2011/07/09 - THE BAWDIES 「LIVE THE LIFE I LOVE」TOUR 2011 | Zepp Tokyo
IT'S HERE. MY 5 MONTH LONG WAIT IS OVER.
THE BAWDIES' ONE MAN AT ZEPP TOKYO.
Just a warning before I start that I'm probably going to sound crazed and high and fangirly throughout the entire report, because I really was crazed and high (not fangirly though, thank god) throughout the entire show.
Yea, I guess it's possible that 800+ other fans ran to their nearest Lawsons to pay for their ticket in the one hour or so it took me to go downstairs to pay for my ticket. Oh well. At any rate, still better than my B150 ticket the last time around for their STUDIO COAST leg of the JUST BE COOL tour final at the beginning of year. Also excited because it's going to be my second time to Zepp Tokyo! First time I was there was 9 months ago, for last year's CATCH ALL SHOW. That was the very first live I attended in Japan :)
People were already queuing for goods when I arrived around 4.10pm (goods starting selling at 4pm). They were giving out the custom made plastic bags if you spent above 3,000yen. I decided that I'd be fine because I had intended to buy the Hashimoto Rui photobook (only sold at the live venues) which was 1,800yen, and 3 rolls of craft tape (two were for friends) which were 500yen each. Hadn't intended to buy the tshirt, just in case they came up with a tour-final exclusive shirt to be sold at Budoukan in November (highly likely), and I didn't want to buy two shirts. HOWEVER. I had a heartbreak moment when I reached the front of the queue and was told that the photobooks were SOLD OUT. AT 4.20PM. TWO PEOPLE AHEAD OF ME. WHY OH WHY DID I NOT SWITCH TO THE SHORTEST QUEUE INSTEAD OF BEING NICE AND ORDERLY AND STOOD IN MY DESIGNATED LINE. BRB, REPENTING FOREVER. Now I have to fight with everyone at Budoukan for it (if they do sell it at the venue, that is). And so... I ended up buying the tour shirt. Sigh. Went to dump my stuff in the lockers in sadness and waited to enter the livehouse. (EDIT: Was browsing their website and it turns out that the goods started selling from 3pm D: SIGH. No wonder the photobook was sold out. FAIL, SELF.)
Because the boys are getting more popular, they get more and more bouquets! Including this one from Tower Records.
The stage! I got a nice spot at the third barrier (had initially thought that it was the second since it did seem close enough to the stage). There was enough space for 3/4 of a person between two girls, and learning from previous experience, if I just stood there and watched, some other daring person would just cut in front of me and take up the space. So I stood near enough and rested my hands on the barrier. Very soon, the girl on the left shifted to the left and I got my space at the barrier on the Jim side :D Not bad for ticket A878!! :DDD Two people on my right were talking about how someone was selling recordings of THE BAWDIES live, and the girl was going "OMG I CANNOT BELIEVE SOMEONE WOULD DO SUCH A THING." Cough (well I don't sell them because it's wrong, but I need material to write my live reports since my brain is like a sieve :/)
Setlist
01. A NEW DAY IS COMIN
02. ANNE
03. JUST BE COOL
04. SHOW ME UP
05. LOVE YOU NEED YOU feat. AI
06. HOT DOG
MC
07. LOVE YOUR LIFE
08. WHAT A LONELY NIGHT
09. I'M A LOVE MAN
MC
10. THANKS BILL
11. BITTER BUTTER
12. KEEP YOU HAPPY
MC
13. KEEP ON ROCKIN'
14. YEAH
15. SAD SONG
16. I'm In Love With You
17. B.P.B
18. IT'S TOO LATE
19. YOU GOTTA DANCE
20. I Beg You
ENCORE
MC
EN01. EMOTION POTION
EN02. Shake Your Hips
You know how they always play music before the band comes on? The song ended and there was silence for awhile. Everyone around me (including me) was going "OMG IT'S STARTINGGGGGGG"... only to hear another song start playing over the speakers half a minute later. So alright, false alarm. There were another 15 seconds of silence after the next song stopped playing... And then they put yet another song over the speakers. STOP TEASING US. IT IS BAD FOR THE HEART, YO. ANTICIPATION CAN KILL. And then in the middle of the third song, they suddenly cut both the lights and the song without warning. And that was when we knew that the magic was about to begin.
The usual opening SE played ("Soul Man" by Sam & Dave), and the whole audience clapped along. The people to my left and right slipped under the barrier and joined the section in front. I considered following them, but figured that I'd like the comfort of the barrier. Would rather be squashed against the barrier than be shoved around like a rag doll in front. Had anticipated The Great Push, which was what really caught me by surprise during their STUDIO COAST show at the beginning of this year. What occured wasn't as bad as I remembered, thankfully. After the initial push, there were still a couple of centimeters of personal space around me, which is awesome. (That couple of centimeters of space grew when the people standing behind me realised that I was jumping around and dancing like a maniac.)
The band came on stage and soundchecked for a couple of seconds. Everyone was in their black suits and looking sharp as usual. I had a CLEAR view of the stage :D I CAN FINALLY SEE MARCY!!! Without saying anything, the band launched into "A NEW DAY IS COMIN'". In my previous live report, I keep talking about how I love the positive energy radiating from bands when they perform. THE BAWDIES is the embodiment of energy. Very, very happy energy. I haven't found a band that comes close (TOTALFAT perhaps? Still, THE BAWDIES wins them on happy energy). I guess it also helps a lot to play the kind of songs that they play, but I think that they are also a joy not only to listen, but to watch. The song ended and Roy screamed "WE ARE THE BAWDIESSSSS!!!!" and the very enthusiastic crowd cheered in response. He continued, "Have you guys realised??? The festival has started!!! Are you guys all happy???" Well of COURSE we were, and Roy went "いいな！！" ("That's nice!!") and everyone lol-ed. Jim told everyone that there was some news he wanted to share with us, which was a surprise because they had only just finished playing their first song, and any promotion of CDs and tours were usually done in the middle of the show. Roy, however, didn't let Jim continue and they went into "ANNE" XD
Everyone was singing along during the "woo woo woooooo" parts in the chorus of "JUST BE COOL", and Roy was freestyling away at the growls as usual. It amazes me that he doesn't smoke, and I think that that's a good thing. At this point, I suddenly realised that my calf muscles were sore and cramping a little D: And we were only at song 3. I must have been jumping around so much without even realising it. This is the magic of THE BAWDIES. They have this strange ability to make me do things unconsciously, and only realise it later on when I snap back into reality for a split second and catch myself doing it. For example, I didn't realise that I was grinning really widely as I was singing along to their songs, or even when I wasn't singing. Basically, my face was fixed in a state of something like this -> :) the whole time, and this -> :D when I was singing. But more on their magic later.
Roy opened "SHOW ME UP" with his signature scream, which made the crowd roar in approval. There was a short break after that, and Roy commented on the great enthusiasm he was feeling from the audience. He did the song introduction in the usual Roy-style (i.e. trying to act cool and sound authoritative at the same time), asking if we were feeling the love, and went into "LOVE YOU NEED YOU" (no AI to guest perform this time around though). Halfway through the song, I realised that I was already feeling tired and breathless from all the dancing and jumping around. Mind you, this was only song FIVE, and I was already feeling exactly the same as if I've stood in the mosh for 3/4 of a TOTALFAT show, which is punk D: But then I realised that despite the fact that I was feeling physically spent, my body seemed to be dancing of its own volition, as it my life depended on it, all the while with a huge smile plastered across my face. Have never experienced this in any of the other lives I've been to. THE BAWDIES simply have this magic about them.
Roy did another introduction after that: "Even though we've just started, you're all now hungry. EAT! EAT!! EAT THIS!! IT'S DELICIOUS!!" Before he could finish the last sentence, the crowd already went wild because we all knew what was coming up next :D Yes, "HOT DOG" is such an awesome song to hear live. The band stopped for an MC break after "HOT DOG". Taxman (I think) commented about how today was the final of the first half of their tour (I had thought I had gotten tickets to their tour final, only to see them add a bunch of shows a couple of weeks later). Jim finally got the chance to share with us the piece of news he had mentioned earlier. He said that it was a really important piece of news, and wanted all of us to listen carefully (he said "please cup your ears so that you can hear better!"). The big news was that apparently, about 3 days earlier on, Roy was designated the title of "Leader" and told us to call him by that title from now on, like how people refer to TOKIO's Joushima XD (I was kinda surprised to hear him make the JE reference!) The crowd went "LEADER~~~" and Roy attempted a leader-ish pose, which is basically a ドヤ顔 HAHAHA. Jim told him to stop doing his "leader pose". Roy then changed the subject and talked about how they kicked off the tour in Hokkaido. To get to Hokkaido, they had to take an airplane. Taxman, however, hates airplanes and can never get used to taking them (Taxman: "Yea, totally can't get used to them."). So at the beginning of the flight, the cabin attendants would do a pre-takeoff check, like whether the luggages were all stowed away properly, if the seatbelts were fastened securely, and so on. Then at the end they'd explain the safety procedures and what to do during an emergency. There's this part in the explanation which says that you should put your hands on your head and lean forward on the seat in front of you (Roy did a demonstration, then turned sideways and did it again at Jim's suggestion) in case of an emergency. It was an eventless 2-hour flight, they were about to reach Haneda, and everyone was stoked at the idea of returning to Tokyo. Taxman, however, was totally silent. So that was still fine, but when Roy turned to look at Taxman (and Roy emphasized the fact that this was simply just the airplane landing, with no problems whatsoever), Taxman had assumed the emergency landing position and was leaning on the back of the seat in front of him XD Jim added that he had gotten a shock, because he had actually been asleep, woken to to check if they were landing, and found Taxman in that position. Taxman tried to defend himself: "Yea it's still fine with you guys, you fall asleep and all. The turbulence was terrible. (Roy butted in, going gleefully, "Hurhur, he's awfully particular about turbulence!" -> clearly laughing at the misfortunes of others) It was shaking about a lot." Jim added that Taxman was also really particular about the pilot. Apparently, Taxman will check on the nationality of the pilot (Taxman: "He needs to be a Japanese!"). Jim asked why an American pilot wouldn't do, and Taxman replied that American pilots are "チャラそう" (the only way I can think of to translate this is "superficial" in terms of personality). In order to check the nationality, Taxman always raises his hand to ask the cabin attendants, and Jim said that that actually made Taxman look like the "チャラい" one. Taxman tried to defend himself again my saying that pilots who were foreigners tended to land the airplane really quickly, and went on a exposition about how he'd prefer airplanes to land until Roy finally put an end to all the airplane talk. He tried to link it with the next song: "Well, there are definitely many other times when you all have to take airplanes right? Therefore, you should love your life, and love yourself..." but stopped abruptly, probably because he saw the "HUH??" look people had on their faces, then went "Okay you guys think that this is too far-fetched, right?" Everyone burst out in laughter at his fail, and he continued, "The festival still goes on!! Let's go!!" Probably thinking that this wiped the slate clean, Roy then continued as he had planned, "Why not love yourself??" and announced the next song, "LOVE YOUR LIFE". ROY, 10 POINTS FOR BEING SELF-AWARE! :D
It was unusually silent after "LOVE YOUR LIFE", and you could detect a faint sound in the background, which I realised was the opening to Taxman's song "WHAT A LONELY NIGHT". Realisation dawned upon everyone else too, and the crowd cheered. I can't remember if it was this song or another one, but I think this was where Jim started playing his guitar in a mini-windmill style (for reference, please watch from 0:10 onwards of this video). On second thoughts, maybe he played mini-windmill style for "A NEW DAY IS COMIN'", but I didn't remember it occuring so early in the set. Oh well. Told you my memory is horrible :/
Not learning from his previous failure, Roy tried again, "Is there a Love Man that you love beside you right now??" Not getting much response he went, "Aww you're all lonely people." -_- "BUT IT'S OKAY!!! There are Love Men here!", obviously referring to themselves, no shame at all XD With Roy's usual "COME ON MARCY!!!" they started on "I'M A LOVE MAN". For some reason, every THE BAWDIES live I watch (this year's STUDIO COAST show, and even when I'm not physically present but watching the DVD, like during their tour final at Shibuya AX), they always seem to have a major screw up, though not serious enough to bring the song to a halt, but very noticeable (to me, at least). Today's offender was Taxman. After the second chorus, there's 4 bars of music, then 8 bars of the guitar solo before Roy sings the chorus again. After the 4 bars of music, Taxman started playing something else (it sounded like he was going into the section just before Roy sings the chorus one last time and the song ends), and (although I don't remember what Jim did because I was looking at Taxman and Roy) it seemed like both Jim and Taxman stopped playing and all I could hear was the bass and drums. Roy was going DDD: at Taxman (while still playing the bassline, so much props to him for keeping the song going! Also props to Marcy for keeping the rhythm steady). Taxman finally managed to figure out what was going on, and came into the song properly with the guitar solo during the last 3 bars of the section.
Another MC break after "I'M A LOVE MAN". There was a very loud male voice which went "MARCY!!!!" and a couple of female voices followed. Roy shouted into the microphone in mock anger, "MARCYはダメ！！！" ("DON'T SHOUT FOR "MARCY"!!!"). Of course, everyone just laughed, ignored him, and continued shouting for Marcy. Marcy took the microphone and went, "THANK YOU!!!" and Roy shouted in response, "NOOOO STOP!!!!", to which Jim commented on how people like that weren't qualified to be the leader of the band. A couple of people relented, and started calling "Leader~~" but it was noticeably softer than the ones calling for Marcy XD Roy did his "leader pose" again, and started relating to us Marcy's fail stories. One of the stories was the same one he told us during the JUST BE COOL show at STUDIO COAST (I'm going to copy and paste it here). I'm not sure if it's a culture thing, but if you guys remember the finger game you play as kids (we played it back in Singapore, and apparently I just found out that they do play it here as well)? Where you each hold out two fingers in front of you (one on each hand) to start the game? For the clueless, here's a link. Anyway, Roy tried to play the game with Marcy and held his fingers out... and Marcy grabbed his finger. After the story, Taxman started jamming away on the guitar (think it was some bossa nova tune). The audience started clapping to the tune and Roy played along for awhile: "How are you guys doing? It's tea time! Today, it's the "roll" in rock and roll, not soul." before finally shouting, "STOP IT. WHY DO YOU DO THIS EVERY TIME???" More exchanges went on, and Jim went, "Let me play my favourite tune too." Roy refused the offer to join in, but Jim started strumming away anyway. It was one of those spanish bullfighting guitar riffs you hear, and I don't know how exactly to describe it. The closest I found was this video on Youtube. It's the same chords, but just strummed 3 times more rapidly. Despite previously refusing to join in, Roy still shouted "OLE!!!" into the microphone at the end of Jim's riff (though it came out sounding more like "OYEA!!!" instead) XD This was done twice, and then Roy, gleeful at getting any chance to bully Marcy, directed everyone's attention to him to get him to do the "OLE!!!" shout. Marcy grumbled, but had no choice but to do it (his sounded like "O-LE!!!", like he was trying to pronounce it clearly). Roy commented on how it sounded like Marcy was scowling (like he was making a "HRNNN" face) while doing it. The members all went "OLE!!" among themselves a couple of times more (lol they all just want to say the word), Roy did the introduction to the next song in his usual (kinda fail) way, and they played "THANKS BILL".
"THANKS BILL" was a welcome break, since it was the first slow song since the show started. I especially love Jim's guitar parts during the chorus. It makes its presence felt, but doesn't stick out too much in a bad way, and gives the song a nostalgic feel. Also, since it's a slower song, without that much musical accompaniment, you get to soak in and feel Roy's voice wash over you. After "BITTER BUTTER", Roy talked about how this happy moment was going to continue. And then he talked about how this was not the time to keep the "brassiere of your heart" on, and mimicked the action of taking off a bra, holding it above his head by the strap, swinging it around in circles, and then finally tossing it into the audience. I facepalmed, while some people laughed (and I really meant "some" because it wasn't the usual explosion of laughter from the crowd). WTF, Roy. What is this new bad habit of talking about taking off your underwear??? -_-
Another MC break after "KEEP YOU HAPPY". This was another one of Roy's "LET'S TALK ABOUT MARCY'S FAIL MOMENTS!" MC XD Recounting the earlier Marcy fail episode had made him remember another. So the band was commuting between shows via shinkansen. Marcy was sitting beside Roy, and no one was saying anything (he says that the band felt like family, so they were already at the stage where they could be comfortable around each other even though everyone was silent). Despite how everyone says Marcy is "cute", he likes to act "cool" around others, so he was slumped in his seat beside Roy with his hands stuffed in his pockets, staring straight ahead with a vaguely smug expression on his face (Roy re-enacted the scene). Roy didn't bother commenting to Marcy about his "attitude" pose since he was sleepy, and closed his eyes to take a nap. Then, the rustling began as Marcy hunted around in his bag for something. Being unable to find it, Marcy then started rummaging through Roy's bag, took out Roy's wax, and started styling his hair (all this while not bothering to ask for Roy's permission). Roy thought of pointing it out to Marcy that he should have asked for permission first, but decided to let it through since he was sleepy. Marcy, however, continued exhibiting bad boy behaviour, like turning the volume of his earphones up so loud that Roy could hear them. And then at the point of time when Roy was debating with himself whether or not he should talk to Marcy about it, Marcy decided that he wanted to lower the backrest of his reclining seat, pressed the button... and Roy's seat fell backwards XDDD OH MARCY, WHY SO FAIL??? Roy then asked Marcy how it had even occured to him to press the button on the other side of the handrest since it was difficult to press, and Marcy replied, "It was how I was feeling at that point of time!" Jim was lol-ing at the side the whole time, and said that he loved this story since it clearly showed both Roy's and Marcy's characters. Roy then shouted "Come on!" to which the audience answered with "MARCY~~!", and Marcy, in his usual fashion, politely went "Thank you." Marcy was supposedly more suppressed (this is NOT the word I'm looking for, but it's the only one that comes to mind :( Will edit when I can finally recall the word I want to use) today since he said that he had overexerted himself at yesterday's show. However, halfway as he was speaking, Taxman strummed on his guitar a little and Marcy immediately shot Taxman a dirty look and told him off for being noisy. Why so bad boy, Marcy? D: Marcy thanked everyone and told us to enjoy ourselves. Everyone, however, looked at him like they were expecting him to say more, and he went, "Isn't it enough??? Give me a break... I have nothing else to say." Jim then turned to the audience and said, "Let me pick up from where he left off." ("フォローやりまーす。"). Jim told the audience that Marcy was someone with a beautiful heart, and was a kind person. He is just bad with dealing with situations where the attention is suddenly turned to him without warning, and tends to respond in a gruff way. However, once the band returns to the dressing room after shows, he'd feel guilty and wonder if he had been too strong with his words onstage. Everybody say "AWWWWW" <3 Roy cut in and said that that was probably because Marcy is shy by nature, and recounted something which happened the previous day. It was about 15 minutes before the show was due to start, and Roy was resting in the dressing room with his eyes closed, concentrating on the show. Suddenly, he heard someone saying "Don't move!!!" and he opened his eyes to see Jim standing in the doorway half-naked, with his hands in the shape of a gun. It didn't take long before he heard another voice going "waaaaaaaa" and Marcy appeared, fully(?) naked and pretending to be a zombie HAHAHA. Apparently, they were enacting a scene out of Biohazard (a zombie shooter, better known in the West as Resident Evil), and Marcy couldn't refuse the request for him to be the zombie when Jim asked if anyone had wanted to play with him, being the kind-hearted boy he was. It was 15 minutes before the show, and the staff saw them fooling around and exasperatedly told them "PLEASE CHANGE INTO YOUR OUTFITS ALREADY!" so they changed and had to go out onto stage immediately XD I love it how they're all really just big kids at heart. I don't see any other band playing around and doing as random stuff as these boys. Even if they do, they probably hide it so as to maintain the "cool" image, but I think it's these little episodes that brings the band closer to their fans. It makes them feel human, like they are one of your friends, not some cool rocker who's to be admired from afar.
During "KEEP ON ROCKIN'", there was the usual segment where the audience would clap the beat and all the instruments except the drums would stop playing. It stretched for pretty long, and my arms were dying, but it didn't even occur to me to stop because I felt like I wanted to be part of the action. Then there was also the usual part where for two bars, even the drums would stop playing, and let the audience sustain the rhythm with their clapping. After that, there was the "HEY!! OH!!" part where the audience would echo after Roy. Jim held out the microphone stand and directed it towards the audience, though it wasn't like we needed any encouragement to shout XD After "KEEP ON ROCKIN'" was "YEAH", which is one of my favourite songs off the new album. I like it because I think it sounds pretty distinct from all the other songs off the new album as it has a strong, funky groove.
Roy began introducing the next song by talking about how life's not always full of happy things (and other stuff which I didn't really catch), about how if we look at it from another angle, it was great because it means that we have had happy things occur to us before. So we shouldn't run away from it, and instead embrace it and continue moving forward in life. The song he introduced was "SAD SONG". This also served as a breather after the energetic and dancey ones which preceded it. I think Roy's voice shines in this song, because it has this slightly sorrowful and emotional edge to it, especially during the chorus. There was a really beautiful moment during this song, when they activated the mirrorball during the bridge part of the song where it's just Roy's vocals and the plucking of the guitar in the background. Up until now, I had just been smiling wistfully and moving my head to the music (unlike most of the people around me who were completely still. I do not comprehend this). But the moment the mirrorball got activated and the song was stripped down to just Roy's voice and minimum guitar, it made me feel like crying (and I nearly did) because his voice just hits straight at you and tugs at your heartstrings. It's a song about heartbreak from being dumped by a girlfriend, and the lyrics going "Don't leave me. Don't leave me alone. Don't make me cry" at that exact moment, that desperate plea (and you could hear it in Roy's voice), was very heartbreaking. There'd be gaps of silence near the end at the song slowed down, and in that silence, you could hear Roy sniffing slightly. I'm sure he wasn't crying but it did add a sorrowful air to the song. Sorry for going on so much about this one song. THE BAWDIES are great performers and full of passion and energy, but I thought it was awesome that they were versatile enough to be able to create Beautiful Moments during their show as well.
From the bittersweet and nostalgic atmosphere of "SAD SONG", the band then moved the crowd back into happy mode with the next song. Roy asked if we were all doing fine, and told us to take out our "soul juice" (whatever that is haha). He then talked about love again (think he's talked about this 3 times??) and told us to shout it out loud, that it was alright to live for the sake of love. This introduced the next song, "I'm In Love With You". I love the drumbeat to this one, and it takes you back to a very 60's high school dance hall kinda setting. Jim playing the guitar, smiling, and singing along also made me smile. It's nice to see musicians enjoying themselves on stage, that they're not just performing for the audience, but also for themselves :)
"I'm In Love With You" transited directly into "B.P.B", and there was suddenly much pushing from the people behind. I wasn't prepared for it, and was temporarily winded by the barrier smacking into my stomach. Well, it IS an energetic song, but still... :/ It was at this point in time that I realised that I was no longer standing at a position where Jim was directly in front of me, but I was looking straight at the speakers at the side of the stage. Hadn't even noticed that I had been pushed all the way to the side. I also realised that "I can see Roy and Jim 70% of the time", it had become "I cannot see anyone unless I try REALLY hard". It was pretty much a revelation, because one of the factors for me to enjoy lives was being able to see the band, their smiles, and how they jumped around on stage. But then here I was, being unable to see the band, yet still enjoying myself and not even realising that I was unable to see the band at all. Randomly looked up the second floor to see a phtographer with blonde hair standing there. Somehow recognised him as Hashimoto Rui, even though I had never seen a picture of him before heh.
Roy asked if we were still able to go on, and went "You guys respond too slowly!!" which was obviously going to lead into "IT'S TOO LATE". However, they couldn't start because Jim's guitar tech was still fiddling around with his guitar (it apparently needed tuning). Not letting the opportunity slip by, Roy asked, "Is it too late? Jim, is it TOO LATE??" and Jim answered with, "It's NOT TOO LATE!" which is, really, the only thing he could say in that situation^^;; After "IT'S TOO LATE", Roy started on his pervy talks about underwear and being (figuratively) naked by asking if our hearts were naked. There weren't too many replies to his question, only a few random enthusiastic I WILL HAVE YOUR BABIEZZZZ fangirls going "YEA!!!" One would have thought that he'd have realised by now that this was probably a bad idea -_- Though at that point of time he obviously hadn't, and told the crowd (well, the girls I suppose) to remove the panty stockings and garter belts from their hearts. At least this time around, the band realised that there were males in the audience as well, and (I think) Jim told the guys to take out the dicks of their hearts -_- Second facepalm moment of the show. Jim... I had expected better of you. VERY DISAPPOINT, I AM. But ah well, boys will be boys.
There was a drum solo during "YOU GOTTA DANCE" where Marcy went crazy on the drums. Wasn't expected, and it was a refreshing addition, rather than just playing the song straight off the record. The crowd also started pushing during this song, and I decided to push back against the girl beside me, in hopes that she would either move more to the left, or at least maintain at her current position, so that I wouldn't get shifted even more towards the side of the floor. They played "I Beg You", the whole band did 90-degree bows, and left the stage.
After about 4 minutes of clapping (in which I had somehow managed to shift back nearer to my initial location), the crew turned on the stagelights for the encore, and Marcy walked onto the stage alone. He went up to Roy's microphone and went "Yeah!!" The crowd responded with an enthusiastic "YEA!!!" and then awkward silence descended upon the stage as Marcy looked flustered and kept glancing over to (I suppose) the rest of his band members standing at the side. Nervous laughter on his part, and he thought for awhile before saying that today's show marked the end of the first half of the tour, and that he hoped that we were enjoying ourselves to the fullest. The rest of the band took pity on him and came out. Roy thanked the crowd and said something about Marcy doing a "victory pose" while walking towards the drums, but I couldn't catch exactly what he said because my Japanese is fail like that. People in the crowd (read: fangirls) started shouting "LEADER~~~" and Roy turned around and went "YES??" It was very amusing. With Roy's "COME ON MARCY!!!" Marcy started hitting out the forceful opening bars to "EMOTION POTION". There's a part in the song before the final chorus where Roy does the growly scream. The band stopped playing, and the band members took turns to scream (without using the microphone, so the crowd had to keep absolutely silent during this part). First up was Jim, who went "WAAAAAAAA!!!!", followed by Taxman who had a higher pitched "WAAAAAAA!!!" compared to Jim, and then everyone turned to Marcy and started calling for him to scream as well, which he did and stood up behind his drums in preparation. Except that his was "AAAAAHHHHH~~~!!!!" and he sounded like a TOTAL GIRL who was going into hysterics when put in front of her favourite idol XD Then everyone called for LEADER, who did the "leader pose" (Jim: "Stop making that pose!") and growly-screamed into the microphone. The song didn't continue, however, and Roy was like "Why not you guys do it too!" So we screamed, Roy sang "I keep reaching for you", and the band kicked into the song again.
"Let's end this tightly, shall we?" went Roy (and he said something else as well, which went along the lines of tightening your asshole close. It sounded alright during the live, but horrible when I write it here -_-). He volunteered Jim to shake his butt (well, Jim's always the one doing it anyway), so Jim climbed on top of the speakers in front of my side, bent forward, and stuck his ass out at the crowd as much as he could without losing his balance. Let's just say that his pants were very tight, and it wouldn't have been a nice sight if they had split at that very moment hahaha. I was VERY TEMPTED to take a photo since it was in VERY CLEAR VIEW. But oh my god it would be so obvious because my entire area was very brightly lit by the stage lights which were focused on Jim. SIGH T_T Jim shouted, "I'll put all our feelings of gratitude in my butt!!!" ("感謝の気持ちをお尻に込めます！！！"), and swayed his butt according to the notes he played. Then he started on the guitar riff introduction to "Shake Your Hips" and the rest of the band joined in.
This was the last song for the night, and the band bowed deeply before assembling at the front of the stage. Taxman reached out and grabbed Roy's forearm, but Roy immediately shook him off and slapped him (WTF????), and everyone went "WHAAAAA?????" Taxman looked like he was about to cry, and turned to his right to be hugged and patted on the head by Jim. I have the feeling that Marcy patted Roy's back, but I don't really remember it :/ Anyway, the band members joined hands and bowed to the audience. Taxman thanked everyone for coming today, and said that they'd be starting on the second half from now on, ending with their tour final in Nihon Budoukan. "And lastly, we'd like to end off with our usual WASSHOI!", he continued, "ONE, TWO... WASSHOIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!" Everyone in the crowd raised their hands and went, "WASSHOIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!" too, and the band thanked everyone, threw memorabilia like picks and drumsticks into the crowd (none got thrown as far as my area, as usual, though I think Jim tried and failed) and the band left the stage.
Went to the lockers to pick up my stuff. I was completely drenched (was already like that less than halfway through the show, really) but decided not to change into my new shirt.
The loot! Picked up the Zepp water bottle strap because it was lying in the floor for ages and no one claimed it. Well, I tried. Shall wear the shirt to the tour final and hope they don't come up with a new final-only shirt.
If you made it here, congrats for making it through the whole wall of text!! Hope you had as much fun reading as I enjoyed writing it. Thought that I'd never reach the end haha.
Honestly, I don't remember that much from the live. I realised halfway through that I wasn't conscious of what I was doing at all. I was dancing and jumping and singing without consciously telling myself to do those things. I didn't know where I was, and I think that if you had asked me for my name at that point in time, I'd have to think for awhile before giving you a reply. I was already physically tired from song 5 onwards, but it didn't strike me at all to hold back. And the whole time, I was doing all this with a permanent smile on my face, even during the MCs (I realised in the middle of the show that my cheeks hurt a little, but then quickly forgot all about it). Such is the magic of THE BAWDIES.
If you're into rock and roll, do yourself a favour and check them out live if you have the opportunity to do so. They are the best live act that I've watched in Japan so far, and I'm confident that they'll remain within my top 3 live acts. It's not just about how good the music is, but these boys are a joy to watch because they play their hearts out on stage. You can feel that they really love what they do from the energy and passion they show. Yet despite being up there on stage with the audience down on the floor, you feel like you're just watching your friends rock it out at a school festival. They may be uncool with occasional fail moments and pull pranks on each other all the time, but they embrace all that. And that, I think, is precisely what makes them cool.
Next live: 2011/07/27 - SOUND SHOOTER Vol. 6 - the HIATUS, THE BAWDIES, etc. | 新木場STUDIO COAST
THE BAWDIES' ONE MAN AT ZEPP TOKYO.
Just a warning before I start that I'm probably going to sound crazed and high and fangirly throughout the entire report, because I really was crazed and high (not fangirly though, thank god) throughout the entire show.
Yea, I guess it's possible that 800+ other fans ran to their nearest Lawsons to pay for their ticket in the one hour or so it took me to go downstairs to pay for my ticket. Oh well. At any rate, still better than my B150 ticket the last time around for their STUDIO COAST leg of the JUST BE COOL tour final at the beginning of year. Also excited because it's going to be my second time to Zepp Tokyo! First time I was there was 9 months ago, for last year's CATCH ALL SHOW. That was the very first live I attended in Japan :)
People were already queuing for goods when I arrived around 4.10pm (goods starting selling at 4pm). They were giving out the custom made plastic bags if you spent above 3,000yen. I decided that I'd be fine because I had intended to buy the Hashimoto Rui photobook (only sold at the live venues) which was 1,800yen, and 3 rolls of craft tape (two were for friends) which were 500yen each. Hadn't intended to buy the tshirt, just in case they came up with a tour-final exclusive shirt to be sold at Budoukan in November (highly likely), and I didn't want to buy two shirts. HOWEVER. I had a heartbreak moment when I reached the front of the queue and was told that the photobooks were SOLD OUT. AT 4.20PM. TWO PEOPLE AHEAD OF ME. WHY OH WHY DID I NOT SWITCH TO THE SHORTEST QUEUE INSTEAD OF BEING NICE AND ORDERLY AND STOOD IN MY DESIGNATED LINE. BRB, REPENTING FOREVER. Now I have to fight with everyone at Budoukan for it (if they do sell it at the venue, that is). And so... I ended up buying the tour shirt. Sigh. Went to dump my stuff in the lockers in sadness and waited to enter the livehouse. (EDIT: Was browsing their website and it turns out that the goods started selling from 3pm D: SIGH. No wonder the photobook was sold out. FAIL, SELF.)
Because the boys are getting more popular, they get more and more bouquets! Including this one from Tower Records.
The stage! I got a nice spot at the third barrier (had initially thought that it was the second since it did seem close enough to the stage). There was enough space for 3/4 of a person between two girls, and learning from previous experience, if I just stood there and watched, some other daring person would just cut in front of me and take up the space. So I stood near enough and rested my hands on the barrier. Very soon, the girl on the left shifted to the left and I got my space at the barrier on the Jim side :D Not bad for ticket A878!! :DDD Two people on my right were talking about how someone was selling recordings of THE BAWDIES live, and the girl was going "OMG I CANNOT BELIEVE SOMEONE WOULD DO SUCH A THING." Cough (well I don't sell them because it's wrong, but I need material to write my live reports since my brain is like a sieve :/)
Setlist
01. A NEW DAY IS COMIN
02. ANNE
03. JUST BE COOL
04. SHOW ME UP
05. LOVE YOU NEED YOU feat. AI
06. HOT DOG
MC
07. LOVE YOUR LIFE
08. WHAT A LONELY NIGHT
09. I'M A LOVE MAN
MC
10. THANKS BILL
11. BITTER BUTTER
12. KEEP YOU HAPPY
MC
13. KEEP ON ROCKIN'
14. YEAH
15. SAD SONG
16. I'm In Love With You
17. B.P.B
18. IT'S TOO LATE
19. YOU GOTTA DANCE
20. I Beg You
ENCORE
MC
EN01. EMOTION POTION
EN02. Shake Your Hips
You know how they always play music before the band comes on? The song ended and there was silence for awhile. Everyone around me (including me) was going "OMG IT'S STARTINGGGGGGG"... only to hear another song start playing over the speakers half a minute later. So alright, false alarm. There were another 15 seconds of silence after the next song stopped playing... And then they put yet another song over the speakers. STOP TEASING US. IT IS BAD FOR THE HEART, YO. ANTICIPATION CAN KILL. And then in the middle of the third song, they suddenly cut both the lights and the song without warning. And that was when we knew that the magic was about to begin.
The usual opening SE played ("Soul Man" by Sam & Dave), and the whole audience clapped along. The people to my left and right slipped under the barrier and joined the section in front. I considered following them, but figured that I'd like the comfort of the barrier. Would rather be squashed against the barrier than be shoved around like a rag doll in front. Had anticipated The Great Push, which was what really caught me by surprise during their STUDIO COAST show at the beginning of this year. What occured wasn't as bad as I remembered, thankfully. After the initial push, there were still a couple of centimeters of personal space around me, which is awesome. (That couple of centimeters of space grew when the people standing behind me realised that I was jumping around and dancing like a maniac.)
The band came on stage and soundchecked for a couple of seconds. Everyone was in their black suits and looking sharp as usual. I had a CLEAR view of the stage :D I CAN FINALLY SEE MARCY!!! Without saying anything, the band launched into "A NEW DAY IS COMIN'". In my previous live report, I keep talking about how I love the positive energy radiating from bands when they perform. THE BAWDIES is the embodiment of energy. Very, very happy energy. I haven't found a band that comes close (TOTALFAT perhaps? Still, THE BAWDIES wins them on happy energy). I guess it also helps a lot to play the kind of songs that they play, but I think that they are also a joy not only to listen, but to watch. The song ended and Roy screamed "WE ARE THE BAWDIESSSSS!!!!" and the very enthusiastic crowd cheered in response. He continued, "Have you guys realised??? The festival has started!!! Are you guys all happy???" Well of COURSE we were, and Roy went "いいな！！" ("That's nice!!") and everyone lol-ed. Jim told everyone that there was some news he wanted to share with us, which was a surprise because they had only just finished playing their first song, and any promotion of CDs and tours were usually done in the middle of the show. Roy, however, didn't let Jim continue and they went into "ANNE" XD
Everyone was singing along during the "woo woo woooooo" parts in the chorus of "JUST BE COOL", and Roy was freestyling away at the growls as usual. It amazes me that he doesn't smoke, and I think that that's a good thing. At this point, I suddenly realised that my calf muscles were sore and cramping a little D: And we were only at song 3. I must have been jumping around so much without even realising it. This is the magic of THE BAWDIES. They have this strange ability to make me do things unconsciously, and only realise it later on when I snap back into reality for a split second and catch myself doing it. For example, I didn't realise that I was grinning really widely as I was singing along to their songs, or even when I wasn't singing. Basically, my face was fixed in a state of something like this -> :) the whole time, and this -> :D when I was singing. But more on their magic later.
Roy opened "SHOW ME UP" with his signature scream, which made the crowd roar in approval. There was a short break after that, and Roy commented on the great enthusiasm he was feeling from the audience. He did the song introduction in the usual Roy-style (i.e. trying to act cool and sound authoritative at the same time), asking if we were feeling the love, and went into "LOVE YOU NEED YOU" (no AI to guest perform this time around though). Halfway through the song, I realised that I was already feeling tired and breathless from all the dancing and jumping around. Mind you, this was only song FIVE, and I was already feeling exactly the same as if I've stood in the mosh for 3/4 of a TOTALFAT show, which is punk D: But then I realised that despite the fact that I was feeling physically spent, my body seemed to be dancing of its own volition, as it my life depended on it, all the while with a huge smile plastered across my face. Have never experienced this in any of the other lives I've been to. THE BAWDIES simply have this magic about them.
Roy did another introduction after that: "Even though we've just started, you're all now hungry. EAT! EAT!! EAT THIS!! IT'S DELICIOUS!!" Before he could finish the last sentence, the crowd already went wild because we all knew what was coming up next :D Yes, "HOT DOG" is such an awesome song to hear live. The band stopped for an MC break after "HOT DOG". Taxman (I think) commented about how today was the final of the first half of their tour (I had thought I had gotten tickets to their tour final, only to see them add a bunch of shows a couple of weeks later). Jim finally got the chance to share with us the piece of news he had mentioned earlier. He said that it was a really important piece of news, and wanted all of us to listen carefully (he said "please cup your ears so that you can hear better!"). The big news was that apparently, about 3 days earlier on, Roy was designated the title of "Leader" and told us to call him by that title from now on, like how people refer to TOKIO's Joushima XD (I was kinda surprised to hear him make the JE reference!) The crowd went "LEADER~~~" and Roy attempted a leader-ish pose, which is basically a ドヤ顔 HAHAHA. Jim told him to stop doing his "leader pose". Roy then changed the subject and talked about how they kicked off the tour in Hokkaido. To get to Hokkaido, they had to take an airplane. Taxman, however, hates airplanes and can never get used to taking them (Taxman: "Yea, totally can't get used to them."). So at the beginning of the flight, the cabin attendants would do a pre-takeoff check, like whether the luggages were all stowed away properly, if the seatbelts were fastened securely, and so on. Then at the end they'd explain the safety procedures and what to do during an emergency. There's this part in the explanation which says that you should put your hands on your head and lean forward on the seat in front of you (Roy did a demonstration, then turned sideways and did it again at Jim's suggestion) in case of an emergency. It was an eventless 2-hour flight, they were about to reach Haneda, and everyone was stoked at the idea of returning to Tokyo. Taxman, however, was totally silent. So that was still fine, but when Roy turned to look at Taxman (and Roy emphasized the fact that this was simply just the airplane landing, with no problems whatsoever), Taxman had assumed the emergency landing position and was leaning on the back of the seat in front of him XD Jim added that he had gotten a shock, because he had actually been asleep, woken to to check if they were landing, and found Taxman in that position. Taxman tried to defend himself: "Yea it's still fine with you guys, you fall asleep and all. The turbulence was terrible. (Roy butted in, going gleefully, "Hurhur, he's awfully particular about turbulence!" -> clearly laughing at the misfortunes of others) It was shaking about a lot." Jim added that Taxman was also really particular about the pilot. Apparently, Taxman will check on the nationality of the pilot (Taxman: "He needs to be a Japanese!"). Jim asked why an American pilot wouldn't do, and Taxman replied that American pilots are "チャラそう" (the only way I can think of to translate this is "superficial" in terms of personality). In order to check the nationality, Taxman always raises his hand to ask the cabin attendants, and Jim said that that actually made Taxman look like the "チャラい" one. Taxman tried to defend himself again my saying that pilots who were foreigners tended to land the airplane really quickly, and went on a exposition about how he'd prefer airplanes to land until Roy finally put an end to all the airplane talk. He tried to link it with the next song: "Well, there are definitely many other times when you all have to take airplanes right? Therefore, you should love your life, and love yourself..." but stopped abruptly, probably because he saw the "HUH??" look people had on their faces, then went "Okay you guys think that this is too far-fetched, right?" Everyone burst out in laughter at his fail, and he continued, "The festival still goes on!! Let's go!!" Probably thinking that this wiped the slate clean, Roy then continued as he had planned, "Why not love yourself??" and announced the next song, "LOVE YOUR LIFE". ROY, 10 POINTS FOR BEING SELF-AWARE! :D
It was unusually silent after "LOVE YOUR LIFE", and you could detect a faint sound in the background, which I realised was the opening to Taxman's song "WHAT A LONELY NIGHT". Realisation dawned upon everyone else too, and the crowd cheered. I can't remember if it was this song or another one, but I think this was where Jim started playing his guitar in a mini-windmill style (for reference, please watch from 0:10 onwards of this video). On second thoughts, maybe he played mini-windmill style for "A NEW DAY IS COMIN'", but I didn't remember it occuring so early in the set. Oh well. Told you my memory is horrible :/
Not learning from his previous failure, Roy tried again, "Is there a Love Man that you love beside you right now??" Not getting much response he went, "Aww you're all lonely people." -_- "BUT IT'S OKAY!!! There are Love Men here!", obviously referring to themselves, no shame at all XD With Roy's usual "COME ON MARCY!!!" they started on "I'M A LOVE MAN". For some reason, every THE BAWDIES live I watch (this year's STUDIO COAST show, and even when I'm not physically present but watching the DVD, like during their tour final at Shibuya AX), they always seem to have a major screw up, though not serious enough to bring the song to a halt, but very noticeable (to me, at least). Today's offender was Taxman. After the second chorus, there's 4 bars of music, then 8 bars of the guitar solo before Roy sings the chorus again. After the 4 bars of music, Taxman started playing something else (it sounded like he was going into the section just before Roy sings the chorus one last time and the song ends), and (although I don't remember what Jim did because I was looking at Taxman and Roy) it seemed like both Jim and Taxman stopped playing and all I could hear was the bass and drums. Roy was going DDD: at Taxman (while still playing the bassline, so much props to him for keeping the song going! Also props to Marcy for keeping the rhythm steady). Taxman finally managed to figure out what was going on, and came into the song properly with the guitar solo during the last 3 bars of the section.
Another MC break after "I'M A LOVE MAN". There was a very loud male voice which went "MARCY!!!!" and a couple of female voices followed. Roy shouted into the microphone in mock anger, "MARCYはダメ！！！" ("DON'T SHOUT FOR "MARCY"!!!"). Of course, everyone just laughed, ignored him, and continued shouting for Marcy. Marcy took the microphone and went, "THANK YOU!!!" and Roy shouted in response, "NOOOO STOP!!!!", to which Jim commented on how people like that weren't qualified to be the leader of the band. A couple of people relented, and started calling "Leader~~" but it was noticeably softer than the ones calling for Marcy XD Roy did his "leader pose" again, and started relating to us Marcy's fail stories. One of the stories was the same one he told us during the JUST BE COOL show at STUDIO COAST (I'm going to copy and paste it here). I'm not sure if it's a culture thing, but if you guys remember the finger game you play as kids (we played it back in Singapore, and apparently I just found out that they do play it here as well)? Where you each hold out two fingers in front of you (one on each hand) to start the game? For the clueless, here's a link. Anyway, Roy tried to play the game with Marcy and held his fingers out... and Marcy grabbed his finger. After the story, Taxman started jamming away on the guitar (think it was some bossa nova tune). The audience started clapping to the tune and Roy played along for awhile: "How are you guys doing? It's tea time! Today, it's the "roll" in rock and roll, not soul." before finally shouting, "STOP IT. WHY DO YOU DO THIS EVERY TIME???" More exchanges went on, and Jim went, "Let me play my favourite tune too." Roy refused the offer to join in, but Jim started strumming away anyway. It was one of those spanish bullfighting guitar riffs you hear, and I don't know how exactly to describe it. The closest I found was this video on Youtube. It's the same chords, but just strummed 3 times more rapidly. Despite previously refusing to join in, Roy still shouted "OLE!!!" into the microphone at the end of Jim's riff (though it came out sounding more like "OYEA!!!" instead) XD This was done twice, and then Roy, gleeful at getting any chance to bully Marcy, directed everyone's attention to him to get him to do the "OLE!!!" shout. Marcy grumbled, but had no choice but to do it (his sounded like "O-LE!!!", like he was trying to pronounce it clearly). Roy commented on how it sounded like Marcy was scowling (like he was making a "HRNNN" face) while doing it. The members all went "OLE!!" among themselves a couple of times more (lol they all just want to say the word), Roy did the introduction to the next song in his usual (kinda fail) way, and they played "THANKS BILL".
"THANKS BILL" was a welcome break, since it was the first slow song since the show started. I especially love Jim's guitar parts during the chorus. It makes its presence felt, but doesn't stick out too much in a bad way, and gives the song a nostalgic feel. Also, since it's a slower song, without that much musical accompaniment, you get to soak in and feel Roy's voice wash over you. After "BITTER BUTTER", Roy talked about how this happy moment was going to continue. And then he talked about how this was not the time to keep the "brassiere of your heart" on, and mimicked the action of taking off a bra, holding it above his head by the strap, swinging it around in circles, and then finally tossing it into the audience. I facepalmed, while some people laughed (and I really meant "some" because it wasn't the usual explosion of laughter from the crowd). WTF, Roy. What is this new bad habit of talking about taking off your underwear??? -_-
Another MC break after "KEEP YOU HAPPY". This was another one of Roy's "LET'S TALK ABOUT MARCY'S FAIL MOMENTS!" MC XD Recounting the earlier Marcy fail episode had made him remember another. So the band was commuting between shows via shinkansen. Marcy was sitting beside Roy, and no one was saying anything (he says that the band felt like family, so they were already at the stage where they could be comfortable around each other even though everyone was silent). Despite how everyone says Marcy is "cute", he likes to act "cool" around others, so he was slumped in his seat beside Roy with his hands stuffed in his pockets, staring straight ahead with a vaguely smug expression on his face (Roy re-enacted the scene). Roy didn't bother commenting to Marcy about his "attitude" pose since he was sleepy, and closed his eyes to take a nap. Then, the rustling began as Marcy hunted around in his bag for something. Being unable to find it, Marcy then started rummaging through Roy's bag, took out Roy's wax, and started styling his hair (all this while not bothering to ask for Roy's permission). Roy thought of pointing it out to Marcy that he should have asked for permission first, but decided to let it through since he was sleepy. Marcy, however, continued exhibiting bad boy behaviour, like turning the volume of his earphones up so loud that Roy could hear them. And then at the point of time when Roy was debating with himself whether or not he should talk to Marcy about it, Marcy decided that he wanted to lower the backrest of his reclining seat, pressed the button... and Roy's seat fell backwards XDDD OH MARCY, WHY SO FAIL??? Roy then asked Marcy how it had even occured to him to press the button on the other side of the handrest since it was difficult to press, and Marcy replied, "It was how I was feeling at that point of time!" Jim was lol-ing at the side the whole time, and said that he loved this story since it clearly showed both Roy's and Marcy's characters. Roy then shouted "Come on!" to which the audience answered with "MARCY~~!", and Marcy, in his usual fashion, politely went "Thank you." Marcy was supposedly more suppressed (this is NOT the word I'm looking for, but it's the only one that comes to mind :( Will edit when I can finally recall the word I want to use) today since he said that he had overexerted himself at yesterday's show. However, halfway as he was speaking, Taxman strummed on his guitar a little and Marcy immediately shot Taxman a dirty look and told him off for being noisy. Why so bad boy, Marcy? D: Marcy thanked everyone and told us to enjoy ourselves. Everyone, however, looked at him like they were expecting him to say more, and he went, "Isn't it enough??? Give me a break... I have nothing else to say." Jim then turned to the audience and said, "Let me pick up from where he left off." ("フォローやりまーす。"). Jim told the audience that Marcy was someone with a beautiful heart, and was a kind person. He is just bad with dealing with situations where the attention is suddenly turned to him without warning, and tends to respond in a gruff way. However, once the band returns to the dressing room after shows, he'd feel guilty and wonder if he had been too strong with his words onstage. Everybody say "AWWWWW" <3 Roy cut in and said that that was probably because Marcy is shy by nature, and recounted something which happened the previous day. It was about 15 minutes before the show was due to start, and Roy was resting in the dressing room with his eyes closed, concentrating on the show. Suddenly, he heard someone saying "Don't move!!!" and he opened his eyes to see Jim standing in the doorway half-naked, with his hands in the shape of a gun. It didn't take long before he heard another voice going "waaaaaaaa" and Marcy appeared, fully(?) naked and pretending to be a zombie HAHAHA. Apparently, they were enacting a scene out of Biohazard (a zombie shooter, better known in the West as Resident Evil), and Marcy couldn't refuse the request for him to be the zombie when Jim asked if anyone had wanted to play with him, being the kind-hearted boy he was. It was 15 minutes before the show, and the staff saw them fooling around and exasperatedly told them "PLEASE CHANGE INTO YOUR OUTFITS ALREADY!" so they changed and had to go out onto stage immediately XD I love it how they're all really just big kids at heart. I don't see any other band playing around and doing as random stuff as these boys. Even if they do, they probably hide it so as to maintain the "cool" image, but I think it's these little episodes that brings the band closer to their fans. It makes them feel human, like they are one of your friends, not some cool rocker who's to be admired from afar.
During "KEEP ON ROCKIN'", there was the usual segment where the audience would clap the beat and all the instruments except the drums would stop playing. It stretched for pretty long, and my arms were dying, but it didn't even occur to me to stop because I felt like I wanted to be part of the action. Then there was also the usual part where for two bars, even the drums would stop playing, and let the audience sustain the rhythm with their clapping. After that, there was the "HEY!! OH!!" part where the audience would echo after Roy. Jim held out the microphone stand and directed it towards the audience, though it wasn't like we needed any encouragement to shout XD After "KEEP ON ROCKIN'" was "YEAH", which is one of my favourite songs off the new album. I like it because I think it sounds pretty distinct from all the other songs off the new album as it has a strong, funky groove.
Roy began introducing the next song by talking about how life's not always full of happy things (and other stuff which I didn't really catch), about how if we look at it from another angle, it was great because it means that we have had happy things occur to us before. So we shouldn't run away from it, and instead embrace it and continue moving forward in life. The song he introduced was "SAD SONG". This also served as a breather after the energetic and dancey ones which preceded it. I think Roy's voice shines in this song, because it has this slightly sorrowful and emotional edge to it, especially during the chorus. There was a really beautiful moment during this song, when they activated the mirrorball during the bridge part of the song where it's just Roy's vocals and the plucking of the guitar in the background. Up until now, I had just been smiling wistfully and moving my head to the music (unlike most of the people around me who were completely still. I do not comprehend this). But the moment the mirrorball got activated and the song was stripped down to just Roy's voice and minimum guitar, it made me feel like crying (and I nearly did) because his voice just hits straight at you and tugs at your heartstrings. It's a song about heartbreak from being dumped by a girlfriend, and the lyrics going "Don't leave me. Don't leave me alone. Don't make me cry" at that exact moment, that desperate plea (and you could hear it in Roy's voice), was very heartbreaking. There'd be gaps of silence near the end at the song slowed down, and in that silence, you could hear Roy sniffing slightly. I'm sure he wasn't crying but it did add a sorrowful air to the song. Sorry for going on so much about this one song. THE BAWDIES are great performers and full of passion and energy, but I thought it was awesome that they were versatile enough to be able to create Beautiful Moments during their show as well.
From the bittersweet and nostalgic atmosphere of "SAD SONG", the band then moved the crowd back into happy mode with the next song. Roy asked if we were all doing fine, and told us to take out our "soul juice" (whatever that is haha). He then talked about love again (think he's talked about this 3 times??) and told us to shout it out loud, that it was alright to live for the sake of love. This introduced the next song, "I'm In Love With You". I love the drumbeat to this one, and it takes you back to a very 60's high school dance hall kinda setting. Jim playing the guitar, smiling, and singing along also made me smile. It's nice to see musicians enjoying themselves on stage, that they're not just performing for the audience, but also for themselves :)
"I'm In Love With You" transited directly into "B.P.B", and there was suddenly much pushing from the people behind. I wasn't prepared for it, and was temporarily winded by the barrier smacking into my stomach. Well, it IS an energetic song, but still... :/ It was at this point in time that I realised that I was no longer standing at a position where Jim was directly in front of me, but I was looking straight at the speakers at the side of the stage. Hadn't even noticed that I had been pushed all the way to the side. I also realised that "I can see Roy and Jim 70% of the time", it had become "I cannot see anyone unless I try REALLY hard". It was pretty much a revelation, because one of the factors for me to enjoy lives was being able to see the band, their smiles, and how they jumped around on stage. But then here I was, being unable to see the band, yet still enjoying myself and not even realising that I was unable to see the band at all. Randomly looked up the second floor to see a phtographer with blonde hair standing there. Somehow recognised him as Hashimoto Rui, even though I had never seen a picture of him before heh.
Roy asked if we were still able to go on, and went "You guys respond too slowly!!" which was obviously going to lead into "IT'S TOO LATE". However, they couldn't start because Jim's guitar tech was still fiddling around with his guitar (it apparently needed tuning). Not letting the opportunity slip by, Roy asked, "Is it too late? Jim, is it TOO LATE??" and Jim answered with, "It's NOT TOO LATE!" which is, really, the only thing he could say in that situation^^;; After "IT'S TOO LATE", Roy started on his pervy talks about underwear and being (figuratively) naked by asking if our hearts were naked. There weren't too many replies to his question, only a few random enthusiastic I WILL HAVE YOUR BABIEZZZZ fangirls going "YEA!!!" One would have thought that he'd have realised by now that this was probably a bad idea -_- Though at that point of time he obviously hadn't, and told the crowd (well, the girls I suppose) to remove the panty stockings and garter belts from their hearts. At least this time around, the band realised that there were males in the audience as well, and (I think) Jim told the guys to take out the dicks of their hearts -_- Second facepalm moment of the show. Jim... I had expected better of you. VERY DISAPPOINT, I AM. But ah well, boys will be boys.
There was a drum solo during "YOU GOTTA DANCE" where Marcy went crazy on the drums. Wasn't expected, and it was a refreshing addition, rather than just playing the song straight off the record. The crowd also started pushing during this song, and I decided to push back against the girl beside me, in hopes that she would either move more to the left, or at least maintain at her current position, so that I wouldn't get shifted even more towards the side of the floor. They played "I Beg You", the whole band did 90-degree bows, and left the stage.
After about 4 minutes of clapping (in which I had somehow managed to shift back nearer to my initial location), the crew turned on the stagelights for the encore, and Marcy walked onto the stage alone. He went up to Roy's microphone and went "Yeah!!" The crowd responded with an enthusiastic "YEA!!!" and then awkward silence descended upon the stage as Marcy looked flustered and kept glancing over to (I suppose) the rest of his band members standing at the side. Nervous laughter on his part, and he thought for awhile before saying that today's show marked the end of the first half of the tour, and that he hoped that we were enjoying ourselves to the fullest. The rest of the band took pity on him and came out. Roy thanked the crowd and said something about Marcy doing a "victory pose" while walking towards the drums, but I couldn't catch exactly what he said because my Japanese is fail like that. People in the crowd (read: fangirls) started shouting "LEADER~~~" and Roy turned around and went "YES??" It was very amusing. With Roy's "COME ON MARCY!!!" Marcy started hitting out the forceful opening bars to "EMOTION POTION". There's a part in the song before the final chorus where Roy does the growly scream. The band stopped playing, and the band members took turns to scream (without using the microphone, so the crowd had to keep absolutely silent during this part). First up was Jim, who went "WAAAAAAAA!!!!", followed by Taxman who had a higher pitched "WAAAAAAA!!!" compared to Jim, and then everyone turned to Marcy and started calling for him to scream as well, which he did and stood up behind his drums in preparation. Except that his was "AAAAAHHHHH~~~!!!!" and he sounded like a TOTAL GIRL who was going into hysterics when put in front of her favourite idol XD Then everyone called for LEADER, who did the "leader pose" (Jim: "Stop making that pose!") and growly-screamed into the microphone. The song didn't continue, however, and Roy was like "Why not you guys do it too!" So we screamed, Roy sang "I keep reaching for you", and the band kicked into the song again.
"Let's end this tightly, shall we?" went Roy (and he said something else as well, which went along the lines of tightening your asshole close. It sounded alright during the live, but horrible when I write it here -_-). He volunteered Jim to shake his butt (well, Jim's always the one doing it anyway), so Jim climbed on top of the speakers in front of my side, bent forward, and stuck his ass out at the crowd as much as he could without losing his balance. Let's just say that his pants were very tight, and it wouldn't have been a nice sight if they had split at that very moment hahaha. I was VERY TEMPTED to take a photo since it was in VERY CLEAR VIEW. But oh my god it would be so obvious because my entire area was very brightly lit by the stage lights which were focused on Jim. SIGH T_T Jim shouted, "I'll put all our feelings of gratitude in my butt!!!" ("感謝の気持ちをお尻に込めます！！！"), and swayed his butt according to the notes he played. Then he started on the guitar riff introduction to "Shake Your Hips" and the rest of the band joined in.
This was the last song for the night, and the band bowed deeply before assembling at the front of the stage. Taxman reached out and grabbed Roy's forearm, but Roy immediately shook him off and slapped him (WTF????), and everyone went "WHAAAAA?????" Taxman looked like he was about to cry, and turned to his right to be hugged and patted on the head by Jim. I have the feeling that Marcy patted Roy's back, but I don't really remember it :/ Anyway, the band members joined hands and bowed to the audience. Taxman thanked everyone for coming today, and said that they'd be starting on the second half from now on, ending with their tour final in Nihon Budoukan. "And lastly, we'd like to end off with our usual WASSHOI!", he continued, "ONE, TWO... WASSHOIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!" Everyone in the crowd raised their hands and went, "WASSHOIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!" too, and the band thanked everyone, threw memorabilia like picks and drumsticks into the crowd (none got thrown as far as my area, as usual, though I think Jim tried and failed) and the band left the stage.
Went to the lockers to pick up my stuff. I was completely drenched (was already like that less than halfway through the show, really) but decided not to change into my new shirt.
The loot! Picked up the Zepp water bottle strap because it was lying in the floor for ages and no one claimed it. Well, I tried. Shall wear the shirt to the tour final and hope they don't come up with a new final-only shirt.
If you made it here, congrats for making it through the whole wall of text!! Hope you had as much fun reading as I enjoyed writing it. Thought that I'd never reach the end haha.
Honestly, I don't remember that much from the live. I realised halfway through that I wasn't conscious of what I was doing at all. I was dancing and jumping and singing without consciously telling myself to do those things. I didn't know where I was, and I think that if you had asked me for my name at that point in time, I'd have to think for awhile before giving you a reply. I was already physically tired from song 5 onwards, but it didn't strike me at all to hold back. And the whole time, I was doing all this with a permanent smile on my face, even during the MCs (I realised in the middle of the show that my cheeks hurt a little, but then quickly forgot all about it). Such is the magic of THE BAWDIES.
If you're into rock and roll, do yourself a favour and check them out live if you have the opportunity to do so. They are the best live act that I've watched in Japan so far, and I'm confident that they'll remain within my top 3 live acts. It's not just about how good the music is, but these boys are a joy to watch because they play their hearts out on stage. You can feel that they really love what they do from the energy and passion they show. Yet despite being up there on stage with the audience down on the floor, you feel like you're just watching your friends rock it out at a school festival. They may be uncool with occasional fail moments and pull pranks on each other all the time, but they embrace all that. And that, I think, is precisely what makes them cool.
Next live: 2011/07/27 - SOUND SHOOTER Vol. 6 - the HIATUS, THE BAWDIES, etc. | 新木場STUDIO COAST