Gackt live report!
Um…so Gackt wins. At everything. If anyone remembers a certain post where I was a little critical of his terminator obsession, completely erase that from your memories.
I basically came to realize that he is indeed a “performing artist”, not just a dude in a band being an egomaniac and doing stupid shit for attention
Me and Katie (who paid me back, thank god) went to the Requiem et Reminiscence II Final in Saitama. I had only been intended to spend about $20 total on merch, but there was this sweet T-shirt/key chain/pin deal for $29...So I bought that
Aight, not sure if anyone else knows this, but the FIRST Requiem tour (Rebirth album) had a weird kind of solider/Nazi theme about a soldier who didn’t know who he was. Part 2 picked up where the original left off.
Literally, the concert opened with a movie that set the stage and the mood. In it, Gackt was a cyborg named Zero who had only a scrap of a photo when he woke up in the rainy streets, and was trying to figure out who he was. The entire first half of the concert was based on this storyline. It.was.amazing. Not only because of fashion choices (…I’m sorry, there’s just something about fascist uniforms…) but also the way the storyline progressed.. The concert opened with “Jesus” then, because he’s been releasing a bunch of new material, that’s mostly what followed. However, I was really excited that he played some stuff off of Mars and Rebirth.
There were only two things that brought my mood down a bit. I was crampy and, because our seats were nose bleeders (but still close, and pretty decent) I WAS DYING of heat. No, seriously, I wasn’t dehydrated or anything, but I was overheating and all the Japanese people around me looked cool as porcelain. Jerks.
The first half was cool. Gackt totally lip-synched “Ghost” but, since that’s such a stylized song, with choreography where he’s busting out the cyborg moves (just watch the video), it didn’t bother me.
Intermission,which was right after a short video where Zero was hiding in a ditch thinking "WHO IS THE ENEMY?" then--cut to those DAMN DANCING CATS AND FIREWORKS-- then second half started, and he came bounding out in cargo shorts, a plaid t-shirt and was absolutely goofy. He did the whole YEAH thing like at SKIN. For 10 minutes, then nearly fainted. Me too buddy, me too. One of the songs (Koakuma Heaven) was basically the band playing DDR with the video screen. Each member had a pit where he punched the air in accordance to the tags. Of course, Gackt's was the most difficult and he proved that HE.IS.A.FAG. (kudos to who gets the reference)
Oh, and when I say goofy, I really mean it. There wasn’t a trace of the “performer” Gackt this time around. This was just neighborhood Gackt. Seeing the change was remarkable, and I think offers a good insight as to why he is so popular and successful. He takes his image and, when he wants to tell a story, he can morph it into whatever he needs.
Oh, and he was talking about how much he loved his fans, how he loved the crowd, and then said, ‘Hey, we should get…naked. Yeah? Wait, wait wait. Why don’t we have sex?”
O__________O
SUMIMASEN?!
Then he’s cracking up, and started making excuses like “Well, we could have fun tonight….But I have to wake up really early tomorrow morning” and “I forgot to buy condoms” (THANKS FOR BEING SAFE!). Of course, the fan girls were freaking out. And when it came time to introduce his band- all of whom he made shout without a microphone- he said, “Hey, every time Cha-Cha finishes a sentence I want you all to go ‘HEE!’. And whenever You finishes a sentence I want you to go ‘WHOOO!’ *waving his towel, in a super high pitched girl voice*”
After introductions, he again thanked his fans, uttered a few English phrases. At this moment, I decided to just be a fan girl for a moment. In the dead silence (because audiences actually listen when an artist speaks, how nice), I screamed “I love you Gackt!” and heard that guy from below yell, “Meeee tooooooo”.
There was a weird part where two comedians came onstage and did a skit for about 20 minutes. Something about them saving his life when he was in…Romania? Huuurrrrrr, I’m not fluent. But I was a little irked. I paid for Gackt, not for comedians.
Nevertheless, it didn’t detract from his set time. In fact, the whole concert was FOUR HOURS LONG. Started at 6, ended at 10.
I digress. For the encore, “performer” Gackt came back out in his robot gear and sand “Lost Angel” as the closing song, a very powerful performance that summed up all the emotions of Zero and his peers.
Then, the final movie. Zero, having rebelled against his creators, was shot dead by some Western commander. His creator, it was revealed, was his friend when he was still human, and had turned him into a cyborg to save him after he had been shot. Zero’s wife/girlfriend, however, had died. His friend had the missing half of the picture, which had human Gackt/Zero on it.
“Human? How can they call themselves human after what they did? I’m so sorry!” were the last words from Zero’s creator/friend. Roll credits. Then, at the very end, a message from Gackt “To all my Dear, one day, let’s live in a world without war. We are all able to make peace, as it comes from within our hearts”
So…In conclusion, I don’t think you can really “get” Gackt unless you’ve seen him live. Because on TV he’s always in “performer” mood. When he’s onstage, he presents himself as a performer, but then allows his dears a glimpse into his true self, which really is no different from ours. This concert really made me appreciate him more
And as to my friend Andrew, who knows his stylist…We’ll see. I’m not crossing my fingers yet. But…Man, wouldn’t that be RAD?
Oh, and I’m gonna go buy some Gackt singles tomorrow, haha.