2011/05/29 - ROCKS TOKYO 2011 | 東京若洲公園 (Day 2)
It has been more than half a month since the event and so I've forgotten most of what happened :( Shall try my best, so here goes.
As expected, the rain didn't let up. If anything, it just got heavier. The ground condition was already terrible after Day One, and it would only get worse as the day went by. Day Two with oh_so_witless, miserabilities and aerianta again! Was joined by another friend from Singapore, who was here because he was an andymori fan. Because we had reached there first, we decided to head over to the venue first because I had wanted to check out band merch and buy my TOTALFAT muffler towel. Instead of walking, however, we chose to take the bus because I figured that I might not be able to endure all the 9 hours of standing and moshing if we were to pick the 1 hour of brisk walking. Moreover, there were many bands I liked today, so I wanted to conserve my energy.
Schedule for the day:
andymori
TOTALFAT
ギルガメッシュ
OKAMOTO'S
KEN YOKOYAMA
エレファントカシマシ
NICO Touches the Walls
マキシマム ザ ホルモン
the telephones
Dragon Ash
Had initially planned to watch 10-FEET, but we ended up listening to them while looking at ギルガメッシュ soundcheck at the NEXUS stage.
Reached TOTALFAT's booth only to find out that they didn't have the design I wanted. Very sad, because I had banked on that towel being there, and thus didn't bring my the HIATUS towel. Got a the telephones one instead. Also am starting to collect wristbands of bands I like, so I got that too. It never fails to amaze me how マキシマム ザ ホルモン's queues are always the longest at every single fest I go to.
Headed to the Wind stage, and finally managed to meet up with my other friends just in time for the first show.
andymori (Wind stage, 12:00h)
Setlist:
SE: The Carpenters "The End of the World"
01. CITY LIGHTS
02. ベンガルトラとウィスキー
03. すごい速さ
04. SUNRISE&SUNSET
05. 1984
06. ハッピーエンド
07. ナツメグ
08. ユートピア
09. peace
10. everything is my guitar
andyとrock
兄弟
革命
グロリアス軽トラ
We left before the set ended, so I have no idea what was played after song 10. The last 4 songs written there were gathered from other sources, but I have no idea about the order.
This was my first time hearing andymori, so most songs, save maybe CITY LIGHTS, were new to me. I did listen to their album, but the songs didn't really stick. However, I think I'll go back to take another listen because I really liked what I heard. The vocals/guitar songs so fast and strums so furiously away at this guitar that I'm worried that he'd suddenly go into spasms or something. But oh, do those songs make you feel high! Also, I wasn't expecting a circle mosh for andymori. Well, it wasn't -exactly- a circle mosh, but instead of running, people were skipping/loping about in a circle due to the mud (LOL).
After "すごい速さ" the vocals/guitar went, "Isn't the weather awesome?" This is probably the first time I've heard sarcasm in Japanese. No, I am not being sarcastic here. So anyway, plus points to him. They played "SUNRISE&SUNSET", and then the vocals/guitar asked how everyone was doing. The drummer said he was down with the flu. Vocals/guitar than proceeded to tell everyone about how the drummer had just moved into a new apartment and that it was totally barren. So that was miserable times times 2 for him. They then told everyone to be careful and not catch a cold, and moved on to the next song.
andymori had just gotten a new drummer, so they introduced him after "ハッピーエンド". He took off his shirt (to gasps from the crowd going "OMG IT'S SO COLDDDD") and the vocals/guitar explained that the drummer usually stripped when he was feeling hot, but even though it was cold today, he still stripped anyway. After "everything is my guitar", we left (well, everyone except my other friend who was an andymori fan) for TOTALFAT. TOTALFAT was my "must see" for the day, so I did feel guilty for dragging the other three away from andymori :/
TOTALFAT (Bayside stage, 12:50h)
Setlist:
01. Livin' for The Future
02. Good Fight & Promise You
03. Summer Frequence
04. World of Glory with JOE INOUE
05. Dance On, My Friends
06. Invention ～Good morning,my treasures～
07. DA NA NA
08. Overdrive
No photo of the band, because I entrusted my recorder with aerianta (THANK YOU <3) and ran to the front to join in the mosh. You can see the ground condition for Day 2 from the photo I guess. Compare this with picture from Day 1, where you could actually see the colour green on the ground. I didn't venture too far forward at first, but gradually got annoyed at rude people pushing past me to enter the area in front, it felt strange to have to much personal space, and I didn't want to keep having to maintain my balance on the slippery metal grating, so I headed to the front of the second area.
Having been through my previous TOTALFAT lives and hearing a pretty standard setlist, I was surprised that they opened with a song from the new album. Was expecting the new songs, but definitely not THAT early since the album was only released just 4 days earlier. But it was a pleasant surprise, in any case. After the first song, Shun went, "I know this is out of the blue, but let's all come together as one!!" and announced "Good Fight & Promise You", another song which they usually only play near the end just before the encores. This is usually a crowdsurfer song, but the crowdsurfers weren't out in full force today due to the mud. I guess they were probably hesitant as well, but there were a few going by in the front.
Jose screamed something which I couldn't make out, and they launched into "Summer Frequence". I LOVE hearing this song live because it's dancey, has sing-a-long parts, clapping parts, and jumping parts all in one, and generally gets everyone really high. Shun asked how everyone was doing and talked about the rain and how it was raining during their show at last year's ROCKS Tokyo as well. He said (and it is true if you think about it ^^;;) that only fools who loved music so much would willingly subject themselves to waking up early in the morning and be standing here in the pouring rain, and he was one of those fools as well, so we should all enjoy ourselves to the most we could. Jose then opened the next song by asking the crowd rhetorical questions, "If it rains, does it mean that we can't enjoy rock? If the ground condition sucks, does it mean that the fest won't be as fun?" He then said something else after that but it's hard to make out what people are saying when they're screaming in a high-pitched voice. Oh Jose, I love you but I can't hear what you say more than half the time :/ Whatever it was, Inoue Joe appeared magically (okay, no) and they did "World of Glory". We knew that song would be played already, ever since TOTALFAT had announced that Inoue Joe would be guesting. I was holding out some hope for the B-side to be played as well since I quite liked the song, but that didn't happen.
They played "Dance On, My Friends" off the new album, and like what I mentioned earlier with andymori, I only started taking to the new album after hearing the songs played live. They finally got around to playing "Invention ~Good morning,my treasures~", which is the song they usually play first for all their shows I've been to. I think it was during this song that tragedy happened (or was it earlier?) and my bag tore and the rope came out, and so I had to tie it around my fist.
The last time I heard "DA NA NA" was probably during their tour final last year. It was interesting though, because apparently the "DA" is supposed to be a reference to Dragon Ash (the initials), and Dragon Ash were today's Wind Stage headliners XD -> Or so, I remember reading about what the DA stands for, but can't find my source to confirm it now. I'm pretty sure I saw it out there somewhere though. After "DA NA NA", they did the usual "Kuboty strums on guitar while Shun talks" thing, which would usually lead into "Overdrive" (which it did today as well - they tend to use it as their last song). Shun spoke about how this was just like last year, when they did the show in cloudy weather with a little bit of sunshine peeking through (apparently it stopped raining for a bit, but of course you don't notice these things in the mosh). There were probably people here today who were not from Tokyo, so Shun said that he hoped that they would enjoy themselves to the fullest, bring these happy memories from ROCKS back to their hometowns, and tell everyone about it.
The show ended, and while I didn't enter the actual mosh, this was how my shoes turned out.
It was thanks to this, however, that I gained enlightenment and didn't care about splashing into mud puddles and sinking calf-deep into the mud anymore. Also, this is going to be the longest segment I'll write (because it's the band I know and love the most). No more Walls of Text from me from here on, I promise.
Oh, before I forget, I know why Kuboty looked strange. He had forgotten to wear his cap hahaha (I only realised this after he tweeted about it after the show XD).
ギルガメッシュ (Nexus stage, 14:10h)
No photos because Nexus stage is small and we were standing in the middle of nowhere, so it's pretty obvious if you're holding a camera. We were there very early, so we bummed around and self-high-ed for more than 15 minutes while they soundchecked. I was bouncing around to 10-FEET. The rain was pelting down on us. More weird behaviour.
The fangirls were jumping around to the boys soundchecking. Actually, we were debating if the people doing the soundcheck were the soundtechs or the actual bandmen themselves, because they looked.. not very visually attractive and not in costume. But after the show started, we realised that they were the actual bandmen themselves. In the span of less than 10 minutes, they had managed to put on make up which was up to professional make up artist standards D: Or maybe they had help. But in any case, make up does (and did) wonders.
Music-wise, it was less visual kei-sounding than I had expected, which was a nice surprise. Though fangirl behaviours were still the same (doing furitsuke and all...). We stayed for 3 songs. I suspect one might be called "Revolution" or something, because that's how the chorus goes. Might go check them out more since I quite liked what I had heard.
OKAMOTO'S (Bayside stage, 14:20h)
We walked in on them playing Run DMC's "Walk This Way". Friend didn't know the song, and thought they were singing "rock this way" XD We stood at the back and just watched them from the screen. Probably looked like an idiot for jumping around and waving my arms among the crowd of chillax people, but whatever :/ We thought that the vocalist looked mixed and spoke Japanese with a strange accent. I think I read somewhere that he was brought up overseas? But don't take my word for it. (EDIT: Japanese wiki says he was born in New York, so I'm supposing he lived there fore awhile as well.)
If you're a fan of rock n' roll or just love groovy music, they're worth checking out. Listening to the recording, I hear us laughing at him shaking the maracas. I suppose he must have shaken it with all his might and looked strange. But hey, it's all showmanship :D
KEN YOKOYAMA (Wind stage, 15:00h)
Was there really just to try them out. Yokoyama Ken was from Hi-STANDARD, and they're apparently legends in the punk scene. And with their reunion performance at this year's AIR JAM announced less than a month ago (which sent my Twitter feed into a frenzy because I follow many bandmen), I was interested to know what he sounded like. As usual, I should learn never to go in with high expectations because all you'll get is either moderate satisfaction from knowing that you were right, or disappointment. It was kinda the latter for me, unfortunately, but maybe I'm just more used to (and prefer) melodic punk. The only song I recognised (and kinda liked) was when he did "Stay Gold", which is a Hi-STANDARD song.
And I think the longer you stay in the industry and are successful (by your own standards), the more you think you're invincible. I'm not averse to dirty jokes, and it -was- amusing, but... there is a time and place to make dick jokes. Like at your own lives where everyone's an appreciative audience and are familiar with you and your style, not really at large scale fests where all kinds of random people are milling around. We really don't need to know why the nickname of your fellow band member is "anaconda". Just saying.
But whatever. Next.
エレファントカシマシ (Wind stage, 16:30h)
Ah, the stability of bands that have been in the industry for ages (and are old too, age-wise. Think they're in their 40s??). I've never heard their stuff before or watched their videos, but there's just this feeling of calmness, that they've got everything in control. I suppose you'd call their music mainstream rock? There were some rock and roll songs as well. Not sure how to classify them. Also, the vocalist tends to go "EVERYBADEH!" a lot XD I liked his voice though, nice and throaty.
NICO Touches the Walls (Bayside stage, 17:20h)
Setlist:
01. マトリョーシカ
02. Broken Youth
03. 友情讃歌
04. 妄想隊員Ａ
05. 雲空の悪魔
06. THE BUNGY
07. Diver
They didn't leave much of an impression on me when I tried listening to their songs earlier, but I suppose you could say I was converted enough to not leave in the middle of their set for マキシマム ザ ホルモン. The vocals/guitar thanked everyone for being here, the organisers for inviting them again this year, and also said that they were especially happy because they were playing at their homebase (apparently they live 3 stations away?).
"友情讃歌" got the crowd clapping, and towards the end the vocals/guitar encouraged us to all sing along "even though you may not know the tune, just sing along randomly!" XD The next song was "雲空の悪魔", a slower and more emotional piece. I'm not sure if they do this song often, but they said that they were doing it today because they were playing at home. In any case, this song is one of those that needs to be heard live to feel just how awesome it is. I liked "THE BUNGY" 's bass groove. The last song "Diver" is also another song that's made for large capacity shows.
NICO has some fans who are really feeling the music. There was a guy standing beside us who had created his own dance movements for the entire song of "Diver" (I think). Anyway, NICO ended, and me and oh_so_witless charged to the Wind stage.
マキシマム ザ ホルモン (Wind stage, 18:10h)
Yes, that's how far the stage was. This is a zoomed in picture. The crowd spilt all the way to the entrance of the arena. Probably the biggest turnout for any show in the entire of ROCKS Tokyo that I've seen. I've only heard songs from their "Buiikaesu" album, so most of the songs they played just flew over my head :/ I did get to hear songs which I was familiar with ("ぶっ生き返す！！", "ルイジアナ・ボブ", "シミ") but I was also hoping for ones like "恋のメガラバ" (which they did play, but I was listening to it all the way from the merchandise booths on the way to the next show at Bayside stage T_T).
They're a really fun bunch of people who do the most random MCs. For one MC, the drummer went, "Firstly, a round of applause for the fact that you guys decided to leave your house!! Then, a round of applause for the fact that we decided to leave our houses!" (LOL) I want the drummer to be my friend. She's probably one of the few females I respect in the industry. Do check out their website if you're free, because it is awesome. Not layout-wise, but the entire tone of it (the English site is as full of win, don't worry). Even though it's probably their staff who do the updates, they were probably the ones who decided on the overall concept, so it does allow you to see what kind of people they are.
Second picture is of people who were dancing outside the stage area. There were people doing some yoyo(?) stuff, and topless boys jumping around to the music.
the telephones (Bayside stage, 19:10h)
Setlist:
SE: happiness,happiness,happiness
01. I Hate DISCOOOOOOO!!!
02. Urban Disco
03. disco age monster
04. SAITAMA DANCE MIRROR BALLERS!!!
05. My Final Fantasy
06. HABANERO
07. Monkey Discooooooo
08. Love&DISCO
The other 3 were big fans of the telephones, and I had watched them "live" on Ustream when they last streamed their limited live at Kitaura Kyara. It wasn't a pleasant experience back then because the audio and video were horribly out of sync, and I did try listening to their CD but the songs unfortunately didn't really work it for me (there were a couple of gems, but not THAT many). But I followed them anyway because I figured that I should give them a chance live. And I'm so glad I did, because I think that their songs work much better live because of the entire party atmosphere.
I love the opening SE because it's just such a happy tune, introduces the band in its lyrics, and gets everyone dancing (there are even instructions: "Everybody clap your hands!"). Ishige entered and went (in his usual fashion), "HELLO EVERYBADEE! WE ARE ZA TELEFONES!!! WE ARE FROM KITAURA SAITAMA JAPAN!!! ROCKS TOKYO!!! ARE YOU DISCO?????"
The awesome thing about their songs is that you can dance to practically every one of them. Well, okay they're a band which functions around the core idea of "disco", so having danceable songs is probably nothing surprising. I don't know what he's screaming, but that really doesn't matter because the energy is tremendous. After "Urban Disco", Ishige announced a new song but it really didn't matter because people still danced along regardless, which is awesome because usually audiences don't know how to react as they are unfamiliar with the new song. Then again, I was unfamilar to all their songs but think I still did a very good job blending in. Not that I was doing it consciously, but it's really easy to feel their music in your bones.
The band stopped playing halfway during "SAITAMA DANCE MIRROR BALLERS!!!" and Ishige called out, "ROCKS Tokyo!! I can see you guys all the way at the back too! This is the happiest place in the world at the moment, so clear your mind of thoughts of tomorrow and DANCE!!!!!" He screams "DANCE!!!!!!!!!" so many times throughout the entire set, and it just gets the crowd high every single time.
After "HABANERO", Ishige screamed, "ARE YOU DISCO???" and Nobu very purposefully took off his shirt and flung it to the side XD I had been watching Nobu very closely the entire show to see when he would take off his shirt (we call him the "magic stripper" because one moment he's fully-clothed, the next moment he's topless, and it all happens in the blink of an eye when you just lose concentration just for a split second). Didn't expect him to make a show out of it this time, though (awww). Ishige continued, "Nobu has taken off his "mirror ball" shirt, and this means that from now on, every one of you have become mirror balls!! So everyone, scream "DISCO!!!" at the top of your lungs!" He then called out, "Everybody! We are...?" and the crowd responded in unison with an enthusiastic "DISCO!!!". But then Ishige went (and giggled a little in between because he probably realised how awkward this sounded), "Okay since we're here at ROCKS Tokyo, when I go "We are...?" you guys respond with "ROCKS Tokyo!!!"" We did, and he ended the segment with "Monkey...?" to which we responded with "DISCO!!!" and the band went into "Monkey Discooooooo".
Ishige announced the last song, and thanked everyone for coming especially since it was raining and asked us to shout out our love to the world before going, "LOVE AND...?" to which the crowd responded with a resounding "DISCO!!!!" and "Love&DISCO" began. Apparently there some after-show antics, like Nobu jumping down from the stage and running into the audience. There was a sudden commotion at the other side of the stage (yea, it's NEVER on whichever side we're standing at :x ) so we could only conclude that that was where he had run to. Ishige thanked and audience and pimped their shows before leaving the stage.
Shikano-san (I think?) came out and closed the Bayside stage, said that Dragon Ash were headlining at the Wind stage, and that due to illness/injury which resulted in Dragon Ash's bassist IKUZONE being unable to participate in the performance (apparently his left wrist is in a paralysed state and can't play the bass), the vocalist Kenji would be taking on both roles as the vocalist and the bassist. This was probably the only place where we'd have the chance to see this happening, and that "泣いても、笑っても、雨に打たれても、風に当たっても、これが最後です！ROCKS Tokyo最後まで楽しんでいってください！" ("No matter how much you cry or laugh, or are hit by the rain or the wind, this is the last! Please enjoy ROCKS Tokyo right till the very end!").
By the way, although I like Nobu, I wasn't watching him almost the entire performance for that reason. In fact, it's very difficult NOT to look at him as he sparkles in his mirror ball shirt, flails his super long, stick limbs behind the keyboards, and runs all over the stage doing strange things. We have come to the conclusion that he is an alien. Prove us wrong, if possible.
Dragon Ash (Wind stage, 20:00h)
EDIT: It was reported the day after ROCKS that the vocalist had been admitted to hospital and was estimated by the doctor to require a month to fully recover. Apparently, he had been suffering from multiple haemorrhagic gastric ulcers prior to ROCKS Tokyo, but still took to the stage after being on an IV drip and pumped with medicine. I was really shocked, because he had looked perfectly fine onstage. Much respect to him and his professionalism to not cancel at the last minute, especially since they were the headliners of the day.
Setlist:
01. INTRO
02. RAMPAGE
03. Bring It
04. For divers area
05. 繋がりSunset
06. La Bamba
07. SKY IS THE LIMIT
08. AMBITIOUS
09. 静かな日々の階段を
10. 百合の咲く場所で
11. Fantasista
12. TIME OF YOUR LIFE
13. Viva la Revolution
The first two songs are crossed out because we only arrived in the middle of song 3. But here's the full set list for whoever's interested.
If other people had called us "motherfuckers", we'd probably get angry. But when he called us that after "Bring It", it sounded more like a term of endearment than anything else. They covered a range of genres, ranging from hard rock to hip hop, which apparently left oh_so_witless confused. Anyway, they were alright. Not mindblowing (despite their popularity), though I really liked it when they played "La Bamba" and "Fantasista". Dragon Ash have been around for ages (since 1996) and I remember listening to their stuff when I was still in secondary school. Have never heard their new stuff, and since they were playing today anyway, why not stay? The crowd was much smaller than expected though, probably because it was the last act and it was raining. The ground had given up being ground, and basically became soft mud and water. There were places I stepped in where the water had reached to around mid-calf level. Didn't really care though, because (as mentioned earlier) I had gained enlightenment after TOTALFAT. I think the rest did though.
Kenji has a nice semi-hoarse voice, and someone in our group described him as a "hot old man" lol. She is right though. He said that he was really happy to be able to take part in ROCKS, sincerely apologised for their missing band member, and said that they weren't sure if it was alright to play in front of us in this manner (i.e. not as a full band). But it was what they had decided on, for the sake of Shikano-san, for the sake of the audience, and so he hoped that we would enjoy the show. They then started on "繋がりSunset".
I really like "FANTASISTA" (I think it's one of the songs which I heard years ago). Kenji said something, then told the crowd that they'd be attempting the song with one person short. I think they did an awesome job at it, in any case. You know, it's going to be so sad when the actual bassist returns and it's like "Did you know we did alright without you?" ^^;;; Also, I only just found out that the two dancers are part of the band. They were... kinda distracting and not very needed. Oh well. Speaking of which, there were also random people running up onto stage to dance. There was this dude wearing a green jacket that said "PRESS" (though I think it wasn't a real press jacket) and some other female staff (or something) came out halfway -_- At first I thought that the PRESS dude was the bassist coming out to do stupid stuff on stage since that's the only way he could participate, but I don't think so. So Dragon Ash either has weird friends/staff, drunk friends/staff, or both (lol). I got spotted by staff for taking photos, so those are the only two nicer ones I had. But ohwell.
After the last song, a few people in the crowd tried to clap for an encore but Shikano-san came out and said no and closed the stage and the entire fest.
Yes, next year! Apparently some of the boys from NICO Touches the Walls, and Nobu (the telephones) were watching the Dragon Ash performance from the side, but they left too fast.
Awesome fest with awesome bands and awesome company. I was going to say not-so-awesome weather, but I was actually enjoying myself due to the rain and mud. Not wishing for it to rain on my other fests, but this was a pretty special experience this time around.
By the way...
Turns out that there were mudcakes in my shoe, which is why I was walking on lumpy stuff towards the end of the day.
Next live: 2011/06/09 - STANCE PUNKS presents「ロックの日 vol.12～SAVE THE NIPPON～」 GUESTS: andymori, Nothing's Carved in Stone, etc. | 川崎CLUB CITTA'
As expected, the rain didn't let up. If anything, it just got heavier. The ground condition was already terrible after Day One, and it would only get worse as the day went by. Day Two with oh_so_witless, miserabilities and aerianta again! Was joined by another friend from Singapore, who was here because he was an andymori fan. Because we had reached there first, we decided to head over to the venue first because I had wanted to check out band merch and buy my TOTALFAT muffler towel. Instead of walking, however, we chose to take the bus because I figured that I might not be able to endure all the 9 hours of standing and moshing if we were to pick the 1 hour of brisk walking. Moreover, there were many bands I liked today, so I wanted to conserve my energy.
Schedule for the day:
andymori
TOTALFAT
ギルガメッシュ
OKAMOTO'S
KEN YOKOYAMA
エレファントカシマシ
NICO Touches the Walls
マキシマム ザ ホルモン
the telephones
Dragon Ash
Had initially planned to watch 10-FEET, but we ended up listening to them while looking at ギルガメッシュ soundcheck at the NEXUS stage.
Reached TOTALFAT's booth only to find out that they didn't have the design I wanted. Very sad, because I had banked on that towel being there, and thus didn't bring my the HIATUS towel. Got a the telephones one instead. Also am starting to collect wristbands of bands I like, so I got that too. It never fails to amaze me how マキシマム ザ ホルモン's queues are always the longest at every single fest I go to.
Headed to the Wind stage, and finally managed to meet up with my other friends just in time for the first show.
andymori (Wind stage, 12:00h)
Setlist:
SE: The Carpenters "The End of the World"
01. CITY LIGHTS
02. ベンガルトラとウィスキー
03. すごい速さ
04. SUNRISE&SUNSET
05. 1984
06. ハッピーエンド
07. ナツメグ
08. ユートピア
09. peace
10. everything is my guitar
andyとrock
兄弟
革命
グロリアス軽トラ
We left before the set ended, so I have no idea what was played after song 10. The last 4 songs written there were gathered from other sources, but I have no idea about the order.
This was my first time hearing andymori, so most songs, save maybe CITY LIGHTS, were new to me. I did listen to their album, but the songs didn't really stick. However, I think I'll go back to take another listen because I really liked what I heard. The vocals/guitar songs so fast and strums so furiously away at this guitar that I'm worried that he'd suddenly go into spasms or something. But oh, do those songs make you feel high! Also, I wasn't expecting a circle mosh for andymori. Well, it wasn't -exactly- a circle mosh, but instead of running, people were skipping/loping about in a circle due to the mud (LOL).
After "すごい速さ" the vocals/guitar went, "Isn't the weather awesome?" This is probably the first time I've heard sarcasm in Japanese. No, I am not being sarcastic here. So anyway, plus points to him. They played "SUNRISE&SUNSET", and then the vocals/guitar asked how everyone was doing. The drummer said he was down with the flu. Vocals/guitar than proceeded to tell everyone about how the drummer had just moved into a new apartment and that it was totally barren. So that was miserable times times 2 for him. They then told everyone to be careful and not catch a cold, and moved on to the next song.
andymori had just gotten a new drummer, so they introduced him after "ハッピーエンド". He took off his shirt (to gasps from the crowd going "OMG IT'S SO COLDDDD") and the vocals/guitar explained that the drummer usually stripped when he was feeling hot, but even though it was cold today, he still stripped anyway. After "everything is my guitar", we left (well, everyone except my other friend who was an andymori fan) for TOTALFAT. TOTALFAT was my "must see" for the day, so I did feel guilty for dragging the other three away from andymori :/
TOTALFAT (Bayside stage, 12:50h)
Setlist:
01. Livin' for The Future
02. Good Fight & Promise You
03. Summer Frequence
04. World of Glory with JOE INOUE
05. Dance On, My Friends
06. Invention ～Good morning,my treasures～
07. DA NA NA
08. Overdrive
No photo of the band, because I entrusted my recorder with aerianta (THANK YOU <3) and ran to the front to join in the mosh. You can see the ground condition for Day 2 from the photo I guess. Compare this with picture from Day 1, where you could actually see the colour green on the ground. I didn't venture too far forward at first, but gradually got annoyed at rude people pushing past me to enter the area in front, it felt strange to have to much personal space, and I didn't want to keep having to maintain my balance on the slippery metal grating, so I headed to the front of the second area.
Having been through my previous TOTALFAT lives and hearing a pretty standard setlist, I was surprised that they opened with a song from the new album. Was expecting the new songs, but definitely not THAT early since the album was only released just 4 days earlier. But it was a pleasant surprise, in any case. After the first song, Shun went, "I know this is out of the blue, but let's all come together as one!!" and announced "Good Fight & Promise You", another song which they usually only play near the end just before the encores. This is usually a crowdsurfer song, but the crowdsurfers weren't out in full force today due to the mud. I guess they were probably hesitant as well, but there were a few going by in the front.
Jose screamed something which I couldn't make out, and they launched into "Summer Frequence". I LOVE hearing this song live because it's dancey, has sing-a-long parts, clapping parts, and jumping parts all in one, and generally gets everyone really high. Shun asked how everyone was doing and talked about the rain and how it was raining during their show at last year's ROCKS Tokyo as well. He said (and it is true if you think about it ^^;;) that only fools who loved music so much would willingly subject themselves to waking up early in the morning and be standing here in the pouring rain, and he was one of those fools as well, so we should all enjoy ourselves to the most we could. Jose then opened the next song by asking the crowd rhetorical questions, "If it rains, does it mean that we can't enjoy rock? If the ground condition sucks, does it mean that the fest won't be as fun?" He then said something else after that but it's hard to make out what people are saying when they're screaming in a high-pitched voice. Oh Jose, I love you but I can't hear what you say more than half the time :/ Whatever it was, Inoue Joe appeared magically (okay, no) and they did "World of Glory". We knew that song would be played already, ever since TOTALFAT had announced that Inoue Joe would be guesting. I was holding out some hope for the B-side to be played as well since I quite liked the song, but that didn't happen.
They played "Dance On, My Friends" off the new album, and like what I mentioned earlier with andymori, I only started taking to the new album after hearing the songs played live. They finally got around to playing "Invention ~Good morning,my treasures~", which is the song they usually play first for all their shows I've been to. I think it was during this song that tragedy happened (or was it earlier?) and my bag tore and the rope came out, and so I had to tie it around my fist.
The last time I heard "DA NA NA" was probably during their tour final last year. It was interesting though, because apparently the "DA" is supposed to be a reference to Dragon Ash (the initials), and Dragon Ash were today's Wind Stage headliners XD -> Or so, I remember reading about what the DA stands for, but can't find my source to confirm it now. I'm pretty sure I saw it out there somewhere though. After "DA NA NA", they did the usual "Kuboty strums on guitar while Shun talks" thing, which would usually lead into "Overdrive" (which it did today as well - they tend to use it as their last song). Shun spoke about how this was just like last year, when they did the show in cloudy weather with a little bit of sunshine peeking through (apparently it stopped raining for a bit, but of course you don't notice these things in the mosh). There were probably people here today who were not from Tokyo, so Shun said that he hoped that they would enjoy themselves to the fullest, bring these happy memories from ROCKS back to their hometowns, and tell everyone about it.
The show ended, and while I didn't enter the actual mosh, this was how my shoes turned out.
It was thanks to this, however, that I gained enlightenment and didn't care about splashing into mud puddles and sinking calf-deep into the mud anymore. Also, this is going to be the longest segment I'll write (because it's the band I know and love the most). No more Walls of Text from me from here on, I promise.
Oh, before I forget, I know why Kuboty looked strange. He had forgotten to wear his cap hahaha (I only realised this after he tweeted about it after the show XD).
ギルガメッシュ (Nexus stage, 14:10h)
No photos because Nexus stage is small and we were standing in the middle of nowhere, so it's pretty obvious if you're holding a camera. We were there very early, so we bummed around and self-high-ed for more than 15 minutes while they soundchecked. I was bouncing around to 10-FEET. The rain was pelting down on us. More weird behaviour.
The fangirls were jumping around to the boys soundchecking. Actually, we were debating if the people doing the soundcheck were the soundtechs or the actual bandmen themselves, because they looked.. not very visually attractive and not in costume. But after the show started, we realised that they were the actual bandmen themselves. In the span of less than 10 minutes, they had managed to put on make up which was up to professional make up artist standards D: Or maybe they had help. But in any case, make up does (and did) wonders.
Music-wise, it was less visual kei-sounding than I had expected, which was a nice surprise. Though fangirl behaviours were still the same (doing furitsuke and all...). We stayed for 3 songs. I suspect one might be called "Revolution" or something, because that's how the chorus goes. Might go check them out more since I quite liked what I had heard.
OKAMOTO'S (Bayside stage, 14:20h)
We walked in on them playing Run DMC's "Walk This Way". Friend didn't know the song, and thought they were singing "rock this way" XD We stood at the back and just watched them from the screen. Probably looked like an idiot for jumping around and waving my arms among the crowd of chillax people, but whatever :/ We thought that the vocalist looked mixed and spoke Japanese with a strange accent. I think I read somewhere that he was brought up overseas? But don't take my word for it. (EDIT: Japanese wiki says he was born in New York, so I'm supposing he lived there fore awhile as well.)
If you're a fan of rock n' roll or just love groovy music, they're worth checking out. Listening to the recording, I hear us laughing at him shaking the maracas. I suppose he must have shaken it with all his might and looked strange. But hey, it's all showmanship :D
KEN YOKOYAMA (Wind stage, 15:00h)
Was there really just to try them out. Yokoyama Ken was from Hi-STANDARD, and they're apparently legends in the punk scene. And with their reunion performance at this year's AIR JAM announced less than a month ago (which sent my Twitter feed into a frenzy because I follow many bandmen), I was interested to know what he sounded like. As usual, I should learn never to go in with high expectations because all you'll get is either moderate satisfaction from knowing that you were right, or disappointment. It was kinda the latter for me, unfortunately, but maybe I'm just more used to (and prefer) melodic punk. The only song I recognised (and kinda liked) was when he did "Stay Gold", which is a Hi-STANDARD song.
And I think the longer you stay in the industry and are successful (by your own standards), the more you think you're invincible. I'm not averse to dirty jokes, and it -was- amusing, but... there is a time and place to make dick jokes. Like at your own lives where everyone's an appreciative audience and are familiar with you and your style, not really at large scale fests where all kinds of random people are milling around. We really don't need to know why the nickname of your fellow band member is "anaconda". Just saying.
But whatever. Next.
エレファントカシマシ (Wind stage, 16:30h)
Ah, the stability of bands that have been in the industry for ages (and are old too, age-wise. Think they're in their 40s??). I've never heard their stuff before or watched their videos, but there's just this feeling of calmness, that they've got everything in control. I suppose you'd call their music mainstream rock? There were some rock and roll songs as well. Not sure how to classify them. Also, the vocalist tends to go "EVERYBADEH!" a lot XD I liked his voice though, nice and throaty.
NICO Touches the Walls (Bayside stage, 17:20h)
Setlist:
01. マトリョーシカ
02. Broken Youth
03. 友情讃歌
04. 妄想隊員Ａ
05. 雲空の悪魔
06. THE BUNGY
07. Diver
They didn't leave much of an impression on me when I tried listening to their songs earlier, but I suppose you could say I was converted enough to not leave in the middle of their set for マキシマム ザ ホルモン. The vocals/guitar thanked everyone for being here, the organisers for inviting them again this year, and also said that they were especially happy because they were playing at their homebase (apparently they live 3 stations away?).
"友情讃歌" got the crowd clapping, and towards the end the vocals/guitar encouraged us to all sing along "even though you may not know the tune, just sing along randomly!" XD The next song was "雲空の悪魔", a slower and more emotional piece. I'm not sure if they do this song often, but they said that they were doing it today because they were playing at home. In any case, this song is one of those that needs to be heard live to feel just how awesome it is. I liked "THE BUNGY" 's bass groove. The last song "Diver" is also another song that's made for large capacity shows.
NICO has some fans who are really feeling the music. There was a guy standing beside us who had created his own dance movements for the entire song of "Diver" (I think). Anyway, NICO ended, and me and oh_so_witless charged to the Wind stage.
マキシマム ザ ホルモン (Wind stage, 18:10h)
Yes, that's how far the stage was. This is a zoomed in picture. The crowd spilt all the way to the entrance of the arena. Probably the biggest turnout for any show in the entire of ROCKS Tokyo that I've seen. I've only heard songs from their "Buiikaesu" album, so most of the songs they played just flew over my head :/ I did get to hear songs which I was familiar with ("ぶっ生き返す！！", "ルイジアナ・ボブ", "シミ") but I was also hoping for ones like "恋のメガラバ" (which they did play, but I was listening to it all the way from the merchandise booths on the way to the next show at Bayside stage T_T).
They're a really fun bunch of people who do the most random MCs. For one MC, the drummer went, "Firstly, a round of applause for the fact that you guys decided to leave your house!! Then, a round of applause for the fact that we decided to leave our houses!" (LOL) I want the drummer to be my friend. She's probably one of the few females I respect in the industry. Do check out their website if you're free, because it is awesome. Not layout-wise, but the entire tone of it (the English site is as full of win, don't worry). Even though it's probably their staff who do the updates, they were probably the ones who decided on the overall concept, so it does allow you to see what kind of people they are.
Second picture is of people who were dancing outside the stage area. There were people doing some yoyo(?) stuff, and topless boys jumping around to the music.
the telephones (Bayside stage, 19:10h)
Setlist:
SE: happiness,happiness,happiness
01. I Hate DISCOOOOOOO!!!
02. Urban Disco
03. disco age monster
04. SAITAMA DANCE MIRROR BALLERS!!!
05. My Final Fantasy
06. HABANERO
07. Monkey Discooooooo
08. Love&DISCO
The other 3 were big fans of the telephones, and I had watched them "live" on Ustream when they last streamed their limited live at Kitaura Kyara. It wasn't a pleasant experience back then because the audio and video were horribly out of sync, and I did try listening to their CD but the songs unfortunately didn't really work it for me (there were a couple of gems, but not THAT many). But I followed them anyway because I figured that I should give them a chance live. And I'm so glad I did, because I think that their songs work much better live because of the entire party atmosphere.
I love the opening SE because it's just such a happy tune, introduces the band in its lyrics, and gets everyone dancing (there are even instructions: "Everybody clap your hands!"). Ishige entered and went (in his usual fashion), "HELLO EVERYBADEE! WE ARE ZA TELEFONES!!! WE ARE FROM KITAURA SAITAMA JAPAN!!! ROCKS TOKYO!!! ARE YOU DISCO?????"
The awesome thing about their songs is that you can dance to practically every one of them. Well, okay they're a band which functions around the core idea of "disco", so having danceable songs is probably nothing surprising. I don't know what he's screaming, but that really doesn't matter because the energy is tremendous. After "Urban Disco", Ishige announced a new song but it really didn't matter because people still danced along regardless, which is awesome because usually audiences don't know how to react as they are unfamiliar with the new song. Then again, I was unfamilar to all their songs but think I still did a very good job blending in. Not that I was doing it consciously, but it's really easy to feel their music in your bones.
The band stopped playing halfway during "SAITAMA DANCE MIRROR BALLERS!!!" and Ishige called out, "ROCKS Tokyo!! I can see you guys all the way at the back too! This is the happiest place in the world at the moment, so clear your mind of thoughts of tomorrow and DANCE!!!!!" He screams "DANCE!!!!!!!!!" so many times throughout the entire set, and it just gets the crowd high every single time.
After "HABANERO", Ishige screamed, "ARE YOU DISCO???" and Nobu very purposefully took off his shirt and flung it to the side XD I had been watching Nobu very closely the entire show to see when he would take off his shirt (we call him the "magic stripper" because one moment he's fully-clothed, the next moment he's topless, and it all happens in the blink of an eye when you just lose concentration just for a split second). Didn't expect him to make a show out of it this time, though (awww). Ishige continued, "Nobu has taken off his "mirror ball" shirt, and this means that from now on, every one of you have become mirror balls!! So everyone, scream "DISCO!!!" at the top of your lungs!" He then called out, "Everybody! We are...?" and the crowd responded in unison with an enthusiastic "DISCO!!!". But then Ishige went (and giggled a little in between because he probably realised how awkward this sounded), "Okay since we're here at ROCKS Tokyo, when I go "We are...?" you guys respond with "ROCKS Tokyo!!!"" We did, and he ended the segment with "Monkey...?" to which we responded with "DISCO!!!" and the band went into "Monkey Discooooooo".
Ishige announced the last song, and thanked everyone for coming especially since it was raining and asked us to shout out our love to the world before going, "LOVE AND...?" to which the crowd responded with a resounding "DISCO!!!!" and "Love&DISCO" began. Apparently there some after-show antics, like Nobu jumping down from the stage and running into the audience. There was a sudden commotion at the other side of the stage (yea, it's NEVER on whichever side we're standing at :x ) so we could only conclude that that was where he had run to. Ishige thanked and audience and pimped their shows before leaving the stage.
Shikano-san (I think?) came out and closed the Bayside stage, said that Dragon Ash were headlining at the Wind stage, and that due to illness/injury which resulted in Dragon Ash's bassist IKUZONE being unable to participate in the performance (apparently his left wrist is in a paralysed state and can't play the bass), the vocalist Kenji would be taking on both roles as the vocalist and the bassist. This was probably the only place where we'd have the chance to see this happening, and that "泣いても、笑っても、雨に打たれても、風に当たっても、これが最後です！ROCKS Tokyo最後まで楽しんでいってください！" ("No matter how much you cry or laugh, or are hit by the rain or the wind, this is the last! Please enjoy ROCKS Tokyo right till the very end!").
By the way, although I like Nobu, I wasn't watching him almost the entire performance for that reason. In fact, it's very difficult NOT to look at him as he sparkles in his mirror ball shirt, flails his super long, stick limbs behind the keyboards, and runs all over the stage doing strange things. We have come to the conclusion that he is an alien. Prove us wrong, if possible.
Dragon Ash (Wind stage, 20:00h)
EDIT: It was reported the day after ROCKS that the vocalist had been admitted to hospital and was estimated by the doctor to require a month to fully recover. Apparently, he had been suffering from multiple haemorrhagic gastric ulcers prior to ROCKS Tokyo, but still took to the stage after being on an IV drip and pumped with medicine. I was really shocked, because he had looked perfectly fine onstage. Much respect to him and his professionalism to not cancel at the last minute, especially since they were the headliners of the day.
Setlist:
01. INTRO
02. RAMPAGE
03. Bring It
04. For divers area
05. 繋がりSunset
06. La Bamba
07. SKY IS THE LIMIT
08. AMBITIOUS
09. 静かな日々の階段を
10. 百合の咲く場所で
11. Fantasista
12. TIME OF YOUR LIFE
13. Viva la Revolution
The first two songs are crossed out because we only arrived in the middle of song 3. But here's the full set list for whoever's interested.
If other people had called us "motherfuckers", we'd probably get angry. But when he called us that after "Bring It", it sounded more like a term of endearment than anything else. They covered a range of genres, ranging from hard rock to hip hop, which apparently left oh_so_witless confused. Anyway, they were alright. Not mindblowing (despite their popularity), though I really liked it when they played "La Bamba" and "Fantasista". Dragon Ash have been around for ages (since 1996) and I remember listening to their stuff when I was still in secondary school. Have never heard their new stuff, and since they were playing today anyway, why not stay? The crowd was much smaller than expected though, probably because it was the last act and it was raining. The ground had given up being ground, and basically became soft mud and water. There were places I stepped in where the water had reached to around mid-calf level. Didn't really care though, because (as mentioned earlier) I had gained enlightenment after TOTALFAT. I think the rest did though.
Kenji has a nice semi-hoarse voice, and someone in our group described him as a "hot old man" lol. She is right though. He said that he was really happy to be able to take part in ROCKS, sincerely apologised for their missing band member, and said that they weren't sure if it was alright to play in front of us in this manner (i.e. not as a full band). But it was what they had decided on, for the sake of Shikano-san, for the sake of the audience, and so he hoped that we would enjoy the show. They then started on "繋がりSunset".
I really like "FANTASISTA" (I think it's one of the songs which I heard years ago). Kenji said something, then told the crowd that they'd be attempting the song with one person short. I think they did an awesome job at it, in any case. You know, it's going to be so sad when the actual bassist returns and it's like "Did you know we did alright without you?" ^^;;; Also, I only just found out that the two dancers are part of the band. They were... kinda distracting and not very needed. Oh well. Speaking of which, there were also random people running up onto stage to dance. There was this dude wearing a green jacket that said "PRESS" (though I think it wasn't a real press jacket) and some other female staff (or something) came out halfway -_- At first I thought that the PRESS dude was the bassist coming out to do stupid stuff on stage since that's the only way he could participate, but I don't think so. So Dragon Ash either has weird friends/staff, drunk friends/staff, or both (lol). I got spotted by staff for taking photos, so those are the only two nicer ones I had. But ohwell.
After the last song, a few people in the crowd tried to clap for an encore but Shikano-san came out and said no and closed the stage and the entire fest.
Yes, next year! Apparently some of the boys from NICO Touches the Walls, and Nobu (the telephones) were watching the Dragon Ash performance from the side, but they left too fast.
Awesome fest with awesome bands and awesome company. I was going to say not-so-awesome weather, but I was actually enjoying myself due to the rain and mud. Not wishing for it to rain on my other fests, but this was a pretty special experience this time around.
By the way...
Turns out that there were mudcakes in my shoe, which is why I was walking on lumpy stuff towards the end of the day.
Next live: 2011/06/09 - STANCE PUNKS presents「ロックの日 vol.12～SAVE THE NIPPON～」 GUESTS: andymori, Nothing's Carved in Stone, etc. | 川崎CLUB CITTA'