jaymee

Band: Gargoyle
 
Yeaaaars ago I went to this live they did where it was basically them on stage getting crunk and passing the audience beers while they played whatever they felt like between random/hilarious MCs.
 
Band: Kuroyume
 
My friend and I paid 30,000 yen+ a piece to get scalper tickets to their sold out "last" live, because we didn't want to regret not ever seeing them.  Then Kiyoharu got desperate for some coin and got the band back together like one-two years later. Our seat numbers were horrible, and behind the stage, so the only view we got was of Kiyoharu's ass. 
 
Band: Psycho le Cemu
 
One of their Nagoya shows was particularly memorable for me because I got saizen, the set list was on fire, and I befriended a bunch of gya that still keep in touch outside of lives. Also the Osaka show of their last lives, where the gya invited many of us non-Japanese fans in attendance to write a message on a gift they had prepared for the band.
 
Their "last" live and mid-hiatus anniversary/Epilogue final. So much ugly crying and wailing. The image of all the gya leaning on each other for support as they processed their sadness over an era in their lives coming to an end has been hard to shake. Strangely, having already gone through this stage with Malice Mizer, I didn't cry. Emotions were running high, especially as there had been a few gya who had taken their own lives after speculation that the band would go on an indefinite (read: permanent) hiatus.
 
 
Also... every live I have ever worn uncomfortable shoes to just to "complete an outfit" or "stand taller". Don't do it guys, you will always regret it, lol.

Band: Gargoyle
 
Yeaaaars ago I went to this live they did where it was basically them on stage getting crunk and passing the audience beers while they played whatever they felt like between random/hilarious MCs.
 
Band: Kuroyume
 
My friend and I paid 30,000 yen+ a piece to get scalper tickets to their sold out "last" live, because we didn't want to regret not ever seeing them.  Then Kiyoharu got desperate for some coin and got the band back together like one-two years later. Our seat numbers were horrible, and behind the stage, so the only view we got was of Kiyoharu's ass. 
 
Band: Psycho le Cemu
 
One of their Nagoya shows was particularly memorable for me because I got saizen, the set list was on fire, and I befriended a bunch of gya that still keep in touch outside of lives. Also the Osaka show of their last lives, where the gya invited many of us non-Japanese fans in attendance to write a message on a gift they had prepared for the band.
 
Their "last" live and mid-hiatus anniversary/Epilogue final. So much ugly crying and wailing. The image of all the gya leaning on each other for support as they processed their sadness over an era in their lives coming to an end has been hard to shake. Strangely, having already gone through this stage with Malice Mizer, I didn't cry. Emotions were running high, especially as there had been a few gya who had taken their own lives after speculation that the band would go on an indefinite (read: permanent) hiatus.
 
 
Also... every live I have ever worn uncomfortable shoes to just to "complete an outfit" or "stand taller". Don't do it guys, you will always regret it, lol.

This was what I was trying to get at in a nicer, non-elitist sounding way. This applies to Japanese fans, too. Tanuki has no shortage of posts bashing the self-important opinions of fans who just buy releases but can never be assed to make it out to a show.
 
Also yes about bands sounding horrrrrible live but fine recorded, like at least 95% of mainstream/popular idol groups in Japan. One of the more disappointing things you'll experience as a gya is occasionally going all the way out to Tokyo and shelling out money for a live, only to sit through the show thinking, "Damn I should have just saved my money and listened to this on YouTube instead."

personally I wouldn't say them not looking at you is snubbing you
 
Also I was always fond of sitting on the floor and headbanging. I think that's one thing I will miss from VK haha
 
I think my fav non-VK experience was Bara from HONE YOUR SENSE handing me a beer from the stage😂
 
As for VK....
 
I can't count catching picks/drum sticks/etc as special, like them looking at me,  talking directly to me or being given the mic to say something/scream at a live because that's honestly not that unusual.
 
I've gone to like 200 VK lives so under a spoiler because there's a lot of little things (and this is the condensed version)

Great thread, I like hearing the little things that are memorable at shows!
 
- During Morrigan's set at Ikebukuro Cyber. During RIP (which is two minutes on CD but about 15 during their shows) they do the whatever it's called when the front row of girls lay over the bar/stage and the rest of the crowd takes turns slamming into them on the fourth beats. Anyway, during that the vocalist went out into the crowd to start dragging people forward who weren't participating (even going into the venue's stairwell, haha). When he sauntered over near where I was standing I could see the surprise in his face to run into a giant white dude amidst the crowd of tiny girls and instead of attempting to drag me into the melee he gave me a high-five.
 
- I wrote about this one during a 君は鋭く。set here. A middle-aged woman in the crowd approached me between bands and asked what band I was at the show to see. When I told her 君は鋭く she got really excited and grabbed a wrist band off their merch table and gave it to me. I will continue to believe she was someone in the band's mother until proven otherwise.
 

kazuki from screw spat in my eye
 
it got really red and irritated for a couple of days

i saw that one 7+hr live Royz did where they played every one of their songs, so i've basically accepted my life peaked at that point
only other thing i can kinda brag about; my first live i ever saw was Naitomea when they left Japan for the second time in their career to play a con that was 4hrs from my house - i'll never in my life be that lucky again .-.

SaTaN:
I didn't pay attention for a short time because I was talking to the girl next to me when she suddenly started laughing. I didn't know why but then I realized that Mr.SaTaN wasn't on stage anymore. He sneaked  up behind me and it scared the shit out of me when I turned around because he was so fucking close. There were only about 40 people around so it wasn't that difficult to see that I wasn't looking at the stage ... After their show we talked for a short while and he was so excited that they had fans outside of Japan and he kind of ignored the japanese fans just to talk to me (I guess he was like... really excited haha)
 
DOAK:
I don't know if this is something special or interesting, but a nice japanese girl switched place with me so I could be closer to the stage during DOAKs show when she heard that I just came to Japan to see their last live. So this was my first time in the second row for seeing one of my favorite bands. Everyone around me was so nice and they integrated me in everything. I was used to be ignored for being a foreigner so this was really exciting for me. Never felt this happy before. Meeting Yuuki after the show made it the most perfect day of my life.
 
K:
Cazqui where his support guitarist during this live and when he threw his pick I was about to catch it but instead of closing my hand I hit it and it fell behind the barrier. I politely asked a staff if he could give it to me but he said no and gave it to another girl that was screaming on him to give it to her instead ... I'm still pretty mad about this

I would say that especially in vk, studio albums say NOTHING, really NOTHING about the band. I've seen so many bands that were great on CD utterly bad live to the point that they could not play the most easiest riffs live. Others that i did not like on CD had amazing shows with great onstage personality. (DVD/Bluray lives dont matter to "have seen a band live" IMO).
Its true that oversea fans can mostly only critize on CD sound, photoshop images, DVD, PV, etc. but its cool to see that the awarness of how bad most bands are increases due to more oversea people visiting lives in japan/more japanese people writing on here. Maybe more and more people that dont then will understand how unimportant their opinion can be (if opinios are important at all, opinions are still opinions). Just dont know whats more unimportant than an oversea fans opinion who doesnt visit their lives.
 

I'm saying just because you haven't see a band perform live, it doesn't mean you can't criticize them. Studio albums are indicative of an artist's musical skill and songwriting capabilities. If a band has five albums and I only like one of them, I think it's fair to say that I don't like the band's music. Seeing them live won't change anything. 

It's the shortsightedness of the non-Japanese VK fan where they think if their close knit internet community is aware, then all of Japan must be. That's not the case. The average Japanese person has no clue most of the bands we discuss even exist. 

Okay, I've been reading a lot of people here saying they were one of the most successful and popular bands out of this latest generation and my question is: were they?
 
I've always felt they are far more successful among the western fanbase than in Japan, which honestly means absolutely nothing to determine their status in the scene. They don't seem to sell that well, the biggest place they held an oneman was Zepp Tokyo (in 2014; other than that they seem to have reached a plateau at Akasaka BLITZ, meaning they've been stagnated for years now) and it doesn't look like they're leaving much of an impact within the scene (if any at all).

Ah, my response was mostly to "don't release it on CD then". Unfortunately, as its been pointed out already, most fans don't get into a band through randomly seeing them live (because it's expensive or inaccessible), so bands have to rely on CD or digital releases to reach more potential fans (that hopefully will go see them live one day), even if they're not a band that's strong when it comes to physical releases.
 
I don't think it's wrong to critique or bring up those shortcomings of that band. I just don't think CD/digital releases should be the sole factor in judging whether a band is "good" or "bad".
 
 
I somewhat disagree. To be frank, visual kei, like most art in Japan, is not made for the international community or international recognition. I mean, you are free to your opinion, but I don't see why a band should be judged on the basis of not appealing to a fanbase they were never trying to appeal to, if that makes sense.

Band: Gargoyle
 
Yeaaaars ago I went to this live they did where it was basically them on stage getting crunk and passing the audience beers while they played whatever they felt like between random/hilarious MCs.
 
Band: Kuroyume
 
My friend and I paid 30,000 yen+ a piece to get scalper tickets to their sold out "last" live, because we didn't want to regret not ever seeing them.  Then Kiyoharu got desperate for some coin and got the band back together like one-two years later. Our seat numbers were horrible, and behind the stage, so the only view we got was of Kiyoharu's ass. 
 
Band: Psycho le Cemu
 
One of their Nagoya shows was particularly memorable for me because I got saizen, the set list was on fire, and I befriended a bunch of gya that still keep in touch outside of lives. Also the Osaka show of their last lives, where the gya invited many of us non-Japanese fans in attendance to write a message on a gift they had prepared for the band.
 
Their "last" live and mid-hiatus anniversary/Epilogue final. So much ugly crying and wailing. The image of all the gya leaning on each other for support as they processed their sadness over an era in their lives coming to an end has been hard to shake. Strangely, having already gone through this stage with Malice Mizer, I didn't cry. Emotions were running high, especially as there had been a few gya who had taken their own lives after speculation that the band would go on an indefinite (read: permanent) hiatus.
 
 
Also... every live I have ever worn uncomfortable shoes to just to "complete an outfit" or "stand taller". Don't do it guys, you will always regret it, lol.

Ah, my response was mostly to "don't release it on CD then". Unfortunately, as its been pointed out already, most fans don't get into a band through randomly seeing them live (because it's expensive or inaccessible), so bands have to rely on CD or digital releases to reach more potential fans (that hopefully will go see them live one day), even if they're not a band that's strong when it comes to physical releases.
 
I don't think it's wrong to critique or bring up those shortcomings of that band. I just don't think CD/digital releases should be the sole factor in judging whether a band is "good" or "bad".
 
 
I somewhat disagree. To be frank, visual kei, like most art in Japan, is not made for the international community or international recognition. I mean, you are free to your opinion, but I don't see why a band should be judged on the basis of not appealing to a fanbase they were never trying to appeal to, if that makes sense.

Usually you see 無期限 or some variation for "indefinite hiatus" announcements. IMHO it sounds like a temporary hiatus, but who knows what could happen in between that time, lol.
 
I've translated the announcement, since posters above complained that none of MEJIBRAY's fans have done it.
 
"MEJIBRAY would like to give their sincerest thanks for your continued support. We have a very important message for everyone. MEJIBRAY has decided to pause their activities following 2017. To all our fans that have supported us, and to all related staff, we understand that this announcement is a sudden one, and we deeply apologize for any worry and inconvenience this decision may cause, though we hope you can understand. Nothing has been decided about next year's schedule or if we will resume activities again next year. Though only a short period of time is left, we would like to put everything we have into our remaining activities. We humbly ask for your support. May 10, 2017"
 
 
 
 
 

DEZERT:
saz took off stage and joined the crowd from the back, pushing everybody to the front during the dive. while doing so, he grabbed me by the shoulders and we were back diving together on the front crowd. it happened so fast i couldn't believe what was going on, but it was the best moment of my life. at the same live, because it was so crowded someone got a nosebleed from smacking into someone else's head while headbanging. (this was in 2015 when they hadn't quite reached their popularity yet so they booked the smallest live venue in town) kira noticed it and pointed it out during the MC. it took a while for the girl to come forth, but she said that she was okay and that the bleeding had stopped.
 
LM.C:
there was an older lady, like around her 60s or so and i stood next to her. i think we might've looked like mother and daughter, or grandma and granddaughter, because we were the least active in the crowd and kinda stood out. at one point aiji threw his guitar pick to the crowd and i think he was clearly aiming it at us. i didn't pick it up though...
 
Arlequin:
a guy from the crowd in the back kept yelling "DAISUKI DA!!!!" to shohei during the MC when aki left the stage for a bit, and he seemed flattered by it, but was also kinda troubled about what to say back to him. in the end he said "daisuki" too. the rest of the crowd were all just kinda laughing.

Band: Gargoyle
 
Yeaaaars ago I went to this live they did where it was basically them on stage getting crunk and passing the audience beers while they played whatever they felt like between random/hilarious MCs.
 
Band: Kuroyume
 
My friend and I paid 30,000 yen+ a piece to get scalper tickets to their sold out "last" live, because we didn't want to regret not ever seeing them.  Then Kiyoharu got desperate for some coin and got the band back together like one-two years later. Our seat numbers were horrible, and behind the stage, so the only view we got was of Kiyoharu's ass. 
 
Band: Psycho le Cemu
 
One of their Nagoya shows was particularly memorable for me because I got saizen, the set list was on fire, and I befriended a bunch of gya that still keep in touch outside of lives. Also the Osaka show of their last lives, where the gya invited many of us non-Japanese fans in attendance to write a message on a gift they had prepared for the band.
 
Their "last" live and mid-hiatus anniversary/Epilogue final. So much ugly crying and wailing. The image of all the gya leaning on each other for support as they processed their sadness over an era in their lives coming to an end has been hard to shake. Strangely, having already gone through this stage with Malice Mizer, I didn't cry. Emotions were running high, especially as there had been a few gya who had taken their own lives after speculation that the band would go on an indefinite (read: permanent) hiatus.
 
 
Also... every live I have ever worn uncomfortable shoes to just to "complete an outfit" or "stand taller". Don't do it guys, you will always regret it, lol.

Reese's peanut butter cups, especially the miniatures.
 

 
 
I also really like choco-bo.
 

 
 

kore/kono: this
sore, are/sono: that
dore/dono: which
 
koko: here
soko/asoko: there
doko: where
 
Basically the "so" (sore, sono, soko) ones refer to something/somewhere that is close to the person you are talking to but distant from yourself, while the "a" ones (are, ano, asoko) refers to something/somewhere that is distant from the people conversating (if it's close to both you would just use kore/kono/koko).
 
The difference between kore and kono (and so on) is that kono requires the noun right after it (such as "this pen", "kono pen"), while with kore you do not need to specity ("kore"="this one", are="that one", etc.).
 
If you are talking about something/somewhere that is not physically there, you should say "sore, sono, soko" for something only one person knows, while "are, ano, asoko" for something that both people in the conversation are familiar with. For example, if you are talking with your girlfriend about a friend of yours, you would say "sono hito" (that person) to talk about somebody your girlfriend never met/never heard of, or "ano hito" (that person) if she already knows him. Not sure I was clear!!

Teriyaki Chicken Sandwich from Red Robin.

Warheads. 

in this topic i wanna discuss the most special/interesting/memorable incidents experienced during Vk lives attended in japan.
if there are also some special situations you've experienced feel free to tell us as well! ;D
 
BAND: DEZERT
 
i saw them live when they were still a pretty underground band (even before they had their very first instore event which took place only one day after i saw 'em live)
during the live there were 3 girls standing pretty close to the stage but they were the only one who didn't participated with other fans... so after chiaki screamed a few times "SHINE" while pointing at them and they still didn't move to the back he took a water bottle and spit a few times directly to the girls so they finally moved to the back...
 
BAND: B.C
 
i visited one of their sponsered lives and during one of their songs the vocalist told everyone to build a circle and to hold each others hands which each other. then while everyone was standing in circle ALL headbanged which i've never seen before in my life. during this section of the live the singer jumped down from the stage and also headbanged along standing back to back to a girl which he accidently colide with the back of their heads - kinda funny situation...
 
BAND: MeteoroiD
 
i saw them live in 2015 and during their last song everyone was kneeing down on the floor and all headbanged... you might think like: yeah but whats so special about this!?
but because of the very thick atmosphere during that part it really felt like: what fucked up cult thing is goind on right now... XD
 
so that were my most memorable experiences i had during my few lives i attended in japan so far.

Ah, my response was mostly to "don't release it on CD then". Unfortunately, as its been pointed out already, most fans don't get into a band through randomly seeing them live (because it's expensive or inaccessible), so bands have to rely on CD or digital releases to reach more potential fans (that hopefully will go see them live one day), even if they're not a band that's strong when it comes to physical releases.
 
I don't think it's wrong to critique or bring up those shortcomings of that band. I just don't think CD/digital releases should be the sole factor in judging whether a band is "good" or "bad".
 
 
I somewhat disagree. To be frank, visual kei, like most art in Japan, is not made for the international community or international recognition. I mean, you are free to your opinion, but I don't see why a band should be judged on the basis of not appealing to a fanbase they were never trying to appeal to, if that makes sense.

Some artists are just better/more interesting live.
 
I'm not necessarily speaking for MEJIBRAY (since I don't listen to them and can't judge), but live rearrangement can give an entirely different vibe/meaning to the song, combined with visuals or good theatrics.
 
I really like Psycho le Cemu (if my icon didn't give it away) and their lives are waaaaay better than just listening to them on a CD since they incorporate a visual/storytelling/comedy aspect to their lives that would be impossible to translate onto a CD. So while they may be my favorite band to see live, they aren't my favorite band to listen to on CD.