5/25/07 FRIDAY
Oh man. . I don't know how I can even begin to post about JRR and Fanime. It was so fucking awesome.
Friday. . .
I'm going to start thursday night when I was shitting my pants after reading that the line was already over 100 people. I didn't get any sleep whatsoever due to umm, anxiety? But I got to the SJ airport at around 7am. . Which was much earlier than it needed to be. The security line WAS RIDICULOUS. Not only did it extend all of the way back to the PARKING GARAGE but it resembled a line at Disneyland. . and winded around the area. Our flight was delayed 30 minutes and we were basically like "ACK, EVERY MINUTE THERE'S ANOTHER PERSON GETTING INTO LINE!!!" And SINCE WHEN THE FUCK WAS ARRIVING 6 HOURS BEFORE THE DOORS OPEN CONSIDERED LATE?
CARD ADDICTION. This weekend was FULL OF ERS, 13 AND SILENT LIBRARY. . . FULL OF IT. Lauren and Chris were particularly HILARIOUS when playing ERS.
Outside of burbank airport.
So we arrived in Burbank at around 10. . went to our hotel met our roomates. . .which I DID NOT REALIZE UNTIL THE END THAT ONE OF THEM WAS kotsuki T^T. . . .I hella did not make that connection that Ko was. . Ko. We took. . well more like Lauren and I took an excessive amount of time to get ready in the hotel. The Ramada in was pretty ghetto. I think 3 of our lamps didn't work, so the room was pretty dark and it looked sort of ugly. Oh well. . But we ended up getting in line at around 12pm. THE LINE WAS SO HUGE. Chris, Lauren and I just walked around Korea Town. . because we were pretty much stationed in the segment of the line that was CHALK FULL OF FAILURE . It was complete with a person who wanted to give Jui a box of pocky WITH HER EMAIL ON IT. IT'S NOT AN ANIME CONVENTION BITCH. The line got progressively uglier as you walked down it. We figured that you either are hot and arrived there a day ago, or fashionably late. . the FATASSES AND FAILED ATTEMPTS AT GOTHIC LOLITA people were in the middle.
Dude with that semi new spring collection Sex Pot shirt. . I was so tempted to buy it. BUT after JRR . . Sex Pot is officially not cool anymore. Everyone fucking had it from CDJapan. Algonquins will soon follow.
Chris. . .PEOPLE ARE ADDICTED TO TEXTING. . Or do I not understand that because I can't text/receive text on my phone?
Lauren
Camwhoring my outfit for the day
So FINALLY the line starts moving and head towards the Wiltern. Picked up my Duel Jewel Photo sets earlier in line. Haha, they have new outfits. But yaaah, lets just say I was a fangirly looser at that point. Which kills me to admit btw. I will never fangirl over any band unless it's Duel Jewel just because. . hahaha. But I had already bought my Bull Run Tour Towel from Jpophouse a while ago, as well as my shirt. So I tried to pimp that out as much as possible as the camera dudes walked down towards the line.
So we all take out spots on the floor, which weren't bad considering where we were in line. I kind of stood next to an aisle marked by white tape.<---which we weren't supposed to cross. . but I did MANY TIMES. They played footage of X Japan's last live in between sets
Kagrra
- Not too much to say about them. It was fun. . but nothing memorable. . maybe because I'm not a huge fan of them? They were kind of stiff on stage It reminded me of the older Kagrra because they were dressed in Kimonos, that reversed the casual trend that had been going on for a while (which I liked because the traditional costumes of Kagrra used to be their trademark)
Duel Jewel
I'm a looser and yoinked that from Hayato's blog. =X
As an outsider looking in, Duel Jewel's set wasn't partiularly astounding. It wasn't bad but it was average. They didn't play any of their newer songs. . I was kind of expecting a mix. . maybe Hana Uta, Azure, Never Blue, any softer song, and Aishuu Meloncholia.
As a fan who hadn't seen them live for EXACTLY 3 years. . IT WAS SO FUCKING AWESOME. So here's the setlist if I remember correctly. (This is out of order) I was kind of dissapointed that I didn't get Shun's side of the stage, but rather Natsuki's and Yuuya's. Oh yes, and that Duel jewel Towel of mine. . I'm kind of glad I was the only one who had it. (They sold it later at the merchandise booth) There was a point in between breaks of the songs where I was holding up my towel (completely ignoring the white tape and running up to the front where I was within their line of vision. Yuuya pointed directly at me and winked! Normally I don't talk about shit like that because when I see ofher people do it. . half of it is an overactive imagination. "HOMG, HE WAS STARING RIGHT AT ME!!!!!" It's like, NO KIDDING, YOU'RE IN THE AUDIENCE DOUCHEBAG. But other people who had heard my fangirling earlier turned around and gave me that "that was you" look. That was definitely a high point. Although ROFL, according to Chris the girl in front of me thought that he was pointing at her because he "Realized how miserable she was for being in the back of the line" ROFL. . HAHAHA
Hana Uta-
At this point. . I think whatever sound check they did for this ended up being pretty UNSUCESSFUL. The bass was up higher than it needed to be. . and the vocals were kind of distorted. Not to mention the GUITARS KEPT GOING OFF OR FLUCTUATING IN VOLUME. But it was fun. I totally ignored the white tape and did the para para as much as I could.
Reincarnation-Flow
I love this song!!! There aren't many people who realize how old this is. . because it was definitely played numerous times before it was released on Visions. (hence in 2003 they had the Reincarnation Flow tour. . ) Once again, it amazes me how far the band has come! That was a generally slow process. . but 2 years ago, they were one of those indie bands that you've only heard about because they came to America and still very small in Japan. But more about the song played. . They skipped out on the rapping part.
Kamisori
Ahh, the best part of this song is definitely the melody that constantly changes, because it brings the listener to so many different levels of mood. So it's excellent for people with short attention spans, like me. It sounds better live. I think since this was generally softer, it was a good contrast from the other two harder (Reincarnation Flow) more upbeat (hana uta) songs.
Mxxder Marble
At this point I was wondering . . Are they only playing songs off of Visions? That really surprised me because Duel Jewel had noticeably matured (music wise) in the gap between the releases of Visions and Azure. It's not my favorite, but it's an awesome song to watch live.
2nd MC before the Last song
Tales
interesting, another song that was played many times before it was released on a CD (well a Japanese cd). I love how the movements were still coordinated like they used to be. I guess I was kind of dissapointed because they didn't play Azure or anything newer. But Tales is always fun (although The Birth is my least favorite release because of the ineffective synth used in the tracks). . and then I'm wondering
WHY IS EVERYBODY LABELING THIS SONG [LIFE ON . . ] ??? I've been checking blogs and everyone i've seen so far (Their setlist) had called this [life On. . ]
After this song, I bolted to the merchandise line, because quite frankly I didn't care about the rest of the bands. (Althought more about that later on) To my dissapointment, they sold everything that I owned already. T^T. . EXCEPT, I was missing a cellphone strap. Oh yaah tribalofchaos Lauren and I bought you both of the photosets!
Lauren and I debated on whether or not to get in line for tommorow. . but we ended up sticking around to see miyavi. . GOOD FUCKING THING. . we wanted to sit in the balcony, so we found people to switch tickets with. ROFL. . .HAHAHA, those two seats were the TWO WORST SEATS IN THE ENTIRE FUCKING VENUE. Last row, right in the corner. It's alright though, we just wanted to sit and watch
Miyavi
I was never a fan of Miyavi, I didn't dislike him or completely love him for that matter. Maybe listen to a few songs on occasion. But honestly, this was the single best set of both nights. This was just. . amazing. Miyavi's music was presented in a way that was completely original. I guess I hadn't realized his innovative sense of direction and how. . awesome he was. Hahaha. After watching him, my respect for him as an artist (on a scale of 1-10) went from something like 3. . all of the way to 12. There was a tap dancer. . a random painter/umbrella dude, a rapper person, bassist and a drummer. I have no clue what the setlist is. . but he interpreted everything in this fusion of jazz and hip hop. . but it's all rooted by his amazing guitar skills. I will definitely look into more Miyavi stuff. He's come THAT FAR since due le quartz. Oh and as an added note, he used a talko player =D.
Then a discoball and Tears started playing. Yoshiki came out and gave a speech on JRR and pimped out that new project with him, gackt, sugizo, and Miyavi. I dunno, that is sort of epic. I mean, All of those are probably the most legendary people in terms of Visual Kei. . and throwing them into a big supergroup.
And then the biggest surprise of both nights.. . SUGIZO COMES ONSTAGE. . . . .My jaw just plummeted to the floor. O_______O. . . He played with Miyavi on stage. And i thought. . .THIS WAS A FUCKING PAGE OF JROCK HISTORY. YOSHIKI, MIYAVI AND SUGIZO. . . it was epic!
After this, Lauren and I had no desire to see Vidoll or Alice nine, so we bolted into line. Ok, I was dressed like a slut. . IT WAS FUCKING COLD. Thanks for the blanked Chris! But I guess I was so tired (probably got like 6 hours of sleep THAT ENTIRE WEEK) that I ended up falling asleep on the sidewalk.
Friday. . .
I'm going to start thursday night when I was shitting my pants after reading that the line was already over 100 people. I didn't get any sleep whatsoever due to umm, anxiety? But I got to the SJ airport at around 7am. . Which was much earlier than it needed to be. The security line WAS RIDICULOUS. Not only did it extend all of the way back to the PARKING GARAGE but it resembled a line at Disneyland. . and winded around the area. Our flight was delayed 30 minutes and we were basically like "ACK, EVERY MINUTE THERE'S ANOTHER PERSON GETTING INTO LINE!!!" And SINCE WHEN THE FUCK WAS ARRIVING 6 HOURS BEFORE THE DOORS OPEN CONSIDERED LATE?
CARD ADDICTION. This weekend was FULL OF ERS, 13 AND SILENT LIBRARY. . . FULL OF IT. Lauren and Chris were particularly HILARIOUS when playing ERS.
Outside of burbank airport.
So we arrived in Burbank at around 10. . went to our hotel met our roomates. . .which I DID NOT REALIZE UNTIL THE END THAT ONE OF THEM WAS kotsuki T^T. . . .I hella did not make that connection that Ko was. . Ko. We took. . well more like Lauren and I took an excessive amount of time to get ready in the hotel. The Ramada in was pretty ghetto. I think 3 of our lamps didn't work, so the room was pretty dark and it looked sort of ugly. Oh well. . But we ended up getting in line at around 12pm. THE LINE WAS SO HUGE. Chris, Lauren and I just walked around Korea Town. . because we were pretty much stationed in the segment of the line that was CHALK FULL OF FAILURE . It was complete with a person who wanted to give Jui a box of pocky WITH HER EMAIL ON IT. IT'S NOT AN ANIME CONVENTION BITCH. The line got progressively uglier as you walked down it. We figured that you either are hot and arrived there a day ago, or fashionably late. . the FATASSES AND FAILED ATTEMPTS AT GOTHIC LOLITA people were in the middle.
Dude with that semi new spring collection Sex Pot shirt. . I was so tempted to buy it. BUT after JRR . . Sex Pot is officially not cool anymore. Everyone fucking had it from CDJapan. Algonquins will soon follow.
Chris. . .PEOPLE ARE ADDICTED TO TEXTING. . Or do I not understand that because I can't text/receive text on my phone?
Lauren
Camwhoring my outfit for the day
So FINALLY the line starts moving and head towards the Wiltern. Picked up my Duel Jewel Photo sets earlier in line. Haha, they have new outfits. But yaaah, lets just say I was a fangirly looser at that point. Which kills me to admit btw. I will never fangirl over any band unless it's Duel Jewel just because. . hahaha. But I had already bought my Bull Run Tour Towel from Jpophouse a while ago, as well as my shirt. So I tried to pimp that out as much as possible as the camera dudes walked down towards the line.
So we all take out spots on the floor, which weren't bad considering where we were in line. I kind of stood next to an aisle marked by white tape.<---which we weren't supposed to cross. . but I did MANY TIMES. They played footage of X Japan's last live in between sets
Kagrra
- Not too much to say about them. It was fun. . but nothing memorable. . maybe because I'm not a huge fan of them? They were kind of stiff on stage It reminded me of the older Kagrra because they were dressed in Kimonos, that reversed the casual trend that had been going on for a while (which I liked because the traditional costumes of Kagrra used to be their trademark)
Duel Jewel
I'm a looser and yoinked that from Hayato's blog. =X
As an outsider looking in, Duel Jewel's set wasn't partiularly astounding. It wasn't bad but it was average. They didn't play any of their newer songs. . I was kind of expecting a mix. . maybe Hana Uta, Azure, Never Blue, any softer song, and Aishuu Meloncholia.
As a fan who hadn't seen them live for EXACTLY 3 years. . IT WAS SO FUCKING AWESOME. So here's the setlist if I remember correctly. (This is out of order) I was kind of dissapointed that I didn't get Shun's side of the stage, but rather Natsuki's and Yuuya's. Oh yes, and that Duel jewel Towel of mine. . I'm kind of glad I was the only one who had it. (They sold it later at the merchandise booth) There was a point in between breaks of the songs where I was holding up my towel (completely ignoring the white tape and running up to the front where I was within their line of vision. Yuuya pointed directly at me and winked! Normally I don't talk about shit like that because when I see ofher people do it. . half of it is an overactive imagination. "HOMG, HE WAS STARING RIGHT AT ME!!!!!" It's like, NO KIDDING, YOU'RE IN THE AUDIENCE DOUCHEBAG. But other people who had heard my fangirling earlier turned around and gave me that "that was you" look. That was definitely a high point. Although ROFL, according to Chris the girl in front of me thought that he was pointing at her because he "Realized how miserable she was for being in the back of the line" ROFL. . HAHAHA
Hana Uta-
Click to viewAt this point. . I think whatever sound check they did for this ended up being pretty UNSUCESSFUL. The bass was up higher than it needed to be. . and the vocals were kind of distorted. Not to mention the GUITARS KEPT GOING OFF OR FLUCTUATING IN VOLUME. But it was fun. I totally ignored the white tape and did the para para as much as I could.
Reincarnation-Flow
I love this song!!! There aren't many people who realize how old this is. . because it was definitely played numerous times before it was released on Visions. (hence in 2003 they had the Reincarnation Flow tour. . ) Once again, it amazes me how far the band has come! That was a generally slow process. . but 2 years ago, they were one of those indie bands that you've only heard about because they came to America and still very small in Japan. But more about the song played. . They skipped out on the rapping part.
Kamisori
Ahh, the best part of this song is definitely the melody that constantly changes, because it brings the listener to so many different levels of mood. So it's excellent for people with short attention spans, like me. It sounds better live. I think since this was generally softer, it was a good contrast from the other two harder (Reincarnation Flow) more upbeat (hana uta) songs.
Mxxder Marble
At this point I was wondering . . Are they only playing songs off of Visions? That really surprised me because Duel Jewel had noticeably matured (music wise) in the gap between the releases of Visions and Azure. It's not my favorite, but it's an awesome song to watch live.
2nd MC before the Last song
Tales
interesting, another song that was played many times before it was released on a CD (well a Japanese cd). I love how the movements were still coordinated like they used to be. I guess I was kind of dissapointed because they didn't play Azure or anything newer. But Tales is always fun (although The Birth is my least favorite release because of the ineffective synth used in the tracks). . and then I'm wondering
WHY IS EVERYBODY LABELING THIS SONG [LIFE ON . . ] ??? I've been checking blogs and everyone i've seen so far (Their setlist) had called this [life On. . ]
After this song, I bolted to the merchandise line, because quite frankly I didn't care about the rest of the bands. (Althought more about that later on) To my dissapointment, they sold everything that I owned already. T^T. . EXCEPT, I was missing a cellphone strap. Oh yaah tribalofchaos Lauren and I bought you both of the photosets!
Lauren and I debated on whether or not to get in line for tommorow. . but we ended up sticking around to see miyavi. . GOOD FUCKING THING. . we wanted to sit in the balcony, so we found people to switch tickets with. ROFL. . .HAHAHA, those two seats were the TWO WORST SEATS IN THE ENTIRE FUCKING VENUE. Last row, right in the corner. It's alright though, we just wanted to sit and watch
Miyavi
I was never a fan of Miyavi, I didn't dislike him or completely love him for that matter. Maybe listen to a few songs on occasion. But honestly, this was the single best set of both nights. This was just. . amazing. Miyavi's music was presented in a way that was completely original. I guess I hadn't realized his innovative sense of direction and how. . awesome he was. Hahaha. After watching him, my respect for him as an artist (on a scale of 1-10) went from something like 3. . all of the way to 12. There was a tap dancer. . a random painter/umbrella dude, a rapper person, bassist and a drummer. I have no clue what the setlist is. . but he interpreted everything in this fusion of jazz and hip hop. . but it's all rooted by his amazing guitar skills. I will definitely look into more Miyavi stuff. He's come THAT FAR since due le quartz. Oh and as an added note, he used a talko player =D.
Then a discoball and Tears started playing. Yoshiki came out and gave a speech on JRR and pimped out that new project with him, gackt, sugizo, and Miyavi. I dunno, that is sort of epic. I mean, All of those are probably the most legendary people in terms of Visual Kei. . and throwing them into a big supergroup.
And then the biggest surprise of both nights.. . SUGIZO COMES ONSTAGE. . . . .My jaw just plummeted to the floor. O_______O. . . He played with Miyavi on stage. And i thought. . .THIS WAS A FUCKING PAGE OF JROCK HISTORY. YOSHIKI, MIYAVI AND SUGIZO. . . it was epic!
After this, Lauren and I had no desire to see Vidoll or Alice nine, so we bolted into line. Ok, I was dressed like a slut. . IT WAS FUCKING COLD. Thanks for the blanked Chris! But I guess I was so tired (probably got like 6 hours of sleep THAT ENTIRE WEEK) that I ended up falling asleep on the sidewalk.