing as Yoko encouraged us to keep going.
At one point during the MC, Yoko suggested a toast and asked whether everyone had received a welcome drink. Apparently, there were none, so he told anyone without a drink to just pretend they had one.
He also complained about how difficult it was to play guitar in a suit. When the audience told him he looked cool, he immediately replied, “I know. That’s why I wore it.”
Then he mentioned that he liked women wearing suits, which naturally led to some teasing from the audience.
The conversations kept wandering. He talked about eating sushi, jingisukan, and ramen in Hokkaido, and then asked where everyone had traveled from. When someone said Korea, he brought up Ryuhei Maruyama’s recent visit.and jokingly asked whether they had met him.
Then someone shouted Canada.
He replied, “You came all this way for this? Why?!”
His MC was pretty long, but it never felt that way. It was more like listening to a conversation between friends.
He also started talking about how complicated the heart poses made by younger idols had become. Apparently, he could do them too. He demonstrated a finger heart, followed by something that looked more like a snake.
Yoko also mentioned that Joichiro Fujiwara and Akito Kiriyama were watching the concert.
“Don’t look! They’ll be embarrassed!,” he warned.
Naturally, everyone immediately wanted to know where they were sitting. Rather than revealing their location, he pointed somewhere random instead.
After the MC, Yoko removed his jacket and asked if we knew what song was coming next.
“Nai Mono Nedari!” the audience shouted.
They were right.
Another memorable part of the MC was when Yoko talked about performing with Subaru Shibutani at the same venue last year.
I had attended YOKOYAMA YOU × SHIBUTANI SUBARU (YY×SS), so I was particularly interested in seeing him return to Tokyo Garden Theater. Compared with last year, Yoko seemed much more comfortable onstage, especially when interacting with the fans.
During the MC, he recalled something Subaru had told him after their concert. Subaru had encouraged Yoko to keep performing and singing, regardless of whether his voice was good or bad.
Of course, everyone laughed at the last part.
“You all thought ‘bad’, didn’t you?,” Yoko protested.
But the advice stayed with him. When the staff later asked whether he wanted to perform again, he said yes.
He also mentioned how happy he was to be back at Tokyo Garden Theater and that he never imagined he would get to see the view in front of him.
Yoko also thanked Peach, who had worked with him on the music and helped him make decisions about the performances. He spoke about how much he admired Peach’s love for his wife, including the fact that Peach apparently carried a towel with her scent.
Then he added that Peach should probably stop showing him photographs of his wife in a swimsuit because it made him feel awkward.
The planned encore began with “Arigatou”. Yoko joked that he had already spent the evening saying thank you, so now he was going to sing a song called “Arigatou”. It was followed by “Sonzai Igi”, and that seemed to be the end of the concert.
Except the audience kept chanting “Yoko! Yoko!” until he eventually came back out alone, apparently without any particular plan.
Someone suggested starting the whole concert again.
Yoko immediately complained that we wouldn’t be nearly as excited if he repeated everything.
Instead, he offered several song choices, including “Yakusoku”, “Mangetsu”, “Rockstar”, “Ubu LOVE”, “Eejanaika”, “Purin” and “Ougonki”.
Naturally, people wanted all of them.
After some back-and-forth, he decided to let the audience vote by applause. “Ubu LOVE” received one of the loudest reactions, which was rather funny considering it wasn’t even a song of his.
In the end, we got three extra songs: “Purin”, “Ougonki” and “Rockstar”.
I was particularly happy about the last one since it had been one of my favorites from the beginning.
Before leaving, Yoko thanked his band, the staff, and everyone involved in the tour. Looking out at the audience, he remarked on how quickly the evening had passed.
“Ii kao ya,” he told us, saying that everyone had such good expressions on their faces.
After seeing him perform at YY×SS last year, it was nice to be back at Tokyo Garden Theater for another Yoko live. This time, we even managed to get three extra songs out of him.
Hopefully, there will be another ROCK FOR YOU tour to look forward to.
—Written by Carla for Dumpling Box