Last night, October 11th, fade performed at Shimokitazawa GARDEN.
They played with two bands that night: white white sisters and ATOM ON SPHERE. I had never heard of these bands before, so I went and checked them out on YouTube beforehand.
white white sisters
ATOM ON SPHERE
If you like either of them, definitely go check them out on Twitter or Facebook!
Without further ado: fade!
In a rare turn of events, fade was slated to play first! I should have been excited, but for personal reasons, it irritated me a tiny bit, haha. I have a class that meets on Thursdays from 3:10-7:00pm. I was planning on fade playing 2nd or 3rd, so I wasn't intending on skipping class, but since they were performing first, I had to be there when doors opened (6:40)...accounting for travel time, I would have had to leave class around 6. The only thing that counts for attendance is a comment sheet that's collected at the end of class, so there wasn't really a point in going if I couldn't even prove I was there, haha.
But, I digress.
Here's the setlist:
1. Born Ready
2. One Reason
3. Inside Out
4. REIMEI~黎明~
5. From the Heart
6. So Far Gone
7. Ten
8. In the End
9. Beautiful
10. Close to You (Eng)
11. コズミカリズム (Cosmicalism)
The first thing I noticed about this live was that the energy was totally different compared to Chelsea Hotel. The vibe I got from CH was that everyone was just happy to be there and it was really fun. At GARDEN, they were definitely giving their all. Jon's stage presence was a lot more intense and emotional. He even had the crazy eyes going on for a bit, haha. He had a white jacket with a t-shirt underneath, but he ditched the jacket after the first or second song (I can't remember). I really like being near Kansei during lives, because he tends to put himself closest to the audience and interacts with us a lot. Godo had a couple of wardrobe malfunctions (his hat falling off and his sunglasses almost doing the same), and nori was as chill as ever. I don't know if I should even mention Rui anymore, because he's always in his "drummer's zone." I never see him looking at the audience.
This was the first time I heard Ten performed live, and it was really uplifting. The vibe was just so positive and you could feel it radiating from the band, as cheesy as that sounds. Also, I guess the English version of Close to You is going to be the standard now?
When fade was done performing, they did their usual throwing-of-things. I almost caught a pick, but Kat got it instead. Yay for her! Actually, it landed on the ground, and no one even jumped to pick it up. I was astounded. I can't believe how polite fans are sometimes. At some concerts, fans would be physically fighting over it. I didn't catch anything, but I did notice that no one had done anything with the setlists, so, being the really obnoxious fan that I am, I went over to the side of the stage and waited for someone to come out. Jon and a staff member came to pick something up, so I proceeded to say loudly, "PSST PSST JON HEY JON HEY SETLIST HEY SETLIST" and he motioned for a staff member to hand it to me. Score!
After all of the performances were done, Jon, Kansei, and Noriyuki went out to the merch table as per usual. I got my setlist signed by the three of them. I guess I could have asked a staff member to get Rui and Godo to sign it, too, but I left really soon after because of reasons.
Some final personal observations I noted were that I felt a bit closer to the fans this time. I even had a conversation with a few of them in Japanese! They're really nice people. My friend and I also met the singer of a band called MIDNIGHT SUNS, who is playing at the GARDEN in a couple of weeks. I haven't decided yet, but I might drop by to see them. Check them out if you're interested (the lead singer is French)!
That's pretty much all I have to say about fade.
white white sisters was really interesting. They're a unique combination of electronic music and rock. Their performance style was really interesting, too. white white sisters is a 2-member band with support drums (according to Wikipedia, anyways). yuya matsumara is on vocals, guitar, and programming, while kouta tajima is the VJ (video jockey) and in charge of artwork. I honestly thought they were only a 2-member band, because kouta tajima wasn't on stage, unless I'm blind. yuya stayed on the right and the drummer was on the left. In front of the stage, there was a really thin black curtain that separated them from the audience. Behind them, there was a projector. The performance was definitely as much of a visual experience as it was a musical one. I actually enjoyed watching it, though I wish it was on a bigger screen. Maybe when they get more famous, eh?
I hadn't heard of ATOM ON SPHERE prior to GARDEN, either, but a little research told me that Ken Lloyd (Oblivion Dust) is the vocalist. They had a lot of fans and their show was really fun even though I didn't know any of the songs. Ken's performance style was kind of cheesy sometimes (winking at fans, random boy band dance moves, lots of crouching to the ground), but he had a really good stage presence otherwise. Most (if not all) of their songs were in English.
Overall, the night was fun. I like experiencing new bands as well as enjoying the one I came to see. The next time I'm planning to see fade is in December for their Tokyo oneman tour final! I would try to go to their FC event, but I'm already getting a little out of hand with concert tickets, haha. Here are the shows I have lined up in my personal queue:
October 13th (tomorrow): exist trace, GANGLION, G∀LMET, HEADPHONES PRESIDENT, Mary's Blood, METALLIC SPIN (an all-girls event!)
October 27th: HALLOWEEN PARTY 2012 - jealkb, Acid Black Cherry, DAIGO, VAMPS
December 15th: All Night Nippon (featuring Golden Bomber, GACKT, etc.)
December 28th: fade!
It might not seem like a lot, but the tickets for Halloween Party and ANN are kind of pricey, lol.
Anyways, hope you enjoyed my sort-of "live report!"
(view from Shimokita station)
weeeee!~~~ FADE.
ReplyDelete