BUCK-TICK: Namba Hatch
Feb. 4th, 2013 05:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
write_my_dreamsOn Sunday, I saw BUCK-TICK at Namba Hatch in Osaka. Osaka's about 90 minutes away from Hikone so I left Saturday morning, stayed the night in Osaka, and came back LATE on Sunday. Technically I got home on Monday since I got into my apartment at 12:30... General Osaka post will come next, but I wanted to write my live report before I forgot too many things.
This is more a diary entry of everything that happened in Namba Hatch so I'll make two cuts, one for the live and one for other things. This isn't going to be a perfect diary of what happened in the live though. It's more highlights of the live and then the songs I can remember and what happened during those. Part of the live is a blur as I was so focused on the live I wasn't focusing on remembering exactly what was happening. I'd done that in the beginning, focusing on the song order and individual events but I felt like I was missing out by trying too hard to remember. So eventually I gave up on that and just enjoyed myself.
Namba Hatch from across the street. Isn't this the perfect venue for a tour called Cosmic Dreamer? It reminds me of a space ship
Funny story... I was starting to freak out about finding my way to the concert hall and went to 7/11 to take out some more money because I thought I'd have to take a taxi there. Decided on a whim that I should ask one of the police officers where Namba Hatch was and he smiles and points at the giant building that looks like a spaceship. That's right across the street. I felt really dumb for not realizing that THAT building was Namba Hatch as I'd been near that area yesterday, but oh well... I knew now. To get there I had to downstairs in the "lobby" area in front of the JR station then take a tunnel to Namba Hatch. It was a quick walk and much better than figuring out how the hell I was going to cross so many lanes of traffic.
Opening started at 17:00 and as I've never been to a concert (school stuff and seeing Trans-Siberian Orchestra don't count) I decided it'd be best to get there early. Also, I wasn't sure what to do anyway as Namba is huge and I'd explored bits and pieces of it on Saturday and then Sunday. So I found my way to Namba Hatch and realized that me being early was perfect timing. Tour goods went on sale at 15:00 which was about 15 minutes after I showed up. Yay for good timing! Getting there early was also good because I have absolutely no idea where I should go... but two girls came in carrying Yumemiru Uchuu bags so I followed them. I talked with them (whoo, Japanese conversation that wasn't entirely about asking for directions!) and kind of hung around them since they knew what they were doing and I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. They took me to the third floor where the goods were being sold and we gathered around, waiting for the goods to go on sale.
While waiting, I got to look at this poster. I got my picture taken next to one of these but I look horrible as usual and who wants to look at me when you can look at the band
Then when it was about 5 minutes to being able to buy stuff, staff wheeled these racks out so people could see better. And tables and boxes with the goods were placed in front of the doors. Basically you formed three lines "I want this, this, and that", pay, and get out of the way. I'm so glad I got there early... I bought the things I wanted, joked with the girls I'd met coming in:
私：「お金がないんです！」笑
彼女：『私も！」笑
Fun times. I spent too much at this concert... but no regrets. The bands I like very rarely come to America and if they do, it's to California or New York which is too difficult to get out to. So I'm going to see the bands I like while I'm in Japan and can actually do so. Also... February 28 is my birthday and I'm treating this concert as my birthday present to myself. So I indulged... a little too much, but I didn't want to leave wishing I'd bought something since I didn't think I'd be seeing them again.
My tour goods:
After I got my goods, there was still a while to go so I went outside. Namba Hatch has a nice balcony area so I took some pictures then sat down and dug out my reading homework... might as well kill time and be productive. I could only stand my book for so long so settled on something more fun: people watching. The fashions in Kyoto weren't too wild but in Osaka, especially here... oh man. The clothes. So many girls with towering heels, crazy platforms they could barely walk in, etc. Some of the girls had really cute clothes... one girl had these gorgeous star tights that I'd love. It was fun looking at the guys too. There were actually a lot of boys here, I was surprised to see that. There were more girls of course but there was a fair amount of boys too.
My ticket was in the seated section on the second floor so I had a while until I was able to get inside. The standing section got seated first and I think there were at least 1500 seat numbers to go through. So finally I was able to go inside. I'd forgotten there was a 500 yen drink charge so wasn't all that pleased about that... but what could I do. Had to pay. Got my drink ticket but decided to save that for after the live since I figured I'd be really thirsty by then. Once I got through the security (they checked the tote bag I'd bought but not my backpack, which was kind of weird) I went up the escalator to get to the main area. Up on this floor was a table selling CDs and DVDs and then further back was a line for drinks, bathrooms, etc. I went into the venue and found my seat... thought I was going to trip since it was so dark but security was walking around with flashlights making sure people could see their seat numbers and wouldn't fall down the stairs. I'd been anxious about being on the second floor but realized I'd be able to see just fine. Also I could just throw my stuff down in front of my chair instead of having to use the coin lockers or have a heart attack from heat stroke if I was down in the standing crowd.
The lights were on and some English music was playing, which I thought was ironic. I'm seeing a Japanese band but English music is playing before they come on stage. It was kind of weird. But the stage looked really pretty, long silver streamers were hanging down, there was a big round platform for Atsushi to stand on, and parts of the stage were glowing. There was still some time to go before the live started and the woman next to me was drinking a lemonade so in Japanese I asked her if I could get a drink after the live. She seemed surprised I could speak Japanese and said yes I could. Asking her that first question was such a good idea because I got to have a really enjoyable conversation with her. Meeting her was one of my best memories of the day. I managed to have a conversation with her that was entirely in Japanese and for the most part I could understand what she was telling me. She'd been a fan of BUCK-TICK since they first started and she's seen at least one live from every tour but two. So we talked about the band, other interets, why I like Japanese music... the last part was tricky because I have a hard time explaining myself in Japanese but I managed to get a decent explanation out. It seemed good enough for her. I'd said I liked Atsushi's long hair back in the early 90s and asked her if she'd been able to see any of those lives. She said she was in high school when she did and she was kind of teasing me abut how I liked men with long hair. I mentioned I was seeing MUCC next month and she said Tatsurou was very cool and gave me this knowing look when she said he had long hair. I'm always kind of anxious about having a conversation with Japanese people who are older than me because I'm not sure how polite I should be, but she was so easy to talk to and really friendly. We laughed a lot and I think she liked talking to me too. She even told me that BUCK-TICK is performing in Nagoya this Friday, that tickets were on sale, and showed me the exact website where I could go to buy a ticket. I got her name and number after the live so I'm looking forward to seeing her again this Friday <3 I'll brush up on some grammar and verbs so I don't sound like as much of a bumbling idiot.
The English music abruptly stopped and the lights went out. Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star starts playing but it was a more rocked out version. Everyone screams in excitement and jumps to their feet as the lights come on. I think Imai came out first. It was surreal seeing them coming out on stage. I've watched lives and PVs and now I get to see a live with my own eyes. I think Imai and Tetsu should meet because they share the same rather hideous fashion sense. Imai had on a tank top (I think it was red) with long colored fringe, boots, and blue and purple patterned pants... I think it was supposed to resemble galaxies, as the tour is called Cosmic Dreamer. U-Ta kept standing in front of a spotlight so it was basically impossible to make out anything but a shadow with hair. Later I saw he had on a dress shirt and I think black pants. Toll had his standard mohawk (How this man still has hair is beyond me) and was wearing a purple suit. Hide was wearing a kind of weird outfit. He had a black shirt on with a black jacket over it with sparkly lapels, black pants, and what looked like either really wide pants with a black fringe trim or a skirt over it. Not sure. They got in position and started playing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. I kept watching the left side of the stage (where they'd walked out from) to see when Atsushi would come in. I have a weakness for vocalists, him especially. The lights dimmed again and then I saw him walking out. People screamed again and Suzuki-san (my new friend) says to me “Sakurai ga kita!” when he came in since I’d just been fangirling over him with her earlier. It was dark so I couldn't make out everything too well but later I got to see him properly. He kept his hair simple and looked like he stepped out of a black hole as usual, but he looked good. Black leather pants, knee high black boots, a black sleeveless shirt that went down to his knees and had a lot of ruffles, then black arm warmers. He also had this weird transparent black scarf draped over his head and shoulders. He'd decorated his mic stand with a feather boa and a creepy looking mask. My eyes aren't that great so it's kind of hard to make out details from far away but it was a white mask with facial features painted on like eyelashes and eyebrows, etc.
The intro song started... I'm not sure if they made that particular intro for this tour as I've never heard it before, but I'm a recent fan so there are a lot of BUCK-TICK songs I haven't heard before. Such a massive discography! It was an interesting song though and I thought Atsushi looked kind of funny peering around with his hobo scarf and his mic stand. The lights come on at full blast and then I could see them all properly. The lights dimmed again and when they came back on Atsushi had taken the boa and mask off his mic stand. They started playing Lady Skeleton and I'll forever think of this as Atsushi's stripper song. Such a tease, he kept touching himself and grinding on his mic stand like it was a pole. Then he'd hook his leg around it and sing. This was a really sexy song and I literally couldn't take my eyes off him. Not that I wanted to anyway... XD
Next they played 人魚. It had less of a stripper feel to it but was more energetic. It was so easy to see how happy they all were to be there. I'm pretty sure I was smiling like an idiot the entire live, but I was just so happy to be there.
Next song was one I couldn't remember the title of during the live. I'm listening to BUCK-TICK as I'm writing this live report in the hopes that it'll jog my memory, and I found the title of this song when it came up. The next song was 残骸 and the presentation was absolutely beautiful. The stage was dark again and there was the spotlight shining down on Atsushi and his platform. He just stood there then the song began and "rain" started falling right onto his platform. I couldn't tell if it was falling on him or just the part of the platform that was in front of him, but the image was gorgeous. The focus was mostly on him for this song and he kept turning his face up to the water as he was singing.
I can't remember what came next (might have been エリーゼのために -ROCK for Elise-) but at one point the lights were really bright and Atsushi had taken his arm warmers off. He twirls them around all sexily then throws them off somewhere. Didn't take anything else off, unfortunately, but he showed off his pole dancer skills for this song too. Hide had wandered over to Imai's section of the stage and was thus in Atsushi's reach since he grabbed Hide and pulled him towards his platform like "Hey get up here and play" So Hide jumped up on the platform and played by him. Atsushi would do this every so often, grab a guitarist and pull them up on his platform. Or he'd go up to them and put his arm around them so they could sing with him. Hide and Imai would wander around sometimes... U-Ta mostly stayed in the back but he'd come up front too. I was worried he'd trip over the cord to his amp as he was walking up front but he seemed to know what he was doing. I was mostly busy ogling Atsushi but I did look at the rest of the band too as the vocalist isn't everything. Imai's so fun, he's so bouncy at lives XD
Again memory fail. For the life of me I can't remember what song it is (and it hasn't come up on my itunes yet) but while the lights were dark Atsushi had decorated his mic stand again. He stayed very close to it the entire song. It was cute in a kind of disturbing way (I hate masks, dolls, etc. Give me the creeps) to hear him singing "Baby, I love you" to the mask. Whenever he reached that line he'd turned his face towards the mask and be so close it looked like he was going to kiss it.
I can't really remember what songs came next but they played most if not all of 夢見る宇宙。
During the main portion of the live Atsushi would sometimes walk around and sit by Imai or crouch down in front of the fans. He'd lean down and let some of them ruffle his hair... lucky them. Although his hair was probably really sweaty at that point. Or he'd lean over and hold his mic out over the fans so they could sing with him. Sometimes he'd put the whole mic stand out over them to catch more fan singing. He'd hi five people too. Ah to be in the front row...
I remember them playing Coyote but not the exact order. Atsushi had his scarf on again and had it draped over him as he was singing. He kept rubbing his arms while he was singing, especially during the parts about holding.
Then I think ONLY YOU -WE ARE NOT ALONE- was next. Either that or some older songs whose titles I didn't know. I really can't remember... and I couldn't really understand Atsushi when he was talking but he didn't have any lengthy MC. He'd mostly thank us or tell us to be loud I think. The one time he did talk more I couldn't understand anything. The parts after Coyote are when I was completely engrossed in the live and wasn't trying to think about what song they were playing. But when they started playing 夢見る宇宙 I knew it was the end. I like this song and I've always thought it was so peaceful... after that ended they thanked us and threw the usual picks and water bottles into the audience then left the stage. Having it suddenly be over was so jarring because I'd completely gotten into the live and the music and was like wait what? It's over? Of course fans started clapping and chanting encore. This must have lasted for several minutes and I was getting anxious that they wouldn't come and do an encore. I asked Suzuki-san if they usually did encores and she said out of all the lives she's seen, they haven't done an encore twice. So I figured they'd do one tonight. And we were in luck! They came back out for an encore.
I think was 夢路 was the first song. Imai was wearing the galaxy tour hoodie which clashed SO badly with the rest of his clothes. He had a Cosmic Dreamer t-shirt on too (not one of the ones being sold tonight) and Hide had one under his t-shirt. I don't think Toll or U-Ta changed. Atsushi was wearing a black dress shirt and simple black shoes instead, but that was his only real outfit change. They played this one and then next was 禁じられた遊び -ADULT CHILDREN-. Out of the entire live, this song was the most powerful one. Before the music began Atsushi was making this absolutely pitiful whimpering sound... made me want to go give him a hug. I think he said "nani suru no" but it was kind of hard to hear. I was confused and then I heard the intro and realized what song he was singing for. Once I read the lyrics and some background for this song I can see exactly why Atsushi was doing that. When the instrumental part came he collapsed on his platform and curled up in a fetal position like he was trying to hide. Later he slowly uncurled but was crouching on his platform... it took him a while to fully stand. It was an amazing performance.
I think they played an older song next... then they once again left the stage. I kept hoping it wasn't over. People weren't getting up and they started chanting encore again. So I stayed, hoping for Encore #2... and they delivered :) I think they began with ICONOCLASM. I'm not overly fond of this song but Suzuki-san's action was priceless. Her face lights up, she lets out this fangirl scream, and is bouncing up and down and waving her hands. She was SO happy, it was adorable. That was the most passionate I'd seen her. She was dancing or bouncing quietly and waving her hands, sometimes clapping, but she wasn't screaming like other fans were. Until this song.
For the life of me I can't remember anything in the second encore but ICONOCLASM. After the last song they bowed and thanked us then threw some more picks and water bottles into the audience. Toll was trolling us and would throw his drum stick on the ground then pick it up and do it again before finally throwing it into the audience. No one in the second floor had any chance of catching anything but oh well, I'm happy with the goods I bought. This time when the lights went up I didn't feel the "NOOO IT'S OVER" feeling like earlier. I felt content. I stayed around to talk with Suzuki-san and then staff politely asked us to leave since we were in the way of clean up. I got her number and gave her mine then we parted ways so I could go get a drink. My mouth felt like sandpaper. On my way to the drink line, the DVD/CD table caught my attention. I'd promised myself I wouldn't buy any of the DVDs there (I'm holding out for Book Off. I've already gotten deals there) but I couldn't resist and came home with 13th Floor with Diana. If I had Blu-Ray I'd have left with Climax Together because I just love Atsushi with his long hair but alas, Mac and Blu-Ray mix about as well as math and I do. So buying a region all blu-ray player when Im back in the states since my sister is letting me have her old TV.
With my wallet considerably lighter I went to get my drink. There was pop, water, orange juice, and alcohol. Thought about getting some alcohol but I was too thirsty and went straight for the water. Most expensive water I've ever had and I brought the bottle back to Hikone. I paid 500 yen for that water so I'm making use of the bottle when I go out, lol.
I heard someone say the concert had been about 2 and a half hours long. It was Sunday night and I still had to get back to Hikone since I had class on Monday so I didn't stick around... didn't have the time. Ugh going down the stairs to get the place where I'd come in to go up to the live was absolutely horrible. I literally walked into a cloud of smoke. Got out of there quickly. On my way out people were passing out packets with flyers and some other things for BUCK-TICK. Got mine and put it in my bag then went to the train station. Once I was on the train I looked through the packet. There were some flyers, advertisements for Fish Tank and some goods... then a sheet with tour info. And some cute chibis. I'll have to get pictures of everything later, for now I'll wrap this up so I can get back to my homework.
Looking forward to doing this again on Friday! Going to 7/11 to print my ticket tomorrow
Cyber cookies to anyone who manages to read all this
This is more a diary entry of everything that happened in Namba Hatch so I'll make two cuts, one for the live and one for other things. This isn't going to be a perfect diary of what happened in the live though. It's more highlights of the live and then the songs I can remember and what happened during those. Part of the live is a blur as I was so focused on the live I wasn't focusing on remembering exactly what was happening. I'd done that in the beginning, focusing on the song order and individual events but I felt like I was missing out by trying too hard to remember. So eventually I gave up on that and just enjoyed myself.
Namba Hatch from across the street. Isn't this the perfect venue for a tour called Cosmic Dreamer? It reminds me of a space ship
Funny story... I was starting to freak out about finding my way to the concert hall and went to 7/11 to take out some more money because I thought I'd have to take a taxi there. Decided on a whim that I should ask one of the police officers where Namba Hatch was and he smiles and points at the giant building that looks like a spaceship. That's right across the street. I felt really dumb for not realizing that THAT building was Namba Hatch as I'd been near that area yesterday, but oh well... I knew now. To get there I had to downstairs in the "lobby" area in front of the JR station then take a tunnel to Namba Hatch. It was a quick walk and much better than figuring out how the hell I was going to cross so many lanes of traffic.
Opening started at 17:00 and as I've never been to a concert (school stuff and seeing Trans-Siberian Orchestra don't count) I decided it'd be best to get there early. Also, I wasn't sure what to do anyway as Namba is huge and I'd explored bits and pieces of it on Saturday and then Sunday. So I found my way to Namba Hatch and realized that me being early was perfect timing. Tour goods went on sale at 15:00 which was about 15 minutes after I showed up. Yay for good timing! Getting there early was also good because I have absolutely no idea where I should go... but two girls came in carrying Yumemiru Uchuu bags so I followed them. I talked with them (whoo, Japanese conversation that wasn't entirely about asking for directions!) and kind of hung around them since they knew what they were doing and I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. They took me to the third floor where the goods were being sold and we gathered around, waiting for the goods to go on sale.
While waiting, I got to look at this poster. I got my picture taken next to one of these but I look horrible as usual and who wants to look at me when you can look at the band
Then when it was about 5 minutes to being able to buy stuff, staff wheeled these racks out so people could see better. And tables and boxes with the goods were placed in front of the doors. Basically you formed three lines "I want this, this, and that", pay, and get out of the way. I'm so glad I got there early... I bought the things I wanted, joked with the girls I'd met coming in:
私：「お金がないんです！」笑
彼女：『私も！」笑
Fun times. I spent too much at this concert... but no regrets. The bands I like very rarely come to America and if they do, it's to California or New York which is too difficult to get out to. So I'm going to see the bands I like while I'm in Japan and can actually do so. Also... February 28 is my birthday and I'm treating this concert as my birthday present to myself. So I indulged... a little too much, but I didn't want to leave wishing I'd bought something since I didn't think I'd be seeing them again.
My tour goods:
After I got my goods, there was still a while to go so I went outside. Namba Hatch has a nice balcony area so I took some pictures then sat down and dug out my reading homework... might as well kill time and be productive. I could only stand my book for so long so settled on something more fun: people watching. The fashions in Kyoto weren't too wild but in Osaka, especially here... oh man. The clothes. So many girls with towering heels, crazy platforms they could barely walk in, etc. Some of the girls had really cute clothes... one girl had these gorgeous star tights that I'd love. It was fun looking at the guys too. There were actually a lot of boys here, I was surprised to see that. There were more girls of course but there was a fair amount of boys too.
My ticket was in the seated section on the second floor so I had a while until I was able to get inside. The standing section got seated first and I think there were at least 1500 seat numbers to go through. So finally I was able to go inside. I'd forgotten there was a 500 yen drink charge so wasn't all that pleased about that... but what could I do. Had to pay. Got my drink ticket but decided to save that for after the live since I figured I'd be really thirsty by then. Once I got through the security (they checked the tote bag I'd bought but not my backpack, which was kind of weird) I went up the escalator to get to the main area. Up on this floor was a table selling CDs and DVDs and then further back was a line for drinks, bathrooms, etc. I went into the venue and found my seat... thought I was going to trip since it was so dark but security was walking around with flashlights making sure people could see their seat numbers and wouldn't fall down the stairs. I'd been anxious about being on the second floor but realized I'd be able to see just fine. Also I could just throw my stuff down in front of my chair instead of having to use the coin lockers or have a heart attack from heat stroke if I was down in the standing crowd.
The lights were on and some English music was playing, which I thought was ironic. I'm seeing a Japanese band but English music is playing before they come on stage. It was kind of weird. But the stage looked really pretty, long silver streamers were hanging down, there was a big round platform for Atsushi to stand on, and parts of the stage were glowing. There was still some time to go before the live started and the woman next to me was drinking a lemonade so in Japanese I asked her if I could get a drink after the live. She seemed surprised I could speak Japanese and said yes I could. Asking her that first question was such a good idea because I got to have a really enjoyable conversation with her. Meeting her was one of my best memories of the day. I managed to have a conversation with her that was entirely in Japanese and for the most part I could understand what she was telling me. She'd been a fan of BUCK-TICK since they first started and she's seen at least one live from every tour but two. So we talked about the band, other interets, why I like Japanese music... the last part was tricky because I have a hard time explaining myself in Japanese but I managed to get a decent explanation out. It seemed good enough for her. I'd said I liked Atsushi's long hair back in the early 90s and asked her if she'd been able to see any of those lives. She said she was in high school when she did and she was kind of teasing me abut how I liked men with long hair. I mentioned I was seeing MUCC next month and she said Tatsurou was very cool and gave me this knowing look when she said he had long hair. I'm always kind of anxious about having a conversation with Japanese people who are older than me because I'm not sure how polite I should be, but she was so easy to talk to and really friendly. We laughed a lot and I think she liked talking to me too. She even told me that BUCK-TICK is performing in Nagoya this Friday, that tickets were on sale, and showed me the exact website where I could go to buy a ticket. I got her name and number after the live so I'm looking forward to seeing her again this Friday <3 I'll brush up on some grammar and verbs so I don't sound like as much of a bumbling idiot.
The English music abruptly stopped and the lights went out. Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star starts playing but it was a more rocked out version. Everyone screams in excitement and jumps to their feet as the lights come on. I think Imai came out first. It was surreal seeing them coming out on stage. I've watched lives and PVs and now I get to see a live with my own eyes. I think Imai and Tetsu should meet because they share the same rather hideous fashion sense. Imai had on a tank top (I think it was red) with long colored fringe, boots, and blue and purple patterned pants... I think it was supposed to resemble galaxies, as the tour is called Cosmic Dreamer. U-Ta kept standing in front of a spotlight so it was basically impossible to make out anything but a shadow with hair. Later I saw he had on a dress shirt and I think black pants. Toll had his standard mohawk (How this man still has hair is beyond me) and was wearing a purple suit. Hide was wearing a kind of weird outfit. He had a black shirt on with a black jacket over it with sparkly lapels, black pants, and what looked like either really wide pants with a black fringe trim or a skirt over it. Not sure. They got in position and started playing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. I kept watching the left side of the stage (where they'd walked out from) to see when Atsushi would come in. I have a weakness for vocalists, him especially. The lights dimmed again and then I saw him walking out. People screamed again and Suzuki-san (my new friend) says to me “Sakurai ga kita!” when he came in since I’d just been fangirling over him with her earlier. It was dark so I couldn't make out everything too well but later I got to see him properly. He kept his hair simple and looked like he stepped out of a black hole as usual, but he looked good. Black leather pants, knee high black boots, a black sleeveless shirt that went down to his knees and had a lot of ruffles, then black arm warmers. He also had this weird transparent black scarf draped over his head and shoulders. He'd decorated his mic stand with a feather boa and a creepy looking mask. My eyes aren't that great so it's kind of hard to make out details from far away but it was a white mask with facial features painted on like eyelashes and eyebrows, etc.
The intro song started... I'm not sure if they made that particular intro for this tour as I've never heard it before, but I'm a recent fan so there are a lot of BUCK-TICK songs I haven't heard before. Such a massive discography! It was an interesting song though and I thought Atsushi looked kind of funny peering around with his hobo scarf and his mic stand. The lights come on at full blast and then I could see them all properly. The lights dimmed again and when they came back on Atsushi had taken the boa and mask off his mic stand. They started playing Lady Skeleton and I'll forever think of this as Atsushi's stripper song. Such a tease, he kept touching himself and grinding on his mic stand like it was a pole. Then he'd hook his leg around it and sing. This was a really sexy song and I literally couldn't take my eyes off him. Not that I wanted to anyway... XD
Next they played 人魚. It had less of a stripper feel to it but was more energetic. It was so easy to see how happy they all were to be there. I'm pretty sure I was smiling like an idiot the entire live, but I was just so happy to be there.
Next song was one I couldn't remember the title of during the live. I'm listening to BUCK-TICK as I'm writing this live report in the hopes that it'll jog my memory, and I found the title of this song when it came up. The next song was 残骸 and the presentation was absolutely beautiful. The stage was dark again and there was the spotlight shining down on Atsushi and his platform. He just stood there then the song began and "rain" started falling right onto his platform. I couldn't tell if it was falling on him or just the part of the platform that was in front of him, but the image was gorgeous. The focus was mostly on him for this song and he kept turning his face up to the water as he was singing.
I can't remember what came next (might have been エリーゼのために -ROCK for Elise-) but at one point the lights were really bright and Atsushi had taken his arm warmers off. He twirls them around all sexily then throws them off somewhere. Didn't take anything else off, unfortunately, but he showed off his pole dancer skills for this song too. Hide had wandered over to Imai's section of the stage and was thus in Atsushi's reach since he grabbed Hide and pulled him towards his platform like "Hey get up here and play" So Hide jumped up on the platform and played by him. Atsushi would do this every so often, grab a guitarist and pull them up on his platform. Or he'd go up to them and put his arm around them so they could sing with him. Hide and Imai would wander around sometimes... U-Ta mostly stayed in the back but he'd come up front too. I was worried he'd trip over the cord to his amp as he was walking up front but he seemed to know what he was doing. I was mostly busy ogling Atsushi but I did look at the rest of the band too as the vocalist isn't everything. Imai's so fun, he's so bouncy at lives XD
Again memory fail. For the life of me I can't remember what song it is (and it hasn't come up on my itunes yet) but while the lights were dark Atsushi had decorated his mic stand again. He stayed very close to it the entire song. It was cute in a kind of disturbing way (I hate masks, dolls, etc. Give me the creeps) to hear him singing "Baby, I love you" to the mask. Whenever he reached that line he'd turned his face towards the mask and be so close it looked like he was going to kiss it.
I can't really remember what songs came next but they played most if not all of 夢見る宇宙。
During the main portion of the live Atsushi would sometimes walk around and sit by Imai or crouch down in front of the fans. He'd lean down and let some of them ruffle his hair... lucky them. Although his hair was probably really sweaty at that point. Or he'd lean over and hold his mic out over the fans so they could sing with him. Sometimes he'd put the whole mic stand out over them to catch more fan singing. He'd hi five people too. Ah to be in the front row...
I remember them playing Coyote but not the exact order. Atsushi had his scarf on again and had it draped over him as he was singing. He kept rubbing his arms while he was singing, especially during the parts about holding.
Then I think ONLY YOU -WE ARE NOT ALONE- was next. Either that or some older songs whose titles I didn't know. I really can't remember... and I couldn't really understand Atsushi when he was talking but he didn't have any lengthy MC. He'd mostly thank us or tell us to be loud I think. The one time he did talk more I couldn't understand anything. The parts after Coyote are when I was completely engrossed in the live and wasn't trying to think about what song they were playing. But when they started playing 夢見る宇宙 I knew it was the end. I like this song and I've always thought it was so peaceful... after that ended they thanked us and threw the usual picks and water bottles into the audience then left the stage. Having it suddenly be over was so jarring because I'd completely gotten into the live and the music and was like wait what? It's over? Of course fans started clapping and chanting encore. This must have lasted for several minutes and I was getting anxious that they wouldn't come and do an encore. I asked Suzuki-san if they usually did encores and she said out of all the lives she's seen, they haven't done an encore twice. So I figured they'd do one tonight. And we were in luck! They came back out for an encore.
I think was 夢路 was the first song. Imai was wearing the galaxy tour hoodie which clashed SO badly with the rest of his clothes. He had a Cosmic Dreamer t-shirt on too (not one of the ones being sold tonight) and Hide had one under his t-shirt. I don't think Toll or U-Ta changed. Atsushi was wearing a black dress shirt and simple black shoes instead, but that was his only real outfit change. They played this one and then next was 禁じられた遊び -ADULT CHILDREN-. Out of the entire live, this song was the most powerful one. Before the music began Atsushi was making this absolutely pitiful whimpering sound... made me want to go give him a hug. I think he said "nani suru no" but it was kind of hard to hear. I was confused and then I heard the intro and realized what song he was singing for. Once I read the lyrics and some background for this song I can see exactly why Atsushi was doing that. When the instrumental part came he collapsed on his platform and curled up in a fetal position like he was trying to hide. Later he slowly uncurled but was crouching on his platform... it took him a while to fully stand. It was an amazing performance.
I think they played an older song next... then they once again left the stage. I kept hoping it wasn't over. People weren't getting up and they started chanting encore again. So I stayed, hoping for Encore #2... and they delivered :) I think they began with ICONOCLASM. I'm not overly fond of this song but Suzuki-san's action was priceless. Her face lights up, she lets out this fangirl scream, and is bouncing up and down and waving her hands. She was SO happy, it was adorable. That was the most passionate I'd seen her. She was dancing or bouncing quietly and waving her hands, sometimes clapping, but she wasn't screaming like other fans were. Until this song.
For the life of me I can't remember anything in the second encore but ICONOCLASM. After the last song they bowed and thanked us then threw some more picks and water bottles into the audience. Toll was trolling us and would throw his drum stick on the ground then pick it up and do it again before finally throwing it into the audience. No one in the second floor had any chance of catching anything but oh well, I'm happy with the goods I bought. This time when the lights went up I didn't feel the "NOOO IT'S OVER" feeling like earlier. I felt content. I stayed around to talk with Suzuki-san and then staff politely asked us to leave since we were in the way of clean up. I got her number and gave her mine then we parted ways so I could go get a drink. My mouth felt like sandpaper. On my way to the drink line, the DVD/CD table caught my attention. I'd promised myself I wouldn't buy any of the DVDs there (I'm holding out for Book Off. I've already gotten deals there) but I couldn't resist and came home with 13th Floor with Diana. If I had Blu-Ray I'd have left with Climax Together because I just love Atsushi with his long hair but alas, Mac and Blu-Ray mix about as well as math and I do. So buying a region all blu-ray player when Im back in the states since my sister is letting me have her old TV.
With my wallet considerably lighter I went to get my drink. There was pop, water, orange juice, and alcohol. Thought about getting some alcohol but I was too thirsty and went straight for the water. Most expensive water I've ever had and I brought the bottle back to Hikone. I paid 500 yen for that water so I'm making use of the bottle when I go out, lol.
I heard someone say the concert had been about 2 and a half hours long. It was Sunday night and I still had to get back to Hikone since I had class on Monday so I didn't stick around... didn't have the time. Ugh going down the stairs to get the place where I'd come in to go up to the live was absolutely horrible. I literally walked into a cloud of smoke. Got out of there quickly. On my way out people were passing out packets with flyers and some other things for BUCK-TICK. Got mine and put it in my bag then went to the train station. Once I was on the train I looked through the packet. There were some flyers, advertisements for Fish Tank and some goods... then a sheet with tour info. And some cute chibis. I'll have to get pictures of everything later, for now I'll wrap this up so I can get back to my homework.
Looking forward to doing this again on Friday! Going to 7/11 to print my ticket tomorrow
Cyber cookies to anyone who manages to read all this
