Mana ESP guitar event

Everyone who likes and follows Mana probably knows he helped design a new guitar with ESP, and in honor of that an event was held at the ESP museum in Shibuya!

I don't know anything about guitars truth be told, I don't play any instrument and I don't really have an interest in the details about guitars electronics. So when I found out that in order to attend the event you had to buy either the t-shirt or the doleman with the new guitar and it's specifics on I felt a bit disapointed to be honest. It's a bit too nerdy for me, but I ended up with the doleman (it's way too big for me so I'm sleeping in it). Because of this, I didn't really care about the new guitar either, I just wanted to shake Mana's hand and get something signed! X)

To begin with I was thinking long and hard about what I should bring for Mana to sign, I even concidered having someone ship my Malice Mizer 1th Anniversary demo, and then it was announced he'd only sign a photo provided at the store. A bit disapointed, and a bit relieved as I no longer had to think about what to get signed, fufufu.

I was given the 4th period, 18.00 (6 p.m), a bit stressed I arrived just in time for picking up my event ticket. Mana announced that for those who bought the guitar, he'd take a picture with them. When I was waiting for the event to start I walked around the ESP shop and noticed about four people filling out forms, making me wonder if they acctually bought the guitar...
I'm guessing I've been complaining a lot lately X) but I don't care to be honest. So here's my next complains:
I'm not sure about this, but I sort of assume that those who buy this guitar does it because Mana helped design it and to get the photo with him. The guitar cost, at the shop 800 000yen, with that price I feel like Mana should throw a slumber party for those who bought it. To only get to take a photo with him feels kind of bad. Many bands offer the cheki thing for a 1000 yen...
Second complaint, the event was way too short! Let's get to the few details.

So, about 15 minutes before the start of the event they let us in the room where it would be held. It was very nicely decorated with the regular gate with blue roses which can be seen at Moi Dix Mois concerts and also of course the big cloth with the band logo on. The room was all dark and only lit up from blue lights in the ceiling which was shaped as the cross on the Jeune fille guitar!

My seat was in the left corner, next to room partitioner for where Mana would sign the photo. While waiting we got to listen to some Moi Dix Mois music, from what I heard they were playing Reprise. The wait was short, staff closed the doors and explained the rules concidering taking pictures etc. Then they asked if we should call for Mana sama. People shouted (once only to my surprise) and then Mana came out in Moité (I know everything he wears is Moité, but none of the Moi Dix Mois outfits). This was my first time seeing Mana like this, not on stage performing so I felt kind of surprised at how big he felt to be honest, I mean surely he wears platforms but he's not that tall, and at the previous gigs I've been to he's always looked so thin and now I felt like he's kind of been gaining weight! I'm not saying that as in he's fat and need to loose weight, I don't care if he gains weight, I'm just not used to that since he usually looks very thin (stick legs).
Anyway, he came out with the new guitar, showed it off and then the staff also announced that Seth and Ryux would join him. Seth looked awesome! He wore black jeans, boots, a blouse, corset, hat and eyepatch. He had his hair in a ponytail, making him look a bit casual (for being VK).
He began reading Mana's message which was really short, and just about the guitar. Mana then played a bit of Je l'aime, and when I say a bit I mean a short bit, maybe 30 seconds. Mana looked a bit nervous, but it went fine. Then the event was over. Seth left with Ryux and Mana went behind the screen while staff explained how to order the guitar I think....I stoped listening here because I noticed I could sneak on Mana from the crack in the screen! I saw some fans looking at me going between looking straight ahead and then looking into the screen. Not that much exciting things, Mana looked a bit stressed removing all his rings, but then he just stood there chillin' waiting for people...until I'm sure he noticed the crack and I looked him in the face for a short while. ...then I stopped looking, the awkwardness was a bit too much for me.

People started lining up and it all went really fast so I grabbed my present and lined up aswell! So when I got back there Mana stood behind the table, I handed over my present, he bowed and accepted it, then he signed the photo and took my hand in both his, handed me the portrait and then it was over! When I shook his hand and said something to him, it looked like he wanted to smile but tried not to, hehe.
I didn't see what time it was, but it felt like the event was over in no time. I was hoping it would've been longer, that he would've played a whole song or something. A bit disapointed but I still enjoyed meeting him for the first time and acctually get his authograph (I have signed things but it's not the same when the person hasn't signed it infront of you).

D - 14th Anniversary Special Premium "Free" Live (Dark fairy tale)

On April 23rd D held a free live at Zepp Tokyo on the artificial island Odaiba. The free live was to celebrate their14th Anniversary. The tickets were handed out for free on a flyer which could be taken at most visual kei shops, or they were also handed out at their oneman live in January. However, if you wanted a good entrance number and a secured place at the live you could pre-book a ticket through pia. It was still free but you had to pay the administration fees. I chose this option and ended up paying 500yen for my ticket, which I thought was totally worth it concidering how much a normal ticket costs.

Since it was a free live I didn't have that much expectations regarding the length of the live. I've seen a lot smaller bands offer free live tickets for gigs lasting 1 hour, so for D which are a kind of big visual kei band I assumed it would be a rather short live. Oh was I wrong.

Eventhough I pre-ordered my ticket I ended up with a B-number, so about 700 people entered before me :P It sounds like a lot but Zepp is kind of big, I've had worse numbers there so it was ok. I also bought the D flags for this occassion! I mentioned that a nice fan lend me one of her flags last time, so I felt like it was time to get my own set now. I also got some costume chekis.
I wasn't aware of the system D has with chekis, but both at this live and the next (which I haven't written about yet) you could buy a ticket for chekis before the live, and then you go and pick them up afterwards. With this system you buy a set, so you get 1 cheki of each member, all in or out of costume, it's your choice. They come in a nice little envelope which states the date and live, so it makes a nice memory!

Since Zepp is kind of big I was really suprised to see it seemed kind of full! I'm glad that many showed up and hopefully some who's never seen D enjoyed the concert and will go to their later too!
The stage was amazingly decorated with flowers, real and actually big ones made from fabric or similar attached to the background, matching their new dark fairytale costumes. I have to say the new theme really appealed to me, I'm glad to see that D's fantasy doesn't seem to cease.
There seem to have been some electronic issues, all of a sudden some projection started eventhough the club was all lit up. It was just for a moment though and it was turned off immediatly. Short after the club was lit down and the projection was turned on for real. What it showed was a music video, the members were all dressed in their new outfits, and as most can figure out, it was the PV for their new single Dark Fairy Tale.
I just don't get how they can keep releasing so much stuff! D really never takes a break (even when they do :P). The song was very typical D, to be honest, to me nothing special. Better than Happy Unbirthday but not a top notch song. The PV was fun though, and I have to admit I love their costumes.

After the PV the members came out on stage and the first song up was 7th Rose! I really like that and I haven't heard it live before so I got really hyped. Like always D are very energetic on stage and the fans too, that's what I love about their lives. Eventhough I'm not a great fan (I follow them and have most of their full length albums but not fanatic) their lives are one of the best in the visual kei scene in my opinion.
As the evening went on I realised that eventhough it was a free live, it was just as good and long as a normal live with D. And what was great about the setlist was that it really reflected their anniversary! I assumed they would play a lot of songs from Wonderland Saviour, being their most recent album but the set list offered a wide variety of songs. To follow the nature/fairytale theme they acctually played Namonaki mori no yumegatari which is one of my favorite songs! It was great live of course, and from that single they also played Sankaku oyane to awarena koguma. The first half of the concert was just full of my favorite songs, so I couldn't have been more pleased. Also, Yami yori kurai doukoku akapera to bara yori akai jounetsu no aria, how can Asagi sing that so well live!?

The later half of the setlist, one song written by each member was played. Asagi would first present the song and say who wrote it and also some other things about it. So, it started with Hiroki and Desert Warrior! I feel like the setlist was very well thought. Not only did they chose songs to follow the nature theme, they also included songs from all of their career and on top of that one song from each member. Hands down to D, they know how to make a good live.
There seemed to have been some technical problems later too, at some point staff came to help Ruiza with his guitar equipment. It looked rather funny as Ruiza turned around and the staff member lifted his skirt to be able to help with the thing connected to the guitar (not a technical person so I have no idea what it's called), and I could hear some fans laughing (he has some great legs though).
I was happily surprised to hear that they played Kurobara no kishi again! It's one of my favorite songs on Kingdom and it's really fun live, hopefully I'll get to hear it once more before leaving Japan. (I noticed though that some people looked a bit scared seeing the parapara for it, I assume those girls weren't D fans, hehe)

As a last song of the main setlist they played Dark fairy tale, and Hide-Zou was supposed to show us the moves. There was some headbanging in the beginning and then for the chorus Asagi asked what everyone should do and Hide-Zou thought we could go for the "fancy hand movements" (as I like to call it :P), so in a very feminine manner he began showing with his hands and people laughed a bit, Asagi too.

Like always they all say some words to the fans and wave goodbye for a rather long time before leaving stage. I think that's really sweet, especially Asagi which I sometimes feel can come across as a bit stiff. He really stays on each side of the stage for a long time to wave to everyone.

This was a great live, and too bad for those who couldn't attend or chose not to, you really missed something. Please go see D if you get the chance, if you're into visual kei I'm sure you won't be disapointed!

―SE―

7th Rose

闇の国のアリス

闇より暗い慟哭のアカペラと薔薇より赤い情熱のアリア

光の庭～名もなき森の夢語り

～MC～

Night-ship”D”

花摘みの乙女

～MC～

三角お屋根と哀れな子熊

～MC～

Vampire missa

花惑

～MC～

Lost breath

ードラムソロー

Desert Warrior

In the name of Justice

鬨の声

～MC～

GOD'S CHILD

～MC～

君が見る夢の中

～MC～

Leukocyte

黒薔薇の騎士

～MC～

Dark fairy tale　

Encore

太陽を葬る日

Wonderland Savior～太陽と月の歯車～

Pride

Dearest you

EDEN

春の宴

Night Low Be 2017 at Club Zion, Nagoya

Where Schwarz Stein goes, I will follow. Sort of. (2 years ago I was about to go to Sapporo to attend their oneman and instore, but decided not to because it would cost too much)

So when they announced they'd do a coupling live with Közi in Nagoya again I couldn't stop myself from going. Being a fan of both Közi and Schwarz Stein I just had to see this, especially since I missed the last live they did together in 2015.

 So, right after a concert in Tokyo on Saturday night I went to Osaki station and got on my bus to Nagoya! Since I went just for the gig (I also did some sightseeing that I will post about in a seperate entry) I only stayed for one night and therefor decided to try a dorm for the first time in my life. When I arrived I passed by the bathroom/powder room, seeing that someone was applying some heavy make up. I didn't pay much attention to it, but then I went back to have a shower and realise that the make up this girl is applying is Hora's! I've always wanted to make his magic circle for a live but I know I wouldn't be able to pull it off (too much details!) and she'd done his make up so perfectly, I was so impressed. We talked a bit and since we were headed the same way we went together! Most of the time (basically always) I go to live gigs alone because I don't know anyone who likes the same bands as me so it was really nice and fun having someone to share the experience with for once. But talk about coincidence, I meet someone from Tokyo who's come to Nagoya just like to see Schwarz Stein and we're staying at the same dorm!

Anyway, I was kind of split about who'd start the evening and who'd end it. I acctually thought Schwarz Stein might be the opening and Közi the ending but it showed to be the opposit. So Közi started, and like the other times I've seen the E//+Z project he had projections being shown of different images, and he had his red suit on. I really like his hairstyling, instead of teasing it up it's combed down. I think with the red suit it makes him look sort of stylish salaryman á la visual kei.
Közi acctually didn't have his guitar for this live, just some sort of machine to change and do effects on his vocals (I'm not into music equipment so I have no idea what it was and how it works...). Like I've said before, Közi is really great live, I feel like he just goes up there and does his thing and it feels very natural and like he's enjoying it. Közi isn't just a very good musician but also very amusing to watch. For example, when the intro for Cacophony began playing he grabbed his bottle of tea to drink, and he just stood there with one arm in his side and the bottle in his other hand and the remix version of the song has a kind quiet opening and then all of a sudden the guitar will just break out sort of. And in that moment he quickly took a sip of his tea. It looked very amusing and everyone began laughing and I even think I could see a smile on Közi's face too. One interesting thing is that he make small changes to the songs live, so it doesn't really feel repetitve to watch E//+Z despite it just being one CD with songs, and you know what he'll be playing (I love the CD so I wouldn't mind just listening to the songs as they are but it's nice to see he puts some effort to change the setlist as much as he can while still using the same songs). He greeted everyone, Közi isn't much of a talker really (unless he's talking to the other members), so he kept quiet but it seemed like one of his members didn't know if he should start the next song or not so they quickly exchanged a look and Közi nodded but it got kind of awkwardly silent for a while so Közi just shouted out Nagoya again and then the song started. I don't have a setlist but I'm pretty sure he played all the songs off the remix album. I do however remember that the last song he played was ISM, and I couldn't help but to wonder if Hora would join him for it, but it didn't happen. Közi thanked everyone and left stage.

We in the crowd were left to listen to some Sopor Aeternus. I felt like the paus was kind of long, and then all of a sudden Testament began playing. I was so happy they opened with that, I love it and they didn't use that for their oneman in Tokyo. Everytime I hear Testament I just get this adrenalin rush, probably because I get so hyped knowing I'm at a Schwarz Stein live! Hora entered first as always, followed by Kaya. I don't take notes on the setlist because I just want to enjoy the gig, I do remember the songs though (in the wrong order), but as soon as a setlist is announced I'll put it on here!
Both Kaya and Hora wore their Sleeping Madness costumes, and of course they played their most recent release Fleeting Beauty, the live started off a bit slow, but then they did the classics and eventhough people always are a bit stiff to begin with they began loosen up during Perfect Garden and Release me. I was really hoping to hear Release me because it's awesome on CD and even more awesome live. During their onwman in Tokyo the sound was a but off, the bass was too loud but this time around you could acctually hear the melody as well. Hora and Kaya both gestured to people to raise their hands and dance to the music but people seem to stop when they stop their instructions which I find kind of funny...
I found it kind of funny that both Közi and Schwarz Stein mentioned that it was fun being back in Nagoya, because I recognized most of the people there. This means that either the people all came from Tokyo to see this gig, or these people come from other cities to Tokyo everytime to see them. I bet most came from Tokyo though, and if that's really the case....did they have to make a live in Nagoya making us travel across the country? :P During the MC Kaya and Hora talked quite a bit, and people shouted kawaii and Kaya said "I know", quoting Hora from the previous live, hehe. Kaya seemed to have some trouble pronouncing the title of the event, and then he mentioned, like always, that Schwarz Stein is a "my pace" project and for now they don't have any plans. Hora will however be a guest at Kaya's anniversary live later this month. The plan is for them to do some Rudolf Steiner and some Schwarz Stein songs (making me wonder what the difference will be concidering the Rudolf Steiner songs has all been released as Schwarz Stein, or Another Cell. Or will they acctually perform them as they sound on the demos?). 
Then came the biggest suprise. Kaya mentioned that in Tokyo they do the after events, and then they will say goodbye to everyone, but they've never had that in Nagoya so for this evening they decided to offer a 3shot cheki for 1000yen after the gig. I barely couldn't believe my ears, I've been so jealous of the people who attended their gig in the US who got to take a picture with them, and I was hoping they'd do some instore for Fleeting Beauty offering a 3shot cheki. I was so happy I did go to Nagoya for this gig after all. 
Like always they ended with all their heavier songs, Creeper, Syphilis and Disorder, Sleeping Beauty and Succubus. One thing I've noticed is that over the years the crowd has gotten more violent. The first gig I attended in 2012 everyone was sort of leaning towards the stage for these songs, this time one girl acctually fell to the ground (and I was about to fall too once). I noticed that the girls standing closest to the stage was basically lying with their upper body on the stage by now, and at one point Hora even gesticulated to everyone to back a bit. The club was also extremly hot. There must've been something wrong with the airconditioner because it was so warm I could see how Hora was dripping of sweat after just one song (and I felt it running down my back after just a short while). Kaya mentioned during their first MC that it was very warm, asking if everyone was ok. I was very happy we'd get to take pictures with them, but did it have to be the day I was sweating like there was no tomorrow? Like always, despite it being a bit aggressive, I really like the end bit of Schwarz Stein's lives because those songs are just awesome live and Hora and Kaya really gives it their all. Kaya as always went to kiss and lick people's hands (hehe).
They left stage but of course came out for an encore. I was kind of excited since I remember they did Succubus with Közi last time, I really wanted to hear that. Kaya mentioned that he thinks Közi is really cool at one point, hehe. Közi entered stage with his fellow support members (all with a drink in their hands of course) and then they talked a bit. Közi said he liked the hand movement Kaya does in Creeper, so they wanted to do that together. He also asked Hora what it is he says during Creeper, and then they decided it would be changed to "nairobi" (ナイロビ), a shorter version of Night Low Be (probably easier for Kaya to pronounce as well, hehe). So they started Creeper, just like it always sounds but when it was time for the chorus Hora changed "crave your wings" to "nairobi" and then Közi would get in with a "nairobi" right after like an echo. Both Kaya and Hora had a hard time keeping a straight face, Kaya began laughing and couldn't do the arm gesture and Hora had problems keeping up his death vocals. Közi however kept going without problems, and his support members did the arm gesture with us in the crowd. I felt a bit like Közi and his "gang" was a bit too amused (perhaps had one too many), and when they then did Succubus (changing "nightmare" to nairobi" of course) Közi went accross the stage to do something with one of the speakers (adjust volume maybe?) he acctually fell on his behind! No harm done though, he just got up again, I've just never seen him fall, I thought that was a Mana thing (fufufu). For those who follow Közi on Twitter might have noticed that Közi wrote that he lost his phone in Nagoya...(just saying...).

Közi said it was nice to do the Night Low Be, and that they'll do a Night Low Be 2018 (something for everyone in Japan to look forward to). Then they left stage and I sort of rushed out to get some air (it really was like a sauna in there) and to buy that 3shot cheki! I noticed the tickets didn't sell out, and also that most people only bought one, I got two (I don't want closed eyes again like with Hizaki...). I was waiting by the end of the stairs, outside of the actual stage area to be able to breath, when all of a sudden I see Kaya, followed by Hora coming down the stairs! I always feel so weird because I don't know what to say, so I said good evening, haha. I also hate taking these kinds of photos having all the people watching me so I waited until last. I also wanted to see how others did it who bought several tickets (like if you could request a pose etc). One thing I noticed which I haven't seen before was that one girl requested a cheki of Hora and Kaya together, without her. Then it was my turn and I got one regular and one pose, hehe (not posting my photos, I look to awkward). Then before Kaya and Hora left Hora said thanks and take care. I went out of the club feeling like I was on drugs or something. 
Schwarz Stein's gigs are always so intense it's crazy. And getting the chance to take a cheki with them was just overwhelming for my fangirl heart. The day after I had to look at the photos again, assuring myself it really happened, haha. It was totally worth traveling to see this. Schwarz Stein is always worth it.

2017.6.8 Set List

SE(testament)

１：Lilith
２：Release me
３：Perfect Garden
MC
４：Fleeting Beauty
５：方舟
６：Current
MC
７：Sleeping Madness
８：CREEPER
９：Syphilis and Disorder
10：Succubus

encore

11：CREEPER(“Night Low Be”ver)
12：Succubus“Night Low Be”ver)