Forgot to post this here o.o
RToC review thing ^^<3
March 17, 2008 ROCKSTAR Taste of Chaos
The concert was absolutely fantastic and I really want to go back. I find that after each of these things I’m dying to stay there, follow the tour. Be with those people. I fit in there. I can’t wait to be old enough to make the decisions of when and where to go myself. Yeah I know it’s not all that great making your own decisions, but it’s a whole lot better than being stuck with controlling parent in the middle of nowhere. This summer has the chance of being amazing. I want it to be three years in the future…
Travel/Arrival
It was a pain in the rear to even get to go to the concert. A lot happened with a friend and I don’t really know what’s going on with that still but I got my mother to agree to come along because I need a mode of transportation. She says “Why don’t you invite Cathy?” and so I do, things work out and it turns out that all three of us are going to the concert! Bad thing is that our tickets are seat tickets, really far away, and I was really upset. But things worked out in the end and at least I could make out who was who in the end. I guess I wouldn’t have been so ticked if I hadn’t of had a pre-sale pit ticket waiting for me to begin with and through a mass of miss-understanding and poor communication that didn’t happen and it was given away. The whole time leading up to the concert and all I kept telling myself “Hey, at least you get to go. And it won’t be that bad.” It didn’t help much; though again things turned out okay after all and I’ll get to that later on. The last week dragged by, but before we knew it Cathy and I were waiting in our seventh period class for our parents to check us out early and head up to the venue. About 1:15pm or so I get called to the office and I basically run out of the class room, to my locker, and to the attendance office, then when Cathy arrives downstairs the three of us (Mother, her, and I) head out.
We stopped at Wawa and I had my one meal of the day which came back to haunt me the next morning. We arrived at the venue around 3pm I believe and we line up at the North entrance. We’re waiting for a little while and I decide to call my friend to see if she was inside already. She then informs me that I need to be at the South entrance instead because we have seat tickets. So then we book it around the venue and wait in line. We really weren’t that far from the door. But finally the lady comes out and tells us that we can line up at the other doors there, so we end up in the front of one of those lines, right in front of the main tour gear booth. When the doors opened we headed straight for the booth and I got a MUCC and a D’espairsRay shirt. By this time we’d split up from my mother and decided to walk around to see what else they had there. We found Harry’s booth and talked to him for a little while. Sadly for him he became my source of information for the night. I would have liked to help out but it seemed he had help and I figured I’d try not to annoy him more than I already do with random questions and just being myself. (How do you people put up with me? Really)
Some time passed and I double checked that I had my alarm set for the MUCC signing, thankfully dropped my bag off with Harry, and headed out. Reassured of the later realized false time Cathy and I headed to our assigned areas to catch the opening band. This is when we realized “Oh, we don’t have to SIT down all the way up there, we can stand down here so long as no one asks us to sit.” So we stood on the platform of the entrance of the portal to our seats at the rail, me constantly staring at the pit. The opening band, Count Your Blessings, actually weren’t all that bad. They’re apparently a local band and one of the band members lives about 10 minutes away from where I live. Listening to them I wished I actually knew any of their music. (Might look into their stuff later)
D’espairsRay
Then it was time for D’espairsRay; the band I was waiting for most. I’ll admit it fully; I had never heard the Underneath and no amount of music to brag about of MUCC. The band came out and my heart leapt, as well as I almost with it, over the rail and to my death a couple of times actually. They had DAMNED playing as their opening song and came on stage to it, rocked out to it, then had a short MC. I’ve never been a really big fan of DAMNED. It’s a good song and I like how it sounds, but nothing special over their other songs, but it was a really good choice to play it as an opening. Like they have it for the opening of the album. Hizumi was absolutely adorable. Two girls beside Cathy and I kept repeating “Kawaii ne!” I agreed completely. His English was actually really good, and his accent added immensely to the state of awe I think every female (and male) JRock fan in the room was feeling. He basically said a few things like “Hello! Thank you for having us! We are D’espairsRay from Japan!” and a few other things throughout the rest of his few MCs. It would be great to remember them word by word, but why would my memory let me do that? They also played TRICKSTeR and Angledust off of their MIRROR album then a few other songs that I either didn’t recognize or forgot the name of. They were not on for long enough at all. I was happy with their set list. Nothing amazing really, other than that I was really happy to hear TRICKSTeR . I really need to listen to some of their older stuff…They didn’t do a lot of moving throughout the stage, really. They all thrashed around, of course, and interacted a bit with the pit, but mostly they stayed in their spots. Or at least from what I saw in between head-banging, jumping, and trying to see. Then it was time for their “last song” and this random guy next to us and I thrashed and head-banged until I couldn’t see/wanted to at least watch some of the song. Clothing note: Would love to give wonderful descriptions on Hizumi, Zero, Tsukasa, and Karryu but I was lucky enough to make out the bass and the guitar. Basically: lots of very good looking black clothes. Oh I can say that Zero was wearing a flannel-like shirt and lost it half way through their performance.
After that Cathy and I stepped out of the arena to get some air and give my neck a break. She actually had had a good idea during their performance: hold up your cell phone while fist pumping so they can see the light. We did many times throughout D’espa, MUCC, and I did it once or twice for the Underneath. An American band played in between D’espairsRay and MUCC so again Cathy and I walked around a little but was sure to stay close enough to get back in; these were also times when we triple checked where MUCC was said to be for the signing and times. I was really glad I had brought one of my hide dolls with my by the end of the show. While in line one of the Asian girls with the bands saw it and told us about the signing and told us the sad news of no D’espairsRay meets. (Not long descriptions for their half hour or so blocks because of the short time period and the seating)
MUCC
We’d went back into the arena to re-claim our sots on the rail while an American band was ending and MUCC was coming. Let there be MUCC. Like I said before, I was no huge fan of MUCC, and I’m still qualified to call myself one, though I am a heck of a lot more in love with them that I was. (Which goes for all three of them) They also entered with the beginning of a song going and joined in once all four of them reached the stage and went wild. Satochi came on in a skirt, of course, and the others all had their outfits that I could see, of course. Each of them bowed when they came on stage, and I was told that none of them were wearing shoes. I could recognize a couple of their songs, at least ones that were on Gokusai, and the entire time I was waiting for FUZZ. The very first thing I saw on the stage was the upright bass; I screamed and the guy next to me just looked at me and laughed. He was actually pretty cool and apparently a MUCC fan. We ended up yelling and head-banging together through their performance. Tatsu MCed a bit on his own, “HELLO! Make some noise! More Louder! More louder! MORE LOUDER!” My throat does not love him for this. Then a song or two later; “Okay. We are MUCC from Japan! Okay, hold on….Thank you, so much…For having us here…On the Taste of Chaos…We hope…” and then he read some more off the floor. And again it was freaking adorable. “Are you ready….to get CRAZY?!” Then they played a wonderful thrashing song that I jumped to, head-banged to, and watch a bit of to save my neck a little. I’m thinking this was Libra. (Listening to it now and hundreds of lights flicked on) They did play Libra but I’m not sure if it was then or not. Anyways, it was amazing. I had never really respected the song before, but after hearing them actually perform it I realize how many different levels there are in this one song. Great song for a concert. Then finally, it was time for FUZZ. I went absolutely insane. I was either jumping, growling, dancing, thrashing, or doing a mixture of those while staring and laughing at times as they all did basically the same things they do in the PV. Libra was the last song they played. (Thank you other reviews)
UNDERNEATH
Cathy and I got smart for their performance. I wanted to at least see them, if I concerted out or not. We went onto one of the portals next to the stage and sat in some empty seats to avoid the standing Nazi of that portal. I kept my hands in the air and rocked out a bit, at least when one of the guitarists looked over at us, same guitarist that was trashing on top of the amp/stage thing leading to the far own floor. It’s a shame that they were limited to only a small section of the stage. I guess that was one of the disadvantages of not having a main stage and a second stage. I was rather glad there was only one stage, less chance of missing someone. I was really glad we watched the Underneath and now I’m hoping to get some of their music. During their last song the drummer looked over at us, the five or six of us and smiled and edged us on the best he could while still drumming. Only thing about the drummer: needs to grow out his hair. (Hair is love)They only played a few songs, four or five I believe, about the same as the opening American bands. They did a really good job at leaving a message with such a short block.
All of their engrish was adorable. I found that as the bands got younger, the English got better, or something like that. The Underneath had pretty good engrish, I thought. Hizumi’s was understandable and what little he did say wasn’t really bad. Then Tatsu’s speaks for itself. What he managed to say was pretty good. Grammar and a few things were off, and the fact that he read a paper off the floor added to it, but they all did really well and we all loved it. Hooray MCs!
Signings
When their block came to an end I knew my neck was going to kill me the next day, and my arms probably, because there was a time when none of my hands were in the air. I zoomed out of the area and made my way to where MUCC was supposed to be, making sure Cathy was tagging along at least. When we made it to the line there were only a few people there and an hour left to wait. Latoya, someone I had met at F.Y.E. the day before, was already there and about the third person in line. After a few minutes or so, and a free sample of ROCKSTAR Energy Drink, later that same Asian girl from before came and told us that this signing wasn’t for another hour, and that D’espairsRay was doing a signing at the AP booth in a few minutes. I kind of stared at here in disbelief and reassured myself by asking her already answered questions, ran to the AP booth and waited in line. Less than a minute later Christine, Mana, and her friend came up in the line behind us. Christine on her phone and us just chatting. D’espa walks up to the booth from the back of the line (of course because that’s where to doors are) and we stick out our hands for ‘side fives’. I managed to get two or three of them but they were basically focused on getting to the booth alive and not getting left behind. They were freaking gorgeous. Okay, already knew all of this, but in person, without the elaborate outfits, freaking gorgeous. That’s when the shaking started a bit. Only a little, and nowhere near as bad as Mana’s. Mom showed up again and then left after a short while.
The line moved rather quickly. I decided that I would get them to sign the back of the X Japan flyer that they had handed out; I had gotten two anyways, and get D’espa to sign in Purple and MUCC to sign in green. (They are sacred sharpies now, haha) I had hide in between my two tank-tops right on my chest and handed the flyer and marker to Zero. They were all so nice! They all either said “Thank you!” (sank you!) or “Arigatou” and I repeated “Arigatou” as they passed the flyer and card down and gave handshakes. (how are their hands so soft?!) When Tsukasa was signing, Karryu saw hide and was all “hide!” and gave a thumbs up with a big smile, which I returned along with nods and “hai” (what was I supposed to say?) and Hizumi reacted to the doll with smiles. Later in one of the pictures posted online Hizumi is staring at the doll which just happens to be right in between two tank-tops in the middle of my chest. Then as the assembly line came to an end and I had my flyer and sharpie in hand Cathy and I ran to the MUCC signing. The band was already there and I waved as we zoomed past but they were preoccupied with fans.
The line had gotten really long. Cathy, Christine, Mana, her friend whose name I never learned, and I all lined up in the back. Then I was hit by brilliance. ‘I never got a hug!’ I turned to Cathy “Stay here! I’ll be back!” And I ran back to the D’espairsRay line and waited there. Mom showed up again all “weren’t you already here?” I told her that I was getting hugs this time and that Cathy was with Christine in the MUCC line. She left and just hung around the barricade where the band was. Finally it was my turn and I took hide out, held him in my hand, and knowing it was obvious that they’d recognize my green hair at least somewhat I just held out my arms and asked if I could have a hug. The lady beside Zero and Zero himself was all “Oh, yes” then stood up, hugged, more “Arigatou”, and I moved down the line. The look on their faces was rather amusing when I put out my arms and didn’t have anything to be signed. Zero and Hizumi where on the ends of the table so they could just stand up and hug a lot simpler, but Tsukasa and Karryu hugs weren’t as good because of the table in between. Actually worked out a lot better than I thought it would though. And again, they are so sweet! And give really good hugs. (I miss them already!)
I said my mental good bye to the AP booth and ran back to Cathy. Now I’m wondering if I did see them the first time or not, if not I saw them on my own on the way back to the line for the second or third time. This line was moving by the time I was officially standing in it so it didn’t seem to take that long. This time we were behind Christine and her group so we talked a bit with some people behind us. They scared me a little, I feared for MUCC, and I was nervous to tell them that they could ask for hugs. But none-the-less our turn came and I handed over the same X flyer and a green sharpie. I felt bad that they had to sign around the D’espairsRay signatures but I really didn’t have anything else for them to sign. They also had free posters to get signed. (on my wall now) So they were signing both, juggling markers and objects. Finally when it got to Satochi, I think, the marker was still in Tatsu’s hand. I pointed to the marker and laughed “He still has it” finally the green marker was saved and I made my way through the line. (Sadly, I can’t remember the order they were sitting in but I can say the marker was held captive by the second JRocker in the line and rescued by the third) My mother went through the line and got her purse signed by MUCC as well and now has it decorated with a PUCCA pin, a free Selfless Murder Clothing pin, and MUCC signatures. (She would have gotten D’espa if they had still been there after she made it through the line)
After all this was done we went back to see Harry. I got my stuff back from him, bought another hide plushie (hooray three), and talked with Latoya (who showed up there) and Harry a bit for a little while. All of a sudden members of the Underneath walk past the booth. Harry: “Look, the Underneath. Attack full force!” (haha, funny) then they walked on around the circle of the venue, I finished my purchases, and then pursued to follow around the same way that they went. Finally I caught up with one of them, Masato, and got a signature after a “sumimasen. Do you mind?” and showing him a blank paper and a green sharpie. “Oh, sure sure.” Then he signed it, wrote “UNDERNEATH” and something in kanji I still haven’t figured out past something about ‘fried’ and ‘cool’. Then after a little while I saw Tal and got him to sign the other side of the paper, this happened to be the back of my printed off ticket folded up. He signed his name, “xx” then wrote “Arigatou” in katakana. “Uh...This is Japanese…Sank you.” “Arigatou?” “Ohh, right. Good.” Then he gave the paper and marker back more ‘thank you’s and left. (I really hate that my batteries died so early) I can’t remember if I shook either of their hands or not, but it was nice to see them anyways. Apparently Taka was sick and was already resting on the bus. Mana went out to wish get “get well” but us poor people without the sponsor passes had to stay inside.
Count Your Blessings
First band that played at the show. They were actually from Waldorf, Maryland (about a half hour or so from my house) and one of the members lives about 5 minutes from my house. I listened to them a bit and thought they were actually pretty good. I’ve heard a couple of mixed opinions, but I do hope to check them out some more. They seemed like a pretty fun band and the one guy that lives near me was at the booth right beside us while waiting for the MUCC signing so we talked a bit. We both agree that growing up where we have is complete torture.
Other American Bands, etc.
To be honest I did want to at least hear some of the main bands; Atreyu and Bullet for My Valentine. I didn’t have any intentions of really rocking out to them but it was fun to get to see them at least for a while. Bullet played while we were in line for D’espa and I think for MUCC as well. They played a pretty long block, of course, and the only song I really noticed was “Tear Don’t Fall” which I figured they’d play. I wasn’t too impressed; I guess I was more focused on the JRock bands than on them anyways so that didn’t help. I really like their older music better and their new CD a lot less. Atreyu played after them and they sounded a lot better. I actually went into one of the portals a couple of times to watch them. I like that their drummer sings better than their vocalist. (Very amusing) Then after them came Avenge Sevenfold. I didn’t even look into the arena for them. I kind of wish I did to see what it looked like, but I hear it was just like on TV: insanely idiotic crowd, fire, bangs, and all of that. All in all, I wasn’t there for the American music but I did find one or two smaller known bands that I like at least a bit. According to my mother Atreyu “was better than that band from the UK,” meaning she thought Bullet’s songs all sounded the same and Atreyu was better but still not her kind of music. She liked the JRock bands better than all the others. I guess she got tired of all the cursing in every sentence. (Though the JRock isn’t always much better)
And sure enough the night came to an end with Avenge Sevenfold still playing and Mother shooing us out the door before traffic hit. We tried to get her to exit out the side where the buses were in hopes of passing the Underneath and wishing Taka better health, but she didn’t buy it seeing that we were parked on the opposite end…I guess she didn’t realize that we could have waited and made it out easily because no one was going to want to leave right away anyways. Well after seeing Tal nothing exciting happened with me. I heard Christine and the others hung out with the others around Harry’s booth and had a good time but other than that nothing much at all. But like I said before, this summer had the chance of being amazing, for a couple of reasons that if you really care you can ask me later but for now I’m going to catch up on some sleep. (GOOD NIGHT ALL!)
March 17, 2008 ROCKSTAR Taste of Chaos
The concert was absolutely fantastic and I really want to go back. I find that after each of these things I’m dying to stay there, follow the tour. Be with those people. I fit in there. I can’t wait to be old enough to make the decisions of when and where to go myself. Yeah I know it’s not all that great making your own decisions, but it’s a whole lot better than being stuck with controlling parent in the middle of nowhere. This summer has the chance of being amazing. I want it to be three years in the future…
Travel/Arrival
It was a pain in the rear to even get to go to the concert. A lot happened with a friend and I don’t really know what’s going on with that still but I got my mother to agree to come along because I need a mode of transportation. She says “Why don’t you invite Cathy?” and so I do, things work out and it turns out that all three of us are going to the concert! Bad thing is that our tickets are seat tickets, really far away, and I was really upset. But things worked out in the end and at least I could make out who was who in the end. I guess I wouldn’t have been so ticked if I hadn’t of had a pre-sale pit ticket waiting for me to begin with and through a mass of miss-understanding and poor communication that didn’t happen and it was given away. The whole time leading up to the concert and all I kept telling myself “Hey, at least you get to go. And it won’t be that bad.” It didn’t help much; though again things turned out okay after all and I’ll get to that later on. The last week dragged by, but before we knew it Cathy and I were waiting in our seventh period class for our parents to check us out early and head up to the venue. About 1:15pm or so I get called to the office and I basically run out of the class room, to my locker, and to the attendance office, then when Cathy arrives downstairs the three of us (Mother, her, and I) head out.
We stopped at Wawa and I had my one meal of the day which came back to haunt me the next morning. We arrived at the venue around 3pm I believe and we line up at the North entrance. We’re waiting for a little while and I decide to call my friend to see if she was inside already. She then informs me that I need to be at the South entrance instead because we have seat tickets. So then we book it around the venue and wait in line. We really weren’t that far from the door. But finally the lady comes out and tells us that we can line up at the other doors there, so we end up in the front of one of those lines, right in front of the main tour gear booth. When the doors opened we headed straight for the booth and I got a MUCC and a D’espairsRay shirt. By this time we’d split up from my mother and decided to walk around to see what else they had there. We found Harry’s booth and talked to him for a little while. Sadly for him he became my source of information for the night. I would have liked to help out but it seemed he had help and I figured I’d try not to annoy him more than I already do with random questions and just being myself. (How do you people put up with me? Really)
Some time passed and I double checked that I had my alarm set for the MUCC signing, thankfully dropped my bag off with Harry, and headed out. Reassured of the later realized false time Cathy and I headed to our assigned areas to catch the opening band. This is when we realized “Oh, we don’t have to SIT down all the way up there, we can stand down here so long as no one asks us to sit.” So we stood on the platform of the entrance of the portal to our seats at the rail, me constantly staring at the pit. The opening band, Count Your Blessings, actually weren’t all that bad. They’re apparently a local band and one of the band members lives about 10 minutes away from where I live. Listening to them I wished I actually knew any of their music. (Might look into their stuff later)
D’espairsRay
Then it was time for D’espairsRay; the band I was waiting for most. I’ll admit it fully; I had never heard the Underneath and no amount of music to brag about of MUCC. The band came out and my heart leapt, as well as I almost with it, over the rail and to my death a couple of times actually. They had DAMNED playing as their opening song and came on stage to it, rocked out to it, then had a short MC. I’ve never been a really big fan of DAMNED. It’s a good song and I like how it sounds, but nothing special over their other songs, but it was a really good choice to play it as an opening. Like they have it for the opening of the album. Hizumi was absolutely adorable. Two girls beside Cathy and I kept repeating “Kawaii ne!” I agreed completely. His English was actually really good, and his accent added immensely to the state of awe I think every female (and male) JRock fan in the room was feeling. He basically said a few things like “Hello! Thank you for having us! We are D’espairsRay from Japan!” and a few other things throughout the rest of his few MCs. It would be great to remember them word by word, but why would my memory let me do that? They also played TRICKSTeR and Angledust off of their MIRROR album then a few other songs that I either didn’t recognize or forgot the name of. They were not on for long enough at all. I was happy with their set list. Nothing amazing really, other than that I was really happy to hear TRICKSTeR . I really need to listen to some of their older stuff…They didn’t do a lot of moving throughout the stage, really. They all thrashed around, of course, and interacted a bit with the pit, but mostly they stayed in their spots. Or at least from what I saw in between head-banging, jumping, and trying to see. Then it was time for their “last song” and this random guy next to us and I thrashed and head-banged until I couldn’t see/wanted to at least watch some of the song. Clothing note: Would love to give wonderful descriptions on Hizumi, Zero, Tsukasa, and Karryu but I was lucky enough to make out the bass and the guitar. Basically: lots of very good looking black clothes. Oh I can say that Zero was wearing a flannel-like shirt and lost it half way through their performance.
After that Cathy and I stepped out of the arena to get some air and give my neck a break. She actually had had a good idea during their performance: hold up your cell phone while fist pumping so they can see the light. We did many times throughout D’espa, MUCC, and I did it once or twice for the Underneath. An American band played in between D’espairsRay and MUCC so again Cathy and I walked around a little but was sure to stay close enough to get back in; these were also times when we triple checked where MUCC was said to be for the signing and times. I was really glad I had brought one of my hide dolls with my by the end of the show. While in line one of the Asian girls with the bands saw it and told us about the signing and told us the sad news of no D’espairsRay meets. (Not long descriptions for their half hour or so blocks because of the short time period and the seating)
MUCC
We’d went back into the arena to re-claim our sots on the rail while an American band was ending and MUCC was coming. Let there be MUCC. Like I said before, I was no huge fan of MUCC, and I’m still qualified to call myself one, though I am a heck of a lot more in love with them that I was. (Which goes for all three of them) They also entered with the beginning of a song going and joined in once all four of them reached the stage and went wild. Satochi came on in a skirt, of course, and the others all had their outfits that I could see, of course. Each of them bowed when they came on stage, and I was told that none of them were wearing shoes. I could recognize a couple of their songs, at least ones that were on Gokusai, and the entire time I was waiting for FUZZ. The very first thing I saw on the stage was the upright bass; I screamed and the guy next to me just looked at me and laughed. He was actually pretty cool and apparently a MUCC fan. We ended up yelling and head-banging together through their performance. Tatsu MCed a bit on his own, “HELLO! Make some noise! More Louder! More louder! MORE LOUDER!” My throat does not love him for this. Then a song or two later; “Okay. We are MUCC from Japan! Okay, hold on….Thank you, so much…For having us here…On the Taste of Chaos…We hope…” and then he read some more off the floor. And again it was freaking adorable. “Are you ready….to get CRAZY?!” Then they played a wonderful thrashing song that I jumped to, head-banged to, and watch a bit of to save my neck a little. I’m thinking this was Libra. (Listening to it now and hundreds of lights flicked on) They did play Libra but I’m not sure if it was then or not. Anyways, it was amazing. I had never really respected the song before, but after hearing them actually perform it I realize how many different levels there are in this one song. Great song for a concert. Then finally, it was time for FUZZ. I went absolutely insane. I was either jumping, growling, dancing, thrashing, or doing a mixture of those while staring and laughing at times as they all did basically the same things they do in the PV. Libra was the last song they played. (Thank you other reviews)
UNDERNEATH
Cathy and I got smart for their performance. I wanted to at least see them, if I concerted out or not. We went onto one of the portals next to the stage and sat in some empty seats to avoid the standing Nazi of that portal. I kept my hands in the air and rocked out a bit, at least when one of the guitarists looked over at us, same guitarist that was trashing on top of the amp/stage thing leading to the far own floor. It’s a shame that they were limited to only a small section of the stage. I guess that was one of the disadvantages of not having a main stage and a second stage. I was rather glad there was only one stage, less chance of missing someone. I was really glad we watched the Underneath and now I’m hoping to get some of their music. During their last song the drummer looked over at us, the five or six of us and smiled and edged us on the best he could while still drumming. Only thing about the drummer: needs to grow out his hair. (Hair is love)They only played a few songs, four or five I believe, about the same as the opening American bands. They did a really good job at leaving a message with such a short block.
All of their engrish was adorable. I found that as the bands got younger, the English got better, or something like that. The Underneath had pretty good engrish, I thought. Hizumi’s was understandable and what little he did say wasn’t really bad. Then Tatsu’s speaks for itself. What he managed to say was pretty good. Grammar and a few things were off, and the fact that he read a paper off the floor added to it, but they all did really well and we all loved it. Hooray MCs!
Signings
When their block came to an end I knew my neck was going to kill me the next day, and my arms probably, because there was a time when none of my hands were in the air. I zoomed out of the area and made my way to where MUCC was supposed to be, making sure Cathy was tagging along at least. When we made it to the line there were only a few people there and an hour left to wait. Latoya, someone I had met at F.Y.E. the day before, was already there and about the third person in line. After a few minutes or so, and a free sample of ROCKSTAR Energy Drink, later that same Asian girl from before came and told us that this signing wasn’t for another hour, and that D’espairsRay was doing a signing at the AP booth in a few minutes. I kind of stared at here in disbelief and reassured myself by asking her already answered questions, ran to the AP booth and waited in line. Less than a minute later Christine, Mana, and her friend came up in the line behind us. Christine on her phone and us just chatting. D’espa walks up to the booth from the back of the line (of course because that’s where to doors are) and we stick out our hands for ‘side fives’. I managed to get two or three of them but they were basically focused on getting to the booth alive and not getting left behind. They were freaking gorgeous. Okay, already knew all of this, but in person, without the elaborate outfits, freaking gorgeous. That’s when the shaking started a bit. Only a little, and nowhere near as bad as Mana’s. Mom showed up again and then left after a short while.
The line moved rather quickly. I decided that I would get them to sign the back of the X Japan flyer that they had handed out; I had gotten two anyways, and get D’espa to sign in Purple and MUCC to sign in green. (They are sacred sharpies now, haha) I had hide in between my two tank-tops right on my chest and handed the flyer and marker to Zero. They were all so nice! They all either said “Thank you!” (sank you!) or “Arigatou” and I repeated “Arigatou” as they passed the flyer and card down and gave handshakes. (how are their hands so soft?!) When Tsukasa was signing, Karryu saw hide and was all “hide!” and gave a thumbs up with a big smile, which I returned along with nods and “hai” (what was I supposed to say?) and Hizumi reacted to the doll with smiles. Later in one of the pictures posted online Hizumi is staring at the doll which just happens to be right in between two tank-tops in the middle of my chest. Then as the assembly line came to an end and I had my flyer and sharpie in hand Cathy and I ran to the MUCC signing. The band was already there and I waved as we zoomed past but they were preoccupied with fans.
The line had gotten really long. Cathy, Christine, Mana, her friend whose name I never learned, and I all lined up in the back. Then I was hit by brilliance. ‘I never got a hug!’ I turned to Cathy “Stay here! I’ll be back!” And I ran back to the D’espairsRay line and waited there. Mom showed up again all “weren’t you already here?” I told her that I was getting hugs this time and that Cathy was with Christine in the MUCC line. She left and just hung around the barricade where the band was. Finally it was my turn and I took hide out, held him in my hand, and knowing it was obvious that they’d recognize my green hair at least somewhat I just held out my arms and asked if I could have a hug. The lady beside Zero and Zero himself was all “Oh, yes” then stood up, hugged, more “Arigatou”, and I moved down the line. The look on their faces was rather amusing when I put out my arms and didn’t have anything to be signed. Zero and Hizumi where on the ends of the table so they could just stand up and hug a lot simpler, but Tsukasa and Karryu hugs weren’t as good because of the table in between. Actually worked out a lot better than I thought it would though. And again, they are so sweet! And give really good hugs. (I miss them already!)
I said my mental good bye to the AP booth and ran back to Cathy. Now I’m wondering if I did see them the first time or not, if not I saw them on my own on the way back to the line for the second or third time. This line was moving by the time I was officially standing in it so it didn’t seem to take that long. This time we were behind Christine and her group so we talked a bit with some people behind us. They scared me a little, I feared for MUCC, and I was nervous to tell them that they could ask for hugs. But none-the-less our turn came and I handed over the same X flyer and a green sharpie. I felt bad that they had to sign around the D’espairsRay signatures but I really didn’t have anything else for them to sign. They also had free posters to get signed. (on my wall now) So they were signing both, juggling markers and objects. Finally when it got to Satochi, I think, the marker was still in Tatsu’s hand. I pointed to the marker and laughed “He still has it” finally the green marker was saved and I made my way through the line. (Sadly, I can’t remember the order they were sitting in but I can say the marker was held captive by the second JRocker in the line and rescued by the third) My mother went through the line and got her purse signed by MUCC as well and now has it decorated with a PUCCA pin, a free Selfless Murder Clothing pin, and MUCC signatures. (She would have gotten D’espa if they had still been there after she made it through the line)
After all this was done we went back to see Harry. I got my stuff back from him, bought another hide plushie (hooray three), and talked with Latoya (who showed up there) and Harry a bit for a little while. All of a sudden members of the Underneath walk past the booth. Harry: “Look, the Underneath. Attack full force!” (haha, funny) then they walked on around the circle of the venue, I finished my purchases, and then pursued to follow around the same way that they went. Finally I caught up with one of them, Masato, and got a signature after a “sumimasen. Do you mind?” and showing him a blank paper and a green sharpie. “Oh, sure sure.” Then he signed it, wrote “UNDERNEATH” and something in kanji I still haven’t figured out past something about ‘fried’ and ‘cool’. Then after a little while I saw Tal and got him to sign the other side of the paper, this happened to be the back of my printed off ticket folded up. He signed his name, “xx” then wrote “Arigatou” in katakana. “Uh...This is Japanese…Sank you.” “Arigatou?” “Ohh, right. Good.” Then he gave the paper and marker back more ‘thank you’s and left. (I really hate that my batteries died so early) I can’t remember if I shook either of their hands or not, but it was nice to see them anyways. Apparently Taka was sick and was already resting on the bus. Mana went out to wish get “get well” but us poor people without the sponsor passes had to stay inside.
Count Your Blessings
First band that played at the show. They were actually from Waldorf, Maryland (about a half hour or so from my house) and one of the members lives about 5 minutes from my house. I listened to them a bit and thought they were actually pretty good. I’ve heard a couple of mixed opinions, but I do hope to check them out some more. They seemed like a pretty fun band and the one guy that lives near me was at the booth right beside us while waiting for the MUCC signing so we talked a bit. We both agree that growing up where we have is complete torture.
Other American Bands, etc.
To be honest I did want to at least hear some of the main bands; Atreyu and Bullet for My Valentine. I didn’t have any intentions of really rocking out to them but it was fun to get to see them at least for a while. Bullet played while we were in line for D’espa and I think for MUCC as well. They played a pretty long block, of course, and the only song I really noticed was “Tear Don’t Fall” which I figured they’d play. I wasn’t too impressed; I guess I was more focused on the JRock bands than on them anyways so that didn’t help. I really like their older music better and their new CD a lot less. Atreyu played after them and they sounded a lot better. I actually went into one of the portals a couple of times to watch them. I like that their drummer sings better than their vocalist. (Very amusing) Then after them came Avenge Sevenfold. I didn’t even look into the arena for them. I kind of wish I did to see what it looked like, but I hear it was just like on TV: insanely idiotic crowd, fire, bangs, and all of that. All in all, I wasn’t there for the American music but I did find one or two smaller known bands that I like at least a bit. According to my mother Atreyu “was better than that band from the UK,” meaning she thought Bullet’s songs all sounded the same and Atreyu was better but still not her kind of music. She liked the JRock bands better than all the others. I guess she got tired of all the cursing in every sentence. (Though the JRock isn’t always much better)
And sure enough the night came to an end with Avenge Sevenfold still playing and Mother shooing us out the door before traffic hit. We tried to get her to exit out the side where the buses were in hopes of passing the Underneath and wishing Taka better health, but she didn’t buy it seeing that we were parked on the opposite end…I guess she didn’t realize that we could have waited and made it out easily because no one was going to want to leave right away anyways. Well after seeing Tal nothing exciting happened with me. I heard Christine and the others hung out with the others around Harry’s booth and had a good time but other than that nothing much at all. But like I said before, this summer had the chance of being amazing, for a couple of reasons that if you really care you can ask me later but for now I’m going to catch up on some sleep. (GOOD NIGHT ALL!)