Current location:	池袋、豊島区、東京都
Current mood:	pissed off
Current music:	The ROMEO - 「Never Junky's Hi」
Entry tags:	aurora, blood, concerts, daishi, ecstasy 001., japan, kriss, lida, lives, michi, michi. with mach lidarz, plc, s.q.f., sisen, takadanobaba club phase, the romeo, tokyo

LIVE REPORT: ecstasy 001. at 高田馬場 CLUB PHASE, 02.02.08
Tonight, Kristin and I went to see The ROMEO, S.Q.F., and michi. with Mach LiDARZ at Takadanobaba Club Phase. We went almost entirely through the realization that this would be one of the first times, with the exception of a few phone conversations, that Lida and Daishi have been forced to communicate in the past few years. We wanted to see if anything life-altering happened, namely if there was any hint that Lida would get his head out of his ass for long enough to actually act like a person.

My theory is: no. Judging by Daishi expression, that would be a big nooooo. Let me explain.


michi. with Mach LiDARZ
Now, I have to say, I wasn't expecting much from michi. with Mach LiDARZ. I've heard their first mini-album, 『Paradise!』, and to say that I was unimpressed would be a rather extreme understatement, hence the fact that I never bothered to listen to their second production. I remeber the album sitting around for literally weeks with me quite afraid to listen to it because...I was honestly afraid of what those two might create together (I was also incredibly angry at Lida at the time for not talking to Daishi, as I hated watching Daishi torture himself over it...). I distinctly remember listening through the album simultaneously with dojogirlaurora on AIM, and both of us trading back and forth messages of things akin to, "Uh, this is kind of the worst crap I've ever heard" and, "Wow, are there any actual instruments in this, or just synth?"

So when I looked up and realized that it was michi and Lida onstage first, I was a bit surprised at the sound of drums and bass to go along with michi's crazy vocals and Lida's guitar. I've seen Dacco twice since I moved to Japan, and I'm used to seeing Lida being a genki, WTF dorky thing and stupidly playing acoustic guitar while doing para-para. I'd forgotten what it was like to watch Lida actually play guitar--electric guitar, I mean. I'd forgotten that beautiful, focused look that Lida gets on his face when he's playing something that's actually musically challenging. I'd forgotten how talented, wonderful, and amazing Lida is. I'd fogotten why I used to be a Lida fangirl. He looked...I wouldn't say "happy" when playing today, but he looked...satisfied in a way he never does with Dacco. Like he's doing something musically stimulating, and that pleases him. I hadn't realized how much I missed that look on Lida's face.

Very much unlike the aforementioned mini-album, michi. with Mach LiDARZ live had bass, drums, and incredibly complex guitar solos. It seemed like in every song, Lida got in a guitar solo at least once that was really fucking amazing. I have to admit, I barely looked at michi or the other members. I was completely transfixed, staring at Lida the entire time. Watching him play is just...stunning, as previously mentioned.

Lida was wearing...some crazy black top with shoulder pads, under which were some crazy black feathers. He had some kind of translucent/fishnet-y things on his arms, and his hair was in mohawk. The sides of his head were shaved--the right side had two vertical zizags shaved into it with one random line coming out of the back of his mohawk, and the left side had a horizontal zigzag. Don't ask. Clearly, I spent too much time staring at Lida. I looked briefly at michi. He had feathery shit in his hair, and some face paint, like he usually does with this project. Lida had his typical red checkmark on the cheek.

Lida seemed...irritated. Initially, I wrote it off as him simply being focused on what he was doing, because he's always been that way onstage when he's actually playing an instrument. It was mostly because I didn't want to think, "Jeez, things must not have worked out in that tiny dressing room with Daishi."(If you're interested, this is the aforementioned tiny dressing room Lida and Daishi were cooped up in together x.x).

Lida...moves very strangely onstage. I started getting annoyed at his head-bobbing after a certain amount of time. He played opposite the bassist once or twice and kind of seemed to be enjoying himself with that, which was nice to watch. More than once, I saw michi nearly hit Lida in the face, he was flailing so much. I must say, michi is the gayest thing I've ever seen, and I used to think that Dacco was the gayest thing I'd ever seen. And....Daishi's also pretty gay, and I watched him right after michi, and I still think michi is the gayest thing I've ever seen. He flails so much it's scary, and he has this very...effeminite, WTF way of moving.

I don't know what they played, because I've made a concentrated effort to never listen to michi. with Mach LiDARZ again after that first time. About the fifth song in, Lida sang backing vocals, and he and michi actually sound fairly good singing together. Lida was mouthing along with the sixth and seventh songs, and I believe had a rap in on of them, during which michi did some pretty impressive flailing. I do know, however, that the last song they played was "Paradise!" and that's only because michi announced it. He also, during his M.C., asked us to have fun and please stay until the end. And thus, I knew something would be happening at the end. Yippee.

They played 8 songs total, I think. That's all I can think of to say about them.


The ROMEO
I've never been sure what to think about The ROMEO. I love Daishi, and I always unabashedly will, no matter what happens or what he does. What I think about his new band....I don't know. I was looking forward to the live, though, because I haven't seen Daishi perform live since 2005, with PLC before he got arrested. The one thing that I have been rather aptly informed of about these lives is that fans of The ROMEO are really violent and rather crazy. And that Daishi likes to stage dive. Needless to say, Kristin and I decided to stay way at the back and out of the crowd. Because I love Daishi, but not enough to get injured for him.

So we figured that the The ROMEO would be second because we saw Hiroki sound-checking his bass from behind the screen that was covering up the middle of the stage. Shingo was the first to come out after the screen raised, and his hair is a bizarre shade of bright red I kind of wasn't expecting (I haven't looked at recent blog pics...so sue me). Next, Hiroki came out, but I'd already seen him during the sound check. He was in a leather jacket--in fact, the same leather jacket the rest of the band was wearing (sans Shingo, I believe, as his was white). No joke. Next was Daisuke, looking all...creepy and like an Elvis cosplayer, but then, he generally does. They were playing some bizarre music as they all came out (after the world's longest sound check....we were making jokes about what was going on backstage, and I feel a little bad about that now...), but they were also playing bizarre music when michi. with Mach LiDARZ came on, so I think it was some weird theme of bad music intros, or something.

Finally, Daishi came out. He was wearing black pants with a belt and a chain, a leather jacket, and sunglasses, plus his typical necklace, a bracelet on his right wrist that I believe might be one of Kirito's, and I believe two bracelets on his left (one was those snappy leather ones with studs) and a big silver ring on one finger (his left hand, I think?). His hair is still dark with bizarre blond streaks that make him look a little like a skunk. It's really not terribly flattering. He's also lost weight since the last time there were pictures of him in The ROMEO's blogs (though there is a pretty apt one in michi's blog) which is pretty astounding, Daishi. They started with "The End," and Daishi looked...really out of it, to put it lightly. And he sounded....erm....questionable? I'm trying to be nice about this, but for the whole first half of "The End," Daishi sounded terrible. He didn't sound great during the second half either, but he didn't sound quite as bad. For a large part of the concert, Daishi sounded kind of like he'd been smoking for about ten years rather than like...one. Apparently, Daishi's packed ten years of smoking into one. That's pretty pro.

Daishi looked a bit like he was going to vomit, a bit like he was going to cry, and a bit like he was going to pass out (actually, he looked like he might have been previously crying, if I recall the pictures of Daishi after he'd been crying correctly x.x). I was making mental bets with myself of which he'd do first. It turns out, the second thing happened first.

After three songs, I believe, they took a short break. The lights went down, and Daishi went to the back of the stage. He took off his sunglasses and rubbed a eyes a little. And took excessively long time doing so, during which Shingo repeatedly hit some cymbals, presumably as an attempt to engage the crowd, or something. Finally, Daishi came back to the front of the stage, and the lights came back up. And the first thing I noticed was that Daishi's cheeks were wet. I was mentally debating with myself whether they were tears or sweat, because Hiroki had already taken off his jacket and was sweating like a pig. It was a little disgusting. He came out wearing and adorable hat, but took it off before the second song.

The song they started playing was "Never Junky's Hi." Daishi looked....upset. Kristin and I kept shooting each other really worried looks. About halfway through the song, he took off his sunglasses. And I could be wrong (but I don't think I am), but I believe was crying while he sang that song. It was absolutely depressing and pitiful. He really just looked....unhappy. I kind of wanted to cry watching him. Kristin and I exchanged another look, and I said, "Lida, that fucking asshole." I really don't know what else might have happened.

After that, I believe, was when Daishi did his M.C. The first three or four sentences out of his mouth made no sense to me, and I don't think they made any sense to the Japanese fans either, because the crowd was really silent. Daishi kept starting sentences and then....starting a new one and sounding really confused. The crowd also seemed confused. Finally, Daishi got into something that made sense. He was talking about how it's been some time since he'd seen all his friends and sempai from Himeji. He mentioned michi like three times, and I don't think he realized he'd already said michi's name. Finally, he said, "And it's also been some time for Lida"(“リダも久しぶりです。”） The crowd went so silent you could hear a pin drop. Daishi sounded awkward. We felt awkward. So Daishi changed the subject.

Basically, when you enter a multi-band live, they ask you which band you're coming to see. They put your ticket stubs in a cup for that band, so they can count how many fans came to see each band. And Daishi informed us that The ROMEO had won the ticket game. They had the most fans. He told us excitedly at least three times that his band was number one. Then thanked us in both English (Engrish?) and Japanese.

The rest of the live was pretty much a blur. After "Never Junky's Hi," Daishi seemed to get a little better. The crowd was getting really into it in the next song with some of the most intense headbanging I have ever seen in my life. Daishi seemed to be losing himself in the crowd interaction, which was nice to see, because, though he still seemed out of it, he at least seemed to be trying to enjoy himself. During the fifth song, he hung onto his mic stand for a few moments like he was going to collapse. But he got through okay.

Eventually, he stripped off his jacket as well, giving us a nice view of his canvas of tattoos. He was wearing a black long-sleeveed shirt with a bit of a v-neck, but he pushed the sleeves up so we could see his arm tattoos. I even caught a glimpse or two of the head of his lion on his back when he turned around, which he did a lot, as he kind of walked circles around the stage for no apparent reason.

At some point, Daishi announced that they'd be playing a song from their new single (mini-album? Whatever...), which I'm pretty sure he announced the wrong release date for. It's pretty pro to mistake your band's own release dates, let me tell you (and he did, unless Kristin and I both heard the exactly the same thing wrong...). The song is called "Rodeo Strapping Boogie." Live, it is...interesting. Daishi would say a line, then hold the mic out to the crowd, and the crowd would repeat it. The lyrics are...stupid, and there are only about four of them. The whole thing is a big dork fest, really, but it was fun to do live.

At some point, Hiroki also got out a stand-up bass and started playing. One of the songs with the stand-up bass is "しらけた月夜に口づけ," and I have to say...Hiroki is really impressive with that thing. I'm hardcore impressed. They played a second song with it, during which he spun the bass around on its stand quite impressively, but I really don't remember which one it was. It was funny, because when he first got out the stand-up bass, Hiroki also pulled out a pack of cigarettes, lit one, and put it in his mouth. He also put his hat back on. It was pretty pro, over all.

During about "The White Devil Candie," people were being lifted up by the crowd and rolled forward on top of the crowd of people, toward Daishi on the stage. Kristin and I were basically rolling over ourselves laughing, seeing the legs of numerous heavyset Japanese girls flying through the air as the crowd rolled them toward Daishi. One of them actually managed to accidentally kick Daishi in the crotch--no joke. I commend him, though, because he flinched a little but didn't miss a beat. It was at about this song, though, that Daishi was getting really into the live in general--he loved the fan attention, the way that the fans were getting so into the live, all of it. I think it might have actually been the song after that, but Daishi got up on one of the side platforms and had this ridiculous grin on his face (he was licking his lips and such almost the whole live, and he kept looking like he was chewing gum, with the way he was moving his mouth, but he wasn't), and he reached down and started rubbing himself through his pants. Again, no joke. It was...yeah. Go Daishi. Daishi's...erm...onstage issue started becoming an issue again at that point. x.x

Somewhere in the live, I believe, they also played "クラウディア" and "Angela," but I don't remember when or where for either. I just know that they closed with "バンビ" (actually, that was thirt to last, and they closed with "GOD JAPANESE MONSTER, "which seemed to last forever as last songs are wont to do, but it was lots of fun.). Daishi stage-dived once near the end, but was rolled back onto the stage pretty quickly. And after they finished, Daishi disappeared offstage within about 3 seconds. Go figure.

I'm not sure how I feel about Daishi's live in general--I have to say that I'm glad that I wasn't in the crowd, for one. I'm torn between thinking it was a lot of fun and thinking it was one of the most depressing things I've ever seen. I really just don't know.


S.Q.F.
I must admit right now that...I've never listened to S.Q.F. before. The extent of my knowledge of S.Q.F. is that they're friends with the members of PLC and YURAsama does support drums for them on occasion. Oh, that and their name stands for "Spinning Q Factor," or somesuch (I think that's it, ne?). I didn't even know that michi was the vocalist until I heard Daishi say it during his M.C., and I was like, "Eeeh? Really?" Yeah, I suck. But in my defense, the reason is that the one time I did try to give S.Q.F. a listen, I really wasn't terribly impressed by them, and that hasn't changed.

I watched michi a lot more during the S.Q.F. live than I did during the first, simply because I didn't have Lida distracting me. michi basically ran around the stage, flailing like a big, gay fucker and touching anyone within arm's reach, which is to say that both S.Q.F.'s bassist and guitarist got some good groping. About halfway through, michi gave his M.C., which was some anecdote about osake and karaoke that I'm sure I would have found a lot funnier if I were a little less sleepy and my feet hurt a bit less. Kristin and I actually sat on the floor for a good portion of the M.C.

By the end, though, michi somehow managed to capture us. Betwen Nao (the guitarist)'s dorky grin and backup vocals and michi guiding us through the furitsuke, they had me doing all the stupid hand movements along with it by the end. I'm still not an S.Q.F. fan by a long shot, but I have to say that I liked them a lot more by he last song than I did at the first.


The Encore
After S.Q.F. got offstage, the screen obscuring the stage didn't go down again, so we all knew there would be an encore, though michi had already basically said as much during his first M.C. at the beginning. So, basically, only maybe...ten people bothered chanting for the encore. We all knew they'd be coming back out anyway. Finally, they did, and michi came out and very sarcastically thanked the ten or so people for cheering for an encore. We all kind of sweat-dropped at that.

Basically, they performed two songs as kind of a WTF-session band. Hiroki (The ROMEO) was on bass, Shingo (The ROMEO) on drums, Nao (S.Q.F.) on guitar, and both michi and Daishi on vocals. Daishi came out, and we screamed ecstatically for him, and all the people screaming his name really seemed to make Daishi happy, which I was glad to see. He was wearing a short-sleeved, white collared shirt with black trim and a black tie (or maybe a black shirt with white trim and a white tie? I think that was it, actually. It slips my mind, already...). Then, S.Q.F.'s bassist (whose name I don't know...sorry!) came out behind Nao; he didn't have an instrument or anything, but he was onstage anyway. He came up behind Nao and put his hands on Nao's shoulders and started massaging them, which was cute as hell. Then, S.Q.F.'s drummer came up behind the bassist and started massaging his shoulders, and we all started laughing hysterically.

Daishi started trying to get the crowd all hyped up, and everyone started to realize who wasn't onstage--Lida. The two remaining members of S.Q.F. were onstage, and I think Daisuke came out, too, even though he wasn't playing either, but...no Lida. From all around us, there was a chorus of "Eeeh? Lida wa...?", "Lida wa doko?" and finally, from one of the girls behind us, a rather scathing, "Lida wa membaa ja nai." We all realized that Lida would not be coming out with the rest of them, and honestly...the crowd seemed rather pissed. I was too, Honestly, even the people who weren't playing came onstage, but Lida couldn't at all be bothered. And I think I know why, and I think this all had to do with Daishi coming into the live upset, and I really just resent Lida greatly at this moment for all of it.

Daishi and michi were grinning at each other as they started singing, and they took turns with god-only-knows-what-they-were-singing. Daishi almost forgot to sing at his part, which was pretty special. michi was doing more of his flailing around stage and groping everyone, and he and Daishi came up on either side of Nao and each put an arm around him while he was playing. Nao's smile got huge, and Daishi looked over, and then, unexpected, leaned up and gave Nao a huge smooch on the cheek, the same way he always used to in PLC--sneak attack from behind. The crowd all shrieked in surprise and amusement, me included. They both groped Nao once or twice more, and some of the others. S.Q.F.'s bassist kept coming up to Nao's microphone and singing--it was wondeful to watch them participating in the live even though they weren't actually playing (-cough-Lida-cough-).

There was a break between songs, and Daishi honestly still looked really fucking dazed. He came up behind Nao and whispered something in Nao's ear a couple of times--I think he was checking to see if his surprise smooch was okay, and Nao just nodded and they giggled together like schoolgirls and grinned, so I suppose all was well. They played another song together, this one without all the surprise groping, though Daishi did stage dive once again. This time, he surfed around in the crowd for a bit longer before finding his way to the stage. Again, when the live ended, Daishi disappeared almost immediately offstage.


After the live
So after the live ended, I looked at Kristin and said, "You know, Daishi's going to have to go through all this again tomorrow." And, long story short, we decided to try to acquire tickets for tomorrow's (well, today's now, considering how long it's taken me to type this...) live as well. So we got our drinks and walked out of the venue to the office to ask about tickets. The staff member in there told us that the tickets were back inside, then led us back down to where they were selling them. So we're following her back to the venue, and then bam, there's Daishi and the rest of The ROMEO walking out. I only saw Daishi a split second before he was like right next to me, and Kristin and I both "otsukaresama"-ed him. After briefly looking really shocked that (a) there were some foreign fangirls and (b) we were speaking Japanese to him, he briefly thanked us (totally sweet of him) before following his band out of the venue.

We chased after the staff girl after she had disappeared and went to get our tickets for tomorrow. To make another long story short, we're also going to ecstasy 002. If Daishi cries again, I think I will cry. And if Lida again doesn't join the others at the end..." x.x And I don't think he has any plans to do so.

It's sad, because after finally learning to sympathize with Lida, I'm pissed at him again. I'd like to kick him in the balls right now, because I have the distinct feeling that he might have had something to do with making Daishi cry.

Maybe tomorrow's live or someone's blog will say different, and I hope so. I hope Lida wasn't the bitch I suspect he was. But....I don't have much faith, at this point. I'm wondering if they fought or if they just didn't speak at all. Or...I don't know. This live left me kind of emotionally frazzled. I'm too invested in Lida and Daishi, clearly, and not just because I used write them as a yaoi pairing. Decades worth of friendship should not be so easily forefeit, and what's more, I hate to watch Daishi torture himself over Lida refusing to fully forgive him, and I just...can't stand it. x.x

I'll let y'all know about tomorrow's live, too, if it doesn't kill me emotionally. x.x


On a brigher note, who caught SiSeN and BLOOD on Tainted Reality? Wasn't the "asshole" bit just a laugh riot? SiSeN is such a fucking dumbass, I swear. If they make it through this tour without Kiwamu killing SiSeN for blatant stupidity (and Kiwamu so would especially if SiSeN's lackluster DJing knowledge leads him to kill their sound equipment), I will be shocked. Anyone in America go/will go to any of the BLOOD tour stops? I so need to know if any murder is happening. XD