Heresy Standing Live Tour 2012 - HETERODOXY
Oh my god, the GazettE live was insane. It was amazing! Two days later and I still ache all over, but it was completely worth it.
On Thursday, I took the afternoon off of work, so that I'd be able to get to the venue in time. I stopped at home to eat lunch and change into concert clothes before I headed to Shin-kiba.
Outside Studio Coast, the concert venue.
I got to the venue a couple hours before doors opened, but there were still plenty of fans milling around. I was able to get in line and buy my concert goods right away. I bought the tour pamphlet, the black tour shirt, one of the make-up mirrors, a towel, and a bag to put it all in (not that I actually needed to buy another bag). I sat round for a bit and drank some juice and ate a snack. Then, I picked up my GFC ticket at the ticket window. Getting a membership to the Global Fan Club was the best decision because I've gotten great tickets through them every time. This time my ticket was number 201 (out of 800 tickets).
While waiting for doors to open, I met a few other foreign fans who had come to the concert by themselves! First I met Katja, who's here in Japan for summer language study. We spent a while talking together and right when doors opened we met lotos79. Our ticket numbers were all close together, so we decided to stick together at the concert. We hurried in as soon as our numbers were called and we were able to get a good spot standing about four or five rows from the front of the stage on Aoi's side! (Katja and lotos79 both like Aoi a lot, so even though Uruha's my favorite I decided to stick with them. Besides, Uruha just barely edges Aoi out as my favorite.) That's the closest I've been to the stage at a GazettE concert so far! We chatted while we waited the hour or so for the concert to start, talking about previous concerts we'd been to and wondering what the setlist would be like for that night's concert.
Things got crazy as soon as the lights went down. I've been to GazettE concerts before and they're always pretty intense, but this one definitely took the cake. This was the first fan club only live that I've been to for GazettE. I'm sure the fact that it was a fan club live made it that much more intense because that meant everyone there was a die-hard fan. As soon as the boys took the stage the crowd surged forward, so that everyone was pressed up against each other and there was little breathing room. There was a lot of pushing and shoving, trying to get as close to the barrier by the stage as possible. A couple guys next to me kept pushing to get closer to Aoi. I eventually got sick of their shoving and gave up my spot to them, while I squeezed over into the spot they'd previously been. This left me a bit closer to Ruki, so throughout the concert I had a really good view of Aoi, Ruki, Reita, and Kai, and an okay view of Uruha.
The boys were looking good as usual. They were all wearing black outfits. Aoi's hair is still black and pink, Uruha's gone back to honey blonde, and Ruki has brown hair. Kai has brown hair too, but I'm not really a fan of his current long hair. It covers too much of his lovely face and looks a little poodley. Reita, of course, had his usual hair.
The setlist was a good mix of old and new songs. The band started off the show with "Agony", which wasn't what I'd been expecting, though I like the song. It really took me most of the song to adjust to the fact that (1) holy shit GazettE was right in front of me and (2) the press of the crowd. I always try so hard to remember as much as I can about all the different moments during the concerts, but so much of it is blurred together in the sea of the crowd and GazettE GazettE GazettE this time. I'm going to try to write everything I can remember though.
I jumped, headbanged, shouted, and moved with the flow of the crowd. For me, nothing compares to GazettE's music. Here's the setlist for the concert (copied from online because there's no way I could remember all this off the top of my head):
1. Agony
2. Akai Kodou
3. Vortex
4. Juuyonsai no Knife
5. Namaatatakai Ame to Zaratsuita Jounetsu
6. Swallowtail on the Death Valley
7. The Invisible Wall
8. Calm Envy
9. Chijou
10. Before I Decay
11. Sugar Pain
12. Clever Monkey
13. Headache Man
14. Cockroach
15. Filth in the Beauty
Encore 1
16. Ride with the Rockers
17. Sludgy Cult
18. Vermin
19. Ruder
20. Kantou Dogeza Kumiai
21. Discharge
Encore 2
22. Linda~candydive pinky heaven~
I can clearly remember a moment during "Calm Envy". Ruki sang a couple of the notes at the end without his mic and it just sounded absolutely heartbreaking. "Chijou" was the next song and he did a lot of snake-like hand motions during it.
I was so excited that the band played "Sugar Pain" because I'd never heard it live before. Watching Aoi play that guitar solo at the beginning and end, goddamn. The solo is already incredibly sexy and seeing him playing it just made it even more so. Unf.
On two separate occasions the band had to briefly pause between songs so that Kai could switch out one of his snares. There was also a moment when I think Aoi had a bit of technical trouble with his guitar. He was supposed to be onstage playing his part, but he didn't arrive onstage until his part was almost over.
Aoi sometimes tries to kiss Uruha during concerts, but Uruha only ever seems to let him during the fan club lives, when there's no video or photographic proof (lol). They didn't kiss at this concert, but they had a moment on the platform at the center of the stage. Uruha made a kind of kissy face at Aoi and pointed at him, then Aoi put his hand up to his mouth in an "oh my gosh~" sort of way.
The crowd was so packed together at the front of the stage that we could barely even do the usual dancing during songs like "Headache Man" and "Cockroach". We tried to dance, but mostly we just packed together and surged up towards the stage. The intensity kept growing and growing as the concert went on.
Everyone kept commenting on how hot the live was during the MCs. Reita mentioned how hot it was and then said the reason why the live was hot was because we were so hot. Kai also mentioned how hot it was and said something or other about it being so hot that it was like we were gonna die. During his MC, Ruki went on about how hot it was. Then he noticed Uruha standing in the breeze from the fan, which was on his side of the stage. All of us made noises about how jealous we were of him. XD
The encores were wild, specifically "Kantou". Fucking "Kantou"~! "Kantou" is always crazy, but this time even more so. lotos79 had also been at the concert the night before, so she warned me and Katja about the crowd surfing. It was nice to have a heads up, but that still doesn't quite prepare you for when it actually happens. As soon as the song started, the security guards moved to stand between the stage and the barrier. Throughout the song tiny Japanese girls boosted themselves up on top on the crowd and didn't just crowd surf, but rather the crowd rolled them over the tops of our heads to the front of the stage. As soon as they reached the front of the crowd, the security guards would catch them and then the girls would run back to the crowd and do it all over again! I quickly realized that the best strategy for dealing with this was to duck and cover as people rolled by over my head, while occasionally helping to push them over. "Kantou" is usually full of the band's playful shenanigans, but it was really hard to watch a lot of the performance because of all the crowd surfing. A lot of the times I looked up the boys would be standing near the front of the stage watching the crowd and egging us on, looking amused at the crowd surfing girls who would try and reach for them as they went over the edge. At one point I did see one girl who reached out for Ruki and he actually leaned over, grabbed her hand, and pulled her over the edge of the crowd to the waiting security guard. "Kantou" must have gone on for at least ten minutes this time.
I was so exhausted (in a good way) when "Kantou" was over, but then it was time for "Discharge" and some intense headbanging. That was the end of the first encore. We called the band back for one more encore and they ended with "Linda" as usual, with all of us clapping and dancing along. The band said their final goodbyes and left the stage after throwing picks and drum sticks to the crowd. Ruki told us he loved us and poured water bottles on us. Then he gave us a little "grr" face and casually flipped us off on his way off of the stage.
I love those boys so much. I couldn't believe the live was over. I was drenched in sweat (mine and everyone else's). I had my concert towel around my neck during the show (like y'do), but that only helped so much. I was also extremely thirsty from all the yelling and activity. I caught a hold of Katja and lotos79 from where we'd been separated in the crowd. We made our way over to the bar to use our drink tickets and then sat around outside for a bit while we re-hydrated and attempted to make ourselves look more presentable. We took the train back part of the way with each other. It was nice to meet them and hang out with them at the concert! Neither of them live in Japan, but we might be able to meet up at future GazettE lives, so we exchanged info. It'd be fun to see them again in the future!
I got on the Seibu Ikebukuro line to get back home. I'd been feeling fine before (despite being tired and achy), but I had to spend most of the train ride convincing myself that I wasn't going to get sick to my stomach. As soon as I arrived at my station, I promptly made my way to the restroom and was sick to my stomach. I guess 2 1/2 hours of heat and physical exertion was too my for my poor stomach to take. I felt better afterwards though.
Despite the getting sick, and the achiness, and the fact that I don't think I've ever sweat more in my life, it really was a fantastic experience! There's just something amazing about GazettE lives and the intensity during them that doesn't compare to other concerts. While it was a great time, I think I'm glad that the next live in November isn't a standing live. It's nice to switch it up a bit, have both standing and seated GazettE lives (because while standing lives are awesome, I don't know if my body could handle going to them all the time). I just wish that November wasn't so far away! At least I have the DIVISION release to look forward to next month. I can't wait for more new GazettE songs!
On Thursday, I took the afternoon off of work, so that I'd be able to get to the venue in time. I stopped at home to eat lunch and change into concert clothes before I headed to Shin-kiba.
Outside Studio Coast, the concert venue.
I got to the venue a couple hours before doors opened, but there were still plenty of fans milling around. I was able to get in line and buy my concert goods right away. I bought the tour pamphlet, the black tour shirt, one of the make-up mirrors, a towel, and a bag to put it all in (not that I actually needed to buy another bag). I sat round for a bit and drank some juice and ate a snack. Then, I picked up my GFC ticket at the ticket window. Getting a membership to the Global Fan Club was the best decision because I've gotten great tickets through them every time. This time my ticket was number 201 (out of 800 tickets).
While waiting for doors to open, I met a few other foreign fans who had come to the concert by themselves! First I met Katja, who's here in Japan for summer language study. We spent a while talking together and right when doors opened we met lotos79. Our ticket numbers were all close together, so we decided to stick together at the concert. We hurried in as soon as our numbers were called and we were able to get a good spot standing about four or five rows from the front of the stage on Aoi's side! (Katja and lotos79 both like Aoi a lot, so even though Uruha's my favorite I decided to stick with them. Besides, Uruha just barely edges Aoi out as my favorite.) That's the closest I've been to the stage at a GazettE concert so far! We chatted while we waited the hour or so for the concert to start, talking about previous concerts we'd been to and wondering what the setlist would be like for that night's concert.
Things got crazy as soon as the lights went down. I've been to GazettE concerts before and they're always pretty intense, but this one definitely took the cake. This was the first fan club only live that I've been to for GazettE. I'm sure the fact that it was a fan club live made it that much more intense because that meant everyone there was a die-hard fan. As soon as the boys took the stage the crowd surged forward, so that everyone was pressed up against each other and there was little breathing room. There was a lot of pushing and shoving, trying to get as close to the barrier by the stage as possible. A couple guys next to me kept pushing to get closer to Aoi. I eventually got sick of their shoving and gave up my spot to them, while I squeezed over into the spot they'd previously been. This left me a bit closer to Ruki, so throughout the concert I had a really good view of Aoi, Ruki, Reita, and Kai, and an okay view of Uruha.
The boys were looking good as usual. They were all wearing black outfits. Aoi's hair is still black and pink, Uruha's gone back to honey blonde, and Ruki has brown hair. Kai has brown hair too, but I'm not really a fan of his current long hair. It covers too much of his lovely face and looks a little poodley. Reita, of course, had his usual hair.
The setlist was a good mix of old and new songs. The band started off the show with "Agony", which wasn't what I'd been expecting, though I like the song. It really took me most of the song to adjust to the fact that (1) holy shit GazettE was right in front of me and (2) the press of the crowd. I always try so hard to remember as much as I can about all the different moments during the concerts, but so much of it is blurred together in the sea of the crowd and GazettE GazettE GazettE this time. I'm going to try to write everything I can remember though.
I jumped, headbanged, shouted, and moved with the flow of the crowd. For me, nothing compares to GazettE's music. Here's the setlist for the concert (copied from online because there's no way I could remember all this off the top of my head):
1. Agony
2. Akai Kodou
3. Vortex
4. Juuyonsai no Knife
5. Namaatatakai Ame to Zaratsuita Jounetsu
6. Swallowtail on the Death Valley
7. The Invisible Wall
8. Calm Envy
9. Chijou
10. Before I Decay
11. Sugar Pain
12. Clever Monkey
13. Headache Man
14. Cockroach
15. Filth in the Beauty
Encore 1
16. Ride with the Rockers
17. Sludgy Cult
18. Vermin
19. Ruder
20. Kantou Dogeza Kumiai
21. Discharge
Encore 2
22. Linda~candydive pinky heaven~
I can clearly remember a moment during "Calm Envy". Ruki sang a couple of the notes at the end without his mic and it just sounded absolutely heartbreaking. "Chijou" was the next song and he did a lot of snake-like hand motions during it.
I was so excited that the band played "Sugar Pain" because I'd never heard it live before. Watching Aoi play that guitar solo at the beginning and end, goddamn. The solo is already incredibly sexy and seeing him playing it just made it even more so. Unf.
On two separate occasions the band had to briefly pause between songs so that Kai could switch out one of his snares. There was also a moment when I think Aoi had a bit of technical trouble with his guitar. He was supposed to be onstage playing his part, but he didn't arrive onstage until his part was almost over.
Aoi sometimes tries to kiss Uruha during concerts, but Uruha only ever seems to let him during the fan club lives, when there's no video or photographic proof (lol). They didn't kiss at this concert, but they had a moment on the platform at the center of the stage. Uruha made a kind of kissy face at Aoi and pointed at him, then Aoi put his hand up to his mouth in an "oh my gosh~" sort of way.
The crowd was so packed together at the front of the stage that we could barely even do the usual dancing during songs like "Headache Man" and "Cockroach". We tried to dance, but mostly we just packed together and surged up towards the stage. The intensity kept growing and growing as the concert went on.
Everyone kept commenting on how hot the live was during the MCs. Reita mentioned how hot it was and then said the reason why the live was hot was because we were so hot. Kai also mentioned how hot it was and said something or other about it being so hot that it was like we were gonna die. During his MC, Ruki went on about how hot it was. Then he noticed Uruha standing in the breeze from the fan, which was on his side of the stage. All of us made noises about how jealous we were of him. XD
The encores were wild, specifically "Kantou". Fucking "Kantou"~! "Kantou" is always crazy, but this time even more so. lotos79 had also been at the concert the night before, so she warned me and Katja about the crowd surfing. It was nice to have a heads up, but that still doesn't quite prepare you for when it actually happens. As soon as the song started, the security guards moved to stand between the stage and the barrier. Throughout the song tiny Japanese girls boosted themselves up on top on the crowd and didn't just crowd surf, but rather the crowd rolled them over the tops of our heads to the front of the stage. As soon as they reached the front of the crowd, the security guards would catch them and then the girls would run back to the crowd and do it all over again! I quickly realized that the best strategy for dealing with this was to duck and cover as people rolled by over my head, while occasionally helping to push them over. "Kantou" is usually full of the band's playful shenanigans, but it was really hard to watch a lot of the performance because of all the crowd surfing. A lot of the times I looked up the boys would be standing near the front of the stage watching the crowd and egging us on, looking amused at the crowd surfing girls who would try and reach for them as they went over the edge. At one point I did see one girl who reached out for Ruki and he actually leaned over, grabbed her hand, and pulled her over the edge of the crowd to the waiting security guard. "Kantou" must have gone on for at least ten minutes this time.
I was so exhausted (in a good way) when "Kantou" was over, but then it was time for "Discharge" and some intense headbanging. That was the end of the first encore. We called the band back for one more encore and they ended with "Linda" as usual, with all of us clapping and dancing along. The band said their final goodbyes and left the stage after throwing picks and drum sticks to the crowd. Ruki told us he loved us and poured water bottles on us. Then he gave us a little "grr" face and casually flipped us off on his way off of the stage.
I love those boys so much. I couldn't believe the live was over. I was drenched in sweat (mine and everyone else's). I had my concert towel around my neck during the show (like y'do), but that only helped so much. I was also extremely thirsty from all the yelling and activity. I caught a hold of Katja and lotos79 from where we'd been separated in the crowd. We made our way over to the bar to use our drink tickets and then sat around outside for a bit while we re-hydrated and attempted to make ourselves look more presentable. We took the train back part of the way with each other. It was nice to meet them and hang out with them at the concert! Neither of them live in Japan, but we might be able to meet up at future GazettE lives, so we exchanged info. It'd be fun to see them again in the future!
I got on the Seibu Ikebukuro line to get back home. I'd been feeling fine before (despite being tired and achy), but I had to spend most of the train ride convincing myself that I wasn't going to get sick to my stomach. As soon as I arrived at my station, I promptly made my way to the restroom and was sick to my stomach. I guess 2 1/2 hours of heat and physical exertion was too my for my poor stomach to take. I felt better afterwards though.
Despite the getting sick, and the achiness, and the fact that I don't think I've ever sweat more in my life, it really was a fantastic experience! There's just something amazing about GazettE lives and the intensity during them that doesn't compare to other concerts. While it was a great time, I think I'm glad that the next live in November isn't a standing live. It's nice to switch it up a bit, have both standing and seated GazettE lives (because while standing lives are awesome, I don't know if my body could handle going to them all the time). I just wish that November wasn't so far away! At least I have the DIVISION release to look forward to next month. I can't wait for more new GazettE songs!