2016/03/21 LAST VISUALIVE Saigo no Tsuki Report
SPOILERS SPOILERS OBVIOUS SPOILERS
Gackt Lateness Quotient
A bit over an hour
A Very Approximate Setlist Because I Am Confused As Hell And Don't Remember What Order These Came In
Arrow
Hana Mo Chiyu
Returner
Ride Or Die
Akatsukizukuyo
Utakata No Yume
Zan
Kugutsu No Gotoku
(Unknown Song)
One More Kiss
Mirror
U+K
WooHa
Koi no Friday
Kimi Dake No Boku De Iru Kara
P.S. I Love U
Setsugekka
Squee
UTAKATA NO YUME IS ON THE SETLIST AND HE/EVERYONE IS PLAYING SHAMISEN
GACKT IS SHIRTLESS AND WEARING A COLLAR/CHOKER FOR SEVERAL SONGS (YUKI KIMISAWA IS ALSO SHIRTLESS FOR A BIT)
THE YOSHITSUNE/NORITSUNE KISS FROM MOON SAGA IS IN THERE
Staging
The show starts with a large metal ring (lighting rig) with a clear plastic curtain of about 1m wide ribbon segments hanging over it. Pre and post show a red moon is projected into the circle. When the show begins, the circle splits at the top and bottom and moves to the sides of the stage. The clear curtain is used throughout the show to project movies on to (thus hiding the stage for scene changes).
The basic set is a giant skeletal construction that either looks like strange skeletal wings or possibly a split open ribcage. Behind the band there is a movie screen, I'm not sure if it's an LED one like RRII or projected somehow.
Stuff I Remember
The show begins with some narration from Marrow (? the possible name of Gackt's angel of death character from the Returner and ARROW music videos) talking about humanity and how they repeat their own mistakes and fight even with those they loved and then sink into regret and die. This is a good indication of exactly how cheery the rest of the story-related parts of the show will be.
Anyway there is some video of a flower in the mud and rain and then the flower is trampled by soldiers because SYMBOLISM and then they charge and then we skip ahead and whoops everyone's dead Dave, except for Yoshitsune who is wounded and trying to stand up. Watching him are Yoritomo (his asshole relative (cousin? uncle?) from MOON SAGA) and his servant Kagetoki, who is requesting orders from Yoritomo. However, despite being an asshole, Yoritomo is apparently greatly distressed to see Yoshitsune in such a state, and hesitates tearfully for several minutes before giving the order to turn Yoshitsune into an arrow pincushion. This leads into the first song... ARROW.
GACKT appears on stage dressed as Marrow(?) and from here we go headlong into the first few songs, which are all relentlessly heavy and don't let up. During one of them, we get movie flashbacks in the background to most of Yoshitsune's friends who were alive at the end of MOON SAGA 2 dying in the previously shown battle. Other songs have wasteland or skeletal backdrops.
There is another movie, flashing back 9 years when Yoshitsune pays Yoritomo and another older relative (I have no idea who this is meant to be) a surprise visit. Everyone is clearly very intimidated by Yoshitsune, particularly the older guy when he seems to sense the demon within.
The curtain rises again, and GACKT is dressed as Yoshitsune, wearing black traditional costume with red accents. First is Utakata No Yume and YES THEY ARE ALL PLAYING SHAMISEN. That was definitely an unexpected highlight of the show for me. The end of the song transitions into ZAN, followed by Kugutsu No Gotoku. The backdrop for these songs is a hellish twisted mess of skeletons, fire, and blood vessels. ZAN also involves real fire (it's not a GACKT concert until something is on fire) which everyone gets scarily close to with those long sleeves whipping around. Kugutsu No Gotoku has a dance reminiscent of GHOST, but although it seems equally technically difficult, it just didn't have the snap GHOST has for me. Around this point in the setlist, there is another, short, quiet, slow song which is both very nice and I couldn't identify. It's possible I'm just having a dumb moment, but it might be a new one!
More video! This time it's Noritsune's death scene from MOON SAGA 2, up to the point where they kiss. As Yoshitsune is pulled away from Noritsune back into the real world, the video pauses and we cut to Student Council President and the Camui Gakuen classroom. It's time for another lesson in manliness. This time, it's dodging "arrows" (volleyballs launched from a machine) while answering trivia about Gakuen or Moon Saga.
Yuki is up first, and stumbles on a question about "Who do you respect, Student Council President or GACKT?", knowing that either answer is probably going to get him in trouble (he is later informed that the correct answer is "both")
Sato is next, and gets asked to name 3 famous things from Hokkaido (they went there for Platinum Box VI). During this GACKT personally serves a volleyball, intentionally or not, full speed into his nuts, with typical consequences. GACKT then goes over to him as he is squirming on the floor and pulls his legs open. People comment on the awkwardness of that position.
GACKT goes last, and fails hilariously at filling in gaps in lyrics to his own songs. First is Suddenly "watashi wo daite (sono te de daite) watashi wo hanasanai de ite", which he looks at and goes, "what the hell even is that?". He does manage to fill in a gap in Love Letter. They then play Soleil for him and ask him to name it, he says "Au Revoir". He complains that when you have over 200 songs, this gets difficult.
We then cut again to GACKT in his dressing room, laughing at their antics. As in the BoTB interval video, Chris (his African-American staff member) calls him to come on stage, at which he tears his dressing gown off and charges forward in a loincloth (with an extremely long piece of fabric trailing behind). Chris grabs the end of it, and the whole thing flutters to the ground (GACKT has charged offscreen by this point). Chris is left to wonder if he's going to perform naked.
Well, surprise surprise, GACKT re-emerges on stage in jeans, a sparkly red jacket, a sparkly red choker and otherwise bare chested. After ONE MORE KISS, the jacket also vanishes. I spent a lot of time wondering whether or not to bother buying binoculars for this performance and let me say it was MONEY WELL SPENT on ogling every detail of GACKT's muscles for three songs.
Then we had to hear goddamn Mirror again but I will forgive GACKT because he did it half-naked and didn't take quite as long as usual.
Usually there's a lengthy interval of doing nothing after Mirror, because GACKT yells himself into passing out, but this time they had Yuki come out also shirtless and teach us the dance moves (with lightsticks) for Koi No Friday. After this rather lengthy process, he then tells us it's not for another three songs anyway.
U+K is business as usual with the dancing cats. WooHa is somewhat like Koakuma Heaven, but instead of Dance Dance Revolution, it's a play on Taiko No Tatsujin, a drumming game. You're meant to drum with the lightsticks, which is a bit awkward if you didn't buy any, but it's fun anyway. Koi No Friday has another lightstick dance and a ton of kanji puns which are helpfully shown on the screen [sigh]
Kimi Dake No Boku De Iru Kara had a lovely backdrop of watercolor and ink flowers and silhouettes. Actually, the "fun" part of the show is all very colorful and alternately cartoony and pretty, in contrast to the nightmarish hellscapes in the background of the first half. PS I LOVE U had the lyrics written on note paper.
Anyway now we're all feeling happy and a bit wistful, it's back to the story. There's a movie showing Yoshitsune and his last few surviving friends drinking sake together under cherry blossoms and commenting on the beauty of the moon, and then others begin to show up. Yoshinaka, Noritsune, Kage, child Hiyori... everyone is alive and friendly and joking together and this can't possibly fit at any point in the actual timeline, and...
Yoshitsune starts commenting on how tired he feels, and drifting off, and his friends gather round him, smiling, telling him to stay awake, and their faces fade out... and he awakes, on the battlefield, surrounded by his dead army, full of arrows from Yoritomo's army, gasping and whimpering, "It hurts..." over and over
I THINK I JUST GOT PUNCHED IN MY VERY ABILITY TO FEEL HAPPINESS
Anyway, this segues into the last song, Setsugekka, where GACKT re-emerges dressed as Yoshitsune, complete with arrows, and sitting on the chair from the music video, surrounded by figures in white. After the break in the song, all the characters from MOON SAGA appear on the screen behind him, before turning into silver lights and ascending. At the end of the song, Yoshitsune turns into a gold light, is joined by the others, and they all ascend a final time together.
MC
Gackt kind of used a lot of words to say only a few things tonight. The main point was that he's never performed in Kofu city before and when they got here it seemed like there were hardly any people around town so he was wondering if anyone was going to show up to the show or if he'd be performing for two people. He was glad when the curtain went up and there were, in fact, people.
In general
GACKT was in excellent singing form, appeared to be in good general health, and also very happy onstage and interacting with the fans. It's an excellent show, though perhaps not his best, there's nothing truly surprising like emerging from a coffin like DIABOLOS or making it rain on stage. But what is there is impeccably executed. I found the MOON SAGA plays to be somewhat flawed, but the movie sections in this have a surreal, dreamlike quality that makes them quite enchanting, and I enjoyed them a lot more than I expected.
It's past midnight, so I'll conclude this here, and add things tomorrow if I think of anything.
Gackt Lateness Quotient
A bit over an hour
A Very Approximate Setlist Because I Am Confused As Hell And Don't Remember What Order These Came In
Arrow
Hana Mo Chiyu
Returner
Ride Or Die
Akatsukizukuyo
Utakata No Yume
Zan
Kugutsu No Gotoku
(Unknown Song)
One More Kiss
Mirror
U+K
WooHa
Koi no Friday
Kimi Dake No Boku De Iru Kara
P.S. I Love U
Setsugekka
Squee
UTAKATA NO YUME IS ON THE SETLIST AND HE/EVERYONE IS PLAYING SHAMISEN
GACKT IS SHIRTLESS AND WEARING A COLLAR/CHOKER FOR SEVERAL SONGS (YUKI KIMISAWA IS ALSO SHIRTLESS FOR A BIT)
THE YOSHITSUNE/NORITSUNE KISS FROM MOON SAGA IS IN THERE
Staging
The show starts with a large metal ring (lighting rig) with a clear plastic curtain of about 1m wide ribbon segments hanging over it. Pre and post show a red moon is projected into the circle. When the show begins, the circle splits at the top and bottom and moves to the sides of the stage. The clear curtain is used throughout the show to project movies on to (thus hiding the stage for scene changes).
The basic set is a giant skeletal construction that either looks like strange skeletal wings or possibly a split open ribcage. Behind the band there is a movie screen, I'm not sure if it's an LED one like RRII or projected somehow.
Stuff I Remember
The show begins with some narration from Marrow (? the possible name of Gackt's angel of death character from the Returner and ARROW music videos) talking about humanity and how they repeat their own mistakes and fight even with those they loved and then sink into regret and die. This is a good indication of exactly how cheery the rest of the story-related parts of the show will be.
Anyway there is some video of a flower in the mud and rain and then the flower is trampled by soldiers because SYMBOLISM and then they charge and then we skip ahead and whoops everyone's dead Dave, except for Yoshitsune who is wounded and trying to stand up. Watching him are Yoritomo (his asshole relative (cousin? uncle?) from MOON SAGA) and his servant Kagetoki, who is requesting orders from Yoritomo. However, despite being an asshole, Yoritomo is apparently greatly distressed to see Yoshitsune in such a state, and hesitates tearfully for several minutes before giving the order to turn Yoshitsune into an arrow pincushion. This leads into the first song... ARROW.
GACKT appears on stage dressed as Marrow(?) and from here we go headlong into the first few songs, which are all relentlessly heavy and don't let up. During one of them, we get movie flashbacks in the background to most of Yoshitsune's friends who were alive at the end of MOON SAGA 2 dying in the previously shown battle. Other songs have wasteland or skeletal backdrops.
There is another movie, flashing back 9 years when Yoshitsune pays Yoritomo and another older relative (I have no idea who this is meant to be) a surprise visit. Everyone is clearly very intimidated by Yoshitsune, particularly the older guy when he seems to sense the demon within.
The curtain rises again, and GACKT is dressed as Yoshitsune, wearing black traditional costume with red accents. First is Utakata No Yume and YES THEY ARE ALL PLAYING SHAMISEN. That was definitely an unexpected highlight of the show for me. The end of the song transitions into ZAN, followed by Kugutsu No Gotoku. The backdrop for these songs is a hellish twisted mess of skeletons, fire, and blood vessels. ZAN also involves real fire (it's not a GACKT concert until something is on fire) which everyone gets scarily close to with those long sleeves whipping around. Kugutsu No Gotoku has a dance reminiscent of GHOST, but although it seems equally technically difficult, it just didn't have the snap GHOST has for me. Around this point in the setlist, there is another, short, quiet, slow song which is both very nice and I couldn't identify. It's possible I'm just having a dumb moment, but it might be a new one!
More video! This time it's Noritsune's death scene from MOON SAGA 2, up to the point where they kiss. As Yoshitsune is pulled away from Noritsune back into the real world, the video pauses and we cut to Student Council President and the Camui Gakuen classroom. It's time for another lesson in manliness. This time, it's dodging "arrows" (volleyballs launched from a machine) while answering trivia about Gakuen or Moon Saga.
Yuki is up first, and stumbles on a question about "Who do you respect, Student Council President or GACKT?", knowing that either answer is probably going to get him in trouble (he is later informed that the correct answer is "both")
Sato is next, and gets asked to name 3 famous things from Hokkaido (they went there for Platinum Box VI). During this GACKT personally serves a volleyball, intentionally or not, full speed into his nuts, with typical consequences. GACKT then goes over to him as he is squirming on the floor and pulls his legs open. People comment on the awkwardness of that position.
GACKT goes last, and fails hilariously at filling in gaps in lyrics to his own songs. First is Suddenly "watashi wo daite (sono te de daite) watashi wo hanasanai de ite", which he looks at and goes, "what the hell even is that?". He does manage to fill in a gap in Love Letter. They then play Soleil for him and ask him to name it, he says "Au Revoir". He complains that when you have over 200 songs, this gets difficult.
We then cut again to GACKT in his dressing room, laughing at their antics. As in the BoTB interval video, Chris (his African-American staff member) calls him to come on stage, at which he tears his dressing gown off and charges forward in a loincloth (with an extremely long piece of fabric trailing behind). Chris grabs the end of it, and the whole thing flutters to the ground (GACKT has charged offscreen by this point). Chris is left to wonder if he's going to perform naked.
Well, surprise surprise, GACKT re-emerges on stage in jeans, a sparkly red jacket, a sparkly red choker and otherwise bare chested. After ONE MORE KISS, the jacket also vanishes. I spent a lot of time wondering whether or not to bother buying binoculars for this performance and let me say it was MONEY WELL SPENT on ogling every detail of GACKT's muscles for three songs.
Then we had to hear goddamn Mirror again but I will forgive GACKT because he did it half-naked and didn't take quite as long as usual.
Usually there's a lengthy interval of doing nothing after Mirror, because GACKT yells himself into passing out, but this time they had Yuki come out also shirtless and teach us the dance moves (with lightsticks) for Koi No Friday. After this rather lengthy process, he then tells us it's not for another three songs anyway.
U+K is business as usual with the dancing cats. WooHa is somewhat like Koakuma Heaven, but instead of Dance Dance Revolution, it's a play on Taiko No Tatsujin, a drumming game. You're meant to drum with the lightsticks, which is a bit awkward if you didn't buy any, but it's fun anyway. Koi No Friday has another lightstick dance and a ton of kanji puns which are helpfully shown on the screen [sigh]
Kimi Dake No Boku De Iru Kara had a lovely backdrop of watercolor and ink flowers and silhouettes. Actually, the "fun" part of the show is all very colorful and alternately cartoony and pretty, in contrast to the nightmarish hellscapes in the background of the first half. PS I LOVE U had the lyrics written on note paper.
Anyway now we're all feeling happy and a bit wistful, it's back to the story. There's a movie showing Yoshitsune and his last few surviving friends drinking sake together under cherry blossoms and commenting on the beauty of the moon, and then others begin to show up. Yoshinaka, Noritsune, Kage, child Hiyori... everyone is alive and friendly and joking together and this can't possibly fit at any point in the actual timeline, and...
Yoshitsune starts commenting on how tired he feels, and drifting off, and his friends gather round him, smiling, telling him to stay awake, and their faces fade out... and he awakes, on the battlefield, surrounded by his dead army, full of arrows from Yoritomo's army, gasping and whimpering, "It hurts..." over and over
I THINK I JUST GOT PUNCHED IN MY VERY ABILITY TO FEEL HAPPINESS
Anyway, this segues into the last song, Setsugekka, where GACKT re-emerges dressed as Yoshitsune, complete with arrows, and sitting on the chair from the music video, surrounded by figures in white. After the break in the song, all the characters from MOON SAGA appear on the screen behind him, before turning into silver lights and ascending. At the end of the song, Yoshitsune turns into a gold light, is joined by the others, and they all ascend a final time together.
MC
Gackt kind of used a lot of words to say only a few things tonight. The main point was that he's never performed in Kofu city before and when they got here it seemed like there were hardly any people around town so he was wondering if anyone was going to show up to the show or if he'd be performing for two people. He was glad when the curtain went up and there were, in fact, people.
In general
GACKT was in excellent singing form, appeared to be in good general health, and also very happy onstage and interacting with the fans. It's an excellent show, though perhaps not his best, there's nothing truly surprising like emerging from a coffin like DIABOLOS or making it rain on stage. But what is there is impeccably executed. I found the MOON SAGA plays to be somewhat flawed, but the movie sections in this have a surreal, dreamlike quality that makes them quite enchanting, and I enjoyed them a lot more than I expected.
It's past midnight, so I'll conclude this here, and add things tomorrow if I think of anything.