THE BA・LUE HEARTS - Fukuoka
Firstly, I must say how impressed I was with how THE BALUE HEARTS embraced being in a live house. It was exactly like seeing a small time band on a live house tour, and not at all like seeing GACKT play somewhere. The venue in Fukuoka was small, and I think some of his Europe were venues were bigger.
(That's basically the entire venue)
For the hour between the doors opening and the show starting, the same song is on repeat. It’s called “Roujin to kodomo no polka” and it’s really, really annoying. You can give it a listen here - https://youtu.be/LZZk0tP49H8
Both the matinee and evening shows, the first two shows of the tour, had doors open on time, and started within five minutes of when they should. Yet more proof it isn’t a normal GACKT show…
I’m going to use their BALUE HEARTS names for this, so to recap the band is…
Bass - Shin-chan (Shinnosu)
Drums - Same-chan (Takumi, it comes from his surname being Samejima)
Guitar - Gashi (GACKT)
Vocals - Valto (Val)
Just before the second show started, the other senpais from Camui Gakuen crashed the show. The dancers came out on the main floor to say hello, and Sato, YOU and Hayato waved from the second floor and took some photos. They all watched the show from the second floor.
[Spoilers!]
The shows started with Valto coming out on his own to sing a version of the Evangelion opening song “Zankoku na Tenshi no Teze,” only Valto said it was from Evalgelion. A pre-recorded backing track played, and he danced around a bit with maracas. He welcomed everyone to the show, and said that the other members hadn’t come and it was just him. After calling the crowd idiots for believing him, he introduced the other band members one by one.
The overarching storyline of THE BALUE HEARTS is that the other members of the band hate Valto and want nothing to do with him. He tries to talk to them, and they either ignore him or abuse him (that’s mainly Gashi.) It usually results in Valto getting crazier and more animated with what he’s saying, until the band member breaks character and starts laughing. Val improvises a lot of what he’s saying, so even if the MC has a theme, how he says it changes and he does all he can to get a reaction from his bandmates. Shinnosu laughs all of the time, and GACKT does occasionally, but before these shows I’d yet to see Takumi even crack a smile.
Valto introduced Shin-chan first, who wandered on with his hands in his pockets and was told off by Valto for being so nonchalant in front of the crowd. Next was Same-chan, who took his seat behind the drums and immediately started eating a banana. Valto told Same-chan off for doing this, too. Last to be introduced was Gashi, who obviously received the biggest reaction of anyone.
Valto wasn’t happy that Gashi is the most popular member, and kept standing in front of Gashi so the crowd couldn’t see him. Valto told everyone to look at their tickets and they’d see it was a show by THE BALUE HEARTS, and not a Gashi solo concert.
Because I can’t remember what order the MCs were in, and where they fit alongside the songs, I’m going to go through the songs first and then the MCs later. All of the songs were proper songs, that THE BALUE HEARTS had changed the lyrics to.
They were
1. Evangelion opening theme - Zankoku na Tenshi no Teze
2. The Blue Hearts - Hito ni Yasashiku
3. Porno Graffitti - Apollo
4. The Blue Hearts - Linda, Linda
5. Mongol 800 - Chiisana Koi no Uta
6. ??? (Sorry, I don’t know what this one was!)
7. The Blue Hearts - Owaranai no Uta
So yes, just seven songs including Valto’s solo opener. The first show in Fukuoka was about 75 minutes long, and the second one was 90 minutes. The rest of the time was taken up by Valto’s MCs. The other band members didn’t say anything, other than for one occasion which I’ll talk about a little later.
(This is from the song I didn't recognise)
The song lyrics were hard for me to catch, as although they were displayed on a screen at the back of the stage, it’s hard to watch a screen and the stage at the same time, and between the two, I’d rather watch the band than read some song lyrics. I even said to myself before the second show that I’d concentrate on the lyrics more, and then just ended up staring at Gashi instead as he was directly in front of me. So, although I know what the songs are about in general terms, I’m not going to talk about them in detail. They’re full of in jokes, and randomness and are less rude than I was expecting after seeing the performance of Chiisana Koi no Uta at Gakuensai (this and Linda, Linda are the same as Gakuensai).
Gashi had two guitars set up at the side of the stage, but only played the same silver guitar throughout. After every other song he handed his guitar off to his guitar tech to get it tuned, and then the tech helped him put the guitar back on (presumably so he didn’t knock his wig about). Gashi also had the guitar tabs for each song on stage, and his tech had to run out and change them before the next song. During the first show, the tech forgot to change the tabs once, and while Valto was still talking, Gashi rather firmly pointed at the tabs that needed changing. The tech ran out pretty sheepishly and changed them quickly.
Valto started each song by asking Gashi to play some music, even though most of the songs don’t actually start with the guitar. So, Gashi would play a riff and then Same-chan would actually count the song in properly, as most songs start with drums.
In-between the songs, while Valto was talking, Shin-chan and Gashi sat on the drum riser, and Same-chan would either stare into space or eat a banana. Valto told off Shin-chan and Gashi for sitting down all of the time, but they just ignored him.
Sometimes when Valto said something, the other band members (led by Gashi) would prompt the crowd to boo whatever Valto was saying. Valto would then turn around to try and catch the other members doing this, but they usually were too quick for Valto to catch them. During the second show, he caught Same-chan with his thumbs down several times, and Takumi couldn’t keep his character and started to laugh. He had to turn around away from the crowd. This was the first time I’ve seen Takumi laugh in a THE BALUE HEARTS set.
Valto talked about THE BALUE HEARTS writing original songs, and how the other members didn’t want to contribute. First he approached Shin-chan, and suggested that Shin-chan could write about Hawaii and sang some bad Hawaiian style songs while hulaing badly (Shinnosu had to laugh). Then Valto approached Same-chan, and asked him to write songs about bananas. Instead, Same-chan threw a banana in his face. Then, Valto approached Gashi and said that Gashi had actually agreed to write a song, but wanted a hundred million yen payment. Valto remarked about how strange it was for a band member to want payment to write a song for his own band, but the crowd yelled at Valto to pay Gashi what he wanted.
During the first show, Same-chan screwed up the opening to Owaranai no Uta, and Valto made him restart. During the second show, whenever Gashi was sat at the drum riser, he’d stare into space and start making kissy faces to get the crowd screaming.
When the other band members were particularly mean to Valto, he would pretend to start crying. Valto got into an argument with Same-chan at the end of a song, after the rest of the band didn’t time the ending with him right. This little shouting match with Same-chan was the only time anyone other than Valto spoke.
Another thing that Valto was angry about, was that whenever he asked the crowd to shout “kashikomari,” the band members didn’t react the way they should. Usually at Gakuensai, the band (whoever they are at that time) all play a riff as the crowd shout back. Whenever Valto tries to do this though, he’s just left with silence. So, he shouted at the other members to do it right. This made both Takumi and Shinnosu laugh, as he would mimic the sounds each instrument should make, and got more animated as he went until he was just screaming “SU! (cymbals) NU! (bass) JYAN! (guitar)” over and over, very rapidly. GACKT didn’t laugh at these solo shows at all, but kept laughing the next day at Gakuensai at this part.
Probably the funniest part, was during Linda, Linda at the second show. The song starts with Gashi playing a single riff before Valto sings a part of a line. While Valto is singing, he pulls a strange face, and holds it until Gashi plays the next riff. Gashi really made Valto hold the strange faces for a long, long time during this show. Gashi sat on the drum riser and stared into space, or yawned, leaving Valto to try and hold his pose. One of the poses had Valto pulling his eyes into a weird position, and his left coloured contact lens literally starting popping out of his eye. Gashi was behind Valto so he couldn’t see what was happening with the contact lens, and he made Valto continue to hold the pose as slowly the lens just came all of the way out. When Gashi finally played the next riff, Valto quickly grabbed the lens and took out his right lens too, before carrying on. He sang the rest of the song with the lenses in his hand, and then apologised at the end of the song.
After the last song, Valto tried to time a jump with the rest of the band, but it didn’t work, so they all walked off and left him on the floor. Valto thanked everyone for coming and started to pretend cry again.
After about 10 minutes, everything was set up for the high five event after the show. Valto, Same-chan and Shin-chan were stood by the exit and gave everyone a high five as they left.
(High fives for everyone)
After the show, there were polaroid photos of the band on sale for 1000 yen each, and they proved to be very popular!
(Much better than mass printed photocards)
They’re making a small fortune on those, as you can get a roll of 20 blanks for about 1200 yen… For the evening show, there were special polaroids taken on stage, and also some with the other senpais that had come to the show.
The show is just a lot of fun. They’re not the best band in the world (of course!) but Val has tons of charisma and is really charming and funny, and it’s amusing to see the other band members trying not to laugh.
(That's basically the entire venue)
For the hour between the doors opening and the show starting, the same song is on repeat. It’s called “Roujin to kodomo no polka” and it’s really, really annoying. You can give it a listen here - https://youtu.be/LZZk0tP49H8
Both the matinee and evening shows, the first two shows of the tour, had doors open on time, and started within five minutes of when they should. Yet more proof it isn’t a normal GACKT show…
I’m going to use their BALUE HEARTS names for this, so to recap the band is…
Bass - Shin-chan (Shinnosu)
Drums - Same-chan (Takumi, it comes from his surname being Samejima)
Guitar - Gashi (GACKT)
Vocals - Valto (Val)
Just before the second show started, the other senpais from Camui Gakuen crashed the show. The dancers came out on the main floor to say hello, and Sato, YOU and Hayato waved from the second floor and took some photos. They all watched the show from the second floor.
[Spoilers!]
The shows started with Valto coming out on his own to sing a version of the Evangelion opening song “Zankoku na Tenshi no Teze,” only Valto said it was from Evalgelion. A pre-recorded backing track played, and he danced around a bit with maracas. He welcomed everyone to the show, and said that the other members hadn’t come and it was just him. After calling the crowd idiots for believing him, he introduced the other band members one by one.
The overarching storyline of THE BALUE HEARTS is that the other members of the band hate Valto and want nothing to do with him. He tries to talk to them, and they either ignore him or abuse him (that’s mainly Gashi.) It usually results in Valto getting crazier and more animated with what he’s saying, until the band member breaks character and starts laughing. Val improvises a lot of what he’s saying, so even if the MC has a theme, how he says it changes and he does all he can to get a reaction from his bandmates. Shinnosu laughs all of the time, and GACKT does occasionally, but before these shows I’d yet to see Takumi even crack a smile.
Valto introduced Shin-chan first, who wandered on with his hands in his pockets and was told off by Valto for being so nonchalant in front of the crowd. Next was Same-chan, who took his seat behind the drums and immediately started eating a banana. Valto told Same-chan off for doing this, too. Last to be introduced was Gashi, who obviously received the biggest reaction of anyone.
Valto wasn’t happy that Gashi is the most popular member, and kept standing in front of Gashi so the crowd couldn’t see him. Valto told everyone to look at their tickets and they’d see it was a show by THE BALUE HEARTS, and not a Gashi solo concert.
Because I can’t remember what order the MCs were in, and where they fit alongside the songs, I’m going to go through the songs first and then the MCs later. All of the songs were proper songs, that THE BALUE HEARTS had changed the lyrics to.
They were
1. Evangelion opening theme - Zankoku na Tenshi no Teze
2. The Blue Hearts - Hito ni Yasashiku
3. Porno Graffitti - Apollo
4. The Blue Hearts - Linda, Linda
5. Mongol 800 - Chiisana Koi no Uta
6. ??? (Sorry, I don’t know what this one was!)
7. The Blue Hearts - Owaranai no Uta
So yes, just seven songs including Valto’s solo opener. The first show in Fukuoka was about 75 minutes long, and the second one was 90 minutes. The rest of the time was taken up by Valto’s MCs. The other band members didn’t say anything, other than for one occasion which I’ll talk about a little later.
(This is from the song I didn't recognise)
The song lyrics were hard for me to catch, as although they were displayed on a screen at the back of the stage, it’s hard to watch a screen and the stage at the same time, and between the two, I’d rather watch the band than read some song lyrics. I even said to myself before the second show that I’d concentrate on the lyrics more, and then just ended up staring at Gashi instead as he was directly in front of me. So, although I know what the songs are about in general terms, I’m not going to talk about them in detail. They’re full of in jokes, and randomness and are less rude than I was expecting after seeing the performance of Chiisana Koi no Uta at Gakuensai (this and Linda, Linda are the same as Gakuensai).
Gashi had two guitars set up at the side of the stage, but only played the same silver guitar throughout. After every other song he handed his guitar off to his guitar tech to get it tuned, and then the tech helped him put the guitar back on (presumably so he didn’t knock his wig about). Gashi also had the guitar tabs for each song on stage, and his tech had to run out and change them before the next song. During the first show, the tech forgot to change the tabs once, and while Valto was still talking, Gashi rather firmly pointed at the tabs that needed changing. The tech ran out pretty sheepishly and changed them quickly.
Valto started each song by asking Gashi to play some music, even though most of the songs don’t actually start with the guitar. So, Gashi would play a riff and then Same-chan would actually count the song in properly, as most songs start with drums.
In-between the songs, while Valto was talking, Shin-chan and Gashi sat on the drum riser, and Same-chan would either stare into space or eat a banana. Valto told off Shin-chan and Gashi for sitting down all of the time, but they just ignored him.
Sometimes when Valto said something, the other band members (led by Gashi) would prompt the crowd to boo whatever Valto was saying. Valto would then turn around to try and catch the other members doing this, but they usually were too quick for Valto to catch them. During the second show, he caught Same-chan with his thumbs down several times, and Takumi couldn’t keep his character and started to laugh. He had to turn around away from the crowd. This was the first time I’ve seen Takumi laugh in a THE BALUE HEARTS set.
Valto talked about THE BALUE HEARTS writing original songs, and how the other members didn’t want to contribute. First he approached Shin-chan, and suggested that Shin-chan could write about Hawaii and sang some bad Hawaiian style songs while hulaing badly (Shinnosu had to laugh). Then Valto approached Same-chan, and asked him to write songs about bananas. Instead, Same-chan threw a banana in his face. Then, Valto approached Gashi and said that Gashi had actually agreed to write a song, but wanted a hundred million yen payment. Valto remarked about how strange it was for a band member to want payment to write a song for his own band, but the crowd yelled at Valto to pay Gashi what he wanted.
During the first show, Same-chan screwed up the opening to Owaranai no Uta, and Valto made him restart. During the second show, whenever Gashi was sat at the drum riser, he’d stare into space and start making kissy faces to get the crowd screaming.
When the other band members were particularly mean to Valto, he would pretend to start crying. Valto got into an argument with Same-chan at the end of a song, after the rest of the band didn’t time the ending with him right. This little shouting match with Same-chan was the only time anyone other than Valto spoke.
Another thing that Valto was angry about, was that whenever he asked the crowd to shout “kashikomari,” the band members didn’t react the way they should. Usually at Gakuensai, the band (whoever they are at that time) all play a riff as the crowd shout back. Whenever Valto tries to do this though, he’s just left with silence. So, he shouted at the other members to do it right. This made both Takumi and Shinnosu laugh, as he would mimic the sounds each instrument should make, and got more animated as he went until he was just screaming “SU! (cymbals) NU! (bass) JYAN! (guitar)” over and over, very rapidly. GACKT didn’t laugh at these solo shows at all, but kept laughing the next day at Gakuensai at this part.
Probably the funniest part, was during Linda, Linda at the second show. The song starts with Gashi playing a single riff before Valto sings a part of a line. While Valto is singing, he pulls a strange face, and holds it until Gashi plays the next riff. Gashi really made Valto hold the strange faces for a long, long time during this show. Gashi sat on the drum riser and stared into space, or yawned, leaving Valto to try and hold his pose. One of the poses had Valto pulling his eyes into a weird position, and his left coloured contact lens literally starting popping out of his eye. Gashi was behind Valto so he couldn’t see what was happening with the contact lens, and he made Valto continue to hold the pose as slowly the lens just came all of the way out. When Gashi finally played the next riff, Valto quickly grabbed the lens and took out his right lens too, before carrying on. He sang the rest of the song with the lenses in his hand, and then apologised at the end of the song.
After the last song, Valto tried to time a jump with the rest of the band, but it didn’t work, so they all walked off and left him on the floor. Valto thanked everyone for coming and started to pretend cry again.
After about 10 minutes, everything was set up for the high five event after the show. Valto, Same-chan and Shin-chan were stood by the exit and gave everyone a high five as they left.
(High fives for everyone)
After the show, there were polaroid photos of the band on sale for 1000 yen each, and they proved to be very popular!
(Much better than mass printed photocards)
They’re making a small fortune on those, as you can get a roll of 20 blanks for about 1200 yen… For the evening show, there were special polaroids taken on stage, and also some with the other senpais that had come to the show.
The show is just a lot of fun. They’re not the best band in the world (of course!) but Val has tons of charisma and is really charming and funny, and it’s amusing to see the other band members trying not to laugh.