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

Schwarz Stein outstore event

Today was the outstore event for Immortal Verses in Tokyo, and I was lucky enough to attend!

The tickets to attend was handed out to everyone who bought Immortal Verses at the venues or from Hora's webshop.
Last minute it was also announced you could buy the cd there and get to participate, as well as the fact that they'd offer a cheki photo shoot.

Since I participated in the instore for Sleeping Madness I've regretted not bringing one of the Rudolf Steiner tapes so eventhough it was bothersome I decided to bring Perfect Garden with me this time!

The event was held at Saravah in Shibuya, so the capacity was pretty high for an instore. Immortal Verses was playing while we waited for Kaya and Hora, and pretty on time (13.00) the event began.

Since this event was kind of a replacement for an after event I sort of assumed/hoped they'd play a song or two from the release, unfortunatley not. Like at live gigs they sold the regular merch, including the new photosets, and they also had the option of taking a cheki with them for 2000yen.

I had not bought Hora's new solo album RESONANT yet, so I picked up a copy as well as the new photosets (see below).

Previously I had only been to the instore for Sleeping Madness so I was pretty excited to attend and to be able to get something signed. While talking with my date for the day I got the idea I'd try and ask if I could get 2 items signed, since I have bought 2 copies of Immortal Verses. I was in the first row so I did not have much time to think and act, so when they gave me a clear on having 2 items signed I ripped open one of the photosets. I love getting stuff signed but at the same time stuff like this makes me so nervous, especially if I have the rest of the fans staring at me while I pose for a photo (I hate being in pictures in general). I felt like I wanted to sink through the earth to be honest and it showed so well in my photo hehe.

For the talk, they discussed the next possible live (maybe in December), and if Hora is good at English since he goes to Hawaii (he said he's like a native. Seriously though, he said you can use Japanese to some extent on Hawaii).

I always enjoy seeing Schwarz Stein but I was a bit disapointed in the arrangement of this event. Would've appreciated if the photo was taken after the signing and not at the same time. Also they only had a black pen (to start with!), I would've liked them to sign the cover but since it's dark it wouldn't have been that visible. After a couple of people had received signaures however, the staff handed them more colors -.-'

(Funny thing, I was so nervous I didn't talk to them other than say hi and thanks, I handed Hora the lyrics sheet and he said it's nostalgic, when I went over to Kaya he didn't say anything but just signed it, then Hora turned to him and pointed out it's an original tape which made Kaya burst out that it's nostalgic. Hehe, Kaya seems to be going on automode)