January 31st, 2005 at Shibuya O-West
bis vs. 12012 2-man "TRIBAL ARIVALL Vol. 88"

Bands in order: 12012, bis

What a great two-man combination! I love both bands! I went with Emma, my first time to O-West. She had a very low ticket number, and I had a very high ticket number. She was one of the first in, promising to hold a spot for us, as I waited outside in the chilly weather for them to call 300 more numbers. Somehow, though, there weren't many people there upon opening, and they sailed right through those 300. When I got to the door, they asked me what band I'd come to see, which for some reason had completely slipped my mind to decide who to choose beforehand and caught me off guard. I picked bis since I've seen 12012 more times and bis could use my money, even though it must have looked weird as I was wearing my 12012 hoodie!

The number on my drink ticket said I was number 157, so even though my actual ticket was in the 400s, there were only 156 other people in there. O-West is one of the more professional venues; a really nice place with a high ceiling and wide stage. It's not so deep, but because of the width of the room there was plenty of space. Emma had claimed a great spot in the middle, about three rows back. We stood and entertained ourselves as the place filled up gradually behind us until starting.

Today would mark the 7th time I've seen 12012 live and it was by far the BEST. Usually they are awesome live, but tonight they were spectacular. They had a long set and played all the best songs, and the fans were not completely insane bitchy and there was a rockin' mosh pit that didn't involve concussions from anyone. It was really super. I have never been happier to see them.

I'm seriously so impressed with how they play on stage... they are one of the most professional sounding bands, and they demonstrated this more than usual tonight. They never really move around much, but they play so tight and clearly you'd think you were listening to a recording. Better than a recording!

Because I was right in the center, I got to stare at Miyawaki and Tooru the whole time (although that's nothing new). Tomo looked even more worried than he usually does, and I think Aki was scared by Emma's cleavage. Yuusuke was super hot tonight, though he was far away from me so I couldn't see much.

But really, it was just an awesome set!

1) BURN
2) gallows
3) Ms. vampire
4) souseiji
5) mippei sareta hi
6) mentalfood
7) shudder
8) sheeps
9) Shinshoku
10) newspaper
11) venom

bis was also lots of fun, although they barely have any fans (I left the front, got a drink, came back and was closer to the stage that I was before) we still managed to rock out and jump around. Played a lot of new songs, debuted their new costumes. Maru had on the leopard print studded vest, Shunsuke in the furry plaid getup, Tsukasa in a cute purple tube top and monster fur-trimmed mini jacket, and Seika in a red top and more fur.

Shunsuke was being rather pretentious as he usually is, while Tsukasa and Maru bounced around the stage on crack, arms around each other, saluting Shunsuke, jumping on the drum platform. Oh and Seika needs to gain about 50 lbs if he wants to live much longer (holy jesus he's skinny). Tsukasa kissed Shunsuke on the cheek to get him to smile, it was ridiculously cute. I don't know the exact setlist, but it was a good selection and lots of fun.

They had the goods tables outside with long lines for both, had to stand in each of them separately. I wasn't planning on buying any bis merchandise but I had to stand in line to turn the enquette in and at the table the photosets were calling me. bis' goods include two photosets and OIL BLOTTING PAPERS! WTF!?!? You know, those little sheets of tissue paper you blot your face with to remove excess oil during the day. Of all random things to make goods of, honestly.

While we were getting goods, fangirls were swarming where a band van had parked and they were loading equipment into the back of. There was a sudden uproar and then the van drove away... we were like oh, 12012 must have left. The fangirls mostly wandered off. But when we were leaving, we walked by where the van had been, and Aki was standing there talking on his cel phone like it was nothing. We looked at him curiously; he saw us and turned around, it was funny. I wonder who drove off in the van then? Maybe it was a distraction to get the girls to go away...