Day one was fun where as day two was great.
1- heidi ain't bad per say, they just need a year or two more of song writing experience and a good producer.
Set List:
1) Tell Me (not bad, they simplified it and punked it up a little. The singer was a bit out of place for the song but I only say that because V kei singers piss me off in general.)
2) houfutsu (this song is cool stuff but all the other songs I've heard by them try and fail at being this song)
3) (song too generic and unoriginal to be bothered with)
2- Tokyo Yankees. The played four songs. Two of them were thrash punk and two were thrash metal. During the last two, a couple guys came running out holding up "muteki" flags. How classic Extasy of them, I liked it. Even if Ume-chan is gone, the guitarist and bassist did him proud by trading off vocal duties. Miki says at least one of the songs was an old Extasy song. RIP UMEMURA
3- Ladies Room. I had always avoided listening to them because I thought they'd just be dumb 80s hair metal. And thats exactly what they were, except it was good. I think I may have to check out a best of by these guys. They played four songs, one of them was Sex, Sex and Rock n' Roll. The "muteki" flag returned for them as well.
4- Dir en grey. Miscast was awesome, the rest of their stuff just all ran together and I got bored with it quickly. The last song was cool though. It annoyed me that they didn't interact with the crowd at all, they were just kinda there if you know what I mean. The younger crowd loved them but everyone else was as bored as I was after a few songs.
5- The Underneath. They got a good enough reaction for this being their first show in Japan.
Set List:
I know they played Gekkoh and Doubt (not a bad cover) but I'll have to ask Miki's Transtic Nerve loving friend to try and figure out what else they played.
6- D'espairsRay. I like them more and more each time I see them.
Set List:
1) Pose (Not my favorite cover but passable)
2) Brilliant (Sounded like an 80s anime theme song except with a big ol' pair of balls. I hope the studio version is as good sounding.)
3) SIXty NINe (My favorite song by them)
4 Mirror (Miki's favorite song by them...i think)
7- Mucc. Their sound guy pisses me off. Of course it was an outdoor stadium notorious for having bad acoustics. Maybe I should cut him some slack...nah fuck that, fire him.
Set List:
started off with the homura uta intro track as they all walked out on stage.
1) ranchu
2) fukurou no yurikago
3) noritsubusu nara enji
4) Fuzz (this song rocks hard live but usually bores me on CD)
Next, Tatsurou did a quick MC explaining how hide your face was the first cd he ever bought. He heard Dice on TV and ran out and bought a copy of the album immediately afterwards.
5) Dice (feat. TAL of The Underneath.)
6) Libra
8- Oblivion Dust. They were fun live but their sound guy also is a jack ass. I've tried my hardest to like these guys but I just can't get into them. Fake? is cool. Spin Aqua is alright. Kaz's work with Hyde is fairly cool. But OD just sound too 92-93 grunge for me too really get into.
Ken wrote in their blog that Kaz fractured his foot had had to be rushed to the hospital after they finished playing. Miki and I both noticed Kaz fall but I never guessed it was that bad.
Set List:
1) genkai haretsu (same version as on Tribute Spirits)
2-3 (didn't recognize these)
4) Radio Song
5) 24 Hour Buzz
6) Designer Fetus (the best song they have)
9- Luna Sea. If you have seen the One Night Dejavu DVD, it was more of the same. J has shaved since then. Shinya did not wear the hair extentions but it was great. I think they picked great set list. It featured a most of the favorites and then a couple suprises.
Set List:
1) Precious...
2) G
3) Dejavu
4) Slave
5) Scanner (hide cover)
6) In Silence
7) Blue Transparency
8) Rosier
9) Tonight
10) Wish
11) Up to You
10- X-Japan. They were fun. Most of the set featured old live recordings of HIDE on guitar then Sugizo shows up towards the end. Toshi's voice broke a few times even during the MC parts, leading Miki and I to believe he was probably crying a lot. I would say he was just out of practice but that wouldn't explain why he can't even talk without his voice wavering. I could have forgone some of the random interludes between songs but it was X after all, you have to expect that stuff. At one point while X was back stage everyone was clapping and the pavilion seats were all doing the wave. It was fun for a while.
Set List:
Intro: Amethyst~World Anthem,
1) Rusty Nails
2) Scars
MC
3) Silent Jealousy
hide interview footage with Forever Love..or was it Tears playing in the background and girls in the audience crying all over the place. (Some of the footage was quite old and entertaining, some of it was the footage you see everywhere.
4) Piano Solo (wow, a Yoshiki solo that I didn't want to sleep though, who would have thought it.)
5) Without You (Yoshiki on piano and Toshi on vocals. Everyone else was hiding backstage.)
6) kurenai (normally I am a Silent Jealousy type of guy but this was the best song of the night me thinks.)
It was around this point that everyone went backstage, Yoshiki came out carrying Toshi on his back. Yoshiki dropped Toshi and they both just sat on the stage for the duration of the MC.
After dropping Toshi:
Yosh- You are heavier than you use to be
Tosh- Yeah, sorry about that
They go on to announce they are playing Taiwan on Aug 2nd.
7) Endless rain (featuring typical audience singing along and continuing to sing after the band stops playing.
8) I.V. (feat Sugizo)
9) Pink Spider (V - Toshi, G - Pata, Sugizo, Yoshiki, B- Heath, D - Shinya)
The guitar Yoshiki was playing was a hide model "Yellow-Heart" guitar.
10) Believe (V - Toshi, Ryuichi, G - Pata, Sugizo, Inoran, Shinya, B - Heath, J, D - Yoshiki)
I doubt Shinya was really playing, he was just running around with a guitar, having a good time.
11) X (Muteki band featuring V - Toshi, Ryuichi, Tatsurou, TM Revolution, Hizumi G - Pata, Sugizo, Inoran, Miya, Yoshiki, B - Heath, J, D - Shinya, Yoshiki)
Also, Ladies Room, Versailles and all kinds of other poeple were waving muteki flags and leading the crowd in the X jump. Towards the end of the song Yoshiki stopped playing guitar and switched back to drums. And The showed footage of hide saying "tobe tobe tobe..." like he always does.
(PS - I hate Japanese computers.)
