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aibanokokuhaku A lot has happened in the past 10 days and I haven't talked about it at all. And yet, in another, less than 48 hours, I'll be 3rd row seeing these guys AGAIN in Ichikawa... So lemme catch y'all up to where I am now.
So, I got a lot of stuff done. First of all, I went to an arcade in Urayasu because for 1 week only, they had Kishidan plushies in their claw machines. I spent a bit of cash and managed to fish out 2 Ranma plushies, one big and one small. I sleep with the big one sometimes. :P
*****
The next thing that happened was on October 28th. I went to Makuhari Messe for the VAMPS Halloween Party. It was pretty awesome. The stage was all crazy Halloween-looking (I'd share a pic but apparently it's against the rules, even of the empty hall?). The music playing before the show was the Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack. The damn event was five and a half hours, but the bands, and getting to see every group in costume, was well worth, the boring MC chatter and Halloween activities in-between. Basically, the lineup went like this:
BREAKERZ
FLOW
KISHIDAN
MOMO IRO CLOVER Z
VAMPS
MIYAVI (with Hyde)
HALLOWEEN JUNKY ORCHESTRA
So, first of all, I had no idea Daigo was in BREAKERZ because I am an idiot. He was fun as hell to see perform in a tiny skirt nonetheless, so even though I wasn't familiar with this band, I had a good time. FLOW I had seen before in Chicago at an anime convention (ACEN) in 2011, so I kind of knew what to expect. The whole band dressed as Naruto. As expected.
KISHIDAN came out dressed as SMAP. No lie. The red suits. I'll start by explaining their setlist:
One Night Carnival (Forever 5 version, so basically remixed with SMAP and some lyrics changed)
喧嘩上等
ライバルズ (氣志團 ver.)
One Night Carnival
涙BOY涙GIRL (世界に一つ ver.)
I was very lucky to be near the front in B Block, meaning on the side where I believe Tommy and Matsu usually are. Everyone else is in the audience is wearing like black, white, red, halloween-y costumes and I dressed full-out bright orange and black with my custom embroidered jacket (which I will probably wear on Thursday as well). I stood out like a sore thumb. I like to think Show Yan and the others only paid me as much attention as they did because they were making good on Show Yan's promise to me 2 days before, but I am probably just a daydreamer. Here's the tweet I am talking about, as well as my bright as heck jacket:
So yeah, during this whole thing, I get a few waves and glances from Show Yan, Ranma literally keeps throwing things at me (they're supposed to throw gifts and candy-- I caught 2 pieces from him and a pin that says "SHOW" on it), I awkwardly bowed slightly while everyone was cheering at Tommy because I thought we were making eye contact. We were.... he SAW ME AND DID IT BACK. He's so tall it looked like a damn tree falling over. Show Yan also tried to throw me this big stuffed bear but someone caught it a mere 2 people away. All well. So yeah, I felt a bit special, not gonna lie. Here is a pic of the stuff I caught from Ranma chan as well as 2 fake pirate coins I picked up during VAMPS's set.
So yeah, I had a pretty good time when they were out and about. I think there weren't many Kishidan fans there (most people were there for VAMPS) and with me being so dang bright orange and near the front I think I was an easy target. During VAMPS and Miyavi, I relaxed and let other fans catch everything being thrown out. For VAMPS's set, their Pirates of the Caribbean costumes were phenomenal and their set was awesome, with pirates and fake boat and Hyde climbing and singing from the mast. He also made some weird jokes and seemed so at home on stage, ripping off his fake mustache because it was tickling his nose and affecting his singing. lol I didn't realize so much of VAMPS's music is in English, and it was weird hearing him pronounce, "Are you fucking ready?!" so natively. For Miyavi's set, Hyde sang and so they did perform "All My Life" as one of their songs, which is on the new Miyavi album that comes out tomorrow. It's a catchy little tune.
At the end, everyone came back out for the Halloween Junky Orchestra thing, where they sing their Halloween Party song for 10 minutes straight and toss out more candy before the show ends. Kishidan had changed their clothes and were wearing Happi, so there was a lot of man-leg to check out. There were a few moments that made me bubbly, watching Show Yan and Ranma having a little side conversation at one point, and Show Yan and Miyavi exited the stage together, hands on each others' backs at the end.
Anyway, it was a good time, and as long as a few bands I like do it next year, I will probably go again.
*****
Last thing! So on Saturday (the 4th) I went to the Tears of Swan atelier shop in Naka-Meguro, Tokyo, even though I was dying of a cold. (My cold is almost gone now so I should be ok for the concert!) I went because I heard Yukki would be there hosting the shop and selling some handmade goods. So I did 4 hours round trip on mass transit with people coughing in my already sick face to meet this man. It was worth it.
I went in the moment it opened for the day and I was shocked-- Yukki was the only person in there. No other staff, no other customers. Just me and him. For the whole 20 minutes I was there.The first thing he asked me was if I wanted tea or coffee or something. I asked for water, thinking he'd just hand me a bottle. Do you know how weird it is to have some musician you admire prepare you a proper glass of ice water and serve it to you? It feels so out of place. He keeps asking me questions, I mention my cold and between the headcold and pure confusion my answers remain short. I was so unprepared for this encounter, I didn't bring any CDs or DVDs for him to sign. I didn't ask him to sign anything, but he brought it up. He signed a flyer and gave it to me-- but maybe he was feeling odd too, as he dated it for October 4th... I didn't say anything about the wrong date. I bought a pack of iron-on patches for 3000 yen because they are the only thing that say "Yukinojoe's Handmade" very clearly on the packaging. I also didn't ask for a selfie with him, but he offered and took and operated my phone for it. He mentioned my hat being one from Kishidan Banpaku. I responded just with a "yes, it is". I should have said, "yeah, and it was great to see you there!" or something... I'm sorry I was so sick, Yukki! So yeah, he was so extra with his goodbyes and told me to come back. I wish I could, but I don't know if I have time to come back to a limited time shop so far away. If I can make the time, I'd like to write and deliver him a letter. So anyway, here's my selfie with Yukki:
****
Sorry this post is so long! After Thursday's concert, I'll be sure to update again!
So, I got a lot of stuff done. First of all, I went to an arcade in Urayasu because for 1 week only, they had Kishidan plushies in their claw machines. I spent a bit of cash and managed to fish out 2 Ranma plushies, one big and one small. I sleep with the big one sometimes. :P
*****
The next thing that happened was on October 28th. I went to Makuhari Messe for the VAMPS Halloween Party. It was pretty awesome. The stage was all crazy Halloween-looking (I'd share a pic but apparently it's against the rules, even of the empty hall?). The music playing before the show was the Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack. The damn event was five and a half hours, but the bands, and getting to see every group in costume, was well worth, the boring MC chatter and Halloween activities in-between. Basically, the lineup went like this:
BREAKERZ
FLOW
KISHIDAN
MOMO IRO CLOVER Z
VAMPS
MIYAVI (with Hyde)
HALLOWEEN JUNKY ORCHESTRA
So, first of all, I had no idea Daigo was in BREAKERZ because I am an idiot. He was fun as hell to see perform in a tiny skirt nonetheless, so even though I wasn't familiar with this band, I had a good time. FLOW I had seen before in Chicago at an anime convention (ACEN) in 2011, so I kind of knew what to expect. The whole band dressed as Naruto. As expected.
KISHIDAN came out dressed as SMAP. No lie. The red suits. I'll start by explaining their setlist:
One Night Carnival (Forever 5 version, so basically remixed with SMAP and some lyrics changed)
喧嘩上等
ライバルズ (氣志團 ver.)
One Night Carnival
涙BOY涙GIRL (世界に一つ ver.)
I was very lucky to be near the front in B Block, meaning on the side where I believe Tommy and Matsu usually are. Everyone else is in the audience is wearing like black, white, red, halloween-y costumes and I dressed full-out bright orange and black with my custom embroidered jacket (which I will probably wear on Thursday as well). I stood out like a sore thumb. I like to think Show Yan and the others only paid me as much attention as they did because they were making good on Show Yan's promise to me 2 days before, but I am probably just a daydreamer. Here's the tweet I am talking about, as well as my bright as heck jacket:
So yeah, during this whole thing, I get a few waves and glances from Show Yan, Ranma literally keeps throwing things at me (they're supposed to throw gifts and candy-- I caught 2 pieces from him and a pin that says "SHOW" on it), I awkwardly bowed slightly while everyone was cheering at Tommy because I thought we were making eye contact. We were.... he SAW ME AND DID IT BACK. He's so tall it looked like a damn tree falling over. Show Yan also tried to throw me this big stuffed bear but someone caught it a mere 2 people away. All well. So yeah, I felt a bit special, not gonna lie. Here is a pic of the stuff I caught from Ranma chan as well as 2 fake pirate coins I picked up during VAMPS's set.
So yeah, I had a pretty good time when they were out and about. I think there weren't many Kishidan fans there (most people were there for VAMPS) and with me being so dang bright orange and near the front I think I was an easy target. During VAMPS and Miyavi, I relaxed and let other fans catch everything being thrown out. For VAMPS's set, their Pirates of the Caribbean costumes were phenomenal and their set was awesome, with pirates and fake boat and Hyde climbing and singing from the mast. He also made some weird jokes and seemed so at home on stage, ripping off his fake mustache because it was tickling his nose and affecting his singing. lol I didn't realize so much of VAMPS's music is in English, and it was weird hearing him pronounce, "Are you fucking ready?!" so natively. For Miyavi's set, Hyde sang and so they did perform "All My Life" as one of their songs, which is on the new Miyavi album that comes out tomorrow. It's a catchy little tune.
At the end, everyone came back out for the Halloween Junky Orchestra thing, where they sing their Halloween Party song for 10 minutes straight and toss out more candy before the show ends. Kishidan had changed their clothes and were wearing Happi, so there was a lot of man-leg to check out. There were a few moments that made me bubbly, watching Show Yan and Ranma having a little side conversation at one point, and Show Yan and Miyavi exited the stage together, hands on each others' backs at the end.
Anyway, it was a good time, and as long as a few bands I like do it next year, I will probably go again.
*****
Last thing! So on Saturday (the 4th) I went to the Tears of Swan atelier shop in Naka-Meguro, Tokyo, even though I was dying of a cold. (My cold is almost gone now so I should be ok for the concert!) I went because I heard Yukki would be there hosting the shop and selling some handmade goods. So I did 4 hours round trip on mass transit with people coughing in my already sick face to meet this man. It was worth it.
I went in the moment it opened for the day and I was shocked-- Yukki was the only person in there. No other staff, no other customers. Just me and him. For the whole 20 minutes I was there.The first thing he asked me was if I wanted tea or coffee or something. I asked for water, thinking he'd just hand me a bottle. Do you know how weird it is to have some musician you admire prepare you a proper glass of ice water and serve it to you? It feels so out of place. He keeps asking me questions, I mention my cold and between the headcold and pure confusion my answers remain short. I was so unprepared for this encounter, I didn't bring any CDs or DVDs for him to sign. I didn't ask him to sign anything, but he brought it up. He signed a flyer and gave it to me-- but maybe he was feeling odd too, as he dated it for October 4th... I didn't say anything about the wrong date. I bought a pack of iron-on patches for 3000 yen because they are the only thing that say "Yukinojoe's Handmade" very clearly on the packaging. I also didn't ask for a selfie with him, but he offered and took and operated my phone for it. He mentioned my hat being one from Kishidan Banpaku. I responded just with a "yes, it is". I should have said, "yeah, and it was great to see you there!" or something... I'm sorry I was so sick, Yukki! So yeah, he was so extra with his goodbyes and told me to come back. I wish I could, but I don't know if I have time to come back to a limited time shop so far away. If I can make the time, I'd like to write and deliver him a letter. So anyway, here's my selfie with Yukki:
****
Sorry this post is so long! After Thursday's concert, I'll be sure to update again!
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Date: 2021-03-11 05:36 am (UTC)