WhirlingBlack

Having seen both versions of Fukai live in person now I can honestly say I don't really feel the Vulgarism version in comparison to the original. It's definitely weaker even though they are of course both great tracks. Also, nope, no G.D.S on this tour, sadly.

No problem, I forgot to mention but new OBSCURE isn't all that bad anymore now that I've seen it live in Japan. But I really can't tell if its due to the audience participation being so awesome for the track or if it's better acoustics or so. Either way I found it quite fun.

Okay, some notes about the concert today: The songs are performed largely in their original versions except for OBSCURE, and they're done in the same tuning as on the album as far as I'm able to tell using six string guitars. Best live tracks by far was audience KILLER LOOP, MARMALADE CHAINSAW, CHILD PREY (the Japanese audience really made this song to be honest) and Shokubeni. I weren't able to get into NEW AGE CULTURE or R TO THE CORE yet due to their awkward/difficult audience participation but the songs themselves were awesome. Sadly no AMBER or Fukai yet but that's coming tomorrow. One of the strongest impressions I got from the show was how much better Uroko has become live, Kyo really hit all the right notes and the Japanese audience really knows how to improve the mood compared to Europe. During Phenomenon Kyo was doing strange dances and drooling all over his hand which he then proceeded to rub all over his body. I'm pretty sure the fangirls were pleased. He also looked leaner more akin to his Vulgarism body than how he's been looking lately. After Phenomenon was also the only inward scream of the show, for those who are about such things. The whole band seemed really into it, smiling, posing and running around trying to rouse the audience... very much felt like a throwback to the more casual experience of old. Utafumi is almost exactly 3 minutes long, and I can't really grasp it. My first impression is: Extremely messy. Lots of clean singing and some passages with quick indecipherable screaming. I was not able to get into it, but then again this was my spontaneous reaction when I saw the live premiere of Chain Repulsion too, which is now a favorite, so I'm going to give it a few more shows before I properly review it. Worst part of the show was playing The Inferno. Like really, you have a 19 song setlist and you decide to throw one of the worst tracks of ARCHE on there? How about doing another VULGAR track or just...really any other song? But I digress, an amazing experience. Stay tuned, I'll try to bring some notes tomorrow as well.

I'm assuming it's just the guys gathering together all their old drinking buddies and coercing them into writing some bullshit comments about an album they probably have never bothered listening to. As far as I read none of the comments made any specific or in depth analysis about the actual music.

I'll be reporting to the best of my abilities from the second leg of the vulgar tour, osaka and forward. So please look forward to that!

Some of the best news all year! I was hoping this would happen at some point since all the essential players were still around in some capacity. Also, regarding Shintaro, he was not a part of the original lineup of Metronome... He joined like 9 years into the project (2007), so as far as I'm concerned this lineup is all good!

About time people started covering the good stuff. I hope for this to become a thing in Tokyo as well.

Hi, You didn't allow us to guess though! Welcome back either way, familiar faces are always a good thing.

I think I own everything they released, I could try to get around to making booklet scans if you wish. I was planning on getting around to doing translations myself but I'm always overly encumbered by assignments from class. It's nice to see that someone keeps their memory alive besides myself!

Didn't quite expect this. I'm going to do my best to try to attend their last live since I'll be in Tokyo at that time, give me a last shot to hopefully see some of those oldies I've always wanted to see. I must admit I haven't really listened to this band for the last six years, but I am nevertheless a bit shocked. Just one of those bands you expected to always be around.

If you read again what I said, I didn't say anything about putting it up on Youtube. It could be distributed in a similar manner as Bandcamp or iTunes purchases. I know that right now physical formats are dominant in Japan, and for proper releases I see no issues with this at all, but you can't release a live DVD of every concert you play because packaging and production would make the prices skyrocket and the market is too small to make it viable. I'm sure there would still be a market for properly mixed and mastered live DVDs and this would be more of a niche thing, but since there literally goes almost zero extra work into it, it's not a big deal and a nice way to earn a couple of extra ten-thousand yen bills per live.

More bands should consider releasing official recordings of all their shows, it's pretty minimal effort required if they don't have such high quality demands, and with digital distribution channels costs would not have to skyrocket either for fans. Charging ticket price or below for a venue shot video (Most venues film at least one angle, generally center and above the audience for the bands own archives) or even just a plain soundboard mix audio. Fans would have their memories, no one would have to block your precious views, everyone would be happy. Back when things had to be distributed on discs, this wasn't feasible, but today it's really no problem putting out a hundred+ digital releases a year. Potential goldmine for the bands, if revenue is what they want, and just a general win-win situation for everyone.

I really hope for the sake of consistency that all of you who denounce people who film at concerts never watch audience-filmed stuff on Youtube, otherwise it's difficult to take your objections seriously. Or perhaps it's alright if you aren't in the audience and personally "violated"? Food for thought. I agree in principle about the still photography because that really has no personal value for me, but since I enjoy watching audience-sourced live videos, I'd be hypocritical of me to attack the people who produce them for myself and others enjoyment. I respect all opinions but it's important to be intellectually honest then and not argue against it while enjoying the benefits of it at the same time.

I recorded video at a MUCC gig back in 2009, and I've watched it every year since at least once. I think both sides here are just trying to enforce their view without taking the other side into regard "I can't understand why someone would want to do X" or "As a fan I'm entitled to Y", seems to some to be valid arguments for some? Video recordings are a great memory of a show, not only for yourself but for future preservation and for everyone who unfortunately were unable to attend - you are basically doing a lot of people a service, and I think some (not all) who record and might sacrifice some of their own enjoyment see it this way. I find a staggering hypocrisy in a lot of people in such as that they hate on people for recording, but then go on Youtube and view the videos themselves when given a chance. A lot of my all time favorite live videos to watch would not exist if there weren't fans who had taken their time to make them. Most of the annoyance seems to come from letting people just stand around anywhere with their phones etc. and I agree, there needs to be some kind of rules in regards to that, but rather than a total ban just do what a lot of video-friendly bands already do, have a designated area in the back (say, along the wall or the last fourth of the hall or so) where people are allowed to film. Bands are missing out on marketing and often high quality material that are essentially completely free of production costs and does not require any work on their part. Most fans would not use "There are live videos on Youtube" as an excuse of not attending a concert themselves, and it wouldn't compete with CD sales either (although they already form only a small part of an artists revenue).

It's a useless rule made for a different era and very difficult to enforce today - just like a lot of things from Japan. The reason they don't want you taking pictures is because you might catch them from an unflattering angle, and god forbid they ever look anything less than 100% photoshopped. Selling photosets could be another reason, but those pictures are generally professional studio shots and not live ones so one would think it's a completely different thing. Either way, I never got the point of taking photos at lives, so that part has never really bothered me much, but banning video is a major annoyance. I know people filming can be a bother but it's easily solved by directing those people to the back or to a balcony if such exists... And nowadays even devices most people have access to like smartphones can record both listenable audio and decent video, so it's never been easier to get some interesting footage from shows.

I've attended a show with Eiji and I didn't get any supremacist vibes from him. So I'd like to call bullshit on that. Probably just some foreign fangirl who got rejected and then decided he was a racist.

The point is that if the remake sounds too far detached from the original it, at least to me, ends up just feeling like I've lost my chances of seeing the original tracks live as they've been replaced. I generally make a case in point with Dir en grey, a band who have extensive experience with remakes. When they remade their track zan, I was very much in favor of it. It was a fresh take on the track but it still resembled the original enough to be seen as the same track, in a touched up way. Then they remade tsumi to batsu which essentially was just a remake in name and a few lines of lyrics. I have only heard one of these tracks so far, and not even completely at that, but I get that kind of vibes from this so far. And this is coming from a diehard aie fan so please don't dismiss this as hating or anything silly like that, it's alright to have legitimate concerns even with your favorite artists. (Also might be because I was hoping to catch some oldies live in the summer)

Not convinced. Remakes that do not sound like the original in any way just feels like an excuse to never having to play the original tracks again.

More like for their rich and bored daughters - you see quite a few Russian fangirls at shows these days in Japan.