Neo Tokyo Samurai Black World Tour 2010
06/17/2010 Vancouver
Not enough sleep. No ticket numbers. English everywhere.
About the only thing the Vancouver show had in common with the Japanese tour was the weather; cold, grey, and generally unpleasant. However. To our credit, it wasn't raining.
Over here we do things differently. Without ticket numbers, we have to be in line early; I arrived at 8am to find 4 girls already in line from 6am the previous day. Fans over here, it turns out, are generally more laid back than for some other bands; people didn't really start showing up till almost 3pm, but we few were glad to have our guaranteed early places in line and didn't mind the extra time to chat and hang out.
Some couple hours later we were joined by Sil and Suzy, and Rose and her mother. Sil and Suz are two of my very best friends, and it was the first time I'd been able to see them since last year. Suzy flew, but Sil drove the 13 hours from Calgary to get to Vancouver for the show, and none of us felt it was a waste of time or money for them to be there. Rose's story was full of medical trouble, and I am glad for her that she managed to get backstage to meet Miyavi while he was here.
Throughout the day we came and went, getting food, going to the toilet, and generally chilling out. Sometimes doing a little shopping at close by stores. Our new friends in line held our places so we could keep coming back, and we made lots of new friends. I did have to buy a second hoodie, since it was a little too cold out to face the day in just my thin Hello Kitty one.
Three of us headed out back when we saw the bus arrive, for a brief Irimachi. My new friend Sylvia had a present for Miyavi, so I led them in greeting the band from a safe distance. Since there was no one running security. When Miyavi came to the front of the bus, he peeked out of the screen and saw us and got a really big grin on his face, then waved enthusiastically, which we returned. "Miyavi! Canada e Yokoksou!" "Ganbare!" It was nice to be able to do that for him over here. Especially with such a small group.
Doors weren't till 7:30 pm, which seems (and is) really late. The show didn't start till nine, and that meant it was only a two hour set.
One thing that sets the Commodore apart from other contemporary concert halls is that it doesn't have a rail or barricade keeping the crowd from the stage. Front row spent a large part of the hour and a half of waiting resting or leaning on the stage itself. During the show, I was leaning on crossed arms on Miyavi's right side monitor. Or banging on the stage. The Commodore is BIG, too. The venue holds 900 people, but that's according to BC capacity laws. In Japan I think a venue that size would be closer 1200 people, if not more.
Still, the show wasn't sold out, something Miyavi told us early on. Of course, we did our best to make up for the lack of people. Vancouver was LOUD.
So loud, in fact, that for the first time on tour I stripped my throat in one Live. 2 more to go.
Overall, though, the show left me pretty satisfied;
Survive
Coin Lockers Baby
Ossan Ossan ore Nanbo
What's My Name?
Boom Hah Boom Ha Ha
Kimi ni Funky Monkey Vibration
Ame ni Utaeba
Future
Unbreakable
Gravity
Kimi ni Negai Wo
Superhero
Ekisentorikku Otona
Shouri no V-Rock
Are you Ready to Rock
Mawaru Mawaru Sekai wa Mawaru
Neo Visualizm
It was a short set for me, being only two hours. Some of my favorite MC Playfulness got shortened or cut entirely, and a few of the staples from Japan tour--21 Century Tokyo Blues, Revenge, Where Are You, Ashita Tenki ni Naare/we love you--got cut to make the show fit into the time period. Still with the show starting at 9pm it's hard to argue with an 11pm end time. We're all pretty tired after it, and it was a full two hours. We did get Miyavi banging on the keyboard and trying to push Coba out of the way, and laughing at Bobo's Samurai drummer routine.
One thing that bothered me was the kids who started screaming out during Gravity. Part of it is cultural, and part of it is proably that they don't understand the lyrics and don't quite realize that the music really does tell just as much of the story as the lyrics do. The song sends shivers down my spine and I was crying through the whole thing, as were a few other people who actually did listen to it in silence. Also, the kids didn't really clue in that Miyavi wanted them to SING back to him when he did Kimi ni Funky Monkey Vibration. I almost think he should cut it from the set list entirely, and just stick with Please Please Please, except that I think he has too much fun with Kimi ni Funky monkey Vibration.
Other than that, the 19+ crowd was great. Miyavi was pretty happy with our noise level, until of course he tried to listen to the video and realized we were much louder than his guitar. Whoops, guys, you're supposed to at least keep your voices down enough so he can hear himself when he's reviewing...Still, there was almost no pushing, no shoving. When Miyavi came to the front of the stage, the pushing of people trying to reach him and touch him wasn't horrible; when he moved away people backed up again.
Coba84 noticed me during Ekisentorikku Otona. For much the same reason he and Bobo noticed me and Maura in Japan; I was the only one doing the shoutback at the right time, and I did it without prompting.
Miyavi was a bit slower; he didn't see me till Are You Ready to Rock, right before he grabbed Sylvia's hand and played his guitar with it. It was pretty funny, actually.
I was a bit sad that he didn't close with Girls be Ambitious. It reminds me always of so many good memories and good friends and good advice, that it's weird to not hear it at the end of the show. Still, it was a solid two hour set.
I felt a little alone without the Japanese KoMiyavi, but I did my best to rock out the way they would have, and I carried their feelings as best I could to Miyavi.
After the show, we headed around back for Demachi. The group started out with about twelve of us, but ended up dwindling to six, and we stayed out there till one thirty when the bus finally showed up and the band all got on--while we said "otsukare", "arigatou", and in my case "Miyavi! Mata Ashita!"--only to have to get off again (excluding Miyavi) when there was a car blocking the exit to the alley. So while the staff and us tried to find the guy who owned the car, everyone went to go find food. Bobo ended up in the convenience store on the corner, and when the car got moved and the bus left I leaned in the door and called to him "Bobo, BASU." He made this horrified face and then pantomimed running in a panic. We laughed over that then everyone headed off their separate ways.
We had planned to go drinking with a bunch of people, but unfortunately Demachi took rather longer than expected, and the bars all stopped serving alcohol at 1:50am.
After we grabbed some food, Sil and I headed back to her hotel, where I grabbed myself and started writing this up. It wasn't finished till today, now that I've access to a computer and the internet.
I have to say, it was much better than I was expecting after Texas. At the same time, Texas was the exception, not the rule. Anime Conventions draw a completely different crowd than an actual show.
I look forward to Miyavi coming back to Vancouver one day; hopefully next time I'll be able to convince more people to come to the show then.
Not enough sleep. No ticket numbers. English everywhere.
About the only thing the Vancouver show had in common with the Japanese tour was the weather; cold, grey, and generally unpleasant. However. To our credit, it wasn't raining.
Over here we do things differently. Without ticket numbers, we have to be in line early; I arrived at 8am to find 4 girls already in line from 6am the previous day. Fans over here, it turns out, are generally more laid back than for some other bands; people didn't really start showing up till almost 3pm, but we few were glad to have our guaranteed early places in line and didn't mind the extra time to chat and hang out.
Some couple hours later we were joined by Sil and Suzy, and Rose and her mother. Sil and Suz are two of my very best friends, and it was the first time I'd been able to see them since last year. Suzy flew, but Sil drove the 13 hours from Calgary to get to Vancouver for the show, and none of us felt it was a waste of time or money for them to be there. Rose's story was full of medical trouble, and I am glad for her that she managed to get backstage to meet Miyavi while he was here.
Throughout the day we came and went, getting food, going to the toilet, and generally chilling out. Sometimes doing a little shopping at close by stores. Our new friends in line held our places so we could keep coming back, and we made lots of new friends. I did have to buy a second hoodie, since it was a little too cold out to face the day in just my thin Hello Kitty one.
Three of us headed out back when we saw the bus arrive, for a brief Irimachi. My new friend Sylvia had a present for Miyavi, so I led them in greeting the band from a safe distance. Since there was no one running security. When Miyavi came to the front of the bus, he peeked out of the screen and saw us and got a really big grin on his face, then waved enthusiastically, which we returned. "Miyavi! Canada e Yokoksou!" "Ganbare!" It was nice to be able to do that for him over here. Especially with such a small group.
Doors weren't till 7:30 pm, which seems (and is) really late. The show didn't start till nine, and that meant it was only a two hour set.
One thing that sets the Commodore apart from other contemporary concert halls is that it doesn't have a rail or barricade keeping the crowd from the stage. Front row spent a large part of the hour and a half of waiting resting or leaning on the stage itself. During the show, I was leaning on crossed arms on Miyavi's right side monitor. Or banging on the stage. The Commodore is BIG, too. The venue holds 900 people, but that's according to BC capacity laws. In Japan I think a venue that size would be closer 1200 people, if not more.
Still, the show wasn't sold out, something Miyavi told us early on. Of course, we did our best to make up for the lack of people. Vancouver was LOUD.
So loud, in fact, that for the first time on tour I stripped my throat in one Live. 2 more to go.
Overall, though, the show left me pretty satisfied;
Survive
Coin Lockers Baby
Ossan Ossan ore Nanbo
What's My Name?
Boom Hah Boom Ha Ha
Kimi ni Funky Monkey Vibration
Ame ni Utaeba
Future
Unbreakable
Gravity
Kimi ni Negai Wo
Superhero
Ekisentorikku Otona
Shouri no V-Rock
Are you Ready to Rock
Mawaru Mawaru Sekai wa Mawaru
Neo Visualizm
It was a short set for me, being only two hours. Some of my favorite MC Playfulness got shortened or cut entirely, and a few of the staples from Japan tour--21 Century Tokyo Blues, Revenge, Where Are You, Ashita Tenki ni Naare/we love you--got cut to make the show fit into the time period. Still with the show starting at 9pm it's hard to argue with an 11pm end time. We're all pretty tired after it, and it was a full two hours. We did get Miyavi banging on the keyboard and trying to push Coba out of the way, and laughing at Bobo's Samurai drummer routine.
One thing that bothered me was the kids who started screaming out during Gravity. Part of it is cultural, and part of it is proably that they don't understand the lyrics and don't quite realize that the music really does tell just as much of the story as the lyrics do. The song sends shivers down my spine and I was crying through the whole thing, as were a few other people who actually did listen to it in silence. Also, the kids didn't really clue in that Miyavi wanted them to SING back to him when he did Kimi ni Funky Monkey Vibration. I almost think he should cut it from the set list entirely, and just stick with Please Please Please, except that I think he has too much fun with Kimi ni Funky monkey Vibration.
Other than that, the 19+ crowd was great. Miyavi was pretty happy with our noise level, until of course he tried to listen to the video and realized we were much louder than his guitar. Whoops, guys, you're supposed to at least keep your voices down enough so he can hear himself when he's reviewing...Still, there was almost no pushing, no shoving. When Miyavi came to the front of the stage, the pushing of people trying to reach him and touch him wasn't horrible; when he moved away people backed up again.
Coba84 noticed me during Ekisentorikku Otona. For much the same reason he and Bobo noticed me and Maura in Japan; I was the only one doing the shoutback at the right time, and I did it without prompting.
Miyavi was a bit slower; he didn't see me till Are You Ready to Rock, right before he grabbed Sylvia's hand and played his guitar with it. It was pretty funny, actually.
I was a bit sad that he didn't close with Girls be Ambitious. It reminds me always of so many good memories and good friends and good advice, that it's weird to not hear it at the end of the show. Still, it was a solid two hour set.
I felt a little alone without the Japanese KoMiyavi, but I did my best to rock out the way they would have, and I carried their feelings as best I could to Miyavi.
After the show, we headed around back for Demachi. The group started out with about twelve of us, but ended up dwindling to six, and we stayed out there till one thirty when the bus finally showed up and the band all got on--while we said "otsukare", "arigatou", and in my case "Miyavi! Mata Ashita!"--only to have to get off again (excluding Miyavi) when there was a car blocking the exit to the alley. So while the staff and us tried to find the guy who owned the car, everyone went to go find food. Bobo ended up in the convenience store on the corner, and when the car got moved and the bus left I leaned in the door and called to him "Bobo, BASU." He made this horrified face and then pantomimed running in a panic. We laughed over that then everyone headed off their separate ways.
We had planned to go drinking with a bunch of people, but unfortunately Demachi took rather longer than expected, and the bars all stopped serving alcohol at 1:50am.
After we grabbed some food, Sil and I headed back to her hotel, where I grabbed myself and started writing this up. It wasn't finished till today, now that I've access to a computer and the internet.
I have to say, it was much better than I was expecting after Texas. At the same time, Texas was the exception, not the rule. Anime Conventions draw a completely different crowd than an actual show.
I look forward to Miyavi coming back to Vancouver one day; hopefully next time I'll be able to convince more people to come to the show then.