Wednesday, October 24, 2012

GROAN OF DIPLOSOMIA 01 @ Yokosuka


Today I thought I would talk about the Yokosuka show, or the start of the GROAN OF DIPLOSOMIA 01 tour. And try not to sound like Reita after spending so much time with his column yesterday. DX

So I am stupid and decided to shink up for the show on the morning of, which turned out great, only I had crazy anxiety dreams about hanging out with people and being late to catch my train and missing the show. In reality I got there about a perfect hour before doors open and was one of the first people in the doors (after spending thirty minutes having a minor freak out about the weird people I saw stealing presents from Ruki's box-- I only wish I were joking about that).

I also saw Rebecca there, who I don't think I have seen since the first Yokohama Blitz show of HETERODOXY in July? It's so nice to run into people you know when you go to lives alone, especially when you're traveling so far. :D

The tickets for this tour have such a nice design!

So I shoved some stuff in my purse, grabbed my tickets and was off-- I was coming back by night bus, so no luggage! It was super nice to travel so light, but of course I gave in and bought goods (instead of waiting for the Osaka shows, like I intended to) so I ended up hauling a little more back.

Heading out!

I know a lot of girls get dressed up or look nice for lives, which is great and I wish I could do that, but dressing for lives to me is dressing for comfort and function rather than appearance. Tour shirt and some comfy pants or tights and shorts is the way to go usually. Maybe if I weren't going there half for the purpose of thrashing around like a wild animal. But I really can see beauty to going there looking like a hottie and coming out like a some sort of withered plant. It's the Filth in the beauty, eh? Eh??! 8D


Anyway, Yokosuka was a nice place, partially because it was pretty and good weather and there's the ocean, but mostly because THEY HAVE FUCKING SUBMARINES, YES THEY DO. It's always been a dream of mine to see a real honest-to-god submarine. And if they had offered me a look around inside I actually might have skipped the live. XD

COMPACT PLACES.

Some snaps from the live from le instagram.

The hall was really nice, a very classy performing arts center. The problem was the balcony seating on the sides was lame as fuuuu-. I got my ticket through HERESY but somehow ended up with 3rd floor standing, which was a shock to me (and the other girls in my section, actually: "へっ、ファンクラブ入ってるのに立見?!" ). I mean, I'm used to getting some awful ticket numbers for the GazettE, but that was just kind of like a smack in the face, really.

But anyway, I went in on the left side and stood with some awesome Aoi fan girls and some middle schoolers who seemed like they were playing MASH or something on a clip board during the live. They would giggle and mark things and circle things and then stand up and do the furi very boredly for a song or two.  That was all fine, but the problem was that all the people on my side were there for Aoi and we had absolutely no view of him the entire live (well until he came over to stand on Uruha's side for a few seconds during the encore). And really we only saw Reita during Ride with the rockers. Ruki was even only visible to me on occasional glimpses through some people's arms. So we all played stare down with Uruha and part of Kai for about two songs before we gave up and just furi'd and kind of smiled at one another.

This is where problem number two came in. None of us knew each other and no one was used to the transition and the style of the new DIVISION songs yet. So we weren't really sure what to do. Usually, when I'm at a GazettE live I see during pretty much every song but the slow intermission, people are doing something, but Yokosuka was a lot of stillness. It seemed for a lot of the live people would try to do some furi or move, but the music would change up and we would all just end up standing there like ghosts. I know I looked around and worried when I saw some people sitting down around the hall, and I got REAL worried.

I guess that's the thing with so much new music at once, though. It was the tour start, so I expected it to be more of a crazy blow out, but it was kind of like watching some slightly psychotic baby deer trying to stand for the first time.


I love the GazettE almost unconditionally at this point, if we're being honest, but I can admit when a live wasn't amazing, and Yokosuka wasn't amazing for me. I think it was just too much new at once and bad seating and the strange new jazzy sound they added into the setting that just threw me. But it was just the beginning, so I knew it had to get better, and it definitely did when I saw them in Osaka.

The live wasn't bad, though, just uncomfortable? The atmosphere was a little weird. I mean, if anything, the new songs sounded really polished and the visual display (the part I could see) was really nice. Of course this is all just my personal impression, and I'm no one but some lone fan girl laying in bed with a laptop on a Wednesday afternoon, so feel free to discard me.

It really kicked up a notch in the encore, though, when they pulled out the songs we all knew and loved. Though, it was super surprising when they came out with TOMORROW NEVER DIES as the first encore song (after a really short, super jazzed up Ride with the rockers), it kind of cheered me up I think. The also performed SILLY GOD DISCO, which we all freaked out over. Megaphone and everything. At some point in this song Uruha approached Ruki behind his box and there seemed to be something fanservice-y happening there, but one of the girls down front made a huge fuss and completely blocked it out of my line of sight.


The bus! Crazy colors in the night as I walked back to the station to wait in a McDonalds in Yokohama for a few hours for my nightbus. There were a bunch of girls here watching a sassy-looking blond guy shove a huge box into a van. His job looks difficult.

Here's le setlist: よこすか芸術劇所 the GazettE (2012.10.08)

[Diplosomia]
[XI]
DERANGEMENT
GABRIEL ON THE GALLOWS
VENOMOUS SPIDER’S WEB
VORTEX
CLEVER MONKEY
THE SUICIDE CIRCUS
DRIPPING INSANITY
余韻
影踏み
籠の蛹
[Depth]
ヘドロ
VERMIN
SLUDGY CULT
HEADACHE MAN
ATTITUDE
REQUIRED MALFUNCTION
[Melt]

[EN]
Ride with the rockers
TOMORROW NEVER DIES
SILLY GOD DISCO
SWALLOWTAIL ON THE DEATH VALLEY
COCKROACH
LINDA ~Candydive Pinky Heaven~

[WEN]
関東土下座組合


Goods I picked up at the first live.

I grabbed the pamphlet for sure this time because it's divided into member booklets this time. Aoi's has some super laughable photoshop and Uruha's interview makes me criiiiiiiiinge. Also picked up the pink version of the cellphone case, the iphone accessory pierces and button sticker, the big t-shirt that saya WACK and a bag to carry it all in.

Whoever put rivets in the material of that bag should be scolded though. Two of my strap holes broke the second time I used it and there wasn't even anything heavy in it. DDX

And now I've said too much and remembered why I don't usually do live reviews, haha!

I apologize if it seems this blog has gone in a weird direction. But it's not a live blog! I do plan to post about boring things again! :D

Oh yea, and I translated Reita's SWEET HOME from Garish Room 16 at my livejournal if anyone's interested on Reita's thoughts on the band over the past 10 years (or at least until 2007).


Saturday, October 20, 2012

LM.C @ BIG CAT (9/22)

orig. image by Katie (can't find her blog link)


So, it's my goal to really update more, so I felt I should start with the beginning of the recent live streak. On 9/22 I went to see LM.C at the Big Cat! ☆




LM.C was originally of interest to me because of ancient Pierrot days of yore (I was an Aiji fan), but they disbanded about 5 months before my first study abroad in 2006, so I was sad about not getting a chance to see them. But I guess I was still curious about Aiji, so I decided to pick up TRAILERS (GOLD) and see what he was up to.

And to be honest, at first I was horrified. XD

I think maybe at the time, other than the GazettE, I was into a lot darker style of music? I was also kinda  depressed for a while, so when I first listened, I was really not ready for all that positivity and non-angst. But somewhere along the line I decided @FUNNY PHANTOM@ was the shit and that was that. Then during my second study abroad in 2010 I met my friend Ashe and we bonded over Aiji and she dragged me to a few LM.C lives! :D

So, I was very excited about the prospect of seeing them again this fall when a friend mentioned the Kyoto show, but as that wasn't exactly an economic decision for either of us at the time, I think, we ended up not going. I did manage to go to the Osaka show, though, and dragged along my other Pierrot-loving friend!


Yeah... somewhere I became a Maya fan. 


The show was great, though. We could tell it was going to be epic when leaning back from the chorus of the second song Maya put down the mic for a second and yawned. :D

There was a really great atmosphere and everyone really seemed to jump on board with the motions. We were kinda toward the back, where usually there are lots of motionless observers, but surprisingly it seemed like everyone was pretty into the show, waving arms and jumping and singing along with SUPER DUPER GALAXY.

They played the Strong Pop anthem like twice and is it just me or do any of you find yourselves in a crowd of towel-flappers at basically every freaking live you go to without a towel of your own? DX This always happens to me. I did buy a towel, though, so I will not be left behind at BUZZ MANIAX next week, haha i'm stupid.


Pulled out the live crocs!


Set list! I took it from this person, who even transcribed the MC's it seems! Wow, I have a bad memory.


BABY TALK
BAD SPIDER
Loud_Mucker_Complex.
@FUNNY PHANTOM@
We are LM.C!!~The Anthem of Strong Pop~
MY BOY
88
何も始まらなかった一日の終わりに。
Space Wannabiez
METALLY
Goak-On-SOUL
EDO FUNK
SUPER DUPER GALAXY
COMBATmode
Ah Hah!
GAME of LIFE
peekaboo
OH MY JULIET.
CRAZY A GO GO
☆Rock the LM.C☆
星の在処。-ホシノアリカ-
We are LM.C!!~The Anthem of Strong Pop~
LET ME' CRAZY!!

All in all a really great live. At the end, they actually played DOUBLE DRAGON for us, to get more people to preorder and do the high-touch event I guess. The funny part is as we were all milling about listening patiently, Maya was watching us from the tech room at the back, because when the manager came back out and pointed him out to us he was all leaning out the window over our heads like "yay". Jesus.

So I hope no one looked too bored. :D


Got the smartphone pouch and towel. Then played the lotto twice and got
2 stickers, a Maya key chain and bandaids. XD


Then we had a beer and milled about Amemura, because it was only 7pm or something, haha.

And sorry, this wasn't supposed to be so long. XD


Stupid things I do. 

Thursday, October 18, 2012

REFUSE THE LIMIT OF THE HEAD

THE IMAGE IS EMBODIED UNTIL DIE


Blaaaah. So ends my week of Gazette. This week (or eight days technically) I managed to attend 4/6 shows so far of GROAN OF DIPLOSOMIA. I don't know what I'm trying to prove here. Maybe that I'm not capable of reasonable financial decision making. :D

This week's line up:

10/8→ the GazettE @ Yokosuka Geijutsugekijou
10/9→ The Predators @ Namba Hatch
10/10→ the GazettE @ OLIX Gekijou
10/14→ the GazettE @ Biwako Hall
10/16→ the GazettE @ Kobe Bunka Hall

Yeah, the Predators sneaked in there for a sec (and were wonderful). But yea, Biwako was a sorta spontaneous decision with a friend and Kobe I ended up dragging another friend with me kicking and screaming. So it really was a kind of exciting week. 


Lots of coffee was had and headbanging was done, and let's just say I might turn out to be a lot stupider from here on out on account of I have no idea how many brain cells I've killed in this one week alone.

Surprisingly my neck, back, everything's in top shape except for my right shoulder which has been killing me all week, tensing up and stuff. guuuuuuuuh

I need to really control my spending this month, but the tour final live lottery starts on the 25th and LM.C lottery has already started for Zepp. Fml.

And I can't decide whether to buy the 2013 calendar. I bought it when I lived in Tokyo and liked it ok enough I guess, but it was kind of just faces... granted they looked nice on my wall later... I need to sleep and wake up with a less expensive problem. :/

I leave you with this.



Tuesday, October 2, 2012

I don't understand tumblr.

BB Cream for your legs @ LOFT


I was gonna post something today about the LM.C live last week and all of the lives coming up, but alas I tired myself out stalking around livejournal all evening (and not at work for ten hours before that). Ikr. What the hey is she doing on the old eljay? Right.

I have no idea. But let's be honest with ourselves here, I'm never going to understand tumblr. I try. I go there and enjoy, but I'm just not sure of what I'm supposed to be doing. There needs to be a guide on internet fads for people like me.

I understand livejournal. :D