DoReMiDan, YFC, Earthbound Papas, SAKAMOTOGUMI (ketchup post)
TONS of shows to catch up on after my 2-week vacation, so I'm gonna make some of these brief...
2011/09/11 ドレミ團 - Shibuya WWW; Tokyo, JP
Got asked by 69 to shoot the ドレミ團 (do-re-mi dan) show. I figured it was just a casual musical scale reference, but in addition to that, it's apparently their Japanization of The Beatles' "Don't Let Me Down"... they've even got shirts that say that. heh
The show was your standard v-kei fare, I don't remember much standing out now that an entire month has passed, other than the guitarist vocalist sticking his hands down one of the guitarists' pants at one point, lol. I'll link to the 69 review when it's up (which might be before I get around to finishing & posting this) Here's the 69 review, for way more detail than I could ever write here.
2011/09/14 YELLOW FRIED CHICKENz (Gackt) - Zepp Tokyo; Tokyo, JP
Why did I end up getting tickets to this again? Oh yeah- 'cause 真矢 (Shinya) from LUNA SEA is now drumming for Gackt. In the non- over-the-top more-straightforward "rock" band that is YFC. I'd seen them last year at a guys-only show, and the band has grown since then. As in, there are more members. Notably, a third guitarist, and an American co-vocalist named Jon, who alternates between harmonies and trading off alternating lines/verses w/ Gackt (and is often actually louder than Gackt). Oh, and trying to look bad-ass, although Gackt was also guilty of this, considering the theme of the band seems to be "we're like, totally hardcore tough guys, d00dz".
Complete with a hilarious "here's the rules, asshole; get your asses inside, asshole" pre-show announcement (all done in heavily American-accented Japanese, except for copious use of "asshole" in English >_<;). Everyone wore sleeveless button-up white shirts w/ black ties ( again), which were removed by the 7th song (again). -_-; The makeup, though, looked more lame than "badass"- both Gackt and Jon had black eyeliner around their eyes, and then 2 lines going down one cheek, on opposite sides from each other. It's like they started to do The Crow, but got interrupted. :P"
As for the show itself? Surprisingly a lot of new stuff I hadn't heard (apparently they're doing their own original stuff), along w/ some of the "heavier" older Gackt songs. Oh, and "mind forest" IN ENGLISH. W. T. F? Also, while this show did not include Mirror, we still got the ridiculously long "hold this last chord for 5-10 minutes while we get the audience to scream shit" crap- possibly even more annoying than the Mirror break, since that chord just goes oooon and oooon and ooooon. And this happened at least twice. At least we got ribbons during Vanilla (which had a much more ska-like beat).
Oh, and Gackt is now selling cell-phone-strap VIBRATORS (ぶるぶる携帯ストラップ, lit. "vibrating cell-phone strap"). I suppose it's a logical progression from 2009's CONDOMS, and probably more likely to sell, considering 95% of his fan base is female (and yes, I know women can buy condoms, too, but really- how many actually do? Esp. in Japan, where a super-strain of gonorrhea has developed because people aren't using them?)...
Anyway, here's what I'm led to believe the setlist was (can't verify the new songs, but since all shows are generally identical, I'll buy it until someone on setlist.fm corrects me):
2011/09/17 Fantasy Rock Fes 2011 - Club Citta'; Kawasaki, JP
Ah, one of the shows that was postponed from March after the big earthquake. This included Earthbound Papas, featuring Nobuo Uematsu, composer of Final Fantasy and other soundtracks, and a couple other video game soundtrack bands. First up was Kurosawa Daisuke (gt/ba/kbd/dr), who does soundtracks for KONAMI, & played a few tracks from Guitar Freaks and a King Crimson cover. While they switched the sets, Uematsu came out & had an interview in front of the curtain, where he talked mostly about his prog-rock influences, such as Pink Floyd, YES, King Crimson, & ELP.
Next up was Yusa Mimori (vo/gt/ba/kbd/dr), who did a Kate Bush cover, & some other stuff I can no longer remember anything of. Following that was an interview with her, where she talked more about the set... Then Sakuraba Motoi (dr/ba/kbd) went on, each member having a solo to themselves. Finally Earthbound Papas took the stage (kbd/6-string bass/dr/gtr/kbd-gtr, plus a foreign woman who came out and half-spoke half-sang in what sounded like gibberish (perhaps it was the made-up "language" that's on their album cover, similar to Futurama's "Alien Codec"), 4 vocalists (SATB), and some belly dancers, depending on the song), and pretty much played through their album (in slightly different order), with the addition of Bohemian Rhapsody!.
2011/09/21 Monster Copy Session Event- Get Naked!! Vol. 10 - Ootsuka RED Zone; Tokyo, JP
A few months ago, while browsing through the cover band recruitment boards on mixi, trying to get LUNA-TICK together, I noticed a post looking for members for a 1-off LUNA SEA cover show, so, naturally, I signed up! The singer had his own original solo project, but like to do these every once in a while, and apparently some of his usual LS cover band people weren't available. He decided on the theme, which was a re-enactment of the 黒服限定 Gig at Tokyo Dome last xmas, & we had a single rehearsal before the show...
...which happened to be on the day of the biggest typhoon I have ever seen since moving here 6 years ago. -_-;;;
Seriously, the storm hit mid-afternoon, and by 4pm all the train stations were as packed as they were on the day of the big earthquake, and train lines were stopping one after another, eventually leaving nothing running but subways. Fortunately the monorail near my work was still running, which connected to a subway (the transfer from train to subway was thankfully brief, although I saw literally dozens of broken & bent umbrellas strewn along the sidewalk & in the stairwell on the way down), allowing me to make it to Shinjuku, where I sat at a Starbucks w/ Maya while we waited for the other lines to start running again (since no other underground lines went to the venue), but by the time the Yamanote started running and we made it there, it was nearly 8:30.
We were scheduled to go on at 8:50. And none of my friends were there, either. T_T;
Fortunately, they were running a bit behind as well, and another band who was already there offered to go ahead of us, so I breathed a huge sigh of relief, ran to the conbini for a water, came back, got changed, did had the drummer do my hair, etc. Went back out to get a signal amp; try to convince a couple people they could still make it, when the singer came out & said "Oh, we're gonna go on next after all, since everyone's ready." o_O;!!! So I ran out, around & back in to turn on my R-09, which I had plugged into my camera w/ the mics clipped to the straps so Maya could take pix and/or video w/ decent sound. Ran back up to send another friend a map to the place. Ran back in & grabbed my guitar & pedal, headed onto the stage & started tuning as fast as I could. Stood up & the strap fell off. The strap whose pegs I'd replaced with locking ones so it wouldn't fall off- turns out the cover had come unscrewed somehow, so I had to look for it on the dark stage w/ my phone as a flashlight. Stressed to hell, I put on my "cloak" (cape) & waited for the curtain to rise.
It was then that I realized we didn't have any setlists printed out. And the bassist was asking me which order the medley songs were in. >_<;
Well, all things considered, the show went reasonably smoothly. I couldn't hear my guitar for shit, as usual, so I took several trips back to turn up the amp during the show, & even ditched my earplugs, to little avail. Note to self: always use the high gain input, even if it sounds way too loud when I'm setting up. -_-;
Oh, also? When I ran around & in the front to turn on my recorder, I apparently failed, so it didn't record anything. And since it ran into the camera, all the videos Maya took are silent. #FAIL. -_-; Supposed to get a DVD from the vocalist, but who knows when I'll see him. Oh well. Will upload & link to YT if I ever get it.
Think that's enough for one post, 'cause the next one is gonna cover shows in another country! And I think the band merits its own post (or 2)! :D
2011/09/11 ドレミ團 - Shibuya WWW; Tokyo, JP
Got asked by 69 to shoot the ドレミ團 (do-re-mi dan) show. I figured it was just a casual musical scale reference, but in addition to that, it's apparently their Japanization of The Beatles' "Don't Let Me Down"... they've even got shirts that say that. heh
The show was your standard v-kei fare, I don't remember much standing out now that an entire month has passed, other than the guitarist vocalist sticking his hands down one of the guitarists' pants at one point, lol. I'll link to the 69 review when it's up (which might be before I get around to finishing & posting this) Here's the 69 review, for way more detail than I could ever write here.
2011/09/14 YELLOW FRIED CHICKENz (Gackt) - Zepp Tokyo; Tokyo, JP
Why did I end up getting tickets to this again? Oh yeah- 'cause 真矢 (Shinya) from LUNA SEA is now drumming for Gackt. In the non- over-the-top more-straightforward "rock" band that is YFC. I'd seen them last year at a guys-only show, and the band has grown since then. As in, there are more members. Notably, a third guitarist, and an American co-vocalist named Jon, who alternates between harmonies and trading off alternating lines/verses w/ Gackt (and is often actually louder than Gackt). Oh, and trying to look bad-ass, although Gackt was also guilty of this, considering the theme of the band seems to be "we're like, totally hardcore tough guys, d00dz".
Complete with a hilarious "here's the rules, asshole; get your asses inside, asshole" pre-show announcement (all done in heavily American-accented Japanese, except for copious use of "asshole" in English >_<;). Everyone wore sleeveless button-up white shirts w/ black ties ( again), which were removed by the 7th song (again). -_-; The makeup, though, looked more lame than "badass"- both Gackt and Jon had black eyeliner around their eyes, and then 2 lines going down one cheek, on opposite sides from each other. It's like they started to do The Crow, but got interrupted. :P"
As for the show itself? Surprisingly a lot of new stuff I hadn't heard (apparently they're doing their own original stuff), along w/ some of the "heavier" older Gackt songs. Oh, and "mind forest" IN ENGLISH. W. T. F? Also, while this show did not include Mirror, we still got the ridiculously long "hold this last chord for 5-10 minutes while we get the audience to scream shit" crap- possibly even more annoying than the Mirror break, since that chord just goes oooon and oooon and ooooon. And this happened at least twice. At least we got ribbons during Vanilla (which had a much more ska-like beat).
Oh, and Gackt is now selling cell-phone-strap VIBRATORS (ぶるぶる携帯ストラップ, lit. "vibrating cell-phone strap"). I suppose it's a logical progression from 2009's CONDOMS, and probably more likely to sell, considering 95% of his fan base is female (and yes, I know women can buy condoms, too, but really- how many actually do? Esp. in Japan, where a super-strain of gonorrhea has developed because people aren't using them?)...
Anyway, here's what I'm led to believe the setlist was (can't verify the new songs, but since all shows are generally identical, I'll buy it until someone on setlist.fm corrects me):
- THE END OF THE DAY
- NINE SPIRAL
- Speed Master
- LAST KISS
- Episode.0
- Mind Forest (in English -_-;)
- 妄想ガール
- Vanilla
- EVER
- JESUS
- YOU ARE THE REASON
- ALL MY LOVE
- 又、ここで会いましょっ
2011/09/17 Fantasy Rock Fes 2011 - Club Citta'; Kawasaki, JP
Ah, one of the shows that was postponed from March after the big earthquake. This included Earthbound Papas, featuring Nobuo Uematsu, composer of Final Fantasy and other soundtracks, and a couple other video game soundtrack bands. First up was Kurosawa Daisuke (gt/ba/kbd/dr), who does soundtracks for KONAMI, & played a few tracks from Guitar Freaks and a King Crimson cover. While they switched the sets, Uematsu came out & had an interview in front of the curtain, where he talked mostly about his prog-rock influences, such as Pink Floyd, YES, King Crimson, & ELP.
Next up was Yusa Mimori (vo/gt/ba/kbd/dr), who did a Kate Bush cover, & some other stuff I can no longer remember anything of. Following that was an interview with her, where she talked more about the set... Then Sakuraba Motoi (dr/ba/kbd) went on, each member having a solo to themselves. Finally Earthbound Papas took the stage (kbd/6-string bass/dr/gtr/kbd-gtr, plus a foreign woman who came out and half-spoke half-sang in what sounded like gibberish (perhaps it was the made-up "language" that's on their album cover, similar to Futurama's "Alien Codec"), 4 vocalists (SATB), and some belly dancers, depending on the song), and pretty much played through their album (in slightly different order), with the addition of Bohemian Rhapsody!.
2011/09/21 Monster Copy Session Event- Get Naked!! Vol. 10 - Ootsuka RED Zone; Tokyo, JP
A few months ago, while browsing through the cover band recruitment boards on mixi, trying to get LUNA-TICK together, I noticed a post looking for members for a 1-off LUNA SEA cover show, so, naturally, I signed up! The singer had his own original solo project, but like to do these every once in a while, and apparently some of his usual LS cover band people weren't available. He decided on the theme, which was a re-enactment of the 黒服限定 Gig at Tokyo Dome last xmas, & we had a single rehearsal before the show...
...which happened to be on the day of the biggest typhoon I have ever seen since moving here 6 years ago. -_-;;;
Seriously, the storm hit mid-afternoon, and by 4pm all the train stations were as packed as they were on the day of the big earthquake, and train lines were stopping one after another, eventually leaving nothing running but subways. Fortunately the monorail near my work was still running, which connected to a subway (the transfer from train to subway was thankfully brief, although I saw literally dozens of broken & bent umbrellas strewn along the sidewalk & in the stairwell on the way down), allowing me to make it to Shinjuku, where I sat at a Starbucks w/ Maya while we waited for the other lines to start running again (since no other underground lines went to the venue), but by the time the Yamanote started running and we made it there, it was nearly 8:30.
We were scheduled to go on at 8:50. And none of my friends were there, either. T_T;
Fortunately, they were running a bit behind as well, and another band who was already there offered to go ahead of us, so I breathed a huge sigh of relief, ran to the conbini for a water, came back, got changed, did had the drummer do my hair, etc. Went back out to get a signal amp; try to convince a couple people they could still make it, when the singer came out & said "Oh, we're gonna go on next after all, since everyone's ready." o_O;!!! So I ran out, around & back in to turn on my R-09, which I had plugged into my camera w/ the mics clipped to the straps so Maya could take pix and/or video w/ decent sound. Ran back up to send another friend a map to the place. Ran back in & grabbed my guitar & pedal, headed onto the stage & started tuning as fast as I could. Stood up & the strap fell off. The strap whose pegs I'd replaced with locking ones so it wouldn't fall off- turns out the cover had come unscrewed somehow, so I had to look for it on the dark stage w/ my phone as a flashlight. Stressed to hell, I put on my "cloak" (cape) & waited for the curtain to rise.
It was then that I realized we didn't have any setlists printed out. And the bassist was asking me which order the medley songs were in. >_<;
Well, all things considered, the show went reasonably smoothly. I couldn't hear my guitar for shit, as usual, so I took several trips back to turn up the amp during the show, & even ditched my earplugs, to little avail. Note to self: always use the high gain input, even if it sounds way too loud when I'm setting up. -_-;
Oh, also? When I ran around & in the front to turn on my recorder, I apparently failed, so it didn't record anything. And since it ran into the camera, all the videos Maya took are silent. #FAIL. -_-; Supposed to get a DVD from the vocalist, but who knows when I'll see him. Oh well. Will upload & link to YT if I ever get it.
Think that's enough for one post, 'cause the next one is gonna cover shows in another country! And I think the band merits its own post (or 2)! :D