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

I want to timetravel...

When I went to see The Velvet I had to endure lots of random bands before they got on stage. They were mostly small visual kei bands, and what kept running through my head was; What happened to good old visual kei?

All the new bands are young pretty boys, without any unique voice or style. I really miss the 90's.
Not that I listened to visual kei then, but god I love the old bands. There were something special about the way they dressed and the way they sang, the way the music was played, everything.

Before I left for Japan (well about this summer) I got into the old, successful visual kei band Raphael. Among foreigners they're probably known mostly because their guitarist, Kazuki, killed himself at the age of 19.
Everyone who enjoys old Malice Mizer or Lareine should check this band out for sure! This song is called Eternal Wish~ Todokanu Kimi e, a ballad with a lot of emotions. A new version was released in memory of Kazuki in 2012.
So please give them a try (at least if you're into older stuff)! I really love Yuki's voice, it's really something special, the deep kind you rarely hear in todays VK scen.

(random comment; Mimi updated his blog and The Velvet will have a Tim Burton theme at their Halloween live *_* Mimi will go as Edward Scissorhands and Bera as Jack! A bit sad I can't go and see that, but on the other hand I'll be watching Velvet Eden play their fantastic new song Toxic Queen, so I can't complain!)

The Velvet at Ikebukuro Cyber

Yesterday I had a reservation to go see The Velvet at Ikebukuro Cyber! I got some guidance from a The Velvet fan, otherwise I would've been completly lost! I had no idea all these events with a million bands playing had so much set "rules", so I was lucky to get help^^

While standing in line, in the rain, for 2 hours you could see bands arriving, Mimi and Bera aswell.

The Velvet was scheduled for 8pm, so for 4h we had to watch all these other random bands (I thought I had seen random, I had not...one band had a dragon bassist O_o).
Ikebukuro Cyber was so much smaller than I imagened! Eventhough it felt bad that most left when their favorite band played, it was acctually nice since the floor was so tiny.
The Velvet got a bit delayed, they were scheduled for 8pm, but the band playing before them never seemed to start :P
Their gig was so much more fun than I thought, both Mimi and Bera was so full of energy eventhough they weren't even playing for a full livehouse. Mimi danced and jumped around so much you couldn't help but get some of that energy. I totally forgot I was soaking wet XD
I enjoyed all the songs but Shiroi karasu wa nemurenai and Kansensuru android were two highlights^^ I stood infront of Bera and he came so close to the edge of stage I had his crotch like 30cm from my face, and a few drops of sweat landed on me. (XD)
Mimi stood at their table selling items afterwards (he was so cute*_*), I asked if he had any t-shirts with him and he looked so suprised, and apologised saying he didn't bring them, so he asked if I was coming to the Halloween event, but I'm not =( so I just got a cheki ^^ He was really kind =) (then I sat on the floor by their merchtable, taking short glances at them XD)

I can't go to the Halloween event, but I have to see them once more before I leave Japan *_* (and hopefully Mimi can bring t-shirts^^)

Setlist:
1. Shiroi karasu wa nemurenai
2. Fukigenna Mari
-MC-
3. Oboreru ningyo
4. Plastic doll
5. Meikyuu shoujo
6. Kansensuru android

October

I'm kind of amazed that Japan starts Halloween so early. Stores are full of pumpkins and witches eventhough October just began. Halloween parties are also all over October (what happened to the fact it's acctually a holiday at the end of the month?), and yet Tokyo is so hot I feel like I'm on a trip to hell (I'm really bad with heat, and cold acctually).

I'm still on a hideous jetlag, so as soon as I lie down I'm lying there for probably 2-3 hours trying to sleep. But of course that can't stop me when it comes to seeing my bands. This morning I set my alarm so that I'd be ready to go down to Lawson at 10 a.m, to get a ticket to D's concert at Shinjuku BLAZE in November!

Shinjuku BLAZE isn't that big so I wanted to be sure I'd get a ticket, but their webpage was down and when I got to the Loppi machine it stoped working because too many were buying tickets at the same time :P But I got my ticket and that's what's important!

To be honest I've been a bit disapointed in D's latest releases but they have some really amazing songs from their previous albums and since they're going on hiatus I really want to see them (to be frank, many bands say they go on hiatus and then you never see them again).

Tomorrow though, I'll be seeing The Velvet for the first time! I've planned on going to one of their livegigs since the first time I went to Tokyo and then something else has come in the way. But tomorrow I'm finally off to see Bera and Mimi! I'm really looking forward to it.

捨て猫

A while ago I came across an auction for Velvet Eden's single Sute Neko. This auction included a photo of the band, I have no idea where it came from, if it were a first press bonus or something from a special store. I bet most are familiar with this picture already, but the copy which has spread is in very bad quality, so I tried my best (without a scanner!!) to get a proper and big version of this fantastic picture.

I have a bit of a special bound to Sute Neko because it was the first song I ever heard from Velvet Eden, and I absolutely love it! It's a bit fun to see Dada still doing the scorpio outfit which was used in the 90's (and again now in the VELVET EDEN PV), and I also think this is the most bizarre and different look for Velvet Eden. The bandmembers look like each and one of them has their own style and not particularly gothic either (I mean RYO is a skeleton, Hora has Cloud hair and Abexx has horns! :P). I feel like this probably is the least loved era of Velvet Eden, perhaps because it broke many of the boundaries which made Velvet Eden what it was?