2014/12/30-31 J: TSUTAYA O-EAST/原宿 Astro Hall; Tokyo, JPG
flowerz
Aaand, after the annual BT @ Budokan show, the annual J year-end/countdown shows. Sadly, as we learned from a very long email ~2 weeks earlier, these would be from-the-beginning 下手 (left side) guitarist CBGB's last shows w/ J, as he planned to re-form his 80s experi-metal (appropriate typo is appropriate, so I added a hyphen!) group DOOM. So it wasn't a shock to see a bit more attention than usual paid to ol' Fujita-san, with a setlist heavy on CB solos, even extending some of them out longer than usual.
After the break, J ran off to the side & grabbed some flowers- CB rushes over to hug him but "misses" and hugs the air instead, then looks disappointed and kicks the floor. He then goes back over and kneels down to accept the flowers, but then says "Wait a minute- this is backwards!", gives them back to J, who then kneels to give them back to CB, who then mock-sadly sings "Eeend-less raaaain..." He also announced his DOOM show for the next month, which was also in the flyers. Kawasaki is a bit farther than we usually care to go, but I felt like showing CB our support, esp. after finally getting around to checking the band out- CB on guitar and vox, screaming in Engrish, with absolutely insane (like, Primus-level) fretless bass riffs, and weird time signatures!
J 2014 "last live" 2014/12/30
- Rodeo Life
- PYROMANIA
- Resist bullet
- RECKLESS
- Love to Kill
- Vida Rosa
- storm rider
- Rolling
- Super High
- Drum Solo
- Crush
- Gabriel
- Nowhere
- Feel Your Blaze
- BUT YOU SAID I'M USELESS (extended CBGB solo/outro jam)
- Go Charge
- NEVER END
- BURN OUT (bonus encore!)
The countdown show was back at Astro Hall, which is very tiny and a bit annoying for several reasons. The first being that there are no lockers inside, and very few outside, which means having to stand outside in the freezing cold at 10pm on New Year's Eve with only your t-shirt... We decided to cheat & kept our LUNA SEA hoodies on, which we tied around our waists once we got inside, and stayed down by the subway lockers until pretty much when we were able to walk straight in. But at least this year there was just the one show, unlike that one year they did 2 on the same night, and The Girl & I ended up getting put in different shows (fortunately we were able to switch w/ someone else with only a mild warning about how that's normally not allowed... XD)
But enough about the venue- the show was fairly close to the previous day's, with the usual "wait, stop, stop!" cutting a song halfway through for the countdown (at least this time it was something they'd already played the night before, & not a song they hadn't played recently & I'd actually wanted to hear -_-;;). And, of course, the usual barrel of sake wheeled out and broken open w/ wooden mallets by the band, spraying sake out into the crowd. And, of course, the square wooden ladles used to fill the square wooden cups (and fling sake into the crowd), which Scott pretended was a *ahem* pipe. XD
And, of course, being CB's final show, he got a bit extra time to say a few words: "Extremely happy words... are not coming to me." XD And then he played air guitar with a mop (which had been out to wipe up some of the spilled sake). And then every time he finished his sake, J yelled to one of the roadies offstage "CB's out of sake again! Bring more!" This happened several times, until CB finally said he was going to quit drinking ("Well, I'm drinking tonight, but after that I'm quitting"), which prompted a big "Heeee?", but was followed by the other members vowing the same. Oh, and CB had on a SAN FRANCISCO t-shirt. Heh.
the opening of the gates!
And, in a story we didn't realize the full extent of until much later, after the show ended, and everyone had left the stage, everyone inside stuck around and clapped for a few more minutes, and J came back out, removed his shirt and tossed it out into the crowd. Which apparently was snagged by someone we sorta know & follow on twitter, only to be violently snatched by someone else, breaking her finger! o_O;; Sheesh.
After that the usual group of PYROs headed out to an izakaya for a bit, and we ended up being out until the Seibu line opened back up at ass-o-clock in the morning, so we got to see the station gates open up. Wooo.
So, 2014 was a good concert year. Not the highest by number (and I really don't think I ever want to top that anyway), but still a nice even 50. Including 3 of my own (a tie for the high, which I would like to top- maybe in 2015?). We'll miss CB in J, even though he'll still be around for the "Dessert Flame Frequency" acoustic shows, but since then we've learned that his replacement will be none other than the formerly-departed masa! So at least we don't have to get used to another new person. It'll be a bit weird replaceing CB's quiet goofiness with masa's craziness, though... but oh well. To CB! Seeya around, & good luck w/ DOOM! :D
2014/12/31
- Go Charge
- Rodeo Life
- break
- Love to Kill
- If you can see me
- here we go
- Crush
- Die for you
- Sixteen
- BUT YOU SAID I'M USELESS (cut) New Year's countdown
- PYROMANIA
- Super High
- Go Crazy
- addiction
- Endless Sky