12/12: "Sway the Scepter" 12012 Oneman
Club Holiday Shibaura

It seems weird writing this so far after the live actually took place, so this live report isn't going to be the best. The reason why I took so long to write this will be included at the end!

Although there were some downsides, it was a rather awesome show. We got to Hamamatsuchou with about a half hour to spare, so we went to the Wendy's across the street from Holiday where we ate fries with an entire floor of 12012 fans (and we were sitting next to their staff people). At opening time we went back and apparently our tickets of 160 were more like 60, because we were let right in. But there were a lot more tickets sold, so we stood around the front for an hour being weird while they tried to cram everyone in. The girl in front of us was writing an email to her friends saying 12012 fans were young and there were foreigners standing behind her. Then we saw Cameron getting drinks so I ran over to him and he came to where we were standing and we were all loud and impatient.

We were in about the 3rd/4th row, but it all didn't matter when the show started (20 minutes late) because everyone crammed forward as much as possible, to a really ridiculous point where we were all just leaning on each other. I was practically lifted off the floor from everyone pushing forward. It was uncomfortable actually, and would have been a lot better if everyone eased up a bit. Sure I could see everything on stage, but being covered in other people's sweat is one of the most unpleasant things that can happen at lives. It was already hot in there, but when we became literally pressed against one another, it was like a sauna. There was no room to headbang, or even move your arms (they were either permanently up or permanently down). So, everyone just tossed their heads around and clawed at each other.

Tonight was the debut of 12012's new costumes, which if possible were even more outrageously awesome than their last costumes. They were made with a PVC base, with snakeskin and buckles and studs and ripped things and pure AWESOMENESS that only 12012 costumes can be. Tooru's had weird zebra PVC that must have been specially made. Aki's had a lot of fringe and sparkles and mesh. It's so hard to explain them because they're all so detailed, but I'm sure anyone reading this has seen pictures of them by now. One weird thing I must mention is that they all wear white shoes with the outfits! Even though the costumes are pretty much all black, they wear solid white shoes. Quite a contrast, and I'm not quite sure if it's a good contrast or not.

I was right in the center, so most of my attention was as usual directed at Miyawaki. He was being a lot friendlier with the crowd than usual. They all were, actually. The atmosphere was totally different than their usual shows. Since there were many more people attending than usually, and they had free time to do as much as they wanted, they were more interacting and moved around more than usual. Generally, 12012 will concentrate totally on their music, and they will play with passion and it will sound even better than on CD, but they will also not really move around at all. It's just part of their nature. But tonight they were more relaxed, and it was nice. Miyawaki stage dived many times, usually with Cameron to catch him. Aki leaned out into the audience a couple times too. I caught his pick, in a rather bizarre way. He threw it, and it hit me in the temple. But because I, like everyone else there, was covered in sweat, it stuck to my face. Gross, but it got me Aki's pick!

Another highlight was Tooru's drum solo. While not the most impressive (Takumi still wins the award for best drum solo), he played to a background track and then would pause, in the typical solo fashion, to get people to yell his name. The first time he did it, everyone was completely silent, and someone suddenly yelled "WATARU!" Tooru flashed a look of pure malice and stood up like he was about to walk off stage, as everyone burst out laughing, and then eventually started calling his name.

They played an awful lot of encores, the first one was two songs (Cameron was like "NOW where's he going, to the bathroom?!"), the second one was Boku no kara kara and another scene. They worked the crowd up and exited like it was for real. So everyone thought it was over and went to get drinks, and I was checking my phone mail by my bag. About 10 people were left at stage and they started doing the encore chant again... and a couple minutes later the band actually came back! This caused everyone who was scattered randomly to rush back to the front area, and I ended up further back and further to the right.

They played Shinshoku again, and during this, Miyawaki took a flying stage dive into the crowd. He had done this several times before, but this time we were unprepared. He jumped so far out, he fell directly 100% on me, taking down a large crowd of people with me on the bottom. Sure he's skinny, but that's still 100+ lbs of man muscle I didn't need hurtling at me and pinning me down. I hit my head on the floor; seeing nothing but a scramble of shoes around me, I thought I was going to die and the last thing I would see is up some girl's skirt.

Everyone was TRYING to help one another up, but it was really hard when no one had proper footing and no one is strong. The roadies helped Miyawaki but not the chaos he left behind. He was quite amused with himself afterwards, the ass. Aki dived a couple times in the last encore too, and he did cause a huge damage circle the second time, but on the other side of the audience area from me.

Afterwards we got drinks and went to the bathroom where we spent a while trying to make ourselves look decent, change clothes and fill out enquette. Miyawaki got "YOU ASS!" written in huge letters across both of ours. They didn't have any new tour goods, but I bought a photoset of their last costume set (which I proceeded to leave on the train accidentally). On our way out we received a free CD which included live versions of Shimbun and un insomnia, which don't really sound too different than the originals.

I didn't realize I actually got a concussion until I spent the next two days in bed, nauseous and in immense pain, with a headache for two weeks. Right, thanks Miyawaki! So, I was reluctant to write the usual notes that I do immediately after a live, and put it off enough so it's now two months after the fact.

01.hai furu karada
02.gallows
03.mippei sareta hi
04.Sheeps
05.Aren't you dead yet?
06.Shudder
~humanities~
07.tefu tefu
08.BURN
-drum solo-
09.shinshoku
10.Ms.vampire
11.mental food
~=~
12.lord it...
13.souseiji
14.news paper
~in favor of...?~
15.Venom
Encore 1
01.epi
02.un insomnia
Encore 2
01.boku no kara kara
02.another scene
Encore 3
01.shinshoku

See Cure magazine's live report and photos in Volume 18! [January 2005, D cover].