Halloween Party 2015
I attended VAMPS’ Halloween party on the 23rd of October! This is just a brief journal post covering G’s and VAMPS’ performance.
GACKT Presents Camui Gakuen
Kaicho was simply kaicho. There was no difference between Halloween Party’s kaicho and Camui Gakuen’s kaicho. I thought he might change his persona somewhat to fit in with the VAMPS kind of crowd, but no, kaicho was kaicho through and through, and he fit in just fine.
Kaicho and the F9 were in light blue nurse outfits, and they all looked rather bland, except for kaicho who had the shortest skirt, fishnet stockings, and long-ass fingernails. Also, vampire bite marks on his neck, and a long blonde wig, tied into a loose ponytail that he draped over his right shoulder.
They kicked things off with FANTASTIC BABY, Halloween Party style. I can only remember some of the lines…
“If you have fun with us tonight, how about joining our Gakuensai next week?”
“I wanna VA-VA-VA-VA-VAMPS!”
“I won’t take ‘no’ for an answer, KAZ!”
“Halloween party, Camui Gakuen debut!”
Afterwards, kaicho spoke for a bit. He called everyone ‘hentai’s. “My VAMPS-loving hentai’s, how are y’all doing?”
“The next song we’re gonna perform is one of Hy-Hy-Hy-Hyde-kun’s song; STAY AWAY.”
Which was awesome, because I was on a L’Arc-high (Still am, in fact! Can’t wait for the L’ArCASINO viewing this coming Friday).
Kaicho’s performed STAY AWAY at Camui Gakuen before so I already knew he and the F9 could perform the dance perfectly. It was nice to hear so many surprised shouts from the non-G fans when he did it, though.
“I have some terrible news,” kaicho said, after STAY AWAY. “The next song… will be the last song.”
When everyone voiced their displeasure, he laughed, “Yes, yes, I know, it’s horrible.”
He told us the next song was “GA-GA-GA-GACKT’s Jounetsu no Inazuma”, then he proceeded to teach everyone the dance moves, while fucking up the choreography himself (though this did give us an eyeful of him jerking his hips from one side to the other, while trying to get into the proper dance positions).
Jounetsu no Inazuma was really fun, as always, and then the nurses left the stage.
Afterwards, a mini video clip started playing. “In the halls of The VAMPS Academy”, the text on the screen said.
Kaicho and Yuki-senpai appeared on the screen and had a short conversation, which led to them introducing SEXJapan as the next act.
Everyone formed ‘X’s with their arms as we watched the members come out onto the stage one by one. It was the usual line-up, with YOU and TAKUMI on guitar, SATO on bass, kaicho on drums, and “Toshi” on vocals.
Again, there were shocked gasps and screams from non-G fans when “Toshi” ran out on the stage to sing. According to many tweets, a lot of people thought it was the real Toshi. But when they found out it was the Toshi-impersonator, sa’toshI, they were more impressed than disappointed, haha.
They performed ‘X’. It was crazy fun, jumping up and down!
VAMPS
Screaming till I’m hoarse and having an asthma attack, jumping till I get a pounding migraine, the calf cramps in the following days… These are things only VAMPS can provide, and I was looking forward to it.
I needed it, goddamit. I started my internship about a month ago, and it’s been a weird ride with my company, and I needed to let go.
Yamada introduced VAMPS as the next act, the lights went off, and HALLOWEEN PARTY started playing. Faintly, in the background, you could hear this weird, creaking noise. As HALLOWEEN PARTY’s intro got softe rand the noise got louder, I realised it was the sound of rope straining.
Apparently, I was right, and when the stage sets moved aside to reveal VAMPS, all five members were hanging from nooses! They probably used the trick from the first Sherlock Holmes movie.
I took a closer look at the ‘noose’ and realised it wasn’t even rope. It looked plastic.
They kept swinging from side-to-side gently, as they performed a mellow, jazz-y version of HALLOWEEN PARTY, with Hyde singing and playing the kazoo.
As it ended, smoke was released to conceal VAMPS as they were lowered onto the stage. This took about a minute, and all the while, the intro to EVIL was playing.
While I like the BLOODSUCKERS album, I still much prefer VAMPS and BEAST, but EVIL is definitely one of the songs I like more on BLOODSUCKERS, so, yay!
Once the smoke cleared, VAMPS started playing EVIL, and I finally got to jump and scream, and it felt so good. It’s like I was screaming everything out of my body, haha.
After they finished performing EVIL, the right side of my head was already pounding. Thankfully, I had some panadol with me (I am prepared for everything!) and I quickly took two of them, and the pain disappeared very quickly.
Next came ‘HUNTING’ (they didn’t draw it out like they usually did, though, and it ended real quick), and then ‘ANGEL TRIP’ (“Even if you don’t have a towel to twirl, just shake your fist around,” Hyde said).
Then disco-ish music began playing, and pink and purple lights began flashing.
Then I heard Hyde’s recorded voice going “uh oh” on a loop.
Recorded voice stopped and Ju-ken took over, and then Hyde joined him.
It’s so incredibly stupid how screaming “uh oh” after Hyde and Ju-ken makes me feel so fucking alive.
During ‘TROUBLE’, Hyde got on a mini mobile stage and he went one round around the arena. It was so awesome, seeing monsters and ghouls and cartoon characters run around the arena, following Hyde’s mobile stage. And all the while, we’re still jumping and waving our arms in the air.
I like how energy slowly builds up during ‘TROUBLE’, and then you get to scream it all out at certain points of the song.
Once Hyde returned to the main stage, they started playing ‘DEVIL SIDE’. It’s not one of my favourite VAMPS-live songs, but at that point I couldn’t care less. I was just really happy that I was even at a VAMPS live again.
And then…
Oh, and then…
‘SEX BLOOD ROCK N’ ROLL’ started, and I swear to god, I almost cried.
I love everything about this song, man. And it’s so much better when it’s live, when you get to scream till you’re bent over at the waist, and you pump your fists into the air, and you jump up and down throughout the entire song.
It was over all too soon, man.
The next song was ‘KYUKETSU’, which is tamer in terms of audience participation, so it allowed me to catch my breath. Some headbanging, fistpumping, but not so much screaming, but still tons of fun!
And then, VAMPS’ segment was over.
I was drenched in sweat. My shirt stuck to my back, my hair stuck to my neck, and there was so much heat gathered in my pants that I was tempted to just take them off. Most of my fur (I was a werewolf this year!) had fallen off as well.
Though the Halloween party wasn’t over yet, VAMPS’ performance was, and there’s some sadness that comes with that realisation. That, even though the VAMPS members will come back out onto stage later, it’ll be as Halloween Junky Orchestra members, and they won’t be performing VAMPS’ songs (slightly disappointed that they didn’t perform ‘REVOLUTION’!).
My night with VAMPS ended there. ☹
Earlier that week, when I looked at my calendar, I realised that this Halloween Party fell on the anniversary of my first VAMPS live, back in 2010, in Shanghai.
I’m not big on anniversaries (really, I’m not!); it just made me think about all the VAMPS lives I’ve attended, and how I always say, “that was the best VAMPS live ever!” after each and every one, haha.
Underlying post-VAMPS sadness aside, Halloween Junky Orchestra was up next!
Anis joined them, and he had the same entrance as last year, where he sang a bit of Lady Gaga’s poker face. He was in another cocktail dress, still showing off his gorgeous legs. Then he walked to the stage to join Halloween Junky Orchestra.
Hyde was Kaneki Ken, with the mask and all.
Again, they played the rhythm game, which they call “The African Children Rhythm game”. No, really, that’s what they call it, because it’s a game that children in Africa play.
Daigo, and Rolly had to do the batsu game. This year’s batsu game was simple. They just had to kiss a mannequin.
Afterwards, Hiro from My First Story lost as well, but Hyde took the batsu for him.
Hyde started laughing as he got closer to the mannequin.
“Hyde, what is it?” Yamada asked.
“Rolly-san’s lipstick is all over the mannequin,” Hyde said as he removed his Kaneki Ken mask.
Yamada did a crude job of cleaning the mannequin with his glove.
It was for naught, though, because Anis then asked, “Hyde-chan, you sure you wanna kiss that mannequin?”
The fans started screaming, but Hyde just nodded sheepishly.
“The mannequin’s fine,” Hyde said.
There was a smirk on Anis’ face as he walked down the walkway to where Hyde was. “I think I’d be a better candidate.”
Hyde buried his face into his hands (so cute, guys).
When they finally got down to it, Hyde cupped Anis’ face loosely and then gave him a peck. It was more of simply pressing his lips against Anis’ than actually kissing Anis, but hey, it was nice to see anyway.
Afterwards, Hyde and Daigo spoke to the other Halloween Junky Orchestra members for a bit, and then they got to GACKT, and they talked about how awesome his performance was.
“GACKT-san left already,” Hyde said then. “He’s a busy man.”
Everyone in the arena was so disappointed, and you could hear it in their voices and tones when Hyde asked everyone if they were ready to sing the last song together. Yeah, sure, they still went, “yay!” and shit, but it sounded defeated and sad.
It was so obvious, Hyde even had to ask, “Is everyone okay?”
It was the most tame ‘HALLOWEEN PARTY’ performance ever, haha, but the energy started picking up again halfway through.
Then it was over… Usually, Hyde is one of the first few to leave the stage, but, this time, he was the last. He just stood there, waving goodbye to everyone, until he was the last person left on stage.
Another thing I wanna mention is how Hyde actually seemed like he was enjoying himself, at this Halloween party. I remember thinking to myself that he appeared really tired and sullen at last year’s Halloween party. It was nice to see his eyes awake and alert this year.
Ugh, how am I supposed to report for work in the morning, after that sweaty, heated, insanely fun Halloween party this past weekend?
Guess I’ll find out in a couple of hours… Wish me luck because I most definitely need it.
GACKT Presents Camui Gakuen
Kaicho was simply kaicho. There was no difference between Halloween Party’s kaicho and Camui Gakuen’s kaicho. I thought he might change his persona somewhat to fit in with the VAMPS kind of crowd, but no, kaicho was kaicho through and through, and he fit in just fine.
Kaicho and the F9 were in light blue nurse outfits, and they all looked rather bland, except for kaicho who had the shortest skirt, fishnet stockings, and long-ass fingernails. Also, vampire bite marks on his neck, and a long blonde wig, tied into a loose ponytail that he draped over his right shoulder.
They kicked things off with FANTASTIC BABY, Halloween Party style. I can only remember some of the lines…
“If you have fun with us tonight, how about joining our Gakuensai next week?”
“I wanna VA-VA-VA-VA-VAMPS!”
“I won’t take ‘no’ for an answer, KAZ!”
“Halloween party, Camui Gakuen debut!”
Afterwards, kaicho spoke for a bit. He called everyone ‘hentai’s. “My VAMPS-loving hentai’s, how are y’all doing?”
“The next song we’re gonna perform is one of Hy-Hy-Hy-Hyde-kun’s song; STAY AWAY.”
Which was awesome, because I was on a L’Arc-high (Still am, in fact! Can’t wait for the L’ArCASINO viewing this coming Friday).
Kaicho’s performed STAY AWAY at Camui Gakuen before so I already knew he and the F9 could perform the dance perfectly. It was nice to hear so many surprised shouts from the non-G fans when he did it, though.
“I have some terrible news,” kaicho said, after STAY AWAY. “The next song… will be the last song.”
When everyone voiced their displeasure, he laughed, “Yes, yes, I know, it’s horrible.”
He told us the next song was “GA-GA-GA-GACKT’s Jounetsu no Inazuma”, then he proceeded to teach everyone the dance moves, while fucking up the choreography himself (though this did give us an eyeful of him jerking his hips from one side to the other, while trying to get into the proper dance positions).
Jounetsu no Inazuma was really fun, as always, and then the nurses left the stage.
Afterwards, a mini video clip started playing. “In the halls of The VAMPS Academy”, the text on the screen said.
Kaicho and Yuki-senpai appeared on the screen and had a short conversation, which led to them introducing SEXJapan as the next act.
Everyone formed ‘X’s with their arms as we watched the members come out onto the stage one by one. It was the usual line-up, with YOU and TAKUMI on guitar, SATO on bass, kaicho on drums, and “Toshi” on vocals.
Again, there were shocked gasps and screams from non-G fans when “Toshi” ran out on the stage to sing. According to many tweets, a lot of people thought it was the real Toshi. But when they found out it was the Toshi-impersonator, sa’toshI, they were more impressed than disappointed, haha.
They performed ‘X’. It was crazy fun, jumping up and down!
VAMPS
Screaming till I’m hoarse and having an asthma attack, jumping till I get a pounding migraine, the calf cramps in the following days… These are things only VAMPS can provide, and I was looking forward to it.
I needed it, goddamit. I started my internship about a month ago, and it’s been a weird ride with my company, and I needed to let go.
Yamada introduced VAMPS as the next act, the lights went off, and HALLOWEEN PARTY started playing. Faintly, in the background, you could hear this weird, creaking noise. As HALLOWEEN PARTY’s intro got softe rand the noise got louder, I realised it was the sound of rope straining.
Apparently, I was right, and when the stage sets moved aside to reveal VAMPS, all five members were hanging from nooses! They probably used the trick from the first Sherlock Holmes movie.
I took a closer look at the ‘noose’ and realised it wasn’t even rope. It looked plastic.
They kept swinging from side-to-side gently, as they performed a mellow, jazz-y version of HALLOWEEN PARTY, with Hyde singing and playing the kazoo.
As it ended, smoke was released to conceal VAMPS as they were lowered onto the stage. This took about a minute, and all the while, the intro to EVIL was playing.
While I like the BLOODSUCKERS album, I still much prefer VAMPS and BEAST, but EVIL is definitely one of the songs I like more on BLOODSUCKERS, so, yay!
Once the smoke cleared, VAMPS started playing EVIL, and I finally got to jump and scream, and it felt so good. It’s like I was screaming everything out of my body, haha.
After they finished performing EVIL, the right side of my head was already pounding. Thankfully, I had some panadol with me (I am prepared for everything!) and I quickly took two of them, and the pain disappeared very quickly.
Next came ‘HUNTING’ (they didn’t draw it out like they usually did, though, and it ended real quick), and then ‘ANGEL TRIP’ (“Even if you don’t have a towel to twirl, just shake your fist around,” Hyde said).
Then disco-ish music began playing, and pink and purple lights began flashing.
Then I heard Hyde’s recorded voice going “uh oh” on a loop.
Recorded voice stopped and Ju-ken took over, and then Hyde joined him.
It’s so incredibly stupid how screaming “uh oh” after Hyde and Ju-ken makes me feel so fucking alive.
During ‘TROUBLE’, Hyde got on a mini mobile stage and he went one round around the arena. It was so awesome, seeing monsters and ghouls and cartoon characters run around the arena, following Hyde’s mobile stage. And all the while, we’re still jumping and waving our arms in the air.
I like how energy slowly builds up during ‘TROUBLE’, and then you get to scream it all out at certain points of the song.
Once Hyde returned to the main stage, they started playing ‘DEVIL SIDE’. It’s not one of my favourite VAMPS-live songs, but at that point I couldn’t care less. I was just really happy that I was even at a VAMPS live again.
And then…
Oh, and then…
‘SEX BLOOD ROCK N’ ROLL’ started, and I swear to god, I almost cried.
I love everything about this song, man. And it’s so much better when it’s live, when you get to scream till you’re bent over at the waist, and you pump your fists into the air, and you jump up and down throughout the entire song.
It was over all too soon, man.
The next song was ‘KYUKETSU’, which is tamer in terms of audience participation, so it allowed me to catch my breath. Some headbanging, fistpumping, but not so much screaming, but still tons of fun!
And then, VAMPS’ segment was over.
I was drenched in sweat. My shirt stuck to my back, my hair stuck to my neck, and there was so much heat gathered in my pants that I was tempted to just take them off. Most of my fur (I was a werewolf this year!) had fallen off as well.
Though the Halloween party wasn’t over yet, VAMPS’ performance was, and there’s some sadness that comes with that realisation. That, even though the VAMPS members will come back out onto stage later, it’ll be as Halloween Junky Orchestra members, and they won’t be performing VAMPS’ songs (slightly disappointed that they didn’t perform ‘REVOLUTION’!).
My night with VAMPS ended there. ☹
Earlier that week, when I looked at my calendar, I realised that this Halloween Party fell on the anniversary of my first VAMPS live, back in 2010, in Shanghai.
I’m not big on anniversaries (really, I’m not!); it just made me think about all the VAMPS lives I’ve attended, and how I always say, “that was the best VAMPS live ever!” after each and every one, haha.
Underlying post-VAMPS sadness aside, Halloween Junky Orchestra was up next!
Anis joined them, and he had the same entrance as last year, where he sang a bit of Lady Gaga’s poker face. He was in another cocktail dress, still showing off his gorgeous legs. Then he walked to the stage to join Halloween Junky Orchestra.
Hyde was Kaneki Ken, with the mask and all.
Again, they played the rhythm game, which they call “The African Children Rhythm game”. No, really, that’s what they call it, because it’s a game that children in Africa play.
Daigo, and Rolly had to do the batsu game. This year’s batsu game was simple. They just had to kiss a mannequin.
Afterwards, Hiro from My First Story lost as well, but Hyde took the batsu for him.
Hyde started laughing as he got closer to the mannequin.
“Hyde, what is it?” Yamada asked.
“Rolly-san’s lipstick is all over the mannequin,” Hyde said as he removed his Kaneki Ken mask.
Yamada did a crude job of cleaning the mannequin with his glove.
It was for naught, though, because Anis then asked, “Hyde-chan, you sure you wanna kiss that mannequin?”
The fans started screaming, but Hyde just nodded sheepishly.
“The mannequin’s fine,” Hyde said.
There was a smirk on Anis’ face as he walked down the walkway to where Hyde was. “I think I’d be a better candidate.”
Hyde buried his face into his hands (so cute, guys).
When they finally got down to it, Hyde cupped Anis’ face loosely and then gave him a peck. It was more of simply pressing his lips against Anis’ than actually kissing Anis, but hey, it was nice to see anyway.
Afterwards, Hyde and Daigo spoke to the other Halloween Junky Orchestra members for a bit, and then they got to GACKT, and they talked about how awesome his performance was.
“GACKT-san left already,” Hyde said then. “He’s a busy man.”
Everyone in the arena was so disappointed, and you could hear it in their voices and tones when Hyde asked everyone if they were ready to sing the last song together. Yeah, sure, they still went, “yay!” and shit, but it sounded defeated and sad.
It was so obvious, Hyde even had to ask, “Is everyone okay?”
It was the most tame ‘HALLOWEEN PARTY’ performance ever, haha, but the energy started picking up again halfway through.
Then it was over… Usually, Hyde is one of the first few to leave the stage, but, this time, he was the last. He just stood there, waving goodbye to everyone, until he was the last person left on stage.
Another thing I wanna mention is how Hyde actually seemed like he was enjoying himself, at this Halloween party. I remember thinking to myself that he appeared really tired and sullen at last year’s Halloween party. It was nice to see his eyes awake and alert this year.
Ugh, how am I supposed to report for work in the morning, after that sweaty, heated, insanely fun Halloween party this past weekend?
Guess I’ll find out in a couple of hours… Wish me luck because I most definitely need it.