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2005.02.02 at Harajuku Ruido Bands in order: Kinarura, Kazoku, Gimmick, SIN, Kalen I had bought this ticket by mistake... See, I wanted to see Gift, who was playing with SIN and Kalen on 2/12. At Death Trap, I saw a SIN and Kalen live for 2/2 and wasn't sure of the original date, so I bought it, only later to find it was wrong. I couldn't do anything about it, I mean I like Kalen but not normally enough to go see them alone. I wasn't expecting much from tonight's live but it was actually tons of fun! It was at Harajuku Ruido, which is a horrid place if there are 943894 people there, but when it's not as crowded it's a lot better. I had ticket number A 10, before the As were S 1-10, so I was about the 20th person in there. There were a lot more people there in the end of course, but I ended up staying in the back for most of the bands (the back was the only place with cel phone reception too and I'm a mail addict). It's a small place so even from the back you get a great view, if only from the waist up. Kinarura was first. They didn't suck as much as when I first saw them. They had new thrift store-esq costumes, new hair styles, and were a hell of a lot less boring. James still smacks his fans, and the bassist is still horridly ugly. But musically they were a lot better and I didn't mind listening to them. They played some song I thought I recognized, but maybe not. Their fans are quite crazy though, and everyone was moshing and headbanging. Next was Kazoku, who were added to the list at the last minute I think. I had never heard of them but WOW they are cool! I was just lamenting the other day about how about two years ago there was a short trend in visual which produced bands like Aliza Marie, Doremidan, and Hotaru, who had similar looks (the thrift-store aristocrat look) and sounds (more jazzy), and all those bands broke up or drastically changed and I hadn't seen many bands like that since. Well they were my answer!! They were heavy, but also had a lot of fun jazzy stuff and just unusual for visual bands these days. I liked them so much! At the time I didn't know these songs, but I snagged a setlist from their official site later. Then I was like bah I'm thirsty! And went out in the lobby to drink and stare at band goods. I forgot that all the bands had to go through the lobby to get to/from stage! Gimmick in full costume and makeup walked through the lobby, and I was like hey there sexy! I decided to go in for their set because they looked pretty damn hot (I was planning on leisurely drinking my cassis and going back whenever I was done), so I drank real fast and brought my glass back to the bar, only to be trapped by Kazoku walking out with all their equipment. Oops. Okay. I admit I am going to be 100% shallow on this one so skip it if you don't want to read it. Gimmick is stereotypically visual down to every last detail. They are THE DEFINITION of visual kei. Big hair, corny, PVC costumes showing lots of skin, music that follows the exact same patterns as every other visual band, their movements are all the same, tongue rolling and headbanging... they are dime-a-dozen visual. Now that is not bad per say, in fact they did it better than the average band and their music was pretty good, but they were completely unoriginal. However, I do not care because Ayano is the sexiest man on the planet. I didn't even realize it was Ayano. I had seen him when he was in Vidoll and did not think he was that sexy. His hair is blonde now and he has plastic extensions. He is SO GODDAMN HOT I couldn't take my eyes off him the entire set. The end. Next was SIN. I'd seen them a month prior and they were pretty much the same, with the same costumes and I'm pretty sure the same songs. Except Koumei made an even bigger deal about their hoodie for sale at Death Trap. (Koumei's the guy that works at Death Trap always trying to get me to buy stuff I don't want). He fully embarrassed the support drummer by repeatedly asking him questions about the hoodie, "hey, that's a cool hoodie! Where'd you get that?" kinda thing. They played a new song with a twangy piano melody opening, but they screwed it up 3 times before getting it right on the 4th try. They're so dorky. But Koumei has a really nice voice and they are enjoyable. Kalen took their sweet time setting up. During this time I notice Kisaki was hanging around in the back. Not even the back, just on the side by the door. Just standing around with huge sunglasses on, goofing off with some guy. Very unnerving actually... My eyes wander all over the livehouse unconsciously when I have nothing to look at, and I kept looking at him accidentally and he would be staring in my direction but I couldn't tell what he was looking at with his sunglasses on. So anyway, Kalen! No matter how weinery they are on CD, they'll always rock hardcore live! They're sooo fun! New costumes, new song, new cheesy dance involving fighting cat hands, and so on. Nao made a hilarious MC about being harassed by "A HUGE LL SIZED FOREIGNER!!" in Harajuku trying to get him to buy hip-hop clothes ("do I look like someone who'd buy hip-hop clothes? I'm visual kei!!") and then being hit on by a gay guy at he station. Oh Nao, you loser. For the last song everyone was stage rushing. I'd previously just been standing near the back fairly calmly, but they made me want to rock out. When everyone started going nuts, I managed to end up in the way front close enough to touch Takaya (I wasn't planning on it, he was just smacking hands). They are so funnn. I left enquettes for Kazoku and Gimmick, and noticed Gimmick has the best plan for photosets ever. They have a ton of live photos up on a sign board (really awesome quality too), and you can buy them... individually!! For 150yen each. That's a good deal! More bands should do that! You can pick which ones you like (out of 40 or something), and it is cheaper than buying an actual photoset (they did have regular ones too). So I just bought two of Ayano. In the end, I'm quite glad I went! |