Bands in order of appearance: Crad le Marry, Loon Eye's Millyie, Aliza Marie, Arpege, CANDY CRUNCH SPEAKER, Doremidan, Rushido Bareinu, As'REAL

Yay, my first big event! I first heard about this live on Candy Crunch Speaker's website, not knowing it was an event, and gradually learned that a TON of bands I desperately wanted to see live were all playing at once. Lucky! I dragged along my friend Shivers, who has been my friend for about four years, and didn't know much about visual kei besides what I had ranted to him about, but always up for new experiences.

Shivers and I were there about 45 minutes prior to opening. I was expecting a huge crowd and although I had reservations, didn't want to take any chances. We sat around in this mini park thing with a pack of lolitas, and watched the little white band buses drive around. After a while, we went to the entrance of Cyber for lack of anything else better to do. Formed a short line and played "guess those band boys" to pass the time, which was fairly unsuccessful as they were all in street clothes and I didn't know what half of them looked like. Shivers talked to a group of lolis in English, sending them into fits of giggles because a BOY was talking to them, and not just any boy but a GAIJIN BOY.

Doremi's van kept making laps around the block, and they were all craning their necks to see out the front. I don't know what they were looking at or why they kept driving around (maybe they were lost? They are an Osaka band after all...) but it was pretty amusing to see. Eventually they found a place to park, and them minus Reika walked by us small pack of fan-people, hoping no one noticed them. One guy, I think it was someone from Rushido, walked out with his guitar slung across his back, turned away from the group of fans and started walking in the other direction, only to see a kitty on the side of the road, and bent down and tried to pet it. I thought that was quite funny, since I had been scolded by a store manager minutes earlier by trying to do the same thing (and before that, some construction worker did too). No matter what your occupation, everyone loves kitties.

So, anyway, it opened at 4:30 promptly and if there were 20 people in line it were a lot (I got ticket number 14). I had reservations through Aliza, and there were only 4~5 people on the list besides me, and the other band's lists looked just as popular. There was a smattering of girls inside, chilling and smoking. They were playing old-school Gundam on the TVs, for whatever reason. Shivers and I staked out a large area of space at the left of the stage, where there was an elevated space where they kept all the drums for the night to lean against, under some spotlight that would rotate in dizzy circles to give a disco effect (but was a pain when you were trying to write). I sorted through my packet and filled out some enquette basics.

Cyber is a nice cozy live house. It's small, but not too small. The stage is 2 or 3 feet off the ground, with one big tattered curtain. The few (Starbuck-style) tall, seatless café tables are detachable (I guess they're taken out when big crowds are expected), but installed for tonight. There's a bar built into the wall, apparently the barkeep is pretty popular. There's a big seemingly pointless wall/large pillar in the back that divides the back section in two; on the right side of it is where they goods tables are, and the left side was chained off, because it lead to the staircase to the second floor where the staffers would hang out.

The place was still empty as hell when Crad le Marry started at 5:00. They came out one by one: a bassist, a guitarist, and a vocalist. Wearing suits, they had very nice hair and all fairly attractive. ElDorado style, I guess. Then drums started, and I didn't realize there was a drummer... he was a support drummer, and basically pretended he didn't know them. They played two songs (TWO!) that were fast and hard and very good, but the small audience just about ignored them. I could see them having a very fun set if there were more girls who were into it. I almost started bopping around just to make them feel better... it must suck being the warm-up band (and from looking at schedules, it seems to be all they are). They had good stage presence, and played as actively as possible for like... five people paying attention to them. I'd like more info, but they had nary a flyer or enquette or sign they even existed. It was only from a little snippet in the back of Shoxx magazine where I learned their names: Hino (vocals), Ryouki (guitar), and Yuuki (bass). They were gone in less than 10 minutes, and Gundam went back on the TVs.

More fans crowded the stage, ok, now crowded, but anything was a crowd compared to the last set (it was probably more like 10 people at the stage, actually paying attention). And the five members of Loon Eye's Millyie (what a mouthful) stormed on stage in a visual flurry. Been a while since I saw a band like this. Never mind, it was last week, but they definitely were visual in all ways, and had great charisma. Five guys, rockin the tiny stage like nothing I've seen before. With their platforms and tall hair, they made the stage look even smaller and exceptionally cramped. These boys need a bigger stage. They were all in black, fishnet, PVC, dyed poufy hair... the whole visual nine yards. They didn't stand still for a second, and did this cool thing where the four mobile members jumped in a circle in unison. The vocalist (Kayu) had these long sparkly blue nails (think ghetto hootchie), and one popped off halfway through. He noticed when he was dramatically bringing his hands up to his face. Giggle.

Kayu had a crazy voice, he screamed so well. They were very heavy, very loud, and not bad at all. I was quite impressed. This girl in front of me had a thing for one of the guitarists, and kept waving at him and being a generally obsessed fangirl. He loved the attention, and would give her the finger, and flicked her hair once (sending her into a giggly fit). They played 5~6 songs, not a dull moment.

Tangent time! The coolest thing about Cyber is their drink counter. Why is it cool, do you ask? No, not the fact that they serve alcohol to anyone without looking at ID, but because for every band that plays, a special drink is named after them and served that night. I guess the band picks the drink beforehand, and then it's named after a song of theirs and stuck on the menu with the list of other bands playing. Of course, you have no idea what you are ordering; you just point to your band's name and hope for the best. I chose Aliza Marie's "Murasaki Sanatorium", which was a good choice. It was a cherry flavored thing, but sorta purple (because of the name), and whether it *really* had alcohol in it I do not know, but if it did, it wasn't strong. I am not too sure of the names of the other bands' drinks, but Crad le Marry's was "Marry", and if my memory serves me correctly, Arpege's was "Beautiful Life". What fun! I wonder if Doremi's had Kahlua in it. That would rock.

Now I was thinking that for once, the bands would be playing in an order that was written down somewhere (silly me). The "Loop Ash Presents Live Event" schedule included in the packet listed the bands in this event, and so far seemed to be playing in reverse order. It seemed logical due to my presumed popularity of each band. So, expecting Candy Crunch Speaker to be next, I went to the front, but not RIGHT in front (no one was really crowding the stage, just standing around), and didn't start my MD recorder. I watched some really cool looking staff girl in a slightly bloodied gauze dress help the roadies out (from our position, you could pretty much see behind the left side of the curtain), and after a short while the cheesy intro music played and Curtain-Boy ripped the curtain open. There's bright white light shining from the back of the stage, and I see the silhouette of a vocalist with two spikes of hair sticking up like horns. "HOLY SHIT IT'S ALIZA!!" were my exact words, as I desperately dashed to my bag to start the MD, and back to the stage as Aliza Marie (not CCS!) started "Kaya no soto".

Now I must say, these guys are cute in pictures, but no picture has expressed the absolute drop-dead adorableness of them. They were wearing their costumes from the latest photoset. Kichiku (vocals) had on long black shorts, what I believe is a T.Kunitomo brand black long sleeved top, funny looking shoes, and the stuffed bunny of doom hanging off his leg. Hiroki (guitar) was wearing... a slightly bloodied gauze nurse's dress. Yes, that was him I saw backstage, not a staff girl. Holy CRAP he is so feminine! He really really looks like a woman! He had a little nametag with his face on it, a black cardigan over the dress, black tights, and glasses. Takumi (bass) was wearing a black Lolita getup with bloomers and a teeny little hat and black/white striped high socks (which, in fact, I was wearing also). Satsuki (drums) was in a black suit thing with red accents, a red armband, black/red striped socks, and he looked all around cool.

They were just bursting with happy cuteness. They were really happy, in fact, so happy that Kichiku could care less to what he was singing! He skipped lines, sang the wrong lines, or forgot to start singing entirely. He also didn't seem very happy to know a fan (that fan being me) knew the lyrics better than him. But it was only because they were just *so elated* to be there, and were lavishing attention on the fans. Takumi just couldn't stop grinning, and waved at all the girls in the front row ("waved" as in he came over to the edge of the stage and shoved his hands in their faces like they were doing to him). He also threw candies into the audience between songs. He's a mini-Michiru, I swear! Hiroki was a bit shyer, but Takumi helped him along. After Kaya, they played "Murasaki Sanatorium", "A-ko", and "Boku to hari no shinmitsu na kankei", in that order, with an MC between A-ko and Boku to. Murasaki Sanatorium was great, he laughed like a maniac and danced really funny. And Boku to, my goodness, I've never seen anyone so damn joyful while singing a song about drug addiction! I was hoping they'd play something new, but they left after Boku to, throwing lots of stuff. Satsuki handed his sticks to two girls. Aww. I must admit though, while they were *so* devoted to their fans at the very very front, they completely ignored the rest of the audience, including me, who was not standing at the very very front only because of my stupid mistake! Yes, I'm jealous, I didn't get any candy from Takumi.

Set List
1) Kaya no soto
2) Murasaki Sanatorium
3) A-ko
- MC –
4) Boku to hari no shinmitsu na kankei

Then, after that act of confusion, I tried to decipher the order of the bands. I checked the chirashi packet, and a-hah! I had found the key... enquettes in order! So, according to that, Arpege was next. I checked my MD, only to find that I plugged the mic into the line jack instead of the mic jack, so it hadn't recorded. Blast! With that righted, I assumed front stage so I'd have a nice view of Tatsuya. And they started, yay. They were wearing street clothes, more or less, but Ta-chan and Kaine were easily recognizable (to me at least), and Kaine still wore the necklace he did in Vizell. I pretty much ignored the other two members, oops. They were very good, dark and hard, actually sounded quite like Vizell, which made me happy. And Ta-chan still sounds the same, and gestures the same, boring clothes or not. Although I must say he looks better with longer black hair, as his current style is reddish-brown and short (I'm wondering if his waist-long locks of yesteryear were really extensions or something).

A few beats into their second song, Kaine started looking nervous, and seconds later he darted off stage with his guitar, to return a bit later with a new one. The rest of the band was obviously crippled, being that Kaine is the only guitarist, but they kept going like nothing had happened (except the extremely nervous glances to his side). He and a stagehand quickly tried to right whatever had gone wrong, and before the song was over, it started working again, and it was a big happy relief. The few girls at the stage didn't seem interested, at all, and were talking, blatantly ignoring poor Tatsuya (who was sweating with an inhuman ability, Shivers was making fun of him). They seemed more interested in the blue sparkly fingernail on the floor of the stage than to support them. And one of the jackasses actually *climbed on the stage* in front of Tatsuya to pick it up. God that pissed me off. Don't stand in the front if you're going to be so damn rude!

Arpege played another song, and then suddenly... there was no guitar again. Kaine struggled with the amp, a roadie ran out with a new one and some cords, and they plug and unplug and Kaine is desperately playing, with no sound coming out. Shin (bass) and Toshi (drums) played extra hard to compensate, but they all basically had the look of "we're finished" on their faces. Near the end, Kaine gave up trying to fix it (I still have no idea what went wrong), and played like a maniac, although completely silent. They played it out to the end of the song, and Kaine threw the guitar down with such force that the girls (who still weren't paying attention) jumped, and they exited, looking fairly dejected. I felt so bad for them! They were really good, even without a guitar. I wrote them a nice enquette in hopes of making them feel better.

According to the packet, CANDY CRUNCH SPEAKER would be next, and the sexy-shaped shadow smoking a cigarette I saw on the wall confirmed this for me. Aya (bass, ex-Missalina Rei) is a total chain smoker. Their setup time wasn't long, and they appeared, looking a LOT more visual than advertised. They were wearing h.naoto style ripped stuff, with gauze and fishnet and buckles and safety pins. Usshii (guitar) wore goggles on his head. Junya (drums) had pink hair, whiskers drawn on one cheek, and "DORA" in katakana on the left. I assume it was word play, for "DORA" is short for "drums" and it also has some meaning of "cat" (ala "Doraemon", hence the whiskers). They were very cool, happy but not over-the-top, hard but not too hard, very fun. Aya, the badass, was drinking beer. The fingernail girls were yelling at him about it, he kept saying "daijoubu!" (don't worry!) and pretended to offer it to them. CCS had a record length MC, no less than 15 minutes long, where they just babbled at each other. Aya made fun of Harumichi (vocals) for wearing a bandana around his neck (he called it a "napkin"). I think they were pretty much just wasting time; they really didn't have anything to say, and kept looking at their watches saying, "Hmm, we have a few more minutes..." Then they made cute shy little Junya talk, who cutely and shyly announced a new demo tape release, with more formalities than you'd use talking to the president. And he bowed and bowed and stuck the microphone out (please take it back takeitbacknowpleasepleaseplease). And Aya and Harumichi talked more, and when they figured they had enough, Aya lit a cigarette and they started the next song. Yes, he smoked it while playing. Such a badass. I'm not quite sure how many songs they played, but it seemed like a lot, and it was fun. At the end, Aya threw his not-quite-empty can of beer at the fingernail girls, and I laughed. Go Aya. He is the coolest guy ever, even if he only has like three teeth in his mouth. *idolizes*

I had assumed a huge rush for Doremidan, since there was a looming cloud of uninterested girls behind the CCS fans. So, I stepped up right in the front, I mean RIGHT in the front, dead center, pressed against the curtain. And my prediction was correct, lolis came out of the woodwork to form about 4 packed rows, the biggest crowd so far. One of the cute lolis Shivers had talked to earlier was on my right (here on referred to as Loli-1. She said my bracelet was kawaii! ^o^) and a less fangirly girl on my left. There was a LONG wait for them, excessively long, and then the curtain was ripped open and no one was there. The girls were howling (Loli-1 was a big Makoto fan, apparently). Reika (drums) came out first, in a sleeveless black velvet cloak, cape, and armbands. His hair was bleach blonde, poufed up really nifty. He had red contacts on, and some weird half-headphone getup on his head that had a light attached, which he shone into the crowd. KO-ZI (bass) looked much better than in previous pictures. He still stuck with the traditional visual style (as in leather and fishnet), but looked a lot less goofy and fit in more. Actually, all their costumes seemed more thought out so they looked like a band and not a bunch of kids who played dress-up in a thrift store. Then Haruhi (guitar) came out with a flourish, looking infinitely sexier than I've ever seen him. He has lost the geeky overly white face, and settles for the more natural stage makeup. He had a top hat on, slightly tilted and tied on. A few ribbons/bows were tied around his neck, with his trademark orange glasses. I think he had a pair of goggles on his hat, too. He was wearing a black gothic shirt, with a long skirt on the bottom. Makoto (vocals) took his sweet time coming out, and when he did, he promptly tromped to the front of the stage and whacked Loli-1 and me with his long floppy sleeves, like a pissy child. He was wearing a silly little hat with goggles on them too, a black shirt with aforementioned floppy sleeves, shorts, and black/white striped socks (the going fashion tonight, it seems). He wore heavy white makeup, LONG scary fake eyelashes, creepy blue contacts, and has nine or more thick silver piercings in his left ear.

He bent down and picked up two boxy things that I wasn't quite sure as to what the hell they were, and started the first song. The song was cellophane (a kahlua rosette cover), and what he was holding looked like square picture frames, one with blue cellophane and one with red. He did para-para with them, and I soon realized that everyone else was doing it too. I would seem like a really stupid gaijin if I didn't do it also, being directly in the front and all, and what the hell, para-para rocks! It was fairly easy to learn, and very fun. I don't remember much of it now, but one part involved waving your arm above your head like you were swinging a towel.

Then they played Akai Kutsu (an Ove cover), which is SUCH a fun live song. There was a great para-para that went along with it, which I catch myself doing when I'm listening to the CD. The song itself is about a doll that wears red shoes (akai kutsu), and near the end, there's a dialogue where the doll talks to... someone, Haruhi probably because he wrote the song. So Makoto picked up this doll (which is wearing red shoes) sitting beside the drumset, and stood at the front of the stage like a dead puppet, clutching the doll. Haruhi talked into the mic, narrating the words all dramatic, and then Makoto comes to life, screams "onegaishimasu!" and the rest of the line, and then proceeds to collapse onto the floor like someone cut his strings (which, in fact, is how the song goes). A stagehand threw the doll back by the drumset (as not to harm poor Makoto), and Makoto rolled around on the floor like a cute little kid. I guess that's his persona. Haruhi and Kozi would play together... man, Haruhi has the CUTEST smile!! He seems to have dropped the insane trying-to-be-badass act and let's Makoto do that.

During this song, my eyes fell to a bottle by Haruhi's amp in the back. It was liquor, the same type of bottle he holds in pictures. I had seen it at the beginning, and assumed it was a prop, but now I could actually read the label. And you know what it was called? Denki BURAN. Yes, like the kahlua rosette song. Like the Doremidan song. So THAT'S what it is. Damn, Haruhi really likes liquor. They played Denki next, and didn't use it as a prop, but Makoto was taking huge swigs of it between songs. He really is quite the piece of work, that boy. The funniest thing he did, I think, was after the doll had been chucked to the side, her clothes were all messy and her skirt was flipped up. Halfway through a song, Makoto noticed this, and quickly slid backwards and casually pulled her skirt down so she was decent. I don't know who else noticed him do it, but he was smirking in content.

They played "Kabocha no basha wa MAHHA GO!GO!" for their finale, Makoto said the song title so funny "go gooooo~". All in all, they were very fun. Great crowd relations, crazy para-para, never were boring to watch. I might go so far as to say I like them more than kahlua, if not only for the theatrical image they project. They seem to have a very strong foundation of the band, well put together and good interaction as a whole. Maybe this will be a band Haruhi sticks with? I guess not, as by the time I put this live report up, Haruhi has already left the band.

I headed back to my side corner, where Shivers made fun of my hand dancing. He said that every girl, back four rows, was doing the dances too. That would have been hilarious to see, especially as he describes it... that there was a crowd of hand waving girls filling up half the room, yet surrounding him was 2 feet of space in every direction. And yes, ALL girls. Shivers made the distinct observation that there was not another male fan in the entire room.

So I sat fiddling with my MD, and Shivers is peeking around the curtain. "You know Jamiroquoi?" he says, "Picture him, in an even goofier hat, and a goofier suit. That's the singer of this band." And my jaw all but hit the floor when the curtain revealed Rushido Bareinu in all their twisted glory. If clothes make the man, then what the hell does it make the vocalist?! He was wearing a big black hat covered in red ripped gauze. On one side stuck a pair of scissors, and an electrical cord from the other. An in the front, a smiley face button, whose eyes blinked red light. Moving down, we see a black eye patch, grimy looking with several "bloody" nails protruding. Piercings galore, a bondage choker... and pink and white apple-print red Hello Kitty pajamas. WHAT THE HELL?? He had pink slippers on his feet, too. He was a short one, and the fact that he was wearing clothes under the pajamas made him look a little chubby. Oh, his name is Kamo, by the way.

The guitarist named SANA was a tad more normal, although definitely a hottie. He had on a punkish dress with zippers and safely pins and punk buttons and... what looked like the remnants of a skunk after being hit by a lawnmower pinned randomly all over it. And pants underneath. The other guitarist, Eiji, was none too interesting in a typical punk getup, with safety pins and buttons attached to every spare inch of his t-shirt and plaid pants. Bassist, whose name is two obscure kanji that definitely don't belong together and therefore will only be referred to as "Bassist" (the closest name-sounding reading I can come up with is "Akinori", but I really have no idea), was cute, with black/white striped tights (all the rage tonight, I tell you), and checkers on his cuffs and scarf and... teddy bear hanging from his fanny pack (?!). I don't remember what the drummer (Hideka) was wearing, so that means it was boring. Or I just didn't see him.

At this time, over three hours had passed since the live started... Events are tiring. I wasn't really into their set, because I had given so much attention and energy into the past six bands and Rushido didn't seem special enough to devote full attention to. Now I understand why fangirls only go to see one band. But Rushido weren't terrible, and good enough to stand up and observe rather than completely ignore (which I almost did if it weren't for Shivers making me get up). They were slightly crazy... really crazy actually. Fun to watch (and all were fairly attractive), decent moving around and audience interaction... not too memorable song-wise, but not bad. Awesome if you were a fan, I guess. I ended up with SANA's guitar pick. They played 5 or 6 songs, a sufficient set, and it was cool.

I'd like to note quickly the meaning of their name... I have *no* idea what it is. It's written in katakana, so technically I should be writing it RUSHIDO BAREINU, but that's almost as obnoxious as CANDY CRUNCH SPEAKER, so deal. Some have said it means "Lucid brain"... but brain would be "burein" in katakana, not "bareinu". From their official email address, I'm guessing it is something like "bare inu", inu meaning dog and bare having several possible meanings. It could be a pun, or it could be a badly spliced series of foreign words, but I really have no idea and I'm leaving it at that.

I was expecting As'REAL to have the biggest turnout. I mean, they did have the last slot, were hosting the event, and are pretty well known. But the fans were even fewer than Rushido had, which was a loose two rows and some other scattered standers. I really like As'REAL, but at the time was feeling "what, ANOTHER band? It's not over yet?" and stayed standing to the left side a few feet back, not going to the way front.

They came out without much show, but they looked good. Sharp suits accessorized with buckles and leather as not to look frumpy. Yu-Ki (guitar) had a long skirt with a short pleated thing over it, and following the furry guitarist trend, a black furry tanktop. I couldn't see Mai (guitar), and then noticed he was playing low to the ground. And continued to... It wasn't until I craned my neck around an amp to realize he was sitting down. I thought that was weird, if not a little rude. Hidezou (vocals) was doing his best to work the crowd, leaning in and pointing, gesturing for the fans to come closer to the stage. Gesturing at Shivers and me specifically, actually. It was pretty cool; he looked right at us. There were other people in the way to move much closer, but we scooted a bit further up. They did "~kokoro~" off the Yougenkyou II omnibus. It's a slow, sweet song that's quite melancholy, and it was then I realized that Mai wasn't sitting down because he was lazy, but because his leg was in a cast. I felt it was touching, in a way, his dedication.

Anyway, after kokoro, Hidezou did an MC, and announced quickly that they were breaking up. It was the first announcement of it, and the emotionless way he said "kaisan ga shimasu..." left me dumbfounded. The combination of all the above just really saddened me in a weird way. Then he said "saigo..." adding as an afterthought "kyou no saigo" (the last [song]... today's last), and they went into their last song. It was fast and heavy and lifted my mood. They left really quickly, without any hesitating (Mai freakin disappeared, I don't know where he went so fast and HOW, but it didn't look like out the back door, and he left his crutches). The girls in the front started an encore chant, and it looked hopeful since the curtain hadn't closed and the lights were still out. Then some staffer comes out of nowhere, tells the girls to stop (making a big X with his arms in the air), and closes the curtain. Their set went by MUCH too quickly. And now that I look back on it, I totally didn't even see SION (bass) and Hiro (drums). I mean, they were there, but I spent too much time looking at the other three that I don't even remember their hair color.

Set List
1) DEAD or ALIVE
2) A ruler
- MC -
3) Inochi no kakera
4) A PRAYER
5) kokoro
- MC -
6) The End of Maelstrom

So, I sit down and continue my never-ending enquette writing, when Shivers (who is now trained in the art of peering behind the curtain and noticing important things) yells "Hey! As'REAL is getting naked back there!" I did an equivalent to "EEH?!?!" and looked back to see, well, three of the members taking their shirts off! I think I saw a nipple pierce on Yu-Ki (and yes, he has a nice chest). It looked like they were getting ready to do something encore related, however they just started packing up their stuff. But I got a nice view while they did so; totally oblivious to the fact that people were watching them (I think some fangirls caught on, too).

I found a new love in filling out enquette. I used to not do them at all (they were useful for further reference, many bands put pictures, web sites, and some even set lists on the things), then I began to half fill them out with the basic information and "tanoshikatta desu!" (It was fun!), but this night I decided to go all out and complete them, in Japanese or not. Aliza got a totally finished bilingual one, Doremi got an 80% done one (I only gave Haruhi a message just to annoy him), and Arpege was mostly done but it was wholly Japanese. I was close to telling Tatsuya I loved him, but erased it at the last minute and changed it to I love his voice. ^^;; Shivers was telling me to write all this random, sarcastic crap to Aliza, so I told him to do it himself, and he did. Entirely in English, of course, poor guys must have been confused as all hell. It was hilarious, though (comment to Kichiku: Nice hair. nice bunny... great bunny"). So once completed, we deposited them in the appropriate boxes (side note: I accidentally grabbed Shivers' packet instead of mine, so I have everyone's enquette, but for some reason although both of us handed in our enquettes to Aliza, I ended up with one. Weird.), and I went SHOPPING!

Aliza had their CD for sale, along with the Donuts Record Mebius III omnibus, and four sets of four photos. And they were having a special deal-- if you bought 1000 yen worth of their stuff, you would get a piece of paper with the set list on it that they all signed in sparkly pens! Only catch was, instead of the normal price of photosets (1 set for 1000 yen), they were selling them at the cheap price of 800 yen, so if you already had their CD, you had to buy two photosets (and therefore spend 1600) to get the set list. Tricky tricky! Not that I had a problem, the sets were actually GOOD pictures, and they're so cute! Doremi had only photosets for sale, which I could have bought many of, but settled with one. I had serious difficultly getting near As'REAL and CCS's tables, so I didn't get anything from either of them, sadly. Arpege had some horrific photos for sale. Badly lit pictures of them looking... not their best. I really wanted to support them, but I also really didn't want to spend my money on ugly pictures. Although they did have an Arpege sticker, it was of a naked woman with 'Arpege' written on her, and, understandably, I didn't want that either. Bad marketing on their part, jeeze, you don't put a naked woman on your band merchandise and expect your female fans to buy them. Try a naked man next time.

So I'm browsing, trying to get near the damn tables (fangirls can be SO RUDE! They sling their bags over their shoulder and bend over a table so their bags and their butts are taking up the whole area that's already crowded with 7 tables, and don't notice/pretend not to notice when someone is trying to get by), and I detected that there were random band boys all over the nearly emptied room! Aya stood by CCS's table, looking goofy and significantly more drunk, and to quote Shivers, I "made googly eyes" at him. Kaine dashed halfway up the stairs, and stood there, thinking no one could see him...? I just stood in dumb fangirl awe as I debated asking one of them for a photo. But after sufficient consideration, decided to retain what little respectability I had left, and Shivers dragged me out half unwillingly.

This was a really fun live! Wee! It was an all-around good time... I finally got to see some of my favorites live. No headbanging at all, but sometimes you need a calm live. My only gripe was the length. It was LONG! After opening at 4:30, it didn't get out until nearly 10. Make sure you wear comfortable shoes when going to events.

My money went to: Aliza Marie
My money should have gone to: ...I don't know! They were all so good!
Goods: 2 Aliza Marie photosets (with signed set list), one Doremidan photoset
Souvenirs: Guitar pick from SANA of Rushido