Nanani (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} nanani) wrote,@ 2008-06-03 00:00:00 |
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Tokyo Report PART 2! of 2
Woooh HEY!
Ok here's part two, the longer of the two parts in fact since I did more stuff on Sunday 8D
Just follow the relevant cut if you only want the live itself~
We got up reasonably early on Sunday morning, which was a much nicer day than Saturday had been. No rain! Much genki! I opted to wear my pink AYR? rock T-shirt with my black skirt that has white patterns on it. Also, pink and white stripped (Candy Stripper even) socks, and my RIBBON OF DOOM was in my pigtailed hair. Mecha genki yanen~
After getting some food, we headed to Harajuku to spend all the money we weren't spending on goods. (Why buy goods that we need to drag on the train home? Goods will be bought next weekend instead). I got 3 pairs of socks, a pink punkish skirt, and two tops that I will surely take pics of soon. Then we went to the Mecca of Harajuku Jrock goods - Closet Child!
As we walked in, Love Flies was playing on the store speakers. 8DDDD In fact, they had put on REAL in its entirely. 8DDD At the far end of the store, there was a whole display of L'Arc stuff, marked 10% OFF in honour of the Tokyo lives. SO OF COURSE I took massive advantage of this wonderful opportunity.
Came away with - (rated on the Chocobo 8D scale)
New World 1st press - Three 8D8D8Ds
REAL and REALIVE pamphlet pack with Mysterious red and blue plastic thing. Mecha cheap. Three 8D8D8D and a WTF.
Shibuya 7 Days photobook - Newsmaker edition in excellent condition with original stickers. Four 8D8D8D8Ds
TETSU69 White Out ~memory of a color~ single with BAKED PENDANT, completing my first press collection - Four 8D 8D8D8Ds
Old Ciel mags - vol 14 and 16 (both 1998) - 4 8D8D8D8Ds combined. Not exactly rare.
Vivid Colors first press single, NOT 15th anniv version - 5 8D8D8D8D8Ds!
And my last, greatest treasure - the rare and coveted ---- GIMMICK! SIX 8D8D8D8D8D8Ds out of five! and a WTF on top!
It actually credits "L'Arc~une~Ciel" on the back (but is correct inside the booklet) and has such gems as "for more information on this band, call Namba Rockets". It's also the source of that group pic with pero in it. The other bands on the CD are long since dead and gone, but some of them had interesting songs. Nothing as awesome as Voice, cleary. I WILL TREASURE THIS RARE ITEM FOREVAR!
After all the shopping, there was some lunching, and after the lunching there was TOKYO DOME AGAIN!
Not wanting to stand in the loooooong goods line again, we found a booth that had just pamphlets and hoshizolights so we could get lights for the day. This time I had a green one (forgot to mention yesterday but that one had been pink). Then we went inside, and THIS time I felt even more mecha VIP because I had a super ticket - A7 BABEH!! It was actually about the 10th row because it was the back of the A7 section, but still. MECHA GOOD. In fact, two seats over from me there was a cleared area for cameras to pass, which they often did, so I have a decent chance of being in crowd shot :3
This time I didn't dare go to the bathroom XD
Around me there were some genki people in Paris-version shirts, but since they actually FIT, am guessing it was from the movie theatre broadcast rather than actually having gone. Mwahaha. Right next to me, however, was a most ungenki little girl. I dunno, maybe she wasn't feeling well; she rushed off early and sat down during the whole P'UNK part and everything. Oh well. Of course, since A7 is immediately tetsuwards of the centre, there were a LOT of Mukimpo goods being brandished about 8DDDDD
Again, the live started a little bit late, but only by 10 minutes or so. I was prepared though, with my light and a certain OTHER item (Not telling what it is till Osaka lives, nyah) in my hands, armed and ready.
The opening video was the same as yesterday, with the SS CGI carrying the Pirates of the L'Arcibbean around the world. This time, I was close enough that I could see them walk onstage and take their places behind the big sail 8DDD There is no mistaking FRUIT FEATHERS!
BOOM BOOM! Sail comes down! BOOM BOOM! Bricks get thrown! BOOM BOOM! KYA!
REVELATION~~~
This time tetsu's feathers were PINK! Again he had silver stuff in between them, making his head shiny. Grey suit-jacket thing, black skirt, bright red and very tight pants. BIG SMILE!
hyde was wearing a similar outfit to yesterday, but without the long frayed jacket thing. Today I had a better look at his makeup and noticed he had dark eyeshadow, emphasing the resemblance to Johnny Depp. Mm.
ken-chan had several layers of grey and black, which once again progressively fell (but never leaving him topless) as the show went on. Still hadn't shaved nor changed his hair. Sexy.
yukkie was wearing a hyde-like billowy white shirt with black vest over it. It looks really good on him since he doesn't seem so frighteningly skinny in loose clothing.
REVELATION was going on explosively. Right from the start, banana was GENKI and running around in circles even then. Bounce spin circle. Nonstop. ken-chan was INTENSELY rocking out and smiling and then rocking out some more, and hyde was being the god-king of the Dome like he does so well.
The boat-stage was even more impressive closeup, and the effects probably closer to the ideal. I noticed this time that there was a disco ball at the top of the mast 8D;
Much screaming leads to more bouncing as Pretty Girl starts up! tetsu decided to come visit the end of his wing of the stage, and so I turned to face him (so did a fair chunk of my seating area in fact) as he headed that way. hyde was up front and centre shaking his hips, and ken was down on the far side. I was staring at tetsu and jumping and singing along and thinking "Wow, what's gotten into tet-chan? He's so much GENKIER these lives!!!"
As if to answer the question, a grey blur came DASHING down from the far side~ ken-chan, all 8DDDD, ran clear across the stage to join tetsu on the left end, his shirt hanging open from the dash. fdSgfds 8DD~ Then the two of them startedmaking out making fanservice, of the jam-together, smile and rawk out variety. They stayed like that a decent length of time too! KYA!
Caress of Venus - even more singing from tetsu and dancing from hysus and from the whole arena. I think I crashed into my neighbours once or twice, it REALLY wasn't on purpose! ^^;;; hyde made love to the camera, blowing kisses and licking the air~
At one point hyde grabbed tetsu and did that thing where he has an arm around tetsu's neck and puts the mic in his face so he'll sing. 8D; Ohohoh.
Then we got a breather for the first hyde MC.
He just talked about how its good to be back in Japan, and again he mentioned Paris. Once again, I hollered every time he said Paris, so after about three sentences he went like..
"Yeah in Paris..."
me - WOOT!
hyde : Woo~
me *DIES*
then he went on... talking about how it felt like they'd left stuff undone, and there was potential for it to be so much better than it was. Then he encouraged Tokyo to not let anything go undone and be awesome and loud and lalala the usual fire-up-the crowd stuff (Which works!). KYA! RAWR!
DRINK IT DOWN!
Same effects as yesterday, with the mostly red and the sail coming up and the green lasers and the animatronic pirate. Now I am completely sure that its a robot - no human can make EXACTLY the same movements so precisely, plus I saw it so close up that I am certain. It's a very nifty skeleton-pirate robot! The impression I had that DiD was dramatic-ed-up did not diminish, especially since it was followed~
DAYBREAK'S BELL~
Not by any means a rare live song (I've seen it at every live but Saturday's, in fact), but still nice except that I'm not too fond of the live version... I really just have a problem with the different timing and hyde's delivery. Oh well. It is still fun and awesome to see. The effects were red and purple lights, overall brighter than yesterday because this live started earlier and so there was more light in the Dome, period. Wishes over the airspace!
After DBB, ken and tetsu walked up to the very front of the stage. My fangirl heart was racing, not knowing what to expect. They sat down on the crate-looking decorations, and then hyde came to join them, going ahead to pose at the very front of the stage, right where you'd normally see a mermaid statue or something on a full ship. Yes, hyde is far prettier.
The jazzy tune of SELL MY SOUL started up, greeted by a rising SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Can you say RARE SONG? XD
It was really quite sexy. On the screen the shot it so that the 4 of them were perfectly framed together, all sitting and playing. They just stayed in that position and did their thing, in total concentration. I believe ken was playing without a pick here. Not a song I'd have ever thought about, but damn it works nice as a live treat. :3
They retired backstage after, so it was time for episode two of the lovely intermission dorama~ (Go watch it on the OHP!)
In this episode, Miyuki is again sighing over being alone at the lives. I noticed that behind her, some "fans" are busy being all touched and emotional, including one guy in tears and girls comforting him. Oh the fan emotions are so beautiful~
Anyyway, Miyuki. She has flashbacks of dates with her Takuya, this time revolving around the beach towel. She is angsting when Ishida-san snaps her out of it.
Ishida : "Yo."
Miyuki - Ah! Ishida-san! *to herself* That is his name, right?
"Nice to see you again" (he is drinking from the tumbler)
"Ah, the Paris live was wonderful" *flashback of Paris, we see hyde dancing around 8D*
- EH! You mean, you went?
"Of course! L'Arc is my culture, you know. *sighs* Actually, I was supposed to do the entire tour with my girlfriend, but...
*camera pulls back to show an empty seat next to him* I got dumped"
Miyuki - Actually... the same thing happened to me...
Ishida : "Really? Wow, that's like.. destiny!"
Suddenly Miyuki gets a text message. It is from Takuya, saying he'll never cheat again...
Ishida : What's wrong?
Miyuki - My BF wants to get back together... *more flashbacks of them together, celebrating her birthday.~
Ishida : Can you do that? Forgive such a terrible person? It's like they said in the lyrics to DRINK IT DOWN - Break down the mirror, release the sleeping self you've never seen, silently awaking inside you. Maybe this isn't such a bad thing... maybe... it's fate~"
*dramatic music*
To be concluded Tuesday~
Do do do~
get out from the shell~ Again in Japanese, and again with the acro-pirate and the rawking out hardcore. It was great having two implements of d00m to groove with 8D They left a midsection for us to yell back HEY! *rock* HEY! *rock* HEY! more than the album version allows for.
It flowed nearly seamlessly into THE NEPENTHES, sexyness and rawk for all. They're all full of sexyness and energy, it is glorious and wonderful and mmmm~
Next, the keyboards were up for the pre-My Dear ken-ishness. No fail today, he was obviously VERY concentrated. Rawking this hard is SRS BZNS you know. His hands were shown close up on the screen, and DAMN ken has sexy hands. Then for the actual song of My Dear, the wind effects came from under them, blowing hysus' hair and clothes around as he clung to his mic stand and did his thing. Pretteh.
Then I saw a staff bring out the saxophone of DOOM. Time for LORELEY!
This time I completely forgot to pay attention to the effects, just listening to the music itself and grooving to the bass under my feet. It was sublime, truly. I'm so glad they decided to include this song in the lineup. *dreamy grin*
Eien, too, was making me kinda floaty. I swayed my hoshizolight in time to the beat, but not quite constantly. Focusing more on the song than on what my arm was doing, really. tetsu and ken were both so focused, and when ken's solo came he was doing that uniquely ken INTENSE GUITARIST face that is beyond my ability to describe.
Next - tata tadata tada tada~ military beats of Forbidden Lover. I sorta drummed it out myself (on nothing) since it is a real head-embedding beat, isn't it? Today, while singing it, hyde started to CRY! The camera noticed and so it was shown close up on the big screen. Tears, delicately flowing down the face of our angel. Looking away from the screen, however, led to a MASSIVE contrast between hysus and "8D!!! GUITAR HELLS YEAH!! ^_______^!!!" on the one side and "Being bassist is SRS BZNS" on the other. Oh I love those boys so much *Squee* It ended with red lights completely painting the scene, the entire stage the colour of blood.
Finally the lights dimmed completely, except for a patch of light in the front for ken and his mic. 8DD Teh lulz are coming~
ken - So! How is it?
SQUEE KYA!
ken - Hmmm? It sucks? We're bad?
NUU KYA SQUEE (obviously he doesn't understand anything 50000 people try to say)
ken - Aw you guys are mean! Well I'm not an M so we have to stop this right now.
Then he told us about the wonderful world of backstage.
"You might have heard this before, but when I'm practising my backstage my guitar can get kinda loud, so I ended getting kicked out of the room by SOMEBODY. But the thing is, lately yukkie's been just as bad as me. Like drumdrumdrumdrum taptaptatpataptaptap tikitiktitiktii drum durm drumdrtrumdrum tokotoktok. SO he gets kicked out too. So I wonder, do you two just have the whole room to yourselves? Alone together?"
hyde - no...
tetsu - No, I got a different room with Hatano-san.
ken "Ooh, with Hatano-san. That's our keyboardist. Er... why?"
tetsu - It was just while I was getting my hair and makeup done. You know.
hyde - I looked up and all of a sudden I was alone. He left me.
ken " Hah so you were doing what, exactly?"
hyde - Nothing, just relaxing...
ken "So I'm playing guitar, loudly, and get kicked out, and yuki gets kicked out, and hyde gets abandoned. But you know what, while I was practising I heard this high sound, like SHRIEK AHH AHH. You know what that was? ... yeah it was tet-chan pracitcing his chorus."
tetsu : *grins the I'm-so-cute grin*
ken : OK so next song,... do you wanna hear it?
KYA KYA YEA!
ken :Do you MECHA MECHA wanna hear? (mecha mecha is highly Osaka-ben for "very")
ken :OK so tell me you meche mecha wanna hear.
Crowd : WE MECHA MECHA WANNA HEAR!!!
ken : OK THEN! SEVENTH HEAVEN!
I was grinning like a total moron at this; it's so WONDERFUL how he innocently gets 50 000 people in the middle of Tokyo to yell in Osaka-ben. OH YEAH BABY REPRESENT!! /m/
SEVENTH HEAVEN made us genki bounce, and same for tetsu, and just in case anyone somehow failed to bounce hyde kept telling us to JAMP JAMP TOKYO! Bright lights and action and smiles and WOOT! hyde tried to do his sing-for-me molestation move to ken, but utterly failed and they just laughed at each other as they passed. Epic smiles.
I did notice that the sail changed from red and reading just L'Arc~en~Ciel to white with the tour logo on it. GLORY!
Killilng Me rang in, and this time I could hear some cracking sounds that were just the fireworks. Not much to say except more JAMP JAMP TOBE TOBE TOKYO!
Then bananaman did his nice loooong bass solo, throwing only ONE fruit into the crowd, and not near me... but he kept on soloing for several minutes, and while tetsu was so preoccupied, hyde lay down behind the railing, showcasing his languid body for the cameras. He was facing my section of the arena, actually, and kept doing some tongue work *nosebleed* tetsu-smurf-banana-tongue all in my view... dskfhdsofs *boom*
STAY AWAY actually started up and tetsu played and hyde got up and everyone clapped and screamed along~ MAYBE HAPPY! MAYBE HAPPY!! I remember that hyde totally missed a line, but he covered up by trying to look like he meant to do that and let the crowd sing longer. Sure hysus, we believe you...
ARE YOU FUCKING REAAAAAAAAAADYYYYYY~
Like yesterday, we sang the choruses with tet-chan and everyone was screaming and jumping and it is SO much fun and such a good workout. I know lots of people are tired of these songs always being in the set list, but they are just really FUN when it's live, that's why they keep repeating these songs. I hadn't seen this yesterday, but the pirate-staffs were now manning the canons and shooting baseballs into the audience. Honestly my first thought was to cover my head... painful Theatre of KISS memories there XD;; But the baseballs came nowhere near me, being aimed a bit too much off to the side.
It finished with another yuki solo and echoing bass and I saw the sail in all its beauty. Nice work set designers.
There was the intermission, and the wave seemed even genkier than it had been yesterday! Back and forth we jumped and clapped without even needing hysus' directions. Clap clap clap!
then BOOM! Dramatic clockwork music heralds the arrival of the P'UNK BOAT! Again it went around starting from the far side, and stopped at the very back, baseballs and water being distributed along the way. From this seat I had no hope of seeing the back, so I watched completely on the screens. KEN P'UNK pretended to my driving the boat from his drummer's seat XD;
TETSU P'UNK had changed to a white T-shirt with mismatched sleeves that read "Better to reign in hell" in a strange font. Smurf had his eyepatch and otherwise no wardrobe changes.
PRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
MINNA GENKI? Honma? Genki? Prrrrrou~~~ FEELING FINE!
*clap clap clapclapclap* ARE YOU FEELING FINE?!
All radiant smiles and clapping fangirls and WOOT! I was nowhere near as tired as i'd been when doing this song in ToK. I guess I've built up some Live Endurance! Chocobo has levelled up! 8DD
Prrrrou prrou? Prrrou~ HONEY~
I overheard some girls near me saying something about "any idiot can play HONEY in P'UNK". Well, any idiot was having a FANTASTIC time doing it. 8D DRUMMING 8DDD ^____^
Of course with the ONE TWO THREE FOURS they have the opportunity to drag out this song for a while. So they did!
HYDE P'UNK decided to jump "overboard" and hang out with the camera staffs down below. After a little while, TETSU P'UNK joined him and it was time for VENGEANCE!! TETSU P'UNK did unto HYDE P'UNK what hysus has been doing to banana all these years - looped his arm around his neck and made the little smurf sing! Except hyde went GROAW instead. Coz it's P'UNK you know. XDD
At the following gap for ONE TWO THREE FOUR, YUKI P'UNK decided to throw a microphone overboard. Except... it was not cordless, and therefor just sort of hung over the edge. Teh FAIL. YP picked it back up as TP was kinda busy laughing and didn't start singing until that was fixed. Not to mention that we could hear it clanging against the side of the boat XD
Then in the last 1234, YUKKIE PANKU practically ATE the mic. SO you don't like fud, eh, but you like microphones? Strange android...
The song took a while to conclude and by the end TP wasn't even singing, but he had his *I'm so cute you must forgive me* :3 smile on, so of course nothing can be held against him. He caught the last todo tootoodoo~ so all ends well. The P'UNK vessel sailed off for parts unknown, leaving me without any baseballs. But I must say they DO like to play with their balls... 8D
The same recap video played, starring US! *ego trip* Oh we are teh pretty garls, yeaaaah~ XDDD
*ahem*
NEXUS 4 came around again, and I formed a bit more solid an impression. I like it, and it is definetely very tetsuish. Not quite as clearly so as Sunadokei, but still extremely fruity. and 80s. It has a lot of keyboard action, I think that's what causes that image. Oh, tetsu had put his vest back on over the P'UNK t-shirt in the meantime.
Driver's High! Again with the waves of fire and the jumping and the FLASH CRASH! It's an experience that really makes you feel like you're THERE. I'm in da coolest fangirl high~
Link! Again with the member introductions, not in many words this time.
First - yukkie - no. 303 - Asked : We heard that you randomly bumped into hyde while shopping not long ago. What was the first thing you said to him?
yuki : "Ah."
That's all.
Second - tetsu - no. 69 - Asked to show off his whistling talents.
tetsu tries to whistle, but smiles an embarassed little grin and muttered "dekehen na..." (I can't...)
Then he said he'd whistle with his teeth, but failed at that too. "kikoehen? 8D;;;" (Can't hear it?)
Third - ken - no. 5 - Asked to repeat his perfect Cantonese by talking about ....... er... birdfail I have no idea what it is. Shaorampao or something from the sound... Forgive me ^^:
anwyay, ken got in close to the mic and... whistled a million times better than tetsu managed XDD Then he said very slowly and deliberately... something that I assume is what he was supposed to say in Cantonese. it was short and sexy, almost purring in his voice. *ded*
Finally - hyde - no. 666 - Asked a hypothetical question that went "You are in a movie theatre watching the world's first direct broadcast live. Suddenly, a beautiful stranger takes your hand. What do you do?
hyde : *MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMWAAAAAAAH!*
announcer : And what if theis stranger was a man?
hyde : *blinks, then* MWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWAAAAAH! MWWWWWAH! *extended smooching and gestures of suggestivity*
Thank you!
Link concluded with oodles of jamp jamp jamp and many grinning fangirls thinking smoochy thoughts XD
ken started up the intro to MHDAD, but it was cut short almost immediately by hyde's "Won't you sing with me?" and they went into the song proper. Like yesterday, the crowd-singing went on 3 times longer than the album version, our hearts draw a dream. It's magical, almost, being in that singing crowd all worshipping the same gloriously real band. Believe in things that exist and you won't be disappointed.
hyde came back for the final MC of the weekend.
He talked about Paris again, and specifically Notre Dame Cathedral. He said they did an entire photoshoot there! After checking with tetsu, it turned out that he couldn't say anything about the release date (possibly because it's not decided) but he said it would be great and he wished they could have done more in Paris. He also talked about visiting an old "friend" of sorts - the Gargoyle featured on the cover of REAL is actually on the roof of Notre Dame, so hyde was taking zoomed in pictures of the various gargoyles, trying to find the right one.
"I'm such a tourist" he says.
There was also a beautiful story - Even though their photoshoot was in the middle of the day, they saw a rainbow! As you probably know, rainbows normally happen in the morning and afternoon, not when the sun is high in the sky, but it did happen for them. A bright rainbow appeared as they were at Notre Dame, apparently circling the sun. It was something they hadn't seen before, and hyde said that, given the timing, it was scary.
ken - *nearly purring* 's not scary~
hyde laughed a bit, then told us to look forward to the photobook and to all the singles that will be coming out. We will hysus, we certainly will!
Finally the star projection on the ceiling was repeated, and they gave us one last song - Hoshizora.
I swayed with my hoshizolight, more or less in time with the crowd (they're just not very coordinated).
Personally I am hoping to get Anata at the Osaka lives, at least on the final day...
On the way out I took a LOT of pictures, so here's the special edition chocobo photoshoot:
Amazing that my keitai took this... The Dome, with the live sign, and lots of fans :3
Those tents are where they were selling goods. They were packing up when I took the pic.
Cheezy self picca XD But you can see the live sign so it's proof that I was there!
Dome in smaller, but clearer.
Birdbrains and sign 8D
More baadobrains 8D
Still more baado~
The sign, readable.
From the TD artists hall - commemorative plate with a picture from Reincarnation, and the dates that get updated whenever they come back. I couldn't take more than a minute here since so many people were waiting to take a pic, but its still recognizable ne?
And lastly - while waiting to catch up with Setsumei, I spoted these wonderful people 8D
KYA ITS TEH CLASSIC KENTSU!!! They were really friendly cosplayers too :3
Then I caught them again once they had found their sakuhai :
Dedicated to their craft, they are. *squee*
This brings my Tokyo Dome report to an end. Next weekend - OSAKA LIVES and FINAL!! Look forward to some good announcements :3~
Woooh HEY!
Ok here's part two, the longer of the two parts in fact since I did more stuff on Sunday 8D
Just follow the relevant cut if you only want the live itself~
We got up reasonably early on Sunday morning, which was a much nicer day than Saturday had been. No rain! Much genki! I opted to wear my pink AYR? rock T-shirt with my black skirt that has white patterns on it. Also, pink and white stripped (Candy Stripper even) socks, and my RIBBON OF DOOM was in my pigtailed hair. Mecha genki yanen~
After getting some food, we headed to Harajuku to spend all the money we weren't spending on goods. (Why buy goods that we need to drag on the train home? Goods will be bought next weekend instead). I got 3 pairs of socks, a pink punkish skirt, and two tops that I will surely take pics of soon. Then we went to the Mecca of Harajuku Jrock goods - Closet Child!
As we walked in, Love Flies was playing on the store speakers. 8DDDD In fact, they had put on REAL in its entirely. 8DDD At the far end of the store, there was a whole display of L'Arc stuff, marked 10% OFF in honour of the Tokyo lives. SO OF COURSE I took massive advantage of this wonderful opportunity.
Came away with - (rated on the Chocobo 8D scale)
New World 1st press - Three 8D8D8Ds
REAL and REALIVE pamphlet pack with Mysterious red and blue plastic thing. Mecha cheap. Three 8D8D8D and a WTF.
Shibuya 7 Days photobook - Newsmaker edition in excellent condition with original stickers. Four 8D8D8D8Ds
TETSU69 White Out ~memory of a color~ single with BAKED PENDANT, completing my first press collection - Four 8D 8D8D8Ds
Old Ciel mags - vol 14 and 16 (both 1998) - 4 8D8D8D8Ds combined. Not exactly rare.
Vivid Colors first press single, NOT 15th anniv version - 5 8D8D8D8D8Ds!
And my last, greatest treasure - the rare and coveted ---- GIMMICK! SIX 8D8D8D8D8D8Ds out of five! and a WTF on top!
It actually credits "L'Arc~une~Ciel" on the back (but is correct inside the booklet) and has such gems as "for more information on this band, call Namba Rockets". It's also the source of that group pic with pero in it. The other bands on the CD are long since dead and gone, but some of them had interesting songs. Nothing as awesome as Voice, cleary. I WILL TREASURE THIS RARE ITEM FOREVAR!
After all the shopping, there was some lunching, and after the lunching there was TOKYO DOME AGAIN!
Not wanting to stand in the loooooong goods line again, we found a booth that had just pamphlets and hoshizolights so we could get lights for the day. This time I had a green one (forgot to mention yesterday but that one had been pink). Then we went inside, and THIS time I felt even more mecha VIP because I had a super ticket - A7 BABEH!! It was actually about the 10th row because it was the back of the A7 section, but still. MECHA GOOD. In fact, two seats over from me there was a cleared area for cameras to pass, which they often did, so I have a decent chance of being in crowd shot :3
This time I didn't dare go to the bathroom XD
Around me there were some genki people in Paris-version shirts, but since they actually FIT, am guessing it was from the movie theatre broadcast rather than actually having gone. Mwahaha. Right next to me, however, was a most ungenki little girl. I dunno, maybe she wasn't feeling well; she rushed off early and sat down during the whole P'UNK part and everything. Oh well. Of course, since A7 is immediately tetsuwards of the centre, there were a LOT of Mukimpo goods being brandished about 8DDDDD
Again, the live started a little bit late, but only by 10 minutes or so. I was prepared though, with my light and a certain OTHER item (Not telling what it is till Osaka lives, nyah) in my hands, armed and ready.
The opening video was the same as yesterday, with the SS CGI carrying the Pirates of the L'Arcibbean around the world. This time, I was close enough that I could see them walk onstage and take their places behind the big sail 8DDD There is no mistaking FRUIT FEATHERS!
BOOM BOOM! Sail comes down! BOOM BOOM! Bricks get thrown! BOOM BOOM! KYA!
REVELATION~~~
This time tetsu's feathers were PINK! Again he had silver stuff in between them, making his head shiny. Grey suit-jacket thing, black skirt, bright red and very tight pants. BIG SMILE!
hyde was wearing a similar outfit to yesterday, but without the long frayed jacket thing. Today I had a better look at his makeup and noticed he had dark eyeshadow, emphasing the resemblance to Johnny Depp. Mm.
ken-chan had several layers of grey and black, which once again progressively fell (but never leaving him topless) as the show went on. Still hadn't shaved nor changed his hair. Sexy.
yukkie was wearing a hyde-like billowy white shirt with black vest over it. It looks really good on him since he doesn't seem so frighteningly skinny in loose clothing.
REVELATION was going on explosively. Right from the start, banana was GENKI and running around in circles even then. Bounce spin circle. Nonstop. ken-chan was INTENSELY rocking out and smiling and then rocking out some more, and hyde was being the god-king of the Dome like he does so well.
The boat-stage was even more impressive closeup, and the effects probably closer to the ideal. I noticed this time that there was a disco ball at the top of the mast 8D;
Much screaming leads to more bouncing as Pretty Girl starts up! tetsu decided to come visit the end of his wing of the stage, and so I turned to face him (so did a fair chunk of my seating area in fact) as he headed that way. hyde was up front and centre shaking his hips, and ken was down on the far side. I was staring at tetsu and jumping and singing along and thinking "Wow, what's gotten into tet-chan? He's so much GENKIER these lives!!!"
As if to answer the question, a grey blur came DASHING down from the far side~ ken-chan, all 8DDDD, ran clear across the stage to join tetsu on the left end, his shirt hanging open from the dash. fdSgfds 8DD~ Then the two of them started
Caress of Venus - even more singing from tetsu and dancing from hysus and from the whole arena. I think I crashed into my neighbours once or twice, it REALLY wasn't on purpose! ^^;;; hyde made love to the camera, blowing kisses and licking the air~
At one point hyde grabbed tetsu and did that thing where he has an arm around tetsu's neck and puts the mic in his face so he'll sing. 8D; Ohohoh.
Then we got a breather for the first hyde MC.
He just talked about how its good to be back in Japan, and again he mentioned Paris. Once again, I hollered every time he said Paris, so after about three sentences he went like..
"Yeah in Paris..."
me - WOOT!
hyde : Woo~
me *DIES*
then he went on... talking about how it felt like they'd left stuff undone, and there was potential for it to be so much better than it was. Then he encouraged Tokyo to not let anything go undone and be awesome and loud and lalala the usual fire-up-the crowd stuff (Which works!). KYA! RAWR!
DRINK IT DOWN!
Same effects as yesterday, with the mostly red and the sail coming up and the green lasers and the animatronic pirate. Now I am completely sure that its a robot - no human can make EXACTLY the same movements so precisely, plus I saw it so close up that I am certain. It's a very nifty skeleton-pirate robot! The impression I had that DiD was dramatic-ed-up did not diminish, especially since it was followed~
DAYBREAK'S BELL~
Not by any means a rare live song (I've seen it at every live but Saturday's, in fact), but still nice except that I'm not too fond of the live version... I really just have a problem with the different timing and hyde's delivery. Oh well. It is still fun and awesome to see. The effects were red and purple lights, overall brighter than yesterday because this live started earlier and so there was more light in the Dome, period. Wishes over the airspace!
After DBB, ken and tetsu walked up to the very front of the stage. My fangirl heart was racing, not knowing what to expect. They sat down on the crate-looking decorations, and then hyde came to join them, going ahead to pose at the very front of the stage, right where you'd normally see a mermaid statue or something on a full ship. Yes, hyde is far prettier.
The jazzy tune of SELL MY SOUL started up, greeted by a rising SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Can you say RARE SONG? XD
It was really quite sexy. On the screen the shot it so that the 4 of them were perfectly framed together, all sitting and playing. They just stayed in that position and did their thing, in total concentration. I believe ken was playing without a pick here. Not a song I'd have ever thought about, but damn it works nice as a live treat. :3
They retired backstage after, so it was time for episode two of the lovely intermission dorama~ (Go watch it on the OHP!)
In this episode, Miyuki is again sighing over being alone at the lives. I noticed that behind her, some "fans" are busy being all touched and emotional, including one guy in tears and girls comforting him. Oh the fan emotions are so beautiful~
Anyyway, Miyuki. She has flashbacks of dates with her Takuya, this time revolving around the beach towel. She is angsting when Ishida-san snaps her out of it.
Ishida : "Yo."
Miyuki - Ah! Ishida-san! *to herself* That is his name, right?
"Nice to see you again" (he is drinking from the tumbler)
"Ah, the Paris live was wonderful" *flashback of Paris, we see hyde dancing around 8D*
- EH! You mean, you went?
"Of course! L'Arc is my culture, you know. *sighs* Actually, I was supposed to do the entire tour with my girlfriend, but...
*camera pulls back to show an empty seat next to him* I got dumped"
Miyuki - Actually... the same thing happened to me...
Ishida : "Really? Wow, that's like.. destiny!"
Suddenly Miyuki gets a text message. It is from Takuya, saying he'll never cheat again...
Ishida : What's wrong?
Miyuki - My BF wants to get back together... *more flashbacks of them together, celebrating her birthday.~
Ishida : Can you do that? Forgive such a terrible person? It's like they said in the lyrics to DRINK IT DOWN - Break down the mirror, release the sleeping self you've never seen, silently awaking inside you. Maybe this isn't such a bad thing... maybe... it's fate~"
*dramatic music*
To be concluded Tuesday~
Do do do~
get out from the shell~ Again in Japanese, and again with the acro-pirate and the rawking out hardcore. It was great having two implements of d00m to groove with 8D They left a midsection for us to yell back HEY! *rock* HEY! *rock* HEY! more than the album version allows for.
It flowed nearly seamlessly into THE NEPENTHES, sexyness and rawk for all. They're all full of sexyness and energy, it is glorious and wonderful and mmmm~
Next, the keyboards were up for the pre-My Dear ken-ishness. No fail today, he was obviously VERY concentrated. Rawking this hard is SRS BZNS you know. His hands were shown close up on the screen, and DAMN ken has sexy hands. Then for the actual song of My Dear, the wind effects came from under them, blowing hysus' hair and clothes around as he clung to his mic stand and did his thing. Pretteh.
Then I saw a staff bring out the saxophone of DOOM. Time for LORELEY!
This time I completely forgot to pay attention to the effects, just listening to the music itself and grooving to the bass under my feet. It was sublime, truly. I'm so glad they decided to include this song in the lineup. *dreamy grin*
Eien, too, was making me kinda floaty. I swayed my hoshizolight in time to the beat, but not quite constantly. Focusing more on the song than on what my arm was doing, really. tetsu and ken were both so focused, and when ken's solo came he was doing that uniquely ken INTENSE GUITARIST face that is beyond my ability to describe.
Next - tata tadata tada tada~ military beats of Forbidden Lover. I sorta drummed it out myself (on nothing) since it is a real head-embedding beat, isn't it? Today, while singing it, hyde started to CRY! The camera noticed and so it was shown close up on the big screen. Tears, delicately flowing down the face of our angel. Looking away from the screen, however, led to a MASSIVE contrast between hysus and "8D!!! GUITAR HELLS YEAH!! ^_______^!!!" on the one side and "Being bassist is SRS BZNS" on the other. Oh I love those boys so much *Squee* It ended with red lights completely painting the scene, the entire stage the colour of blood.
Finally the lights dimmed completely, except for a patch of light in the front for ken and his mic. 8DD Teh lulz are coming~
ken - So! How is it?
SQUEE KYA!
ken - Hmmm? It sucks? We're bad?
NUU KYA SQUEE (obviously he doesn't understand anything 50000 people try to say)
ken - Aw you guys are mean! Well I'm not an M so we have to stop this right now.
Then he told us about the wonderful world of backstage.
"You might have heard this before, but when I'm practising my backstage my guitar can get kinda loud, so I ended getting kicked out of the room by SOMEBODY. But the thing is, lately yukkie's been just as bad as me. Like drumdrumdrumdrum taptaptatpataptaptap tikitiktitiktii drum durm drumdrtrumdrum tokotoktok. SO he gets kicked out too. So I wonder, do you two just have the whole room to yourselves? Alone together?"
hyde - no...
tetsu - No, I got a different room with Hatano-san.
ken "Ooh, with Hatano-san. That's our keyboardist. Er... why?"
tetsu - It was just while I was getting my hair and makeup done. You know.
hyde - I looked up and all of a sudden I was alone. He left me.
ken " Hah so you were doing what, exactly?"
hyde - Nothing, just relaxing...
ken "So I'm playing guitar, loudly, and get kicked out, and yuki gets kicked out, and hyde gets abandoned. But you know what, while I was practising I heard this high sound, like SHRIEK AHH AHH. You know what that was? ... yeah it was tet-chan pracitcing his chorus."
tetsu : *grins the I'm-so-cute grin*
ken : OK so next song,... do you wanna hear it?
KYA KYA YEA!
ken :Do you MECHA MECHA wanna hear? (mecha mecha is highly Osaka-ben for "very")
ken :OK so tell me you meche mecha wanna hear.
Crowd : WE MECHA MECHA WANNA HEAR!!!
ken : OK THEN! SEVENTH HEAVEN!
I was grinning like a total moron at this; it's so WONDERFUL how he innocently gets 50 000 people in the middle of Tokyo to yell in Osaka-ben. OH YEAH BABY REPRESENT!! /m/
SEVENTH HEAVEN made us genki bounce, and same for tetsu, and just in case anyone somehow failed to bounce hyde kept telling us to JAMP JAMP TOKYO! Bright lights and action and smiles and WOOT! hyde tried to do his sing-for-me molestation move to ken, but utterly failed and they just laughed at each other as they passed. Epic smiles.
I did notice that the sail changed from red and reading just L'Arc~en~Ciel to white with the tour logo on it. GLORY!
Killilng Me rang in, and this time I could hear some cracking sounds that were just the fireworks. Not much to say except more JAMP JAMP TOBE TOBE TOKYO!
Then bananaman did his nice loooong bass solo, throwing only ONE fruit into the crowd, and not near me... but he kept on soloing for several minutes, and while tetsu was so preoccupied, hyde lay down behind the railing, showcasing his languid body for the cameras. He was facing my section of the arena, actually, and kept doing some tongue work *nosebleed* tetsu-smurf-banana-tongue all in my view... dskfhdsofs *boom*
STAY AWAY actually started up and tetsu played and hyde got up and everyone clapped and screamed along~ MAYBE HAPPY! MAYBE HAPPY!! I remember that hyde totally missed a line, but he covered up by trying to look like he meant to do that and let the crowd sing longer. Sure hysus, we believe you...
ARE YOU FUCKING REAAAAAAAAAADYYYYYY~
Like yesterday, we sang the choruses with tet-chan and everyone was screaming and jumping and it is SO much fun and such a good workout. I know lots of people are tired of these songs always being in the set list, but they are just really FUN when it's live, that's why they keep repeating these songs. I hadn't seen this yesterday, but the pirate-staffs were now manning the canons and shooting baseballs into the audience. Honestly my first thought was to cover my head... painful Theatre of KISS memories there XD;; But the baseballs came nowhere near me, being aimed a bit too much off to the side.
It finished with another yuki solo and echoing bass and I saw the sail in all its beauty. Nice work set designers.
There was the intermission, and the wave seemed even genkier than it had been yesterday! Back and forth we jumped and clapped without even needing hysus' directions. Clap clap clap!
then BOOM! Dramatic clockwork music heralds the arrival of the P'UNK BOAT! Again it went around starting from the far side, and stopped at the very back, baseballs and water being distributed along the way. From this seat I had no hope of seeing the back, so I watched completely on the screens. KEN P'UNK pretended to my driving the boat from his drummer's seat XD;
TETSU P'UNK had changed to a white T-shirt with mismatched sleeves that read "Better to reign in hell" in a strange font. Smurf had his eyepatch and otherwise no wardrobe changes.
PRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
MINNA GENKI? Honma? Genki? Prrrrrou~~~ FEELING FINE!
*clap clap clapclapclap* ARE YOU FEELING FINE?!
All radiant smiles and clapping fangirls and WOOT! I was nowhere near as tired as i'd been when doing this song in ToK. I guess I've built up some Live Endurance! Chocobo has levelled up! 8DD
Prrrrou prrou? Prrrou~ HONEY~
I overheard some girls near me saying something about "any idiot can play HONEY in P'UNK". Well, any idiot was having a FANTASTIC time doing it. 8D DRUMMING 8DDD ^____^
Of course with the ONE TWO THREE FOURS they have the opportunity to drag out this song for a while. So they did!
HYDE P'UNK decided to jump "overboard" and hang out with the camera staffs down below. After a little while, TETSU P'UNK joined him and it was time for VENGEANCE!! TETSU P'UNK did unto HYDE P'UNK what hysus has been doing to banana all these years - looped his arm around his neck and made the little smurf sing! Except hyde went GROAW instead. Coz it's P'UNK you know. XDD
At the following gap for ONE TWO THREE FOUR, YUKI P'UNK decided to throw a microphone overboard. Except... it was not cordless, and therefor just sort of hung over the edge. Teh FAIL. YP picked it back up as TP was kinda busy laughing and didn't start singing until that was fixed. Not to mention that we could hear it clanging against the side of the boat XD
Then in the last 1234, YUKKIE PANKU practically ATE the mic. SO you don't like fud, eh, but you like microphones? Strange android...
The song took a while to conclude and by the end TP wasn't even singing, but he had his *I'm so cute you must forgive me* :3 smile on, so of course nothing can be held against him. He caught the last todo tootoodoo~ so all ends well. The P'UNK vessel sailed off for parts unknown, leaving me without any baseballs. But I must say they DO like to play with their balls... 8D
The same recap video played, starring US! *ego trip* Oh we are teh pretty garls, yeaaaah~ XDDD
*ahem*
NEXUS 4 came around again, and I formed a bit more solid an impression. I like it, and it is definetely very tetsuish. Not quite as clearly so as Sunadokei, but still extremely fruity. and 80s. It has a lot of keyboard action, I think that's what causes that image. Oh, tetsu had put his vest back on over the P'UNK t-shirt in the meantime.
Driver's High! Again with the waves of fire and the jumping and the FLASH CRASH! It's an experience that really makes you feel like you're THERE. I'm in da coolest fangirl high~
Link! Again with the member introductions, not in many words this time.
First - yukkie - no. 303 - Asked : We heard that you randomly bumped into hyde while shopping not long ago. What was the first thing you said to him?
yuki : "Ah."
That's all.
Second - tetsu - no. 69 - Asked to show off his whistling talents.
tetsu tries to whistle, but smiles an embarassed little grin and muttered "dekehen na..." (I can't...)
Then he said he'd whistle with his teeth, but failed at that too. "kikoehen? 8D;;;" (Can't hear it?)
Third - ken - no. 5 - Asked to repeat his perfect Cantonese by talking about ....... er... birdfail I have no idea what it is. Shaorampao or something from the sound... Forgive me ^^:
anwyay, ken got in close to the mic and... whistled a million times better than tetsu managed XDD Then he said very slowly and deliberately... something that I assume is what he was supposed to say in Cantonese. it was short and sexy, almost purring in his voice. *ded*
Finally - hyde - no. 666 - Asked a hypothetical question that went "You are in a movie theatre watching the world's first direct broadcast live. Suddenly, a beautiful stranger takes your hand. What do you do?
hyde : *MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMWAAAAAAAH!*
announcer : And what if theis stranger was a man?
hyde : *blinks, then* MWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWAAAAAH! MWWWWWAH! *extended smooching and gestures of suggestivity*
Thank you!
Link concluded with oodles of jamp jamp jamp and many grinning fangirls thinking smoochy thoughts XD
ken started up the intro to MHDAD, but it was cut short almost immediately by hyde's "Won't you sing with me?" and they went into the song proper. Like yesterday, the crowd-singing went on 3 times longer than the album version, our hearts draw a dream. It's magical, almost, being in that singing crowd all worshipping the same gloriously real band. Believe in things that exist and you won't be disappointed.
hyde came back for the final MC of the weekend.
He talked about Paris again, and specifically Notre Dame Cathedral. He said they did an entire photoshoot there! After checking with tetsu, it turned out that he couldn't say anything about the release date (possibly because it's not decided) but he said it would be great and he wished they could have done more in Paris. He also talked about visiting an old "friend" of sorts - the Gargoyle featured on the cover of REAL is actually on the roof of Notre Dame, so hyde was taking zoomed in pictures of the various gargoyles, trying to find the right one.
"I'm such a tourist" he says.
There was also a beautiful story - Even though their photoshoot was in the middle of the day, they saw a rainbow! As you probably know, rainbows normally happen in the morning and afternoon, not when the sun is high in the sky, but it did happen for them. A bright rainbow appeared as they were at Notre Dame, apparently circling the sun. It was something they hadn't seen before, and hyde said that, given the timing, it was scary.
ken - *nearly purring* 's not scary~
hyde laughed a bit, then told us to look forward to the photobook and to all the singles that will be coming out. We will hysus, we certainly will!
Finally the star projection on the ceiling was repeated, and they gave us one last song - Hoshizora.
I swayed with my hoshizolight, more or less in time with the crowd (they're just not very coordinated).
Personally I am hoping to get Anata at the Osaka lives, at least on the final day...
On the way out I took a LOT of pictures, so here's the special edition chocobo photoshoot:
Amazing that my keitai took this... The Dome, with the live sign, and lots of fans :3
Those tents are where they were selling goods. They were packing up when I took the pic.
Cheezy self picca XD But you can see the live sign so it's proof that I was there!
Dome in smaller, but clearer.
Birdbrains and sign 8D
More baadobrains 8D
Still more baado~
The sign, readable.
From the TD artists hall - commemorative plate with a picture from Reincarnation, and the dates that get updated whenever they come back. I couldn't take more than a minute here since so many people were waiting to take a pic, but its still recognizable ne?
And lastly - while waiting to catch up with Setsumei, I spoted these wonderful people 8D
KYA ITS TEH CLASSIC KENTSU!!! They were really friendly cosplayers too :3
Then I caught them again once they had found their sakuhai :
Dedicated to their craft, they are. *squee*
This brings my Tokyo Dome report to an end. Next weekend - OSAKA LIVES and FINAL!! Look forward to some good announcements :3~
