Schwarz Stein Immortal Verses Tour Encore Final -Daywalker-

Okey, this is odd. Never ever have I written a live report over 6 MONTHS after it acctually took place :P I considered not Writing anything, but as a huge fan of Schwarz Stein (and other smaller Visual kei bands) I know the available material is limited and therefore decided to write this...based on what I remember.

I wasn't even sure I'd be able to attend this live due to some issues with my uni in Osaka (one of my courses was going on a fieldtrip that very weekend and I was told it was mandatory). In the end I obviously decided to go anyway...because it's Schwarz Stein :P but it was stressfull because it wasn't very planned out from my part and I ended up leaving Saturday night from Osaka arriving on Sunday morning in Tokyo. With barely any sleep I headed for Shibuya where the live would be and spent a couple of hours at the infamous Starbucks (I tried waiting for as long as I could but I never got to see the crazy amount of people crossing unfortunately), then went to Donki to change into my live clothes and back to Hachiko to meet up with my friend. I've mentioned Before how I didn't really like it in Osaka, so I was so happy to be back in Tokyo, seeing my favorite band and meeting up people that I know (in contrast to my life up the mountains alone in Osaka:P).

This live was during daytime, like the title hints, and I have to say it was a bit disapointing. For me it was rather convenient as I could return to Osaka the same evening but I do prefer going to lives at night.

Kaya had mentioned on Twitter (I think) that there would be announcment during the live so I was hyped thinking there might be a new single or something, I'll get back to the disapointing news later...

Shibuya Rex was not so crowded, I bought my ticket late due to the issue with uni and assumed I'd get a high ticket number, but I ended up on the second third row from stage (and during the heavier songs I even managed to get to second row) so I wasn't too disapointed. I don't remember the exact order of the songs, but I do remember morgue and Apocalypse being in the begining and I really like those songs so it really got me in the Schwarz Stein mood. Kaya told us that people had been a bit jealous of the setlist from Hokkaido so they would basically do that, except for Beautiful the Virgin! The moment he said that I wanted to cry a bit (Beautiful the Virgin is one of my favorite songs and I still haven't been able to hear it live yet). Obviously they played all the songs from Immortal Verses and they were all good live, especially Immortal Light and Lotus. I'm not saying that just because Hora does vocals for them, but I've realised that the songs in which Hora acctually do have vocals Kaya tend to improvice more to be part of the performance if that makes sense. Everyone who hasn't been able to see them live, perhaps you've seen their live dvd from 2011? During Creeper and Syphilis and Disorder for example, Kaya will add stuff (might it be the arm movement during Creeper or the shouts in Syphilis and Disorder) so that he still is a big part of the song, and that I really like. They also played Release Me, one of my all time favorites so I was pleased. 

So what was the announcment? Before the live I noticed a woman to my right holding a paper or something with an image of Kaya and Hora, and my mind went wild imagening what it might be. Ticket for soemthing perhaps? ...oh no. The announcment was that added to the merch was a sticker set... 1000yen for 3 tiny stickers. sorry, but that was not what I expected (didn't stop me from buying it though...) Funny thing was they had a new photoset of Hora which was not announced and I think that was a lot more of value...

Like they seem to do most of the time nowadays, an after event was held as well as a 3person cheki. Unfortunately they're charging 2000yen for a cheki now, used to be 1000yen, so with the after event ticket, sticker and regular cheki I couldn't afford 2 but got 1 cheki with them. I'm not gonna post my cheki, because I fucked that one up bad :P let's just say it turned out to be the most funny cheki I've ever taken but also a really big failure. (I will be so disapointed if that will be my last cheki ever with Schwarz Stein XD)

Truthfully I don't have much memory from the after event, I don't think any special questions were raised and they didn't do any extra performance if I remember correctly. I do remember thinking it was way too short, I seriously think it was shorter than their previous after events I've attended which is a shame considering the price.

After the live, me and my friend went to a Hawaiian restaurant, in Hora's honour. Warning, if ever ordering pancakes, make sure you're REALLY hungry. The restaurant is called Moke's Hawaii and is located in Meguro, highly recomended. Very nice restaurant, the macadamia milk cocktail was really nice :3

JILUKA - PHASE:synchronicity

After I got back from Japan in 2015 I was introduced to this band (because I had been brainwashed with these "new" kind of VK where they just growl and scream and have cheezy choruses while attending too many random VK gigs in Tokyo, ....and embarrassingly enough I enjoyed it), and thought Screamer was one of the catchiest new vk songs I've heard in a long while. Long story short, I began following them and thought I should go see them next time I'm in Japan, so I decided to go to one of their oneman gigs. Their 3rd oneman gig no less, "PHASE:synchronicity" at WWWShibuya.

I really like that venue, but I find it rather difficult to find, this time around I think I've learned though! Thanks Jiluka, hehe. I got there pretty early so I took the chance to buy their new t-shirt before the gig. I was kind of suprised to see the variety of people there; young, old and a lot of foreigners (for being a smaller band). Of course, as expected most guests were young japanese girls. Anyway, I wasn't sure to begin with if I had the money to go since I wanted to do a lot of other things before leaving Japan, so my ticketnumber wasn't the best. I assumed I'd end up in the back, but despite this there was quite alot of room infront of the stage so I was lucky enough to end up on the first floor so to speak, but in the very back. Anyway, the gig starts and the setlist started of pretty week with songs from their latest releases. I'm sorry, but I'm kind of disapointed in their last two releases. I feel like the songs are very similar now, a lot of growl and then some guitarsolo which sounds basically just like in any of the other songs. However, their first releases was also included and I got to hear some of my favorite songs, such as Raison d'etre, Screamer, D.O.J and Lluvia. I have to give it to them, they were pretty good live, and Ricko especially seemed very happy and enjoying himself on stage. There was a lot of parapara and some girls just take it a bit too far (IMO). I mentioned how I was standing in the back on the floor infront of stage, so above me was a girl standing on "second floor". She, and the rest of the girls standing at the front seemed to be JILUKA's groupies, they had all the items and they were...the most "energetic" so to say. This girl above me, was so into it, that when she headbanged she had to throw all of her head and hair straight down so it hit my face, pretty hard. It might sound weird, but when they start headbanging, getting hit by hair is like being whipped. It hit my eye at one point and that hurt pretty bad. On top of this, she had to stretch out her arms at guitar solos so bad she hit my head with her hand (this also happened several times -.-). For those who don't know, during guitar solos in particular (at vk gigs) fans tend to stretch out their arms, sometimes facing the guitarist. Some of these very, eccentric fans tend to want to stretch as much as they possibly can and that results in them putting one hand down and the other up. Which she did, hitting my head, acctually more like digging into my head, because she got stuck in my hair. I feel like an old hag, but I'm sorry, it's just annoying. You don't have to exaggerate in order to show the band that you love them or get their attention. There are others there, and it will most likely annoy them (me included). I've seen some pretty bad fan behaviour at gigs in Japan and it makes me so tired and pissed off. You're not alone, please respect the other people attending the gig.

Back on topic.

I had a pretty bad day, but I had so much fun (except for the girl who almost made me blind on my right eye) I forgot what a shitty day I had, until I got home. Ricko was really good live, not only because he was entertaining, but his vocals held up pretty good. Zyean was pretty shy, not wanting to talk that much. Anyway, the gig itself was pretty good, and I'd recommend anyone who likes the present vk scene to at least try them out.

【SET LIST】

SE. -Blasphemy-　

1. Necropolis　

2. Divine Error　

3. Faizh　

4. Raison d'etre　

5. Screamer　

6. ZONE　

7. Primal Urge　

8. Azure　

9. -drums solo-　

10. Bloodshot 　

11. Prisoners　

12. Crossing Fate　

13. (SE. -Bipolar- 〜) Omelas　

14. Sacrifice　

15. Lluvia　

16. Lethal Affliction　

17. Twisted Pain　

＜EN-1＞

18. -guitar solo-　

19. Faceless　

20. Monophobia　

21. D.O.J　

＜EN-2＞

22. Ultra BALUS

Kamijo - Epic Rock Orchestra

When I'm in Japan I tend to go to a lot of gigs, sometimes even those I probably shouldn't attend concidering I'm not rich nor a huge fan. But I really like Kamijo live. I probably prefer listening to his music live over listening to his cd's (also to be honest Kamijo is one of those which has become a collecting substitute since I'm basically done with all the bands I really love). I've heard about the Epic rock orchestra and thought it sounded pretty cool so I thought, why not?

This gig took place at Akasaka Blitz, a place I haven't been at since Deep Sanctuary in 2014. This livehouse looked pretty big then, but Kamijo had made this a seated live, so with chairs it didn't really have a high capacity. When I found my seat I was pleased to see that the stage didn't seem that far away, even though I was on Q-row.That was until the two people infront of me came to their seats... it was two western guys....meaning they were pretty tall (and one of them I guess had not been at a live in Japan before because he had problems realising where his own seat was :P). Next to me was two Japanese women, a bit shorter than me, and all of us was stunned by the fact that we couldn't see shit! Especially since that one guy kept coming closer to the other one despite the fact that the seat inbetween was free, and that seat sort of worked as an opening so we could see glimps of the scene! One of the Japanese women asked him to move a bit to the left side so we could see, and he did....until he kept coming closer again. She didn't show it but I'm guessing it pissed her off (me too, big time) so she acctually called for the staff, and a guy came asking the guy to stand infront of his own seat. Again, he moved....and then moved back -.- I don't get how some people work.

So basically, I barely saw anything the whole evening (not kidding). The sound however was really good just as I expected. Normally Kamijo only has his band playing, but for the Epic Rock Orchestra he also have a violinist, cello and a pianist on stage and it really gives that something extra.
Since Castrato had been released by the time he obviously played that, and I have to say it's one of his stronger songs ever. I really like it! At the live they also sold a special edition of the single. It says on it that it's the trailer version. I can't really hear a difference, and like I've said before, I can't listen to the cd's I buy for the moment so I haven't heard this either. If you bought this version you also got a poster, it's very boring though, just the cd cover. I also picked up a t-shirt and the clearfile.

Kamijo always feels very energetic live, and happy, so it's usually really nice attending his gigs. He's a very good talker, making interesting MC's (for this one I don't really remember much since it's been a long time, and I didn't see shit!).
He had another Epic rock orchestra recently, which I attended for other reasons (so there won't be a livereport here), and since I acctually could see I can assure it was great and totally worth going to!

BUCK-TICK FISH TANKer's ONLY 2017

D on Friday and BUCK-TICK on Saturday, that's a perfect weekend!

When BUCK-TICK announced their album I immediately began calculating when a tour would be likely to start and end and came to the conclusion I'd at least make it for the standing tour that usually follows the sitting one. However time passed and the closer to december we got they still haven't announced any dates for a standing tour, and finally the FISH TANKer's ONLY came up for prebooking. That's when I understood there wouldn't be a standing tour this time. Lucky for me I'd be in Japan for the fanclub live, so I entered the lottery and got a ticket!

I think I've probably mentioned this before but at the fanclub only events you have to go through an ID check and they will give you a wrist band so that staff knows you are allowed to pass through and buy goods. If you're registered as a foreigner, not living in Japan that is, you get your own special line since you have to pick up the ticket aswell. In this case it's acctually a positive thing, beause the ID check line for Japanese residents are always so long XD
This concert took place at Zepp Diver City, which is connected to the big Diver City Mall. I was supposed to arrive early so I could have a look around, I obviously never got my ass out of bed so I arrived just so I could pick up my ticket and then wait to get into the venue. There are a lot of fun things on Odaiba, it's one of my favorite spots in Tokyo and I highly recomend people to go there and have a look around. It has a very special feel to it. For me, personally, it represents the idea I had of Tokyo before I acctually had been here and that's probably why I think it's so cool. There's a lot of tall buildings and some has very interesting architecture.

Anyway, I picked up my ticket and immedietly checked what number I got. The last two standing concerts I went to with BUCK-TICK I had number 2000+ and 1900+, so when I saw that I was 681 I got quite excited, hehe. This doesn't help that much though. I was warned the first time I went to a standing BUCK-TICK concert to stay out of the area infront of the stage, especially infront of Atsushi because things can get a bit wild. I didn't realise how true that was... so I tried to get as close as possible (as possible as I thought based on how people stood waiting for the concert to start), but a couple of minutes before it started a horde of people just came running to the center and I was pushed so hard that if it wouldn't have been full of people I would've fallen. The thing is also that if you're in that mass of people you barely see anything because it's just arms and heads everywhere, after that event I don't really wish to stand at the front and I acctually got to see one of those rushes yesterday from the back :P I could feel the people's fear and panic as the fangrls rushed to the center.
This time they acctually showed us parts from the tour DVD that is to be released while we were waiting for the concert to start! I'm very excited to see it, the setlist was great!
The set out time was 18:00 but I think they entered stage around 18:20, and the entrance song was a sort of instrumental remix of cum uh sol nu -フラスコの別種-.The bands clothing was pretty great I have to say. Atsushi wore leather pants with a short sleeve top, looked almost like a tanktop but there was lace coming down making it look a bit like a t-shirt. Over that he wore a black vest. Imai looked like a pierrot to be honest, and I loved it! He had black and white checkered pants with a frilled white blouse. His make up was also kind of interesting, metallic black/blue color across his eyes. Since I didn't have that good of a spot this time I couldn't see so much of the rest, Yutaka had a pretty cool jacket though.
When I received the last issue of Fish Tank they listed the setlist for their tour and to be honest I felt pretty jelous I didn't catch any of those because the set list was awesome. Most of the old songs were songs I really like, such as My Fuckin' Valentine, Baby I want you and 見えない物を見ようとする誤解  全て誤解だ. So my hopes were high they'd play one of these at this live as well. Nope, but I got a pretty nice set list anyway. Out of the old songs I got pretty excited to hear die! It's not a favorite song of mine but I think they made it pretty good live. I also got to hear Speed, and that is one of my older favorites!
There were also quite a lot of suprises when it came to the song selection. For example they played Coyote, Elise no tame ni and Dokudanjou Beauty, I really like those songs so I was really happy, but suprised they played such "new" songs. My disapointment came when I realised the concert was over and they never played cum uh sol nu -フラスコの別種-. That's one of my favorite songs and they didn't play it, WTF!? They had to squeeze in Phantom Voltaire but they couldn't play one of their best songs ever, which on top of that is new?! (sorry but I have to admit Aruiwa was quite the disapointment for me:P).
At least I got to hear Devil's Wings, and it was just as awesome as I assumed it would be live. Two songs I liked on the record but didn't pay any extra attention to was FUTURE SONG -未来が通る- and BOY septem peccata mortalia. These two became favorites at the concert, they were pretty amazing live to be honest.
I almost forgot, but they even played ＤＡＤＡ　ＤＩＳＣＯ－Ｇ　Ｊ　Ｔ　Ｈ　Ｂ　Ｋ　Ｈ　Ｔ　Ｄ－, I like that live, but it made me feel like BUCK-TICK themselves must really like Aruiwa since they played two songs which aren't even singles. It's kind of rare I think that bands play random songs from their previous album, unless it's a single.
One fun thing that happened was that Atsushi grabbed one of those big lights and aimed it at the audience, he then removed it and asked if it had burned them, in a seriously concerned manner X) Maybe he should've thought of that before putting it in their faces XD

I didn't remember what the merch looked like last time I was at a FISH TANKer ONLY live, so I got a bit sad when I realised they didn't sell anything from the hall tour. I really wanted the pamphlet... But I didn't want to leave empty handed so I bought Imai's Atomu shirt. A lot of the items had been sold out aswell, not even the trading cards was available anymore. As always there was a gift for everyone in the audience and this time we all got an umbrella! I was happily suprised, last time I got a cheap tote bag, so an umbrella, eventhough it's just plain black with the tours name on it, was pretty exciting.
When the gig was over I felt really sad acctually. BUCK-TICK is a great live band, musically. Atsushi's voice live is amazing, although I have to give some critic and that is that every time I've seen them it feels very planned, like they aren't really improvising and that is a bit sad I think because that makes the gig unique. Last time I saw them I went to two concerts in a row and it was pretty much like seeing the same thing twice. But musically they're perfect live. This was my fifth time seeing BUCK-TICK and hopefully it's not the last.

On my way from the venue, the Gundam robot had a pretty show off! It blinked and moved its head while some movie preview was projected to the wall behind it. Later projections was made onto the robot with sound effect, really cool!

D Tour final at Shinjuku ReNY

Yesterday I went to my first gig this time around, and it was no less than D's final live for their tour Wonderland Savior!

The concert was held at Shinjuku ReNY, i've never been there before so I was a bit worried I might get lost but their webpage had a very excellent map and I had no problem finding it at all!

I got there about 17.15, which was a bit late, but on the other hand I didn't have to wait so long for my number to be called. Shinjuku ReNY isn't that big though, I read it has the capacity for 800 people and my ticket was 561. Their drinkcharge is 600yen! (I was looking to find this information to have the coins ready but couldn't seem to find it)
Anyway, they call the numbers on the street entrance, and then you take the elevator or stairs to where the actual hall is. They have coinlockers for 300 yen and also a cloak area for those who have bigger belongings which costs 500 yen.

I acctually thought I had a chance to get some chekis, but unfortunatley not. They were all sold out by the time I got there so I only got the new, and very cute t-shirt based on the song 海王鯨島　亀毛海浜夢珠工場.

If there's one thing I don't get in Japan, it's when people go to these kinds of events with friends and they expect to stand in a line with a lot of space infront of them. When I got into the actual hall it seemed about full because people had so much space, and others wanted to get it, so I just walk closer to the stage. Might have seen rude for some people that I went infront of them but I don't get how they think people are gonna get in if they don't move. This other girl seemed to be annoyed I kept accidently touching her arm, but it's a standing gig and there's people all over, how am I supposed to move:P

Anyway, to the details about the actual concert!
The members came out one by one like usual to the "theme song" for this tour, and for anyone who missed previous photos, they wore the white outfits. One thing I haven't seen before on Asagi's costume is that it has a bunny tail on the back! During フューシャピンクとフランボワーズの鍵盤,  those who have the glowing sticks were supposed to use them, and Asagi also had one of course. At the end when he went back to leave the stick he put it behind his back (near his ass really) wiggling it like a tail, hehe.

To be honest, I'm not a huge D fan, I like them and think they're a pretty good band. What I especially like about them is how they keep changing style and inspiration for their music, but far from everything they do are great in my opinion. The setlist started off pretty strong, within the first half they had played most of my favorite songs and they were of course awesome live too.
The song which captured me most when I first listened to the album was 海王鯨島　亀毛海浜夢珠工場, and when I read the cute lyrics I liked it even more! For those who haven't read the lyrics or a translation for it, the song's about a dream factory and the boss is the mock turtle from Alice in Wonderland. My favorite part of the lyrics is just before every chorus, because then Asagi sings different ingrediences used to mix a dream, (like mermaid tears and hair from a unicorn) so cute. Besides that, my favorite songs include Wonderland Savior, and for this Asagi acctually used the cool mic he has in the PV! This tour D had some CG on screen during the concerts, and it was really fun, during the songs which has a PV though, they showed those (also great because I haven't seen any of the PV's since I haven't got the CD versions which includes the DVD's)
シュレディンガーの夢遊猫とジャッカロープの杖 is also a song that has grown into a favorite and it was really fun live, it included alot of parapara though, but it was so great live!
During Master Key member cards came down from the ceiling (and also some dust I noticed, do they ever clean those hatches???) I wasn't able to grab a card unfortunately, however I did get a Wonderland Savior strip that was let down later (see my picture below).

During the encores (which was 3 this time), they played a lot of old songs, the classics like Eden and Night Ship D, but also Yami no Kuni no Arisu which I thought was a nice suprise! Another song I didn't expect, probably less than Yami no Kuni no Arisu was Kuro bara no kishi from Kingdom. That's one of my all time favorites so I was very happy to be able to hear it live again! Since they played Yami no Kuni no Arisu I sort of began hoping they'd play Musouka since it was also from the same period, but unfortunately they didn't play it.
During one of the encores Ruiza presented some of the goods, he came out with the tote bag filled with some stuff. Among those was Asagi's photobook, and he never showed the inside but he shouted out that the pictures was good and asked if we wanted to see it. Obviously people said yes, and he replied "then please buy it!" XD

One thing I like with D is that it looks like they really have a good time when playing live. Some bands just do their thing but they seem to enjoy it and I, as an audience, think that brings a good atmosphere!
Another thing worth mentioning that happened and I felt was a very kind gesture was during Night Ship D. I don't have the D flags, I've been thinking about buying them but always end up not to. So when Asagi came out on stage with the D flag everyone grabs theirs (except for me and the others without any :P) but the nice lady next to me turned my way and offered me one of hers! She had earlier also offered me her place, she stood infront of me but her friend was standing next to me so we switched. Anyway I thought it was really kind, a bit difficult to do the moves with just one but it's better than nothing and it was such a kind gesture of her <3

Overall I had a really fun time and hopefully I'll get the chance to see D once more before I go back to Sweden. (and hopefully be able to get my hands on some chekis :P)