2014/06/21-22 LUNA SEA - 黒服限定GIG 2014 for SLAVE: Zepp DiverCity; Tokyo, JP
黒服！
After the near-impossibility of trying to get tickets to the Yoyogi and first Matsudo shows, I thought for sure we wouldn't get into the fairly-short-notice SLAVE shows. Or, worse, only one of us would. Again. -_-; But by some kind of miracle (perhaps the announcement at the same time of 2 more SLAVE shows in Osaka, which meant (slightly) less competition from the other half of the country) we both made it into both Tokyo shows!
Since both shows were 黒服限定 (limited: black clothing), you could pretty much tell who was at DiverCity for the show & who was there to shop/eat (the Zepp venue is pretty much at the end of a big mall). Which led to MC bits on both days about this & other past shows w/ passersby wondering aloud "Is there some kind of giant funeral or something?" Didn't get there terribly early the first day, which meant waiting until after the show for goods, which lead to the shirts we'd wanted being sold out, of course. Even coming early-ish the 2nd day & heading in before doors wasn't enough, as they'd sold out by then on that day, too. Oh well. At least on the 2nd day they had the new band score books on sale, which I snagged. And then found a billion mistakes while paging through them. *sigh* But anyway.
2 day's wristbands
Both shows started w/ Kate Bush again (meh). I suppose this may have been cool for the people who've been around since back when they used to use it, but for someone who only knows the Moonlight Sonata intro (the one exception being the 黒服 show at Dome w/ Mozart's Requiem), the show just isn't the same w/o it. Other than that, both shows were pretty cool, although that generally goes w/o saying... So, onto the highlights/things that merited writing down! XD
Day 1: Only 2 songs in & poor Sugi's having guitar issues. J laughs a bit while he tunes for a bit, goes back to playing, then swaps out his guitar before the solo (I swear he must do that at least once every show >_>;). Ryu tells the "funeral?" story. CIVILIZE gets played for the first time since 1996, w/ INO doing a James Bond Theme outro (the 5-5#-6-5# chromatic run from the intro, not the 'Dum di-di dum dum' lead). Likewise, Sweetest Coma gets a new-ish outro, w/ Shinya doing some double kick work. Perhaps the biggest surprise, though, was Lost World. Not only that it was played, but that as the intro piano started, everyone started screaming as a tech brought out a third guitar & put it on Ryuichi, who ended up playing the synth notes between verses & strumming chords along with the chorus. INO seemed to play his part an octave lower than the recording, too.
LUV U had probably the most noticeable issues. It sounded like Sugizo started the ascending lines part of the solo a beat early, which Shinya & the rest of the band adjusted to by skipping a beat to match. But then Ryuichi came in where he should have relative to the song's original start, which meant he was a beat later than the rest of the band, which resulted in an amused shared look between J & INO and another quick beat shift by Shinya et al to re-fix it all. XD At least they managed to do it all w/o stopping the song!
Shinya brought back the もっと来いよ～！ for his solo. J busted out his new white SG-shaped bass for his, and then spent much of the last half of ROSIER re-tuning it (while still playing). No ribbons for WISH, although there were a few amusing bits- INO & Sugizo playing back to back, then turning around & INO strumming Sugi's guitar; then Sugizo taking center stage for the solo, Ryuichi giving the "go ahead" motion, then standing behind him & waving jazz hands. XD
During the break, the crew set up chairs and acoustic guitars, leading to much speculation, before wheeling out a mini drum kit- ah, acoustic set! Well, if one song is a set, I suppose. J even used his violin bass for that acoustic-y look. Amusingly, though, Sugizo's guitar was white, prompting Ryuichi to comment "Your guitar isn't very 黒服っぽい- oh, but the pickups are black!" A quick break to remove the mini kit and then a "久々の" ("first in a long time") IN FUTURE (um, not really, Ryuichi- you guys played that just last year at Budokan, and the year before on the last Zepp tour :P"), a "Laaaast sooooong!" of TONIGHT, and then a mass round of applause & "encore" calling while they're still on stage, a quick huddle, and a bonus of BELIEVE (predictable, but oh well).
sea of black pt. II
Day 2: TIME IS DEAD starts off w/ the album version (no live intro). Sugizo tunes during the first verse of IMITATION. Ryuichi skips a line in Lost World, & INO make rapper hand poses during the Ryu/Sugi break. Shinya's solo started off very minimally (as in, "tap..... *long pause* tink! *long pause* tp...") Sugizo leans on J's shoulder in Déjàvu. After the song, he checks on the fans on his side to see if everyone's ok, prompting a 優しいね！ from Ryuichi. INO & Sugi end up each under one of Ryuichi's arms during the bridge of End of the Dream. Sugizo decides to be "evil" (lol) & knocks over J's mic stand before his bit in ROSIER, then grins & sticks his tongue out. J does his bit, tunes his bass for a while again before switching them out & then twirling around at the end of the song.
After the break, another "今夜" (tonight) comment, w/ Ryuichi saying "I say 'tonight', but when we opened the doors just now it was still bright out!" Apparently there were sound balance issues during IN MY DREAM, w/ INORAN constantly looking off to the side, mouthing instructions, & increasingly agitatedly pointing up & down, apparently to have Shinya turned up & the guitars turned down (the drums were noticeably quiet during the acoustic "set"). The last chorus was sung entirely by the audience.
I'M IN UR GUNDAM PLUGGIN UR EXHAUST PORTS!
After the next break, J ties a tour goods muffler towel around his head before tossing it out, INO wipes Ryu's forehead with a big towel & tosses that out. Sugizo decides to put the tote bag he's carrying on top of his head before throwing that out. XD INO then approaches the mic as if to say something, but then just bows, prompting Ryuichi to say "Huh? Lately you've been saying stuff...", to which INO replied "Yeah, but what?"
CHESS! Then another band huddle in the middle of the stage while the crowd is calling for an encore before they have a chance to leave, this time with some apparent joking around and over-the-top "oh, no no no!" hand waving (maybe someone suggested THE ONE? lol). After the bonus encore, Ryuichi says they want to do more SLAVE限定 shows. While everyone's doing their final walks & waves across the stage, someone in the front who'd caught a drumstick waves it around, Sugizo grabs it & scratches his head with it before handing it back, then another fan fans him (lol get it) w/ a pink uchiwa. And finally, in a wtf moment, while Sugizo's doing his customary bow, INO runs across the stage behind him, without so much as a pause or a look. XD
So that's that for a while- nothing til the Sapporo shows (bought partly cuz The Girl has always wanted to go to Hokkaido & partly cuz we didn't think we'd be going to the first Matsudo show >_<;) & year-end arena shows. Hopefully they'll play some of the more R4R3 stuff they've been doing in other cities (*cough SELVES*)...
2014/06/21
- SLAVE
- Déjàvu
- CIVILIZE
- IMITATION
- Sweetest Coma Again
- Lost World
- LUV U
- SANDY TIME
- drum solo
- FATE
- Thoughts
- bass solo
- The End of the Dream
- ROSIER
- WISH
- I for You (acoustic)
- IN FUTURE
- TONIGHT
- BELIEVE
2014/06/21
- TIME IS DEAD
- SLAVE
- CIVILIZE
- IMITATION
- Sweetest Coma Again
- Lost World
- SANDY TIME
- violin & guitar duet
- drum solo
- Déjàvu
- Thoughts
- bass solo
- The End of the Dream
- ROSIER
- TONIGHT
- IN MY DREAM (WITH SHIVER) (acoustic)
- CHESS
- WISH
- PRECIOUS...
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