Concerts and Live Shows Love

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

Fall Out Boy at Studio Coast

March 22, 2017

I finally got to see Fall Out Boy, after being a fan of theirs for over ten years and two failed attempts to see them live. We almost missed out on getting out tickets, but were able to pull through and get them in the end which is all that really matters. (I had no idea that FOB was so popular in Japan.) I had wanted to go to both shows on Wednesday and Thursday, but Thursday sold out completely before I could get tickets... Anyways!

Mutsumi got her ticket through her boyfriend which was totally lucky, because she missed out on the retail session. Her boyfriend works for a company that provides clothing for Pete, so he was able to get her a ticket. It was nice, because she's a big fan too, and it was nice to be able to go with her and Momo. When we finally got inside (Momo and I were in the last group to be let in,) Mutsumi found us and we went in. The hall was super crowded already but we went down to the main floor, close to the stage. We got pushed around a lot, but it was a super great show.

During the middle of the show, Pete got up and talked to us. Real talk. Of course, I'm not sure how much was understood by the general audience. But there were a lot of foreigners and haafus there, so there was a general sense of understanding. He talked about how the climate of the United States is so polarizing right now, and such a downer. He said that it was amazing that the band could come to Japan and have the whole venue screaming all the lyrics along with him and Patrick. It was... deep.

I have no idea what the set-list was, I can't remember for the life of me what the order was. They were amazing though.

...however, I just checked on Google and found it. Not sure of the accuracy (for the order) but they did play these songs:

I was so excited to hear them play "Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy" because not only is that one of my favorite songs of theirs, it is also the first Fall Out Boy song that I ever heard, back when I was 16 years old. It holds a special place in my heart- and it's old. So I wasn't expecting them to play it. I think that Mutsumi didn't know it but Momo and I rocked out, it was amazing.

Sometimes it was hard to hear Patrick singing over the audience screaming along.

I had no idea they were so popular. Not one clue.

Definitely, without a doubt, would go see them again. So good.

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Throw Back - Dir en Grey at the Gothic Theater

December 6th, 2008

DIR EN GREY

HAS STILL GOT IT.
That concert was wow. Again. :P
I'm waiting for someone to post the set list that was played at the show, but no one has done so yet. I haven't listened to their newer music at all yet, so I have no idea which songs were played. All I know is that Obscure was first. Shivers ran down my spine when they played The Final, Ryoujoku no Ame, Merciless Cult and Saku... they were so amazing... the other songs were too, but I don't know what they were.

It was really, very amazing though. We were sitting on Toshiya and Kaoru's side, but I couldn't see Kaoru at all because there were people in front of me. :\ I could hardly see Toshiya either. Although, I was thinking about it, and every time I have seen them, I have sat on that side, and only watched those two. This time, I watched Shinya, Kyo and Die... and DIE IS ADORABLE. He was all smiles the entire time, except when he was flipping us off, ahaha.

Kyo did a really good job pumping us all up too. He screamed "DENVER!" which came out more like "DENVAAA!" It was still awesome, because the last three times he didn't do that. I wish that my cell phone camera was a little better... I got a bunch of pictures of them, but I was too far away and my phone wouldn't zoom in far enough. It's really disappointing. The video I took sucks too. Sad day...~

I'm going to keep looking for the setlist, and when I find it, I'll add it. :/

(I never found the set-list for this performance)

Monday, January 11, 2016

Throw Back - Dir en Grey- Fillmore Auditorium

Sometime in the summer of 2007, Dir en grey came to Denver and performed at the Fillmore Auditorium. I apparently didn't write about it, which is a bit shocking because I thought that I wrote about all my experiences at Dir en grey shows. If I did, it's lost for now so I am just going to document my memories of the show.

My friends and I went quite early to line up for this show. I remember that because we were all under 21, we had to get big X's drawn on our hands. It wore off by the end of the show, because we decided to be in the mosh pit. We were very close- maybe what could be considered the 3rd row.

Oh and I spoke too soon, I found my write up. It's really lacking in comparison to my others.

And we go forth, to June 22, 2007

Throw Back -Second Live- Dir en Grey at the Gothic Theater

February 16, 2007

Dir en Grey; Concert; Gothic Theater; Feb. 16, 2007
It was freezing outside, and I am not exaggerating. It was snowing, and there were girls running around in tank tops and crazy shit like that. I had my hoodie, and Jimmy's COAT and I was FREEZING.
We got fed up with that after a while. Jimmy went and bought a comforter. He was the hero of the area we were in, because we literally made a tent out of people. I don't even know any of the people's names that we were with, because all I remember were these two girls nicknamed each other "Nana" and "Hachi" and then the guy that was with them was a cross-dresser named Steven. By the time that we got inside, it was still snowing, which sucked hardcore. Katie and I went and sat down behind the mosh area, because we didn't want to get killed.

Jimmy decided that he wanted to sit on the balcony, and we were like TEN DAMN FEET AWAY FROM TOSHIYA AND KAORU. SO much better than FVT. Since I didn't get my copy of "The Marrow of the Bone" until yesterday, that was the first time I heard some of the songs that they played... but oh my GOD it was the most amazing thing ever. I was jealous that the people in the mosh got Toshiya's spit on them, but I was so excited nonetheless that I didn't care.
GDS
FATAL BELIEVER
THE FINAL
Mr. Newsman
-we sang happy birthday to Kyo here-
Agitated Screams of Maggots (Kyo flipped off the audience during this song)
saku
Grief
ITOSHISA HA FUHAI NI TUSKI
KODOKUNI SISU, YUENI KODOKU.
Merciless Cult
DEEPER VILENESS
Shokubeni
Ryoujoku no ame
dead tree
Obscure

Encore:
C
IIID Empire (everyone screamed SPARK AND SPARK along with Kyo)
Beautiful Dirt
CLEVER SLEAZOID (before this, he put one finger up in the air and said "LAST SONG")

After that Kyo took a bucket of water and dumped it on his head, it said "Rape."

Merch was a pain in the ass to get. Everyone was being rude and just shoving... that pissed me off, because yes, WE'RE ALL TIRED from screaming and jumping around and having the time of our lives, but that's not any reason to be a freaking asshole. The lady that took care of me wasn't being cooperative either. I wanted so much stuff and after I said whatever I wanted, she would tell me a total price right away. I was like, Um... I'm not done yet. C'mon seriously, they had freaking McAbre, six Ugly... !!!! So many things! I was upset. ;_; But I got the wristband and the first shirt. Next time I am gonna buy merch BEFORE the show. Get someone to get spots and then I am gonna buy merch.

On the way back to the car, Jimmy said that he would do the bassist. I was like, NO TOSHIYA'S MY FAVORITE! And then Katie said "What's the drummer's name?" ...Shinya? "I'D DO HIM." ...I seriously was thinking about that last night, because that question has been asked of me a lot. I wouldn't do any of them. :P I would totally love to chill with them. XD They're so awesomley amazing, but I would NOT have sex with any of them. I mean I love Dir en Grey... and like Alicia said they are the ULTIMATE. But... ...yeah.

I figured since I don't have enough time to finish a pair of pants for US concerts that I will just work on them when I have time and not have to spend my free time doing homework, and wear the pants when I go see them in Japan. Which I will do by the way. I keep putting it off a summer, because I find other things to do during the certain summer, but as long as I can work during the summer and save the money, I will blow at least half of what I have in my checking account on a trip to Japan to see Dir en Grey.

Anyways when I got home last night, my ears were ringing so bad it took me a while to sleep. I was kinda upset because Die threw one of his guitar picks up at us, and Jimmy caught it, but dropped it. Him and this other guy looked around for it for a bit, and then gave up, so I looked for it. I found it but the guy that was looking before noticed me looking, and when I reached for it he snatched it from my grasp, stupid jerk!!! But oh well, there's always next time. :D

BY THE WAY - Agitated Screams of Maggots is WAY better live than the single or on the cd. And Shinya was amazing with the drums during Ryojoku no Ame. Obscure is amazing live.

...um. Well... Dir en Grey is AMAZING live. XD

It was AMAZING.

Saturday, January 9, 2016

Throw Back- First Concert Ever- Dir en Grey at Fiddler's Green Amphitheatre

The first live I went to was shortly after my high school graduation. At the time, I was really into Japanese rock music and it was just starting to come to the United States at the time. As far as I know, this was one of the first, major nationwide tours that a Japanese band participated in. I was really excited to see them.

They even had a meet and greet at the end of the performance! It was a wonderful end to the day.

And now, on to the madness of my high school writings.

Throw Back - GreeeN at Zepp Tokyo

GreeeeN - Zepp Tokyo- August 22, 2015

Saturday, August 22 I went to see GreeeeN live! Another check off of my Japanese bands to see in concert list!

To be totally honest, I am not up to date with their music at all so I only knew about 50% of their songs. Sonya said that she knew about 75%, so she did better than me.

The show was at my much disliked Zepp Tokyo again. I really don't like that venue at all. ...

It was fun, but I was a little skeptical because... Greeeen doesn't perform in person, really. They hide their identity for privacy reasons... so they have like... projections on a screen. Sonya said that they map out the member's so it's them moving... but how am I to know for sure that they are really there singing and I am not just hearing a recording? The music was so loud that it was hard to tell if it was live or not... And since I couldn't see them either... I was wondering half of the time if I paid 90 bucks to stand in a crowded venue and listen to pre-recorded stuff. I really really hope not, and I don't think I was... But...I can't be sure, sadly.

I have no idea what the set list was. No idea at all. I know they played these songs though:
KISEKI　(キセキ)
MICHI (道)
Ai Uta　(愛歌)
Hana Uta 　(花唄)
Sakamoto (坂本)
Sakura Color (桜color)
weeeeek
Orenji (オレンジ)
Setsuna　（刹那）
Tobira （扉）
Sonya said that they also played:
Natsu no Oto
Yuki no Oto
Kararara
A-i-e-u-ongaku (あいえうおんがく♪)

It was a fun show, and I am glad that we got to go, but to be 100% honest, I don't think that I will go see them live again. Not seeing them in person was a bigger blow than I thought it would be... Like, I thought that the biggest thing that I enjoyed was hearing it live, but as I said before, the music was SO LOUD that I couldn't tell if they were really live or not.

Saturday, February 28, 2015

Throw Back - One Direction at Saitama Super Arena

One Direction -Saitama Super Arena- February 28th 2015

I went to see One Direction! (As usual, this is written after the fact)

I got tickets randomly, because I was looking for Fall Out Boy tickets on Lawson's website. I saw that One Direction was on there, so I took a look and there were left over tickets for all of the shows. I went with Saturday, because getting there after school on Friday would have been a pain in the butt, especially because it was in Saitama at the Super Arena.

I ended up taking the shinkansen anyways though because the stupid train was delayed and I didn't want to be late.

So, I was in a pretty awful seat to be honest. The Super Arena is also where I saw Backstreet Boys in 2013, but the seat I had that time was much better. I was to the right of the stage, in these weird box like seats. Sadly, most of the people in my area weren't excited and didn't stand up, or scream or jump up and down or ANYTHING. I was the only one haha. Oh well, their loss. I enjoyed myself.

I know I waffle around a lot when it comes to my favorite member of OneD, but it's Harry again. He is just amazing live and his on stage persona was just how I imagine he is in real life. I was disappointed in Louis, he kinda was a jerk-off. He said a lot of things like "They aren't understanding me anyway" into the freaking mic! >_>;;; Like, there were tons of foreigners there, not just me. Way to be a jerk, man.

Well, that's another band I can cross off of my list of seen ones. Now I won't have to worry too hard about not seeing them ever. I heard getting tickets in the States is next to impossible nowadays and outragueously expensive. So there's that too.

These are the songs that they played, although they aren't in the right order:
Clouds
Where Do Broken Hearts Go
Stael My Girl
Ready to Run
Girl Almighty (This one was super fun)
Stockholm Syndrome
Little Things
Little Black Dress
Little White Lies
You Don't Know You're Beautiful
One Thing
Best Song Ever
Midnight Memories
Diana
Strong
Don't Forget Where You Belong
You and I
Better Than Words
Alive
Kiss You
Night Changes

So, I guess I would see them again if I am given the chance. It will be interesting to see what happens with them now that Zayn has left. I am happy that I got to see them live before he ended up leaving though.