YELLOW FRIED CHICKENz in Cologne, July 23rd
Here we go, it's my YFC report! This year's tour is rather controversial and the fanbase seems split over the new concept.
YELLOW FRIED CHICKENz is not "GACKT". This year it finally transformed into a band that is separate from Gackt's solo efforts (well okay, not quite yet, they still played his songs...) and apart from You and Chacha who are always with Gackt, brings in new band members (Takumi, U:Zo and Shinya) as well as - and that's the most controversial part - a second vocalist. An American at that! *GASPS* =P
Jon Underdown, vocalist of "fade" (Japanese band by the way...they just happen to somehow have an American vocalist. He sings in both Jap. and Eng.).
It was also controversial because this wasn't actually announced until *after* the ticket sales started. Fans were expecting it to be a Gackt-only tour like last year. After the announcement a lot of people were hoping that Jon might only play a small part and just do backing vocals. I can confirm these hopes were crushed...=P
Detailed report follows behind the cut:
So yeah, went to the gig in Cologne yesterday. Took the train and met up with ameoname in Hamm. Almost didn't catch her train because it said platform 6 when it was actually on platform 5 right behind me. If she hadn't given me a call it might have just departed right behind my back...O.o
I also somehow managed not to find her and her friend at first despite the fact it's a frickin' train and there aren't that many places you can search in the first place...x)
Blah blah train ride etc *fast forwarding to Cologne*.
First thing we noticed upon arriving at the E-Werk: There's no queue. People were just standing or sitting in front of the entrance completely unorganised. Would've helped if they had put up barriers to help people form a line. =/
We arrived sometime past 1pm, so we he still had a couple of hours to wait. We actually met someone from last year's concert in Bochum as well as a woman who seemed to be at least in her fifties. xD
She was pretty nice and I talked to her a bit too. Although she wanted to touch my hair every now and then saying she thought it was hot and uhm, yeah, that's kinda awkward. o_o But thanks anyway...xD
There were 3 doors at the entrance and later on the security put up signs showing were we needed to go (2 doors for people with tickets and 1 for the press). It was then that everyone stood up and moved towards the doors from which point on it got uncomfortable because there were still no lines, it was just a mass of people standing in front of the venue (and it was still 2 hours until they'd actually let us in).
There was also a funny incident with one of the security people pointing at a guy in the crowd. The attention turned towards him and we could see what the security guy was getting it. The guy seemed to carry a samurai sword on his back and security wanted him to take it off so they could see it. He complied and - it was a frickin' umbrella! XD
Got a good laugh out of the crowd and even the security x)
(I once actually saw this katana handle-umbrella on a website once, thought about getting it too, haha).
Then there was also a Japanese woman who was taking pictures of us (she was a hired photographer). At one point we were all supposed to sit down but that wasn't working too well because there was just hardly enough room and it took people a while to back off a bit so that everyone had enough space to sit...even then the result was kinda messy, no clue if she actually took the picture.
At one point a girl right behind me pointed out she smelled Platinum Egoiste...
Fyi, that was me, I use that stuff XD
By the way, that whole "Gackt and band enter the venue through the front door while people go crazy"-thing didn't happen in Cologne. Wouldn't have worked out anyway since as I mentioned, there were no barriers at all.
About 20 minutes or so before the doors opened it started to rain. A lot. Thank fuck I brought an umbrella... Although there was someone with an umbrella next to me and the water kept rolling down the umbrella and dripping right down my neck D:
Finally we were let in...and I lost my group right away. XD
The next 90 minutes were rather aggravating mostly due to the constantly repeating piano strumming that was played (just like last year).
(Always makes me picture Gackt playing the piano live backstage with a mad, empty stare trying to drive people insane...)
The gig started just like last year, with that traditional-sounding Japanese melody playing and the band members coming on stage one after another...followed by "The End of the Day" (which is announced as their first single, scheduled for release in September). No one knew this song or any of the other new YFC songs for that matter but it was clear from the lyrics that it was that song. x)
They still played Gackt songs of course (Nine Spiral and Speed Master followed the first song iirc; Speed Master also had U:Zo playing a short but awesome bass solo), which I guess is fair enough because that's what people were initially buying the tickets for. But they were still different because Jon sang during those too. And...it worked really well!
Gackt and Jon make a damn good combo and if I still had any doubts before the concert, they were completely erased after the first few songs. One of the new songs also had them doing this hilarious synchronised choreography XD That was also the fanservice song were they were "gaying it up" a little bit and ripping open their shirts. Well I'm obviously not in the target group for that but most girls seemed to enjoy it as usual x)
There was also a moment where Jon wore a red bra...what was up with that? Did that come from the crowd? O.o
As promised, Vanilla was also played since people seemed to wish for it last year. While not my favourite song you still can't help but dance along a little bit when it's played live O.o
Gackt's most recent single "Episode. 0" was also played as expected. It was however rearranged and sounded very different and more rock-ish.
Last year's English version of Mind Forest was also included as well as Justified and Jesus which are always a lot fun live. Unfortunately, no Ever. =(
The other new YFC songs included a ballad-like song that had Gackt and Jon sing together a capella. Lyrics sounded kinda boybandish but once again I have to say that their voices work really well together. The other song (let's call it "Show Your Heart" for now since it's in the lyrics and there's a high chance that this is actually the title :P) was a touching rock ballad that would be the last song before the encore.
Crowd participation moments were plenty inbetween songs, some would say it was actually too much (I enjoyed it xP).
Very out-of-character for me, I shouted and screamed along at all times. Those who know me most likely wouldn't believe it. I myself wouldn't have believed it actually xD
At one point when Gackt wanted all his "brothers" to scream, I shouted so hard that the girls in front of me turned around with a freaked out look on their faces, bahaha xD
Speaking of Gackt communicating with audience, I get the feeling that despite the accent his English gets better. x) I didn't have trouble understanding him during either crowd participation moments or singing. Working together with Jon might have helped here (The new YFC songs were often a blend of English and Japanese)
The encore played was Uncontrol ［♂狂喜乱舞 Edition♂］and was just as fun to rock out to as it was last year. Too bad they didn't play the Koakuma Heaven remix from the Swimsuit DVD as well x)
I almost caught one of the water bottles Gackt threw into the crowd during Uncontrol. It hit my left hand but was coming in too fast so it bounced off and landed behind me where two girls were probably killing each other over it on the floor x)
The show ended with Gackt promising to come back once more. You could tell the band had fun. Gackt, Jon, You, Chacha, Takumi, U:Zo and Shinya...they all smiled and laughed. That Todokanai etcetc dance remix played while the band was leaving the stage. U:Zo stayed for a while and had some fun with the audience, making us scream or go silent in an instant with a sign of his hands. You can tell he had fun manipulating us xD
So yeah, final verdict: It was AWESOME. Pure fun. There was still some Jon hate afterwards (especially from ameoname 's friend (she reaaaallly hated him XDDD), but I support him. Dude's cool. xD
Gackt and Jon together on stage really worked like a unit instead of two separate people in the way they sang and moved. Neither of them was more in the spotlight than the other, they were equals. So if you want to hear Gackt only...well, YFC won't be the band for you (might suck for those people if YFC is all Gackt ever does overseas though).
A few criticisms: Sound quality. At times the voices seemed to be drowned out by the guitars (something I also experienced at the Zeche in Bochum). The gig could've been longer too. It was about 1h45min due to the often lengthy shouting matches between the band and the audience otherwise it would've been a lot shorter. They only played 13 songs. I think 20 as with the DRUG party tour would've been awesome. x)
I almost feel like going to another one. Which I guess I could since there are still tickets for YFC...but train tickets are criminally expensive. D=
Anyway, I'm gonna end this wall of text and stfu for now. =P
Don't hesitate to comment! x)