Gackt: Requiem et Reminiscence II
Gackt: Requiem et Reminiscence II ～再生と邂逅～(Rebirth and Reunion)- Nagoya, 2009.1.30
(pic borrowed from xof1013)
What can I say? Gackt is still a vampire. He also - still - can’t dance. Haha. But it’s cute so I’m ok with that.
This was my first live concert for Gackt, outside the S.K.I.N. concert in Long Beach a couple of years ago (with that terribly amazing lineup of Gackt, Yoshiki, Sugizo, and Miyavi) and it was really, really good. No, really. Gackt put so much effort into this concert and it really showed.
I actually started writing about the whole bloody concert - or at least as much of it as I remembered - and then realized why bother; someone else will have written about it in great depth somewhere else and they have for a very, very similar show.
So with that out of the way, I’ll just throw in some of my main thoughts
about the show -
Anyway, it was an amazingly awesome concert!! If you get the chance I highly recommend going to Gackt’s concert - I’d definitely go again if I have the chance!! However, with that said, much as I love Gackt - and I do - it did not affect me nearly as much as the X Japan concert did. My friend Alicia who loves Gackt was crying during some songs - notably Kimo no Tame Ni Dekiru Koto - and I was just happily smiling along whereas I spent most of the X concert with tears just falling down my face unceasing. Well, not every artist can affect you the same way. It was still lovely. Nagoya was lovely - I’ll get an entry up about that later - and I had a wonderful time.
Money well spent.
(pic borrowed from xof1013)
What can I say? Gackt is still a vampire. He also - still - can’t dance. Haha. But it’s cute so I’m ok with that.
This was my first live concert for Gackt, outside the S.K.I.N. concert in Long Beach a couple of years ago (with that terribly amazing lineup of Gackt, Yoshiki, Sugizo, and Miyavi) and it was really, really good. No, really. Gackt put so much effort into this concert and it really showed.
I actually started writing about the whole bloody concert - or at least as much of it as I remembered - and then realized why bother; someone else will have written about it in great depth somewhere else and they have for a very, very similar show.
So with that out of the way, I’ll just throw in some of my main thoughts
about the show -
- Gackt in an SS uniform is strangely hot - and in a black skintight vinyl bodysuit is even more so.
- His voice is seriously amazing live!
- He is still a major DORK! No, really, he is. Trust me on this. When you have people dressed up in cat suits coming out to dance with you its really hard to be cool. But it is, in fact, quite endearing and must be one of the reasons that his fans love him so!!
- Gackt likes video games? There was a video game background playing on a screen with chibi-Gackts and all the band members doing some sort of para para in time to the music with the video game that got harder as each new member did it - Gackt was of course LEVEL MAX!
- He was super high energy - that man is fit fit fit!! He danced, sang, and talked to us for almost 3 hours straight!
- He was seriously appreciative to his fans and did a long goofing off/talking session, which I haven’t seen at other live shows before, at least not to such an extent. (He did the whole 'お帰り' 'ただいま' thing, which looks to be a norm at his shows and was quite cute)
- One of my favorite parts of said talk was when all of the fan girls were yelling out “we love you” and swaying his pointer finger back and forth with his other hand on his hip he replied with, “し-て-る” (I know).
- I also loved that he could brazenly refer to himself as beautiful (きれい) and of course we all agree. ^^; It takes a confident man to do that and we all know how confident Mr. Magnum is. Haha.
- Gackt is quite proficient on piano, guitar, and violin among other instruments. Who knew? It was so amazing to hear Gackt and You-kun perform violin together.
- There were a couple of times where a video on a screen played of him fighting in a war zone which was… eh… Ok, I guess. The first introduced him with robotic movements (did he become the new Terminator?) in a battlefield, the second had him fighting and turning over to see the cat suited people instead of his army comrades and the bullet shots turned into fireworks(?!!), and the last video showed him being killed by a gaijin in an SS suit. I assume this last video, while nice, was to get him out of the theater before the ravenous fan girls descended upon him.
- The merch was not so good. I bought some stuff at the outside merch. table but they didn’t have what I really wanted which was one of the super cute chibi-Gackt keychains from the different areas of Japan (ie a takoyaki-head Gackt for Kansai or a cow Gackt for Hokkaido). I didn’t have time to hit up the main merch. table inside the theater so I’m actually super bummed out that I don’t have a keychain of any one of the figures - I didn’t even care which one. But we didn’t get there with enough time and we had to leave right after the show to catch the Shinkansen back home to Osaka. Sadness. ;_; I guess there's always YJA...?
- My friend and I were debating if Gackt was as much of a prima donna as Yoshiki before the show but after watching it, I think not. I mean, he didn't even leave us waiting for like an hour or leave the stage because he killed his back on drums and had to be carried away or thrashed a hotel room soundly... I don't know if any J-rocker can beat out our lovely Cinder-Yoshiki.
Anyway, it was an amazingly awesome concert!! If you get the chance I highly recommend going to Gackt’s concert - I’d definitely go again if I have the chance!! However, with that said, much as I love Gackt - and I do - it did not affect me nearly as much as the X Japan concert did. My friend Alicia who loves Gackt was crying during some songs - notably Kimo no Tame Ni Dekiru Koto - and I was just happily smiling along whereas I spent most of the X concert with tears just falling down my face unceasing. Well, not every artist can affect you the same way. It was still lovely. Nagoya was lovely - I’ll get an entry up about that later - and I had a wonderful time.
Money well spent.