Ichikawa Club GIO Final: RELOAD
New Years Eve 2003~2004

Bands in order (30 in total, 10 I saw): Metemu, GANEISHA, Kikenji, Cerberos, XecsNoin, ARESZ, AOYT, VIVE, CHUCKY, Bang-Doll

So what's going on here? Ichikawa Club GIO, my beloved favorite live house of many pleasant memories, was getting evicted from Ichikawa. They were closing their doors after a massive all-night new years' live. GIO itself was almost like a record company to many bands, who based their lives and activity around the venue. They called these "GIO Bands", many of which I loved. Bang-Doll is the ultimate Gio band, having not only their first live there, but their first one-man, some of the members were involved in the club management, and many other things. Gio meant a huge amount to Bang-Doll, and therefore their fans too... It was a big sad ordeal, and I had to go. It was just... one of those things, you know? I would have regretted it so much. So, planning a spur-of-the-moment trip to Japan (okay, I was going for other reasons too, I'm not TOTALLY insane), I arrived December 30th, got barely enough sleep, and hauled my ass to Ichikawa for probably the last time ever.

At the risk of sounding cliche (and like Gou)... Holy shit this was the best live ever!! It wasn't that great from the start... I mean it was cool... but my back hurt really bad, and the bands were playing REALLY short sets. But in the end it was all worth it. I got there at 12:30 midnight; it had started at 2pm but the first 18 or so bands were no-namers, and they had thankfully stuck most of the "true" Gio bands at the end. I wouldn't have minded seeing Smoky Flavor again, and some of the earlier bands seemed interesting, but I also knew that this was going ALL night, and just getting to Japan less than 48 hours prior, I was not going to be up for a 30 hour live. After wandering around Ichikawa city for an hour aimlessly, I met Kendra at the station-- she was going to see the session band and neither of us wanted to go alone. The bands were perfectly on schedule (which is an amazing thing) so I entered exactly as the first band I wanted to see was setting up.

Why did I want to see Metemu? Call it morbid fascination I guess. They just seemed so different, and I like bands outside the norm. Well also as Chiharu said I HAVE to see them for her. So the band has 6 members: 3 guitarists, 1 bassist, 2 vocalists. And a faulty drum machine that kept breaking down mid-song. Not your average member lineup, eh? They were all wearing hoodies. Every single one of them. But wait, I have this nagging idea in the back of my head that the bassist, Yuusuke, was shirtless?? Maybe.

Anyway, they were like Linkin Park in essence, but there was something endearing about it, and they were surprisingly good. One vocalist would rap, and the other sang. Their guitars were very heavy and the music focused on them the most (not surprisingly since there were three of them!). When the drum machine broke down the first time, he yelled "SAIAKU!!" ("the worst!") although we seemed to think it was intentional. But after it happened the second time, they were not too happy about it. Well they still managed a good attitude and were very funny, talking with the audience and joking around. The rapping vocalist had us do they HEYY HOOO! rap concert thing.. like he'd yell "HEYY!!" and we'd have to reply "HOO!!".. just.. oh god it was fuckin hilarious. He's got charisma. In the end he said a little thing about Gio, but it wasn't exceptionally personal.

Following was GANEISHA. I had seen and made fun of them from pictures on Gio's site for a while now. But they were actually REALLY good... Three members (still no drummer) all made up totally scary, exactly like in the pictures. The vocalist Kaname is a little shorty with hair sticking up everywhere, and half his face covered in creepy blue and red paint. Guitarist Hiro is just disturbing, with his entire face drawn all over with what looks like Sharpie marker in a wavy grid pattern. It is hands-down the easiest way to make yourself look TERRIFYINGLY UGLY!! Then there is the tall bassist, Yuya, who just swathed himself in old rags and shawls and scarves so the only part of him you could see was his eyes (through the black paint), and an explosion of braided hair. He was standing around in the audience beforehand all dressed like that.

They were very animated and bouncy with this insane kinda feel... Well I mean obviously they were going for the insane thing, but Kaname put on a neat little act where he was like a disturbed child. While it's not THAT unique, it was just cute and they did it well. Yuya held his bass upright, like it was an upright classical bass (it wasn't), and I thought that was kinda nifty and dramatic. They played 4 songs, between the 3rd and 4th Kaname gave this angsty little speech about what Gio meant to him, and then they played a very slow song. All the members walked off stage while he sang the last bit in silence, then the lights went off and he quietly exited... that was really cool.

1:40am.
Another band I'd been looking at online and not had any interest in was Kikenji... but that changed after I saw them. They are again, definitely not your average band. Made up of only two girls, one dressed in the gothic aristocrat style (Maya), and the other elegant lolita (Ouga). The lolita played the bass and the other sang; most of the music was prerecorded synth and violin. It was pretty unique, but sounded like Malice Mizer. Kinda. They were very obviously MM fans. It was mostly quiet music with classical and gothic influences. Maya had a REALLY good voice though, for a chick... instead of the squealy/whiny/enka voices most take on, she sounded like, uh, normal. Yeah. But seriously, one of the best female vocalists out there now, it was very surprising. They did a lot of choreography, elegant dancing together, and put on a good performance, acting-wise... I liked it. They did an angsty byebye Gio speech too, and Ouga bowed and walked off stage while the other sang the last bit.

2:10am.
Next up was my ol' favorite, Cerberos. They had a pretty damn good set but nothing out of the ordinary. Lots of headbanging and stuff like that. It's hard with them, because although I like them a lot, they have no CDs or demos, and I haven't seen them live regularly enough to know their songs. Zakuro looks so weird without his long hair; like a kid and not nearly as insane. Their support drummer was actually the guy that played support drums for Bang-Doll the first time I saw them, I was like WHOA OMG!! And it was cool. The only thing worth mentioning about their set was that Rin doused himself with a water bottle, and hurled it mostly-full into the crowd, which would have broken my nose if I didn't manage to duck out of the way (god knows how I did it... I usually have such slow reaction time), and it walloped the girl behind me in the head. HARD. Rin has some anger management issues to settle, maybe?

2:40am.
I hung out in the back for XecsNoin... they were mad crazy visual metal, pretty damn cool. HUGE fan turnout, big hair, lots of headbanging and hardcoreness. Loki had a vinyl kimono on. Miyabi isn't fat. That's about it. I could get into them.

I was standing around with my drink and always watching the right side of the room, because guys always come out and hang around for a bit. One of the guys from CHUCKY with his huge massive hair was talking to some blonde guy in a furry pageboy hat whose back was towards me. I was like, hmm, looks like that could be Ikumi, and he was wearing a Bang the Parka... then I saw his pants and they were like the ugliest things in the world... yep, it was Ikumi. The CHUCKY guy started petting his hat... bahahaha, creepy.

3:10am.
I took periodic checks of the band order (they had a list posted everywhere, for people who wanted to leave and see other New Years lives) so for the first time ever I could tell what band was up next with 100% certainty. So when I saw ARESZ was up... I snuck to the corner of Gio where everyone piled their jackets and bags. ARESZ IS THE WORST BAND EVER!! I hid from them... Actually, I slept on the floor. Yeah, I really did. I sat on the floor near the wall and just put my head down on my knees and blissfully ignored the stage. I was tired enough that I could totally block the noise out and I really did sleep for a while. And surprisingly, there was another guy sitting next to me who did the same. Hahahaha.

I slept on the floor for the next band, the session band AOYT, too. A billion people came out of the woodwork to see them and then disappeared afterwards... The band was DAMN good but understandable because the members are all from famous bands (guitarist was from Plastic Tree). Apparently they played cover songs but I didn't recognize them and... was sleeping. They decided their name mid-way through the set, which was a combination of their initials (thanks Kendra).

4:20am.
Band number 8 (or 28, depending on how you're counting) was VIVE (which I now know is pronounced like the "vibe" in "vibrator"). OMFG!! Their MOMS were in the audience!! Right next to me! They kept smiling and waving spastically at their sons on stage; it was so cute. When the vocalist said Happy New Year to the crowd, no one said anything, so his mom really cutely yelled "akemashite omedetou gozaimasu!"... bahaha I think the guys were trying to ignore them and remain cool with their moms yelling shit.. bahahaha it didn't work.

It was a long time since I saw VIVE last, and I think their member lineup is slightly different, but they are still totally mundane in their look. They were, however, just as good as I remembered them, if not better. They had improved their performance a teeny bit, but it still wasn't remarkable. But they are a REALLY good band, and they played a sweet ballad "Sonata" (off Sollen 2) in memory of Gio. Very powerful, and ending with it was quite sad.

4:50am.
Coming up next, second to last, was CHUCKY. And I say to myself "DAMNED if I get stuck in the back for Bang-Doll, I'm gonna be in the fuckin front!!" So... all charged up from my power-napping, I went to the front of the stage (2nd row back, I'm not that insane to go to the first) for CHUCKY so I'd be able to capture my prized front center spot for Bang-Doll..... Little did I know that they were one of those bands where everything was choreographed and all the fans knew the dances and when to headbang and all that... and since I was RIGHT in the front and EVERYONE was doing shit, I had to pretend I was a CHUCKY fan and do what they were doing!! By some small miracle I managed to pick up on everything... though I was paying more attention to the fans then the band, I did a very good acting job. *applauds self*

Most of the fans were wearing Yankee outfits (Yankee as in the Japanese slacker/gangster, not baseball), which are big jumpsuit-type things with long jackets embroidered with lots of kanji. In fact, ARESZ was all wearing them that night, I just forgot to mention it. I don't know why the CHUCKY fans were doing it, but apparently Bang-Doll fans do it too. They are nifty outfits, but uhh why am I going into such detail for them?

CHUCKY themselves were like big-haired pirates from the 80s. Their costumes were hilarious: green crushed velour pantaloons and ripped burlap vests with massive amounts of corny plastic jewelry and scarves. And BIG BIG BIG hair. Thank goodness they were good, or I would have felt like a total wanker up front like that. They actually put a big banner on the drumset that said "THANK YOU GIO!" it was soo cute. I don't remember anything about their music, besides that it was loud and fun. So there.

BANG-DOLL!!!!
I quickly coveted my spot, which was very good planning on my part because most of the CHUCKY fans stayed at the front bar and there were a SHITLOAD of people there to see them! I'd never seen so many Bang-Doll fans before. I think this one girl was planning on taking my spot but I got there first... she tapped me on the shoulder and took her bag from where I was standing but hell, I wasn't moving.

5:20am.
I always think that it's rude to oogle the band while they're setting up (cuz there is no curtain) so I just stood there staring at the ground making a curtain out of my hair (and sneaking peeks up at the stage) while the chubby Gou fangirls next to me made drunken asses out of themselves. The band was all running around setting shit up, and after a while Ryousuke came out in a Bang the Parka and his huge goofy aviator sunglasses and stood at the front of the stage surveying the scene... then they all left. Then everyone started freakin out, and they had the cool intro music, and away~

Haha actually... after they all came out, Ryou walked to each side of the stage and did this funny little bow... I swear he's been watching Pirates of the Caribbean too much because he was doing that hand thing Jack Sparrow did all the time... you know how he'd put his hands together sort of like praying? Yeah well he did that a lot... to everyone... and I'd never seen him do it before. So.

They started off with SIX songs which was a big deal because they usually only play like 4 or 5, and every other band that night was doing 3 or 4. They started with Bang the HEAD, then DELAZ, Downing, Unknown all, Dual Personality, and How to use LOVE last. I was so overjoyed at the fact that they played all songs I knew... seriously, it was the best. Oh yeah, costumes. NEW COSTUMES... holy god they're only getting worse! It's like... so bad they're the best ever!!

Hiroki: Looks like something you'd get at Hot Topic, a black collared shirt with capris, both trimmed in red plaid, plus a matching plaid buttflap and bondage straps. Topped off with his famous red Converse. Oh and his hair was styled differently... more poufy, like a giant ball of fluff, and he has black streaks in the pink now which is pretty cool.
You: A fucking TOGA!! It was an honest-to-god fratparty TOGA!! Like 4 white sheets wrapped around him... I am not just saying it looked like a toga; it WAS a toga. Topped off with a big white fluffy boa, and white sandals that he promptly removed and walked around barefoot with his toenails painted white. It was actually a pretty outfit... How they manage to wear such ridiculous things and still look hot is beyond me. And the houseplant was bigger and taller than ever and thankfully NOT bright orange.
Ikumi: Surprisingly NORMAL for the freakish little demon he is... His hair was plain blonde and not grey or Kool-aid pink or anything. He had leopard print pants and a leather tanktop thing trimmed in leopard print. And like, eight feet of shiny sparkly scarves hanging off his pants? God knows. He styled his hair the way he used to when he joined the band, poufed up in all different directions... which makes him look a LOT better... He looked so terrible over the summer but he's mad cute again, especially when he smirks constantly.
Ryousuke: Leather pants, mesh zipup black tanktop in the theme of his last two costumes, and a zebra print collared top over it. Wasn't as heinous as you'd imagine it. He took off the zebra thing mid-set and... fufufu... unzipped the tanktop while singing.. yeahhh sexy.
Saving the best for last, I am, yep yep. GOU had on... *dies*... BUTTLESS, CROTCHLESS LEATHER CHAPS!! OMFG!! They were the most heinous things I've seen in my life. He had on tight black boxers(?) underneath printed with crosses. Just... *vomit* On top he had some motorcycle jacket that was cut off at the sleeves and much too short for him, covered in studs. My god Gou is NOT supposed to try to dress sexy, for goodness sake he's a dirty man! I don't want to see his midriff!

AHEM. So yeah, they were totally awesome. Headbanged like nothing else. There's nothing better than knowing songs inside and out while seeing them live. I could do whatever the hell hand/headbanging motions I wanted and they'd be on the beat, screw what the fangirls were doing. :D And I love singing along~~~ For the MC it was all Ryou speaking 3874893 words a second about godknowswhat cuz honestly he was talking so fast the drunk girls around me were having trouble understanding. At one point he got tongue-tied and was trying to choke out some word (don't remember what it was) but he made a joke out of it and started saying words that sounded similar... like BUKKAKE. Everyone burst out laughing and people shouted "eroi yo~!" He went on about Gio and all that, and something about past members and how Bang-Doll has no plans to ever stop activities in the future, and he's said it a million times already so it's nothing new. It was a very long MC, but understandably so.

Then he introduced How to use LOVE, and brought the Gio dude (hahaha that's a Pokemon) out, and he started talking about Gio and everything, how they were gonna try to start up another Gio somewhere else. He talked a longass time and a bunch of girls started crying like wieners, overdramatically sniffling loudly and burying their faces in their hands. I mean seriously, yeah it's fuckin sad that Gio's closing because Gio's the best, but why cry about it? I mean the bands are still gonna be around and they're doing their best to make the night REALLY AWESOME so why go and cry? Just enjoy it.

There are two versions of How to use LOVE: R-type and E-style. E-style is on Bang-Doll's "kuu" album and features Eva from Cerberos. R-type is off Sollen 2 and has the Gio guy. They played E-style, which was already suspicious, considering it's the Gio man onstage and not Eva. There's a breakdown part where Eva starts talking on the CD... Well for that, they're all rocking out and the Gio guy is wailing away at the guitar, and out of nowhere this female voice yells "Ryooouuuusuukeeee!!!" and everyone looks around... And Eva waltzes out in a slightly more decent outfit than she was wearing for her set, and ridiculous sparkly blue eyshadow... and immediately charges after him like she was gonna kiss him (apparently they do this all the time) and he runs around stage avoiding her. Then they stop playing, and he's like "NOOO you're not supposed to be singing here! This is just Bang-Doll!" Then they did this little act where he kinda lied down on the floor looking hurt and she pretended to kick him... it was really hilariously funny! Right in the middle of the song! Then he said how Eva was not his lover!! Like really forcefully... and he's like shit... my lover is... and he's looking around... and the COW of a vocalist from ARESZ is standing by the stage... and he's like "Rumiko from ARESZ is my lover!!" and she gave him the finger... Priceless.

So yeah, after they were done with that, they started up the song again and Eva sang. It was cool and happy and fuzzy. The song was a million times longer than it usually is. And for a finale, they had us all hold hands and bow saying thanks Gio (after a long debate about what we were going to say, and practicing a few times) So we all did it, and they left... And of course we called them back for an encore, and Ryou said that they'd do two songs... But before that, he made all the other members give their heartfelt speeches about Gio, which was pretty damn funny as they were all like, "Uhh... Gio... well... Gio is... Gio..." Bahahaha they're so dorky I love it. Hiroki was first and he managed to tangle the microphone around something and we all laughed at him. After everyone but Ikumi had said theirs, Ikumi was staring off into space and Ryou sidled up next to him and stuck his face by Ikumi's ear and he FREAKED out. Gawd it was hilarious. So Ikumi babbled some nonsense about the first time he was at Gio 3 years ago and how he wants to have more atsui gigs later. And that was that, and Ryou took control of the mic again and said to listen, because they were gonna do a special song they hadn't played in a while... And omg... T_T They played Nukumori!! That song is my favorite song ever and they've NEVER played it live when I've seen them!! It was so awesome!

Then they played G-D-D, which rocked hard, and band guys started piling up on the stage... not too many but a good number of random people like Rin from Cerberos, the tribal drummer, and a bunch of old dudes in giant winter coats. And they all went crazy together. One of the old dudes in winter coats was suspiciously familiar. Honestly I couldn't tell you if it was To-Ru or not, but I think it might have been-- he had on a huge coat and sunglasses so it was hard to tell-- but he went up behind Gou and wrapped his arms around him and played the bass. So I'm assuming it was To-Ru. Ryou stole Ikumi's guitar and wailed away on it. I don't think he was actually playing it, more like pretending to be hardcore, and Ikumi, with childish glee, stood at the very front of the stage and put his leg up on the amp with the mic, and tried to sing... Dear god, Ikumi can be SO CUTE when he wants to. It was soooo funny. He was just making noise, trying to do a death voice. I didn't notice at first until the girls around me all started laughing hysterically and pointed at him... Man I hope someone got a picture of that!!
Then the hulking beast Rumiko comes out, and PICKS UP Ryousuke and holds him like a baby... Holy crap. You'd have to see it... seriously this woman is HUGE and Ryou's so small... Ahhh indescribable.

1.Bang the HEAD[bst]
2.DELAZ (Them&Us)
3.Downing
4.UnknownAll
-MC-
5.DUAL PERSONALITY
-MC- (Gio manager Kashiwabara Kyoutarou talk w/thanks)
6.How to use LOVE [MEGA MIX] with Gio manager and Eva
-Encore-
7.Nukumori
8.G-D-D

So then they eventually ended (longest set ever), we applauded forever.. and everyone left.

Ending time: 7:15am.

It wasn't sad, which is good... because you wanna be left with good memories... And yeah all that crap... BEST SHOW EVER! I am so glad I was insane enough to go.