LUNA SEA!
Ok, so I flew in the night before from NYC. I actually missed my initial flight because I wanted to go to the salon and get my hair done for the show, and it took longer than I expected. XD" Faaail. But luckily there was another flight shortly after the one I was supposed to take, and I was able to get in on standby. =3
I got to the airport and took a cab to the venue. It was a lot more pricey than I expected. D= But the cab driver was really nice and gave me his number so I could call him when I needed to go back to the airport (I ended up getting a ride from my friend badymaru who I stayed with after the show, but it was still nice of him to offer).
I actually didn't have any hotel reservations. XD" I figured I would most likely camp out in front of the venue if there were other people there, and there were a few people, who I talked to for a little while. But then my parents called me from Miami and said they were trying to get me a room at the W hotel, because they wanted me to have a comfortable place to stay and that hotel was the closest nice one to the venue. So I figured since they were already going through the trouble to do that I'd stay there. XD" Besides I'd stayed at a different W in San Diego this summer and it was really nice. =3
It actually took until 3 AM for my parents to finally get the room for me due to some credit card issues. XD" But in the meantime, while I was waiting some guy started talking to me about music because he could tell I liked rock music thanks to me wearing my Ramones shirt. We ended up chatting for like an hour. XD
So then I got the room, and was just about ready to pass out by then. XD" The room looked really nice, and the bed was super comfy. <3
In the morning I went to the business center because I realized the night before while driving in the cab that I'd forgotten to bring my print-out ticket with me and it was still in my dorm room. D= Managed to print it again without any issues, then headed out to wait in line.
A lot more people had arrived since I was there the night before, but I was able to stay with the people I'd talked to the night before. =3 I ended up chatting with a lot of people throughout the day, and made a bunch of new friends. Seriously, Luna Sea's fans are awesome. <3
There were also three cameramen who worked for Luna Sea and were interviewing fans in the line. I got to do a video interview, and I showed my gift drawings for the band at the end, though they got blown around a bit because of course it got windy right when I was trying to flip pages around. XD" Oh well.
At one point while waiting in line, one of my friends told me that she had won the contest to go to the Luna Sea official meet-and-greet, and she got her iPod signed by Sugizo! Awesome. =3
I also saw some of my ex-friends, and accidentally said hi to one of them thinking it was someone else. Awkwaaard. >=
But I think one of my favorite parts about waiting in line was that we could hear the soundcheck pretty clearly from where we were. =D I used my camera to record Ryuichi singing part of Dejavu acapella. =3 Also when I heard them playing Genesis of Mind I flipped out because I knew that meant they were going to play it for the show! *A*
The last hour before the show felt like an eternity. But I was glad to see that when they let us into the venue, everything was super organized and nobody was going crazy and trying to rush into the venue or anything.
VIP were let in first, and I didn't know that they were going to have priority access or I would have gotten a VIP ticket. XD" But I still got front row! There was just enough space at the end of the rail, on Sugizo's side. =3 Of course my view was obscured a bit by these covered platform thingies, where all the guitars were being kept, but overall it was still a great spot. Also it was in the front row so no complaints.
So the show started a bit late, probably because sound check ran a bit late, but I was super happy when the lights went off and the awesome remix of Moonlight Sonata started playing. *A*
The setlist was pretty awesome. They started with Loveless, and I did the "Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier" while also holding up my fingers to match the numbers. XD I already liked Face to Face and Ra-Se-N, but they sounded even more amazing live (though there were some technical difficulties with Face to Face, so Ryuichi was singing it in a different key for most of the song).
Ra-Se-N just blew me away. I was like "Ok how did I not realize before just how effing amazing this song is?". XD" And then of course there was Genesis of Mind. *A* Sooooooo happy they played that song, omg.
I also really loved the drum solo and the drum and bass duet. <3 There was one part in the duet where it sounded like either only J was playing or Shinya was just playing softer in that section, and I swear to god, J looked right at me for that whole part! *_* Awesomeness.
And during In My Dream, Inoran came over to our side of the stage and was singing along, and he also looked right at me for that. XD I'm pretty sure Ryuichi looked at me during Providence (which sounded amazing btw, Sugi's violin playing is the most beautiful thing ever).
I definitely made eye contact with Sugizo at least a couple times. XD And we had this really awesome moment which I won't get into here but it was awesome and it made my life. <3
Everyone looked super gorgeous btw. I still can't believe these guys are all at least 40. XD" Especially since J, Inoran, and Ryuichi look so boyish and adorable. =3 All of them looked really happy and were smiling a lot, so it made me happy to see that. =D They had a lot of energy too. Shinya kept bouncing his drumsticks off the back wall of the stage after nearly every song. XD J threw a mic stand towards the wall at one point, and Ryuichi kicked one over near the end of the show. XD
And I didn't catch anything, but I got confetti from Wish after the show. =3
So I wanted to head to the back of the venue and wait to see if I could give my gift drawings to Luna Sea, but first I wanted to go get merch. I bought the shirt and the tour pamphlet, then headed outside. I got to the backstage door, and one of the guards said they probably wouldn't be going out that way, so I should try the other backstage door leading to the parking lot, so I did. Somewhere in the process I managed to lose my tour pamphlet. Faaaaail. ;^;
There were only six other people there besides me, a nice change from the mobscene after the X Japan concert here in NYC. XD" We ended up chatting a lot and they were also awesome. Roadies kept giving us stuff too. XD
One of the guys in our group got handed a copy of the setlist. Twice. XD He gave one of them to someone else in the group, who decided to give it to me because she thought I was a bigger fan. Which was really sweet of her. =3
Another roadie also offered us two of Shinya's drumsticks. Since everyone else was grabbing for them I didn't get involved, but I did ask one of the guys who got one in the end if I could touch the drumstick. XD"
And then we got our awesome surprise of the night. Ok, I'd heard that Yoshiki was in the VIP section watching the show, but I figured maybe he'd already left, or if he was still there then he certainly wouldn't be leaving any place near where we were.
Well, guess who showed up? XD
He was with an entourage of maybe 10 people or so. He seemed kinda tired, but he still shook hands with all of us and I managed to have a short conversation with him. =3 It went something like this:
Me: Yoshiki-san! It's so good to see you! Did you enjoy the concert?
Yoshiki: Yeah, I did!
Me: Great! Well, have a good night.
Yoshiki: You too!
=3
Then Yoshiki got into his Maserati and drove off, but we were all like "=DDDDD" because dude we just saw Yoshikiiii~!
Then a few minutes later, a roadie informed us that everyone in the band had just left except for Inoran who was about to leave. So we rushed over to where he told us they were leaving from...and it turned out to be the door I had originally gone to. @_@ There were a few other fans here, but still probably only about 15-20 people max. There were also a few white vans parked near the stage door.
I met up with Badymaru there, and we waited a bit before we saw Inoran walking towards us! There was a staff guy between us and him, so when I tried to hand the drawing for Inoran to him, the staff guy took it instead and then handed it to Inoran but the important thing is he definitely got my drawing. =3 When he was in the van, I looked towards him and said "Arigatou gozaimasu!" and he looked up at us. =D Then they drove away shortly after that.
Since I thought the rest of the band had left, I looked around for a staff member who worked for Luna Sea rather than just the venue, and I finally found someone who could give the other members their drawings.
Then I noticed that the small group of fans were still there. I figured that must mean that maybe someone from the band was still here after all. And sure enough, a little while later, Sugizo walked out! *A* Another staff guy was waving his hand at us to signal that we should stay back, but it was still cool that Sugizo was walking like two feet away from us.
Sugi seemed pretty tired, understandably. I tried to show him the vulcan sign when he was in the van but he didn't react. He was wearing his sunglasses so I couldn't see his face, but I wondered later if maybe he had his eyes closed or something. XD"
So after Sugi left, we all left and I headed to Badymaru's car. I'd missed J, Shinya, and Ryuichi, but it was still awesome to see Inoran and Sugizo, and to meet Yoshiki again. <3 I hadn't eaten in hours, so we decided to go get dinner. Except most of the places that were open were fast food. Bady said the shakes at Carl's Jr. were good, so I took her up on that. XD She was right, the shakes there are awesome. =3
When we got to her place I finished my shake and was pretty much ready to pass out shortly after. XD" She had a mattress set up for me, and it was really comfy. =3 The next morning we went to a diner for breakfast, my treat, and I got these really yummy pancakes. <3 Then she drove me to the airport and I headed back to NYC.
I had such an amazing time, seriously. <3 I feel so rejuvenated after this experience, and I really hope they come back some day!
I also just found out from another live report that the W hotel I stayed at turned out to be where Luna Sea (or at least Ryuichi =3) was staying. XD My life is awesome like that, lol.
Btw you can see the photos I took here. =D It includes a photo of the setlist I got, so you can see which songs they played. =3
I got to the airport and took a cab to the venue. It was a lot more pricey than I expected. D= But the cab driver was really nice and gave me his number so I could call him when I needed to go back to the airport (I ended up getting a ride from my friend badymaru who I stayed with after the show, but it was still nice of him to offer).
I actually didn't have any hotel reservations. XD" I figured I would most likely camp out in front of the venue if there were other people there, and there were a few people, who I talked to for a little while. But then my parents called me from Miami and said they were trying to get me a room at the W hotel, because they wanted me to have a comfortable place to stay and that hotel was the closest nice one to the venue. So I figured since they were already going through the trouble to do that I'd stay there. XD" Besides I'd stayed at a different W in San Diego this summer and it was really nice. =3
It actually took until 3 AM for my parents to finally get the room for me due to some credit card issues. XD" But in the meantime, while I was waiting some guy started talking to me about music because he could tell I liked rock music thanks to me wearing my Ramones shirt. We ended up chatting for like an hour. XD
So then I got the room, and was just about ready to pass out by then. XD" The room looked really nice, and the bed was super comfy. <3
In the morning I went to the business center because I realized the night before while driving in the cab that I'd forgotten to bring my print-out ticket with me and it was still in my dorm room. D= Managed to print it again without any issues, then headed out to wait in line.
A lot more people had arrived since I was there the night before, but I was able to stay with the people I'd talked to the night before. =3 I ended up chatting with a lot of people throughout the day, and made a bunch of new friends. Seriously, Luna Sea's fans are awesome. <3
There were also three cameramen who worked for Luna Sea and were interviewing fans in the line. I got to do a video interview, and I showed my gift drawings for the band at the end, though they got blown around a bit because of course it got windy right when I was trying to flip pages around. XD" Oh well.
At one point while waiting in line, one of my friends told me that she had won the contest to go to the Luna Sea official meet-and-greet, and she got her iPod signed by Sugizo! Awesome. =3
I also saw some of my ex-friends, and accidentally said hi to one of them thinking it was someone else. Awkwaaard. >=
But I think one of my favorite parts about waiting in line was that we could hear the soundcheck pretty clearly from where we were. =D I used my camera to record Ryuichi singing part of Dejavu acapella. =3 Also when I heard them playing Genesis of Mind I flipped out because I knew that meant they were going to play it for the show! *A*
The last hour before the show felt like an eternity. But I was glad to see that when they let us into the venue, everything was super organized and nobody was going crazy and trying to rush into the venue or anything.
VIP were let in first, and I didn't know that they were going to have priority access or I would have gotten a VIP ticket. XD" But I still got front row! There was just enough space at the end of the rail, on Sugizo's side. =3 Of course my view was obscured a bit by these covered platform thingies, where all the guitars were being kept, but overall it was still a great spot. Also it was in the front row so no complaints.
So the show started a bit late, probably because sound check ran a bit late, but I was super happy when the lights went off and the awesome remix of Moonlight Sonata started playing. *A*
The setlist was pretty awesome. They started with Loveless, and I did the "Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier" while also holding up my fingers to match the numbers. XD I already liked Face to Face and Ra-Se-N, but they sounded even more amazing live (though there were some technical difficulties with Face to Face, so Ryuichi was singing it in a different key for most of the song).
Ra-Se-N just blew me away. I was like "Ok how did I not realize before just how effing amazing this song is?". XD" And then of course there was Genesis of Mind. *A* Sooooooo happy they played that song, omg.
I also really loved the drum solo and the drum and bass duet. <3 There was one part in the duet where it sounded like either only J was playing or Shinya was just playing softer in that section, and I swear to god, J looked right at me for that whole part! *_* Awesomeness.
And during In My Dream, Inoran came over to our side of the stage and was singing along, and he also looked right at me for that. XD I'm pretty sure Ryuichi looked at me during Providence (which sounded amazing btw, Sugi's violin playing is the most beautiful thing ever).
I definitely made eye contact with Sugizo at least a couple times. XD And we had this really awesome moment which I won't get into here but it was awesome and it made my life. <3
Everyone looked super gorgeous btw. I still can't believe these guys are all at least 40. XD" Especially since J, Inoran, and Ryuichi look so boyish and adorable. =3 All of them looked really happy and were smiling a lot, so it made me happy to see that. =D They had a lot of energy too. Shinya kept bouncing his drumsticks off the back wall of the stage after nearly every song. XD J threw a mic stand towards the wall at one point, and Ryuichi kicked one over near the end of the show. XD
And I didn't catch anything, but I got confetti from Wish after the show. =3
So I wanted to head to the back of the venue and wait to see if I could give my gift drawings to Luna Sea, but first I wanted to go get merch. I bought the shirt and the tour pamphlet, then headed outside. I got to the backstage door, and one of the guards said they probably wouldn't be going out that way, so I should try the other backstage door leading to the parking lot, so I did. Somewhere in the process I managed to lose my tour pamphlet. Faaaaail. ;^;
There were only six other people there besides me, a nice change from the mobscene after the X Japan concert here in NYC. XD" We ended up chatting a lot and they were also awesome. Roadies kept giving us stuff too. XD
One of the guys in our group got handed a copy of the setlist. Twice. XD He gave one of them to someone else in the group, who decided to give it to me because she thought I was a bigger fan. Which was really sweet of her. =3
Another roadie also offered us two of Shinya's drumsticks. Since everyone else was grabbing for them I didn't get involved, but I did ask one of the guys who got one in the end if I could touch the drumstick. XD"
And then we got our awesome surprise of the night. Ok, I'd heard that Yoshiki was in the VIP section watching the show, but I figured maybe he'd already left, or if he was still there then he certainly wouldn't be leaving any place near where we were.
Well, guess who showed up? XD
He was with an entourage of maybe 10 people or so. He seemed kinda tired, but he still shook hands with all of us and I managed to have a short conversation with him. =3 It went something like this:
Me: Yoshiki-san! It's so good to see you! Did you enjoy the concert?
Yoshiki: Yeah, I did!
Me: Great! Well, have a good night.
Yoshiki: You too!
=3
Then Yoshiki got into his Maserati and drove off, but we were all like "=DDDDD" because dude we just saw Yoshikiiii~!
Then a few minutes later, a roadie informed us that everyone in the band had just left except for Inoran who was about to leave. So we rushed over to where he told us they were leaving from...and it turned out to be the door I had originally gone to. @_@ There were a few other fans here, but still probably only about 15-20 people max. There were also a few white vans parked near the stage door.
I met up with Badymaru there, and we waited a bit before we saw Inoran walking towards us! There was a staff guy between us and him, so when I tried to hand the drawing for Inoran to him, the staff guy took it instead and then handed it to Inoran but the important thing is he definitely got my drawing. =3 When he was in the van, I looked towards him and said "Arigatou gozaimasu!" and he looked up at us. =D Then they drove away shortly after that.
Since I thought the rest of the band had left, I looked around for a staff member who worked for Luna Sea rather than just the venue, and I finally found someone who could give the other members their drawings.
Then I noticed that the small group of fans were still there. I figured that must mean that maybe someone from the band was still here after all. And sure enough, a little while later, Sugizo walked out! *A* Another staff guy was waving his hand at us to signal that we should stay back, but it was still cool that Sugizo was walking like two feet away from us.
Sugi seemed pretty tired, understandably. I tried to show him the vulcan sign when he was in the van but he didn't react. He was wearing his sunglasses so I couldn't see his face, but I wondered later if maybe he had his eyes closed or something. XD"
So after Sugi left, we all left and I headed to Badymaru's car. I'd missed J, Shinya, and Ryuichi, but it was still awesome to see Inoran and Sugizo, and to meet Yoshiki again. <3 I hadn't eaten in hours, so we decided to go get dinner. Except most of the places that were open were fast food. Bady said the shakes at Carl's Jr. were good, so I took her up on that. XD She was right, the shakes there are awesome. =3
When we got to her place I finished my shake and was pretty much ready to pass out shortly after. XD" She had a mattress set up for me, and it was really comfy. =3 The next morning we went to a diner for breakfast, my treat, and I got these really yummy pancakes. <3 Then she drove me to the airport and I headed back to NYC.
I had such an amazing time, seriously. <3 I feel so rejuvenated after this experience, and I really hope they come back some day!
I also just found out from another live report that the W hotel I stayed at turned out to be where Luna Sea (or at least Ryuichi =3) was staying. XD My life is awesome like that, lol.
Btw you can see the photos I took here. =D It includes a photo of the setlist I got, so you can see which songs they played. =3