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2002/04/19, Takadanobaba Area
2nd Effect They don't have a drummer, and use programmed drumbeats. It's well done and suits the songs enough that it's obviously intentional, rather than them making do because they don't have a drummer. There are also a lot of synthesizer sounds. I don't listen to electronic stuff at all and have no idea what genre this would be (techno? industrial? something else? ^^;), but it was on the heavy and aggressive side, and the guitar and bass were real and played by musicians onstage. Quarry I feel kind of bad saying it, but these guys are SO '97! ^^; They're competent musicians, the singer has a fine voice, they're comfortable and professional performers, and the songs are nice. But there's nothing about them that I haven't seen or heard before, and by bands that do it better. They were wearing boring black suit-type jackets. None of the members were especially cute or pretty, which as we all know (though I hate to say it) can make a mediocre band seem more interesting than they really are. After their set, I went out to the bar to get a soda.
MISA?!!! o_O; OMG. Do I talk to him? Do I say something? I'm already staring at him and he knows I've recognized him, do I go up to him...? But if I did, he might not appreciate some fan gabbling at him when he's just there to see a band, and especially not if it drew a lot of attention to him... Plus, what would I do if I did go up to him?
But one thing bothered me... was that or was that not Sarino with him? Misa's easy to recognize -- I've seen him up close without makeup enough times that there's no way I'd miss him AND he's really distinctive looking, but I wasn't sure who he was with. This guy was about the right height for Sarino, had Sarino-like hair, and a sort of Sarino-ish face, but... I thought he was Sarino at first, because he was with Misa. But on the other hand, even though I've never seen Sarino without any makeup, it's not like he wears that much on stage... I've seen Aioria enough times that if he was Sarino, I think I'd be absolutely sure. I wasn't at all sure, because even though that was my initial 1/4-second glance impression, he seemed way too big-boned... like why would Sarino seem so much bigger OFF stage than ON? If anything, he should seem even smaller. So it probably wasn't him. I'm bummed that I didn't get a second chance to check him out -- when I went back in he was hunkered down on the floor with his face to the ground. But that was definitely Misa! Emmet recognized him too, although he's much cooler than me... I stared with eyes bugging out, but he just thought to himself "oh, there's the guy from Aioria, hm." Gill'e cadith They only played three songs, but the last was one of those super-extended hand-bopping and then mad lunging extravaganzas. The vocalist was absolutely determined to get everybody in the club doing the moves for this, even the people in back, and with shouts of things like "In the back! Yeah, in the back! LET'S GO!!!" and stares right at all of us, did get us moving. If you like the athletic kind of show, this is a good band to see. After inspection of both the ticket and the enquete packet, I concluded that Jelly Berry would be next and I should go to the front so as to get a good view and a good report. Hey, what's this space doing open right in the middle? This might be cool! Except when the curtains opened, that WASN'T Hisui in front of me! Delta Ark Time to beat an exit to the 2nd tier, much as I feel bad about seeming to be driven away by a band. I've seen Delta Ark before and didn't care for them much. (Ironically, they were the only band of the night I'd ever seen or heard before.) They're just not my style. But that's one cute guitarist they've got! He looks a lot like Sakito, except less angular and more pretty. He also had a left eye that seemed strangely unwilling to open... I don't know if he's got an eye infection, bad allergies that sealed it shut with allergic-eye-goo (you know what I mean, right?) or some kind of ongoing muscular problem; but it doesn't matter, it didn't look bad... he just seemed like he had a perma-wink. Jelly Berry So, uh... is it 100% certain that Ukyou is leaving? Because he didn't look like he was going anywhere! Not only did they not say a thing about his impending departure, but Ukyou was the one who did the long MC in the middle about their upcoming live dates and everybody please come see them. If he's leaving, why was he the one plugging the future shows? Doesn't make any sense to me. Plus, he was all over the place, being extremely cute and lively in a way that I wouldn't think anybody who wasn't pretty sure about their place in the band would be. Ukyou seemed to be on quite good terms with Hisui (well, at least it seemed so to me ^^;) and they were interacting with each other, but Itsuki was off in his own corner and seeming both to be ignoring and to be ignored by the other guys for most of the set. Although, at the end, Ukyou finally moved over close by Itsuki and they gave each other a smile (the first smile I'd seen from Itsuki!). Aside from that... Hisui needs to warm up his voice faster! He didn't sound good at all on the first song, which probably would have been rather melodic if he'd been hitting the right notes. He seemed to warm up a bit with the second song, which had him using a combination of singing-talking and his screaming voice. After that, his voice seemed distinctly stronger and better. Hisui's somewhat less graceful than Mako, but while Mako is psychotically uninhibited in a way that makes his gracelessness irrelvant, Hisui seems too self-conscious to let himself be that freakishly entertaining. Which is a shame, really. They had next to no crowd movement, which is hardly surprising considering that this was their first Tokyo show and they have no demo tape. A lot of people seemed to be there for them because of their previous bands, but except for maybe 5~6 fans that probably came from Osaka, no one knew the songs or what to do. It seemed like a very cold reception, although it wasn't meant that way. According to Emmet, who had strategically planted himself near Misa (why? I didn't ask him to!), Misa seemed to be enjoying Jelly Berry's set. His foot was moving, and he looked like he was there to see them. But then Misa's friend dragged him off. Domestic+Child Musically, they had the polish you'd expect from a band playing last. Their sound is reminiscent of early Penicillin and Deshabillz. I liked some of their songs, while others were... blah. They seem like the kind of band that's best heard on a CD first though, because as best I could tell in the loudness of the livehouse, the singer was doing some Hakuei/Kiyoharu style things with his voice and that doesn't always sound so wonderful in a live situation. In the end, I still wasn't sure if I wanted to buy their CD or not... One thing, though... the vocalist is a terrible MC. Can't they get one of the other guys to take over this job for him? He's SO bad at it! Mumbly and inaudible, and not in a cute way. Well, I didn't go to this show as a fan of any of the bands... Mostly I was just getting antsy because my favorites aren't playing now and I wanted to do something. Nevertheless, even though I am an Aioria fan, it's kinda disappointing that the most exciting thing about the evening was seeing Misa, who wasn't even onstage. |