This live was at Nishikujo Brand New in Osaka, another under-the-train-station live house. Not too many people were there, but they all had tickets. I had pre-ordered mine, but didn't actually have it, so I was sent to the end of the line. They were doing bag checks for cameras, MD players, and tape recorders, also took away all food and drink. However, I had two cameras in my bag, and they checked it TWICE and didn't find them. Jeeze. I still didn't take any, since they said they'd confiscate cameras and throw you out if they caught you. I came in near-last, but the fangirls did their typical "If I don't know them, I don't care", so the stage front was pretty empty, but satisfactorily crowded compared to others I'd been to. The live house was actually very nice. It was small, but the curtains actually didn't need someone to open and close them! It was also air conditioned, and had a little café in the back. There were low headbanging bars, and a long narrow table between the bars and the stage, which was very low. On the right and left sides, there was a small space where there the bars ended so the table was un-blocked. Hard to explain.

Zephyr was first. They were rather young, very cute. Four guys, only slightly visual. The vocalist, Caim, wore a button up flowered red shirt and ripped jeans, and ran around barefoot. While their outfits weren't typical visual kei costumes at all, they wore the same things for the flyers, photosets, and on the web page. Caim was full of energy, and would run and jump on the table. They played rock/hard rock, but not too hard. Very well practiced, and happy too. They talked a lot, I couldn't understand much, but everyone was laughing. I did catch "Who's here to see us?" The stage group cheers. "Who's here to see the next band?" The group in the back cheers. He curses at them. At one point he was announcing things, I'm not sure what, but the fans would clap when he paused, and Sin (drummer) would hit the drums. At one point when they did, he said "urusai!" and everyone (including him) cracked up. The guitarist, Shinobu... wasn't too attractive, but was an amazing guitarist. I caught his pick. Bassist Motoki seemed to have a head too small for his body. o.O;

(Fangirl alert) During one song, I glanced back at Sin. He was looking at me. We met eyes and I looked away. A few seconds later, I looked back, and he was still looking at me. I started to get giggly. After a few more times meeting eyes with him, I had to hide behind a Japanese girl to stop from laughing. He finally looked down, kinda embarrassed, and didn't look up for the rest of the song. Hehe ^^;

ElDorado was next. My feelings were mixed about them. While I had liked the songs of theirs I had heard earlier, they didn't seem to sound the same. They were much much harder rock than I had remembered. Most of their songs sent the fists (and middle fingers) flying, but one or two were so boppy that the entire audience was jumping up and down like fleas on crack. Kaede has a great voice, with plenty of screaming. Visually, they were very cool looking. Lots of black, leather, fishnets. To quote someone, they definitely went to the "let's see how many bondage items we can hang from ourselves at once" school of costume. Not that it's a bad thing! I spent most of the time trying to figure out the workings of Kaede's costume to remember what the rest of the band was wearing.

They were loud. Very loud. Especially when I was standing in front of a speaker. A few times I found myself wanting to sit down for a song because my ears felt like they were bleeding from the speaker being way too close, but all in all they were enjoyable. For the last song, some very tame stage rushing started. They worked the audience well, but didn't play the song long enough to have some serious moshing.

After, a bunch of girls left the stage front, so I pushed up as far forward as I could. Then these bimbos come up, bat their eyelashes and look confused at each other, then say "sumimasen" and push me out of the way. I was at the far right against the speaker, so lil Miss Teenybopper took the very front where there was no bar, and I stood behind her. Her and her friend set up their tape recorders (which of course wasn't allowed) and then she started showing off Ayumi Hamasaki pictures on her cell phone. Ugh.

Orivia was next, and were they ever amazing. With the very first song they had the audience headbanging and stage rushing, then toned it down. They were heavy rock to pop rock, and did it all so well. All the members looked really young. They were rather un-visual, compared to ElDo. Baby-faced vocalist Kizuki wore a windbreaker jacket zipped all the way up with jeans. Bassist Mafuyu wore a tie-dye long sleeve shirt, with a Boy Scout shirt over it, some camouflage, and goggles. To tell you the truth, I don't remember what the other two were wearing, but my notes from that night say, "the drummer was wearing a terrifying combination of godknowswhat."

After a few songs, Kizuki got on the MC and started talking. I didn't catch the first parts, but everyone got very silent. He went on to say that this is their last live in Osaka, and everyone goes "awww." Then he says that August 25th is "hontou ni saigo" (really the last) and they were breaking up. Everyone knew already but it was still really sad. Then they started playing "...omoi" which is a long, beautiful, slow song. While they played the intro, he was looking really sad. His eyes got all teary, he was staring at the ceiling and trying to hide behind his hair. The aura of the place was reeeeally solemn, very emotional. Everyone was completely quiet through the whole song (which runs 10 minutes on their CD). When it was over, the mood lifted and they played an extremely crazy song, and got everyone thrashing around. For their last song, they shouted, "rock...rock...rock... ROCK ROCKROCKROCKROCKROCKROCK" and repeated for at least 10 minutes. The audience turned into a crazy mess of stage rushing. The girls in the front went under the bars and kneeled on the tables, while the rest of the mob slammed into the front. I had a rather large girl bashing into me, so in turn I bashed into the Ayu-whore, who definitely didn't like it (what was she expecting, and no-contact mosh pit?!) She would glance back at me, look at her friend next to her, and mule-kick me with her high-heels. But I was stronger and quicker than her, and avoided her kicks by twisting her ankles. I hope she bruised.

Throughout this crazy time, the members switched instruments and took turns on the table. Kizuki stage dived a LOT. At one point, he fell over the bars and onto the floor. A techie dived in after him, but the girls helped him up. So cute! He would stand on the table, letting himself be groped, then run back and forth, bopping all the girls on their heads. The fans were still thrashing... I was hoping for some carnage, but the place was air-conditioned and didn't get hot or violent enough for anything to happen. When they finished, they started throwing water bottles and picks out into the audience. Then they left. I went out to the table to buy stuff, but it turns out Zephyr was the only ones selling things. I bought their maxi-single, then hear a loud group scream and run back in to see that orivia has returned. Two Lolitas took my space, but I guess they got bored and left about 20 seconds into it, so I crammed back in. Orivia started up with the "rock...!" thing again, and everyone went mad rushing. At one point, Ayu-whore's tape recorder fell out of her bag... and I made sure to kick it. (Am I mean?) After 5 or so minutes, orivia left for good. The table-front girls raped the stage; Ayu-whore tore the setlist off the wall and grabbed a drumstick from a techie before the curtains closed. Sheesh. 10 or so girls stayed at the stage and chanted "orivia", but everyone else left.

I'd have to say that this was by FAR my favorite live so far. It was really emotional, all the bands were really good, it was fun, and stage rushing is my new favorite thing to do. Fan-wise, it was the worst. The next day I woke up with clusters of bruises on my legs from being slammed into the table, sore neck from headbanging, and just general fatigue from not getting to sleep by 2 am and waking at 7... but it was so worth it. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

My money went to: ElDorado
My money should have gone to: orivia
Goods: Zephyr CD Hatsujouki
Souvenirs: Guitar pick from Zephyr guitarist