Schwarzer Anfang

Mar 06, 2013 00:13

On Sunday night, I went to my first Mejibray live! It was fucking fantastic! This is gonna be a long entry, so buckle your seat belts.

This live was the final of their Schwarzer Anfang tour and it was at Ebisu Liquidroom. I arrived at the live house right around the time they started letting people in. I was able to stash my stuff in a locker and still have plenty of time to get inside the stage area, since I had a B ticket and all the (500+) A tickets were called inside first. I noticed a surprising number of other foreigners at the live while I was waiting to enter. Probably about 2 dozen or so, which is a lot for an indies band.

Once I was inside, I was able to get a spot a little further back on the right side. It wasn't quite as close as I would've liked, but it wasn't a bad view and I could see all of the stage, which was nice. I then proceeded to wait for what felt like forever for the live to start.

I had worked myself into a fine state of impatience by the time the live finally started. The intro started playing and the curtains parted on stage to reveal Meto. He was sitting in his wheelchair with his teddy bear, pushed by a black hooded figure. Meto was wearing his Avalon outfit, complete with kitty hood and grotesque eyeball hanging from his eye socket. The only difference was that his hair is now blonde. He slowly got up from the wheelchair and pounced onto the platform at the front of the stage. He ripped off his hood to reveal his bare chest covered in some intense looking (fake) scratches. Next up was Koichi, who prettily posed on the platform. I always forget and then find it adorable when I remember that Koichi has bare feet on stage. I think he was wearing the top part of his Avalon outfit, but pants that showed off his hips instead of the shorts. Mia was next on stage and he was wearing his Avalon outfit, but had his Die Kusse hair. He did a sexy little pose. I swear Mia makes a ridiculous amount of sex kitten faces. He's lucky that they look good on him lol. Last, Tsuzuku finally took the stage. He was wearing his Avalon outfit (the leopard spotted one, with the net shirt), but had his Die Kusse hair which I love. Dark hair is definitely a good look on him.

Here's the set list for the live, courtesy of Tsuzuku's blog:

1.DIE KUSSE
2.Sliver
3.CRAZED BRAIN
4.DISTANCE.exe
5.VIOLET
6.EMILY
7.これを依存と呼ぶなら
8.呼吸
9.Spice
10.サバト
11.KILLING ME
12.WRATH of GOD
13.Black baccarat
14.WANT
15.APOCALYPSE
16.Sadisgate
17.剥落

Encore
1.Chameleon YUMMY
2.メサイア
3Invisible Tower maker
4.-THINKER-
5.D.E.INCUBUS
6.アヴァロン

Encore2
1.トロシナ
2.カルマ-瓦礫のマンティコーラース-

The band opened with "DIE KUSSE", the newest single. I love "DIE KUSSE" and I'd been wondering if the band would open with it, so I was pleased. In the crowd, we all yelled the "Eins zwei drei vier" part with Tsuzuku. It seemed like it took most of the first song for the back of the crowd to get warmed-up, but once they warmed-up we were off, head banging and jumping all over the place. It was the type of show where if you don't want to actively participate in the head banging (etc.) you'd best get the fuck out of the way, or someone will accidentally get hurt. That kind of energy is always amazing!

I remember a specific moment during "DISTANCE.exe" during the head banging when I noticed Tsuzuku watching the crowd, holding his arms like he was conducting us in a symphony. I thought it was pretty cute.

After getting off to a hard and fast start, the band gave us a bit of a breather with a small slow set. Tsuzuku sang a bit of his part in "Emily" acapella, without the mic and his voice carried perfectly clearly through the venue. At the end of the song, he gave this heart wrenching scream and then went into the beginning of "これを依存と呼ぶなら".

"Spice" was sexy. I always thought the song had a sexy sound and this performance just made it better. Tsuzuku brought the mic stand to the platform at the front of the stage. He then proceeded to climb on the platform and lounge on it like a cat while he sang. Unf, Tsuzuku. That wasn't the only interesting thing about the song though. At the end of the song, a group of four hooded figures appeared on stage and surrounded Tsuzuku. Tsuzuku's body went limp and one of the hooded figures sprinkled (or maybe pretended to sprinkle?) something on his chest. They then carried his motionless body off the stage.

The stage went dark and this eerie sort of giggling and singing started. Then, there came this guitar squealing sound. I could see Mia's shadow in the light from his amp and I'm pretty sure he was actually making the guitar noises. The giggling and squealing blended together in an even creepier sound. This went on for a couple minutes.

Then, everything went silent. A pentagram of green light shone on the front of the stage and the intro from the "サバト" PV began playing. Five hooded figures re-appeared on stage and four of them began to circle around the fifth figure. The four figures then left the stage and the fifth figure removed his cloak, revealing that it was (of course) Tsuzuku. He'd changed into a sparkly black jacket. Then, the band performed "サバト" (one of my favorites). There was a cute moment that I think happened during "サバト". Koichi and Mia both came near the front of the stage, on either side of the platform, while they were playing. They looked at each other and then all of the sudden Tsuzuku butted his way in between them, needing to be in the middle of everything.

After the song, Tsuzuku did a little MC thanking us for coming and asking us how we liked his new jacket. Then he told us that though there had been tickets available earlier in the day, the venue had sold out. He asked us to get loud enough to make the floor shake upstairs (because there's a cafe attached to the venue upstairs).

During "WANT" was when the back and forth started. Following the beat of the song, on four counts, we would hop/dance from right to left. We'd only just barely started when the band stopped. It seemed that someone had fallen or the crowd had gotten too wild. Tsuzuku kept asking if we were okay. Then he turned to the crowd and gave the guys in the audience a strict talking to. (おい、男!) He told them that he knew they wanted to enjoy themselves, but that they had to be careful and watch out for the girls in the crowd. He told them that if they see a girl fall, they should help her up. This brought much clapping and cheering from us girls in the audience. If he didn't already have my heart, he definitely did then. He's such a sweetie to worry about us. Then, Tsuzuku started the song over from the beginning and we all hopped to it. It was so much fun!

Next up was "Apocalypse". Tsuzuku came up behind Koichi and Mia in turn while they were playing. He'd put his arm around their necks and make a motion like he was slitting their throats. I believe "Apocalypse" was also when Koichi decided to stage dive. He took off his bass and jumped into the crowd. I couldn't quite see what was going on after that, but it took him a while to get back to the stage. The band stopped playing again. Koichi climbed back on stage and Tsuzuku said "おかえり". He then (playfully) scolded Koichi a bit. I got the impression that Koichi had almost taken someone out with his stage diving. Oops. Tsuzuku asked the girl if she was okay several times and then asked Koichi to apologize. Koichi sheepishly went up to the microphone and said "ごめんね". Tsuzuku told him to say in again from the heart, so he said "ごめんなさい". With that taken care of, the band started playing again and finished off the end of the song.

During "Sadisgate" Tsuzuku brought out his red whip and cracked it. The boy clearly knows what he's doing with that whip. (I mean he did end up writing his first Shoxx column about S&M...)

The final song of the main set was "剥落". Good god, Tsuzuku. He really puts all he's got into this song. He started by hunching over and twisting his arms out oddly behind him, like something out of the Exorcist. His screams and singing during this song are chilling. As the song builds up, he works himself into this furor, somehow simultaneously headbanging and kicking one of his feet up at the same time. The song ended with Tsuzuku standing at the front of the stage and a green lazer light appeared pointing straight at his heart. The curtains closed and the light disappeared.

The encore calls began right away, but the boys kept us waiting for a little bit before returning. Before they returned to the stage and an announcement was projected in more green laser lights onto the curtains. They announced that their next mini album "MESSIAH.bat" will be released on 5/1! According to Mia's tweets, this is going to be a companion album to "Slivers.exe". (Guys, I didn't even know that .bat was also a file extension...) And they'll be releasing it just in time for the start of the next tour!

Then, the curtains opened and cute Meto-chan appeared on stage with his teddy bear. The audience got really loud, but Meto gestured at us to be quiet as he picked up the microphone and held it up to his teddy bear. A squeaky, distorted voice greeted us. It was a little hard for me to understand what the teddy bear was saying because of the distortion, but I later realized that the teddy bear was telling us about the contest the band is holding to submit names for Meto's bear. The winning name will be announced at their next tour final.

Meto then climbed behind his drums and started drumming. He would drum for a bit and then pause. Then, everyone in the crowd would raise up their hands and yell "Meto~". He would then start drumming again. This pattern continued, speeding up as we went along, until Koichi and Mia burst out onto the stage and started playing. Koichi had styled his bouncy ponytail into a doughnut bun. Mia was wearing a long grey jacket with a hood. After a minute, Tsuzuku joined them as well. He'd switched his jacket for one with some black feathers on the collar. He also congratulated us because the staff had told him that we had made the floor shake above us. Aww yeah~

The boys kicked off the encore with "Chameleon Yummy" another song that's fun as hell. This song also has the back and forth. Tsuzuku would point while he sang, directing the crowd left then right. Then, he would call us to the front and people would rush the stage. The boys would go near the front and let the crowd touch them. I wish I could've gotten in on that action, but the back of the crowd didn't seem to be into it. I was a few rows behind people who weren't doing it otherwise I would've squeezed my way into the front like some of the other crowd members did.

The band then performed "Messiah" from the new mini album. I can definitely hear how it's related to "Slivers.exe", as it has the same kind of sound. I'm looking forward to the rest of the tracks!

Tsuzuku did some cute hopping dancing during "Invisible Tower Maker". It was also during this song that I realized I was probably getting blisters on my big toes from all the jumping around. (>.<;) I guess that means I should probably get some new shoe inserts.

At some point during the encore, (though I don't remember when) Tsuzuku gave Mia a kiss. Adorable boys.

They ended the set with "Avalon". Right after the boys left the stage, we started calling for another encore. We had to wait for a little while again, but the boys came back. Mia wheeled Meto out in his wheelchair and zoomed him around the front of the stage. Mia then sat in the wheelchair and wheeled his way around a bit. Tsuzuku teasingly told him not to play around, so he wheeled his way off stage.

The band kicked off the 2nd encore with "トロシナ", which is like the Mejibray equivalent of "Kantou". It's a song that repeats over and over while the crowd goes crazy, and the boys have their fun. All of the boys started out on their instruments, but quickly abandoned them to have some fun as the backing track kicked in. During this song there was more back and forth in the audience. We did it over and over again, watching the antics at the front of the stage. Meto had a tambourine that he shook around. Then he and Mia brought out the smoke machines and sprayed the crowd with them. The boys would also reach into the crowd. At several points Koichi and Tsuzuku definitely threw themselves into the crowd. Between all of this, the boys kept spraying water bottles and throwing them into the crowd. I swear, they had to have thrown about 2 dozen bottles into the crowd. At one point, Tsuzuku took a sip of water and spit it into Meto's mouth. Then, Meto made out with him for a couple seconds. This all went on for quite a while, until Tsuzuku announced it was the last time. The boys then ran back to their instruments and finished the song.

Tsuzuku then thanked all of us. He told us that we were all part of Mejibray. Aww. Then, it was time for the final song. They hadn't played it yet, so I'd guessed that it was going to be "カルマ". I was right! It's another one of my favorites, so I was happy to hear it.

When the song ended, the boys left the stage. Meto was the last one left on stage.To get to the front of the stage, he climbed over the drum set instead of walking around it. (Meto is nothing if not dedicated to his stage persona.) He threw a bunch of drumsticks into the audience. He would kiss each stick before he threw it to the crowd. After he was done, he had a sort of animalistic breakdown on stage. He then grabbed his teddy bear and sank to the ground, holding his hands over his head. The curtains then closed, signaling the end of the live.

I tried to get up to the top floor and the goods line fairly quickly. I waited in line for a little bit and was able to buy a towel and some チェキ pics. I ended up with two pictures of Mia, one of Koichi, and one of Tsuzuku. I sadly didn't get any of Meto this time. As I slipped through the crowd to get my things out of the locker, a Japanese girl offered to buy my Tsuzuku picture, but I politely declined. I collected the rest of my stuff and I was off.

Of course, the night can't just end there. As I got on my final train transfer to get home, I literally walked straight into a group of my students from Koyo. It took a second for the girls to recognize me, since I was all made up for the concert and I wasn't wearing my glasses. (Teacher Erin and normal Erin have pretty different fashion styles.) The girls were surprised to see me and wanted to take a picture with me. They saw what I was carrying and asked me which live I'd gone to. I told them it was a visual kei live (not specifically Mejibray, cause well...Mejibray's a pretty oddly sexualized band). They asked if there was head banging and when I said yes they seemed impressed. Luckily, that line of questioning ended there and they started asking me if I'd be coming back to Koyo during the new school year instead. After that they left me alone. It's not that I mind seeing my students. It's just that I'd prefer them to see me when I'm not disheveled and coming home from a concert. I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later though, with the amount of lives that I go to. And that was the end of my night.

I loved Mejibray before this live, but the band definitely has my heart now. The live was good enough that it's catapulted them up near the top on my list of favorite bands. (It's also probably cemented Tsuzuku as my favorite member of the band.) I definitely want to get tickets to at least one of their shows during their next tour. It's also my goal to be closer to the stage next time. Gotta buy from e+plus so I can get A tickets instead of B tickets!

mejibray, concert, japan

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