Join the Party AGAIN! Ken @ Namba Hatch 11/5
C.H.Ocobo Joined the Party again!
Thursday's report can be found here.
Friday rocked hard and this report will be much more coherent than Thursday's was ^^v
As before, ADULTS ONLY due to Ken's dirty dirty MCs.
This post is dedicated to din_84 who makes everything that much more awesome, just because it was on Din-day.
I left wark ASAP in order to get ready and make it to Hatch on time.
I wasn't in quite as big of a rush though, since my ticket for Friday was nowhere near as good.
Number 269 is plenty awesome, but it's not front row material ^^
So yeah, I had time to pose with Lion-chan before leaving the nest.
In line, I ran into a lot of people I know :3
Lots of people had figured out that Ken's "OH HEY YOU SPEAK JAPANESE" MC was for a bird ;3
I had time to take in the crowd a bit better, today.
On Thursday, I had noticed a lot of Halloween costumes and relatively few goods, Ken or otherwise.
Today, there were still a lot of costumes, but a lot more goods as well (because people bought them Thursday, obviously 8D)
Lion-ears everywhere! Including on a bird 8D
I saw a feewww L'Arc towels and T-shirts, and even one or two VAMPS towels.
But what was most surprising was the number of sparkly, pink, Union-Jack-ful outfits in the crowd XD
The winnar had to be this handmade Lion costume that was PINK and had Lion-chan in a SKIRT 8D
Plus Union Jack wristbands!
I squeed all over that cosplayer :3 :3 :3
A bird got squeed over as well 8o
Lion-plushies are great ice breakers in their cuteness.
The typical encounter went like this
- AH YOUR LION IS CUTE! HE HAS A FEATHER!
me: :3 :3 YOUR LION IS CUTE TOO!!
Lions: *bow* *high-paw*
us: *squeesquee*
The non-lion costumes ranged from Alice-in-wonderland inspired stuff through Ken cosplay through random idek.
Ken fans rock XD
Entry went fast enough considering my number, and I swiftly ninja-birded my way to the 5th row.
Not bad!
For the waiting time, I chatted with the girls around me.
Aside from mutual Lion-squee, the conversation revolved around a central mystery of The Party.
"WHY do the Lion cutouts on the stage have nostrils, but no whiskers?!"(´・・`？
This is important because the plushie Lions have whiskers, but no nostrils.
IT IS A MYSTERY.
We pondered and cuted until the lights went out!
From the first second, it was clear that we were in for a completely different Party than the previous day.
It opened with a heavy remix of WE WILL ROCK YOU, with laser!Lion appearing and flashing around to the beat.
Like so. (Thanx @OISHI_MASAHIRO)
Fairy!Lion, Pimp!Lion, Lion!Lion, the whole family of cute things XD
The members came out one at a time, dressed in relatively normal outfits that seemed 80s inspired.
Granted with this crew, it's pretty much always the 80s amirite
As for the Ken-ness, he appeared last, and he was dressed up the way he is on the cover of The Party.
WonderPimp!Ken in da house!!
The music immediately jumped into the opening of Down.
Let's RAWK (*ﾟｰﾟ*)ν
Ken had his red megaphone and switched back and forth between that and normal "singing" for a lot of the rockier songs.
A good idea.
Lions are good at Rawr and Rawk :3
The press of the crowd was nowhere NEAR as bad as I'd expected.
It was even lighter than last year.
Or maybe it's just a factor of bird's experience growth since then.
All the fans and all their Lions jumped together at all the right places. ^-^
The ending of the song mixed up a little with the next one.
It made a fantastic transition into Spin Along.
If I had to pick a solo song that I want to see performed as L'Arc,
Spin Along would be near the top of the list.
I especially love the bridge.
Ken does too - he was air-guitaring again~ XD
The RAWK was sustained from that into Blow
I headbanged. Lion-chan headbanged.
When a plushie headbangs, he tends to end up spiky-haired.
Like a little hegehog-Lion.
IT IS CUTE and RAWK
Ken was all :3 and awesome, with the occasional leer as he appreciated his audience (and their -assets-)
After three songs of explosive kick-ass, we got the first MC.
I should note that in all of the MCs and other breaks over both days of Party,
not ONCE did Ken smoke 8o
Granted he has less leeway to do so when he's on vocals, but still...
I think it's highly probable that he has finally managed to quit.
A little while ago TETSUYA made a post to the effect that only one member of L'Arc smokes now, so yeah...
Either Ken or yukkie must have quit recently.
A bird thinks it was Ken.
Anyway, the MC!
Ken took in his audience and tossed his hat away.
Ken: Sure is hot~ You guys already tired after three songs?
Crowd: NOOOO!
Some of the crowd: DID YOU HAVE A BEER YESTERDAY?!
Ken: Beer? Of course I didn't drink beer. I have a live. (￣。￣)
crowd: *lulz*
Ken: I had a banana though.
Bird: 8o!! WHOSE BANANA!!!???
Crowd: *garbled questions*
Ken: Hm? What? How did it taste?
....
Ken: It tasted like a Banana. ( ￣‐￣)ﾟ*｡ﾟ
Bird: *facepalm*
Ken: Oh yeah, one of you fans gave me a toy. It's really great: You squeeze it, and poop comes out!
bird: ( ﾟДﾟ);;;
Ken: I had so much fun with it! I even managed to get my finger in there, but it got stuck, then JOE squeezed the thing and it came out right away. Like PLOP.
As a bid was busy dying, Ken proceeded to discuss the varied sounds of crap plopping out of his members.
Please imagine the details. (or don't) It was exactly that level of humour.
Geh.
When he ran out of stuff to say, he abruptly announced the next song.
It was Speed.
Performed live, it feels a lot heavier.
Through crowd-rocking and a little Lion-bopping, I was able to put the MC completely out of my mind and enjoy the rawk.
Because that is what Ken is about : Stupid MCs, and ROCK! /m/
The next song was a cover that I did not recognize.
I thiiink it was in English. Hard to tell with Ken.
Especially when so much effort goes into not listening to his vocals
After the mystery song came Deeper.
I saw a lot of Ken's failface when he caught himself messing up.
IT'S OK KEN YOU STILL KICKASS
Just goes to show his core is guitar and it always will be :3
When Deeper ended, Ken dashed off backstage in that quickstride he always does.
He was followed by all the members except for JOE.
JOE gave us a treat: A KICKASS drum solo!
He's a REALLY awesome drummer so this was indeed every bit a treat.
Even though his drum kit is very similar to yukkies (two bass drums and all) his playing style is very different.
Lots of long rolls and fast little tricks and lots of cool stuff like that :3
After a few minutes, the lights went out, and JOE took out GLOWING ORANGE sticks to continue his show.
This part involved more flashy!tricks, like longer spins of the sticks in his hands, and it still sounded fantastic :3 :3 :3
JOE has madskills when he's sober!
I'd only ever seen him at JITB before, so it wasn't really a fair assessment ^^;;
When the stage lights came back on, everybody returned... except Ken and Tomo-chan.
I guessed the long break was probably for a costume change, then?
Turns out
I was right 8D;
As the music started, Ken and Tomo-chan bounded onstage..
in...
IDENTICAL SCHOOLGIRL OUTFITS
They both have very very nice legs!
(See this crappy-cellphone-on-magazine pic of the outfit, from an earlier point in the tour)
The song was All the Things She Said. In a hardrock cover.
Yes, that's right. Ken did a t.A.T.u cover while dressed as a schoolgirl 8D
Even in a skirt, Ken makes an awful lesbian.
(Tomo-chan on the other hand... *nosebleed*)
Ken's parts were "sung" through the megaphone, and the song was so heavily remixed, that if not for Tomo-chan (and the fact that the original was so heavily overplayed back in... 2002?) I'd have not known what it was.
But given that I did know it, it was that much more LOLTASTIC.
Didn't somebody else once suggest doing a t.A.T.u. cover?
OH THATS RIGHT.
Looks Ken beat my fruits to it. After five years.
Ken even obliged the fans' catcalls (lioncalls?) and spun around so that his skirt flew up.
It flew above his knees! Though not quite high enough to see his -lion- ifyouknowwhatImean.
(Thats ok I saw his butt yesterday 8D)
NOW I think Ken just might have the nicest legs of all L'Arc!
They were hairless and everything!
BUT I CANT SAY FOR SURE unless I get to see
ALL FOUR BOYS
BARE LEGGED
preferably in SKIRTS
HINT. HINT.
*birdleer*
While everyone was distracted by spinning skirt of Lion, Tomo-chan snuck away and came back leading a more Liony Lion!
C.H.Lion in the house!
That can only mean one thing!~ T.P.I.T.P.!!!
A bird was lined up directly witht the Giant!C.H.Lion of awesome XD
Five rows away isn't all that far, either~
The whole crowd was dancing~
I don't know if it was just me, or if it was something in the air, but the crowd was pretty well coordinated!
It was easy to dance despite the lack of space, because everybody was in synch.
It must have been our plushLions leading us. *nodnod*
Ken was :3in and leering at us dancing fans, while adorkably dancing in his skirt.
Also, the live version of the song sounds so much HEAVIER, probably because the techno-y bits get drowned out by the rest, so yeah.
IT WAS FUCKING AWESOME XD
It was the party~
Ken's harassment of BigBebe-chan was rather more restrained.
Instead, they just hi-pawed a few times at the end of the song, to much fan applause!
ds;gsdghi SO CUTE
No sooner had BigBebe waved and walked away than the next song came rawring in!
GIMME YOUR NAME!
I put my little Lion-chan in my top so I could have my wings free to clap.
This one is for clapping and DORKY DANCING as well~
Tomo-chan led the dancing, but even Ken joined in with like Nya-paw motions.
It's so adorkable.
Recalll that he was in that schoolgirl outfit the whole time.
When this song ended, Ken :3ed out at the audience then asked if we would "Gimme your names" one more time.
And so they repeated the last chorus for MOAR dancing and roar.
After this second chorus, the schoolgirls left.
So did Hatano-san and JOE and TAKASHI, leaving just the two non-lion guitarists on stage.
They each took a turn playing flashy elaborate solos, then teamed up for a longer one.
It rocked, but still. Neither Shirota-san nor Nakama-san is the equal of Ken.
As was demonstrated yesterday.
Then TAKASHI came on for a bass solo.
It was pretty meh.
His playing style, despite using 5-strings... just lacks snap.
It doesn't crackle.
It's just... it's Not pop.
A bird is picky about bassists and this guy does not make the cut.
Sorry :/
The other members eventually came back out, followed by the Guitar God himself.
He was now wearing black pants and a black vest over a tshirt that had been patchily attacked by a sparkle gun.
The sparkles were red and white. And very familiar.
Ken-chan, that Banana you ate... did you let it into your closet? 8D
I can picture the scene like this:
Ken arrives home to find his room completely redecorated.
He checks his closet to find that not only does how now have 400 new hangers, but his clothes have suddenly grown multicoloured patches of sequins and glitter!
Ken: ...........
He goes to the kitchen and finds a banana and a note.
The note says:
"Wasshoi"
8D
CANT YOU JUST PICTURE IT?!
In all seriousness, I wondered if TETSUYA was in fact lurking around.
Apparently he came to the Namba live last year, and I knew Jack Danger was here today....
HMM. <3
More importantly, Ken came to the stage and a staff ran up to give him A GUITAR!
8D 8D 8D
Ken: Have some Kuchizuke.
The crowd proceeded to FREAK THE FUCK OUT and then listen very very closely.
*squee*(｡~ｰ~)(~ｰ~｡)*squee*
Ken-chan gave us a L'ARC COVER!!!
A pre-pre-pre-New Year's taste!
I am so grateful for this!
Ken even shut up and let the crowd sing the choruses, so that it sounded REALLY AWESOME. for a solo cover.
EVERYONE was wibbling, singing their hearts out.
Because we all want the same thing.
And I sense that Ken wants it even more than we do.
Only 55 more days.
☆*(у^∨^у)*☆
The next song was another cover, though it was another one I didn't recognize.
Ken's tastes are eclectic and a Bird cannot always recognize what comes out of his covering works.
It was just as well; I was floating on L'Arc-soon vibes anyway.
Then came Stray, neatly bringing us back to Ken's own playlist.
Is it just me or is this the most 80s-esque song Ken has? :3
/m/ rawr /m/
Everybody rocked out with the sparkly!Lion, especially the sea of mini-lions ^-^
Jumping was had.
During the extended ending, Ken did something nasty.
He WISHED. x.X
Granted he didn't do the hand motion for it, but he definitely yelled "WISH~" several times, loud and clear. X.x
Bird countered it with !"WASSHOI!"
Ugh. *shakes head*
It's a virus.
Anyway, it was time for another MC~
Ken apologized for some flubs he'd made while playing guitar earlier.
The crowd forgave him easily. Of course. HE'S ONLY A GUITAR GOD.
Then he talked about how much fun he has with his foot pedals, especially when there are a whole bunch for him to mess with.
Ken: I just love stepping on them. I wanna set them all up in a circle and go Stomp Stomp Stomp!
*stomping imaginary pedals and spinning to do so*
Then he asked how we were doing, and the crowd replied that we were HOT!
Ken: You're hot? OK take your clothes off! Go on!
Crowd: NO YOU TAKE YOUR CLOTHES OFF! STRIP!! STRIP!!
Ken: *lol* No, I can't do that! Hey you guys are better than yesterday. Yesterday everybody was all "show us your underpants" an-
Crowd: YES UNDERPANTS WE WANT TO SEEE!!!!
Ken visibly regretted bringing it up XD
We started up a chant of "Pants~ Pants~ Pants~"
Until Ken stopped shaking his head at us and replied.
Ken: I can't do that today.
Crowd: Aw T.T
Ken: But you guys, you guys can strip if you want! I mean, seriously, it's okay. It's okay if tits get cold! Right? I mean, they say you catch a cold if you expose your neck right?
Crowd: Umm I guess.
Ken: The neck is important to cover up. But who ever heard of catching a cold because your nipples are exposed? NOBODY RIGHT? So it's okay to go around with bare tits.
Ken logic is impeccable 8D
He then decided it was safer not to talk to us anymore and had the band start up "S".
There was heavy megaphone usage for this one, as well.
Lots of fan dancing, too.
"S"exy Ken, "S"exy Tomo-chan, yeaaaah~
Twas great.
Ken then traded his megaphone for a guitar, again! ^________^
He played an intro that led into In Physical.
Mmmm, Guitargasm face~
Long fingers doing what he does so well~
Delicious!
The lighting for it was very fitting, all lasers coming from a single point above Ken's head, so that it looked like guitarlion was encased in a green prism. Like a xmas tree in an 80s videogame.
Fitting, yes?
He sang the song without touching his guitar again until the brige.
And what a glorious bridge it was.
Kentar!!!
Show your colour.
(≧з≦)
I eat you
(≧～≦)
Can you feel me, Bebe?
*gasm*
Epic.
Next was ETERNAL REST.
I remember this one being physically painful at last year's show, but this time was nothing like that.
The crowd were pressing and swaying, but all at the same time, so that nobody really got crushed as far as I could tell.
Swaying and banging, that's what we were doing.
It was fucking excellent.
After it ended, Ken said the next song was "last".
It was Solitary Stroll.
I do love the live version muchly :3
So heavy. So powerful.
When the "last song" was over, all the members left.
Encore-claps immediately ensued.
My Lion-chan and I coordinated with nearby lions to contribute.
Somehow, plushies don't clap very loud :o
After some minutes, Ken came back, still in the same outfit.
He was carrying a Bebe-chan handpuppet :3
Ken: So who's on Twitter?
Crowd: *hands up*
Ken: Who actually POSTS on Twitter?
Crowd: ~60% of hands up
Ken: Who just lurks?
Crowd: Some hands
Ken: YOU GUYS SUCK.
Crowd: *lol*
Ken: You should all try Twitter some time. Follow this guy.
Bebe-puppet: Follow me~
Bebe-puppet's voice sounds SURPRISINGLY SIMILAR to Ken's, except higher pitched 8o
Then, like yesterday, Bebe-puppet produced a letter for a fan to read.
The content was almost the same:
"Dear Ken-san! I made pin badges for the fans! Please give them to the person whose ticket number matches the answer to this question!"
And the question was: "How many times did we eat Okonomiyaki during this trip to Osaka?"
The crowd shouted out random guesses.
Ken gave us the answer: TWO times!
So ticket number TWO gets a prize at the end of the show. Yay~
Ken: Yay~ Good for you~
The puppet on Ken's hand then started licking the mic stand.
In a a rather intense fashion.
Ken: *perv grin* :3
Ken: Hey do you guys really think this puppet is cute?
Crowd: YES WE DO!
Ken: Yeah? What's so cute about him?
The crowd shouted various answers: The nose, the eyes, the ears, the mane...
But the best one had to be this:
"It's cute because of the Ken-san holding it!" XD;
Ken loled.
And thanked us for our insight.
Then he asked what topic we wanted him to talk about.
Lots of random crap was offered. As he so often does, Ken complained that he can't hear us clearly.
Still, he wanted a topic. Make up your mind, Liony one!
He eventually managed to understand one suggestion: Snacks for drinking with. (sake no tsumami)
Ken: Usually I prepare these topic ahead of time, you know. I can always change it I guess.
Fans: UNDERPANTS! TALK ABOUT UNDERPANTS!
Ken: NO! IT'S GONNA BE SNACKS TODAY! D8
crowd: ok...
So he made us call the members one by one so they could reveal their prefrence.
Tomo-chan was called first.
Tomo-chan: Oh, you changed the topic!
Ken: Yeah~ So what do you like to have when you drink?
Tomo-chan: *grin* Men ;3
Ken: *lol*
Crowd: *LOL*
So.. Tomo-chan is a man-eater? XD
I don't recall the exact order in which the rest were called, but I mostly remember what they said.
Nakama-san said he doesn't drink alcohol.
Ken made him answer anyway, so he replied nuts.
Nakama-san: Nuts. Pistachio, almond, walnut, peanut, cashew..
Ken: I GET IT. You like nuts.
All: lulz!
Hatano-san said he likes "wet" food.
Ken made it out to sound so dirty~
Ken: Oh yeah~ You like it wet. You like it damp~
*turns to crowd* E-da-ma-me~
8D;
Then he made the crowd chant EDAMAME~ E-damame, edaaaamame~ in a bunch of different ways.
It was silly.
Shirota-san said he likes just the alcohol, no need for snacks.
JOE said fried mentaiko.
Bird:*shudders*
TAKASHI came out and POKED BEBE-PUPPET!
Nonplussed, Bebepuppet BIT him.
Then he nommed on Takashi's mic.
For several minutes XD
The bebe-puppet is hard to control 8o
When bebe-puppet let TAKASHI talk, he answered that he likes avocado.
Ken: Avocado?? I'm so weirded out by avocados. The thing is, I don't know what country they're from! I just get the feeling it's tropical, but like, is it in Asia? Or not? Or what?>
The crowd promptly educated him.
Ken: Avocadoes come from Mexico? Really? oooh.
Ken learned a thing!
Then it was time for Ken himself to answer the question.
Ken: Me? I'm the type who always orders to bar food. I'll look around and if I spot a can of curry or anything like that, I'll ask for it. The bartenders are always like "ORDER SOME DRINKS!" But I order food. They look at me like "You're just gonna eat and leave aren't you? >.>" and yeah, I probably will.
crowd: Lol
Ken: It's not even that good, but I order bar food.
He then asked how many in the audience prefer "wet" snacks (like fish, edamame, etc) vs how many prefer "dry" snacks (nuts, chips, etc).
Dry won by about 2 to 1.
Ken: Cool~ Hey you know, if I could tell my younger self that someday I'd be standing on stage asking random questions to people like this, would I have believed myself? I mean, there are so many things I could tell my younger self. I probably wouldn't believe me that'd get ... THIS. So I should tell myself something different instead. "Stop putting your dick in the ramen noodles" for one. That is so 20th century.
Bird: *DEAD*
Ken: Who'd have thought that someday --- I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT I'M SAYING so STOP LISTENING TO ME!! D8
Crowd: LOL
After that sudden lapse into ... idek,
we got more songs~
Perennial Ken favourite: Viva La Vida
Clap Clap Clap~
The crowd was totally in synch! Lions and all!
It is a good number. I like Ken's version more than Coldplay's, any day XD
C.H.Lion agrees.
Then came another cover that I didn't fully recognize, but I'm pretty sure I've heard before.
Probably at a Ken live 8D
He even told us it was called Please Don't Leave Me
(Not P!nk's song by that title.. I'm pretty sure of that!)
Hmm
*Bird goes to youtube*
AHA
It's by Pretty Maids. An 80s band. OF COURSE!
It worked quite well since Ken was guitaring and Tomo-chan did more of the vocals.
IT IS ALWAYS BETTER THAT WAY.
For the last song, we got Save Me
Yesterday the closer had been My Angel.
In both cases, the final song was accompanied with a delightful light show of rainbows.
The crowd swayed together from side to side.
Ken was bathed in rainbow light.
Bird was struck by an important realization just then.
This was the last one.
This was the LAST solo live I would see before seeing L'Arc again!
Yes I'm going to see TETSUYA in January, but that's AFTER so it's not the same thing.
I'm not going to any more of Ken's shows; I didn't go to the last AA show; and I'm SURE AS HELL not going to the VAMPS hall tour.
So that means...
I'm done!
The solo-lives aspect of this three year hiatus is OVER!
I'm kind of going to miss it.
Not that I'd want a longer hiatus by any means! RAINBOW GODS FORBID
But things like this, like fangirling over Ken or yukkie, is over for me.
Because next live I do to, I'll be focusing elsewhere.
And they will all be restored to their rightful places.
UNDER THE RAINBOW.
These solo treats are now behind me.
Even though I can't wait for New Year's
Even though I bitched and moaned about the long hiatus
I'm still going to miss the solo lives.
Sometimes.
When it ended, Ken thanked us (rare for him!) before leaving. He even waved!
All the members waved, threw picks/drumsticks, and left.
The crowd tried for another round of encore, even as the staff announcement telling us to go away started up.
It was a great couple of days~
On the way out, Lion-chan and I fangirled with a lot of people!
One person even gave us halloween candies :3
I checked out everythingI could!
There were no flowers (those will only be at the final I guess? Ken has no Osaka-specific connections... )
but I did scan the code for the C.H.Lion Decomail, and I also got this picture with Lion chan.
8o
And that was it!
It was over far too fast.
Thank you Ken! Thank you C.H.Lion-chan!
SEE YOU AT MAKUHARI!!
Thursday's report can be found here.
Friday rocked hard and this report will be much more coherent than Thursday's was ^^v
As before, ADULTS ONLY due to Ken's dirty dirty MCs.
This post is dedicated to din_84 who makes everything that much more awesome, just because it was on Din-day.
I left wark ASAP in order to get ready and make it to Hatch on time.
I wasn't in quite as big of a rush though, since my ticket for Friday was nowhere near as good.
Number 269 is plenty awesome, but it's not front row material ^^
So yeah, I had time to pose with Lion-chan before leaving the nest.
In line, I ran into a lot of people I know :3
Lots of people had figured out that Ken's "OH HEY YOU SPEAK JAPANESE" MC was for a bird ;3
I had time to take in the crowd a bit better, today.
On Thursday, I had noticed a lot of Halloween costumes and relatively few goods, Ken or otherwise.
Today, there were still a lot of costumes, but a lot more goods as well (because people bought them Thursday, obviously 8D)
Lion-ears everywhere! Including on a bird 8D
I saw a feewww L'Arc towels and T-shirts, and even one or two VAMPS towels.
But what was most surprising was the number of sparkly, pink, Union-Jack-ful outfits in the crowd XD
The winnar had to be this handmade Lion costume that was PINK and had Lion-chan in a SKIRT 8D
Plus Union Jack wristbands!
I squeed all over that cosplayer :3 :3 :3
A bird got squeed over as well 8o
Lion-plushies are great ice breakers in their cuteness.
The typical encounter went like this
- AH YOUR LION IS CUTE! HE HAS A FEATHER!
me: :3 :3 YOUR LION IS CUTE TOO!!
Lions: *bow* *high-paw*
us: *squeesquee*
The non-lion costumes ranged from Alice-in-wonderland inspired stuff through Ken cosplay through random idek.
Ken fans rock XD
Entry went fast enough considering my number, and I swiftly ninja-birded my way to the 5th row.
Not bad!
For the waiting time, I chatted with the girls around me.
Aside from mutual Lion-squee, the conversation revolved around a central mystery of The Party.
"WHY do the Lion cutouts on the stage have nostrils, but no whiskers?!"(´・・`？
This is important because the plushie Lions have whiskers, but no nostrils.
IT IS A MYSTERY.
We pondered and cuted until the lights went out!
From the first second, it was clear that we were in for a completely different Party than the previous day.
It opened with a heavy remix of WE WILL ROCK YOU, with laser!Lion appearing and flashing around to the beat.
Like so. (Thanx @OISHI_MASAHIRO)
Fairy!Lion, Pimp!Lion, Lion!Lion, the whole family of cute things XD
The members came out one at a time, dressed in relatively normal outfits that seemed 80s inspired.
Granted with this crew, it's pretty much always the 80s amirite
As for the Ken-ness, he appeared last, and he was dressed up the way he is on the cover of The Party.
WonderPimp!Ken in da house!!
The music immediately jumped into the opening of Down.
Let's RAWK (*ﾟｰﾟ*)ν
Ken had his red megaphone and switched back and forth between that and normal "singing" for a lot of the rockier songs.
A good idea.
Lions are good at Rawr and Rawk :3
The press of the crowd was nowhere NEAR as bad as I'd expected.
It was even lighter than last year.
Or maybe it's just a factor of bird's experience growth since then.
All the fans and all their Lions jumped together at all the right places. ^-^
The ending of the song mixed up a little with the next one.
It made a fantastic transition into Spin Along.
If I had to pick a solo song that I want to see performed as L'Arc,
Spin Along would be near the top of the list.
I especially love the bridge.
Ken does too - he was air-guitaring again~ XD
The RAWK was sustained from that into Blow
I headbanged. Lion-chan headbanged.
When a plushie headbangs, he tends to end up spiky-haired.
Like a little hegehog-Lion.
IT IS CUTE and RAWK
Ken was all :3 and awesome, with the occasional leer as he appreciated his audience (and their -assets-)
After three songs of explosive kick-ass, we got the first MC.
I should note that in all of the MCs and other breaks over both days of Party,
not ONCE did Ken smoke 8o
Granted he has less leeway to do so when he's on vocals, but still...
I think it's highly probable that he has finally managed to quit.
A little while ago TETSUYA made a post to the effect that only one member of L'Arc smokes now, so yeah...
Either Ken or yukkie must have quit recently.
A bird thinks it was Ken.
Anyway, the MC!
Ken took in his audience and tossed his hat away.
Ken: Sure is hot~ You guys already tired after three songs?
Crowd: NOOOO!
Some of the crowd: DID YOU HAVE A BEER YESTERDAY?!
Ken: Beer? Of course I didn't drink beer. I have a live. (￣。￣)
crowd: *lulz*
Ken: I had a banana though.
Bird: 8o!! WHOSE BANANA!!!???
Crowd: *garbled questions*
Ken: Hm? What? How did it taste?
....
Ken: It tasted like a Banana. ( ￣‐￣)ﾟ*｡ﾟ
Bird: *facepalm*
Ken: Oh yeah, one of you fans gave me a toy. It's really great: You squeeze it, and poop comes out!
bird: ( ﾟДﾟ);;;
Ken: I had so much fun with it! I even managed to get my finger in there, but it got stuck, then JOE squeezed the thing and it came out right away. Like PLOP.
As a bid was busy dying, Ken proceeded to discuss the varied sounds of crap plopping out of his members.
Please imagine the details. (or don't) It was exactly that level of humour.
Geh.
When he ran out of stuff to say, he abruptly announced the next song.
It was Speed.
Performed live, it feels a lot heavier.
Through crowd-rocking and a little Lion-bopping, I was able to put the MC completely out of my mind and enjoy the rawk.
Because that is what Ken is about : Stupid MCs, and ROCK! /m/
The next song was a cover that I did not recognize.
I thiiink it was in English. Hard to tell with Ken.
Especially when so much effort goes into not listening to his vocals
After the mystery song came Deeper.
I saw a lot of Ken's failface when he caught himself messing up.
IT'S OK KEN YOU STILL KICKASS
Just goes to show his core is guitar and it always will be :3
When Deeper ended, Ken dashed off backstage in that quickstride he always does.
He was followed by all the members except for JOE.
JOE gave us a treat: A KICKASS drum solo!
He's a REALLY awesome drummer so this was indeed every bit a treat.
Even though his drum kit is very similar to yukkies (two bass drums and all) his playing style is very different.
Lots of long rolls and fast little tricks and lots of cool stuff like that :3
After a few minutes, the lights went out, and JOE took out GLOWING ORANGE sticks to continue his show.
This part involved more flashy!tricks, like longer spins of the sticks in his hands, and it still sounded fantastic :3 :3 :3
JOE has madskills when he's sober!
I'd only ever seen him at JITB before, so it wasn't really a fair assessment ^^;;
When the stage lights came back on, everybody returned... except Ken and Tomo-chan.
I guessed the long break was probably for a costume change, then?
Turns out
I was right 8D;
As the music started, Ken and Tomo-chan bounded onstage..
in...
IDENTICAL SCHOOLGIRL OUTFITS
They both have very very nice legs!
(See this crappy-cellphone-on-magazine pic of the outfit, from an earlier point in the tour)
The song was All the Things She Said. In a hardrock cover.
Yes, that's right. Ken did a t.A.T.u cover while dressed as a schoolgirl 8D
Even in a skirt, Ken makes an awful lesbian.
(Tomo-chan on the other hand... *nosebleed*)
Ken's parts were "sung" through the megaphone, and the song was so heavily remixed, that if not for Tomo-chan (and the fact that the original was so heavily overplayed back in... 2002?) I'd have not known what it was.
But given that I did know it, it was that much more LOLTASTIC.
Didn't somebody else once suggest doing a t.A.T.u. cover?
OH THATS RIGHT.
Looks Ken beat my fruits to it. After five years.
Ken even obliged the fans' catcalls (lioncalls?) and spun around so that his skirt flew up.
It flew above his knees! Though not quite high enough to see his -lion- ifyouknowwhatImean.
(Thats ok I saw his butt yesterday 8D)
NOW I think Ken just might have the nicest legs of all L'Arc!
They were hairless and everything!
BUT I CANT SAY FOR SURE unless I get to see
ALL FOUR BOYS
BARE LEGGED
preferably in SKIRTS
HINT. HINT.
*birdleer*
While everyone was distracted by spinning skirt of Lion, Tomo-chan snuck away and came back leading a more Liony Lion!
C.H.Lion in the house!
That can only mean one thing!~ T.P.I.T.P.!!!
A bird was lined up directly witht the Giant!C.H.Lion of awesome XD
Five rows away isn't all that far, either~
The whole crowd was dancing~
I don't know if it was just me, or if it was something in the air, but the crowd was pretty well coordinated!
It was easy to dance despite the lack of space, because everybody was in synch.
It must have been our plushLions leading us. *nodnod*
Ken was :3in and leering at us dancing fans, while adorkably dancing in his skirt.
Also, the live version of the song sounds so much HEAVIER, probably because the techno-y bits get drowned out by the rest, so yeah.
IT WAS FUCKING AWESOME XD
It was the party~
Ken's harassment of BigBebe-chan was rather more restrained.
Instead, they just hi-pawed a few times at the end of the song, to much fan applause!
ds;gsdghi SO CUTE
No sooner had BigBebe waved and walked away than the next song came rawring in!
GIMME YOUR NAME!
I put my little Lion-chan in my top so I could have my wings free to clap.
This one is for clapping and DORKY DANCING as well~
Tomo-chan led the dancing, but even Ken joined in with like Nya-paw motions.
It's so adorkable.
Recalll that he was in that schoolgirl outfit the whole time.
When this song ended, Ken :3ed out at the audience then asked if we would "Gimme your names" one more time.
And so they repeated the last chorus for MOAR dancing and roar.
After this second chorus, the schoolgirls left.
So did Hatano-san and JOE and TAKASHI, leaving just the two non-lion guitarists on stage.
They each took a turn playing flashy elaborate solos, then teamed up for a longer one.
It rocked, but still. Neither Shirota-san nor Nakama-san is the equal of Ken.
As was demonstrated yesterday.
Then TAKASHI came on for a bass solo.
It was pretty meh.
His playing style, despite using 5-strings... just lacks snap.
It doesn't crackle.
It's just... it's Not pop.
A bird is picky about bassists and this guy does not make the cut.
Sorry :/
The other members eventually came back out, followed by the Guitar God himself.
He was now wearing black pants and a black vest over a tshirt that had been patchily attacked by a sparkle gun.
The sparkles were red and white. And very familiar.
Ken-chan, that Banana you ate... did you let it into your closet? 8D
I can picture the scene like this:
Ken arrives home to find his room completely redecorated.
He checks his closet to find that not only does how now have 400 new hangers, but his clothes have suddenly grown multicoloured patches of sequins and glitter!
Ken: ...........
He goes to the kitchen and finds a banana and a note.
The note says:
"Wasshoi"
8D
CANT YOU JUST PICTURE IT?!
In all seriousness, I wondered if TETSUYA was in fact lurking around.
Apparently he came to the Namba live last year, and I knew Jack Danger was here today....
HMM. <3
More importantly, Ken came to the stage and a staff ran up to give him A GUITAR!
8D 8D 8D
Ken: Have some Kuchizuke.
The crowd proceeded to FREAK THE FUCK OUT and then listen very very closely.
*squee*(｡~ｰ~)(~ｰ~｡)*squee*
Ken-chan gave us a L'ARC COVER!!!
A pre-pre-pre-New Year's taste!
I am so grateful for this!
Ken even shut up and let the crowd sing the choruses, so that it sounded REALLY AWESOME. for a solo cover.
EVERYONE was wibbling, singing their hearts out.
Because we all want the same thing.
And I sense that Ken wants it even more than we do.
Only 55 more days.
☆*(у^∨^у)*☆
The next song was another cover, though it was another one I didn't recognize.
Ken's tastes are eclectic and a Bird cannot always recognize what comes out of his covering works.
It was just as well; I was floating on L'Arc-soon vibes anyway.
Then came Stray, neatly bringing us back to Ken's own playlist.
Is it just me or is this the most 80s-esque song Ken has? :3
/m/ rawr /m/
Everybody rocked out with the sparkly!Lion, especially the sea of mini-lions ^-^
Jumping was had.
During the extended ending, Ken did something nasty.
He WISHED. x.X
Granted he didn't do the hand motion for it, but he definitely yelled "WISH~" several times, loud and clear. X.x
Bird countered it with !"WASSHOI!"
Ugh. *shakes head*
It's a virus.
Anyway, it was time for another MC~
Ken apologized for some flubs he'd made while playing guitar earlier.
The crowd forgave him easily. Of course. HE'S ONLY A GUITAR GOD.
Then he talked about how much fun he has with his foot pedals, especially when there are a whole bunch for him to mess with.
Ken: I just love stepping on them. I wanna set them all up in a circle and go Stomp Stomp Stomp!
*stomping imaginary pedals and spinning to do so*
Then he asked how we were doing, and the crowd replied that we were HOT!
Ken: You're hot? OK take your clothes off! Go on!
Crowd: NO YOU TAKE YOUR CLOTHES OFF! STRIP!! STRIP!!
Ken: *lol* No, I can't do that! Hey you guys are better than yesterday. Yesterday everybody was all "show us your underpants" an-
Crowd: YES UNDERPANTS WE WANT TO SEEE!!!!
Ken visibly regretted bringing it up XD
We started up a chant of "Pants~ Pants~ Pants~"
Until Ken stopped shaking his head at us and replied.
Ken: I can't do that today.
Crowd: Aw T.T
Ken: But you guys, you guys can strip if you want! I mean, seriously, it's okay. It's okay if tits get cold! Right? I mean, they say you catch a cold if you expose your neck right?
Crowd: Umm I guess.
Ken: The neck is important to cover up. But who ever heard of catching a cold because your nipples are exposed? NOBODY RIGHT? So it's okay to go around with bare tits.
Ken logic is impeccable 8D
He then decided it was safer not to talk to us anymore and had the band start up "S".
There was heavy megaphone usage for this one, as well.
Lots of fan dancing, too.
"S"exy Ken, "S"exy Tomo-chan, yeaaaah~
Twas great.
Ken then traded his megaphone for a guitar, again! ^________^
He played an intro that led into In Physical.
Mmmm, Guitargasm face~
Long fingers doing what he does so well~
Delicious!
The lighting for it was very fitting, all lasers coming from a single point above Ken's head, so that it looked like guitarlion was encased in a green prism. Like a xmas tree in an 80s videogame.
Fitting, yes?
He sang the song without touching his guitar again until the brige.
And what a glorious bridge it was.
Kentar!!!
Show your colour.
(≧з≦)
I eat you
(≧～≦)
Can you feel me, Bebe?
*gasm*
Epic.
Next was ETERNAL REST.
I remember this one being physically painful at last year's show, but this time was nothing like that.
The crowd were pressing and swaying, but all at the same time, so that nobody really got crushed as far as I could tell.
Swaying and banging, that's what we were doing.
It was fucking excellent.
After it ended, Ken said the next song was "last".
It was Solitary Stroll.
I do love the live version muchly :3
So heavy. So powerful.
When the "last song" was over, all the members left.
Encore-claps immediately ensued.
My Lion-chan and I coordinated with nearby lions to contribute.
Somehow, plushies don't clap very loud :o
After some minutes, Ken came back, still in the same outfit.
He was carrying a Bebe-chan handpuppet :3
Ken: So who's on Twitter?
Crowd: *hands up*
Ken: Who actually POSTS on Twitter?
Crowd: ~60% of hands up
Ken: Who just lurks?
Crowd: Some hands
Ken: YOU GUYS SUCK.
Crowd: *lol*
Ken: You should all try Twitter some time. Follow this guy.
Bebe-puppet: Follow me~
Bebe-puppet's voice sounds SURPRISINGLY SIMILAR to Ken's, except higher pitched 8o
Then, like yesterday, Bebe-puppet produced a letter for a fan to read.
The content was almost the same:
"Dear Ken-san! I made pin badges for the fans! Please give them to the person whose ticket number matches the answer to this question!"
And the question was: "How many times did we eat Okonomiyaki during this trip to Osaka?"
The crowd shouted out random guesses.
Ken gave us the answer: TWO times!
So ticket number TWO gets a prize at the end of the show. Yay~
Ken: Yay~ Good for you~
The puppet on Ken's hand then started licking the mic stand.
In a a rather intense fashion.
Ken: *perv grin* :3
Ken: Hey do you guys really think this puppet is cute?
Crowd: YES WE DO!
Ken: Yeah? What's so cute about him?
The crowd shouted various answers: The nose, the eyes, the ears, the mane...
But the best one had to be this:
"It's cute because of the Ken-san holding it!" XD;
Ken loled.
And thanked us for our insight.
Then he asked what topic we wanted him to talk about.
Lots of random crap was offered. As he so often does, Ken complained that he can't hear us clearly.
Still, he wanted a topic. Make up your mind, Liony one!
He eventually managed to understand one suggestion: Snacks for drinking with. (sake no tsumami)
Ken: Usually I prepare these topic ahead of time, you know. I can always change it I guess.
Fans: UNDERPANTS! TALK ABOUT UNDERPANTS!
Ken: NO! IT'S GONNA BE SNACKS TODAY! D8
crowd: ok...
So he made us call the members one by one so they could reveal their prefrence.
Tomo-chan was called first.
Tomo-chan: Oh, you changed the topic!
Ken: Yeah~ So what do you like to have when you drink?
Tomo-chan: *grin* Men ;3
Ken: *lol*
Crowd: *LOL*
So.. Tomo-chan is a man-eater? XD
I don't recall the exact order in which the rest were called, but I mostly remember what they said.
Nakama-san said he doesn't drink alcohol.
Ken made him answer anyway, so he replied nuts.
Nakama-san: Nuts. Pistachio, almond, walnut, peanut, cashew..
Ken: I GET IT. You like nuts.
All: lulz!
Hatano-san said he likes "wet" food.
Ken made it out to sound so dirty~
Ken: Oh yeah~ You like it wet. You like it damp~
*turns to crowd* E-da-ma-me~
8D;
Then he made the crowd chant EDAMAME~ E-damame, edaaaamame~ in a bunch of different ways.
It was silly.
Shirota-san said he likes just the alcohol, no need for snacks.
JOE said fried mentaiko.
Bird:*shudders*
TAKASHI came out and POKED BEBE-PUPPET!
Nonplussed, Bebepuppet BIT him.
Then he nommed on Takashi's mic.
For several minutes XD
The bebe-puppet is hard to control 8o
When bebe-puppet let TAKASHI talk, he answered that he likes avocado.
Ken: Avocado?? I'm so weirded out by avocados. The thing is, I don't know what country they're from! I just get the feeling it's tropical, but like, is it in Asia? Or not? Or what?>
The crowd promptly educated him.
Ken: Avocadoes come from Mexico? Really? oooh.
Ken learned a thing!
Then it was time for Ken himself to answer the question.
Ken: Me? I'm the type who always orders to bar food. I'll look around and if I spot a can of curry or anything like that, I'll ask for it. The bartenders are always like "ORDER SOME DRINKS!" But I order food. They look at me like "You're just gonna eat and leave aren't you? >.>" and yeah, I probably will.
crowd: Lol
Ken: It's not even that good, but I order bar food.
He then asked how many in the audience prefer "wet" snacks (like fish, edamame, etc) vs how many prefer "dry" snacks (nuts, chips, etc).
Dry won by about 2 to 1.
Ken: Cool~ Hey you know, if I could tell my younger self that someday I'd be standing on stage asking random questions to people like this, would I have believed myself? I mean, there are so many things I could tell my younger self. I probably wouldn't believe me that'd get ... THIS. So I should tell myself something different instead. "Stop putting your dick in the ramen noodles" for one. That is so 20th century.
Bird: *DEAD*
Ken: Who'd have thought that someday --- I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT I'M SAYING so STOP LISTENING TO ME!! D8
Crowd: LOL
After that sudden lapse into ... idek,
we got more songs~
Perennial Ken favourite: Viva La Vida
Clap Clap Clap~
The crowd was totally in synch! Lions and all!
It is a good number. I like Ken's version more than Coldplay's, any day XD
C.H.Lion agrees.
Then came another cover that I didn't fully recognize, but I'm pretty sure I've heard before.
Probably at a Ken live 8D
He even told us it was called Please Don't Leave Me
(Not P!nk's song by that title.. I'm pretty sure of that!)
Hmm
*Bird goes to youtube*
AHA
It's by Pretty Maids. An 80s band. OF COURSE!
It worked quite well since Ken was guitaring and Tomo-chan did more of the vocals.
IT IS ALWAYS BETTER THAT WAY.
For the last song, we got Save Me
Yesterday the closer had been My Angel.
In both cases, the final song was accompanied with a delightful light show of rainbows.
The crowd swayed together from side to side.
Ken was bathed in rainbow light.
Bird was struck by an important realization just then.
This was the last one.
This was the LAST solo live I would see before seeing L'Arc again!
Yes I'm going to see TETSUYA in January, but that's AFTER so it's not the same thing.
I'm not going to any more of Ken's shows; I didn't go to the last AA show; and I'm SURE AS HELL not going to the VAMPS hall tour.
So that means...
I'm done!
The solo-lives aspect of this three year hiatus is OVER!
I'm kind of going to miss it.
Not that I'd want a longer hiatus by any means! RAINBOW GODS FORBID
But things like this, like fangirling over Ken or yukkie, is over for me.
Because next live I do to, I'll be focusing elsewhere.
And they will all be restored to their rightful places.
UNDER THE RAINBOW.
These solo treats are now behind me.
Even though I can't wait for New Year's
Even though I bitched and moaned about the long hiatus
I'm still going to miss the solo lives.
Sometimes.
When it ended, Ken thanked us (rare for him!) before leaving. He even waved!
All the members waved, threw picks/drumsticks, and left.
The crowd tried for another round of encore, even as the staff announcement telling us to go away started up.
It was a great couple of days~
On the way out, Lion-chan and I fangirled with a lot of people!
One person even gave us halloween candies :3
I checked out everythingI could!
There were no flowers (those will only be at the final I guess? Ken has no Osaka-specific connections... )
but I did scan the code for the C.H.Lion Decomail, and I also got this picture with Lion chan.
8o
And that was it!
It was over far too fast.
Thank you Ken! Thank you C.H.Lion-chan!
SEE YOU AT MAKUHARI!!