華麗なる追憶劇 ~Encore une fois~ Moi Dix Mois ZIZ Umeda Bangboo

 I totally f-up the lottery for this Moi Dix Mois tour. I thought I had entered the lottery for tickets for Fukuoka and Osaka and then I didn't ??(still don´t know what I did). Fortunately I managed to get tickets for the Osaka regular sale, I don't think I really reflected on that this might be a bit of a Malice Mizer reunion thing so when I saw that I had a B ticket number 33 I didn't think it was that bad (how wrong I was, the A tickets went up to 250 something).

Again I ended up behind a rock, this time it kind of pissed me off because the staff kept yelling for everyone to move forward, it was packed, I ended up next to the toilet... people kept squeezing by and the guy in front of me had quite some space in front of him but he refused to move so I kind of got shoved into his back every time someone went to the toilet and I could feel the breath of the person behind me on my neck XD it was HOT as well so not very nice, I honestly felt so grossed out and tired (I came straight from work) between the ZIZ and Moi Dix Mois sessions I just felt like "get this over with!" for context, there was a 30 minute break with TONS of people going to the toilet and I just kept getting pushed around.

ZIZ opened the night, I haven't seen them in over 1 year! So I was hyped but unfortunately I thought the setlist was kind of lukewarm, didn't get to hear any of my favorite songs. During one of the talks Közi mentioned how they had brought some merch so he encourage people to buy something and he pointed out that most people probably came for Moi Dix Mois. This makes me so sad, I think when they do these coupling gigs they sell out because people want to see Malice Mizer, even if it's only 2 members they were the main songwriters and IMO the spine of the band and so many people seem to think Malice Mizer=Mana and that makes me sad for Közi. When he talked about the merch he said something like many might not be familiar with us (ZIZ) and one girl shouted "I KNOW (you)!" and he said jokingly that then the merch was for her XD Közi also talked about that Mana suggested they do this event in Osaka this year (the previous one was in 2024 in Tokyo with Schwarz Stein) and here I've seen people say when Közi did Mana's voice he imitated a death voice and I'm going to be honest, I thought he sounded like he imitated an old man's voice XD 

The awful 30 minute wait was worth it when the curtain was pulled to reveal the Moi Dix Mois members all wearing masks to the tones of Uruwashiki Kamen no shoutaijou and all my frustrations was blown away. During the song Mana kept throwing out glitter from cups and also plastic flowers. For the next song Mana had one of those whip things he has in Illuminati so even though I heard it was Neo Pessimist coming on my Malice Mizer fan heart went "Illuminati?" XD

During Immortal Madness Seth wanted us to call the regular Dix Love and then also Mana sama Közi meccha Suki. Again in the back it was pretty silent, I really hate being in the back at Moi Dix Mois concerts... Seth talked about how it's nice to get together like this from time to time, how maybe people who are Malice Mizer fans also get to see what kind of music Mana does now and also to see "the red and blue guy together". Then Közi joined them on stage, wearing a red blazer and his ruffles from the last big Malice Mizer reunion in 2018, and they played Tsuioku no Kakera! It's one of my favorite Malice Mizer songs and Seth's voice was really good for the song. I might be mistaken but came across some tweets being angry because they said people were mean to Seth about singing Malice Mizer songs...I didn't see that, what I did see was Seth tweeting something like sorry for singing the songs (my impression was it was just a very humble Japanese thing where he apologized for taking the part of the singer in this legendary band but not seriously apologizing) and then he tweeted again saying he apologized for the misunderstanding that it was mainly people from overseas. Not sure if this was what people were talking about but in general it's best not to over engage in tweets with bands if you're not fluent in Japanese and there might be misunderstandings due to cultural or language differences (I still don't  engage in tweets or posts in general if I feel unsure of the tone or the language and I've been following my favorites for 20 years and know some Japanese.)

For the last song they did N.P.S.N.G.S and like magic everyone squeezed to the stage and I actually got as close as maybe 2 meters from the stage! which means it was plenty of space to begin with... Not saying everyone should've stood squeezed for 2 hours but I think everyone probably could've taken 1 step forward to make it a bit more comfortable for us in the back. The ZIZ members came back on stage, Chargeee started playing with Seth's hair and also stood with Mana for a while. Everyone left except for Mana and Közi, Mana had some paper and a marker in which he wrote let's do it again and Au Revoir and then Au Revoir started playing and they left stage. Fans kept singing along as the curtain was closed and the venue was lit up again. I felt a bit drunk from the experience, or my gin and tonic but was sobering up as I walked to the station. 

Moi Dix Mois 誕生典礼祭Mana様Birthday Tour 2026 Fukuoka

 I’ve wanted to travel more in Japan for a while but I never end up doing it. I guess I’m a bangya at heart so if I can combine travel with live gigs I actually end up traveling.

Therefore my trip to Fukuoka was accompanied by a Moi Dix Mois live. I ended up not feeling well, right before I left the hotel for the venue (not a good start) so I got there around 16:05 and since I had a B ticket I thought it would be fine. When I got there I was surprised that there were so few people waiting to get in and so many numbers weren’t there (curious if people were just late or if local fans might’ve bought several tickets so that the band will come back again). 

Despite having a B ticket I got to the 4th row (kind of, of course I ended up behind lolitas who stand still for the whole live and can’t move forward- this is a common thing at Moi Dix Mois gigs because of Mana’s clothing brand I assume? I think everyone should be able to do, or not do whatever they like but it feels a bit frustrating when Seth’s hyping everyone up saying he wants people to ”abarete ike!!!” and no one headbangs etc xD).

The set list was pretty similar to the previous gigs. I felt lucky to get Vizard as the encore song, it’s one of my favorites. I also realized I’ve been to harsh to Angelica. I’ve always thought of it as one of the ”boring” songs but it was really good yesterday. During Immortal Madness Ryux had come up with what everyone should shout, it was really long and I honestly had no idea what it was. Seth started laughing because he said he thought it would be impossible to work into the song but he praised everyone (you could barely hear it though xD so I think most people were confused)

As always Mana had a message for everyone, he mentioned that he remembered when they came to Fukuoka with Malice Mizer and they stayed at Yu~ki’s house. Közi and Kami shaved their rodies head in the garden I think he said as well xD I don’t think it was Kamijo though. 

He also mentioned one time when Sugiya overslept.

Then it was time for Mana’s happy birthday song. I’m curious if I’m the only one who finds it weird. His birthday was a month ago and they still make everyone sing happy birthday and he ” blows out the candles” (the MdM lightsticks). Last year he did a birthday tour that lasted for months and same this year xD couldn’t they’ve done something else if they wanted to tour? A greatest hits tour? Have fans vote for the songs they want to hear like Schwarz Stein did. Album tour? Play one album from start to end. I think it’s so weird to choose to have a birthday tour when they haven’t released any new material in over 15 years, it feels like ” we need to come up with a reason to tour, to kept the boat floating”. Many fans probably think I’m horrible for saying so but I can still enjoy them and be critical. 

I’m going to be critical/mean one last time; Mana kept throwing his guitar picks in the same direction. It bothered me, the same 3 people got several of them thrown at them. I thought he liked baseball, throw better xD

During Vizard Mana came down from the stage and leaned into the people in the first row when playing. By the end of the song he held out his guitar so people in the back could touch it. I saw one guy who squeezed in just to gently touch Mana’s shoulder for a second and then go back to the back. I thought it was kind of fun/sweet. Mana really is one of the visual kei gods. 

Before the gig the band announced on Twitter that during the presale of merch those who bought goods for more than 5000yen would get a signed card from Mana (just plain white). I was sure they would be out of cards by the time I got there but then Seth said they still had them during the last MC and my collectors head immediately started considering buying merch, even though I didn’t want anything. I finally got to my senses and decided it’s insane to buy stuff I don’t want just for the card. (Just saw on Twitter Mana signed the wrong date, he wrote May instead of April)

Next they’re going to Osaka for 2 nights, the last one with ZIZ (which I’m going to). Other gigs are France this summer and Hong Kong. Apparently Mana is going to the US as well and they’ll go to Hiroshima in November, I think they said.

Schwarz Stein Blanc Dehors 3-22-2026

 The first Schwarz Stein gig of the year. I was kind of sad I'd miss this as the original date was February 15, I was still in Sweden at the time, but fortunately Kaya got the flu and they rescheduled the gig for March 22nd.

I did my tax (確定申告書) earlier this year and realised I should try and hold back a bit this year so I revisited the old highway buses. I knew I wouldn't be able to pull through both ways so I went to Tokyo by bus (omg I did not miss that, I slept about 2 hours and my neighbour snored and looked like she was masturbating in her sleep). I really admire people who can run on no sleep, I'm not one of those and I made the worst decision to have a rom and coke at the club (by the time of the after talk I felt like passing out).

Anyway!

Since this live is up for streaming there are probably not that many secrets to tell, Hora had a new accessory. Similar to the eye-horn he used to wear in the early days but it was blooming. Very pretty.

The setlist had ups and downs in my opinion, I'm really missing harder songs (why did they cross out FIXER? and where's Syphilis and disorder?) but on the other hand I got Apocalypse which I really like.

At the after event they did play Sleeping Madness and Lilith as a some sort of celebration that they released them for streaming. I couldn't help thinking it was kind of funny how everyone cheered and clapped when Kaya talked about how they released Sleeping Madness and Demigod for streaming. It's always the same fans at the gigs, we all know we already have all their cds XD 

One funny thing that happened which most already saw on the stream, half of the attendees were gonna go to the Moi Dix Mois live after and for some weird reason they actually had pulled out their Moi Dix Mois band towels :/ Hora pointed it out, making a joke out of it, he kept asking "do you have plans after this?" "Where are you going?" and at one point he even took one of the fans towel XD (later I saw on twitter that Kaya also went. I thought it was weird how they seemed to want us out as soon as possible XD)

Hora mentioned at the after event that he has a stock of songs, about 20 if I remember correctly, so he even suggested making one more album! Kaya first thought it was too soon after DEMIGOD but they seemed to hint it might happen next year! Also, if anyone has missed it, Hora has made a new song for Kaya's upcoming release. Another interesting thing mentioned was that Kaya kind of requested if Hora could make Schwarz Stein "versions" for some of his solo songs for his anniversary live in June. Like a SS Chocolate. I won't be able to go to that live so I'll miss it unfortunately. If it happens.

After the event we all lined up for our chekis and it really felt like the staff wanted us out. No time for small talk (I'm also always nervous anyway but I kind of wanted to talk about Final Fantasy 6 with Hora since I saw he cleared it on Saturday XD) well well, I'll save it for the Mayohk event in June.