V-Rock Festival ’09 - The Importance of the Sex Pot Revenge Hat.
Like always, it took us ages to get ready. We are not good at this getting dressed in a hurry thing. Especially when my awesome super quick curling iron wouldn’t work, so poor Omni spent about an hour and a half putting curls into my hair in order to clip in this awesome black hair piece thing that I got the day before.
Anyway, long story short, we left the house on time (not late, but not as early as we would have liked) and looked pretty damn amazing. Huge boots, jeans, I had my black lace corset, Sex Pot Revenge hat over the curls, as well as SPR chocker and cuff, VW jewellery and a huge fur trimmed coat.
Omni’s hair turned out hella awesome if I may say so myself (maybe we should both be hair dressers) and she had her cool studded crazy top on with her big belt. Of course we forgot to take photos until we were in the lobby and then they are on Omni’s camera, so they shall come later.
The hat and the hair image
Anyway, skipping over the trip there and getting right to the good stuff. We did see and watch more bands then covered here, but I am just listing the three major ones else I would be here forever.
In this review:
Merry
Filling in Time - Crazy Style
Lynch.
The Shopping
The Gazettte
The Conclusion
Merry
So, the first band on the top of our to do list was Merry and we only just got there in time as well. No sooner had we rocked up to the stage and waded our way into the crowd, the lights dimmed and it all started.
Nero came out first, as per usual, and he waved the Merry flag with pride before sticking it up behind his drums. Next came Yuu, who I hardly recognized as he was looking a little bit… American punk bandish. Think Greenday or something. Tetsu and Kenichi quickly followed, Tetsu looking even more lanky and long limbed in the flesh then he does in photo shoots and Kenichi looking adorable in a strangely bad ass sort of way.
With the band in position and instruments at the ready, there was just one other member to arrive.
Enter Gara.
In a bunny mask.
Now, maybe it is just my pop culture freaked mind, but I was automatically wondering what the hell he was doing wearing that ridiculous rabbit suit, or maybe we were the stupid ones in the man suits…
But anyway, he did the first song with the rabbit head pushed up and in true Gara style, it wasn’t long until he somehow lost both that and his shirt.
I would like to take the time now to point out how damn brave the guy is. Any Merry fan will know about all the issues he has with his back and herniated spine and yet some of the stuff he does on stage is just insane. Once the shirt was gone, it revealed a short lace up leather corset that was tucked into his pants; sure, it matched the theme of the day and looked pretty cool, but we were close enough to see the bandages under that. Obviously he needed to have his back strapped up for medical and protective purposes and I guess he tired to hide it with the corset.
That was so damn admirable - if just a little stupid - and makes one hell of a statement about his dedication to the band, the fans and his love of music. Especially as the show went on and he flailed and jumped and twitched around like a crazy person.
In short, as expected, Merry were great. There is just something about Gara and the boys that sucks you into their live performances, even if you aren’t too fond of their rather strange set list choices.
Everything about their performance was pulled off in that crazy, unpredictable style that only Merry can really achieve. With half the stuff that Gara got up to, it left you wondering if he really was one of the Special ED kids at school and the damn looks he pulled while flicking his tongue in and out of his mouth had you both concerned for his sanity and doubting your own for finding it fucking hot.
Kenichi pretty much stacked it in the first five minutes; one second he was spinning and the next he wasn’t. But the little guy got back up and soldiered on like a trooper and no one else seemed to notice.
Yuu got a nice little solo. Or well, it would have been a nice little solo had he not decided to perch on the edge of Gara’s desk; the vocalist took this as an open invitation, jumped up behind him and started humping the back of Yuu’s head.
Needless to say that the fans went wild.
Now, Merry is one of those bands were I get songs confused, so you’ll have to excuse me while I don’t make any attempt at all to cover the set list. I am pretty sure they did Human Farm from their new album, and I know that they did Japanese Modernist and Kubitsuri Rondo but the rest... well, they are all sort of just a blur.
The biggest and best surprise came towards the end though. One song ended and a rather familiar piece of music came on, though I couldn’t place it, especially not as Yuu chanted into the microphone. Worst thing was that it was lyrics that I knew but fucked if I could place it.
Meanwhile, apparently Omni beat me to the revelation and started flailing at me and grinning and once that happened I just knew.
Sweet Powder.
With the excepting of tracks like 月食 and 伊勢佐木町ブルース (Isezakichou Blues), Sweet Powder, to me, is THE Merry song. The song is amazing, the lyrics are fantastic, Gara’s voice is fucking perfect and the PV is made of some serious hot stuff. So to see that song live blew my mind, especially when there is that part of your brain that is still saying ‘Hey, you are standing in Japan, taking part in quite possibly the biggest music festival of this genre; this is it.’
I think that was the point in the holiday that it really set in. After years and years of planning and dreaming and hoping and wishing, we were finally in Japan. And not just that, but we were there for all the stuff we loved.
It was pretty damn awesome and the rest of Merry’s set passed in a hyper blur with me just grinning like an idiot and becoming more and more impressed with Gara and the boys.
With the last song over, Yuu, Kenichi and Tetsu exited the stage and Gara, in all his odd glory, crawled under his desk, stood up to rest it on his shoulders and stumbled out of sight. Nero collected the flag, waved it around some more and screamed out to the fans before leaving.
It was a great way to kick off our day and certainly something that will stay with us forever. When (not if) I make it back to Japan, Merry will sure as hell be on the top of my to see again list.
Filling in Time - Crazy Style
Like most people, we had a list of bands that we had to see, a list that we had to avoid (best not to let me anywhere near Alice Nine in case I snap and kill people with Saga’s nose) and then a list of bands to listen into, but not brave the masses for. It meant that we had a lot of time to kill.
So after Merry, we had a quick drink, a wander around, a ‘preparation’ smoke before needing to leg it towards the S stage. We got hella sidetracked along way the way though, including some random photos taken of us from a lovely lady working for Music Japan Plus. She had a piece of paper with ‘May I take your photograph for our magazine’ written on it in several languages. She was so sweet.
After that, we were outside (most likely having another smoke after the surprise pictures) and some guy with a huge microphone comes up to me and starts yabbing on in Japanese. I shake my head and tell him I don’t understand a word, to which he grins and replies, ‘Well, that is fine as I speak English.’
It was creepy; he almost had no accent at all.
Anyway, long story short, he worked for some news channel and convinced Omni and I into doing an interview for them. Next thing we know we have microphones and cameras and lights shoved in our faces from all directions and we are being asked where we are from and did we come to Japan for this concert and we are looking somewhere between stunned, terrified and proud.
Poor Omni got flustered. At the start we did our whole creepy, answer everything in sync thing and then he changed it and did separate interviews. He asked Omni who she came to see (she said D’espairsRay and lynch.) and then asked her how we got into this sort of music.
And she froze. It was funny. After awhile she said something about Youtube and LJ and something else and smiled and nodded and the guy asked if we knew of others in Australia who liked VK or if it was just us from our circle of friends.
I got the same who was I there for question (I said lynch. and Merry - and later found it funny that we both forgot about The Gazette) and then he asked me what it is about the music and if I understood the words. Obviously I said nope, don’t understand much and then made up the best stuff about the music and the feeling and power of the voice being universal and something that anyone can relate to. He seemed to like that and asked what I thought of the look and dress style, which I said it was different and fun and THEN got nervous and trailed off rather awkwardly.
That pretty much concluded the interview. He wished us lots of fun and said that he hoped we enjoyed their festival and our stay in Japan and that we come back soon. We thanked him and wandered off.
Of course, we didn’t think about getting what station he worked for, but Omni remembers something about a nine on the mic or something. Not that we really watched any TV anyway, but somewhere it is highly likely that we appeared on Japanese TV, no doubt subtitled, and ranting about VK and lynch.
The lynch. boys had better appreciate that ;) Good damn publicity!
After that there was time for one more cigarette before we set off to battle the crowds and the bad music as we managed to get ourselves right up the front on the left side of the runway; perfect for our Hazuki and Yu viewing pleasure…
Lynch.
It is hard to describe the feeling of standing there, waiting for that set. It was a head rush; something that made your hands sweaty and clammy while causing your heart to speed up and while your body races towards an early death, all you can do is smile like a maniac.
Sadly, the idiots on the V stage to the left of the S stage ran overtime; we kept waiting. In the mean time, we occupied ourselves with staring at the lowered curtain and listening to the very quiet sound check going on behind it. Then the real entertainment started up as shadows began to appear behind the curtain; first with Asanao wandering around, followed by a distinctly Yu-shaped silhouette looking lost, followed by an unmistakable Hazuki shadow going through a series of stretches and his trademark hair flicks.
I don’t think that they knew we could see them ;)
Either way, it was a hell of a good show for us and worked somewhat akin to performance foreplay (though, when I put it that way, what is the bet that Hazuki KNEW we could all see him bending like a pretzel?!) There was also a rather hilarious bout of giggling coming from behind said curtain. The culprits; Yusuke and Hazuki... so god only knows what those two crazies were getting up to back there.
Finally the noise behind us stopped, the pint sized guitarists galloped off the stage and the lights around us all went dead. My heart sped up and for awhile I just told myself that I had to breath else I would miss the show; my friend looked over at me and somehow I knew that she was running through the same mental pep-talk and once again neither of us could keep from smiling.
And then it began. Unlike Merry, the lynch. boys didn’t walk out onto the stage. The curtain pulled back and they were there and damn, it was dramatic. Reo looked pretty cool over in his little corner (I must admit that I didn’t really see much of him; was too busy being distracted) and the dear ‘chairman’ hung around in the background between Hazuki and Yu. Asanao I didn’t really see. That was the sad thing with their entrance; he was already hiding behind the drums and I was that close to the stage that looking up meant that you didn’t really see him over the top of the kit.
Last Nite was the first song and fuck me, but there couldn’t have been a better opening track at all. The soft piano sounds echoed around the hall and I took a very quick moment to glance over my shoulder and take in the crowd; a much bigger turn out then what I was imagining. Apparently lynch. are picking up fans at the speed of light.
Anyway, attention back to the stage. Hazuki stood there, his arms out and his head down and I took a really quick moment to glance at Yu; the little dear was looking hotter then ever and thankfully that overly large (yet cute) ear of his was hidden by some rather sexy hair. Leather outfit made me want to drool and yank him off the stage and shove him in my handbag.
Hazuki was in his typical loose fitting dark clothes. Pants, boots, t-shirt/singlet thing with his long sleeve, cotton cardigan-like thing over the top and a long thin scarf that hung down at the front with the other side straight down his back. It is a look that only he can pull off. Unlike the ‘attacked by Mao at Counter Culture Akasaka BLITZ incident’, his hair and makeup were amazing. Think somewhere between Adore and Ambivalent Ideal for the hair; not too long, but not overly short and yet still somehow kinda flicked out everywhere. The makeup, however, was the thing that got me. Apparently Hazuki is branching out and instead of just having black smeared all over his face like engine grease, he had dark eyeliner and red shadow in a band around his eyes.
It looked fucking hot.
There was something overly Atsushi (Buck-tick) like with Hazuki’s opening performance. During the whole song, he remained poised and calm behind the mic stand, which was something I wasn’t expecting, and yet somehow there was no way that you could look away from him. Subtly, that was his trick. A rub of the microphone stand here, a flick of his hair there, a roll of red rimmed eyes (which again, Hazuki in red makeup could be the hottest thing in the world), a casual brush of his hand against his thigh, all mixed in with an almost self-appreciating, arms out, godlike pose.
It was unreal.
Another thing that I wasn’t fully expecting was just how damn perfect his voice was live. After the dying cat experience of poor Hizumi the day before, I was pretty much ready for anything. But with Hazuki that wasn’t necessary; flawless and just fucking incredible.
As the song came to a close, Hazuki looked around the crowd in his almost pompous way and then the weirdest thing happened.
He saw us and just stared.
Like, ok, I get the fact that I am about a foot (and a bit) taller than the average Japanese girl, and yes, I am obviously not Asian and have really blonde hair (though I have purple streaks at the moment and had a set of black extensions in underneath for the festival. Looked awesome) and yeah, we did stand out as foreigners in the front rows, but seriously.
It was weird; he just stared and fuck, we were close enough that we could see his eyes clearly. Whatever the reason, it left Omni and I flailing at each other in that ‘Oh dear god is this happening; I can’t stand or breathe’ sort of way and then the next song kicked up again and Hazuki moved on. Needless to say, I breathed in a sigh of relief as he spun off and all but tossed the mic stand out of the way.
Now, keep in mind that my brain went a little Hazuki happy after that, so the set list is a bit of a blur. I know they played Shadows, Marrow, The Universe/(Unknown Lost a Beauty? - can't remember), Evilly, Starz and then finished it all off with Adore. Sadly, there was no Lizard or Ambivalent Ideal but I was able to deal. The Universe instead of Lizard was a good trade.
The performance kept going strong, his voice pretty much perfect and Reo, Yu, Asano and the chairman doing a great job in the background. The best word to describe it would be flawless. I even remember a time when there was an issue with Junji’s bass strap - poor dear was struggling trying to play and balance it all at the same time - and it was Hazuki who noticed it and subtly motioned one of their little roadies over to sort it out. That was how well they performed as a team; quite remarkable to see actually.
Hazuki put on one hell of a damn good show, his red dusted eyes flicking around in that crazed sort of way made him sexy as all hell, not to mention that the nice little Evilly groping session will be enough to give me happy thoughts for the rest of the year.
The weirdest thing was that, honest to god, Hazuki kept looking over at us. It just blew my mind completely. I don’t know if he just thought we looked bloody weird or he was shocked that there were two crazy white girls decked out in almost VK stuff singing along or god only knows what, but one minute I would be lost in the show, the feel of the music, his voice and just watching them and the next he was looking right fucking at me. Eye contact and Omni and I would be flailing to hold onto each other just to keep upright all over again.
As a lot of you would know, I have this thing for eyes and how they can portray such expressions and with Hazuki it was like nothing I have ever felt. They were… commanding in a way. He wasn’t glancing at the only two obvious foreigners in the crowd (that he could see; cause I did see a few there for lynch. actually) to check that they were enjoying themselves; he was watching and demanding that we enjoy it and that we make noise and get our hands in the air.
And let me just say that he is one fucking intimidating guy!
It was amazing.
Yu liked to wander up to the front, pretty much right were we were standing and do his own little ‘pay me attention and make some noise’ motions. I wasn’t expecting that. He always seems like the quiet, shy one, or the one to get up to mischief but only when Hazuki instigated it, so it was a nice change to see him acting up a little.
I remember Hazuki screaming out ‘last song’ and wondering why the hell the crowd was going wild. Last song? No! More songs, damnit! Play more! Never stop!
The final song was Adore and it was a bit of a cross between the original and the Shadows version. Hazuki made full use of the runway off the stage and dashed up into the middle of the crowd. That was awesome though I pretty much got whip lash trying to work out whether to watch Hazuki or Yu and then Hazuki came back to the stage (with a roadie rolling his mic cord up as he went), stared at us the entire time back as well and then the song ended.
I think the thing that I love with lynch. is how they handle themselves. Sure, The Gazette are amazing and Aoi whoring himself around the stage is nice, but lynch. (especially Hazuki) manage to do it in such a way that it is all left up to the mind. He wasn’t pulling any stripper moves or even doing anything too perverse, but with Hazuki, all that is needed is that subtle shift of his long shirt to make you think he is about to do something. Then when he actually does it has even more effect. Mix that with his evilly sexy ‘Ambivalent Ideal’ smirk/grin and a few shoulder actions and a couple of half squat things and you have the hottest show in existence.
But sadly, it was over. For awhile Omni and I just stood there, kinda dazed and confused and too giddy to walk (especially after all the staring) and then once we finally got moving we went to the bar, downed some alcohol and went and had a few cigarettes.
If Hazuki stretching behind the curtain was foreplay then booze and nicotine ended it all rather nicely.
The Shopping
Like all good money making concepts, V-rock had a selection of overpriced goods. I had seem them before we went and had fallen in love with their tote bags, though once seeing them I changed my mind. Scrunches (ok, so in Australia, we got rid of them in the late 90’s), towels, small sized shirts and lighters (which I wanted but didn’t know about taking them on the plane home).
Long story short, the only thing I ended up getting was a cool little red tartan phone strap that I then pinned V-rock badges to in order to make it a little more awesome looking.
Next came the band goods. They confused the hell out of us at first, by only selling goods of those who played on the day. So by the time we got there Saturday all the good D’espairsRay stuff was pretty much gone so we missed out on them.
Wandering down the line of tents, shitloads of Yen burning a hole in our pockets, Omni and I were dismayed - no, that is a very calm term - absolutely devastated to find a list of artist performing on the day who didn’t have goods for sale. And of course, on that list where Merry and lynch. Don’t know why (obviously can’t read Japanese and that was the only sign they didn’t have in English) but yeah, no goods. So that was sad.
Distraught and wanting to spend money, we went upstairs and hit all the magazine stalls.
The final damage for me:
- Fool’s Mate Express, Vol 2 (Merry, lynch., Sadie, 12012, Girugamesh) with a free glossy Merry photo.
- Rock and Read Vol 21 *bounce* (Hazuki photoshoot!! And Karyu - been looking for this for ages)
- VK DVD Magazine, Vol 3 (lynch. and a whole bunch of others that I don’t care about. but LYNCH!)
- lynch. - The Buried album (see what happens when they don’t have merchandise; I have to go and give my money to other people in order to surround myself with stuff) and finally
- The Gazette Art book. It was shiny and came with more free stuff (another glossy image and a free poster) and fucking heavy to lug around, but I got an awesome deal on it.
- And a whole bunch of small stuff thanks to some random lucky dip thing. Honestly, what is it with Japan and free gifts? Obviously we didn’t win, so we got the consolation prize which, as far as I could tell, was meant to be a small tote bag, a badge and a VK cat puppet thing. I walked away with four puppets, five damn bags, and like, six badges and picks and stuff. It was insane.
Omni didn’t quite lose herself in the shopping as much as I did and ended up getting The Gazette NIL bandscore (which neither of us can read and neither plays instruments) which came with a free little folder thingy. Again with the gifts.
So yes, long rant short, damn them for not having lynch. goods and since I actually have money left over from the trip (not too sure how that happened) I am going to go and pre order their upcoming DVD and maybe work out how to get some stuff off their website. I want their damn tote bag (I seem to have an odd thing for tote bags…)
Anyway, moving along… and skipping lots. As said, we did watch other bands, and we did enjoy them, but I am just doing the main ones here else this could go on forever.
The Gazette
In true Japanese style, everything was very orderly before the Gazette. If you wanted up the front, you had to line up and hour and ten minutes before they were set to perform. Being slightly bored, we headed over about fifty minutes before their set and still oddly had time to get right where we wanted to be.
At first we were ushered up the front of the Uruha side of the stage, which we obviously weren’t too happy with. Then, through some careful observation on my part, I grabbed Omni and we high tailed it to an open side of fence over on Aoi’s side and took up position, officially three (very short) people from the absolute front. And right in front of Aoi’s guitar.
Now all that remained was waiting.
Who ever the hell Toshihiko Takamizawa is… well, they too need to be attacked by Saga’s voice killing nose of doom cause they were terrible. We spent most of the waiting time standing there grimacing with our fingers in our ears and looking at the clock, waiting for the Gazette. Oddest thing was that we were surrounded by tonnes of Asian girls all doing the same thing. Apparently the verdict is that this Takamizawa just sucks.
More waiting followed and sadly, after a very nice, polite and short girl behind me requested that I take off my hat, we were left with even more standing, boredom, and waiting, all while I had horribly bad hat hair.
Finally the moron on the stage next door stopped and everything went dark. And then we waited a little more. And some more.
And then there was music.
Omni and I pissed ourselves laughing at their opening theme song. It was funny, even if just a little conceited. Nothing screams ‘We are the headline act and the reason you are all here’ like the dramatic piece of Carl Orff’s Oh Fortuna getting blasted out of a series of speakers tuned to play rock music.
For those confused… it pretty much kicked off at 1:37 of this track, even though, being Australian, Omni and I couldn’t help but laugh at the memory of this commercial.
We were that busy laughing that Kai was already on stage and walking to his drums before we actually realised what was happening. For once the guy looked cool and I am a big fan of his new hair. Of course they were all in their Before I Decay outfits.
Reita came next and I was oddly taken back with just how… normal he looked. It is no secret that I don’t like Reita, but his hair was minimal chicken like and he was kinda shorter then I thought he would be.
Anyway, of course then came Aoi and Uruha and I will admit that I hardly paid Uruha any attention. Aoi was just too damn hot and I instantly had some crazy love affair with his hair. How he gets it to stick up like that, flail his head around and then have it just sit perfectly back in place will confound me for the rest of my life. Damn him.
Ruki was the last to come out, sparkly Wataru suit and all, and man, under the lights, that outfit really did shine. Being attracted to shiny, I just found myself staring at him, which is kinda sad.
Also, by this time of the night, I was that crazed that I can hardly remember the setlist. I don’t know how people do that so well; I would need to take notes on my phone to remember each song in order. I know they did Before I Decay, Headache Man, Guren and a lot of others. The highlight was the surprise plucking of Chizuru out of their older stuff. Of course they also did Linda, but it was Chizuru that made it for me.
Anyway, just as quick as that, they sprung into life and the show got started.
Ruki crossed over in front of Aoi and came to crouch on top of one of the lights pretty early on, his arm looped up around one of the support beams for balance. Fuck me, that was awesome. He was right there. As in, right there and screaming and all around us the fangirls went crazy and doubled over, flicking their hair everywhere. Omni and I kept it simple and stuck with the devil horns thing. Maybe I am insane, but the idea of head banging at a live concert is really stupid. You are there to see the band and you can’t watch them if you are flicking your hair around like a maniac; you do that sort of stuff at home.
So anyway, there is this sea of fangirl hair whipping at us and Omni and I couldn’t care less. Ruki is there, he sounds and looks amazing and we are punching devil horns into the air.
And then somehow my inner fangirl clawed its way to the surface and before I knew it, the pounding devil horned fist turned into an excited wave.
I mean, wtf?
Yes, I am ashamed… I waved at Ruki in the middle of a concert (Headache Man, I believe; not too good with the names of their new songs) like some stupid, love struck school girl or something.
However, he saw it, grinned while singing, raised his eyebrows and then wiggled his fingers around the microphone back at me. *dies*
Yes, I was an idiot and waved at Ruki, but Ruki was the fool who waved back. Not too sure who should feel more stupid. Either way it was cool.
Just like with lynch. I didn’t see much of Kai, which wasn’t a big deal, and Uruha pretty much kept to his side of the stage. The only time I really saw him was when he and Aoi switched or they jumped up the front for their solos. Reita moved around a bit and a few times I was amazed that he and Aoi didn’t trip over each other. The stage was smaller then what they seemed use to and I couldn’t help but wonder why they weren’t on the same stage as lynch. It was both bigger and had the runway platform, but meh, I am sure they had their reasons.
Like always, it wouldn’t be a Gazette live without a serving of fanservice. Ruki and Uruha played around a bit, Aoi was pretty much just fanservice sex on legs all by himself and he had a way of dragging Reita into crazy little bouncy dance things as well.
There was a sinfully good moment where I was looking between Ruki and Aoi and then was about to look back at Ruki when I realised that Aoi’s hand had disappeared behind his guitar and was making very hot jerking actions back there. Towards the end there was a lovely bit of Aoi and Ruki action (which I am sure you have all seen the pictures of by now) that made my OTP muses go crazy and start ranting in the back of my head.
Ruki had a thing for conducting the crowd during the MC’s. He seemed to find it endlessly amusing. He’d get one side of the room to scream, and then the next, and then that side up the back and then side up and the back and then Mexican Wave scream and then everybody fucking scream. It was awesome and fun and made him smile and giggle quite a bit.
The other funny thing was the time outs. Now, I don’t know if it was a Japanese thing, or if they are just getting old as no other rockstars I have ever seen do this, but every three songs or so, they would all just wander back, put their backs to the crowd and have a drink, dry themselves off and hang around doing shit all for a good minute to a minute and a half. Aoi, of course though, normally turned back to the face the crowd and then draped himself over the amps while just surveying the room. Occasionally he would grin and make ‘time out’ hand motions and then after a bit, they would all come forward and get back into it.
Oddest fucking thing in the world.
Sadly their set didn’t go as long as we hoped, but it still went longer then bands like lynch. and Merry. They thanked everyone and threw picks and drum sticks out into the crowd and just to the left of me, I thought there was going to be a fangirl murder as a Kai drumstick flew past.
With that, they left the stage and we all kinda just stood there, a little stunned and too tired to move. I got my hat back on to hide the horrible mess of curled hair and we were about to bite the bullet and actually move when someone started up the cheer. Of course, once one person started, the rest followed and within a matter of moments the place was a hive of noise as the fans started screaming for an encore.
Now I am not too sure if it was planned or not as some of the roadies looked like they were about to start packing up. Then Aoi came running up the side of the stairs, stopped some guy from removing his guitar and jogged onto the stage and started screaming through the microphone.
The crowd went wild and the rest of the members returned to their posts and the music started up again. It wasn’t like their usual ones where Kai goes out first, then Reita etc. It was quick and straight to the point with Ruki following along behind the guitarists.
Again, I am not too sure if it was planned, if they were even meant to go back or if they just decided to wing it. Either way, it was good and of course, the fans responded.
With my hat back on my head I couldn’t exactly move around much, so it was back to good old devil horns all the way.
Then the most amazing thing happened. With the sea of small Japanese girls all bent over in front of us, it was a complete clear view between us and Aoi and that whorey sex god looked right at me, smirked at my hat and then pressed his fingers to his lips. Leaning right over, he dipped down low, eyes locked with mine and blew that damn kiss right at me.
I honestly almost died.
I am still in shock and had it not been for Omni’s reaction, I would have been sure that I imagined the entire thing.
What followed was hilarious. Omni saw the kiss incident and her face dropped; I am sure her mind was screaming ‘you bitch’ over and over again. I saw that, Aoi saw that and the damn fucker just chuckled, smirked and went off to play with Reita.
Omni glared at me, I flailed and we both acted like children and squealed.
The encore was short (again, lead me to think that it wasn’t planned and there was probably some angry management back stage somewhere) and they again said all their goodbyes and threw more stuff into the crowd. The moment they walked off stage the lights came back on and roadies started breaking it all down. There would be no chance for a second encore.
The Conclusion:
I have to say that I was very happy with the festival. I have read lots of live reports and heard about other foreigners going there and getting treated like crap, but everyone was really nice to us. During the entire trip, we did work out that most of the Japanese seem to hate Americans, so that could have something to do with it (I mean seriously, who doesn’t love us Aussies?).
Everywhere we went we got warm welcomes and people were overly helpful. Food and drink service was easy and painless and they all seemed to either understand enough English to get us by, or we worked it out with pointing and lots of nodding and thank yous. When it came to merchandise buying and asking questions they were fantastic. Either we could work our way through it or they would indicate for us to hold on a moment while they flagged down someone from the neighbouring shop or stand who spoke English to translate.
Even things down to rubbish in the hall and grounds. They are so overly clean; I didn’t see a single cigarette butt on the ground, or a discarded cup or anything. There were even bin monitors who were more than happy to help you work out where to put things; separate bag for chopsticks, labels off bottles and bottles and cans separate to food and cups.
The staff there were just the icing on the cake really. It made it easy and hassle free while still exciting and new and authentic. It was absolutely perfect.
As for the bands and highlights, as amazing as the Gazette experience was, I still have to stay overly true to myself and say that nothing beat lynch. live.
Maybe it is because they are not as big a band as Gazette, or because I just prefer their music more or hell, maybe it is a strictly fangirlish reason of Hazuki is fucking seriously hot, but the thing that I will remember the most is lynch. Gazette were great and left a lasting impression but lynch. were somehow life changing. The vibe for them was also a lot different; less fangirly and more hard rock with just the right dose of VK to make the performance the absolute highlight.
All in all, it was a fantastic experience, worth all the money, hassel and effort to get there and if there is a V-Rock 2010, I WILL be there.
Anyway, long story short, we left the house on time (not late, but not as early as we would have liked) and looked pretty damn amazing. Huge boots, jeans, I had my black lace corset, Sex Pot Revenge hat over the curls, as well as SPR chocker and cuff, VW jewellery and a huge fur trimmed coat.
Omni’s hair turned out hella awesome if I may say so myself (maybe we should both be hair dressers) and she had her cool studded crazy top on with her big belt. Of course we forgot to take photos until we were in the lobby and then they are on Omni’s camera, so they shall come later.
The hat and the hair image
Anyway, skipping over the trip there and getting right to the good stuff. We did see and watch more bands then covered here, but I am just listing the three major ones else I would be here forever.
In this review:
Merry
Filling in Time - Crazy Style
Lynch.
The Shopping
The Gazettte
The Conclusion
Merry
So, the first band on the top of our to do list was Merry and we only just got there in time as well. No sooner had we rocked up to the stage and waded our way into the crowd, the lights dimmed and it all started.
Nero came out first, as per usual, and he waved the Merry flag with pride before sticking it up behind his drums. Next came Yuu, who I hardly recognized as he was looking a little bit… American punk bandish. Think Greenday or something. Tetsu and Kenichi quickly followed, Tetsu looking even more lanky and long limbed in the flesh then he does in photo shoots and Kenichi looking adorable in a strangely bad ass sort of way.
With the band in position and instruments at the ready, there was just one other member to arrive.
Enter Gara.
In a bunny mask.
Now, maybe it is just my pop culture freaked mind, but I was automatically wondering what the hell he was doing wearing that ridiculous rabbit suit, or maybe we were the stupid ones in the man suits…
But anyway, he did the first song with the rabbit head pushed up and in true Gara style, it wasn’t long until he somehow lost both that and his shirt.
I would like to take the time now to point out how damn brave the guy is. Any Merry fan will know about all the issues he has with his back and herniated spine and yet some of the stuff he does on stage is just insane. Once the shirt was gone, it revealed a short lace up leather corset that was tucked into his pants; sure, it matched the theme of the day and looked pretty cool, but we were close enough to see the bandages under that. Obviously he needed to have his back strapped up for medical and protective purposes and I guess he tired to hide it with the corset.
That was so damn admirable - if just a little stupid - and makes one hell of a statement about his dedication to the band, the fans and his love of music. Especially as the show went on and he flailed and jumped and twitched around like a crazy person.
In short, as expected, Merry were great. There is just something about Gara and the boys that sucks you into their live performances, even if you aren’t too fond of their rather strange set list choices.
Everything about their performance was pulled off in that crazy, unpredictable style that only Merry can really achieve. With half the stuff that Gara got up to, it left you wondering if he really was one of the Special ED kids at school and the damn looks he pulled while flicking his tongue in and out of his mouth had you both concerned for his sanity and doubting your own for finding it fucking hot.
Kenichi pretty much stacked it in the first five minutes; one second he was spinning and the next he wasn’t. But the little guy got back up and soldiered on like a trooper and no one else seemed to notice.
Yuu got a nice little solo. Or well, it would have been a nice little solo had he not decided to perch on the edge of Gara’s desk; the vocalist took this as an open invitation, jumped up behind him and started humping the back of Yuu’s head.
Needless to say that the fans went wild.
Now, Merry is one of those bands were I get songs confused, so you’ll have to excuse me while I don’t make any attempt at all to cover the set list. I am pretty sure they did Human Farm from their new album, and I know that they did Japanese Modernist and Kubitsuri Rondo but the rest... well, they are all sort of just a blur.
The biggest and best surprise came towards the end though. One song ended and a rather familiar piece of music came on, though I couldn’t place it, especially not as Yuu chanted into the microphone. Worst thing was that it was lyrics that I knew but fucked if I could place it.
Meanwhile, apparently Omni beat me to the revelation and started flailing at me and grinning and once that happened I just knew.
Sweet Powder.
With the excepting of tracks like 月食 and 伊勢佐木町ブルース (Isezakichou Blues), Sweet Powder, to me, is THE Merry song. The song is amazing, the lyrics are fantastic, Gara’s voice is fucking perfect and the PV is made of some serious hot stuff. So to see that song live blew my mind, especially when there is that part of your brain that is still saying ‘Hey, you are standing in Japan, taking part in quite possibly the biggest music festival of this genre; this is it.’
I think that was the point in the holiday that it really set in. After years and years of planning and dreaming and hoping and wishing, we were finally in Japan. And not just that, but we were there for all the stuff we loved.
It was pretty damn awesome and the rest of Merry’s set passed in a hyper blur with me just grinning like an idiot and becoming more and more impressed with Gara and the boys.
With the last song over, Yuu, Kenichi and Tetsu exited the stage and Gara, in all his odd glory, crawled under his desk, stood up to rest it on his shoulders and stumbled out of sight. Nero collected the flag, waved it around some more and screamed out to the fans before leaving.
It was a great way to kick off our day and certainly something that will stay with us forever. When (not if) I make it back to Japan, Merry will sure as hell be on the top of my to see again list.
Filling in Time - Crazy Style
Like most people, we had a list of bands that we had to see, a list that we had to avoid (best not to let me anywhere near Alice Nine in case I snap and kill people with Saga’s nose) and then a list of bands to listen into, but not brave the masses for. It meant that we had a lot of time to kill.
So after Merry, we had a quick drink, a wander around, a ‘preparation’ smoke before needing to leg it towards the S stage. We got hella sidetracked along way the way though, including some random photos taken of us from a lovely lady working for Music Japan Plus. She had a piece of paper with ‘May I take your photograph for our magazine’ written on it in several languages. She was so sweet.
After that, we were outside (most likely having another smoke after the surprise pictures) and some guy with a huge microphone comes up to me and starts yabbing on in Japanese. I shake my head and tell him I don’t understand a word, to which he grins and replies, ‘Well, that is fine as I speak English.’
It was creepy; he almost had no accent at all.
Anyway, long story short, he worked for some news channel and convinced Omni and I into doing an interview for them. Next thing we know we have microphones and cameras and lights shoved in our faces from all directions and we are being asked where we are from and did we come to Japan for this concert and we are looking somewhere between stunned, terrified and proud.
Poor Omni got flustered. At the start we did our whole creepy, answer everything in sync thing and then he changed it and did separate interviews. He asked Omni who she came to see (she said D’espairsRay and lynch.) and then asked her how we got into this sort of music.
And she froze. It was funny. After awhile she said something about Youtube and LJ and something else and smiled and nodded and the guy asked if we knew of others in Australia who liked VK or if it was just us from our circle of friends.
I got the same who was I there for question (I said lynch. and Merry - and later found it funny that we both forgot about The Gazette) and then he asked me what it is about the music and if I understood the words. Obviously I said nope, don’t understand much and then made up the best stuff about the music and the feeling and power of the voice being universal and something that anyone can relate to. He seemed to like that and asked what I thought of the look and dress style, which I said it was different and fun and THEN got nervous and trailed off rather awkwardly.
That pretty much concluded the interview. He wished us lots of fun and said that he hoped we enjoyed their festival and our stay in Japan and that we come back soon. We thanked him and wandered off.
Of course, we didn’t think about getting what station he worked for, but Omni remembers something about a nine on the mic or something. Not that we really watched any TV anyway, but somewhere it is highly likely that we appeared on Japanese TV, no doubt subtitled, and ranting about VK and lynch.
The lynch. boys had better appreciate that ;) Good damn publicity!
After that there was time for one more cigarette before we set off to battle the crowds and the bad music as we managed to get ourselves right up the front on the left side of the runway; perfect for our Hazuki and Yu viewing pleasure…
Lynch.
It is hard to describe the feeling of standing there, waiting for that set. It was a head rush; something that made your hands sweaty and clammy while causing your heart to speed up and while your body races towards an early death, all you can do is smile like a maniac.
Sadly, the idiots on the V stage to the left of the S stage ran overtime; we kept waiting. In the mean time, we occupied ourselves with staring at the lowered curtain and listening to the very quiet sound check going on behind it. Then the real entertainment started up as shadows began to appear behind the curtain; first with Asanao wandering around, followed by a distinctly Yu-shaped silhouette looking lost, followed by an unmistakable Hazuki shadow going through a series of stretches and his trademark hair flicks.
I don’t think that they knew we could see them ;)
Either way, it was a hell of a good show for us and worked somewhat akin to performance foreplay (though, when I put it that way, what is the bet that Hazuki KNEW we could all see him bending like a pretzel?!) There was also a rather hilarious bout of giggling coming from behind said curtain. The culprits; Yusuke and Hazuki... so god only knows what those two crazies were getting up to back there.
Finally the noise behind us stopped, the pint sized guitarists galloped off the stage and the lights around us all went dead. My heart sped up and for awhile I just told myself that I had to breath else I would miss the show; my friend looked over at me and somehow I knew that she was running through the same mental pep-talk and once again neither of us could keep from smiling.
And then it began. Unlike Merry, the lynch. boys didn’t walk out onto the stage. The curtain pulled back and they were there and damn, it was dramatic. Reo looked pretty cool over in his little corner (I must admit that I didn’t really see much of him; was too busy being distracted) and the dear ‘chairman’ hung around in the background between Hazuki and Yu. Asanao I didn’t really see. That was the sad thing with their entrance; he was already hiding behind the drums and I was that close to the stage that looking up meant that you didn’t really see him over the top of the kit.
Last Nite was the first song and fuck me, but there couldn’t have been a better opening track at all. The soft piano sounds echoed around the hall and I took a very quick moment to glance over my shoulder and take in the crowd; a much bigger turn out then what I was imagining. Apparently lynch. are picking up fans at the speed of light.
Anyway, attention back to the stage. Hazuki stood there, his arms out and his head down and I took a really quick moment to glance at Yu; the little dear was looking hotter then ever and thankfully that overly large (yet cute) ear of his was hidden by some rather sexy hair. Leather outfit made me want to drool and yank him off the stage and shove him in my handbag.
Hazuki was in his typical loose fitting dark clothes. Pants, boots, t-shirt/singlet thing with his long sleeve, cotton cardigan-like thing over the top and a long thin scarf that hung down at the front with the other side straight down his back. It is a look that only he can pull off. Unlike the ‘attacked by Mao at Counter Culture Akasaka BLITZ incident’, his hair and makeup were amazing. Think somewhere between Adore and Ambivalent Ideal for the hair; not too long, but not overly short and yet still somehow kinda flicked out everywhere. The makeup, however, was the thing that got me. Apparently Hazuki is branching out and instead of just having black smeared all over his face like engine grease, he had dark eyeliner and red shadow in a band around his eyes.
It looked fucking hot.
There was something overly Atsushi (Buck-tick) like with Hazuki’s opening performance. During the whole song, he remained poised and calm behind the mic stand, which was something I wasn’t expecting, and yet somehow there was no way that you could look away from him. Subtly, that was his trick. A rub of the microphone stand here, a flick of his hair there, a roll of red rimmed eyes (which again, Hazuki in red makeup could be the hottest thing in the world), a casual brush of his hand against his thigh, all mixed in with an almost self-appreciating, arms out, godlike pose.
It was unreal.
Another thing that I wasn’t fully expecting was just how damn perfect his voice was live. After the dying cat experience of poor Hizumi the day before, I was pretty much ready for anything. But with Hazuki that wasn’t necessary; flawless and just fucking incredible.
As the song came to a close, Hazuki looked around the crowd in his almost pompous way and then the weirdest thing happened.
He saw us and just stared.
Like, ok, I get the fact that I am about a foot (and a bit) taller than the average Japanese girl, and yes, I am obviously not Asian and have really blonde hair (though I have purple streaks at the moment and had a set of black extensions in underneath for the festival. Looked awesome) and yeah, we did stand out as foreigners in the front rows, but seriously.
It was weird; he just stared and fuck, we were close enough that we could see his eyes clearly. Whatever the reason, it left Omni and I flailing at each other in that ‘Oh dear god is this happening; I can’t stand or breathe’ sort of way and then the next song kicked up again and Hazuki moved on. Needless to say, I breathed in a sigh of relief as he spun off and all but tossed the mic stand out of the way.
Now, keep in mind that my brain went a little Hazuki happy after that, so the set list is a bit of a blur. I know they played Shadows, Marrow, The Universe/(Unknown Lost a Beauty? - can't remember), Evilly, Starz and then finished it all off with Adore. Sadly, there was no Lizard or Ambivalent Ideal but I was able to deal. The Universe instead of Lizard was a good trade.
The performance kept going strong, his voice pretty much perfect and Reo, Yu, Asano and the chairman doing a great job in the background. The best word to describe it would be flawless. I even remember a time when there was an issue with Junji’s bass strap - poor dear was struggling trying to play and balance it all at the same time - and it was Hazuki who noticed it and subtly motioned one of their little roadies over to sort it out. That was how well they performed as a team; quite remarkable to see actually.
Hazuki put on one hell of a damn good show, his red dusted eyes flicking around in that crazed sort of way made him sexy as all hell, not to mention that the nice little Evilly groping session will be enough to give me happy thoughts for the rest of the year.
The weirdest thing was that, honest to god, Hazuki kept looking over at us. It just blew my mind completely. I don’t know if he just thought we looked bloody weird or he was shocked that there were two crazy white girls decked out in almost VK stuff singing along or god only knows what, but one minute I would be lost in the show, the feel of the music, his voice and just watching them and the next he was looking right fucking at me. Eye contact and Omni and I would be flailing to hold onto each other just to keep upright all over again.
As a lot of you would know, I have this thing for eyes and how they can portray such expressions and with Hazuki it was like nothing I have ever felt. They were… commanding in a way. He wasn’t glancing at the only two obvious foreigners in the crowd (that he could see; cause I did see a few there for lynch. actually) to check that they were enjoying themselves; he was watching and demanding that we enjoy it and that we make noise and get our hands in the air.
And let me just say that he is one fucking intimidating guy!
It was amazing.
Yu liked to wander up to the front, pretty much right were we were standing and do his own little ‘pay me attention and make some noise’ motions. I wasn’t expecting that. He always seems like the quiet, shy one, or the one to get up to mischief but only when Hazuki instigated it, so it was a nice change to see him acting up a little.
I remember Hazuki screaming out ‘last song’ and wondering why the hell the crowd was going wild. Last song? No! More songs, damnit! Play more! Never stop!
The final song was Adore and it was a bit of a cross between the original and the Shadows version. Hazuki made full use of the runway off the stage and dashed up into the middle of the crowd. That was awesome though I pretty much got whip lash trying to work out whether to watch Hazuki or Yu and then Hazuki came back to the stage (with a roadie rolling his mic cord up as he went), stared at us the entire time back as well and then the song ended.
I think the thing that I love with lynch. is how they handle themselves. Sure, The Gazette are amazing and Aoi whoring himself around the stage is nice, but lynch. (especially Hazuki) manage to do it in such a way that it is all left up to the mind. He wasn’t pulling any stripper moves or even doing anything too perverse, but with Hazuki, all that is needed is that subtle shift of his long shirt to make you think he is about to do something. Then when he actually does it has even more effect. Mix that with his evilly sexy ‘Ambivalent Ideal’ smirk/grin and a few shoulder actions and a couple of half squat things and you have the hottest show in existence.
But sadly, it was over. For awhile Omni and I just stood there, kinda dazed and confused and too giddy to walk (especially after all the staring) and then once we finally got moving we went to the bar, downed some alcohol and went and had a few cigarettes.
If Hazuki stretching behind the curtain was foreplay then booze and nicotine ended it all rather nicely.
The Shopping
Like all good money making concepts, V-rock had a selection of overpriced goods. I had seem them before we went and had fallen in love with their tote bags, though once seeing them I changed my mind. Scrunches (ok, so in Australia, we got rid of them in the late 90’s), towels, small sized shirts and lighters (which I wanted but didn’t know about taking them on the plane home).
Long story short, the only thing I ended up getting was a cool little red tartan phone strap that I then pinned V-rock badges to in order to make it a little more awesome looking.
Next came the band goods. They confused the hell out of us at first, by only selling goods of those who played on the day. So by the time we got there Saturday all the good D’espairsRay stuff was pretty much gone so we missed out on them.
Wandering down the line of tents, shitloads of Yen burning a hole in our pockets, Omni and I were dismayed - no, that is a very calm term - absolutely devastated to find a list of artist performing on the day who didn’t have goods for sale. And of course, on that list where Merry and lynch. Don’t know why (obviously can’t read Japanese and that was the only sign they didn’t have in English) but yeah, no goods. So that was sad.
Distraught and wanting to spend money, we went upstairs and hit all the magazine stalls.
The final damage for me:
- Fool’s Mate Express, Vol 2 (Merry, lynch., Sadie, 12012, Girugamesh) with a free glossy Merry photo.
- Rock and Read Vol 21 *bounce* (Hazuki photoshoot!! And Karyu - been looking for this for ages)
- VK DVD Magazine, Vol 3 (lynch. and a whole bunch of others that I don’t care about. but LYNCH!)
- lynch. - The Buried album (see what happens when they don’t have merchandise; I have to go and give my money to other people in order to surround myself with stuff) and finally
- The Gazette Art book. It was shiny and came with more free stuff (another glossy image and a free poster) and fucking heavy to lug around, but I got an awesome deal on it.
- And a whole bunch of small stuff thanks to some random lucky dip thing. Honestly, what is it with Japan and free gifts? Obviously we didn’t win, so we got the consolation prize which, as far as I could tell, was meant to be a small tote bag, a badge and a VK cat puppet thing. I walked away with four puppets, five damn bags, and like, six badges and picks and stuff. It was insane.
Omni didn’t quite lose herself in the shopping as much as I did and ended up getting The Gazette NIL bandscore (which neither of us can read and neither plays instruments) which came with a free little folder thingy. Again with the gifts.
So yes, long rant short, damn them for not having lynch. goods and since I actually have money left over from the trip (not too sure how that happened) I am going to go and pre order their upcoming DVD and maybe work out how to get some stuff off their website. I want their damn tote bag (I seem to have an odd thing for tote bags…)
Anyway, moving along… and skipping lots. As said, we did watch other bands, and we did enjoy them, but I am just doing the main ones here else this could go on forever.
The Gazette
In true Japanese style, everything was very orderly before the Gazette. If you wanted up the front, you had to line up and hour and ten minutes before they were set to perform. Being slightly bored, we headed over about fifty minutes before their set and still oddly had time to get right where we wanted to be.
At first we were ushered up the front of the Uruha side of the stage, which we obviously weren’t too happy with. Then, through some careful observation on my part, I grabbed Omni and we high tailed it to an open side of fence over on Aoi’s side and took up position, officially three (very short) people from the absolute front. And right in front of Aoi’s guitar.
Now all that remained was waiting.
Who ever the hell Toshihiko Takamizawa is… well, they too need to be attacked by Saga’s voice killing nose of doom cause they were terrible. We spent most of the waiting time standing there grimacing with our fingers in our ears and looking at the clock, waiting for the Gazette. Oddest thing was that we were surrounded by tonnes of Asian girls all doing the same thing. Apparently the verdict is that this Takamizawa just sucks.
More waiting followed and sadly, after a very nice, polite and short girl behind me requested that I take off my hat, we were left with even more standing, boredom, and waiting, all while I had horribly bad hat hair.
Finally the moron on the stage next door stopped and everything went dark. And then we waited a little more. And some more.
And then there was music.
Omni and I pissed ourselves laughing at their opening theme song. It was funny, even if just a little conceited. Nothing screams ‘We are the headline act and the reason you are all here’ like the dramatic piece of Carl Orff’s Oh Fortuna getting blasted out of a series of speakers tuned to play rock music.
For those confused… it pretty much kicked off at 1:37 of this track, even though, being Australian, Omni and I couldn’t help but laugh at the memory of this commercial.
We were that busy laughing that Kai was already on stage and walking to his drums before we actually realised what was happening. For once the guy looked cool and I am a big fan of his new hair. Of course they were all in their Before I Decay outfits.
Reita came next and I was oddly taken back with just how… normal he looked. It is no secret that I don’t like Reita, but his hair was minimal chicken like and he was kinda shorter then I thought he would be.
Anyway, of course then came Aoi and Uruha and I will admit that I hardly paid Uruha any attention. Aoi was just too damn hot and I instantly had some crazy love affair with his hair. How he gets it to stick up like that, flail his head around and then have it just sit perfectly back in place will confound me for the rest of my life. Damn him.
Ruki was the last to come out, sparkly Wataru suit and all, and man, under the lights, that outfit really did shine. Being attracted to shiny, I just found myself staring at him, which is kinda sad.
Also, by this time of the night, I was that crazed that I can hardly remember the setlist. I don’t know how people do that so well; I would need to take notes on my phone to remember each song in order. I know they did Before I Decay, Headache Man, Guren and a lot of others. The highlight was the surprise plucking of Chizuru out of their older stuff. Of course they also did Linda, but it was Chizuru that made it for me.
Anyway, just as quick as that, they sprung into life and the show got started.
Ruki crossed over in front of Aoi and came to crouch on top of one of the lights pretty early on, his arm looped up around one of the support beams for balance. Fuck me, that was awesome. He was right there. As in, right there and screaming and all around us the fangirls went crazy and doubled over, flicking their hair everywhere. Omni and I kept it simple and stuck with the devil horns thing. Maybe I am insane, but the idea of head banging at a live concert is really stupid. You are there to see the band and you can’t watch them if you are flicking your hair around like a maniac; you do that sort of stuff at home.
So anyway, there is this sea of fangirl hair whipping at us and Omni and I couldn’t care less. Ruki is there, he sounds and looks amazing and we are punching devil horns into the air.
And then somehow my inner fangirl clawed its way to the surface and before I knew it, the pounding devil horned fist turned into an excited wave.
I mean, wtf?
Yes, I am ashamed… I waved at Ruki in the middle of a concert (Headache Man, I believe; not too good with the names of their new songs) like some stupid, love struck school girl or something.
However, he saw it, grinned while singing, raised his eyebrows and then wiggled his fingers around the microphone back at me. *dies*
Yes, I was an idiot and waved at Ruki, but Ruki was the fool who waved back. Not too sure who should feel more stupid. Either way it was cool.
Just like with lynch. I didn’t see much of Kai, which wasn’t a big deal, and Uruha pretty much kept to his side of the stage. The only time I really saw him was when he and Aoi switched or they jumped up the front for their solos. Reita moved around a bit and a few times I was amazed that he and Aoi didn’t trip over each other. The stage was smaller then what they seemed use to and I couldn’t help but wonder why they weren’t on the same stage as lynch. It was both bigger and had the runway platform, but meh, I am sure they had their reasons.
Like always, it wouldn’t be a Gazette live without a serving of fanservice. Ruki and Uruha played around a bit, Aoi was pretty much just fanservice sex on legs all by himself and he had a way of dragging Reita into crazy little bouncy dance things as well.
There was a sinfully good moment where I was looking between Ruki and Aoi and then was about to look back at Ruki when I realised that Aoi’s hand had disappeared behind his guitar and was making very hot jerking actions back there. Towards the end there was a lovely bit of Aoi and Ruki action (which I am sure you have all seen the pictures of by now) that made my OTP muses go crazy and start ranting in the back of my head.
Ruki had a thing for conducting the crowd during the MC’s. He seemed to find it endlessly amusing. He’d get one side of the room to scream, and then the next, and then that side up the back and then side up and the back and then Mexican Wave scream and then everybody fucking scream. It was awesome and fun and made him smile and giggle quite a bit.
The other funny thing was the time outs. Now, I don’t know if it was a Japanese thing, or if they are just getting old as no other rockstars I have ever seen do this, but every three songs or so, they would all just wander back, put their backs to the crowd and have a drink, dry themselves off and hang around doing shit all for a good minute to a minute and a half. Aoi, of course though, normally turned back to the face the crowd and then draped himself over the amps while just surveying the room. Occasionally he would grin and make ‘time out’ hand motions and then after a bit, they would all come forward and get back into it.
Oddest fucking thing in the world.
Sadly their set didn’t go as long as we hoped, but it still went longer then bands like lynch. and Merry. They thanked everyone and threw picks and drum sticks out into the crowd and just to the left of me, I thought there was going to be a fangirl murder as a Kai drumstick flew past.
With that, they left the stage and we all kinda just stood there, a little stunned and too tired to move. I got my hat back on to hide the horrible mess of curled hair and we were about to bite the bullet and actually move when someone started up the cheer. Of course, once one person started, the rest followed and within a matter of moments the place was a hive of noise as the fans started screaming for an encore.
Now I am not too sure if it was planned or not as some of the roadies looked like they were about to start packing up. Then Aoi came running up the side of the stairs, stopped some guy from removing his guitar and jogged onto the stage and started screaming through the microphone.
The crowd went wild and the rest of the members returned to their posts and the music started up again. It wasn’t like their usual ones where Kai goes out first, then Reita etc. It was quick and straight to the point with Ruki following along behind the guitarists.
Again, I am not too sure if it was planned, if they were even meant to go back or if they just decided to wing it. Either way, it was good and of course, the fans responded.
With my hat back on my head I couldn’t exactly move around much, so it was back to good old devil horns all the way.
Then the most amazing thing happened. With the sea of small Japanese girls all bent over in front of us, it was a complete clear view between us and Aoi and that whorey sex god looked right at me, smirked at my hat and then pressed his fingers to his lips. Leaning right over, he dipped down low, eyes locked with mine and blew that damn kiss right at me.
I honestly almost died.
I am still in shock and had it not been for Omni’s reaction, I would have been sure that I imagined the entire thing.
What followed was hilarious. Omni saw the kiss incident and her face dropped; I am sure her mind was screaming ‘you bitch’ over and over again. I saw that, Aoi saw that and the damn fucker just chuckled, smirked and went off to play with Reita.
Omni glared at me, I flailed and we both acted like children and squealed.
The encore was short (again, lead me to think that it wasn’t planned and there was probably some angry management back stage somewhere) and they again said all their goodbyes and threw more stuff into the crowd. The moment they walked off stage the lights came back on and roadies started breaking it all down. There would be no chance for a second encore.
The Conclusion:
I have to say that I was very happy with the festival. I have read lots of live reports and heard about other foreigners going there and getting treated like crap, but everyone was really nice to us. During the entire trip, we did work out that most of the Japanese seem to hate Americans, so that could have something to do with it (I mean seriously, who doesn’t love us Aussies?).
Everywhere we went we got warm welcomes and people were overly helpful. Food and drink service was easy and painless and they all seemed to either understand enough English to get us by, or we worked it out with pointing and lots of nodding and thank yous. When it came to merchandise buying and asking questions they were fantastic. Either we could work our way through it or they would indicate for us to hold on a moment while they flagged down someone from the neighbouring shop or stand who spoke English to translate.
Even things down to rubbish in the hall and grounds. They are so overly clean; I didn’t see a single cigarette butt on the ground, or a discarded cup or anything. There were even bin monitors who were more than happy to help you work out where to put things; separate bag for chopsticks, labels off bottles and bottles and cans separate to food and cups.
The staff there were just the icing on the cake really. It made it easy and hassle free while still exciting and new and authentic. It was absolutely perfect.
As for the bands and highlights, as amazing as the Gazette experience was, I still have to stay overly true to myself and say that nothing beat lynch. live.
Maybe it is because they are not as big a band as Gazette, or because I just prefer their music more or hell, maybe it is a strictly fangirlish reason of Hazuki is fucking seriously hot, but the thing that I will remember the most is lynch. Gazette were great and left a lasting impression but lynch. were somehow life changing. The vibe for them was also a lot different; less fangirly and more hard rock with just the right dose of VK to make the performance the absolute highlight.
All in all, it was a fantastic experience, worth all the money, hassel and effort to get there and if there is a V-Rock 2010, I WILL be there.