live report: Dali, Juka, Kaya, Versailles @ Nagoya ell., Nov 18/07
Oh shit, the Tokai region is getting cold and I'm too cheap to turn on the heat. I bought a jacket and a coat at the thrift shop (best store ever!) and I hope that'll last me through winter. I really don't know where my money goes. Everytime I save money by not doing something, I end up spontaneously buying a live ticket or getting roped into things like a 6000yen formal lunch party with my tea ceremony teacher. That woman is a shark! I'm thinking of backing out.
So I taught my kids how to make metaphors, and I got some pretty amusing answers:
(For "time passes quickly")
- Time is a shinkansen.
- Time is a tuna swimming.
- Time is OC (oral communication) class with Weija. → skgksjg so cute. ♥
(For "her face is pale", I forgot to take into account that pale in Japanese is actually 青白い, which means bluish more than white, so I got a bunch of weird answers)
- Her face is a blueberry.
- Her face is a dark hole.
- Her face is the deep sea.
- Her face is the zombies of Biohazard. → by one of my favourite kids. I just absolutely adore him.
Went to the Dali/Juka/Kaya/Versailles show on Sunday night. I wasn't actually feeling all that up to it going there, but I was glad I went afterwards. It was cold waiting in line, too--the one time I was early!
Dali
These guys were first, and at first I almost didn't recognize them. But by the process of deduction, they were obviously not any of the other three acts, so it had to be them. I don't remember them having those gold/black costumes before, but anyway, it was kind of tacky. (They could've very well been wearing those costumes forever, I don't pay attention to updated looks and all that) I was standing in the middle-ish point, where the floor of the ELL is raised. I'm too lazy to try and put names to what they played-- I did recognize all the songs and they were ones I liked, but I'm terrible at remembering titles. They played well, and didn't get enough response as they should've. On the other hand, you could tell they were kind of fresh; y'know, kind of young and not crackling with experience. The vocalist, whose name I can't be arsed to look up, gave me a seriously young impression. The way he rolls around, hops about, it was all very energetic and cute, but almost immature. He was pretty chatty, and pulled a cute trick phoning somebody while on stage and putting the mic to the phone. Knows how to entertain, but they aren't quite a slick act yet. That's alright though, I'm not saying they were bad. These guys left after maybe 5 or 6 songs.
Juka
I moved up the front at this point, but didn't make any serious effort to shove up close. For one thing, I don't know any of Juka's music. I've heard like one song ever, and I've forgotten the title. So, he came on, and I have to give him credit that he has presence. He was wearing this coat thing that left his chest entirely bare-- I guess trying to up the sex appeal in a way that I thought was unnecessary. I have to admit, I paid more attention to his bassist than Juka, lol. Cute guy. As for Juka's singing, it's good, it's rich, and totally on-key, and the music is the kind of songs that are pretty dramatic but not METAL! like Moi dix Mois. Thing is, I couldn't shake off a Gackt-vibe from Juka. Like he's trying really hard, but unwittingly imitating Gackt. It doesn't help that they sound alike, too. Something that really annoyed me about this act was how one of the white lights in the back shone right into my eyes. Couldn't see half the time! Not Juka's fault, though. He got a healthy audience response, but I still felt like the show hadn't quite set off, yet.
Kaya
Ah-hah, so here's where things came alive. The girls love Kaya! I love Kaya! He's absolutely precious in person. Just one of the most adorable creatures ever. He came in wearing his Carmilla costume, so it was this giant ornate rose ballgown affair and started off with Carmilla. As the song ended, he gave this really dramatic wail, "Nagoya!!!" and all the girls screamed for him, haha. Okay, so Kaya is really beautiful in photos and stuff, but actually, when you see him in person, you realize he must have a pretty masculine face underneath the makeup and everything. He's got this square-ish jaw. But surprisingly, he manages to not give off a drag-queeny vibe (even though he is one).
And it stands to reason that since he's a one-person act, without the full 4 or 5 members of any other band, he needs some backup. So kugutsu got played, and three male backup dancers in tight black pants and frothy white shirts came in and pranced for the whole song. They were very good dancers, but omg so gay, haha. One thing Kaya's act is not... is in the closet. :DDD Then there was an MC, which was very long, but he's so charming. His gestures are so spot-on feminine, and his speaking voice, though deep, is really soft and lovely. What was nice to hear though, is that he actually has a boisterous and full laugh. He asked who came to see each band and had people raise their hands. When he noticed that a majority came for Versailles/Kamijo, he was all like, "that's ok, I love Kamijo, too" (or something to that effect). He thanked everyone who bought his latest single and then asked who didn't buy it. So this guy in the front row raised his hand, and Kaya was like, "what really? Now you've gotta promise me to buy it. Pinky swear, ok?" And reached out his arm and totally did the pinky swear with this random bemused dude. Very cute.
Silvery Dark then got played, and something else... uhhh, Rose Jail? Whatever it was, the dancers returned. (Yay! They're so hypnotic to watch.) And I think he ended off with Walkure, for which he removed his heavy giant skirt and changed into a cute short froofy one. He's got mannish legs though, even in stockings. Lots of dancing around for everybody. For the last song, he jumped off the stage twice, which wasn't something I expected him to do. Anyway, it ended pretty quickly. Great performance.
Versailles
So, the band most people came to see. Yuki came out first, then TERU, then Jasmine You, and HIZAKI (cue wild screams) and finally, Kamijo (screams increase fivefold). Everybody looked pretty much as they did in the photoshoots, though Kamijo had a chain running from his ear to a piercing on his bottom lip. I was surprised to see that he looks a little old in person (not like, decrepit; I just mean a little more aged than I expected). Which makes sense, he must be like in his mid-30's at least, and the photos play up his femininity (airbrushingggg!) when he really isn't like that in personality. I've gotten used to his vocalizing by now, and he sounded good for his style. The set list was straightforward: the Lyrical Sympathy album, pretty much in order I think. Love From a Dead Orchestra is fannnnnnnnnnntastic. Epic even. All the instruments were spot-on :) And even though HIZAKI is a great guitarist, seeing them perform this live made me really appreciate how integral TERU is, too. He doesn't get nearly enough fan-worship for also being a very good guitarist.
Okay, I think it was during Shout & Bites (or maybe The Red Carpet Day?) that the people in the frontmost rows started doing that thing where they do running jumps into the people in front of them. *winces* I didn't get hurt, really, but had to watch myself a bit. Also refrained from launching all my weight onto the 90-pound bird in front of me, haha. This song was better live than on disc.
You know who I ended up loving? Jasmine You. He's really fun to watch. He's rather tall, and doesn't really have the round face that HIZAKI does to pull off cross-dressing, yet he's got on a dress and his makeup is vampishly female; so the effect is like... cognitive dissonance. Quite different from Kaya, actually. One minute while he's absorbed in his playing, the boyish part of him comes out, but then he'll be a little coquettish and cast a couple of demure female mannerisms and flourishes out there. Fascinating. He's also a good bassist ;)
Kamijo doesn't move around a lot, but he's definitely got the stage presence that I think I was missing during Dali. Great show, I don't really have anything to criticize about it. For the encore, they did The Revenant Choir, and all the members came up to the front and worked up the audience. So close! I think I made eye contact with Jasmine (very cute when he smiles) and also Kamijo-- which is actually a bit unnerving. The man's got really light contacts in for one thing, and has this sort of smug I-am-your-overlord expression on half the time. During the wrap up, Kamijo introduced all the members a last time ("...and I am Kamijo!!!"), and then they were off. Good times, good times.
Probably would see Versailles again, though it depends a bit on who they tour with.
So I taught my kids how to make metaphors, and I got some pretty amusing answers:
(For "time passes quickly")
- Time is a shinkansen.
- Time is a tuna swimming.
- Time is OC (oral communication) class with Weija. → skgksjg so cute. ♥
(For "her face is pale", I forgot to take into account that pale in Japanese is actually 青白い, which means bluish more than white, so I got a bunch of weird answers)
- Her face is a blueberry.
- Her face is a dark hole.
- Her face is the deep sea.
- Her face is the zombies of Biohazard. → by one of my favourite kids. I just absolutely adore him.
Went to the Dali/Juka/Kaya/Versailles show on Sunday night. I wasn't actually feeling all that up to it going there, but I was glad I went afterwards. It was cold waiting in line, too--the one time I was early!
Dali
These guys were first, and at first I almost didn't recognize them. But by the process of deduction, they were obviously not any of the other three acts, so it had to be them. I don't remember them having those gold/black costumes before, but anyway, it was kind of tacky. (They could've very well been wearing those costumes forever, I don't pay attention to updated looks and all that) I was standing in the middle-ish point, where the floor of the ELL is raised. I'm too lazy to try and put names to what they played-- I did recognize all the songs and they were ones I liked, but I'm terrible at remembering titles. They played well, and didn't get enough response as they should've. On the other hand, you could tell they were kind of fresh; y'know, kind of young and not crackling with experience. The vocalist, whose name I can't be arsed to look up, gave me a seriously young impression. The way he rolls around, hops about, it was all very energetic and cute, but almost immature. He was pretty chatty, and pulled a cute trick phoning somebody while on stage and putting the mic to the phone. Knows how to entertain, but they aren't quite a slick act yet. That's alright though, I'm not saying they were bad. These guys left after maybe 5 or 6 songs.
Juka
I moved up the front at this point, but didn't make any serious effort to shove up close. For one thing, I don't know any of Juka's music. I've heard like one song ever, and I've forgotten the title. So, he came on, and I have to give him credit that he has presence. He was wearing this coat thing that left his chest entirely bare-- I guess trying to up the sex appeal in a way that I thought was unnecessary. I have to admit, I paid more attention to his bassist than Juka, lol. Cute guy. As for Juka's singing, it's good, it's rich, and totally on-key, and the music is the kind of songs that are pretty dramatic but not METAL! like Moi dix Mois. Thing is, I couldn't shake off a Gackt-vibe from Juka. Like he's trying really hard, but unwittingly imitating Gackt. It doesn't help that they sound alike, too. Something that really annoyed me about this act was how one of the white lights in the back shone right into my eyes. Couldn't see half the time! Not Juka's fault, though. He got a healthy audience response, but I still felt like the show hadn't quite set off, yet.
Kaya
Ah-hah, so here's where things came alive. The girls love Kaya! I love Kaya! He's absolutely precious in person. Just one of the most adorable creatures ever. He came in wearing his Carmilla costume, so it was this giant ornate rose ballgown affair and started off with Carmilla. As the song ended, he gave this really dramatic wail, "Nagoya!!!" and all the girls screamed for him, haha. Okay, so Kaya is really beautiful in photos and stuff, but actually, when you see him in person, you realize he must have a pretty masculine face underneath the makeup and everything. He's got this square-ish jaw. But surprisingly, he manages to not give off a drag-queeny vibe (even though he is one).
And it stands to reason that since he's a one-person act, without the full 4 or 5 members of any other band, he needs some backup. So kugutsu got played, and three male backup dancers in tight black pants and frothy white shirts came in and pranced for the whole song. They were very good dancers, but omg so gay, haha. One thing Kaya's act is not... is in the closet. :DDD Then there was an MC, which was very long, but he's so charming. His gestures are so spot-on feminine, and his speaking voice, though deep, is really soft and lovely. What was nice to hear though, is that he actually has a boisterous and full laugh. He asked who came to see each band and had people raise their hands. When he noticed that a majority came for Versailles/Kamijo, he was all like, "that's ok, I love Kamijo, too" (or something to that effect). He thanked everyone who bought his latest single and then asked who didn't buy it. So this guy in the front row raised his hand, and Kaya was like, "what really? Now you've gotta promise me to buy it. Pinky swear, ok?" And reached out his arm and totally did the pinky swear with this random bemused dude. Very cute.
Silvery Dark then got played, and something else... uhhh, Rose Jail? Whatever it was, the dancers returned. (Yay! They're so hypnotic to watch.) And I think he ended off with Walkure, for which he removed his heavy giant skirt and changed into a cute short froofy one. He's got mannish legs though, even in stockings. Lots of dancing around for everybody. For the last song, he jumped off the stage twice, which wasn't something I expected him to do. Anyway, it ended pretty quickly. Great performance.
Versailles
So, the band most people came to see. Yuki came out first, then TERU, then Jasmine You, and HIZAKI (cue wild screams) and finally, Kamijo (screams increase fivefold). Everybody looked pretty much as they did in the photoshoots, though Kamijo had a chain running from his ear to a piercing on his bottom lip. I was surprised to see that he looks a little old in person (not like, decrepit; I just mean a little more aged than I expected). Which makes sense, he must be like in his mid-30's at least, and the photos play up his femininity (airbrushingggg!) when he really isn't like that in personality. I've gotten used to his vocalizing by now, and he sounded good for his style. The set list was straightforward: the Lyrical Sympathy album, pretty much in order I think. Love From a Dead Orchestra is fannnnnnnnnnntastic. Epic even. All the instruments were spot-on :) And even though HIZAKI is a great guitarist, seeing them perform this live made me really appreciate how integral TERU is, too. He doesn't get nearly enough fan-worship for also being a very good guitarist.
Okay, I think it was during Shout & Bites (or maybe The Red Carpet Day?) that the people in the frontmost rows started doing that thing where they do running jumps into the people in front of them. *winces* I didn't get hurt, really, but had to watch myself a bit. Also refrained from launching all my weight onto the 90-pound bird in front of me, haha. This song was better live than on disc.
You know who I ended up loving? Jasmine You. He's really fun to watch. He's rather tall, and doesn't really have the round face that HIZAKI does to pull off cross-dressing, yet he's got on a dress and his makeup is vampishly female; so the effect is like... cognitive dissonance. Quite different from Kaya, actually. One minute while he's absorbed in his playing, the boyish part of him comes out, but then he'll be a little coquettish and cast a couple of demure female mannerisms and flourishes out there. Fascinating. He's also a good bassist ;)
Kamijo doesn't move around a lot, but he's definitely got the stage presence that I think I was missing during Dali. Great show, I don't really have anything to criticize about it. For the encore, they did The Revenant Choir, and all the members came up to the front and worked up the audience. So close! I think I made eye contact with Jasmine (very cute when he smiles) and also Kamijo-- which is actually a bit unnerving. The man's got really light contacts in for one thing, and has this sort of smug I-am-your-overlord expression on half the time. During the wrap up, Kamijo introduced all the members a last time ("...and I am Kamijo!!!"), and then they were off. Good times, good times.
Probably would see Versailles again, though it depends a bit on who they tour with.