GACKT @ ALL LIVE NIPPON
So, today GACKT performed at the concert to mark the 45th anniversary of ALL LIVE NIPPON.
He was one of five acts that ranged from okay (Miwa and Men on a Mission) to hilarious (Golden Bomber) and OMG KILL ME NOW (Momoiro Clover Z).
During Golden Bomber's set, their singer Kiryuuin Shou (the biggest self confessed GACKT fanboy on the planet) tried to sing 君のためにできること a couple of times, but never made it past the first three words as the bass player kept stopping him. Kiryuuin had tweeted earlier in the day that his first GACKT had been the MARS tour, back when he was in high school, and sharing a stage with GACKT was a huge thing for him.
GACKT was the final artist and his set started with a beautiful video full of clips of him being a bad ass basically (fight scenes, the Tokyo Dome entrance etc) and the text upon the video read "All over the world he is known as samurai. From Japan". Right.
Setlist
1) REDEMPTION
2) オレンジの太陽 (duet with Kiryuuin Shou)
3) WHITE LOVERS -幸せなトキ-
4) 12月のLOVE SONG
The band mimed the whole set, but GACKT sang live and sounded pretty fantastic. 12月のLOVE SONG especially was awesome.
He had his usual mic stand for REDEMPTION and during the instrumental break in the middle, Kiryuuin came on stage carrying a cardboard replica and dressed in the REDEMPTION/Final Fantasy outfit that they all wore for the DIABLOLOS tour. GACKT saw him eventually, and either he really has become a fantastic actor, or he didn't know Kiryuuin was going to do that.
Kiryuuin came onto the stage properly and set his mic near GACKT's. GACKT had stopped singing at this point and missed the next few lines while he stared at Kiryuuin and asked him what he was doing. Kiryuuin sang the next verse and they both sang the final one.
GACKT dragged Kiryuuin down the catwalk attached to the stage a little and asked him what he was doing and where he got the outfit from. Kiryuuin explained it was Chacha's, hahaha. They spoke a little about Kiryuuin being a fan, and Kiryuuin said that he wanted to sing with GACKT and suggested オレンジの太陽. GACKT pointed out he'd never managed to sing it with Hyde yet, and asked the band if they should sing with Kiryuuin. The band all did the maru circle to say yes, and Kiryuuin introduced the song - "Kiryuuin Shou and GACKT!" GACKT wasn't happy that his name was last and pointed out it was his stage, so Kiryuuin changed it to "GACKT-san and Kiryuuin Shou".
The duet was pretty good. Whenever GACKT sang he had his arm around Kiryuuin and he was miming along with all of GACKT's parts. It was really cute. When it came to the second verse and Kiryuuin's turn to take lead, GACKT stepped back and kinda pushed Kiryuuin into the limelight a little bit more - I thought that was amazingly sweet of him!
After the song, GACKT told Kiryuuin to get off the stage and go back, but paused him to say one last thing - "Merry Christmas". Awwwwww.
GACKT's next MC was about how Kiryuuin had chased his dreams and he gave one of his regular pep talks about dreams. He then said that it had been a long time since he'd written a winter song, but that he'd written one this year and then he sang WHITE LOVERS -幸せなトキ-. For that shouted "sayonara" part, I don't know if his voice cracked or if he pulled the mic away, but the "na" was barely audible.
GACKT then said that he had a Christmas present for us all, and it was 12月のLOVE SONG. For some reason he decided to skip singing a line during the second verse but he sounded fantastic for this. Really. YOU was miming away on the violin and Chacha had his acoustic guitar. GACKT wished us all Merry Christmas and then it was over.
The hosts of the event, Hi Hi, brought everyone out on stage for final messages and a group photo but GACKT and band didn't return. Kiryuuin did take the opportunity to say he loved GACKT though, hahahaha.
So yeah, he only did four songs and the set did loose something because JOB mimed, but it was wonderful to see an actual GACKT show again and he looked like he was enjoying himself and was utterly delicious. The interactions with Kiryuuin were beyond sweet and the fact that he was willing to not only share his stage, but actually step back at one point too, shows what kind of an artist and person he is, IMO.
The show will be broadcast, in some form, on Space Shower TV in February.
Photos from Oricon
He was one of five acts that ranged from okay (Miwa and Men on a Mission) to hilarious (Golden Bomber) and OMG KILL ME NOW (Momoiro Clover Z).
During Golden Bomber's set, their singer Kiryuuin Shou (the biggest self confessed GACKT fanboy on the planet) tried to sing 君のためにできること a couple of times, but never made it past the first three words as the bass player kept stopping him. Kiryuuin had tweeted earlier in the day that his first GACKT had been the MARS tour, back when he was in high school, and sharing a stage with GACKT was a huge thing for him.
GACKT was the final artist and his set started with a beautiful video full of clips of him being a bad ass basically (fight scenes, the Tokyo Dome entrance etc) and the text upon the video read "All over the world he is known as samurai. From Japan". Right.
Setlist
1) REDEMPTION
2) オレンジの太陽 (duet with Kiryuuin Shou)
3) WHITE LOVERS -幸せなトキ-
4) 12月のLOVE SONG
The band mimed the whole set, but GACKT sang live and sounded pretty fantastic. 12月のLOVE SONG especially was awesome.
He had his usual mic stand for REDEMPTION and during the instrumental break in the middle, Kiryuuin came on stage carrying a cardboard replica and dressed in the REDEMPTION/Final Fantasy outfit that they all wore for the DIABLOLOS tour. GACKT saw him eventually, and either he really has become a fantastic actor, or he didn't know Kiryuuin was going to do that.
Kiryuuin came onto the stage properly and set his mic near GACKT's. GACKT had stopped singing at this point and missed the next few lines while he stared at Kiryuuin and asked him what he was doing. Kiryuuin sang the next verse and they both sang the final one.
GACKT dragged Kiryuuin down the catwalk attached to the stage a little and asked him what he was doing and where he got the outfit from. Kiryuuin explained it was Chacha's, hahaha. They spoke a little about Kiryuuin being a fan, and Kiryuuin said that he wanted to sing with GACKT and suggested オレンジの太陽. GACKT pointed out he'd never managed to sing it with Hyde yet, and asked the band if they should sing with Kiryuuin. The band all did the maru circle to say yes, and Kiryuuin introduced the song - "Kiryuuin Shou and GACKT!" GACKT wasn't happy that his name was last and pointed out it was his stage, so Kiryuuin changed it to "GACKT-san and Kiryuuin Shou".
The duet was pretty good. Whenever GACKT sang he had his arm around Kiryuuin and he was miming along with all of GACKT's parts. It was really cute. When it came to the second verse and Kiryuuin's turn to take lead, GACKT stepped back and kinda pushed Kiryuuin into the limelight a little bit more - I thought that was amazingly sweet of him!
After the song, GACKT told Kiryuuin to get off the stage and go back, but paused him to say one last thing - "Merry Christmas". Awwwwww.
GACKT's next MC was about how Kiryuuin had chased his dreams and he gave one of his regular pep talks about dreams. He then said that it had been a long time since he'd written a winter song, but that he'd written one this year and then he sang WHITE LOVERS -幸せなトキ-. For that shouted "sayonara" part, I don't know if his voice cracked or if he pulled the mic away, but the "na" was barely audible.
GACKT then said that he had a Christmas present for us all, and it was 12月のLOVE SONG. For some reason he decided to skip singing a line during the second verse but he sounded fantastic for this. Really. YOU was miming away on the violin and Chacha had his acoustic guitar. GACKT wished us all Merry Christmas and then it was over.
The hosts of the event, Hi Hi, brought everyone out on stage for final messages and a group photo but GACKT and band didn't return. Kiryuuin did take the opportunity to say he loved GACKT though, hahahaha.
So yeah, he only did four songs and the set did loose something because JOB mimed, but it was wonderful to see an actual GACKT show again and he looked like he was enjoying himself and was utterly delicious. The interactions with Kiryuuin were beyond sweet and the fact that he was willing to not only share his stage, but actually step back at one point too, shows what kind of an artist and person he is, IMO.
The show will be broadcast, in some form, on Space Shower TV in February.
Photos from Oricon