NEW SODMY
March 25th, 2002
Fukuoka Drum Son
 

The livehouse was REALLY small. It made CBGB look huge. ^^; I was shocked, but who am I to complain about any situation that makes it easy for me to get close to the stage? ^^ Fukuoka is Aya's hometown, and his fans were out for him, crowded about the right side of the stage and bouncing through the whole concert. It was quieter in the rest of the audience... and some of the people in the front row between Kamijo and You... I wanted to throttle them. -__-; Get into the show or get out of the way! I hate reaching over people who are standing there like zombies! There were two girls in particular standing in the front row looking especially dead, and Kamijo actually went over to them and pulled their hands into the air, which they seemed to find embarrassing enough to make "oh my god" gestures, but didn't get them to keep their hands up. But after that he just ignored that "hole" in the audience and reached out to other people in the crowd in proper taking-outstretched-hands style. Even though I was in the 3rd row, I was right in front of him and I can't count how many times I was able to reach his hand. ^_^ You bounced around the stage in his happy genki style, taking hands (not mine) and looking like he was having fun. At one point when he was right in the center of the stage with Kamijo, he tripped and sort of fell, but they both just laughed.

Kamijo was in costume -- the same leather jacket, snakeskin pants, high-heeled platforms, and smoky pearls he wore at the Takadanobaba live and is wearing in the promotional pictures for this tour. His hair was back to blond, although it was carefully highlighted and subtly darker on the underside. (His colorist is a master. Kamijo's hair is a work of art.) His makeup was subtler than at Area, more like the photos except without the lipstick. I think You was wearing the jacket and pants from the promo photos as well. His hair was styled and he had on a little bit of makeup, although it was for a polished yet natural look, rather than visual-style.

Aya looked really different. His hair had been dyed brown, and he was wearing extensions braided into cornrows that hung loose in the back. He had no makeup -- it probably would have been weird with the rest of the look. And he was wearing a loose black button-down shirt and baggy black pants with a pair of white sneakers.

Mayu was not at the show, of course. (;_;) Hitoshi Maeda (support drummer) wasn't wearing anything fancy... he had tousled short black hair and a little goatee.

After the encore, they put on New Sodmy tour shirts (black, long sleeves).

I'm not going to write about every single song, just the ones that were new or sounded significantly different from the recorded versions.

"Phantom" is awesome live. For lives, they play it not with an electronic sound (although there are some recorded parts in the background) but as a heavy pounding rock song. There's a lot of energy and it's a great song to get the crowd worked up and jumping. That is, when they know what's coming... it's a little bit of a surprise to hear it played like this for the first time. Aya has this cool heavy riff in the beginning right before the verse, and the "PHANTOM!"s during the chorus are really loud and aggressive.

"Thirteen's in the Beauty"
This is really different. It's a surprising song... there's rapping. Yes. What's more, I think the rap might be in English, although all I was able to catch was "here we go". (^^;) The chorus of this is a sung rock part, in Japanese.

"Fantasia"
This is a very pretty ballad. It starts off with Aya doing an arpeggio/chord riff, and the drums and bass join in quietly, with Kamijo singing softly. The chorus continues in that soft pretty style.

"Refrain"
It's so lonely without Mayu! That riff during the verse is just so distinctively Mayu's work that I guess it would be wrong for anybody but him to play it... Aya didn't even try. But that riff, the interplay between Mayu's guitar and Kamijo's vocal parts during the verse is the thing I love most about this song, so Mayu's absence was especially strong here.

Aya guitar solo
This wasn't a solo in the Yngwie Malmsteen guitar god style, but rather Aya playing an instrumental over a jazzy drum and piano. He sat on a stool in the center of the stage and played it in a calm and elegant way.

"Ano hito no aishita hito nara"
Eh? I didn't think this was going to be in the set! Unlike the Lareine version, the only accompaniment to this was a piano. I like this much more -- the arrangement on the CD seemed a little overdone and too dramatic, but the simple piano keeps the focus on the lovely vocal melody. Kamijo sang it very emotionally and passionately.

Mystery song #1
It's only 2 minutes long, and I wasn't sure if it was a new song or a new intro to "Advent". Whichever it is, it's very very pretty. It's kind of ballad-ish, but dramatic, a little eerie-feeling, and melancholy. I'd really like to hear this expanded into a full-length song. ^_^

"Miss Carmila"
This was much faster than the version on "Scream". Very cool. ^_^

"A way of life"
A ballad that starts out quietly, with minimal drums, bass, and arpeggios. The b-verse speeds up a little and leads into ringing chords. Another pretty song. ^_^

instrumental jam
Oh, this was so cool. The bass has such a sexy sound and we so rarely get to hear it featured. It started out with You and Hitoshi jamming by themselves (rockin'!), and then Aya came back out onstage and chimed in with some funky ringing chords.

mystery song #2
This was fun! It's hand-waving time! This is a fast, bouncy, catchy, and funky little song. I've seen Aioria too many times to be able to get through a show (any show) without wanting to spend at least one song with my hand up in the air doing silly things (it's fun!), so here's where we got the chance to be really silly. ^_^ And I'm not sure I've ever seen Kamijo leading audience movements like this before. First: straightforward one-handed waving from side to side. Second: bounce both hands back and forth from front to back. (is this the froog? is that what it's called?) Third: the "Aya original"? (LOL) This is kind of like pulling something from each side of your face in time to the beat. Last: back to the side-to-side waving.
(so you still have no idea what the song sounds like, but if you hear it, you'll know what to do. Haha. ^^;)

There was a videocamera in the back of the club taping the whole show. During either the second "Cat Walk" or the mystery song, somebody came out onstage with a mini camera getting closeups of the band and the audience. Kamijo took the camera himself and shot some footage of the crowd. I think they were taping the tour for the upcoming video.

After the show, it was time to wait for the band to come out so we could wave "bye" at them. I don't do this for every band I go to see -- only New Sodmy, because they're my favorite plus Kamijo always turns to acknowledge the waiting fans and wave back at them. Except he didn't do that this time. ^^; As the van with the band pulled out and turned into the street, we all began waving, and then realized that instead of waving back from inside the van, Kamijo was hanging halfway out the open window with the little videocamera (and a big grin) taping everybody. I dread to think of what kind of footage he got, as I have a feeling that my "bye" smile turned into a deer-in-headlights "I'm on camera?!!" look of shock. ^^;;;

SET LIST
(MCs not specifically listed because Kamijo talks between just about *every single song*)

1. intro
2. Phantom
3. Thirteen's in the Beauty
4. Audrey
5. Fantasia
6. Refrain
7. Aya solo
8. Ano hito no aishita hito nara
9. mystery song
10. Advent
11. Miss Carmila
12. A way of life
13. Romantic Season
14. farewell
    (encore)
15. instrumental jam
16. squall
17. actor
    (encore)
18. Cat Walk
19. mystery song
20. squall (2nd time)

 

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