Report: TV Asahi Dream Festival 2011 - 23rd September
So, I'm finally writing my report after seeing the first day of the TV Asahi Dream Festival 2011 on Friday. Sorry for the delay but I know how long it takes me to do these things and I knew it would take me ages on one of those coin operated PC you find in hotels^^;;
Much as I would have loved to have been at the Saitama live on the 11th September, an unkind ticket lottery and various other work-related problems meant that I eventually ended up with tickets for TV Asahi's Dream Festival on the 23rd September instead. Spending almost two weeks in Tokyo before the Dream Festival, I had time to go and check out the Nippon Budokan and see if there was any sign of posters for the upcoming event but there weren't any, it was almost like the hallowed hall doesn't quite like to admit they host music festivals (or for that matter AKB48 Jan-ken-pon tournamentsXDD).
Here's how it looked on a non-show day:
Around lunchtime on Friday, we left our hotel to travel to the venue and already, even before we had left the subway station, all I could see around me were L'Arc tour bags and T shirts in all directions. Having neither, I felt a bit out of place. We were probably being looked at rather curiously too, I'm sure some people thought we had somehow wandered in that direction by mistake XD
Outside the Budokan, we were delighted to see a big stall offering tour goods for the Dream Festival event itself but also tour goods for all the bands playing that day:
Pamphlet? Oh YES. Glow sticks with complicated name? Yes, two (one to use, one to keep for posterity^^) and for some reason my love for ridiculous tour goods demanded that instead of a T shirt or bag I buy the L'Arc~Cookie Card case (which is hilarious and makes me feel hungry every time I look at it XD)
Just before 3pm, we went in and took our seats, which turned out to be quite far over to the left of stage, 16 rows back from the front on the arena floor - pretty good! The show started at 3pm and although we were pretty certain that the line-up would probably end with the headliners (L'Arc of course), each act only got announced on the screens just as they went on stage. Of course, it was also fun to play 'guess the next act' by watching what instruments were being set up by the roadies XDD The stage was set up towards one end, with two walkways out past the end of the stage on either side, three screens were high in the ceiling for the benfit of the crowd in the top of the second level up with 'DREAM FESTIVAL' picked out in lights below them with more lights directed at the stage.
First act: いきものがかり (Ikimono Gakari)
This was a band with lots of muscians, perhaps 6 or 7 on stage at one time. The female singer was very cute and bouncy and really got the crowd fired up. Lots of glow sticks appeared all over the crowd, it looked so pretty. I'll be checking out more of their music when I get the chance^^
Second act: TOKIO
I only know TOKIO from that clip of L'Arc doing their cover of Love You Only as KIOTO in 1995 so I was curious to see what they were like. It was clear to hear from the reaction of the crowd that they were well-loved and everyone knew the words and sang along. They even played Love You Only, so I was able to hear it for real^^ I thought they were pretty good.
Third act: 倉木麻衣 (Mai Kuraki)
I actually felt a bit sorry for her. She was announced as the next act and almost the moment she went on stage, a whole load of people (L'Arc fans probably *lol*) decided that they didn't care to stay and were going to hit the toilet queue while it was quieter. That said, she was quite boring and not even backing dancers and a sparkly costume could save her. She also didn't have long on stage, certainly not enough time to introduce her bassist, her backing singer etc, etc, zzzzzzz . . . .
Fourth act: ユニコーン (UNICORN)
We were actually quite looking forward to UNICORN because we'd read that the lead singer had been responsible for writing and producing many of my friend's favourite PUFFY tracks but it all got a bit Status Quo and was very bassy. They did have some really nice moments and the band seemed very versatile with almost everyone taking a turn on the vocals or the guitar. The grey boiler suits were a bit off-putting though XDDD
Fifth act: ザ・クロマニヨンズ (Cro-Magnons)
We were probably most concerned about this band, the official website doesn't exactly inspire confidence *lol* And it seemed that the girls on the end of our row were also quite worried about this act as well as there seemed to be much reassuring going on, with good reason as it turned out XD And the music - ear-splitting punk with a dash of mouth organ thrown in for good measure, ouch >__< It was kind of amusing watching the singer (who had the thinnest legs and tightest trousers I've ever seen) appearing to channel the Sex Pistols single-handedly while dancing as if he was fighting off the early stages of an epileptic fit, but it soon got old. He then proceeded to stick his hand down the front of his trousers and ahem, adjust things very publicly (those trousers were probably giving him trouble >_<;;) . . . I do hope the (several) children in the audience sat this one out *lmao*
And finally: L'Arc~en~Ciel!!!
Much moving of equipment, especially the HUGE drumkit into position heralded the band almost everyone had been most waiting for, and they did not disappoint.
Yuki appeared first, slipping in at the back and settling onto the drumstool where he proceeded to drum along with the backing track that was playing. As we didn't get a good look at him before he sat down, I can only report that he was wearing a white t shirt with some black writing on, lots of pendants round his neck and his hair is really looking nice at the moment, almost shoulder length^^
He was next joined by Ken and they started to jam togther accompanied by red lights flashing in all directions. Ken was over the other side of the stage and he pretty much stayed there so all I was able to tell was that he was all in black, with lots of chest showing and his shirt front or waistcoat had black sparkles on it catching the lights. He's also had his hair cut a bit since I last saw him in the May live and recent comments.
Suddenly Tetsuya was onstage in a blaze of sparkliness!!! It almost hurt to look at him as there was so much glitter XDD He was wearing a white jacket with red stripes (the stripes were covered in red sparkles), a long, heavy kilt-like skirt in white, green and red tartan pattern (the red and green squares were all sparkly) over tartan (non-sparkly) trousers. His hair was still black and long on one side and I did also think I detected sparkly hair grips on one side as well. He looked quite a lot like an early Christmas tree decoration with all that red and green sparkliness going on *lol* He contasted this with his light red PINK bass for most of the live XD
And just as I tore my eyes from the sparkle-fest that was Tetsuya, Hyde came on looking, well, rather like he'd just come from the skateboarding park *LOL* He had a air of someone who was dressing down for the weekend, which was an amusing contrast with Tetsuya. He had a white vest with a grey or dark blue check shirt/long sleeve t shirt over the top, black combat trousers with sparkly skull and cross bones on the pockets and black boots. He hair was similar to the Paris concert with little twists or plaits pulled back from his face - I would have LOVED to have seen those dreadlocks for real, but I can see why he wouldn't bother with them for an event like this^^
They started with a highly energetic READY STEADY GO, follwed by an equally energetic Caress of Venus. Cue lots of bouncing by the crowd and frantic rhythmic waving of light sticks in time to the beat.
Then an MC from Hyde. I'm afraid I fail utterly at understanding him but I could tell he was probably talking about his hair as the girls behind us kept squealing 'kawaii! kawaii!!' at this point. He got his guitar from the roadie and they launched into HONEY.
At the end of this song, the atmosphere became very calm in comparison with the gentle sound of waves breaking on the shore . . . that sounded strangely familiar I thought before I realised it was actually ガラス玉 (Garasu Dama)!! I never expected to hear that one live and it was beautiful with lovely blue lighting with orange highlights . . . gorgeous ^___^
Next came MY HEART DRAWS A DREAM with everyone waving they glow sticks and singing along with the chorus, so good~ The lighting was an amazing set of lazers sweeping overhead. Then came the music for the intro to SEVENTH HEAVEN . . . but it didn't begin and instead we got a hilarious Ken MC. Not that I could understand very much at the time but he definitely mentioned Tamori-san and he was as funny as ever with the audience call-and-response XD. Then SEVENTH HEAVEN started for real and the streamers flew out (yes, I got one, but disappointingly it doesn't have 'L'Arc~en~Ciel' on it but 'TV Asahi Dream Festival' instead).
With the sound of revving engines and dramtic lighting, next came Driver's High. Crash! *collective bounce* Flash! *collective bounce* YEAAHHH! *even bigger collective bounce* My feet were pretty much dead by this point in the proceedings XDD Then came Shout at the Devil with some awesomely dramatic vocals from Hyde.
A brief break came next, followed by a short MC from Hyde introducing the next song XXX. This was actually the first time I've heard it and I think that I'll have to reserve my judgement until I hear it less distorted by the amplification^^ The lighting was very cool with pink and blue lights plus lazers which seemed to form a green net above us.
And finally came Link with all the bouncing and clapping that always happens. We really didn't think that one would be the final song (too used to the big ballads you get at the end of the huge concerts), so we were surprised when Enya began playing and everyone just vanished off the stage. We knew it was really over when the lights came up and people began to leave. An hour of performance had gone by in the blink of an eye and although it didn't have the impact of a stadium show with orchestras and huge sets, it was great to see them in such a small venue^^
Roll on London (and maybe Paris), I'll be there without doubt ^__~
Much as I would have loved to have been at the Saitama live on the 11th September, an unkind ticket lottery and various other work-related problems meant that I eventually ended up with tickets for TV Asahi's Dream Festival on the 23rd September instead. Spending almost two weeks in Tokyo before the Dream Festival, I had time to go and check out the Nippon Budokan and see if there was any sign of posters for the upcoming event but there weren't any, it was almost like the hallowed hall doesn't quite like to admit they host music festivals (or for that matter AKB48 Jan-ken-pon tournamentsXDD).
Here's how it looked on a non-show day:
Around lunchtime on Friday, we left our hotel to travel to the venue and already, even before we had left the subway station, all I could see around me were L'Arc tour bags and T shirts in all directions. Having neither, I felt a bit out of place. We were probably being looked at rather curiously too, I'm sure some people thought we had somehow wandered in that direction by mistake XD
Outside the Budokan, we were delighted to see a big stall offering tour goods for the Dream Festival event itself but also tour goods for all the bands playing that day:
Pamphlet? Oh YES. Glow sticks with complicated name? Yes, two (one to use, one to keep for posterity^^) and for some reason my love for ridiculous tour goods demanded that instead of a T shirt or bag I buy the L'Arc~Cookie Card case (which is hilarious and makes me feel hungry every time I look at it XD)
Just before 3pm, we went in and took our seats, which turned out to be quite far over to the left of stage, 16 rows back from the front on the arena floor - pretty good! The show started at 3pm and although we were pretty certain that the line-up would probably end with the headliners (L'Arc of course), each act only got announced on the screens just as they went on stage. Of course, it was also fun to play 'guess the next act' by watching what instruments were being set up by the roadies XDD The stage was set up towards one end, with two walkways out past the end of the stage on either side, three screens were high in the ceiling for the benfit of the crowd in the top of the second level up with 'DREAM FESTIVAL' picked out in lights below them with more lights directed at the stage.
First act: いきものがかり (Ikimono Gakari)
This was a band with lots of muscians, perhaps 6 or 7 on stage at one time. The female singer was very cute and bouncy and really got the crowd fired up. Lots of glow sticks appeared all over the crowd, it looked so pretty. I'll be checking out more of their music when I get the chance^^
Second act: TOKIO
I only know TOKIO from that clip of L'Arc doing their cover of Love You Only as KIOTO in 1995 so I was curious to see what they were like. It was clear to hear from the reaction of the crowd that they were well-loved and everyone knew the words and sang along. They even played Love You Only, so I was able to hear it for real^^ I thought they were pretty good.
Third act: 倉木麻衣 (Mai Kuraki)
I actually felt a bit sorry for her. She was announced as the next act and almost the moment she went on stage, a whole load of people (L'Arc fans probably *lol*) decided that they didn't care to stay and were going to hit the toilet queue while it was quieter. That said, she was quite boring and not even backing dancers and a sparkly costume could save her. She also didn't have long on stage, certainly not enough time to introduce her bassist, her backing singer etc, etc, zzzzzzz . . . .
Fourth act: ユニコーン (UNICORN)
We were actually quite looking forward to UNICORN because we'd read that the lead singer had been responsible for writing and producing many of my friend's favourite PUFFY tracks but it all got a bit Status Quo and was very bassy. They did have some really nice moments and the band seemed very versatile with almost everyone taking a turn on the vocals or the guitar. The grey boiler suits were a bit off-putting though XDDD
Fifth act: ザ・クロマニヨンズ (Cro-Magnons)
We were probably most concerned about this band, the official website doesn't exactly inspire confidence *lol* And it seemed that the girls on the end of our row were also quite worried about this act as well as there seemed to be much reassuring going on, with good reason as it turned out XD And the music - ear-splitting punk with a dash of mouth organ thrown in for good measure, ouch >__< It was kind of amusing watching the singer (who had the thinnest legs and tightest trousers I've ever seen) appearing to channel the Sex Pistols single-handedly while dancing as if he was fighting off the early stages of an epileptic fit, but it soon got old. He then proceeded to stick his hand down the front of his trousers and ahem, adjust things very publicly (those trousers were probably giving him trouble >_<;;) . . . I do hope the (several) children in the audience sat this one out *lmao*
And finally: L'Arc~en~Ciel!!!
Much moving of equipment, especially the HUGE drumkit into position heralded the band almost everyone had been most waiting for, and they did not disappoint.
Yuki appeared first, slipping in at the back and settling onto the drumstool where he proceeded to drum along with the backing track that was playing. As we didn't get a good look at him before he sat down, I can only report that he was wearing a white t shirt with some black writing on, lots of pendants round his neck and his hair is really looking nice at the moment, almost shoulder length^^
He was next joined by Ken and they started to jam togther accompanied by red lights flashing in all directions. Ken was over the other side of the stage and he pretty much stayed there so all I was able to tell was that he was all in black, with lots of chest showing and his shirt front or waistcoat had black sparkles on it catching the lights. He's also had his hair cut a bit since I last saw him in the May live and recent comments.
Suddenly Tetsuya was onstage in a blaze of sparkliness!!! It almost hurt to look at him as there was so much glitter XDD He was wearing a white jacket with red stripes (the stripes were covered in red sparkles), a long, heavy kilt-like skirt in white, green and red tartan pattern (the red and green squares were all sparkly) over tartan (non-sparkly) trousers. His hair was still black and long on one side and I did also think I detected sparkly hair grips on one side as well. He looked quite a lot like an early Christmas tree decoration with all that red and green sparkliness going on *lol* He contasted this with his light red PINK bass for most of the live XD
And just as I tore my eyes from the sparkle-fest that was Tetsuya, Hyde came on looking, well, rather like he'd just come from the skateboarding park *LOL* He had a air of someone who was dressing down for the weekend, which was an amusing contrast with Tetsuya. He had a white vest with a grey or dark blue check shirt/long sleeve t shirt over the top, black combat trousers with sparkly skull and cross bones on the pockets and black boots. He hair was similar to the Paris concert with little twists or plaits pulled back from his face - I would have LOVED to have seen those dreadlocks for real, but I can see why he wouldn't bother with them for an event like this^^
They started with a highly energetic READY STEADY GO, follwed by an equally energetic Caress of Venus. Cue lots of bouncing by the crowd and frantic rhythmic waving of light sticks in time to the beat.
Then an MC from Hyde. I'm afraid I fail utterly at understanding him but I could tell he was probably talking about his hair as the girls behind us kept squealing 'kawaii! kawaii!!' at this point. He got his guitar from the roadie and they launched into HONEY.
At the end of this song, the atmosphere became very calm in comparison with the gentle sound of waves breaking on the shore . . . that sounded strangely familiar I thought before I realised it was actually ガラス玉 (Garasu Dama)!! I never expected to hear that one live and it was beautiful with lovely blue lighting with orange highlights . . . gorgeous ^___^
Next came MY HEART DRAWS A DREAM with everyone waving they glow sticks and singing along with the chorus, so good~ The lighting was an amazing set of lazers sweeping overhead. Then came the music for the intro to SEVENTH HEAVEN . . . but it didn't begin and instead we got a hilarious Ken MC. Not that I could understand very much at the time but he definitely mentioned Tamori-san and he was as funny as ever with the audience call-and-response XD. Then SEVENTH HEAVEN started for real and the streamers flew out (yes, I got one, but disappointingly it doesn't have 'L'Arc~en~Ciel' on it but 'TV Asahi Dream Festival' instead).
With the sound of revving engines and dramtic lighting, next came Driver's High. Crash! *collective bounce* Flash! *collective bounce* YEAAHHH! *even bigger collective bounce* My feet were pretty much dead by this point in the proceedings XDD Then came Shout at the Devil with some awesomely dramatic vocals from Hyde.
A brief break came next, followed by a short MC from Hyde introducing the next song XXX. This was actually the first time I've heard it and I think that I'll have to reserve my judgement until I hear it less distorted by the amplification^^ The lighting was very cool with pink and blue lights plus lazers which seemed to form a green net above us.
And finally came Link with all the bouncing and clapping that always happens. We really didn't think that one would be the final song (too used to the big ballads you get at the end of the huge concerts), so we were surprised when Enya began playing and everyone just vanished off the stage. We knew it was really over when the lights came up and people began to leave. An hour of performance had gone by in the blink of an eye and although it didn't have the impact of a stadium show with orchestras and huge sets, it was great to see them in such a small venue^^
Roll on London (and maybe Paris), I'll be there without doubt ^__~