Live Report archieval post!
Since I like to recount lives I've attended in detail, I'm moving some of my old ones to my journal here in this archieval post...
Dir en grey: Family Values Tour: Indianapolis, IN- 10-10-06
When my sister and I found out that Dir en grey would be part of the Family Values Tour AND that they would be playing in Indianapolis, which is only two and half hours from where we live, we decided that we had to be there. I’m not a diru fan, but my sister likes them. We both agreed however, that we HAD to flee before KoRn took the stage….eh.
We meet up with yamipandora in Indiana since she is also a diru fan. It was awesome meeting her.
Our spot was in the mosh pit. For most of the time, I was second row, but somehow, I managed to get against the barricade by the time it was Diru’s time on stage. Very cool, even if I’m not a super big fan…We meet a lot of other diru fans who were obnoxiously easy to figure out and I swear I wanted to kill about half of them…
We spied Kyo and Shinya mostly hanging around on the side of the stage while other bands played. That was kind of neat. Shinya is rather tiny looking…like skinny.
And I joked around with other mosh pit people about how I hate KoRn….They were threatening to lift me during their set, which, as flattering as that was, I had no intentions on hanging around that long to be tortured by KoRn.
So Diru finally take the stage after I had been standing for about 5 hours listening to bands I have never heard before….They played this set list:
GDS
Saku
Spilled Milk
Kodoku ni shisu, yue ni kodoku
Ryoujoku no ame
Merciless Cult
Dead Tree
Clever Sleazoid
The IIID Empire
But um, having stopped listening to Diru after Macabre, I knew none of the songs…So I just kind of watched Shinya rock it on the drums…and Kyo. He is rather intense on stage, like he is possessed. My ears were pretty deaf by that time, so his singing wasn’t too off key to me. Of course, he scratched himself and was making himself spit out blood. I wasn’t impressed…
But when it came time for the band to throw objects into the pit, well, I saw Kaoru’s guitar pick come flying REALLY close to where I was. Being the passive-aggressive individual, I wrestled with another bitch and WON! Yes! I got the guitar pick from a band I could care less about! I victoriously gave it to my younger sister who was SO happy to have a little souvinier.
So we all took off to go see who our “meet and great” member or members were…We waited forever it seemed in a rather long line…Then I heard screaming. Our member was none other then Kyo, which was surprising since I had heard that he had only done this once before. Talk about interesting. My sister was dying with happiness. So I get up to Kyo, he smiles, we shack hands, and I said “thank you” to him with a bow. He repeated back “thank you”….ok. Like Kyo really cared that I was there or not. PHONY!
Hahaha, anyways, we headed home after that. I was so sore the next day. Moshing all day is hard work.
Jrock Revolution: Wiltern Theater: Los Angeles: 25-26 May 2007:
So, Heather and my journey to jrock heaven began Friday, May 25th. We woke up at 5 am, got ourselves around, were out the door by 6:20 though still almost missed our flight. On the flight from Phoenix to Los Angeles a guy named Mike from Tempe sat next to us. At first my eyebrows raised when I read his shirt that proudly proclaimed that his “wiener” was Kosher. Most amusing at 8:20 am…We ended up chatting the whole flight about everything from movies to pot, and after the hour flight we had his number. Lets see if he calls us or not.
We arrived at LAX just before 10 am, however, our luggage did not arrive until 12:15 pm….so, we sat around LAX waiting for our luggage and chatting it up with other people who had been on the same flight who also had missing luggage. They were heading to the big Star Wars convention in LA that week, so it was fun chatting with them. Leave it to me to find Star Wars fans in the baggage claim area.
Finally after getting our luggage and while waiting for our hotel shuttle to arrive, I meet a musician who chatted with me. I need to remember to check out his myspace and hear his music. He seemed nice and was in his 40s at least. Our shuttle arrived and then we made our way to the hotel Miyako where we were “staying” for the weekend (we only really slept one night there). The hotel is in Little Tokyo near downtown Los Angeles. It’s a nice little neighbourhood. The hotel caters to Japanese and is really nice. On entering our room I went to look at the bathroom and much to my amusement I saw THE JAPANESE TOILET! I have never been so amused with a toilet in my life before. Buttons for warming and water…so much fun. We took photos of it as well.
Anyways, after we got set up, we went to the 10th floor where our friend Sarah was staying. It was so awesome to see her again. So a brief chat and Heather and I then got a cab and went to the Wiltern Theatre where we joined Linnet and Jessica and her two awesome friends Liz and Jaimie. Hanging out with them in line was so awesome and fun despite how cold it was. Liz had this cute bear fashioned after Miyavi wich I found amusing and served as a good way for Heather to keep warmer. After a couple hours a guy set up his guitar and started playing it near us…very nice entertainment to pass the long hours. Also guys were handing out flyers and postcards. I got a Vidoll one which made me happy. Mmmm Tero! If anyone wants me to send them a Vidoll postcard in the mail, let me know and I’ll mail it to you. We were also at a point in the line were we could see bands arrive. I watched the members of Kagrra arrive to the event though sadly to say, it took me awhile to figure out who they were due to the extensions they wore….wasn’t use to seeing those.
So the wait continued and 6pm rolled around….time for the doors to open….more waiting and around 6:20 we got in…We made a mad dash to our spots which turned out VERY good. It was a perfect view of the stage and bands even though we were in a back section. We were close to the bar which turned out to be the best spot as I will explain later. I did have to push some obnoxious alice nine fan (go figure) off my back since she was practically grinding into me trying to move me out of the way. After more pushing on her part and having her friend call me a bitch because I refused to budge from my spot I had reserved for myself 10 minutes before those two arrived, I elbowed the pushing girl in the breast in retaliation. Needless to say, she moved three people down from me and tried her luck on them which made my night better. At this point, Heather was buying merchandise. She got a really cute Vidoll shirt, and on her return she stood next to me which was cool. I love having my sister by my side at concerts. On the screen they were playing X Japan’s last live video and everytime Yoshiki or hide came on the screen people went nuts. So I kind of watched that while I wondered who the first band would be to take the stage….
It turned out to be Kagrra, who were just as amazing Friday night as their concert dvds I so love to watch. To my suprise, Kagrra were wearing their Kimonos, had hair extensions and played a lot of their older songs. Just beautiful and special! When I heard Kotodama, I almost died… Isshi was awesome live! And in his MC, he held up a piece of paper and in the cutest English expressed his happiness for being there and also stated that Kagrra, would return to the US! *I can’t wait for them to return*
Setlist
恋綴魂
在りし日の微傷
鵺の哭く頃
妖祭
うたかた
愁
After Kagrra, Duel Jewel took the stage. In all honesty, I’ve never paid Duel Jewel any mind. After Friday night, with they way the rocked the place, they have a new fan! They completely amazed me and in my opinion was the best band that performed on Friday night. (sorry Vidoll…you rocked as well, but Duel Jewel rocked harder) They played 4 or so songs, did some synchronized movements which was spiffy and were really energetic.
Setlist
華唄
リインカネーシュン フロウ
カミソリ。。
Mxxder Marble
Tales
So, the show really got fabulous for me when my friends Linnet and Jessica pointed out that Miya, Tatsurou & Gara were standing in the section behind us…Then Akiya showed up as well just to the left of us in the bar section. it took me awhile to spot them, and I finally did…at this point, I had promised Liz my closer spot for Miyavi’s performance since she loves him and I despise him, so I gladly traded with her and took a spot in the back so I could stare at Gara better. He was wearing a white cap and sunglasses, but Gara is so recognizable. And he’s gorgeous. I seriously just stared at those guys and ignored Miyavi who rocked the house it seems, but not me.
It was just before Miyavi’s long and painful set that I finally got the nerve to approach one of the group members just hanging out behind me. So I asked Jessica and Linnet who I should ask since Gara was unapproachable. They suggested Tatsurou since he hadn’t been asked yet. Tatsurou at this point was standing near Akiya so I got to pass him by. Jessica had already successfully attained an autograph from Akiya (our group all watched her do so and was most happy when he signed her fan for her). Linnet (bless her!!!!) went with me since I’m the biggest loser in the world and am terrified of approaching jrockers apparently. So, with all the strength within me I mustered up all the courage I had to walk up to Tatsurou and ask for his autograph. I only just had my ticket and Jessica’s sharpi marker. So, I ask him, and he looks at me and kind of motions to himself like if I really meant to ask him (silly Tatsurou, yes you!) I nodded, and at this he smiled very nicely, stepped forward and took my ticket and pen. On taking my ticket he kind of scrutinized it for awhile looking it over and then seemed to have a slight problem opening the pen. The whole time I was thanking him for the autograph and he just kept smiling. He was really nice about it all and after he gave it to me I bowed, thanked him again, and bolted so I wouldn’t offend him anymore with my geeky presence. Really awkward but good experience.
From what little I did catch from Miyavi’s set….he had this random stage setup with a painter, some even more random umbrella petal throwing guy, a beatboxer, turntables, and drummers. It was like annoying chaos up there, so keeping my attention on Gara was the logical thing to do…
Setlist
Selfish Love
自己愛、自画自賛、自意識過剰
Neo Visualism
Kabuki Boys
Rock and roll is not dead
Are you ready to rock? *which is the MOST OBNOXIOUS noise live*
And then Miyavi (whose English is actually really really amazing) told the audience he had a secret….which turned out that he is the 4th member of Yoshiki’s new super group that I could care less about in all truth. Sugizo took the stage and played with Miyavi. and Yoshiki, Miyavi, and Sugizo all hung out on stage…no Gackt. I only briefly watched them then turned my attention back to Gara….
Intermission came again, so me and another girl walked back up to the bar and stared at 4/5ths of Merry (yes Asma, yuu was there!) and Tatsurou all sitting on the back wall. I couldn’t get a photo because it was too dark and even if I could have, I wouldn’t have done so. I feel too bad taking candid photos without permission. And I couldn’t stand the thought of having Merry think of me as that annoying girl who kept taking pictures of them.
So after the intermission, or as I call it now “Merry starring time”, Vidoll took the stage. I went back in my old spot with the good view by my sister. Vidoll were sooooo good! Ramme came out throwing petals or something all cute and Tero just rocked on the drums, twirling his sticks like he always does. Jui gave lots of cute poses, smoldering winks, and was hanging on the guitarists, much to my sister’s delight. Vidoll’s set went WAY too fast in my opinion with only 5 songs. But really, Jui sounds amazing live. Much to my delight they played san ga koronda which is one of my favourite Vidoll songs. I almost cried when it started, I was that happy! Then Chocoripeyes, and Ningyo were played. Jui had an MC section and spoke in Japanse. We were all silent listening to him, but I couldn’t understand it. Oh well, it was just awesome to be in the same room with Jui speaking to us. All very good and the band members were energetic and fun! Rame, whom I usually find scary, is actually really cute in person being all hyper on stage. And Tero did an amazing back flip at the very end. One of the highlights of the night!!!
Setlist
nevaeH
…サンガコロンダ!!
透明ナカゴ
Chocoripeyes
人魚
After Vidoll was Alice nine who sucked, just as I expected. Heather and I let a nice girl we met (who just happened to be in the group with the bitch I had elbowed in the breast) have our close spot so she could see them better since she was a big fan…See, it pays to be nice to people in concerts since I totally will do that for people.
I stood behind Heather and prayed that alice nine’s set would be short…they played 5 or 6 songs, and by the time Shunkashuto was played as the last song, I wanted to flee…and saga did this stupid guitar lick thing that got the fangirls squealing. I’m so alice nine hating so I if you’re a fan of theirs, disregard this non-review. I’m sure they rocked, they just didn’t rock for me.
Setlist
ヴェルヴェット
RED CARPET GOING ON
闇ニ散ル桜
九龍 -NINE HEADS RODEO SHOW-
ハイカラなる輪舞曲
春夏秋冬
So, as soon as the concert ended, I had to quickly and sadly say goodbye to Jessica, Linnet, and Liz whom I wished I had more time to hang out with though sadly couldn’t. They only were staying for the Friday show and not the Saturday show. So it was then that Heather and I meet up with Lauren, her sister Allison, and Kelynn with whom had saved us a really good spot in the queue for the Saturday night concert. We also got to see Jessica briefly which was fun. We had originally met her in Indy for the Diru concert at FVT. Unfortunately she wasn’t staying for the Saturday show either so she left.
So, after things quieted down and people started tenting for the night, Lauren and I went back to the hotel and got ready for Saturday. I also smuggled some blankets out of the hotel room for sleeping on the sidewalk. I still can’t believe I gave up an amazingly comfy bed for the dirty cold hard LA sidewalk outside the Wiltern. But our resolute paid off since we all got a great spot against the wall for the Saturday show. Just perfect! When I returned to our spot, Heather was gone. I freaked out since the thought of my tiny little sister wandering the scary streets of Korea town after 1 am is more then terrifying to me. This awesome guy whom was queuing in line with me offered to go look for her, but she returned from the Denny’s abit later. I was relieved and happy, and really not amused though.
So, “tenting” in the queue is quite the experience. First, it was freezing! Dirty! And just disgusting…but hey, for all things getting a good spot for Merry, I did it. It was SO cold and people kept driving by and honking on their car horns and screaming at us to wake up. LA is so considerate to jrock tenting bums, really.
None of us got much sleep, but some somehow I woke up at 6 am freezing and oddly energized. We couldn’t leave the line since we were in the “pit” section of the line and to avoid being booted from the first group of admittance, we had to wait for stamps or whatever. The group I was with didn’t want the pit, so we opted out of it. We ended up getting a rather ugly “x” on my hand so I could get in at the same time as the pit people but then take our place in the other sections of the theatre.
Sitting in the line all day was pretty brutal. It got rather sunny and hot since we were just feet away from the cool shaddy area. People kept driving by and asking us what was going on, and people were taking pictures of us all just sitting there…I don’t get people sometimes. Then this obnoxious man came by and handed out pamphlets that pretty much said we’re going to hell. Jokingly, the people in line just before us re-worded the list into a witty jrock version. Most amusing. Also, there was this bunch who had a poster for Mucc’s 10 year anniversary that they were having people in the audience sign. I signed it. That group was crazy fun. Everytime a city bus went by, they help up the Mucc poster and waved it to the people in the buses who looked on horrified at times. And then this weird woman kept walking up and down the street mumbling at us and shaking her head like we were satan’s spawns or something. We certainly amused half the city, I swear.
Then Roger who runs the Tainted Reality radio show approached me and the guy I was queuing with for fan interviews. I felt so stupid being interviewed but when you’re bored sitting in line, you’ll do anything for amusement, I swear. I must remember now to listen next month to see if they air my interview. I doubt they will since I babbled about Merry too much.
It wasn’t long after Roger left that Heday Mercury came along promoting his music. He gave me a sample and I had a really nice conversation with him. On listen on the demo he gave me, it wasn’t bad. Very nice guy he was.
Finally 6pm rolled around and we got in. Again, I chose the wall area just below the bar since I really liked that spot. Less people, less moshing, and we were all hoping more band members would show up and hang out in the sound/lighting sectioned off section like the night before.
First band turned out to be Merry, and OHMYGODTHEYFUCKINGROCKED!!!! Gara sounds great live, is so charismatic, and his emotions and body language paint the mood of the song perfectly. In Dekiai no suishohe he missed verse intros and all, but whatever. The song still rocked. And they played Omohide Sunset which in case you didn’t know, IS my favourite Merry song. I was in heaven/bliss/whatever! It was awesome. I sang along and just got lost in that beautiful moment. Their set was awesomeness….before Nero’s MC, the stage went black and several seconds went by with no signs of activity. The whole crowd started chanting/screaming “merry” for a minute or so. It was so moving and touching and had to be an awesome moment for the band. Then the lights turned on and Nero declared we all were the 6th member of Merry (it’s official, I can die a happy person now…=) He spoke the cutest English ever! However, at points his microphone kind of died which was a bummer. He declared he was happy to play in LA AND stated Merry would return to the US. NERO! DON’T LET US DOWN! COME BACK! Gara did his ink writing segment to everyone’s delight! And he also did crotch rubbing/sexual things with his microphone which made me the happiest person in the world. As if I couldn’t be any happier that night. Bless you Gara and your amazing ways! Japanese Modernist live is one of the most amazing things ever, and to my delight they also played oriental bl circus, Sayonara Ame, and Saihate no Parade.. They played 9 songs….it was pure bliss!
Merry Setlist:
Peep Show
恋哀交差点
路地裏哀歌
想ひでサンセット
さよなら雨(レイン)
妄想 rendez-vous
迷彩ﾉ紳士
溺愛の水槽
オリエンタルBLサーカス
ジャパニーズモダニスト
After Merry Girugamesh took the stage and they really rocked as well. I had screamed sooo much and was so energectic for Merry but I still had enough to rock out to Girugamesh. They are really good live. I liked them before and this live made my love grow.
Setlist:
13
Jarring Fly
Shadan
Aimai no Mikaku
Owari to Mirai
Volcano
Deceived Mad Pain
Kaisen Sengan
This annoying girl 2 rows back from us asked my sister not to head bang, but stand perfectly still. Being the elder sister I told the girl that my sister did not sleep on the street all night to just crouch down and not participate with the concert so she could have a better view. The girl didn’t bother us anymore after that.
Then it was DespairsRay turn….at this point, with almost no sleep, little food, and just being so exhausted, I found it harder to scream, jump, head bang etc. But I still did since despairsray rocked as well. I felt bad since during Kogoeru Yoru ni Saita Hana Hizumi turned the mike on the crowd for us to sing along and no one could! Not a highlight of the concert.
Setlist:
damned
mirror
凍える夜に咲いた花
screen
closer to ideal
hollow
sixtynine
angeldust
After DespairsRay Yoshiki took the stage….he told us he loved us, that he was going to Paris, and other things I cant really remember. I never really cared for Yoshiki before, but now, I love this man! He deserves respect and only good things!
So, then a long wait, a short Mucc multimedia presentation, and then Mucc finally hit the stage. At this point, exhaustion had taken almost everyone in the theatre it seemed, since poor Tatsurou really was motioning for the crowd to get pumped. I tried, but my legs were numb so it was a little hard for me to jump and move. At the beginning of the set, Tatsurou stood on one leg with his other foot wrapped around the microphone stand in this really interesting pose. The man has great balance. And there was this weird part where Tatsurou just sat down while freaky lights went on and off with intense music. Really weird. But mucc weird so it was all good. We did do this fun singing thing with Tatsurou They played a mix up of old songs and new songs. I really don’t care for the new songs, but live, they were good. Yuki broke out the Bass and was spinning around with it in the funist way ever. He’s a most amusing member. Tatsurou spoke English and went on about loving LA and also mentioned that Mucc would return to the US.
Setlist
Rave Circus
極彩
路地裏僕と君へ
ディーオージー
空虚な部屋
最終列車
25時の憂鬱
リブラ
流星
And that was that….
The most amazing jrock experience over….
There was a little drama getting a cab since we had 3 people to sneak into our hotel in addition to Heather and I, but we finally got it. And then crashed on Beds!!! It was grand.
Then in the morning since Heather and I had an earlish flight, we woke up, got around and bought breakfast for everyone since we were starving. The hotel has a great breakfast shop with yummy bagels and tea that was just perfect. I even tipped them.
So, we had to say goodbye to Lauren, and Kelynn …Allison was still asleep but the poor girl had been camping on the street since Tuesday so she deserved it. Heather and I got in the elevator with an older Japanese couple. They looked at Heather who was wearing her Vidoll shirt and the man read off Vidoll’s name. Most amusing since they just kind of stared at us with a bewildered expression on their face.
So, our shuttle arrived and we chatted with a guy who reports for the LA Times. I told him all about the event and Japanese music and he seemed most interested to learn about it. He had wondered what all the line was and camping on the sidewalk was at the Wiltern so he seemed glad to learn.
We arrived at the airport and how fun for us was the fact that 4 other people who had attended jrock revolution were on the same flight as us. We instantly just queued in our boarding section just like we were queuing for the concerts and we chatted away about our experiences. Most fun indeed. We all sat by each other on the plane as well. The girl by me had a 2 hour stop at Sky Harbor and was flying to Philadelphia since she lives in New Jersey. People really traveled for this show! Anyways, the airline attendant was amazingly funny. He was all sarcastic with his safety instructions cracking jokes at the whole airline system and whatnot. We all applauded his awesome delivery of it! First time I’ve ever listened to that all!
The flight was really short. The highlight was flying over the Pacific ocean! What an awesome view!
And that is all…I didn’t really give a in depth review of the bands because unfortunately, I was way too caught up in the moment to coherently remember song titles and all the details. It was awesome, awesome, awesome though.
12012 @ Animenext: New Jersey 6-8 July 2007
Ok, I know its been 2 weeks since I saw 12012 at animenext in Secaucus, New Jersey, and I am just now writing about the experience...
anyways, Heather and I decided immediately after JRR that we needed to see at least one more Jrock concert this summer, and having turned down Diru as the deftones opening act, the shiny 12012 concert at animenext all the way on the east coast seemed right...I admit, it was a crazy, expensive whim, but goodness, we did it.
So, since we are on a budget and both employed full time, Heather and I decided that a red-eye flight to New York City would serve our purposes. We flew out of Phoenix at 9:45 pm and arrived at New York's JFK at 5:30 am....Some tidbits about this flight. While waiting for our departure time, a guy from Kazakhstan came over and started chatting with me. I started speaking my broken Russian with him, and he spoke in his broken English...so we managed a conversation. I'm so ashamed though of how much Russian I have forgotten. *note to self, step up the Russian learning again*
So, Friday in New York: Heather and I took a shuttle to Manhattan so we could catch 30000x public transport connections to get to New Jersey. In one day, Heather and I were on a plane, a van, subway, and bus...I should have taken a boat and I think I would have covered every possible way to travel...Seeing Manhattan was awesome though! Times Square is something else and I was getting a little visually overloaded just taking it all in.
So, we finally made it to the anime convention centre...I'm not into anime, nor cons, and have never been to one before, so I have to admit, I was pretty wide-eyed and annoyed most of the day. Cosplayers screaming at other cosplayers and having people bug me about taking my photo is not my ideal of a fun day.
So, after checking into our hotel, Heather and I cleaned up, napped, and got changed so we could go register for the anime con. We waited in line for over and hour to get registered and while in line, some obnoxious kid decided to hit on me...I blew him off, for the time being. Also, I got to run into yesod briefly, which was cool.
So, once we were registered, Heather and I checked out the con...not impressed at all. So, we decided to sit in line for the dealers room for about 2 hours...and, again, that obnoxious kid found me and started hitting on me...so, he asked how old I am, I told him to guess...He said 17 and I started laughing. I then told him I was over 21. He practically ran away. I was so happy...
So, after we got our tickets for the concert, Heather and I went back to the hotel room and slept. We were exhausted and needed our rest.
So, finally!!! it was an hour before the concert. Heather and I went to line up in the section that had bought tickets. Buying tickets worked well, since we got an excellent spot right near the centre stage (my sister below Wataru, while I took an area that had a great view of Tohru!)
So, 12012 finally took the stage and everyone went crazy! Their show was just high energy, in your face rock. and goodness, they really, really, really sound great live. Wataru vocally was hitting it, which pleased me, since he is prone to being off key during lives. He also was attempting some crotch rubbing, but it wasnt that convincing to me (you know, after seeing Gara work it at JRR) Tohru was twirling his drum sticks and being as entertaining as can be. and Suga, my god! I'm totally in love with him now. He is the most awesome thing on stage. So they played a nice set list, and at the end, I heard cyclone. now, I hate the recorded song, but live, Cyclone actually is not bad....12012 also played an encore and really, the whole live just went by too fast.
Setlist:
ambience
[6]party
my room agony
survival
wana ♥
melancholy
shower
queer passion
Page
Breaking the modern society
Heart
Shinshoku
Cyclone
butterfly
newspaper
on Saturday was the question and answer panel with 12012. Heather and I were in the third row, so really close. The guys kept waving to us and giving thumbs up and the crowd was very receptive to what the guys said. Here are some highlights of the panel:
They mentioned possibly considering a US tour (wishes and hopes) and they think America is big. Wataru wanted to know why US fans are all so beautiful, and Tohru's favourite English phrase is "accordion" (which caused everyone to laugh)
So, then on Sunday, Heather and I went to have our photograph taken with the band and to get and autograph.
while in line, Heather and I chatted with a mother and daughter who were really cool. This mother had taken her daughter to JRR, Oni-con, Otakan, and anywhere else a Japanese band had been playing. Lucky girl! =)
so, getting my photo taken with 12012 was the most nerve-wrecking thing ever! The guys were really polite and said "hello" and wataru waved and smiled. I sat down and like 3 seconds later that guy takes a photo...it was so quick. I thanked them and bowed and they all waved and said "bai, bai". really awesome guys.
so, then it was in line again for the autograph...When I got up to them for the autograph they all smiled and said Hello and Wataru shock my hand. I got a really, really big smile and a small laugh out of Yusuke because I kept smiling at him and thanking him and all. That made my day.
So, here are some scans fo the photos (my sister and mine) and the autograph:
yeah, I'm giving a dorky peace sign...I never know what to do with my hands...
and look, they are giving Heather a thumbs up! They approve!
Then after that, Heather and I made our way back to JFK airport...faced airline drama galore, and finally made it back to Phoenix at 2 am....we went to work at 8am that same morning....but seriously, 12012 was worth me spending a small fortune to see.
I really do hope they come back...
Rentrer en soi: Oni-con Houston Texas, 19-21 October 2007:
Friday: 19 Oct. 2007
Heather and I met up in Houston on Friday morning at Hobby Airport. Once we checked into the Hilton Hotel we went to register for the con. I hate cons, and get so annoyed with anime nerds so naturally was grumbling until I saw Jackie and Andi and their little group. Seeing familiar faces made me happy again and I was able to ignore the total anime geeks behind me until Heather and I went to get our badges. We went together. Big mistake, since it was just too much for the anime nerd doing pre-reg. to handle two people at once. But anyways, we managed to get our badges.
Then we went to the dealers’ room to be rapped by jrockhouse. I hate Jrockhouse with a passion, but still I had Heather fork forth almost $140 for merchandise (two ReS shirts, and cds).
Anyways, since Heather and I both got shirts we got photo tickets for two photos. She and I had already decided we were doing a group photo (me and her) with the band in both.
So, we hung around with the “fun group” as I am dubbing them and we went around the dealers room, went and had lunch at a Mexican restaurant that was playing Mexican porn soap operas on the telly.
Finally, the time for the concert arrived. Heather and I were in line between two drunk obnoxious girls who had to hold onto us to even get down the steps for the concert. I should have just left their drunk asses on the floor. We took our spot right in front of the area where Takumi would be playing. PERFECT! Except for the drunk girls who just had to stand right by and behind me and Heather. They kind of almost ruined the entire experience.
Anyways, we waited forever it seemed for the band to take that stage. They played Diru’s Child Play and X Japan’s Joker before the show. People went nuts over Child Play and I just wanted to cover my ears. I hate that song.
Anways, the band finally took the stage, and OMG (fangirl moment here) Takumi stood like SEX right in front of us. Now mind you, while I love Rentrer en soi’s music, I have never cared enough to even remotely pay any mind to the members before this con. But damn, that man demanded my love and gratitude for the entire time he played. He was very professional, expressive, entertaining, and he knew how to work his body and that guitar. I’m usually a drummer watcher since I love drums and drummers, but honestly, Takumi would not let me take his eyes off him. Only when he took off to the other side of the stage and Ryo would come over, would I let my eyes leave him. Oh, and Satsuki got my attention when he would do his weird jumps off his little table thing. And Ryo! HA! He’s great as well and seems to be doing his best to look like Johnny Depp. He’s rather entertaining as well. I didn’t really pay any mind to Shun much and even less to Mika.
Their set list paralleled what was played in Germany (which I had looked at so I would have some indication on what might be played)
1. Just Mad Pain
2. Amongst Foolish Enemies
3. Misery loves poisonous blue
4. I was Damned
5. Thorny Rain Break
6. To Infinity
7. 太陽の届かない場所
8. 分裂LE+DD人格
9. Re-Birth
10. 精神死１３度目
11. Murder Intent
12. 密室と孤独に毒された憂鬱
13. I hate myself and want to die
Encore 1
1: 神話
2: 失われた風景の夢
Encore 2
1: 廃墟と化した箱庭
2: Sincerely
3: Strawberry Oblaat
4: 浮遊追想
I wont talk about each song separately, but will make some notes about some of my favourite highlights.
Thorny Rain Break! YAY! They played it and I love it and live it is perfect.
神話 is one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard live. They must have used tape since it was piano I think, and the other members stood somber, like beautiful statues. Satsuki sang his heart out and you could just feel the emotion. He put the mic to his heart during the song. It was perfect and so moving even despite the dumb idiots who just had to cheer and yell through it. Seriously, why do Americans have to always yell during songs? Silently appreciating the song can be just as powerful to a band as screaming at them folks! I saw a couple people near me crying during this song.
分裂LE+DD人格 was absolutely fun! I jumped so much to this one and everyone just had high energy, the band and crowd!
I was excited when Sincerely came on! Hahaha…Yay for older songs
During part of the second encore, my sister and I just held onto each other and swayed to the music.
Their entire set was a fast paced, totally high energy concert from start to finish. The only time the band spoke was very short moments when Satsuki said something like Make Crazy or Insane. I can’t remember his exact words. And I think he might have said something about Houston
And some general concert highlights. Like I mentioned earlier, Satsuki at the beginning kept doing this high leg kicking jumps off his stand that was entertaining. He was wearing his leopard print suit without a shirt beneath it so you could see his torso. At one point in the middle of the concert he was attempting to move over to our side of the stage near Takumi but his microphone cord got caught on his little table and despite three tugs, he couldn’t make it over…But, determined, he walked back. Later once the cord was untangled and came over to stand directly in front us of and by Takumi. Having made it over, Satsuki puts his arm around Takumi, messed with his hair and kind of just hung onto him for a moment. Fun moment and everyone of course went nuts.
Takumi! Like I said, I spent most of the concert watching him and his entertaining guitar playing. He kind of moves like sex, which surprised me. After I Hate myself… he started licking a guitar pick and threw it….that pick went no where near me…but then I saw him licking another guitar pick and holy shit! The pick came flying RIGHT AT ME! So having been mesmerized by him during the entire concert, I just had to have that pick. And I got it! I had to fight this guy off me, and I got pushed by another guy, but hey, I might be small, but I am quick and limber. Anyways, after the concert I made peace with both guys =)
For the very last encore, the band had changed into their Bottom of Chaos Tour shirts for Oni-con. And then at the very end of the concert, what did Satsuki do? He took off his shirt! Shirtless Satsuki. Most of the crowd went wild…
At the end of the concert, lots of things started getting thrown into the crowd. I had a pick already, so I went and sat down, so tired from jumping and being enthusiastic for ReS. Heather found a guitar pick from Takumi as well on the floor.
After the concert I was so tired. But I went and found our “fun group” to see what goodies they managed to snag. Jackie had got part of the set list thrown into her hair, so we took a photo of a very cute Andi holding part of the setlist. And another member of our “fun group” (sorry I SUCK with names) had got Ryo’s beer bottle that he was drinking on stage. So I got a photo of that as well. ^^
Saturday: 20 Oct. 2007
Saturday, the only agenda I had was for the band’s Q & A which was suppose to be at 1 pm. Since I’m myopic and hate to wear my glasses I wanted to be in the front row. Heather and I got there rather early and were pleased that we were only the 10th in line. Close enough for front row. However, once we all got in and seated, we learned that the Q & A had been moved to 7 pm. Band was hung over or something….or shopping *cough*
Anyways, that was fine with me, so I just went back to sit in line since I hate cons and anime cosplayers for the most annoy the hell out of me. *Eh, there was this one annoying cos player who desperately wanted our attention. Just to be an ass I turned away from him when he walked over to me and tried to get in my face. And then there was this other dumb gackt cosplayer. Her friend asked us if we wanted to watch “gakuto-san” prove he could dance. I said, no GACKT can’t dance. Her face went blank and she kind of took off. Eh. I think I made maybe 3 anime weirdoes frown…Hey, I wasn’t in cosplay or anything, so I don’t even know why those three even approached me. When approached, I will not be nice. But, I do not go out of my way to be mean to cosplayers. Just wanted to make that clear to any cosplaying people on my friends list. *
Ok, back to the line for the band Q & A…since it was postponed for 6 hours, most people in my group had to take off for lunch, bathroom, etc. being the person I am I promised to hold the line for a lot of people. So they take off, and then out of nowhere this crazy Spanish speaking woman comes up to me and starts yelling at me in Spanish. I’m just like, what the fuck! And turn to her and say “No se” since I don’t know Spanish. Someone near me said she was bitching and saying that since the people in line had left, they had lost their spot. She finally went back to her daughters who were 5 people behind us….then a little later, that woman took off. She came back later only to plop her fat ass right behind me, cutting in front of those 5 girls who hadn’t moved at all. I looked at her again like WTF? She starts going off again in Spanish. At this point, I motioned for her daughter to come over and reason with her crazy mother to go back in line behind the people she had just cut in front of. I really didn’t want a psycho looking crazy woman behind me. Her daughter reasoned with her mother and finally she went back. The rest of the day, she shot death glares our way. It was amusing. Such drama over something so stupid.
And then right behind me was this chick that had traded a guitar pick for half of Mika’s drum stick. The whole time she sat with us she smelled that drum stick. On Sunday I met the girl who had traded the pick for the drum stick. She told me she had the stick between her legs for quite awhile and thought it was hilarious that that girl kept sniffing Mika’s “cologne” hahahaha
Ok, this is what I remember from the Q & A:
All the band members wore glasses.
The band said they every member wants to perform in the United States again.
Takumi likes Sponge Bob (his favourite anime) and I think it was Ryo who said he’s been reading Bleach since he saw a lot of Bleach cosplay in Germany when they performed there.
Someone asked what a memorable live experience was and one of the members said when they were motioning for crowd to get pumped up and move their arms they saw someone at oni-con dressed as in cosplay move their weapon up and down and ReS members found that funny!
Mika said he was once playing the drum and two drum heads tore.
Satsuki answered that he and Shun had got their chords criss crossed and were thus tangled so for a moment, whenever Shun moved Satsuki was forced to move the same direction as him.
At one point, this girl goes up to ask her question and being in Texas she says “Howdy Ya’ll”
We all start laughing and the band literally had this expression on their faces o.0 because they didn’t understand. I wish I could have got a photo of that.
In their personal time Mika likes to read, Takumi likes to watch his Sponebob dvds, Shun likes reading and games, and Ryo likes to drink beer.
Takumi wants to work with Brittney Spears and Ryo Johnny Depp. (Ryo kind of has a Johnny Depp look to him now)
One of the questions was about memorable moments with the band and Takumi answered that when he got arrested once, Ryo came and picked him up and he was very nice that day.
Someone asked who was the craziest member in the band and everyone pointed down to Ryo.
A guy asked Takumi if he would put out a score and Takumi said in English. “No, you copy. No score.” And then something about that he had to practice. Later that same guy asked Takumi how often he should practice to be as good as him. Then Takumi answered, “no practice, only PASSION!” *big emphasis on this word* then Satsuki made the comment that Takumi had earlier said he needed to practice in which Takumi said he meant you have to listen to him or something.
When asked their philosophy I think it was Shun said that bigger is better. Ryo said his philosophy was “whatever”.
The members said that they like America but were afraid of the “big” bugs here. Ryo thinks American beer is good and is his favourite thing about Houston (Imagine that).
I don’t remember what the question was but Sastuki said that he had been eating alone a lot and Takumi will ask him to eat with him so he wont have to do it alone. Everyone went “ah” which made Satsuki immediately say “NOT YAOI!!!!” we all laughed.
At one point, this loud group of cosplayers were screaming right outside the room. Everyone stopped and looked and the band again had this expression on their faces O.o We laughed for a good minute or two after that.
Shun’s musical influence he said was Kuroyume. I think I was the only one who shrieked and clapped for that answer. *the Kiyoharu fan girl in me had to come out*
The band is very happy about X Japan and Luna Sea reuniting.
Someone asked what the difference between American and Japanese fans are and someone answered that the fans express themselves more with their bodies here in the US. I think it was Takumi who said that they throw stuff out to the crowd in Japan but nothing ever comes back. He said here in the US a fan bracelets had been thrown at them. Then Satsuki said that he was so happy when someone threw him a bracelet so he put it on. But when he took his shirt off to throw back to the crowd, it came off and he lost it. (So heather and I bought him a bracelet to give at the autograph panal)
Edit: I just remembered that Satsuki was amazed at some of the cosplay at oni con. He said he had seen a Cloud and because of the skin tone and eyes was so surprised at how real the cosplay looked since in Japan those features are off.
And that’s all I can really remember. There was a lot more questions, but my memory isn’t so great.
Sunday: 21 Oct. 2007
Since Heather and I had kind of early evening flights home, I wanted to be close to the front of the line for photos. We got there early, but there was already two people in front. Finally our “fun group” came and we all chatted. It was Andi’s birthday so I whished her a happy birthday. She was so cute in her birthday tiara. This girl I met told me she had been drinking with Ryo all night. Hahaha, she said he consumed all her beer.
The crazy lady continued to glare at us since she was behind me maybe 10 people back with her daughters.
Again, staff had no idea what was going on, and we were moved. They said it was at 1pm then 3 pm, and that they would let people with wrist bands in first. Finally, the official word was 1 pm and no wrist bands.
And they ran out of shirts, so some people didn’t have photo tickets. That drum stick sniffing chick bought a photo ticket for $60. Crazy bitch.
So, photo time, Heather and I wanted our photos to be together. So we walk in holding onto each other and ReS look at us like o.0 they probably thought we were lesbians or twins. The staff grabbed another chair and sat it down. We said Hello to them and they greeted us back. Heather and I are talking about who wants to sit where, when Satsuki gets up and moves down a chair so Heather and I can sit by each other. *how sweet is he?* So I sit down where Satsuki had been sitting. WARM CHAIR BY SATSUKI’S BUM! I move my hands over the chair and Satsuki looks sideways at me and I just smile at him. We take our photos, and I turned and bow to them and said Thank you. They said thank you back of course.
We then got in line for autographs only to see the CUTEST Rame cosplayer ever. She’s so sweet and turned out to be the original drum stick owner. Hahaha. I got her photos and we chatted. So autograph time. I had the bracelet to give to Satsuki. I handed it to him, and as I said, he snatched it as quickly as he could and put it on his left wrist. His eyes were SO big when he saw the gift and he smiled and said thank you. I was having the band sign the Sphire-Croid booklet and Mika had signed on Satsuki’s photo and I heard Satsuki mention this to Shun. They all signed their photos except Mika. ^^
I went in line again for the actual cd signed. And then a third time because I just had to have Takumi sign the guitar pick I got from him. When he saw that I had his pick, his eyes got big, his whole face lit up, and smiling he said “You good!” for getting his guitar pick. I smiled and he signed it and drew a heart on it.
Heather had her photo signed and Shun signed on his face and was about to cover mine so Heather stopped him. I think she felt bad. And some people in our “fun group” had their breasts signed by the band. I wanted to take photos of it, but then again, I didn’t want to take photos of it. Hahahaha..
After that, they shut the doors so no more signing. We were standing and talking with our “fun group” when Heather saw Ryo starring out the window of the door. She told us and we all waive to him before he left.
Then when the band left, we all waived to them and they waived back. Noone tried to run after them and that was that.
We said goodbye to everyone and headed to the airport where Heather and I proceeded to fangirl in the terminal before she had to leave for her flight.
And now, I’m home and am not doing the homework that I should be doing. I suck.
(Downtown Houston. The view from our Hotel window)
(The chandelier in the Hilton Hotel in downtown Houston)
(Heather with Takumi's guitar picks on Friday right after the concert)
(Rawr! The "Fun Group" sans Heather. I'm in there though)
(Heather on Saturday rocking it in my corset)
(The signed cd and Takumi's guitar pick with the heart ^^)
(Andi with half of the ReS setlist)
(Mika's drum stick)
(ReS member Beer Bottle)
(signed cd and pick)
(where Mika and Satsuki both signed)
(more band autographs)
(The braclet we gave Satsuki)
(The photos my sister and I took with ReS. One is signed one wasn't)
*****************************************
Cosplay photos:
(Bad Mana cosplay, in my opinion)
(just a cool cosplay)
(very cool and cute Rame cosplay)
(And because it wouldnt be a con without a Jack Sparrow!)
Dir en grey: Family Values Tour: Indianapolis, IN- 10-10-06
When my sister and I found out that Dir en grey would be part of the Family Values Tour AND that they would be playing in Indianapolis, which is only two and half hours from where we live, we decided that we had to be there. I’m not a diru fan, but my sister likes them. We both agreed however, that we HAD to flee before KoRn took the stage….eh.
We meet up with yamipandora in Indiana since she is also a diru fan. It was awesome meeting her.
Our spot was in the mosh pit. For most of the time, I was second row, but somehow, I managed to get against the barricade by the time it was Diru’s time on stage. Very cool, even if I’m not a super big fan…We meet a lot of other diru fans who were obnoxiously easy to figure out and I swear I wanted to kill about half of them…
We spied Kyo and Shinya mostly hanging around on the side of the stage while other bands played. That was kind of neat. Shinya is rather tiny looking…like skinny.
And I joked around with other mosh pit people about how I hate KoRn….They were threatening to lift me during their set, which, as flattering as that was, I had no intentions on hanging around that long to be tortured by KoRn.
So Diru finally take the stage after I had been standing for about 5 hours listening to bands I have never heard before….They played this set list:
GDS
Saku
Spilled Milk
Kodoku ni shisu, yue ni kodoku
Ryoujoku no ame
Merciless Cult
Dead Tree
Clever Sleazoid
The IIID Empire
But um, having stopped listening to Diru after Macabre, I knew none of the songs…So I just kind of watched Shinya rock it on the drums…and Kyo. He is rather intense on stage, like he is possessed. My ears were pretty deaf by that time, so his singing wasn’t too off key to me. Of course, he scratched himself and was making himself spit out blood. I wasn’t impressed…
But when it came time for the band to throw objects into the pit, well, I saw Kaoru’s guitar pick come flying REALLY close to where I was. Being the passive-aggressive individual, I wrestled with another bitch and WON! Yes! I got the guitar pick from a band I could care less about! I victoriously gave it to my younger sister who was SO happy to have a little souvinier.
So we all took off to go see who our “meet and great” member or members were…We waited forever it seemed in a rather long line…Then I heard screaming. Our member was none other then Kyo, which was surprising since I had heard that he had only done this once before. Talk about interesting. My sister was dying with happiness. So I get up to Kyo, he smiles, we shack hands, and I said “thank you” to him with a bow. He repeated back “thank you”….ok. Like Kyo really cared that I was there or not. PHONY!
Hahaha, anyways, we headed home after that. I was so sore the next day. Moshing all day is hard work.
Jrock Revolution: Wiltern Theater: Los Angeles: 25-26 May 2007:
So, Heather and my journey to jrock heaven began Friday, May 25th. We woke up at 5 am, got ourselves around, were out the door by 6:20 though still almost missed our flight. On the flight from Phoenix to Los Angeles a guy named Mike from Tempe sat next to us. At first my eyebrows raised when I read his shirt that proudly proclaimed that his “wiener” was Kosher. Most amusing at 8:20 am…We ended up chatting the whole flight about everything from movies to pot, and after the hour flight we had his number. Lets see if he calls us or not.
We arrived at LAX just before 10 am, however, our luggage did not arrive until 12:15 pm….so, we sat around LAX waiting for our luggage and chatting it up with other people who had been on the same flight who also had missing luggage. They were heading to the big Star Wars convention in LA that week, so it was fun chatting with them. Leave it to me to find Star Wars fans in the baggage claim area.
Finally after getting our luggage and while waiting for our hotel shuttle to arrive, I meet a musician who chatted with me. I need to remember to check out his myspace and hear his music. He seemed nice and was in his 40s at least. Our shuttle arrived and then we made our way to the hotel Miyako where we were “staying” for the weekend (we only really slept one night there). The hotel is in Little Tokyo near downtown Los Angeles. It’s a nice little neighbourhood. The hotel caters to Japanese and is really nice. On entering our room I went to look at the bathroom and much to my amusement I saw THE JAPANESE TOILET! I have never been so amused with a toilet in my life before. Buttons for warming and water…so much fun. We took photos of it as well.
Anyways, after we got set up, we went to the 10th floor where our friend Sarah was staying. It was so awesome to see her again. So a brief chat and Heather and I then got a cab and went to the Wiltern Theatre where we joined Linnet and Jessica and her two awesome friends Liz and Jaimie. Hanging out with them in line was so awesome and fun despite how cold it was. Liz had this cute bear fashioned after Miyavi wich I found amusing and served as a good way for Heather to keep warmer. After a couple hours a guy set up his guitar and started playing it near us…very nice entertainment to pass the long hours. Also guys were handing out flyers and postcards. I got a Vidoll one which made me happy. Mmmm Tero! If anyone wants me to send them a Vidoll postcard in the mail, let me know and I’ll mail it to you. We were also at a point in the line were we could see bands arrive. I watched the members of Kagrra arrive to the event though sadly to say, it took me awhile to figure out who they were due to the extensions they wore….wasn’t use to seeing those.
So the wait continued and 6pm rolled around….time for the doors to open….more waiting and around 6:20 we got in…We made a mad dash to our spots which turned out VERY good. It was a perfect view of the stage and bands even though we were in a back section. We were close to the bar which turned out to be the best spot as I will explain later. I did have to push some obnoxious alice nine fan (go figure) off my back since she was practically grinding into me trying to move me out of the way. After more pushing on her part and having her friend call me a bitch because I refused to budge from my spot I had reserved for myself 10 minutes before those two arrived, I elbowed the pushing girl in the breast in retaliation. Needless to say, she moved three people down from me and tried her luck on them which made my night better. At this point, Heather was buying merchandise. She got a really cute Vidoll shirt, and on her return she stood next to me which was cool. I love having my sister by my side at concerts. On the screen they were playing X Japan’s last live video and everytime Yoshiki or hide came on the screen people went nuts. So I kind of watched that while I wondered who the first band would be to take the stage….
It turned out to be Kagrra, who were just as amazing Friday night as their concert dvds I so love to watch. To my suprise, Kagrra were wearing their Kimonos, had hair extensions and played a lot of their older songs. Just beautiful and special! When I heard Kotodama, I almost died… Isshi was awesome live! And in his MC, he held up a piece of paper and in the cutest English expressed his happiness for being there and also stated that Kagrra, would return to the US! *I can’t wait for them to return*
Setlist
恋綴魂
在りし日の微傷
鵺の哭く頃
妖祭
うたかた
愁
After Kagrra, Duel Jewel took the stage. In all honesty, I’ve never paid Duel Jewel any mind. After Friday night, with they way the rocked the place, they have a new fan! They completely amazed me and in my opinion was the best band that performed on Friday night. (sorry Vidoll…you rocked as well, but Duel Jewel rocked harder) They played 4 or so songs, did some synchronized movements which was spiffy and were really energetic.
Setlist
華唄
リインカネーシュン フロウ
カミソリ。。
Mxxder Marble
Tales
So, the show really got fabulous for me when my friends Linnet and Jessica pointed out that Miya, Tatsurou & Gara were standing in the section behind us…Then Akiya showed up as well just to the left of us in the bar section. it took me awhile to spot them, and I finally did…at this point, I had promised Liz my closer spot for Miyavi’s performance since she loves him and I despise him, so I gladly traded with her and took a spot in the back so I could stare at Gara better. He was wearing a white cap and sunglasses, but Gara is so recognizable. And he’s gorgeous. I seriously just stared at those guys and ignored Miyavi who rocked the house it seems, but not me.
It was just before Miyavi’s long and painful set that I finally got the nerve to approach one of the group members just hanging out behind me. So I asked Jessica and Linnet who I should ask since Gara was unapproachable. They suggested Tatsurou since he hadn’t been asked yet. Tatsurou at this point was standing near Akiya so I got to pass him by. Jessica had already successfully attained an autograph from Akiya (our group all watched her do so and was most happy when he signed her fan for her). Linnet (bless her!!!!) went with me since I’m the biggest loser in the world and am terrified of approaching jrockers apparently. So, with all the strength within me I mustered up all the courage I had to walk up to Tatsurou and ask for his autograph. I only just had my ticket and Jessica’s sharpi marker. So, I ask him, and he looks at me and kind of motions to himself like if I really meant to ask him (silly Tatsurou, yes you!) I nodded, and at this he smiled very nicely, stepped forward and took my ticket and pen. On taking my ticket he kind of scrutinized it for awhile looking it over and then seemed to have a slight problem opening the pen. The whole time I was thanking him for the autograph and he just kept smiling. He was really nice about it all and after he gave it to me I bowed, thanked him again, and bolted so I wouldn’t offend him anymore with my geeky presence. Really awkward but good experience.
From what little I did catch from Miyavi’s set….he had this random stage setup with a painter, some even more random umbrella petal throwing guy, a beatboxer, turntables, and drummers. It was like annoying chaos up there, so keeping my attention on Gara was the logical thing to do…
Setlist
Selfish Love
自己愛、自画自賛、自意識過剰
Neo Visualism
Kabuki Boys
Rock and roll is not dead
Are you ready to rock? *which is the MOST OBNOXIOUS noise live*
And then Miyavi (whose English is actually really really amazing) told the audience he had a secret….which turned out that he is the 4th member of Yoshiki’s new super group that I could care less about in all truth. Sugizo took the stage and played with Miyavi. and Yoshiki, Miyavi, and Sugizo all hung out on stage…no Gackt. I only briefly watched them then turned my attention back to Gara….
Intermission came again, so me and another girl walked back up to the bar and stared at 4/5ths of Merry (yes Asma, yuu was there!) and Tatsurou all sitting on the back wall. I couldn’t get a photo because it was too dark and even if I could have, I wouldn’t have done so. I feel too bad taking candid photos without permission. And I couldn’t stand the thought of having Merry think of me as that annoying girl who kept taking pictures of them.
So after the intermission, or as I call it now “Merry starring time”, Vidoll took the stage. I went back in my old spot with the good view by my sister. Vidoll were sooooo good! Ramme came out throwing petals or something all cute and Tero just rocked on the drums, twirling his sticks like he always does. Jui gave lots of cute poses, smoldering winks, and was hanging on the guitarists, much to my sister’s delight. Vidoll’s set went WAY too fast in my opinion with only 5 songs. But really, Jui sounds amazing live. Much to my delight they played san ga koronda which is one of my favourite Vidoll songs. I almost cried when it started, I was that happy! Then Chocoripeyes, and Ningyo were played. Jui had an MC section and spoke in Japanse. We were all silent listening to him, but I couldn’t understand it. Oh well, it was just awesome to be in the same room with Jui speaking to us. All very good and the band members were energetic and fun! Rame, whom I usually find scary, is actually really cute in person being all hyper on stage. And Tero did an amazing back flip at the very end. One of the highlights of the night!!!
Setlist
nevaeH
…サンガコロンダ!!
透明ナカゴ
Chocoripeyes
人魚
After Vidoll was Alice nine who sucked, just as I expected. Heather and I let a nice girl we met (who just happened to be in the group with the bitch I had elbowed in the breast) have our close spot so she could see them better since she was a big fan…See, it pays to be nice to people in concerts since I totally will do that for people.
I stood behind Heather and prayed that alice nine’s set would be short…they played 5 or 6 songs, and by the time Shunkashuto was played as the last song, I wanted to flee…and saga did this stupid guitar lick thing that got the fangirls squealing. I’m so alice nine hating so I if you’re a fan of theirs, disregard this non-review. I’m sure they rocked, they just didn’t rock for me.
Setlist
ヴェルヴェット
RED CARPET GOING ON
闇ニ散ル桜
九龍 -NINE HEADS RODEO SHOW-
ハイカラなる輪舞曲
春夏秋冬
So, as soon as the concert ended, I had to quickly and sadly say goodbye to Jessica, Linnet, and Liz whom I wished I had more time to hang out with though sadly couldn’t. They only were staying for the Friday show and not the Saturday show. So it was then that Heather and I meet up with Lauren, her sister Allison, and Kelynn with whom had saved us a really good spot in the queue for the Saturday night concert. We also got to see Jessica briefly which was fun. We had originally met her in Indy for the Diru concert at FVT. Unfortunately she wasn’t staying for the Saturday show either so she left.
So, after things quieted down and people started tenting for the night, Lauren and I went back to the hotel and got ready for Saturday. I also smuggled some blankets out of the hotel room for sleeping on the sidewalk. I still can’t believe I gave up an amazingly comfy bed for the dirty cold hard LA sidewalk outside the Wiltern. But our resolute paid off since we all got a great spot against the wall for the Saturday show. Just perfect! When I returned to our spot, Heather was gone. I freaked out since the thought of my tiny little sister wandering the scary streets of Korea town after 1 am is more then terrifying to me. This awesome guy whom was queuing in line with me offered to go look for her, but she returned from the Denny’s abit later. I was relieved and happy, and really not amused though.
So, “tenting” in the queue is quite the experience. First, it was freezing! Dirty! And just disgusting…but hey, for all things getting a good spot for Merry, I did it. It was SO cold and people kept driving by and honking on their car horns and screaming at us to wake up. LA is so considerate to jrock tenting bums, really.
None of us got much sleep, but some somehow I woke up at 6 am freezing and oddly energized. We couldn’t leave the line since we were in the “pit” section of the line and to avoid being booted from the first group of admittance, we had to wait for stamps or whatever. The group I was with didn’t want the pit, so we opted out of it. We ended up getting a rather ugly “x” on my hand so I could get in at the same time as the pit people but then take our place in the other sections of the theatre.
Sitting in the line all day was pretty brutal. It got rather sunny and hot since we were just feet away from the cool shaddy area. People kept driving by and asking us what was going on, and people were taking pictures of us all just sitting there…I don’t get people sometimes. Then this obnoxious man came by and handed out pamphlets that pretty much said we’re going to hell. Jokingly, the people in line just before us re-worded the list into a witty jrock version. Most amusing. Also, there was this bunch who had a poster for Mucc’s 10 year anniversary that they were having people in the audience sign. I signed it. That group was crazy fun. Everytime a city bus went by, they help up the Mucc poster and waved it to the people in the buses who looked on horrified at times. And then this weird woman kept walking up and down the street mumbling at us and shaking her head like we were satan’s spawns or something. We certainly amused half the city, I swear.
Then Roger who runs the Tainted Reality radio show approached me and the guy I was queuing with for fan interviews. I felt so stupid being interviewed but when you’re bored sitting in line, you’ll do anything for amusement, I swear. I must remember now to listen next month to see if they air my interview. I doubt they will since I babbled about Merry too much.
It wasn’t long after Roger left that Heday Mercury came along promoting his music. He gave me a sample and I had a really nice conversation with him. On listen on the demo he gave me, it wasn’t bad. Very nice guy he was.
Finally 6pm rolled around and we got in. Again, I chose the wall area just below the bar since I really liked that spot. Less people, less moshing, and we were all hoping more band members would show up and hang out in the sound/lighting sectioned off section like the night before.
First band turned out to be Merry, and OHMYGODTHEYFUCKINGROCKED!!!! Gara sounds great live, is so charismatic, and his emotions and body language paint the mood of the song perfectly. In Dekiai no suishohe he missed verse intros and all, but whatever. The song still rocked. And they played Omohide Sunset which in case you didn’t know, IS my favourite Merry song. I was in heaven/bliss/whatever! It was awesome. I sang along and just got lost in that beautiful moment. Their set was awesomeness….before Nero’s MC, the stage went black and several seconds went by with no signs of activity. The whole crowd started chanting/screaming “merry” for a minute or so. It was so moving and touching and had to be an awesome moment for the band. Then the lights turned on and Nero declared we all were the 6th member of Merry (it’s official, I can die a happy person now…=) He spoke the cutest English ever! However, at points his microphone kind of died which was a bummer. He declared he was happy to play in LA AND stated Merry would return to the US. NERO! DON’T LET US DOWN! COME BACK! Gara did his ink writing segment to everyone’s delight! And he also did crotch rubbing/sexual things with his microphone which made me the happiest person in the world. As if I couldn’t be any happier that night. Bless you Gara and your amazing ways! Japanese Modernist live is one of the most amazing things ever, and to my delight they also played oriental bl circus, Sayonara Ame, and Saihate no Parade.. They played 9 songs….it was pure bliss!
Merry Setlist:
Peep Show
恋哀交差点
路地裏哀歌
想ひでサンセット
さよなら雨(レイン)
妄想 rendez-vous
迷彩ﾉ紳士
溺愛の水槽
オリエンタルBLサーカス
ジャパニーズモダニスト
After Merry Girugamesh took the stage and they really rocked as well. I had screamed sooo much and was so energectic for Merry but I still had enough to rock out to Girugamesh. They are really good live. I liked them before and this live made my love grow.
Setlist:
13
Jarring Fly
Shadan
Aimai no Mikaku
Owari to Mirai
Volcano
Deceived Mad Pain
Kaisen Sengan
This annoying girl 2 rows back from us asked my sister not to head bang, but stand perfectly still. Being the elder sister I told the girl that my sister did not sleep on the street all night to just crouch down and not participate with the concert so she could have a better view. The girl didn’t bother us anymore after that.
Then it was DespairsRay turn….at this point, with almost no sleep, little food, and just being so exhausted, I found it harder to scream, jump, head bang etc. But I still did since despairsray rocked as well. I felt bad since during Kogoeru Yoru ni Saita Hana Hizumi turned the mike on the crowd for us to sing along and no one could! Not a highlight of the concert.
Setlist:
damned
mirror
凍える夜に咲いた花
screen
closer to ideal
hollow
sixtynine
angeldust
After DespairsRay Yoshiki took the stage….he told us he loved us, that he was going to Paris, and other things I cant really remember. I never really cared for Yoshiki before, but now, I love this man! He deserves respect and only good things!
So, then a long wait, a short Mucc multimedia presentation, and then Mucc finally hit the stage. At this point, exhaustion had taken almost everyone in the theatre it seemed, since poor Tatsurou really was motioning for the crowd to get pumped. I tried, but my legs were numb so it was a little hard for me to jump and move. At the beginning of the set, Tatsurou stood on one leg with his other foot wrapped around the microphone stand in this really interesting pose. The man has great balance. And there was this weird part where Tatsurou just sat down while freaky lights went on and off with intense music. Really weird. But mucc weird so it was all good. We did do this fun singing thing with Tatsurou They played a mix up of old songs and new songs. I really don’t care for the new songs, but live, they were good. Yuki broke out the Bass and was spinning around with it in the funist way ever. He’s a most amusing member. Tatsurou spoke English and went on about loving LA and also mentioned that Mucc would return to the US.
Setlist
Rave Circus
極彩
路地裏僕と君へ
ディーオージー
空虚な部屋
最終列車
25時の憂鬱
リブラ
流星
And that was that….
The most amazing jrock experience over….
There was a little drama getting a cab since we had 3 people to sneak into our hotel in addition to Heather and I, but we finally got it. And then crashed on Beds!!! It was grand.
Then in the morning since Heather and I had an earlish flight, we woke up, got around and bought breakfast for everyone since we were starving. The hotel has a great breakfast shop with yummy bagels and tea that was just perfect. I even tipped them.
So, we had to say goodbye to Lauren, and Kelynn …Allison was still asleep but the poor girl had been camping on the street since Tuesday so she deserved it. Heather and I got in the elevator with an older Japanese couple. They looked at Heather who was wearing her Vidoll shirt and the man read off Vidoll’s name. Most amusing since they just kind of stared at us with a bewildered expression on their face.
So, our shuttle arrived and we chatted with a guy who reports for the LA Times. I told him all about the event and Japanese music and he seemed most interested to learn about it. He had wondered what all the line was and camping on the sidewalk was at the Wiltern so he seemed glad to learn.
We arrived at the airport and how fun for us was the fact that 4 other people who had attended jrock revolution were on the same flight as us. We instantly just queued in our boarding section just like we were queuing for the concerts and we chatted away about our experiences. Most fun indeed. We all sat by each other on the plane as well. The girl by me had a 2 hour stop at Sky Harbor and was flying to Philadelphia since she lives in New Jersey. People really traveled for this show! Anyways, the airline attendant was amazingly funny. He was all sarcastic with his safety instructions cracking jokes at the whole airline system and whatnot. We all applauded his awesome delivery of it! First time I’ve ever listened to that all!
The flight was really short. The highlight was flying over the Pacific ocean! What an awesome view!
And that is all…I didn’t really give a in depth review of the bands because unfortunately, I was way too caught up in the moment to coherently remember song titles and all the details. It was awesome, awesome, awesome though.
12012 @ Animenext: New Jersey 6-8 July 2007
Ok, I know its been 2 weeks since I saw 12012 at animenext in Secaucus, New Jersey, and I am just now writing about the experience...
anyways, Heather and I decided immediately after JRR that we needed to see at least one more Jrock concert this summer, and having turned down Diru as the deftones opening act, the shiny 12012 concert at animenext all the way on the east coast seemed right...I admit, it was a crazy, expensive whim, but goodness, we did it.
So, since we are on a budget and both employed full time, Heather and I decided that a red-eye flight to New York City would serve our purposes. We flew out of Phoenix at 9:45 pm and arrived at New York's JFK at 5:30 am....Some tidbits about this flight. While waiting for our departure time, a guy from Kazakhstan came over and started chatting with me. I started speaking my broken Russian with him, and he spoke in his broken English...so we managed a conversation. I'm so ashamed though of how much Russian I have forgotten. *note to self, step up the Russian learning again*
So, Friday in New York: Heather and I took a shuttle to Manhattan so we could catch 30000x public transport connections to get to New Jersey. In one day, Heather and I were on a plane, a van, subway, and bus...I should have taken a boat and I think I would have covered every possible way to travel...Seeing Manhattan was awesome though! Times Square is something else and I was getting a little visually overloaded just taking it all in.
So, we finally made it to the anime convention centre...I'm not into anime, nor cons, and have never been to one before, so I have to admit, I was pretty wide-eyed and annoyed most of the day. Cosplayers screaming at other cosplayers and having people bug me about taking my photo is not my ideal of a fun day.
So, after checking into our hotel, Heather and I cleaned up, napped, and got changed so we could go register for the anime con. We waited in line for over and hour to get registered and while in line, some obnoxious kid decided to hit on me...I blew him off, for the time being. Also, I got to run into yesod briefly, which was cool.
So, once we were registered, Heather and I checked out the con...not impressed at all. So, we decided to sit in line for the dealers room for about 2 hours...and, again, that obnoxious kid found me and started hitting on me...so, he asked how old I am, I told him to guess...He said 17 and I started laughing. I then told him I was over 21. He practically ran away. I was so happy...
So, after we got our tickets for the concert, Heather and I went back to the hotel room and slept. We were exhausted and needed our rest.
So, finally!!! it was an hour before the concert. Heather and I went to line up in the section that had bought tickets. Buying tickets worked well, since we got an excellent spot right near the centre stage (my sister below Wataru, while I took an area that had a great view of Tohru!)
So, 12012 finally took the stage and everyone went crazy! Their show was just high energy, in your face rock. and goodness, they really, really, really sound great live. Wataru vocally was hitting it, which pleased me, since he is prone to being off key during lives. He also was attempting some crotch rubbing, but it wasnt that convincing to me (you know, after seeing Gara work it at JRR) Tohru was twirling his drum sticks and being as entertaining as can be. and Suga, my god! I'm totally in love with him now. He is the most awesome thing on stage. So they played a nice set list, and at the end, I heard cyclone. now, I hate the recorded song, but live, Cyclone actually is not bad....12012 also played an encore and really, the whole live just went by too fast.
Setlist:
ambience
[6]party
my room agony
survival
wana ♥
melancholy
shower
queer passion
Page
Breaking the modern society
Heart
Shinshoku
Cyclone
butterfly
newspaper
on Saturday was the question and answer panel with 12012. Heather and I were in the third row, so really close. The guys kept waving to us and giving thumbs up and the crowd was very receptive to what the guys said. Here are some highlights of the panel:
They mentioned possibly considering a US tour (wishes and hopes) and they think America is big. Wataru wanted to know why US fans are all so beautiful, and Tohru's favourite English phrase is "accordion" (which caused everyone to laugh)
So, then on Sunday, Heather and I went to have our photograph taken with the band and to get and autograph.
while in line, Heather and I chatted with a mother and daughter who were really cool. This mother had taken her daughter to JRR, Oni-con, Otakan, and anywhere else a Japanese band had been playing. Lucky girl! =)
so, getting my photo taken with 12012 was the most nerve-wrecking thing ever! The guys were really polite and said "hello" and wataru waved and smiled. I sat down and like 3 seconds later that guy takes a photo...it was so quick. I thanked them and bowed and they all waved and said "bai, bai". really awesome guys.
so, then it was in line again for the autograph...When I got up to them for the autograph they all smiled and said Hello and Wataru shock my hand. I got a really, really big smile and a small laugh out of Yusuke because I kept smiling at him and thanking him and all. That made my day.
So, here are some scans fo the photos (my sister and mine) and the autograph:
yeah, I'm giving a dorky peace sign...I never know what to do with my hands...
and look, they are giving Heather a thumbs up! They approve!
Then after that, Heather and I made our way back to JFK airport...faced airline drama galore, and finally made it back to Phoenix at 2 am....we went to work at 8am that same morning....but seriously, 12012 was worth me spending a small fortune to see.
I really do hope they come back...
Rentrer en soi: Oni-con Houston Texas, 19-21 October 2007:
Friday: 19 Oct. 2007
Heather and I met up in Houston on Friday morning at Hobby Airport. Once we checked into the Hilton Hotel we went to register for the con. I hate cons, and get so annoyed with anime nerds so naturally was grumbling until I saw Jackie and Andi and their little group. Seeing familiar faces made me happy again and I was able to ignore the total anime geeks behind me until Heather and I went to get our badges. We went together. Big mistake, since it was just too much for the anime nerd doing pre-reg. to handle two people at once. But anyways, we managed to get our badges.
Then we went to the dealers’ room to be rapped by jrockhouse. I hate Jrockhouse with a passion, but still I had Heather fork forth almost $140 for merchandise (two ReS shirts, and cds).
Anyways, since Heather and I both got shirts we got photo tickets for two photos. She and I had already decided we were doing a group photo (me and her) with the band in both.
So, we hung around with the “fun group” as I am dubbing them and we went around the dealers room, went and had lunch at a Mexican restaurant that was playing Mexican porn soap operas on the telly.
Finally, the time for the concert arrived. Heather and I were in line between two drunk obnoxious girls who had to hold onto us to even get down the steps for the concert. I should have just left their drunk asses on the floor. We took our spot right in front of the area where Takumi would be playing. PERFECT! Except for the drunk girls who just had to stand right by and behind me and Heather. They kind of almost ruined the entire experience.
Anyways, we waited forever it seemed for the band to take that stage. They played Diru’s Child Play and X Japan’s Joker before the show. People went nuts over Child Play and I just wanted to cover my ears. I hate that song.
Anways, the band finally took the stage, and OMG (fangirl moment here) Takumi stood like SEX right in front of us. Now mind you, while I love Rentrer en soi’s music, I have never cared enough to even remotely pay any mind to the members before this con. But damn, that man demanded my love and gratitude for the entire time he played. He was very professional, expressive, entertaining, and he knew how to work his body and that guitar. I’m usually a drummer watcher since I love drums and drummers, but honestly, Takumi would not let me take his eyes off him. Only when he took off to the other side of the stage and Ryo would come over, would I let my eyes leave him. Oh, and Satsuki got my attention when he would do his weird jumps off his little table thing. And Ryo! HA! He’s great as well and seems to be doing his best to look like Johnny Depp. He’s rather entertaining as well. I didn’t really pay any mind to Shun much and even less to Mika.
Their set list paralleled what was played in Germany (which I had looked at so I would have some indication on what might be played)
1. Just Mad Pain
2. Amongst Foolish Enemies
3. Misery loves poisonous blue
4. I was Damned
5. Thorny Rain Break
6. To Infinity
7. 太陽の届かない場所
8. 分裂LE+DD人格
9. Re-Birth
10. 精神死１３度目
11. Murder Intent
12. 密室と孤独に毒された憂鬱
13. I hate myself and want to die
Encore 1
1: 神話
2: 失われた風景の夢
Encore 2
1: 廃墟と化した箱庭
2: Sincerely
3: Strawberry Oblaat
4: 浮遊追想
I wont talk about each song separately, but will make some notes about some of my favourite highlights.
Thorny Rain Break! YAY! They played it and I love it and live it is perfect.
神話 is one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard live. They must have used tape since it was piano I think, and the other members stood somber, like beautiful statues. Satsuki sang his heart out and you could just feel the emotion. He put the mic to his heart during the song. It was perfect and so moving even despite the dumb idiots who just had to cheer and yell through it. Seriously, why do Americans have to always yell during songs? Silently appreciating the song can be just as powerful to a band as screaming at them folks! I saw a couple people near me crying during this song.
分裂LE+DD人格 was absolutely fun! I jumped so much to this one and everyone just had high energy, the band and crowd!
I was excited when Sincerely came on! Hahaha…Yay for older songs
During part of the second encore, my sister and I just held onto each other and swayed to the music.
Their entire set was a fast paced, totally high energy concert from start to finish. The only time the band spoke was very short moments when Satsuki said something like Make Crazy or Insane. I can’t remember his exact words. And I think he might have said something about Houston
And some general concert highlights. Like I mentioned earlier, Satsuki at the beginning kept doing this high leg kicking jumps off his stand that was entertaining. He was wearing his leopard print suit without a shirt beneath it so you could see his torso. At one point in the middle of the concert he was attempting to move over to our side of the stage near Takumi but his microphone cord got caught on his little table and despite three tugs, he couldn’t make it over…But, determined, he walked back. Later once the cord was untangled and came over to stand directly in front us of and by Takumi. Having made it over, Satsuki puts his arm around Takumi, messed with his hair and kind of just hung onto him for a moment. Fun moment and everyone of course went nuts.
Takumi! Like I said, I spent most of the concert watching him and his entertaining guitar playing. He kind of moves like sex, which surprised me. After I Hate myself… he started licking a guitar pick and threw it….that pick went no where near me…but then I saw him licking another guitar pick and holy shit! The pick came flying RIGHT AT ME! So having been mesmerized by him during the entire concert, I just had to have that pick. And I got it! I had to fight this guy off me, and I got pushed by another guy, but hey, I might be small, but I am quick and limber. Anyways, after the concert I made peace with both guys =)
For the very last encore, the band had changed into their Bottom of Chaos Tour shirts for Oni-con. And then at the very end of the concert, what did Satsuki do? He took off his shirt! Shirtless Satsuki. Most of the crowd went wild…
At the end of the concert, lots of things started getting thrown into the crowd. I had a pick already, so I went and sat down, so tired from jumping and being enthusiastic for ReS. Heather found a guitar pick from Takumi as well on the floor.
After the concert I was so tired. But I went and found our “fun group” to see what goodies they managed to snag. Jackie had got part of the set list thrown into her hair, so we took a photo of a very cute Andi holding part of the setlist. And another member of our “fun group” (sorry I SUCK with names) had got Ryo’s beer bottle that he was drinking on stage. So I got a photo of that as well. ^^
Saturday: 20 Oct. 2007
Saturday, the only agenda I had was for the band’s Q & A which was suppose to be at 1 pm. Since I’m myopic and hate to wear my glasses I wanted to be in the front row. Heather and I got there rather early and were pleased that we were only the 10th in line. Close enough for front row. However, once we all got in and seated, we learned that the Q & A had been moved to 7 pm. Band was hung over or something….or shopping *cough*
Anyways, that was fine with me, so I just went back to sit in line since I hate cons and anime cosplayers for the most annoy the hell out of me. *Eh, there was this one annoying cos player who desperately wanted our attention. Just to be an ass I turned away from him when he walked over to me and tried to get in my face. And then there was this other dumb gackt cosplayer. Her friend asked us if we wanted to watch “gakuto-san” prove he could dance. I said, no GACKT can’t dance. Her face went blank and she kind of took off. Eh. I think I made maybe 3 anime weirdoes frown…Hey, I wasn’t in cosplay or anything, so I don’t even know why those three even approached me. When approached, I will not be nice. But, I do not go out of my way to be mean to cosplayers. Just wanted to make that clear to any cosplaying people on my friends list. *
Ok, back to the line for the band Q & A…since it was postponed for 6 hours, most people in my group had to take off for lunch, bathroom, etc. being the person I am I promised to hold the line for a lot of people. So they take off, and then out of nowhere this crazy Spanish speaking woman comes up to me and starts yelling at me in Spanish. I’m just like, what the fuck! And turn to her and say “No se” since I don’t know Spanish. Someone near me said she was bitching and saying that since the people in line had left, they had lost their spot. She finally went back to her daughters who were 5 people behind us….then a little later, that woman took off. She came back later only to plop her fat ass right behind me, cutting in front of those 5 girls who hadn’t moved at all. I looked at her again like WTF? She starts going off again in Spanish. At this point, I motioned for her daughter to come over and reason with her crazy mother to go back in line behind the people she had just cut in front of. I really didn’t want a psycho looking crazy woman behind me. Her daughter reasoned with her mother and finally she went back. The rest of the day, she shot death glares our way. It was amusing. Such drama over something so stupid.
And then right behind me was this chick that had traded a guitar pick for half of Mika’s drum stick. The whole time she sat with us she smelled that drum stick. On Sunday I met the girl who had traded the pick for the drum stick. She told me she had the stick between her legs for quite awhile and thought it was hilarious that that girl kept sniffing Mika’s “cologne” hahahaha
Ok, this is what I remember from the Q & A:
All the band members wore glasses.
The band said they every member wants to perform in the United States again.
Takumi likes Sponge Bob (his favourite anime) and I think it was Ryo who said he’s been reading Bleach since he saw a lot of Bleach cosplay in Germany when they performed there.
Someone asked what a memorable live experience was and one of the members said when they were motioning for crowd to get pumped up and move their arms they saw someone at oni-con dressed as in cosplay move their weapon up and down and ReS members found that funny!
Mika said he was once playing the drum and two drum heads tore.
Satsuki answered that he and Shun had got their chords criss crossed and were thus tangled so for a moment, whenever Shun moved Satsuki was forced to move the same direction as him.
At one point, this girl goes up to ask her question and being in Texas she says “Howdy Ya’ll”
We all start laughing and the band literally had this expression on their faces o.0 because they didn’t understand. I wish I could have got a photo of that.
In their personal time Mika likes to read, Takumi likes to watch his Sponebob dvds, Shun likes reading and games, and Ryo likes to drink beer.
Takumi wants to work with Brittney Spears and Ryo Johnny Depp. (Ryo kind of has a Johnny Depp look to him now)
One of the questions was about memorable moments with the band and Takumi answered that when he got arrested once, Ryo came and picked him up and he was very nice that day.
Someone asked who was the craziest member in the band and everyone pointed down to Ryo.
A guy asked Takumi if he would put out a score and Takumi said in English. “No, you copy. No score.” And then something about that he had to practice. Later that same guy asked Takumi how often he should practice to be as good as him. Then Takumi answered, “no practice, only PASSION!” *big emphasis on this word* then Satsuki made the comment that Takumi had earlier said he needed to practice in which Takumi said he meant you have to listen to him or something.
When asked their philosophy I think it was Shun said that bigger is better. Ryo said his philosophy was “whatever”.
The members said that they like America but were afraid of the “big” bugs here. Ryo thinks American beer is good and is his favourite thing about Houston (Imagine that).
I don’t remember what the question was but Sastuki said that he had been eating alone a lot and Takumi will ask him to eat with him so he wont have to do it alone. Everyone went “ah” which made Satsuki immediately say “NOT YAOI!!!!” we all laughed.
At one point, this loud group of cosplayers were screaming right outside the room. Everyone stopped and looked and the band again had this expression on their faces O.o We laughed for a good minute or two after that.
Shun’s musical influence he said was Kuroyume. I think I was the only one who shrieked and clapped for that answer. *the Kiyoharu fan girl in me had to come out*
The band is very happy about X Japan and Luna Sea reuniting.
Someone asked what the difference between American and Japanese fans are and someone answered that the fans express themselves more with their bodies here in the US. I think it was Takumi who said that they throw stuff out to the crowd in Japan but nothing ever comes back. He said here in the US a fan bracelets had been thrown at them. Then Satsuki said that he was so happy when someone threw him a bracelet so he put it on. But when he took his shirt off to throw back to the crowd, it came off and he lost it. (So heather and I bought him a bracelet to give at the autograph panal)
Edit: I just remembered that Satsuki was amazed at some of the cosplay at oni con. He said he had seen a Cloud and because of the skin tone and eyes was so surprised at how real the cosplay looked since in Japan those features are off.
And that’s all I can really remember. There was a lot more questions, but my memory isn’t so great.
Sunday: 21 Oct. 2007
Since Heather and I had kind of early evening flights home, I wanted to be close to the front of the line for photos. We got there early, but there was already two people in front. Finally our “fun group” came and we all chatted. It was Andi’s birthday so I whished her a happy birthday. She was so cute in her birthday tiara. This girl I met told me she had been drinking with Ryo all night. Hahaha, she said he consumed all her beer.
The crazy lady continued to glare at us since she was behind me maybe 10 people back with her daughters.
Again, staff had no idea what was going on, and we were moved. They said it was at 1pm then 3 pm, and that they would let people with wrist bands in first. Finally, the official word was 1 pm and no wrist bands.
And they ran out of shirts, so some people didn’t have photo tickets. That drum stick sniffing chick bought a photo ticket for $60. Crazy bitch.
So, photo time, Heather and I wanted our photos to be together. So we walk in holding onto each other and ReS look at us like o.0 they probably thought we were lesbians or twins. The staff grabbed another chair and sat it down. We said Hello to them and they greeted us back. Heather and I are talking about who wants to sit where, when Satsuki gets up and moves down a chair so Heather and I can sit by each other. *how sweet is he?* So I sit down where Satsuki had been sitting. WARM CHAIR BY SATSUKI’S BUM! I move my hands over the chair and Satsuki looks sideways at me and I just smile at him. We take our photos, and I turned and bow to them and said Thank you. They said thank you back of course.
We then got in line for autographs only to see the CUTEST Rame cosplayer ever. She’s so sweet and turned out to be the original drum stick owner. Hahaha. I got her photos and we chatted. So autograph time. I had the bracelet to give to Satsuki. I handed it to him, and as I said, he snatched it as quickly as he could and put it on his left wrist. His eyes were SO big when he saw the gift and he smiled and said thank you. I was having the band sign the Sphire-Croid booklet and Mika had signed on Satsuki’s photo and I heard Satsuki mention this to Shun. They all signed their photos except Mika. ^^
I went in line again for the actual cd signed. And then a third time because I just had to have Takumi sign the guitar pick I got from him. When he saw that I had his pick, his eyes got big, his whole face lit up, and smiling he said “You good!” for getting his guitar pick. I smiled and he signed it and drew a heart on it.
Heather had her photo signed and Shun signed on his face and was about to cover mine so Heather stopped him. I think she felt bad. And some people in our “fun group” had their breasts signed by the band. I wanted to take photos of it, but then again, I didn’t want to take photos of it. Hahahaha..
After that, they shut the doors so no more signing. We were standing and talking with our “fun group” when Heather saw Ryo starring out the window of the door. She told us and we all waive to him before he left.
Then when the band left, we all waived to them and they waived back. Noone tried to run after them and that was that.
We said goodbye to everyone and headed to the airport where Heather and I proceeded to fangirl in the terminal before she had to leave for her flight.
And now, I’m home and am not doing the homework that I should be doing. I suck.
(Downtown Houston. The view from our Hotel window)
(The chandelier in the Hilton Hotel in downtown Houston)
(Heather with Takumi's guitar picks on Friday right after the concert)
(Rawr! The "Fun Group" sans Heather. I'm in there though)
(Heather on Saturday rocking it in my corset)
(The signed cd and Takumi's guitar pick with the heart ^^)
(Andi with half of the ReS setlist)
(Mika's drum stick)
(ReS member Beer Bottle)
(signed cd and pick)
(where Mika and Satsuki both signed)
(more band autographs)
(The braclet we gave Satsuki)
(The photos my sister and I took with ReS. One is signed one wasn't)
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Cosplay photos:
(Bad Mana cosplay, in my opinion)
(just a cool cosplay)
(very cool and cute Rame cosplay)
(And because it wouldnt be a con without a Jack Sparrow!)