ZIZ on Takadanobaba Club Phase

Friday night ZIZ participated in an event on Takadanobaba Club Phase togheter with Amber Gris and Hollowgram.

I rarely know in which order the bands play so I'm always a bit confused about if I should rush to get a good spot or if I can have a drink and wait... Usually I just rush because I don't want to end up in the back :P
Amber Gris was first out and to be honest they made me yawn XD Their 40 minutes felt like 1 hour, and they just felt so random... I googled them before I bought the ticket just to see what I had to endure for the sake of Közi, and since they acctually had PV's I didn't think they'd feel so...amateurish XD They looked so random, like the bassist was dressed in lolita fashion, the singer reminded me of Adam from ADAMS and one of the guitarists looked a bit steampunk and obviously was their fangirl magnet :P
I was kind of happy when they finally left stage and ZIZ got on.

Club Phase has this screen which is pulled down when the bands prepare the stage, but you can still see them on the sides of that screen. I kept looking to see if I could catch a glimpse of Közi but no Közi....

ZIZ played for 40 minutes, but time always flies by when you enjoy something. Közi was awesome as always, and looked great as most of the times. He had a black blouse with pink dots/spots, black velvet blazer and black tight leather pants.
All the members came in on stage one by one while Ö was playing, and Közi was last of course. he took quite the time to join the others and I couldn't help myself from thinking that he probably had a last drink.... before getting on stage to have one more... (since he had liquor on stage last time I saw him)

As the other times I've seen Közi he was really into what he was doing, and when comparing ZIZ performance with the other two bands, well there was a huge difference XD Közi just seems so comfortable on stage, like he's just doing his thing but it comes out so great and relaxed.

They played some songs I didn't recognise though. Közi announced in the MC the finished the recording of the new album so maybe it's on the coming release? I certainly hope so because I really liked the second song. It felt very Közi, like Katharsis meeting something electronic XD it's kind of hard to explain, but sometimes I feel like Közi's songs, or just part of certain songs is "dreamy" in a way. Like not straight forward like RayD5, like they're blurry, like Katharsis or parts of Memento. Does that make sense? maybe it's just in my head but I feel like Közi's songs sometimes does that, they enter some sort of trans-stage XD like they sound a bit repetative, but not in a bad way, and melancholy. Yugami did vocals with Közi on this, and it didn't sound like anything ZIZ released so far...so I'm very excited for this new album.

Except for ZIZ great performance, I acctually found myself a bit annoyed... Since bands like ZIZ are really small, the people who come to see them are usually the same, so they come on like fangirl groups and they usually know or are familiar with the other people who come to see the other bands aswell. SO, this live gig wasn't so small that they ahd one of those "lists" for the frontrow, instead it was one of those in which the fangirls wait in the back and then they just change place with someone they know :P so it's impossible to get really close, and I feel a bit frustrated especially since these people see these bands several times a year and for me it's once in a lifetime XD (sorry, this might sound a bit like I should get a privilege just because I'm a foreigner, but it's more I feel like I should get a privilege because I might not see them again XD). All though I prefer the japanese live-system, the whole ticket with number is great IMO, but inside I get kind of pissed to be honest. As a foreigner you really feel a bit left out.
Also I really don't get everyones systematic behaviour. Like I mentioned before, everyone does the same movements at the exact same time, and sometimes it's not just wave your hand, sometimes it's almost like tiny dances XD and I just want to know who the *** came up with that XD It takes so much energy and focus to do all that, you almost miss the whole livegig. Like I mentioned before I didn't care when I saw The Velvet the last time, I just wanted to enjoy the gig, and same with ZIZ...ESPECIALLY with ZIZ. Their music (IMO) isn't even suited for all that dancing and headbaning or whatever...I don't get it, the front row went all crazy with the headbanging, and I can really not hear that in their music... it's almost like the japanese fans HAS to do all that stuff, even if the music doesn't even have parts in which it's suitable. I mean not even the band hints at that (normally you can just look at the band, like with D, Tsunehito headbangs, you headbang). It's a true mystery to me... the Japanese way of concerts (should be a book about that..).
Over all I had a great evening though (still want to hear Spiegelwelt though...).

Setlist:
Ö
RayD5
Unknown *LLELVI
MC
FREAKQUENCY
Unknown*ECHOFALLS
Night Creature
MC
Unknown *BE POP HIGHSTYLE
Sanityman
SUPERBSAW

BUCK-TICK 甘美な死骸 - quan vie nna sigue eye -

Today I finally got my BUCK-TICK perfume! It was kind of weird because they never gave us a shippingdate, like stores normally do, just that it would be shipped by the end of the month so I almost thought mine was lost somewhere (I have a really weird address which is way longer than normal), but it arrived safely!

Kanbina Shigai was released in 3000 bottles, and they've all been sold out! I can honestly say that it was a bit expensive since it's not highclass perfume :P but I like perfume, so if a band I like releases a fragrance, I'll be sure to get it!

 I haven't tried it, and I won't at least for now (perfume starts to get bad the minute you start using it since air will get down the bottle, and it might even change colour or smell after a while (like after 2 years), and since I don't drown myself in perfume one bottle lasts quite a while for me... but I have tried to smell the opening and judging from that it's kind of a weak fragrance, nothing that stands out a lot (which can be seen as good, I mean now most will probably not say they hate it:P).
The bottle was kind of heavy and eventhough the fragrance feels very female and I'm guessing the most people who bought it were women, the design is somewhat pour homme for me. I like that though.

The Velvet at GARDEN

Today's been very stressful, I had class until 3pm then I went home, changed clothes and went to Shimokitazawa to see The Velvet!

 

A little bird told me they'd be first out tonight so there was no time to loose (me finding places are the worst thing possible, I get lost very easy). I acctually passed by GARDEN...no I'm not kidding, I passed it and had to go back... that's happened so much since I got here it's not funny (and always as embarrassing to go back).

The good thing with these really small livegigs are that it's not packed. You can arrive 15 minutes before they start and get to the front row or at least really close to the stage. The Velvet doesn't have that much fans so I got a good spot between Mimi and Bera ^^

Over a month ago I acctually found black stockings with white dots! So eventhough the band now changed outfits to nonpolka dots I decided to wear them anyway.

I have to say I love the new outfits. Mimi looked adorable. He wore long black pants with a black sleeveless shirt, which was longer at the back and almost a bit short at the front because he kept flashing his cute stomach, with ruffles and a red ribbon around his neck. On top of that he had a black blazer with some decorations on his shoulders.
Tonights setlist was perfect IMO, almost the whole setlist was favorite songs of mine and I finally got to hear SORROW! <3

At the live I went to in October they also played Meikyuu shoujo and I totally fell in love with that! The song's from the compilation cd DEEP MORE DEEP that was released this summer, unfortunately I haven't heard the recorded version, only at lives, but it's one of the best songs from The Velvet *_* You can acctually here it in their video from the Halloween gig on their official youtube channel (and see Mimi's cute dancing which makes me feel so retarded when doing -.- I'm pretty sure I don't look as cute as him doing that -.-'')


Tonight unfortunatley Bera had some problems with the strap on his guitar, it broke during Usotsuki onna no shita o nuke (I think it was during that song..) so he had to sit down for a bit and play. But even though after getting some help from the staff, the strap broke again and this time he dropped the guitar on the floor infront of the stage. Mimi kept going though but I couldn't help but to look at Bera since I thought he was gonna fall down from stage when he picked up his guitar >_< This was at the end of Victor, Mimi kept going on his own, but between Victor and SORROW they had a short break in which staff helped Bera to attach the strap to his guitar with sticky tape.

As always they were full of energy on stage, I really admire their scenepresens. I wish more people would come and see how awesome they are live. For tonight I didn't really care about all the specific handmovements and stuff, I'm tired of keeping up with that to be honest, hehe. I just wanted to enjoy The Velvet, and I'm glad I did because it was a really great live.

After they played (which didn't feel like 30 minutes, more like 15) I went over to the merchtable! Unfortunatley Mimi wasn't the one standing there like last time =( I really wanted to thank him for bringing t-shirts^^ 
As seen on my photo I got the black t-shirt (SO pretty *_*), 幻影フィクション and a cheki. When you buy cheki's you can't pick which one you like, you just draw one or as many as you buy from a bunch, and I had the badluck of getting Bera with their support drummer (no offense but I want Bera and Mimi...). But like an angel sent from  heaven, this woman came up to me asking if I bought any chekis because she wanted to trade, and she wanted mine and gave me the close up of Mimi and Bera <3 on top of that, when I thanked her I said I wanted one with Mimi she just handed me the Mimi single shot, and when I was about to pay her she didn't want it *_* So I got Mimi as a gift! I was so surprised, couldn't thank her enough <3

I left early, mostly because I'm tired of seeing mostly shitty random bands and I had early class. In October I thought I should see The Velvet once more before I leave Japan, so I did, but now I want to see them again XD Maybe I can catch them once more if possible.

(I got a reply on this photo on twitter, someone really liked the t-shirt, if I go again, I can offer to buy t-shirts or cheki's if anyone wants! Please comment or mail me if that sounds interesting.)

Setlist:
1.Plastic doll
2.Meikyuu shoujo
-MC-
3.Usotsuki onna no shita o nuke 
4.25 ji no Cinderella 
5.Victor
6.SORROW

高幡不動尊 Takahatafudoson Kongoji Temple

Last sunday I decided to do some sightseeing in my neighbourhood. Every day on my way to school I pass the station Takahatafudo, and see part of a huge temple there, but I never went there because when I first arrived I blamed the weather for being to warm saying I'd go when it cooled down a bit. Now I realised it's winter and soon it will get really cold so better start doing everything I won't enjoy doing in 5 degrees :P

This isn't just a temple, it's like a whole area! It was dedicated to the deity called Acala, and was built somewhere between 794-1185 (Japanese Heian period).
There seemed to have been some kind of event when I visited because people had like a market, selling various things and I saw several people dressed up (among them an adorable little boy dressed in the traditional hakama which is a rare sight).

I left with a bunch of photos in my camera a new charm for good health.

This gate (ironicly modern with the sign and everything) shows the way from the station Takahatafudo.

 Horinkaku

 This is the pagoda, the part of this area you can see from a very long distance! I read somewhere that it's said that monks stayed on each floor depending on your skills/wisdom, so best at the top. These kinds of templebuilding has its origin in China, but you can find them in many asian countries, like Japan.

Maybe it's not that noticable but the  statue to the left was very big, bigger than human size. Really cool, and I also love these lion/monster statues that often sits by entries to temples in Japan (right picture).

Schwarz Stein instore event at ZealLink

Today was the instore event at ZealLink in Shibuya!
I was very hyped to finally get the chance to attend, I even planed on bringing a Rudolf Steiner tape and get it signed, but decided not to because I want to have the release the event concerned signed, makes a better memory. It also felt good that I really like this release, not that I didn't enjoy Gebet or COCOON-Fallen-, but this is pure awesome.

I also wanted to get them something, my first idea was to hunt down popcorn for Hora, but the store's in Harajuku, and the one in Shibuya is too far from the station, so I felt like fuck it, everyone likes chocolate, I'll go with that. So I first went to Lindt's shop by the Shibuya station and picked out chocolates I thought would suit Hora and Kaya, then I bought some presentbags at a 100yen shop.

For once I wasn't 5h early either. I acctually arrived when they already opened. But since this was my first instore event I had no idea the chairs were numbered....in the bottom :P So I just picked a chair and sat my ass down, then I saw how one girl began to flip the chairs and then I realised I had to find my place :P which of course was a total fuck up. My number was 30, and there were NO number 30, there were two 31's though, so with a little help from a kind girl I sat down at one of those.

You got a piece of paper on which you were to write your question for them, when you bought the single. My queston was why they decided on the name Schwarz Stein. Funny thing was, I noticed how most didn't leave a question to the staff...like don't they care or assume other's will leave tons of questions?

From Kaya's Twitter

Anyhow, they started on time, around 2pm. Kaya came in first followed by Hora. Hora seemed a bit uncomfortable, he kept touching his corset like it was uncomfortable, maybe he's not used to sitting in it ^^
 They did a short presentation and then the staff began asking the questions fans had written. To be honest I had a hard time keeping up with it. There were so much and my inner fangirl was about dying from the excitment of being this close to Hora. There were several questions about their make up... but none about Hora's magic symbol! Seriously, I want to know if he has some sort of stash of those tattoos for kids or something, because that thing is not done by hand. I think Kaya mentioned Hora's done pretty quick with his make up, and something about they should switch make up style once (haha).
Hora also talked about their time in the US, and then Kaya mentioned France, Paris and Hora said he doesn't know much about it, and asked the crowd which country they like, and no one replied. I was so tempted to say Japan XD
Then when it was time for my question I almost missed it because I was starring at Hora and noticed how he waved at a girl infront of me and it looked so sweet... To be honest I didn't get the full answer for this either, sorry. Kaya gave a translation to japanese of "schwarz stein", and then he said the name was made up by Hora and Mana, and that he thought it was good. They also mentioned how Kaya used to call himself Hime, but I didn't catch all of that.

When the questions were done, the staff collected our tickets and we stood in line for the signing. Some people handed them their gifts personally, but it seemed like the staff was rather annoyed by people taking too long and that they had to put the gifts in the basket afterwards, so when it was almost my turn I just dropped of Kaya's bag, and the bottom of his basket was full, while Hora only had 1 bag in his =(
Kaya didn't say anything except for thanks, but he smiled and had a very formal body language XD He took the booklet with both of his hands, like Japanese do with businesscards, signed and then he turned it around so that I had the cover facing me in the right direction and of course gave it back with both hands. I wanted to say something but I was too nervous so I just thanked him and continued to Hora. When I gave him the booklet he didn't say anything and I was too nervous so I thought, well I don't want to fuck this up with my bad japanese, but then he asked me where I came from, and when I said Sweden he sort of looked at me like he probably knew who I was, so I said my name and then he seemed to get who I was, (or faked it XD). He thanked me and smiled, then the stressful staff came over and put a hand on my arm to nicely show that she thought I was in the fucking way stoping others from going forward XD so I stepped aside and put my tiny bag of chocolate in Hora's basket, and he looked up and bowed his head.
Then I went out, trying to get the single back to it's plasticwrap like I had it when I arrived, but that was impossible because my hands were shaking like leaves XD

I'm kind of sad I didn't say more, but on the other hand there wasn't any time for that, and I'm also pissed they did signing and photos with people in the US and not here. I'd really want a picture with Hora =(
But it was nice to see them close up (admiring Hora's face), and to acctually get something signed before me, and not just presigned and sent as some bonus.

Then I did some random tourism in Shibuya. I haven't really spent time there eventhough I've been here 3 times. But, I still can't say I really enjoy Shibuya...

D at Shinjuku Blaze

On Thursday I went to D's  release concert for Kingdom at a sold out Shinjuku Blaze.

I planned on seeing D in 2012 but ended up not getting a ticket, which was one of the worst decisions I ever made, because I love Namonaki mori no yumegatari which was released then, so I decided to try my best getting a ticket for their tour, but they didn't have any Tokyo gigs during my stay :P So when I saw this release concert I was very happy and acctually went to Lawson 3 minutes after the release of the tickets. I got ticket B-7, which I thought was a great number (it usually is). This was not :P

I've never been to Shinjuku Blaze but with a little googling I saw that it has the capacity for 800people. I arrived just on time, because I had to go pay a visit to Closet Child eventhough I go there about once a week :P and I acctually got myself a copy of D's Dark Wings, with Tsunehito's trading card *_*

I seriously bet about 500 people was lining up outside of Shinjuku Blaze, that's how crowded it was! I listened very carefully as they called out the numbers, and when they were betweek A 150-200 I felt like it would be my turn soon....but NO. I have no idea what kind of system D has but A tickets acctually went all the way up until 600! There went my "great ticket"...

I try not to go to the merch table before concerts because I just want to get a good place, so I squeezed my way to the middle on the left side somewhere, and D was a bit late I might add :P I hate waiting especially when you stand with 800 people.

Finally the venue got dark and the new PV for Shuuen -uchuu e no kai ki- began to play on a screen. I have to say, wtf happened to D's PV's? XD I'm sorry but it doesn't really make it for me with all these western people and random storylines I don't get. Asagi handed over a baby to some old guy, Tsunehito was some sort of princess, HIDE-ZOU played guitar, Ruiza was some overnatural being and Hiroki was almost dead or something, I have no idea what was going on, but the song was suprisingly good. I usually don't like D's slow songs, but this really had a bit of that extra.

I got kind of hyped, seeing the shadow of HIDE-ZOU, and then finally the concert began for real.
They played all the songs from Kingdom straight up, so I only recognised the singles, and I have to say Dark Wings was pretty awesome live. Even if I like certain bands, if I haven't seen them live I have no idea what movements the band wants people to do, but D was pretty good with guidance XD (Like when Asagi demands the crowd to bow with his handmovement)

I was lucky though, since this was a completly new album and most of the people had not heard it yet (Asagi asked if some had listened to it yet and some acctually raised their hands...), so they told us a lot of what they wanted us to do during certain songs. Best part was when Asagi said HIDE-ZOU would show saru no dansu (monkey dance), he looked so adorable, and it was fun seeing Asagi laugh for a change.

To be honest I don't really have any idea which member in D who's the most popular among fans. In the west it seems like Asagi (of course) and Tsunehito has a lot of fans, so I was kind of suprised to notice that people seemed to be shouting for everyone equally, and that Hiroki had a lot of fans because he seems a bit forgotten among western fans. It was also highly amusing to listen to the 2 "older" women (around 30-40) behind me who commented on how cute Ruiza was as soon as he came to the front on the stage.

Hiroki had a pretty interesting drumsolo, and later the other members, except for Asagi, joined him in a really great performance.
They ended with Shuuen -uchuu e no kai ki- and then they went off but of course people shouted for an encore so we got to hear old favorites like Night Ship D (I felt so bad for not having flags T_T), Eden and of course Toki no Koe! I've seen live videos of Toki no Koe so many times and it looks awesome live, so I was very happ they played that, it was just as fun IRL as in the videos *_*

They took a lot of time to wave good bye to everyone, that was sweet of them. Tsunehito was very energetic all evening, he even headbanged his minihat off :P He came to the front of the stage a lot, encouraging people to shout, and I have no idea if he doesn't care or just doesn't think about it, but he often puts one leg on the speaker and since his skirt for the Kingdom look is short on one side we got to see all of his cute tiny tigh (I'm curious if those at the front row saw up to his underwear...what underwear does he have under all of those fluffy skirts...)
My fangirlheart was completly melted by HIDE-ZOU this evening though. He was so adorable, and sososo much prettier IRL than on the promophotos! I really don't get the overphtoshoped pictures of all VK bands, they look so much better IRL! I mean how can anyone say no to:

The concert itself was really good, it was not as much fun to get out of Shinjuku Blaze though :P I still hadn't used my drink ticket and I tried to aim for the bar, but there were so much people I was sort of pulled away... and then I looked at the line for the merch and just felt paniced so I just left... I really wanted to get the Kingdom pamphlet =( but I can't stand that much people in that small venue.
Eventhough I enjoyed them, I felt like most of the songs on Kingdom just didn't do it for me. I'll of course listen to it again, but yeah, sorry but I felt a bit meh.

I'd love to see D again, but I doubt that will happen since they'll go on hiatus next year... so I'm happy I at least got this chance!


Next up is ZIZ in 2 weeks!

Közi solo ver : E//+Z short review

I know many are very eager to hear about the new Közi release, so I'll make a tiny review of it.

So, 5 people have chosen their favorite Közi solo songs and made remixes of them. Közi himself is one of them (hehe).
I'm just gonna write some basics about how the songs sound and my personal thoughts^^

Tracklist 

GROTTESCA / Koma RMX
Great openingtrack. I really like Grottesca so I was a bit scared this wouldn't be good enough, but it is. It's one of the more intersting tarcks on this cd, and one of the most hard one. I almost get a bit of Blam Honey vibes from this from time to time.

INCOHERENTS / MAXDEADROOM RMX
Feels very disco/club, especially live. One of my favorite tracks, but I also really enjoy the original version. I like that he kept most lyrics, remixes tends to just be a loop of the same piece for 4 minutes.

BABYLO /Közi RMX
Közi's done a great job with this one. Instead of the rocksound it usually has it's pure electronic/club music.

CRUEL ARCADIA / YUGAMI RMX
My number 1 track on this cd. Amazing, love it. I mentioned before I was a bit tired of Cruel Arcadia, well I'm head over heels in love again. Also I can't get Közi's slow dance he did during this out of my head XD

KATHARSIS / Közi RMX
For some reason I really love this. It sounds very Közi in my opinion. Very cute and distant in a way, I'd have loved if he would've made a longer version out of this. I just want it to continue and continue!

HONEY VANITY /Koma RMX
I don't think you can make Honey Vanity bad, it's just awesome in every shape. I really like this, the chorus isn't as it usually is, but slower and I think you can hear a lot more of Közi's pretty voice when he sings slower so I like this ^^

CACOPHONY / MAXDEADROOM RMX
A lot calmer version compared to the original! Cacophony is not a favorite of mine so I'm not  hyper about the original nor this remix to be honest. It's okey, but not one of those songs with that tiny bit of extra.

THE EYES /Koma RMX
Also a bit slowed down version of original The Eyes, also Közi's voice's not as distorted as in the original which I liked. The eyes aren't that different either, I think it has the same basics as the original version, good or bad?

PROMENADE /Közi RMX
 This isn't as upbeat as we're used to. On the contrary it's darker and slower.

ISM /Hora RMX
Very Hora:ish. You can hear immediatly it's a Hora remix, and I of course really like it. Might even be better than the original ISM to be honest.  For me, the first half of the cd is the most interesting, so I think it was nice to end the cd with a really good track aswell. And a Hora track as ending when the previous songs are slower, great.

I don't like to write reviews of cd's, probably because I hate reading them (I never agree and I don't like to hear what others think, I just want to hear and make my own opinion) therefor this is very poorly written XD sorry about that. But maybe someone liked to get an idea of what it sounds like.

Közi Solo Ver : E//+Z at Vuenos

Közi announced some days ago that he'd release a new cd, today no less at his livegig at VUENOS in Shibuya. Ever since I first saw the "Közi Solo Ver : E//+Z" I've been quite curious what that is... I mean Közi haven't played solo for a long time. At first I thought it was some acousticlive, since I know he's been doing that, but I couldn't have been more wrong.

Since I bought my ticket late, I didn't plan on going to this because there's been so much going on this week I feel like I need to just relax, but since the cd would be released I really wanted to get a copy as soon as possible. I've never been to this venue so I didn't know how big it was on the inside, and since my ticket was nr 57 I was afraid I'd end up in the back, but I was lucky and just like many other events where several bands play most people move over when the act they wanted to see is over (which I first didn't notice so I suffered through the first band, some 4man band playing some popish rock, looking like hosts, making me feel like bursting out in laughter when they shouted ATAMAAA and all the fangirls began to headbang to their really soft sound).

I think Közi's a bad influence... Just like at the talkevent I acctually had alcohol and felt like passing out. I need to stop drinking when I'm at lives *writes memo to myself*

Közi was the third band playing, and I tried sneaking my way to the front but I don't like to push and the system at livegigs feels so complex here you never know if there's some person somewhere in the club making a list of people at the front or whatever, and I hate being the foreigner who doesn't know the rules... But I had a good view at second row!

Since this was a small event the bands had to put their stuff togheter themselves, so first out were Közi's 2 supportmembers (no idea who they are, but one of the guys looked like his old bassist). Then Közi came out from the backstage area looking like:

 This picture is stolen from Közi's twitter!

I don't know how many are familiar with the old electro band Kraftwerk, but I'm pretty sure Közi had them in mind when he chose this outfit... Acctuallt when he entered stage he has a black leatherglove on his left hand (I really like this look on him).

Közi didn't look up once, eventhough people shouted for him. It was kind of fun because first he just walked across the stage, looked like he was just passing by XD Then he came back and began to help them set up their stuff. He looked very focused, doing everything kind of slow, well in his own pace (I was acctually thinking about how he just walked around with full confidence and no looking where he stepped eventhough he had like 10cm heels and there were wires all over the floor, while Hora was all about looking where he walked^^)

Then Közi went backstage and the light was turned off! I had no idea what to expect but since there was a keyboard and a mac computer onstage I sort of figuered it wouldn't be acoustic as I first thought, and I was very right.

The setlist for tonight was all songs from the new cd and it's all songs from Közi's solo done in a sort of remix/club manner. I was happily suprised, I really enjoyed what he has done to the songs. The music didn't fit the scenery though, listening to the songs and seeing Közi dance around, then seeing the crowd which was like 30 people, 3 lines infront of the stage and the rest standing in the back.

This was my third time seeing Közi and if I've noticed anything it's the fact that Közi's really great live. This is of course my own opinion, and I might be effected by the fact I really like Közi, but he's really something special live. Many say he's lazy for not writing any new material and all that, and I get the feeling many might think he just sticks around to have an income XD, but seeing him live, he really looks like he enjoys it, a lot. I get the feeling Közi's very aware of himself when he's on stage aswell. Like, he knows how he wants the performance to look, I'd say he's the opposite of random!

Közi moved around a lot, well not walking around since the stage was kind of small but he danced to the music and he even did the same movements as he does on the DVD for Incoherents! 
I can't remember which song it was, but he held up his left hand, and many of the people in the front row did the same, and he began doing different signs, like holding up 2 fingers, 1 or none and they kept doing the same thing. I got the feeling he did that to see if they'd follow, it looked really fun ^^

During the first MC he first just said hi and it felt like he was about to start another song when he suddenly turned around and said ow yeah, the new album! He also said everyone should get a copy, maybe even several (hehe). It's funny because Közi seems so different when he's performing and when he's talking or just preparing before the gig. When he's singing he feels very full of energy and very comfortable on stage, then when he's talking he's so calm and kind of quiet.

Before they began I acctually noticed how he placed a can and a bottle on the side for himself and I couldn't help but to think how most bands have water and not liqour on stage. For the second MC he raised his can saying cheers, then the brand, then he grabbed his bottle and said the name of the tea which was inside XD

For the last song, Promenade, Közi played bass.

My absolut favorite song tonight was Cruel Arcadia. To be honest I used to love the original version, but I think I just listened to it too much, because I ended up being kind of tired of it. So hearing this new, fresh version made my love come back again. I can't wait to hear the recorded version! (I don't have a cdplayer, nor does my computer take discs, so I need to ask a friend to rip for me:P)

If this will be released and available for overseas I demand all Közi fans to buy it! Not just for supporting his work but because it's really great!

I'm going to ZIZ live by the end of the month and I'm really excited. Közi's so great at what he does, I wish he'd make oneman lives again!

Setlist:
Grottesca
Incoherents
Babylo
MC
Cruel Arcadia
Katharsis
Honey Vanity
MC
Cacophony
ISM
Promenade

Schwarz Stein at Khaos Rave Decadence

This has been a busy week, Schwarz Stein on Monday, Velvet Eden och Wednesday and Schwarz Stein again today! (and Közi tomorrow x_X)

This wasn't a oneman, but a twoman they did with the band Aki (Aki is acctually a soloartist, the vocalist from the old band Laputa but he now has 2 members with him). I've never heard of Aki before, but their music was something like a mix of Schwarz Stein and Blam Honey in a way, so they stood for the rave tonight XD

Schwarz Stein was the opening act, and in general they had the same setlist as at their oneman, just shorter, and also, of course the same outfits. The only song they didn't play then was Release Me, but on the other hand they played that at Kamijo's event. I had a better ticket tonight, so I acctually was right behind the person who was at the front, so I had a very good view of Hora :3 Therefor I also got the chance to touch his somewhat sweaty hand 3 times (died on the inside from fangirl overdose). Hora's got quite the fanclub recently XD When I saw them in 2012 I remember that the center and left part of the floor was filled with people because that's where Kaya stands, while the right side was a bit less crowded. Now it's equal and there's so many people calling for Hora, which is fun because he always start out all serious and then when everyone's calling his name he smiles and looks so shy. A new thing I've noticed with Hora compared to 2012 is that he looks at people and gestures that they should put their hands up XD Not in a bad way, but he gives some people looks and sometimes points at them when they wave at him etc (I'm also guessing it's some fans which comes to every live), I think I got one of those points at the end... don't know if it was because I'm a foreigner or because of my Hora t-shirt XD He looks so pleased, eventhough he's obviously a bit uncomfortable on stage, it's very amusing to see and it makes me happy that he's happy to be back on stage. He looks so pretty when he smiles at people.
Hora wasn't as talkactive tonight as he was on Monday. People kept shouting for him and saying he's cute, but he kept smiling and looking down, hehe.

During the second MC Kaya began with making moaning sounds, he sounded a bit erotic, and then all of a sudden Hora did it too which made Kaya laugh saying he didn't see that one coming. Kaya also told us there would be a Schwarz Stein drink at the bar, called Madness Hora. I didn't really catch everything they were saying but I heard it would include milk, which made me slightly interested...
As you can see the ending was quite intense, all the Hora-songs at once. I really like Creeper live, it feels so weird when Kaya makes everyone do the armgesture (I do not mean to offend anyone, but surely everyone must agree on that it looks like a zieg heil?). People really got crazy during these when Hora got close to the edge of the stage. But he smiled and touched as many people as he could when he didn't sing. He looked so suprised that so many of us put out our hands for him XD It seemed like many of the people there was fans of Aki, and I was thinking that might have been the reason people all of a sudden changed their armmovements during Succubus :P Normally (don't know how they did it back in the days) but in 2012 and on their oneman on Monday, when they shout "Nightmare" people reach out with their hand and sort of bends forward (the people at the front more or less throws themselves at the front bars) but today people made some of those weird handmovements instead which are commonly seen at small livehouses when regular visual kei rockbands play (kind of hard to explain how it looks but they make some weird "fancy" hand movement and then just put their fist togheter and pull their arm towards themself). Same thing during Sleeping Madness when Hora's bit plays.
I've noticed Hora's no good with wires XD On Monday he got the wire from the mic above his head so it ruined his hair a bit, and today he spent some time pulling the wires from his keyboard over the floor, and watch his step so he wouldn't fall on them. He almost tripped during one of the ending songs (can't remember which), he came to the front by one of the speakers when he suddenly tottered and then smiled slightly suprised and embarrassed ^^ 

After Succubus they left stage, kind of sudden for Hora, Kaya on the other hand stayed, and began singing a song I did not recognise and in the middle Aki joined him on stage, and then they played their setlist. Like I said Aki had a harder sound than Schwarz Stein and I quite enjoyed their music.

I was thinking about going to be honest but stayed just incase, and lucky me because Schwarz Stein came back on stage. Kaya seemed to really like Aki's guitarist, he began to pet his cheek, and later following him on stage XD Hora seemed a bit uncomfortable again, hehe. He kept having a really shy and uncomfortable expression in his face when Aki talked to him. Aki mentioned Hora's symbol on his forehead, I didn't really understand what it was, but Hora looked so uncomfortable XD I almost felt sorry for him, standing there in the middle with all the attention aimed at him.
Then both bands played 3 songs togheter, I have no idea what it was but I get the feeling it was covers of some sort, I hope Kaya shares the titles on his blog *updated*.

Before leaing stage everyone went crazy over Hora again, shouting for him so he came over again. I wonder when he got this popular XD
They all got in again for a second encore, and they played one of the first songs yet again. Then it was really over.
I saved my drinkticket like always, thinking I could try Madness Hora, but no, of course that drink was cash only (500yen), so I had a coke...then I ordered the mysterious Madness Hora XD

I was a bit nervous about getting it because it includes vodka, and after Közi's talkingsession in which I had alcohol and ended up feeling drunk XD, I wasn't sure this would be a good idea, BUT....Hora doesn't make drinks everytime and I certainly can't have them, so I decided to try it anyway. To be honest I couldn't even feel the vodka, that's how weak it was. It tasted like sweet milk, so it was tasty. I just wonder why Hora made a drink with alcohol when he said himself that he doesn't drink, or is that the reason it didn't even taste like vodka XD (??)
Madness Hora included vodka, milk and gomme syrap, and ice of course (in case someone wants to try it at home :P).

As always Schwarz Stein was amazing live, and it made me really sad that this probably will be my last live with them. Still have the signing event next Saturday, but I want to see them play again =(

Setlist *Updated*
Testament
Current
Release Me
MC
Lilith
Transient
Perfect Garden
Rise to Heaven -2014-
New Vogue Children
MC 
Creeper
Sleeping Madness
Syphilis and Disorder
Succubus
The Alternation of Generations -Increase-

揺れながら…REMIX (Yurenagara, Kaya made a Laputa cover some time ago, and tonight Kaya sang it wich Aki)

Encore
少女A (Shoujo A, Nakamori Akina cover)
飾りじゃないのよ涙は (Kazari janai no yo namida wa, Nakamori Akina cover)
DESIRE-情熱- (Desire -jounetsu-, Nakamori Akina cover)


Incase anyone wants to hear the songs, here's some links. It's funny all of these bandmen in their middle 30's are into old jpop XD It's all catchy songs, but Kaya rocked these songs XD He should make a cover album of all these old goodies. As a small notice, Kaya and Aki even pulled off some of Nakamori's dance steps aswell, highly amusing.

Then it was time for Velvet Eden, well before that they sat by their merchtable as usual (from what I saw they didn't sell anything though...). I was sitting in the back amazingly bored when I just randomly looks up and see Dada and Chro passing me.

This stage didn't have a real curtain so while we were waiting by the front of the stage we could see Chro walking around, setting up his keyboard and guitar (fun leg-entertainment).

Their opening song is not something I recognise, I wonder why they haven't released that as a demo on youtube... anyway, the setlist was just like last week, exactly the same, so was their outfits. 

I've also finally figuered out the mysterious song XD That was my head being retarded and mixing up Luzifer for Jailed Prince... so no new song, the song I meant was Jailed Prince.

This MC was a bit fun (I also acctually understood more of this than at the gig last week). Dada mentioned he had a hard time grasping things when he has his gloves, so he had his stage pass stuck to his ass, and a girl seriously got to remove it for him and then it was given to Chro, who put it on his mic XD They also mentioned they'll play in Osaka in December, and that they haven't decided on Tokyo yet, so it will come later.

One funny thing was that one of the women in the audience shouted kawaii at Dada at some point during the MC and he began to laugh, saying he's 44, but thanks XD

When Velvet Eden's session was over Dada got back to their merchtable, and since it was empty I decided to go over there. I wanted to thank him for this evening and for Velvet Eden, because it's been a HUGE part of my life since I was 16. He didn't really seem to care that much though. This made me feel extremly embarrassed to be honest, and I regret saying anything at all....

Dada then began to shake hands with those who came to see Velvet Eden, (even me:P), and then Chro showed up out of nowhere, he was really kind.

Then I decided to go, partly because I had early class and partly because I felt really weird after that to be honest.

I might not see Velvet Eden again since they don't have a date for the coming Tokyo live and I'm leaving in February, would've been fun to hear some other songs though :P

Tomorrow I'm going to Khaos Rave Decadence to see Schwarz Stein for the last time ;_; and on saturday I have a ticket to see Közi (I just randomly got the ticket when he announced the new cd, have to get that *_*) so a fun weekend ahead of me.

Sleeping Madness Single

Sleeping Madness

The ticking hand of the clock
The night is coming to kill me

Sweetest Blindness Immortal Madness Sleepless Mind
Sweetest Blindness Immortal Madness Sleepless Mind
Shaking and sinking down the embracing darkness
Staying like this for eternity morning won't come
Sweetest Blindness Immortal Madness Sleepless Mind
Sweetest Blindness Immortal Madness Sleepless Mind
__________________________________________________________
Toki o kizamu tokei no hari
Yoru ga watashi o koroshi ni kuru
Sweetest Blindness Immortal Madness Sleepless Mind
Sweetest Blindness Immortal Madness Sleepless Mind
Shizumu yami no dakareyureru
Kono mama towa ni asa wa konai
Sweetest Blindness Immortal Madness Sleepless Mind
Sweetest Blindness Immortal Madness Sleepless Mind
__________________________________________________________
時を刻む時計の針
夜が私を殺しにくる
Sweetest Blindness Immortal Madness Sleepless Mind
Sweetest Blindness Immortal Madness Sleepless Mind
沈む闇に抱かれ揺れる
このまま永久に朝は来ない
Sweetest Blindness Immortal Madness Sleepless Mind
Sweetest Blindness Immortal Madness Sleepless Mind

Lilith

The kind wind beckons at the night
Silently opens the window and calls for me

So that you won't have bad dreams
So that you won't be scared of the dark
I'll sing until you're asleep

What scares you are no more
The ones who hurt you aren't here
Sleep sweet and calm

I'll embrace your pains
I'll take away your past
Without going anywhere I'm always here
Existing, hidden in your dreams

Let's close all the windows hard
And lock all the doors softly
The mad people outside of the window are marching
We embrace in our sleep

The world on te other side of the monitor is decorated in rose colored lies
I can only hear your pulse

Slumber at dawn
Melted togheter in sleep
Your kiss
Counting your pulse
The children come back to my pillow
It's better to not see
__________________________________________________________
Yasashii kaze ga temaneku yoru ni wa
Shizukani mado o akete watashi o yonde

Warui yume o minai youni
Yami ni obienai youni
Utatte ageru nemuru made

Kowai koto wa nanimonai
Kizu tsukeru mono mo inai
Amaku yasuraka ni onemuri

Anata no itami o dakishimete ageru
Anata o kako goto ubotte ageru
Dokonimo ikazuni zutto koko ni ite
Kakuyakana yume no naka ikite

Subete no mado o kataku tozashimashou
Subete no doa ni sotto kagi o kakete

Mado no soto de ki no fureta gunshu ga koushin shiteiru
Watashitachi wa dakiattenemuru

Monitaa goshi no sekai o barairo no uso de kazari
Anata kodou dake o kiku

Yoake ni madoromi
Tokeatte nemuru
Anata no kuchi tsuke
Kodou okazoe
Watashi no shitone de kodomo ni okaeri
Mou nanimo minakute ii
__________________________________________________________

優しい風が手招く夜には
静かに窓を開けて私を呼んで

悪い夢をみないように
闇に怯えないように
歌ってあげる眠るまで

怖いことは何もない
傷つける者もいない
甘くやすらかにお眠り

あなたの痛みを抱きしめてあげる
あなたを過去ごと奪ってあげる
どこにも行かずにずっと此処に居て
隠やかな夢のなか生きて

すべての窓をかたく閉ざしましょう
すべてのドアにそっと鍵をかけて

窓の外で気の触れた群衆が行進している
私達は抱き合って眠る

モニター越しの世界を薔薇色の嘘で飾り
あなたの鼓動だけを聞くの

夜明けにまどろみ
とけ合って眠る
あなたのくちづけ
鼓動を数え
私の褥で子供にお還り
もう何も見なくていい

 *These are rough translations, I'm really bad with lyrics, but I thought it might give people a sense of what's being said.

Schwarz Stein Incubus Garden

Tonight I went to Shibuya Rex for Schwarz Stein's oneman live Incubus Garden!

I've not only seen Schwarz Stein at Kamijo's Halloween event 2 weeks ago, I acctually went to Japan JUST to see them in 2012 (back in the days when we thought it would be the second and final reunion live). So I knew what I could look forward to tonight...

I've never been to Shibuya Rex, so I'm happy that I'm a time pessimist because I got lost...

Anyway, I thought I had a great ticket because my number was 7, BUT, then they said that the people who preordered was A1-A90 :P so after a 100 people was let in, it was my turn :P
Of course I went for the right side of the stage as usual, since I want to stand infront of Hora.

My outfit for tonight, was dedicated to Hora <3

As far as I saw, there was only me and another girl in the Hora t-shirt!

While waiting they played songs from Hora's solo, happy suprise! Then the curtain raised and for a change they didn't start with Testament, but with The Alternation of Generations -Conception-. I really like Testament and think it's a better opening...BUT since the second song was COCOON this was probably better. When the curtain was raised you could see that they had really thin, black fabric hanging across the roof and Hora was on the left side of the stage this time (so sad, I noticed he posted that on his blog just before I left home... T-T) and Kaya stood in the middle of the stage.

It really felt like they went for a darker theme tonight, Kaya didn't run out smiling, he was deadly serious most of the time, and the setlist felt a bit "heavier".

Again they had a bit of a problem with the sound, during Profane Gene it just stoped for a short while. Kaya smiled and then just continued when the sound went back on.

Kaya kept a serious face through the MC as well...until people screamed that Hora was cute and his reply was "I know", that made Kaya laugh. And when he agreed that Kaya was pretty, Kaya said there was something wrong with Hora tonight, hehe. Kaya also mentioned that Hora and Közi became friends after their coupling tour with ZIZ (Közi went over to Hora's place, Kaya mentioned that, but Hora also wrote about that on his blog).

People yelled A LOT for Hora tonight, and in the beginning he just raised his hands like he wanted more to shout, then he began to smile and finally he raised his hands as in a "I don't know"-expression XD I'm guessing Hora's not that comfortable with a lot of attention.

 Tonight they played both Lilith and Sleeping Madness, and Lilith grew on me, I wasn't that impressed by the preview but live, it was good. Sleeping Madness on the other hand, OMG I love this! It's by far the best track they've released since their comeback! Like I said about Kamijo's event, it's really great live, it's a perfect livesong, so I'm really happy that I was here for this release and got to hear it 3 times! (I assume now that they'll play it on friday aswell)

Just like before, most people stand kind of calm at their own space....until it's time for the heavy stuff. I'm happy about that because thanks to Creeper, Syphilis and Disorder and Succubus I squeezed almost till the first row. Kaya got all crazy too, I don't even remember which song it was because I just died a bit on the inside; he got to the left edge of the stage, holding on to the pillar and bent down. All of us in the crowd held out our hands, but he didn't reach out for us, then I saw how people aimed for his face XD So I stroke the back of my hand against his cheek, and when I did that he turned his face a bit to my hand and kissed it slightly (draged his lips towards it). I was so suprised XD I felt his lipstick on the back of my hand (asdfghjkl), unfortunatley I didn't get any on my hand...

The same hand got to touch Hora's hand aswell *fangirling*... I'm almost thinking about skinning my hand to save Kaya's and Hora's DNA.... *obviously joking*

For their first encore Hora entered stage alone, when Kaya joined him he joked and asked if he was going to do Bio Genesis (since that's the only song Hora sings completly by himself). Instead they did Kuroageha, and Kaya said that was the first song they did togheter. Hora posted some time ago on his blog saying they'd do old songs so people should help them with the lyrics....but I didn't think he meant songs they've already played! (Hora come on, you've done Kuroageha at least twice...)

I don't really remember the full order of songs, but I do remember they did SIRIUS at the end and Kaya looked sad, like he was crying to be honest. He stood with his back when the song ended, Hora picked up his portabe keyboard and Kaya went over to him and whispered something and then they both went off... I got the feeling they didn't mean to have a paus there...no idea what happened to Kaya.

Everyone began to shout for another encore of course and Hora came out again with his phone, not taking pictures this time, but filming, and then he joked about putting it on youtube :P

Then they ended the evening with Last Hallucination.

On the merchtable, the only new items were Sleeping Madness (yes, they began a presale today) and a photoset! Kaya tweeted just now though, that there will be new items for the gig on friday (something about a poster). I was suprised there were no chekis for sale this evening...

And just as Hora said on his blog, we all recieved a demo cd. I haven't heard it yet, hopefully I'll have it ripped tomorrow.

I didn't have the last Hora photoset, but now the Hora photos are complete, muahaha

After I saw Schwarz Stein in 2012 I used to think it was the best live gig I've ever been to, but tonight, after seeing them for the 3rd time I can honestly say they are the best band I've ever seen. There's so much energy on stage and in the audience, and I love to see how happy Kaya and Hora seems on stage. Eventhough Hora's a bit shy and sometimes just stands there^^

I'm really looking forward to the gig on friday with the band called aki, but I'm also sad because it might be the last one I'll see before I leave Japan.

Setlist:

The Alternation of Generations -Conception-
COCOON -Fallen-
Fester Love
Queen of Decadence
MC
Profane gene
Emergence of Silence
Lilith
Transient
MC
Current
Perfect Garden
Rise to Heaven -2014-
Sleeping Madness
Creeper

Syphilis and Disorder

Succubus -2014-

New Vogue Children

The Alternation of Generations -Increase-

Encore

Kuroageha

SIRIUS-Hallucination-

Encore

Last Hallucination

Next livegig will be Velvet Eden on wednesday! Look forward to a livereport~

Velvet Eden at Ikebukuro Cyber

So last night was the Black Lips event, on which Velvet Eden would officially release their new DVD Behind the Tales.

Sign outside of Ikebukuro Cyber

So, Ikebukuro Cyber is one of the smallest livehouses I ever seen! The floor (excluding the stage) feels like my kitchen, so I'm happy not that many people were there at the same time. At these kinds of events most people don't stay the whole evening (it can go on for 5 hours), some knows when their favorite band's playing...(it's not announced so I'm guessing some bands tell).
Anyway, I felt like I was late, I didn't have time to buy something I really wanted to bring..., but I did have time to run and buy a silver pen :3
Me and my friend arrived about 10 minutes before they picked us up (The street Cyber's on is so small they don't want people to line outside of their dorr, you do the lining a place further away and then a staffmember picks you up). Something kind of important in case someone's going to Cyber to a similar event and haven't been before is that sometimes there will be a person making a list for the front row of each band! So if you see a person at the front of the stage by the time they let you in with paper and pen, make sure to go up at tell which band, your name and where you want to stand!

I made sure to get a place on the left of the middle, so I had a good view of Dada. I never know in which order bands appear so I was, to be honest a bit bored waiting for 4h.
There was however some more interesting bands, a lolita trio called Die Milch who had a somewhat electric sound with violin, Rose Noire, I'm not a big fan of their music recorded but they were pretty good live, especially when both Jill and Louie played violin (and I think he's one of the most gorgeous people in the VK scene at the moment, so my eyes were happy).

After about 4h of waiting I see Dada coming out from the backstage area and in behind the Velvet Eden merchtable! This might sound crazy, and slightly fanatic fangirl:ish, but I felt so nervous and hysterical on the inside XD Felt like I almost had to pinch my arm, it was slightly unreal.

So, we went over to the merch table to pick up a copy, some people were infront of us so Dada went backstage again, but Chro was really nice explaining in english what I had to fill out on the ticket to attend the photoevent afterwards.
Then after 2 more bands or so Velvet Eden was finally on!
I felt like my heart jumped out of my chest when the curtain was pulled away and I saw Dada stand infront of me. So what were they wearing? Both Chro and Dada had the same outfit (Chro didn't have Dada's gloves though), which looked like a full body suit in pleather, with tiny holes in it, corset, thong, the ruffles they Dada wears on the DVD cover and those wide legs (the kind Dada has had a million times, like in the Ningyou Shoukan PV). Ow yeah, Chro hadblack feathers on his behind, looked really cute.
They opened with Street of Alice, this has to be like the 3rd version, or 4th probably. It sounded like the original but at the end, it had bits of the 2.0 version. Of course they also played Toxic Queen and Jailed prince (Toxic Queen was so awesome *_*), but I got a bit confused, the second last song, I really didn't recognise... so either I'm a bad fan or it's a new song! It was very rock for Velvet Eden I think, so it stood out a bit (hence me not recognising it).

They had some pretty long MC's this evening (talked about T-backs of course and some other things).
After their session Dada and Chro was back behind their merch table (Dada crawled under the table, looked so cute). This was the reason I brought my silver marker, hehe, so when no one was there I got up there and asked if they could sign the DVD, and they did <3 I was so happy, finally I have their signatures for real XD (I have other signed items but I've never seen them being signed, doesn't feel real then), and finally we got called in by Chro for the photos!
So, Dada posted some night's ago that those who buy the Behind the Tales DVD this evening will get a photo taken and then he will make a gothic VE retouch! Unfortunately since Dada was taking the pictures he could not be in them =( But I got to stand with Chro, so I was happy anyway^^ (I hope Dada's ready for some heavy retouching, I'll need it).

My outfit for this evening had alot of planning, well at least my legs^^
I've always loved the wide legs Dada has most of the time. For people who haven't been paying attention, it might look like ordinary socks/stockings, but it's not. They're open at the foot and wide, so I thought I need a pair of those for the first time of seeing Velvet Eden! So off I went to buy some fabric, and stiched them togheter right before I left for Japan. This is the result:

I looked at a lot of pictures and noticed...other members... having overknee socks under so that they're not as seethrough as they would've been, so I did that as you can see. (I wore a meshtop to this, and a collar-like necklace)
I'm quite satisfied with how these ended up, so when I get home I'm really going to try and make a full cosplay of one of Dada's looks when he has these.

Setlist:

Street of Alice
Toxic Queen
MC with Rouge d'noir
One caress
Luzifer
MC with Girl's End
Jailed Prince
Confession of Mask