VAMPS Live 2010 BEAST Zepp Sendai 16+17 July live repo

Aug 06, 2010 00:17

What's behind the cut is our live repo for the Vamps live in Zepp Sendai 16 and 17 July 2010. Everyone who is interested please

As always we left London on board of British Airways flight 005 bound for Tokyo. It would be a short visit only - leaving on 15 July and returning on the 19. Just enough time to see two lives of one of our favourite bands. Live #2 and #3 this year after a magnificent acid android concert in Shibuya AX on 13 February 2010.

We arrive after a pleasant flight; immigration is cleared, luggage retrieved, railpass organised and we are on board of the Narita express to Tokyo. Only 12 minutes times to change into the Tohoku shinkansen to Sendai - just enough to buy a ekiben on the platform. First Vamps fans appear...

ZEPP SENDAI 2010/7/16
Around 1:30 in the afternoon we reach our destination Sendai. It is terribly hot here in Japan. But ways in Sendai are short. We leave the eki via the east exit, an escalator brings us to ground level and on our left is Zepp Sendai with the first fans lining up for the tour goods. After a bit of searching we find the Sendai Comfort Hotel (not even 5 min from the Zepp) - a very nice hotel, cheap, clean, new, friendly and headquarter not only for us but also for other followers of the king. The envelopes with the tickets and our Vampaddict member cards are waiting for us at the front desk - what a relieve!
Our schedule is tight and before long we are in the queue for the tour goods: they open at 3:00 pm and until we are able to buy our stuff it is close to 4:00. T-shirts, pamphlet, omamori and towel change hands, we rent a coinlocker (#669) for later and we are back in our hotel to get ready.

Next is a shower and then we get ready with our contactlenses (after the acid live we finally realised that glasses are not exactly something to wear during a live), hairdo, make-up and live suit (which is: black drain pipes, studded belt, black corsett, taffetta stola and Doc Martens plateau sandals - was invented for the Vamps lives in Fukuoka 2008 and is in the meantime a kind of trademark for us). And now we are ready to rock and roll..

In front of the Zepp boards with the ticket numbers are up already, but it is still time  and we decide to have a little refreshment. Lucky Starbucks Japan is not as disgusting as Starbuck over here: a tall kohizeri frappuccino is nice and refreshing and supplies some sugar to keep us alive until the adrenalin kicks in.
Short before 6 we are in front of the Zepp to join the queue. The numbers of our tickets are not together: nesan lets me have the one in the early 300's, hers is in the 400's. They are fanclub tickets but not with our names on it. Signboards indicate already that fanclub members have to show their member cards and a photo ID. We part and align according to our numbers - hope nesan will find me inside...

While waiting she meets a girl we know from previous Vamps and L'Arc lives; they have a little chat in the meantime my number is called and I boldly step forward. They are rather kibishii with the tickets: one is checking the ticket, after you proceed to another checkpoint where ticket and fanclub ID are checked. I present both and keep my poker face. Maybe it is because of the dominatrix effect of the live suit but the young man waves me through. Bag check, drink-dai and I am in and position myself in the second row after the first barrier - closer than expected but I still have to worry about nesan: will she make it and will she find me. The place starts filling up but suddenly her red head appears in the door. We still have to wait like 45 minutes. A purple mirror ball is reflecting dancing purple spots and the clock on the curtain is moving slowly towards the evil number. From 6:60 time starts flying, bats are projected on the curtain, 6:65 and finally 6:66!

The curtain lifts, smoke, green laser beams and there are Vamps: Ju-ken in black suit with shirt, necktie and his signature top hat; KAZ with his usual 3/4s, blonde strains and rather spiky with lots of hairpins on his right side. And Hyde with straight, bleach blond hair and a cute black 'suit': tiny t-shirt with the sleeves split open and a short leather vest (most likely Roen) - looks very trim and fits neatly on the slim body. But everyone in Vamps looks very shapely and trim - the result of their new health regime (they transform into a kenkou bando...).

1.SEX BLOOD ROCK'N ROLL: great to kick off;
2.IT'S SAD
3.REDRUM

MC contents are most of the time naughty - especially when Hyde is talking: for him it's either sex or food.

4.COSMOS
5.EVANESCENT: was great with Ju-ken's chorus
6.PIANO DUET
7.RUMBLE
8.DOLLY
9.LIVE WIRE
10.SAMSARA: a tremendous instrumental piece; flames and chandeliers lighting up one after the other and with the finale the antelope skull on the back wall is illuminated and looks like an altar in a baroque church - very dramatic
11.MY FIRST LAST: Hyde plays a 12 string guitar which sometimes sound like a sitar
12.MISSION: sweet memories from Fukuoka and Faith Tour for us

MC: believe this was Ju-kens MC - about este, massage and manicure; Hyde resting on the sofa until he feels prompted to speak again. Nice to hear Ju-ken speak - his voice is pleasant and he speaks Tokyo-ben..

13.HUNTING: the little dork is using every maiku on stage for his 'where's my lamb': needs to go on his toe tips for Ju-kens maiku or has to jump or is cracking up ever so often. A short piece on the DVD but during a live there is always a 'one more time'..
14.ANGEL TRIP: the crowd is swinging the towel or their fists and Hyde remarks that it looks like a naruto (whirlpool)
15.TROUBLE: always big fun during a live, a crowd mover
16.DEVIL SIDE: wiht pole dancer over the stage
17.HIDE AWAY

ENCORE

18.REVOLUTION: great fun and the english is so hilarious...
19.LOVE ADDICT
20.MIDNIGHT CELEBRATION: there is no better song to go wild at the end of a Vamps live!

And then there are so many precious moments during a live, you can't remember when or during which song. All our tiredness was gone, we forgot the long journey - everything is just for the moment. The moment we've been waiting so long, planning so long and it will be over so quickly. But those precious moments will be in our hearts forever.

Our position was good - far better than we expected. Close enough for the details and set back enough to get the action on the whole stage: we got to see Ju-ken and KAZ a bit more (compared to last year in Kawasaki where we've been tremendoulsly close to the stage in front of Hyde). But still Hyde is an eyecatcher - he is naughty, whiggling his hips, standing on the amps showing us some elaborate tongue action. Just to be ubercute and charming the very next moment. And we are luckily close enough to see how incredibly pretty Hyde is.
Towards the end nesan got a large splash from KAZ's water bottle while she was concentrating on the right side of the stage where Hyde was - KAZ wants some attention as well, ne.

An amazing show as always and it is just so much fun to be in a Japanese crowd: they know how to move, what to do when; at times they get a bit rude of course, but most of the times we arrange ourselves. Once it is finished we are trenched in sweat and breathless like everyone else and move only reluctantly out of the hall. The water we get in exchange for our drink coin brings us back into this life. We get our cameras out of the coinlocker and after a while and a few pics  we are on the way to our watering hole - it is an izakaya called kura no shou with lovely food and drinks, friendly staff and food grilled on an irori. Shochu mizuwari as usual, a few plates of food shared between the two of us. Before we leave two Vamps fans ask us to take a picture together with us. And the staff is also quite surprised that people from London are coming to Sendai to see a live at Zepp.
We walk back via eki and Zepp (a few leftover fans are still hanging around) to our hotel. A long, long day is coming to an end. Sleep is not coming easy though: we are jetlagged and Vamps keep on hammering in our heads...

ZEPP SENDAI 2010/7/17

It's pretty hard to get up,we feel exhausted and weak but we have to move on. After a late breakfast we are raiding Sendai with our shopping list in hand: acid android's new album, magazines covering Vamps and aa, tea, rice, nori... That keeps us busy until it is time to go back and get changed. And it started to rain...

It's a bit too wet, so we decide to go for another frappuccino at Starbucks. After that camera and our new Ju-ken t-shirt go into our pre-rented locker #669 and we queue again. Our tickets today are Vampaddict tickets as well but with higher numbers than the day before - we are not very optimistic to get a good position today. Again its me with the lower number; we part only very late - one just has to listen which numbers are called and once my batch is announced I start off. It's always like a rocket launch when one starts off towards the gates: You brace yourself with a short yossh and you start off towards your destiny. Again I boldly present my ticket and FC card, poker face but the heart racing and I'm in. Nesan hardly dares to watch from her waiting point. She has to wait a bit longer for her number, heart beating and all nerves with hands trembling. Makes it to the check point, presents tickets and FC card, they even want to see her passport and finally they wave her through. We are reunited and only 4 or 5 rows behind from where we've been yesterday. We wait again, chatting or staring at the clock on the curtain.

Bats are flying and it is 6:66 again.Today it starts with some explicit pole dancing and underwear flying around and of course our beloved dork has got a bra on his head for the first song...(besides the bra on his head he is wearing a tank top and a frilly blouse today and his new black Fender suits him very well). Ju-ken again in a kind of suit, later one of his t-shirts. Kaz the usual.
To explain: same as the day before, the pole dancers only appear as silhouettes, there are no nudities, no flesh, just dark figures - for the ones who have been worried - ^.

1.DEVIL SIDE: the logic opener after that intro 
2.REDRUM
3.DOLLY

MC

4.MEMORIES: such a lovely song; the melody keeps on playing in us
5.TIME GOES BY: always reminds us of Hokkaido; love the part 'like a sudden drop that falls on my heart'
6.SWEET DREAMS
7.THE PAST
8.COUNTDOWN
9.IT'S SAD
10.SAMSARA
11.MY FIRST LAST
12.JESUS CHRIST: very dramatic as always, with the cross projected over the illuminated antelope skull - it's almost blasphemic

MC

13.HUNTING: big fun again, one could carry on forever; today Hyde tried even to reach on of the maikus for Arimatsu's  drums - but that did not work.
14.ANGEL TRIP: again the naruto of towels
15.TROUBLE
16.LIVE WIRE
17.SEX BLOOD ROCK'N ROLL

MC

18.REVOLUTION: we are all banging and stomping along - just as the Master requests. So much fun and the lyrics are hilarious but it is a gorgeous live song
19.LOVE ADDICT
20.MIDNIGHT CEREBLATION

In the beginning we had to fight a boy on our left, but we arranged ourselves soon. And in the end we were nearly where we've been the day before.
Cute Hyde moments: when he is putting his hair behind his ear or pulling a shoulder up. It is so rewarding to see those people live on stage. Today KAZ is talking (a nice touch for Sendai no lasto): he is always so cute with his button eyes and he is never naughty.
Not so Hyde: standing on the amps being naughty with his mouth and middle finger; or showing us some very advanced and skillfull tongue actionn again. Despite all the naughtiness he is a great singer, hitting all the high notes e.g. in Cosmos.

At one point Hyde was standing at the edge of the stage and was looking down on the audience - the funny thing is we had the impression that he suddenly stopped what he was doing as if he had seen something strange in the audience - he was smiling very cute and kind of shrugging his shoulders and slightly shaking his head - like you do when you encounter something unusual or unexpected - maybe he has seen us or someone else who caught his attention, we will never know.

Again we did not spare ourselves and added a few more  bruises and aching body parts to the one from yesterday. But Vamps lives are such a tremendous fun and one really becomes VAMPADDICT - you can't get enough. There is so much energy on stage and in the crowd. Both sides giving their best and last... We are eternally grateful that we have been able to see those 2 lives in Sendai - they will be in our hearts forever.

We are leaving the hall slowly and suddenly a squeeling bunch of young girls is behind us - and they really loose it for whatever reasons. They first address us in English and we don't know if it was our  Japanese answer or the fact that we came from London or maybe it was our live suit that makes them scream even more - we start feeling a bit like the Beatles on their first visit to Japan. It's embarrassing.

When we queue for our drinks we end up right behind a girl we met 2 years ago in Yufuin (an onsen where we went on our off day during the Fukuoka lives). We chat for a while and take pictures. After that we find ourselves in kura no shou for food and drinks. On the way back to the hotel we pass theZepp again. There are still a few Vampaddicts around but they are outnumberd by EXILE fans, who are now flooding the eki. Someone is from a different planet here! We sit around for a while - the rain has stopped and it is murky and humid. The Zepp is empty , only 4 Vamps posters on the doors and they will be gone soon...

What a great time we had again. It's not only the live itself, but also the before and after, so nice to be with all those people although one does not know them. Vamps was great, Zepp Sendai was great. Those lives mean everything for us - that's what we are living and working for. NO LIVE - NO LIFE. Nothing is coming even close to see those fabulous artisits live. We can only be grateful that we made it again.

VAMPS LIVE 2010 BEAST ZEPP SENDAI 6/16 6/17
おつかれさまでした!

And as always for the one who made it until here, some pics from our trip:




approach from the station



before the live



niji kai at kura no shou



the fluffiest eggroll















Dom Perignon Brunch at Ritz Carlton Midtown, Tokyo


Meiji jingu



Tower records Shibuya




izakaya in Shibuya where something strange happened to us - but that's another story...



the evil number again

 



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