jaymee

- When I first moved to Japan, I missed a live because I mixed up 町田 (Machida) where the live was with 田町 (Tamachi). I wasn't gonna make the live in time so I said fuck it, but then I felt kinda bad because I had reserved tix with the band. (Back when you could still reserve tickets with the band off their website.)
 
- I can't stand much of Dir en grey's music after Macabre. I couldn't care less that they dropped the visual look, just so much of their stuff after sounds like noise. I also know there are a lot of Japanese VK fans that feel the same way, though for years some of them were in denial and kept attending shows bc they had the hots for the members.
 
- I think VK started to die with the osare kei craze and I can't stand most current "popular" VK bands. It's not that I think new VK has more shit than old VK, just that shit bands can sell better than they could before now that SNS/cheki/multiple CD types with different bonuses/etc. are more common. There's still good music coming out, it's just a lot harder to find. Before the good music was more “mainstream”.
 
- One of the best lives I ever went to was Gargoyle playing some songs here and there in between random MCing, as they sat on stage chugging cans of beer with the audience. I'd never been to a Gargoyle show before and I don't even like beer, but honestly I wish this was a thing all bands did.

I feel like every overseas obangya over 30 either read it or wrote it! I also remember when every group had fans here in Japan drawing and publishing doujin for established band ships. You can still find a number of these relics at Mandarake.
 
I feel pretty squick about shipping real people now but I think VK is kinda in that grey zone where you’re shipping the personas they pretend to be.

I also write gay fanfiction (when I have the time anyway) and I'm proud.

Once I was front row center for the band I went to see at a smaller venue and the vocalist had a minor wardrobe malfunction. He had set up a light underneath the step up so he could look all cool and shit, but he was wearing a long black skirt so all it did was light up everything underneath like a lampshade so I had a front row view of his underwear for an hour. I never told him because I didn't want to embarrass him, but I guess he figured it out cause he never tried to do that again.

- When I first moved to Japan, I missed a live because I mixed up 町田 (Machida) where the live was with 田町 (Tamachi). I wasn't gonna make the live in time so I said fuck it, but then I felt kinda bad because I had reserved tix with the band. (Back when you could still reserve tickets with the band off their website.)
 
- I can't stand much of Dir en grey's music after Macabre. I couldn't care less that they dropped the visual look, just so much of their stuff after sounds like noise. I also know there are a lot of Japanese VK fans that feel the same way, though for years some of them were in denial and kept attending shows bc they had the hots for the members.
 
- I think VK started to die with the osare kei craze and I can't stand most current "popular" VK bands. It's not that I think new VK has more shit than old VK, just that shit bands can sell better than they could before now that SNS/cheki/multiple CD types with different bonuses/etc. are more common. There's still good music coming out, it's just a lot harder to find. Before the good music was more “mainstream”.
 
- One of the best lives I ever went to was Gargoyle playing some songs here and there in between random MCing, as they sat on stage chugging cans of beer with the audience. I'd never been to a Gargoyle show before and I don't even like beer, but honestly I wish this was a thing all bands did.

- When I first moved to Japan, I missed a live because I mixed up 町田 (Machida) where the live was with 田町 (Tamachi). I wasn't gonna make the live in time so I said fuck it, but then I felt kinda bad because I had reserved tix with the band. (Back when you could still reserve tickets with the band off their website.)
 
- I can't stand much of Dir en grey's music after Macabre. I couldn't care less that they dropped the visual look, just so much of their stuff after sounds like noise. I also know there are a lot of Japanese VK fans that feel the same way, though for years some of them were in denial and kept attending shows bc they had the hots for the members.
 
- I think VK started to die with the osare kei craze and I can't stand most current "popular" VK bands. It's not that I think new VK has more shit than old VK, just that shit bands can sell better than they could before now that SNS/cheki/multiple CD types with different bonuses/etc. are more common. There's still good music coming out, it's just a lot harder to find. Before the good music was more “mainstream”.
 
- One of the best lives I ever went to was Gargoyle playing some songs here and there in between random MCing, as they sat on stage chugging cans of beer with the audience. I'd never been to a Gargoyle show before and I don't even like beer, but honestly I wish this was a thing all bands did.

Speaking of gay fanfiction...

When I was about 16, I was facebook friends with a mid-30ies woman who wrote gay fanfiction online.
She was inspired by my relentless fascination with Gackt and wrote a story of him and me, not sure whether I should be charmed or creeped.

I don't give a shit about new X Japan. I've never listened to that and I have no desire to start.

I upped the album, unfortunately without the comment DVD(s) since the store accidentally sent me a blank disc. 

It’s always interesting to go on Tanuki after a taiban and see what one band’s fans thought of the other bands/show or those band’s fans. You can get the same from Twitter but bc band dudes often search themselves in tweets and it isn’t anon the posts tend to be more reserved.
 
Also nothing beats Tanuki for speculation... sometimes posters are right on the mark and other times it’s just downright wild and hilarious.

Janne Da Arc really gets paid dust by the general overseas community. YOU is such a prolific guitarist he even had his own instructional video thing for awhile.
 
I was lucky enough to see their 10th anniversary memorial live at Saitama Super Arena, not knowing at the time that would be my first and last time to ever see them. (Thank god my friend and I coughed up scalper ticket prices for some nosebleed seats- we were positioned to the right, on one of the upper level tiers a little behind the stage and basically had a view of Yasu shaking his ass the whole time.)
 
As for songs, def in my top favorites are "child vision ~Ehon no Naka no Kirei na Majo~" off their DNA album and this b-side, "FAKE".
 
 
Yasu's such an unabashed pervert and so many JDA songs are pretty risqué, but that's also given fans a lot of gems like "Dry?" and "Ueta Taiyou".
 
I also love "DOLLS", which someone already posted, as well as "ROMANCﾖ", "Maria no Tsumeato", "seed", "RED ZONE",  "-Kyuuseishu Messiah-", "Tsumetai Kagerou", "Sakura", and "Lunatic Gate".
 
"Kokoro no Yukue" and "Rainy ~Ai no Shirabe~" are two beautiful but sad songs that are really underrated. The PV for "Kasumi Yuku Sora Sei ni Shite" is always hilarious to watch.

Janne Da Arc really gets paid dust by the general overseas community. YOU is such a prolific guitarist he even had his own instructional video thing for awhile.
 
I was lucky enough to see their 10th anniversary memorial live at Saitama Super Arena, not knowing at the time that would be my first and last time to ever see them. (Thank god my friend and I coughed up scalper ticket prices for some nosebleed seats- we were positioned to the right, on one of the upper level tiers a little behind the stage and basically had a view of Yasu shaking his ass the whole time.)
 
As for songs, def in my top favorites are "child vision ~Ehon no Naka no Kirei na Majo~" off their DNA album and this b-side, "FAKE".
 
 
Yasu's such an unabashed pervert and so many JDA songs are pretty risqué, but that's also given fans a lot of gems like "Dry?" and "Ueta Taiyou".
 
I also love "DOLLS", which someone already posted, as well as "ROMANCﾖ", "Maria no Tsumeato", "seed", "RED ZONE",  "-Kyuuseishu Messiah-", "Tsumetai Kagerou", "Sakura", and "Lunatic Gate".
 
"Kokoro no Yukue" and "Rainy ~Ai no Shirabe~" are two beautiful but sad songs that are really underrated. The PV for "Kasumi Yuku Sora Sei ni Shite" is always hilarious to watch.

both MICHI and KOJI are legends, I'm actually excited about this! I really like their name too for some reason lmao

Actually, recently I've been remembering Janne Da Arc a lot and listening to their old works lol so I found the revival of this post a nice coincidence xD  I was a huge fan back when they were active, it was one of my favorite bands and it was a shock for me when they disbanded. For years I've been trying to like what Yasu does as solo works, which I find okay in most cases, but for me it's not in the level of epicness of the songs released when he was in JDA; and I feel so sad about such wonderful songs not being in a decent quality concert since they haven't done any reunions nor anything T_T  sigh.
 
Well, besides that, about the songs, I love the early works, Dearly is a great album, my favorite song there is "闇の月をあなたに…" the guitar solo and overall feeling of this song is simply amazing, I like "Speed" very much too. Chaos Mode mini album also has great songs, my favorites there are "...song" and "strange voice"; and then D.N.A album was a masterpiece.. my favorite there is "EDEN ～君がいない～" this song I know it by heart, I guess I have listened to it a LOT o times.. xD and "Heaven's Place" is my second favorite there, and finally Z-HARD I love very much too.. my absolute favorite there is "Mysterious" so nostalgic..  really having a dedicated keyboardist on a band brings a totally different feeling to the music, maybe this is what Yasu solo works lacks.
 
If anyone is interested, You (former guitarist of JDA) is performing as special guest in a concert in April (4/7) together with YUKI (ex-rice, ex-Raphael) and Sakito (Nightmare), I didn't even know what You was doing recently, but since I follow YUKI I was very shocked to see him listed as guest artist 🙂 good for him to still be engaged in music activities. Kiyo (former keyboardist of JDA) is also very active in support works, and I've seen him in the Keyboards magazine together with Daisuke Asakura ^^ he has important and famous friends at least lol   and about Yasu, I got to know very recently about his hiatus due to cervical damage T_T I hope he gets better

when i was in high school a friend played the song DOLLS for me and it's one of my favourites to this day.
 
 

I've missed a lot of lives due to lack of cash or energy since I'm not local to any major cities (like if I've got a full week of work and other events going on that week, the commuting multiple times a week can be rough)... Lives I'm sad I missed out on would be Dir en grey's GAUZE re-tour and LAREINE's reunion live with Machi. I also regret not being able to go to PLC's and Metronome's taiban 2 yrs ago because I had already bought tickets for Fuji Rock.
 
More often or not, I regret all the Western artist lives I've missed touring Japan because of lack of promotion (only finding out about them after tickets have sold out or days/weeks after. I'm also still not over BANKS canceling her Japan shows when I had saizen tickets.
 
Also when I went to SXSW a couple of years ago Lana Del Rey did a surprise concert and I missed it because we weren't pass holders. 

Guys the album it’s available trought itunes jp, OTOTOY ,mora and maybe some other digital platform YAAAS

*Ahem* Yes, I remember all the sparkly banners for displaying your allegiance. I also remember  a number of bands had chatrooms on their HP where, if you join at around late evening JST, you often ended up chatting with the bandomen themselves. 

I've ran into really attractive bandmen on the street. And really ugly ones too.

I figured it would be cool to have a thread like this for people just starting out going to lives, or maybe even some of you veterans out there that are always trying to make the most of your time and/or maximize efficiency getting in and out.
 
Hack #1: Getting Good Ticket Numbers
 

Hack #2: Getting a Locker
 
 
Hack #3: Have Everything Ready
 

Hack #4: How to Bring Your Own Drink/Keep It Out of the Way
 
 
Hack #5: Buying Goods
 
 
Hack #6: Trying to See Better if You’re Short
 
 
Hack #7: Showing Your Spirit
 
 
Hack #8: Making gya friends
 
 
Hack #9: Saving Money on Transportation Costs
 
 
Hack #10: Finding Cheap/Close Accommodation
 
 
Hack #11: Buying Tickets
 
 
Hack #12: Bringing/Giving a Gift
 
 
If you know of more tricks, please add to the list by replying! 
 
EDITED 5/23/2018 with suggestions from the replies  Also, thanks mod @platyfor the sticky!

5 Things I Like about VK (or J-music in general), in no particular order
 
1. The community
At least half of the friends I've made in the VK community are my friends for life. Kinda weird that some of your bestest friends would come from laughing about no1curr Japanese band and fan drama as you bond over a good release, but hey life is funny that way.
 
2. The concerts
Concerts in Japan are better, tbh. None of that crappy audience singing drowning out most of the artist's set you paid to hear, and nobody is standing there like a dumbass watching the whole thing through their phone, blocking your view with their phone in the process. I find Japanese concerts are generally more interactive, too, unless you're seeing some really bland or unknown act.
 
3. Release packaging/content
Sure VK releases may cost more than many Western releases, but the packaging is often way nicer. Most VK shoots and photo/lyric booklets put Western artists to shame.
 
4. The goods
With little exception, VK or Japanese artists in general have better goods than Western artists. I feel like overseas you get clothes, stickers, and notebooks, and that's about it, but in Japan the only limit is the band's imagination. Over the years I've seen flavored condoms, sex toy kits, house dishes, food/snack/drink collaborations, mobile battery chargers and other small electronics, car goods, etc.
 
5. The music
Last but not least, eh?  When I first got into VK I was really thrilled by the way artists gave little to no flips about sticking to just one genre or style of music. There are some artists that try a little too hard to mesh sounds that don't agree, but for the most part I've always respected the experimental nature of the genre. I feel like indie music in the West is starting to catch up in that regard, but even now Western fans are still quick to call any artist that steps outside a certain established style or sound a sell out.

I was around during the j-pop/j-rock/VK "boom" in the U.S., if you can even call the small subculture following it had for a short time that.
I feel like it really comes down to a combination of these three things:
 
1.) Lack of availability/promotion
When j-rock was at its "peak" popularity overseas, it was still somewhat difficult to purchase official releases outside of Japan, especially for indies acts. Most CD shops didn't ship overseas, if they even had English language sites at all. Labels and bands were late to utilize YouTube and SNS to promote their music, and introduction into the scene still relied heavily on music sharing networks or download sites. There was too little official information available/properly translated into English. By the time labels finally started getting around to reaching out to overseas audiences, people were moving on (to K-pop or in general). In general Japanese artists/labels just weren't committed to attracting overseas audiences or embracing any audience they did have.
 
2.) Touring issues
Most bands ended up performing at anime conventions, despite if they had any real connection to cosplay or an anime show. Much of the time these acts were being consumed by people who were curious about the artist because they were from Japan, with few actual fans assembled at one place in comparison. Exoticism may get people to see you once or twice, but it usually doesn't compute into CD sales, especially when the value of the yen was so high and the cost of Japanese music so expensive compared to Western music. These acts, and even the rare show booked outside of a con was subject to poor management, planning, or promotion. Often they were cancelled. Perhaps if more acts had gone Dir en grey's route of performing at festivals, it would have made a sizable enough movement to have an impact, but it's hard to say.
 
3.) The general demise of rock music as mainstream
Sure, rock will never get old. But rock is not nearly as mainstream as it was in the 90s and early 2000s. Even as certain indie rock sounds/artists flourish, it's a much different style than what a lot of j-rock (especially VK) is doing. So on top of less people listening to rock in general, there are less people interested in the style of rock Japan is making. Even I'm not as fond of most of the rock that's popular in Japan ATM (VK or generally speaking).
 
Generally speaking, a lot of overseas VK fans I knew at the time eventually moved on to K-pop. Unlike Japan, Korean artists/labels were much more insistent on pushing for international success. They also swooped in taking advantage of YouTube and SNS promotion where Japan didn't. While this lead to a flood in the market for some time, it also give the genre the momentum that j-rock (or j-pop tbh) never had, eventually making it a powerful force to be reckoned with it's turning into today.

this post has aged extremely well

I've never heard of any of his bands but I like this guy.