S.K.I.N. CONCERT REPORT
Yes, it's finally done. 7078 words. 17 pages on Word. No pictures here. I will say no more. Have fun reading it. :)
CONCERT REPORT
Started on 06/29/07, Finished on 08/03/07
So what if this report’s a month late!? I poured out my heart and soul into writing it. :3
(NoISwearIDidNotAvoidMyHomeworkToDoThis)
Finally, the S.K.I.N. concert report! I started this the night I came home from the concert, but have been too busy and overwhelmed to go continue. I'll let you know here and now that this report is LOOOOONG. Like super-wtf-crazy long. Why? I analyzed the concert veeery carefully (or at least I tried to), thanks to pictures from the concert, live recordings of the songs on MySpace/YouTube, and other reports. Oh, and I added pictures. :) Some aren’t mine. Major credits to PhamousFotos and other fans.
Well, consider yourself warned.
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Let me start out with what exactly S.K.I.N. is. All credits go to SKINonline.net (official fansite in some sense I think). You can skip this part if you want, but you might have a little trouble understanding some stuff later.
"When YOSHIKI announced that he would be forming a band with Gackt in July 2006 at Otakon, one of the largest anime conventions in America, fans were stunned by this revelation. The very thought of seeing YOSHIKI and Gackt on the same stage was almost "too good to be true." Fans all around the world were in a suspended state of disbelief until December 26, 2006, when SUGIZO was added to the line-up.
"Speculation escalated throughout fanbases as to who else would be part of this unprecedented superband. YOSHIKI and SUGIZO both are considered fathers of the visual rock movement in Japan with their legendary bands, X Japan and LUNA SEA. Gackt, who rose to fame in the late 1990s during the second generation visual rock movement, is one of the most recognizable faces in Japan. With such an incredible line-up, fans began to suspect that the entire band would be comprised of high-profile artists.
"The rumors solidified May 25, 2007, when it was announced at the first Jrock Revolution Festival that Miyavi would be joining the line-up. Miyavi is well-known around the world due to his position at the forefront of the most recent generation of visual rock, better yet known as "neo-visualizm." Fans were blown away by the announcement, and the four separate fandoms in Jrock came together as one collective fanbase on June 29, 2007 for S.K.I.N.'s debut at Anime Expo.
"S.K.I.N. has announced that they plan on creating "high-impact, explosive rock music" that will "become the first Asian band to top the world charts."
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So this is where I come in. ;D I was actually able to attend the concert on Friday, June 29, 2007. (After weeks of planning and the possibility of not being able to get in...) I was there, standing the entire freakin’ time, eyes glued onto the stage of four tremendously talented musicians. I had the potential to faint, most definitely. xD
I'd rather not go into the great details before the concert, but I can say that after picking up my badge holder, I had to wait about an hour to get my admission ticket, two and a half hours before they let people in to get seated, and about an hour or so before the concert started. Yeah, the concert was delayed by at least two-three hours. You can call that Friday a hothothot day of waiting, waiting, and, oh yes, more waiting. x_x
It wasn't just that though. It turned out that I got slightly sunburnt on my arms and face, my fishnets had given me a rash, my boot-like shoes were killing me (I changed into flipflops before I went into the arena), and I was very dehydrated. It was just a freakin’ painful day! D;
The wait for the concert to start inside the arena was quite intriguing though. There was a strange music playing, and my party and I just couldn't help but laugh. A plain white curtain blocked the view of the stage, but if you looked reeeeal hard you could see random silhouettes (I'm assuming they're the stage crew?) here and there. Stela, her friend Sophie, and I were all betting how the curtain would come off. xD Oh, we had fairly good seats, too. When we first came in, we thought we got floor seats, but we got even better ones!! :D (The floor seating was like at the opposite side of the stage -- too far!) I sat in the side risers, section 14, row D, seat 14. ^__^
To my left was Alex, to his left was Stela, to her left was my sister, to her left was Stela's friend Sophie, and to her left was Sophie's niece Megan. Quite the party, eh?!
See, I had the chance to buy premiere tickets and get floor seating as closest to the stage as possible, but fifty bucks? Haha, no thanks. I'm pretty short, so what if some really tall person stood in front of me? I'm at a loss. *weeps* Free tickets and seats like ours were just as good.
Anyway, back to the story. My otouto Alex were talking and pictochatting with other people in the arena on our DS Lites, just like many other people in the room. ;D Talk about killing time! People sat down and were later kicked out because it wasn't their assigned seat. A party of two sat in front of us with their friend sitting next to me on my right. They were pretty damn fun. Over time, a section started the wave! It must've went around at least seven times before it came to a halt. :D
From the time we came in until the start of the concert, I was so incredibly anxious. I swear, I could feel every single chill on my spine after the end of each of the strange jungle-like songs. (which made me laugh, haha) What made me anticipate the start of the concert even more was the fact that you could already see the slight fog drifting overhead. The big screens on each side of the arena lit up with S.K.I.N. in grungy white letters about a half hour before everything began. You could feel the excitement lingering over everyone.
Then, as if God heard our last call, the lights dimmed. Immediately, everyone in the arena including my party and I jumped to our feet. Everyone screamed. The two big screens to both sides of the stage and the white curtain lit up with the promotion video which displayed a grungy black and white flashing background as the members' names appeared one after another.
Suddenly the promotion video came to an abrupt ending. Just as I predicted (and won the bet :D), the curtain dropped the instant the video ended. The two big screens to the sides of the stage were joined by the center screen, all presenting the band’s name. Bright golden lights shined through the fog from the back of the stage, displaying the silhouettes of who we've been all waiting for.
There they were. In real flesh. S.K.I.N. (no pun intended)
I honestly didn't think they were going to come.
Without further ado, the clashing of the instruments and the pursuit of artistic displays on the three big screens was set forth for the band's first song, “GEI-SHA.” The powerful piece, which contained quite a handful of English lyrics, proved to be the right piece to start off the concert. It certainly pumped the crowd. Not that we weren’t pumped to begin with… ;]
Sporting a black spiked-up hairdo with a sexy leather jacket, a black threadbare-like shirt, slimming jeans, and various accessories, Gackt greeted the audience with, “What’s up!? ARE YOU READY TO ROCK!?” I never did have much interest in the man himself (since I’ve been obsessing over Hyde of L’Arc~en~Ciel! <3), but I have to admit... Gackt looked pretty bloody sexy on stage. His look was definitely different from what I’ve seen though, but it was okay. I just wasn’t fond of his makeup. ^^; (This guy also claims to be over 400 years old. Go figure.)
Fans replied with screams and cries of bliss which filled the arena in an instant, yet the music still overpowered everything. Others could not help but shed tears in the midst of the exhilaration and seeing their favorite Jrockers in front of their very eyes.
Again, I’ll be honest: I also felt my eyes water up at this point. Yes, you heard me. (But I did not cry! Hahaha! …That’s later.)
As Gackt sang his heart out, to the right of him stood former Luna Sea guitarist SUGIZO. The russet-haired man wore fitted black leather pants, a sleeveless shirt with an also sleeveless frayed floor-length jacket, and distinct jewelry around his neck and fingers. (Keep in mind that this guy’s almost freakin’ 40.) He still looked damn good. His eye makeup was pretty damn heavy.
On the opposite side of SUGIZO stood the other guitarist and youngest member of the band (25 and damn kickass!), Miyavi, clad in baggy blue-grey pants and a tattered black midriff shirt, allowing the audience to take notice of his 20+ tattoos. His long hair (with shaven areas here and there), appearing to have numerous colorful extensions and clips, was tied up in a high ponytail. Miyavi also had on makeup, mainly on his eyes (a tint of red/black eye shadow with some piercings here and there? <3).
Both of the members’ electric guitars, sending endless riffs throughout the arena, were plastered with S.K.I.N. stickers. They definitely knew how to master their guitars.
Behind the three men, on a high platform with stairs, was the co-founder of X Japan and founder of the S.K.I.N., YOSHIKI (who I personally call the “Renaissance man of Jrock”). As in his X Japan days, the shirtless blonde man thrashed out on his drums. His grayish pants were pretty… low. He looked good in them though, wtf. His dark eye shadow blended well with his skin. (He’s 42. Is it wrong to call him sexy? :x)
The stage presence of all four members was breathtaking and virtually overwhelming.
Even with the music drowning the audience and myself, we still freakin’ howled and went nuts. Like I said earlier, “GEI-SHA” was no doubt a great song to open the concert up with, and it certainly had absolutely everyone pumping. Fists were flying in the air all over the place at the chorus as we all sang with Gackt; it was just a fun and energizing song. Having performed just only one song so far, the band certainly knew how to please. After all... They were all perfectionists. (Oh, and the reason it took so long to start? Sound checks.)
After “GEI-SHA,” the music died down and the screens displayed soft sceneries. The audience died down, the lights slightly dimmed, and the band members readied themselves for the next song.
Gackt, behind his dragon-like microphone (from his “Redemption” music video? Mmf.), started to cite a poem or passage of some sort. It was difficult to understand, but I assumed it was in English. His English, along with Miyavi’s, isn’t all that great. They’re working on it, but YOSHIKI and SUGIZO are very fluent in the language.
Anyway, as Gackt was talking, minimalist composer Steve Reich’s “Piano Phase” played in the background. Look this song up on Wikipedia... “Piano Phase” is a bit more than just a composition really, and I can’t really explain it because I lack the intelligence to enlighten you with the details (wow, that sounded kinda smart! :O). It was also played in the promotional video. (And is one my ringtones)
It was a beautiful yet alluringly dangerous instrumental; Gackt’s voice mergeed right in as well. Reaching the end of his speech, the music stopped and the man whispered the title of the next song, “Killing you softly.” (I freakin’ melted right here.)
The audience instantly cheered during the short silence before the piano melody resumed to play, now accompanied with Gackt’s hiiiiigh voice (I thought it was some woman at first). For about twenty seconds, this high voice sang; following that, though, after a brief two-second silence... Things got heavy.
With an immediate entrance by Miyavi and SUGIZO on their electric guitars, Gackt began “Killing you softly,” which was very well-received by the audience. Almost entirely in Japanese, the guitars dominated during the verses of the song. YOSHIKI and his drums took over at the chorus, which meshed well together. Throughout the song, “Piano Phase” was played in the background as the foundation of the song.
It was no doubt a song that you could bob your head to and throw your hands in the air. No, it wasn’t exactly a fun and crazy song like “GEI-SHA” though. The energy let off from it felt rather enigmatic, dark, and just downright seducing. Not as entirely aggressive as “GEI-SHA,” but you could still feel the intense emotions flowing through all the members during the song. “Killing you softly” was definitely a favorite for me.
While Gackt ended the song with the last lyrics, “Piano Phase” played until the end, together with a recording of a violin accompaniment. Fans cheered like before, sending endless screams, squeals, and shouts throughout the arena. Voices could’ve been lost at this point.
Luckily, I still barely had my voice. My party and I were still pretty stoked about the entire concert... Alright, not all of us, but those who cared, knew who the members of the band were, and recognized the members’ talent and skill. That means only Stela and me.
The audience’s yells lessened (but there were still several screaming their lungs out, which was kind of annoying) when the three big screens displayed the next song, “Beneath the Skin”, which was another song in English. The melody off the song took off, and the crowd and I expected the song to be a ballad.
In a matter of seconds, all the instruments collided with one another to make an impressing rock beat. The members yelled out at the audience, and we replied with our hoarse voices. The song itself was a cross between a ballad and a rock song, strung with dramatic effects. It was honestly not too memorable... But that was about to change.
As the rest of the audience and I had our eyes glued to Gackt as he started to sing acapella after the ballad-like part of the song, a sudden piano melody joined his voice. Of course, this was joined by hundreds of screaming fans once again. :| Honestly, as rude as it may have been, we couldn’t help ourselves. (I honestly let out a scream or two, too, haha.) Gackt stopped his singing as the piano melody (and screams!) triumph over him.
Clad in a see-through black shirt and leading a solo (a magnificent one, too) amidst all the crazy screaming rabid fangirls was skilled pianist YOSHIKI on his one and only piano, the Kawai Crystal II Glad Grand Piano CR-40A. The piano was situated to the right of the drums on the high platform (my right, above SUGIZO in a sense). Passionately pouring himself out onto his piano, just like in the X Japan lives in the late 80s and early 90s, YOSHIKI knew what he was doing up there. He completely submitted himself; it was passion on piano.
After three minutes or so, there was silence, quickly filled by high-pitched screams (and low, from those brave men, hahaha) and cheers from the audience. As the music started up again, another pianist had accompanied YOSHIKI. The screens presented Gackt at the piano on the left of the drums staring up into endless spaces, seemingly caught in a daze as his eyes appeared to look far and distant.
When we thought it couldn’t get any better, the duo became a trio. Out of nowhere, a note on a violin was played. Instantaneously, a third spotlight (which appeared to be red) illuminated SUGIZO from the darkness, with a black electric violin and strung bow. While the pianos seemed to duel one another, the violin seemed to break through that variance and create a sense of melody and peace, reflecting one of SUGIZO’s personal traits.
I had never heard of SUGIZO before the announcement of S.K.I.N., but after listening to him at this part of the concert, I felt like I knew everything about the man. He’s a violinist for crying out loud... A downright artistic one I might add. Sadly, I do not have a picture of just SUGIZO on the violin. :[ Pity.
Of course, with three members already reflecting their skills on another instrument, the audience could not help but wonder what Miyavi was going to play. Shortly after the violin’s entrance, an unfamiliar yet traditional sound rang through the trio. Look almost silly, a seated Miyavi was shown on the screen, plucking away on a shamisen. This was a sight to drop the jaw at, for everyone and myself.
It was like a condensed form of X Japan’s “Art of Life,” which is considered one of the greatest Japanese rock masterpieces (because it’s twenty-nine minutes long? ...Maybe.) This was quite possibly the most amazing and astounding part of the entire concert. Though it almost seemed like a great battle of exquisite aptitude and ego, having all the band members performing on their instruments with such eloquence and passion caused such assumptions to fade to nothingness.
Upon seeing each member and their actions in their own designated upright rectangular bar on the center screen, I couldn’t take it anymore. My eyes watered up, and I couldn’t help but, well, cry. Nearly. I had to take several deep breaths to completely surrender myself to being submerged in the brilliance and beauty of the melodious quartet.
It was also at the time when I truly realized how much I had adored each member’s distinctive talents and their ability to blend their musical individuality with others to create something greater than their own.
After standing at my seat like an idiot for about five to ten minutes dumbfounded and speechless at what had just happened in front of my eyes and to my ears, the quartet died down slowly. YOSHIKI first bashed out and slammed on his piano keys, another memory of his moments in X Japan. Following that were purposely-made discordant sounds coming from SUGIZO’s violin. The four bars on the screen disappeared, displaying only YOSHIKI leaving the piano and continuous sounds coming from the other instruments as they disintegrated.
I shot a glance at both my cousin Stela. She and I were knocked out cold by the instrumental. Gackt’s short lullaby-sounding solo that followed SUGIZO’s acts felt like it was played to give us all time to capture ourselves back into reality and move on with the show.
“Beneath the Skin” continued back into the ballad-like part of the song, but without lyrics. It went on like that for several seconds before the guitars and drums made their entrance. For some reason, it was at this time when I realized I had every reason to appreciate the song itself. Was it due to the instrumental? I’m not too sure, but I came to truly adore this song.
Again, the crowd cheered like mad after “Beneath the Skin.” Then, for the first time since before the “GEI-SHA” performance, Gackt spoke to the audience. According to recordings, he said something along the lines of, “This is our last song...” and “Until we meet again!” It was hard to comprehend the words because the man isn’t totally great in English (yet anyway).
After all that, Gackt yelled out, “We are... We are... We are SKIN!!” Right after he said S.K.I.N., music was pumping all over again. The screen displayed a green dragon, followed by red and black circle appeared, swirling around to create many random shapes. The title of the song did not show on the big screens (S.K.I.N. showed up on it after all the abstract stuff), many refer to it as the “Get Back” song (you’ll see why later…). It has now been confirmed that the song’s title is “Violets.”
I loved “Violets” to nooooo end. You know how I said “GEI-SHA” was a good opening? “Violets” was a good closing -- It freakin’ ROCKED. This was the one song that was stuck in my head for ages... This was also when my voice became totally lost; I didn’t care at all! I screamed my lungs out and forgot everything outside of that arena.
YOSHIKI owned the drums once again in this song, regardless of his injuries from the past. The beats meshed so well with the guitars and Gackt’s vocals, too. The guitar riffs in this song were amazing. As great as they were in “Killing you softly,” Miyavi and SUGIZO were just raping their guitars in “Violets,” I swear. Gackt’s voice seemed a little out of it in “Violets,” but he still managed to pull off such a kickass performance. The song sounded like it was in English and Japanese, so I’m going to assume that it was.
Once Gackt started singing in “Violets,” everything seemed so right. The beat was just insane, and the man’s vocals made it ten times better. This is the song where you’d dance your socks off, jump up and down like an idiot, and scream like there’s no tomorrow.
In the band members’ cases, it was a little different. “Violets” was truly the song where the lunacy and mad love came from all the band members to create the craziest, most insane crowd anyone could ever ask for. YOSHIKI thrashed away on his drums, hair flying all over the place. Miyavi was his own little show, spinning around in circles and running all over the stage while rocking out with his guitar. SUGIZO went batshit insane and intimate with his guitar, pelvic-thrusting the instrument and other border-lined erotic gestures. Gackt, oh man, this guy was just swiveling his hips away to the song, raising his top occasionally to flirt his flat six-pack-like stomach to the fans.
Wait, what? They were doing what?! o___o
Uhh, can you say fan service? ;D Don’t know what fan service is? In simple terms (as if I can put it in simple terms), it’s a fangirl’s “imaginations and hopes” of their male Jrockers on stage (sexual and/or not). It’s just basically what male Jrockers do (consciously or unknowingly) to please their (female, usually) audience and make them come back for more.
Now, to have four male musicians with gigantic egos and histories of fan service (or anything close to it) is a fangirl’s greatest, I daresay it, fantasy (and inspiration for boyxboy fanfiction... it’s a long story, don’t ask. :x).
The members of S.K.I.N. delivered some fan service, indeed. It was most prominent during “Violets,” as you can tell from my description up there. I know for a fact that Miyavi clung to almost everyone on stage, even YOSHIKI at one point. SUGIZO was basically being the sex god up there on stage, lol, with all his insinuating acts with the audience and his dearest guitar. Trust me, though, what these guys did at this concert is only a glaze compared to other Jrock concerts.
Anyway, the song continued on with all the hype and excitement. The chorus was no doubt the highlight of the song. Gackt yelled, “GET BACK!” and motioned the audience to repeat after him. It went on four to five times before Gackt went onto the second verse, where the audience screamed at the fan service he was giving. I was just speechless and laughing at Alex who gave me a “WTF?” look.
The chorus took off once again, and we were all chanting “GET BACK!” after Gackt’s shouts SUGIZO and Miyavi joined in on saying a single line after the chorus. It sounded like something along the lines of “You son of a gun!” but I honestly have no idea what it was. Miyavi just couldn’t stop moving around on stage. He was pulling off his own little dance with his guitar after the second time through the chorus; I felt awfully teased by it.
Gackt stopped singing as the guitars and drums continued to roar in the arena. He then started to talk to the audience once more. Again, I couldn’t understand much of what he was saying besides “Thank you for everything!” and “Are you have fun?!” After making us shout “GET BACK!” several more times, he spoke a little more... Then led us to screaming the damn two words again! I swear, we must’ve chanted it at least fifty times that night or something, haha.
After all that hype, Gackt clearly announced (surprisingly), “Now, it’s time to introduce the members of SKIN!” (And he spend forever doing intros, wtf) He motioned to the left of him and Miyavi knew that he was going to be first. He got all friendly (again) with Gackt by standing all next to him and used his body language to flirt as the man spoke. “This guy is like my brother! Who is this? Who is this?! MIYAVI!” yelled Gackt. Miyavi went off to pull off a crazy solo on his electric guitar, smacking his guitar and just totally pimping it up on stage.
The solo was finished, and Gackt went over to an unknown face in the band. I didn’t mention him earlier because I decided to save him specifically in the introductions part. You know how I’ve mentioned YOSHIKI on drums, Gackt on vocals, and SUGIZO and Miyavi on guitar? What’s missing? A bassist right? Announced as the “best bassist in Japan,” Gackt introduced Ju-Ken to the audience. Ju-Ken was apparently a part of Gackt’s band, GacktJOB, but I never knew that until after the concert. According to YOSHIKI, he’s not officially in the line-up, but it’s possible that he will be in the future.
He’s quite the bass player though. Throughout the concert, he was just totally banging on his bass guitar; it sounded remarkable. With wild orange and black hair up with various rubberbands and knots, Ju-Ken wore a black tank top to show off his dragon tattoo on his shoulder (like Miyavi, he’s got quite a range of tattoos on him) and black pants. His solo took the guy center stage, and he instantly became a noteworthy face.
The next part, one of my favorites during the introductions, just made me laugh and smile all at once. After the bass solo, a duel had erupted between bassist Ju-Ken and guitarist Miyavi. Gackt noticed this and decided to acknowledge it by shouting each musician’s name as they dueled. “Miyavi! Ju-Ken! Miyavi! Ju-Ken!”... It must’ve went on for at least two minutes or so before Gackt continued with the intros, but goodness, this part was totally priceless, ridiculously fun, and plainly incredible. They were just having so much fun up there on stage; I got a kick out of it, too! Miyavi and Ju-Ken were the main two who just felt so at home with the audience; their fanservice owned.
Oh, and more fan service rolled in for the heck of it. Ju-Ken on his knees in front of Miyavi? Uh huh, yeah, and sticking the fork of his bass (is that the correct term?) between Miyavi’s legs as seen in the picture to the left of this paragraph. Fan service is written all over that. All. Freakin’. Over.
Okay, next was SUGIZO’s intro, which made me laugh until my eyes started to water. Gackt went over to the right of him to SUGIZO and started making his speech about him. He said, “Two years ago... I hated this guy! And now, he’s my best friend!” I’ll be honest and straightforward. I thought Gackt had said that two years ago, he had dated the guy. I cracked up so hard on the way home talking about it with Stela. Anyway, right after Gackt announced his name, SUGIZO went off on an outrageous rampage, oversexing his guitar to no end. His solo was mind-blowing! I never knew his fingers could move so quickly! It must’ve went on for two minutes straight or something, but damn, he nailed that guitar.
Once SUGIZO’s guitar solo was finished (and I was swept away by it), Gackt went up the stairs to the high platform where YOSHIKI was at. Declared as the “one and only greatest drummer in Japan” by Gackt, YOSHIKI right away responded with beating the hell out of his drums. He pounded those drums at an unbelievable speed; my eyes could not keep up with his doing. It shocked me a little how the man was still able do such things after receiving quite a number of injuries from it (that’s why he was seen wearing a protective collar-like necklace around his neck) Gackt gave YOSHIKI the longest solo of everyone (because he kept cheering, “More, more, more!”), and there was no doubt in my mind that YOSHIKI was just living it up and looking back on his years when he was in X Japan.
YOSHIKI finished up his lengthy solo, and Gackt went down from the platform to introduce himself. He shouted out to the crowd, “Who am I?!” countless times, just like “GET BACK!” Of course, we couldn’t help but yell back, “GACKT!” every time he said it. That was basically his intro though.
After the whole “Who am I?!” thing, Gackt went on to shouting, “WE ARE…” and we were to respond, “SKIN!” Again, we did this over and over again... It was pretty grueling, haha. I think you could just feel the audience starting to die a little after chanting so many times and all. What a way to give us a lasting impression, huh?
This next part was simply insane. The audience went absolutely ballistic and screamed like no tomorrow, while the band members were taking a little water break. Of course, after drinking from their water bottles, they proceeded to throwing them to the crowd. Gackt threw two to everyone, while SUGIZO throw about three. And man, SUGIZO throws freakin’ FARRR. One of his made it all the way to the other side of the arena in the back! Another just barely made it a couple rows in front of me; when I left I was even able to step across the spilled water. Oh, and this was also the part where we all finally got to see YOSHIKI. He stylishly emerged from behind the S.K.I.N.-plastered drums like Zeus on Mount Olympus or something, hahaha. The man kept tugging at the waistline of his low-rise pants, too, wtf. It was serious fan service! YOSHIKI proceeded with throwing some drumsticks to the audience.
Gackt led us to do more chanting, just a little more! He slowed down drastically towards the end. It was like, “Weeeeee aaareeeee… SKIIIIIIIIIN~” I laughed. “Violets” started up again and this time, it was just pumpin’! Gackt took center stage once again, and Miyavi and SUGIZO joined him side by side, as seen in the picture. Each man had a leg up on the sound-system thing. Oh goodness, I was on the edge of a heart attack just watching the threesome (;D) totally rocking it out. FAN SERVICE! FAN SERVICE, YAY!
The trio split up at the chorus, and the calls of “GET BACK!” commenced once more, roaring through the arena. The song went on, filled with plenty of fan service here and there offered up by the four men on bass, guitar, and vocals. At one point, after the second time through the chorus, Miyavi went over to Gackt and went on his knees, seemingly praising the man as if he were his god.
The “GET BACK!” mantra went on for a bit longer before the song gradually came to an end, with SUGIZO’s guitar bangs. The man continued beating on the guitar for several minutes though. As S.K.I.N. was displayed on all the big screens, the audience screamed, yelled, and shouted for more while everyone on stage threw stuff to the audience. Before throwing his water bottle out to the crowd, Gackt drank some of it and gave a little shower to Miyavi, who was completely up for it. Ju-Ken roamed about the stage, showing off the whole Miyavi and Gackt fan service, running up and down the platform and so forth. He was just having such a great time. YOSHIKI appeared once more from behind his drum set and looked out into the earsplitting crowd. Besides throwing more drumsticks, he grabbed one of the stands and started whacking up his drum set. He freakin’ destroyed the thing. I worried about the guy.
At the same time, SUGIZO practically smashed his guitar to a gazillion pieces and threw the fork to the people in the floor seats. (I pray that it didn’t hit anyone who didn’t notice it o_o) It all looked like it was totally planned, too. Oh, and you’d expect Miyavi, the zaniest and most insane one in the band, to be wrecking things up, too, but he just plopped himself one-handedly on top of one of the speakers (easy job for him; he’s about six-feet tall) and flirted with the audience. His guitar sat comfortably in his lap. Gackt strutted across the stage, yelling out random stuff to the audience while sinking in all the glory. YOSHIKI eventually descended from his pedestal, and we were finally able to see his entire body. Apparently, he’s the shortest man in the band. :P
This was pretty much the “encore.” Ten sustained minutes of non-stop cheering from the audience and the wreckage of just about everything. Gackt, YOSHIKI, Miyavi, SUGIZO, and Ju-Ken left the stage as the masses of thousands of people continued to yell and shout.
I left the arena with my party (after a picture or two), feeling so pleased and pumped. I was totally going to get some merchandise... despite the no-specific-line-just-masses-of-people problem that flooded the fifteen feet radius around the merchandise booth. Apparently, they were selling two different styles of the official S.K.I.N. tee, as well as pins and wristbands with S.K.I.N. etched on them. I grabbed Alex and dragged him into the swarm of people with me. It took us at least twenty minutes to fight through everyone and get ourselves two shirts. During that time, I had to look up and stare at the ceiling to prevent myself from suffocating. :x Yeah, it was pretty bad. It sucks to be short. On the better note, I made some new friends who were stuck in the horde with us! Yay!
As Alex and I made our way out of the booth and outside the convention center, our legs were dead from standing and jumping. My right arm died from constantly having it in the air during the live. We met up with Stela and my sister, who told us that Sophie and Megan had left several minutes earlier.
Stela, my sister, Alex, and I could’ve stayed longer, but we were just so wiped out from the concert that we just went straight home. If we did stay longer, we could’ve seen all the members leave the buildings in their car/trailer/limo/etc. Of course, that would mean fighting through the crowd of fangirls. Hahaha, it’s somewhat a loss. :P
I had a lot of things going on in my mind, of course, most of which were addressed in the car on the way home (while clearing up the crazy crapload of make-up on my face, yeah).
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So I think this’ll be where I truly present my opinions about the concert. I will honestly say though, like many others out there, that I truly enjoyed this concert. No doubt about that. It owned my dear little soul... and voice. Yes, my voice somehow managed to discuss the concert with Stela on our way home.
The concert met and went beyond my expectations. For the entire month after the debut concert announcement at Jrock Revolution (which I missed before I heard about it too late...), S.K.I.N. was the only thing on my mind (most of the time; others included AX07 and cosplay)
What worried me before the concert was the fact that the band was composed of four huge talents: two legends, two modern legends in the making. Could you imagine the egos?! Each member should have their own designated planet or something, ahah.
Anyway, the whole ego issue did slightly play into the concert, for the good and the not-so-good. Looking back at it now, during a few parts of their songs, I just had the feeling that all four band members were playing against each other rather than with each other. It resulted in a slight clash of musical technicalities. But I really don’t care so much about it now.
Of course, it may’ve seemed like that, but I’ve learned ego’s not a problem. Through interviews and others’ thoughts, the band members mix together pretty well... (Gackt’s thoughts towards his band mates are hilarious) At the actual concert itself, I think I was too engulfed in the music and loudness of everything to really care about anything, even the ego issue. The fact that they just seemed to let everything go (tried to at least) and work together to produce music for all to hear is just wonderful.
Some things that could’ve helped this concert a lot would be practice and time. They got enough of it, and that’s fact. According to one of Miyavi’s journal entries prior to the concert, they began rehearsing the songs only a week or two before the concert. That means they started rehearsing in what, mid-June? The band had about a month to practice and rehearse, after the Jrock Revolution festival in late May. Bearing in mind that the band is new and its members are all perfectionists and these songs are still pretty much fresh and new, they should’ve spent that month (at least) working on their four songs.
Also, if they had released one or two songs from the performance to the public, it would’ve helped us enjoy (and sing to) the concert a lot more. Gackt’s English is still not very great, so most of us had quite a tough time deciphering the lyrics. It’s fine nonetheless though. YOSHIKI had mentioned somewhere that the concert was not the very best, but he hopes for better ones to come. I’m sure that’s possible with the band.
I can’t put too much blame on them though. Gotta give them credit for actually coming out to AX07 like they did. Like I said earlier, I was not expecting them to come at all. It was the most pleasant surprise I had received since my sixteenth birthday. (That day will forever live in my heart) I truly enjoyed the songs they performed; they were stuck in my head for quite some time after the concert. As for wardrobe, Stela and I had the feeling that their image toned down a bit for the American audience. Not so much, but after seeing what each member usually wears, yeah, it was slightly below the usual.
The concert itself opened me up to the raw talent and true flair each member. Individually, I thought YOSHIKI, Gackt, SUGIZO, and Miyavi were simply superb, mind-boggling, and just plainly freakin’ awesome. It made me realize that merely researching a band/artist online, watching them on YouTube, and fangirling over them is nothing compared to seeing them live in front of your eyes. It’s bloody kickass.
Together as a band, they could use some work... But hey, it’s only their first performance ever. The blame doesn’t go to them. S.K.I.N. has a lot of potential... Like I said, they’re perfectionists. In time, I think they will create wonders. I will wait and hold my patience. My hopes are high, and I’m willing to support the band all the way. :)
To put it simply (and as a bloody understatement, mind you), I witnessed the so-called “J-rock concert of the century”, featuring four extraordinarily brilliant musicians coming together as one...
What more could I possibly ask for? (And how many times have I told this to myself?)
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You know, I realized I’m not sure if this really counts as a report. It’s like a story, a review, and little spaz fest all in one. Oh well. The definition of report has changed for me and only me. :D
This is a bit random to be thrown in here like this, but I gotta be honest. :3 Since it wasn’t really announced before the show, you could see a good load of people filming and taking pictures of all the glory. However, the “yellow-polo people” (for lack of a better term... okay, okay, arena staff. ;D) went around stopping people. Others who didn’t listen and kept filming/taking pictures either had to delete all the material or were kicked out... :x
And luckily, Stela managed to record little tidbits of the concert. :P About twenty-three, less than a minute tidbits. xD Yep. It was one thing to record tidbits like that, but another thing to be the first to post it on YouTube around midnight on Saturday morning... which also happened to be her birthday. :P Hey, we haven’t gotten suspended or anything! xD To protect both her and me, I shall refrain from giving out the link... No begging.
Anyway... To this day, I'm still pretty spazzed out about this concert. My ticket stub is still secure in my AX07 badge, and my bright yellow wristband, which I had to take off, is hanging on my wall right beside my bed. With a black sharpie, I wrote, "S.K.I.N." to remind myself how bloody wonderful (and painful) that day was.
You know all those crazy hours of waiting and stuff? Worth it. Entirely worth it. This concert made up for every single ounce of all that suffering, along with the fact that I was a part of Jrock history, along with thousands of other people, who've wrote reviews for this concert (search around for it; it's not hard to find at all). You'd think leaving that arena and driving home would leave me feeling a little down that it was over, right? Nuh uh. This is far from over.
It's just the beginning.
Allow me to end this review with yet another quote SKINonline.net: Look out for them this year. The revolution has begun.