I went to the NOOK IN THE BRAIN premiere in-store live at Tower Records in Shibuya yesterday. It was pretty awesome. They played 9 songs, which is kind of a lot for an in-store mini-live.

01.王様になれ
02.Hang a vulture!
03.カーニバル
04.LAST DINOSAUR
05.パーフェクト・アイディア
06.Where do I go?
07.Advice
(encore)
08.Funny Bunny
09.About A Rock'n'Roll Band

Sawao performed Perfect Idea with a hand mic.

Interesting. He seems to be getting into more of an FLCL mood... I'm getting more and more excited for the new single.

woah Sawao is still goin with the Pees Fan Club videos. we're up to part 7 now.

Sawao never stops musicing lol.

At around 18:40 on 5/14 (Japan time, obviously), there will be a live stream of the Shibuya TSUTAYA O-EAST live from the NOOK IN THE BRAIN TOUR on LINE LIVE.
https://live.line.me/channels/73/upcoming/2724148
It says that it will be a "partial" live broadcast, so I don't know how much of it that they will actually show. Not sure if it will require installing LINE or if it's region blocked. Check it out.

They streamed a good portion of last night's live. You can view the archived stream until June 1st.
https://live.line.me/channels/73/broadcast/3035159

It includes this portion of the setlist:
12.どこにもない世界
13.GOOD DREAMS
14.ジェラニエ
15.Coooming sooon
16.パーフェクト・アイディア
17.BE WILD
18.Sleepy Head
19.Where do I go?
20.Advice

great ending foursome! Coming Soon and Perfect Idea were also quite cool.

The new single doesn't sound too bad; it's a nice slower song. I think I like Pulse better though. It's a shame they're not playing that yet. Anyways, I'll get an MP3 rip of The World There Is Nowhere soon.

Thanks for the link Mafu!

[quote="Son Goshin"]I think I like Pulse better though. It's a shame they're not playing that yet.[/quote]
Yeah, what the hell! Both "Pulse" and "Newborn Baby" being missing from the setlist disappoints me; love both of those songs and think they would be great live. They played every song from [i]Stroll and Roll[/i] on the last album tour and every song from [i]Moondust[/i] but "Song for You" on the [i]Moondust Light for You[/i] tour, yet somehow on this tour, they're missing two songs from an album significantly shorter than their last two. My theory is that they wanted to leave room for more songs from [i]FLCL[/i] to get the crowd hyped for the new seasons.

Last night was the NOOK IN THE BRAIN TOUR's second show in Tokyo and my first time attending this tour (besides the special mini-live). The venue was Akasaka Blitz, which is the place where the Busters on the Planet DVD was filmed.

I arrived at the venue around 3:30PM and the line for goods was already pretty large. They started selling them a bit after 4PM and the line moved pretty quickly, so it wasn't a problem. I picked up a few shirts and Sawao's cardigan.
I always like arriving at the venue a bit early and just watching all the people pour in. Even though I have been a buster for many years, it has only been until recently that I am actually able to attend the concerts and hang out with other fans, so it always feels really cool to see so many people decked out in pillows gear. The age range of the crowd is always quite diverse as well, and there were plenty of older folk. I guess that's not so surprising for a band that has been around for nearly thirty years.

I bought two tickets hoping to attend with my wife, but she ended up having to go on a business trip. So, I gave the ticket to my brother (Tafu/Melonote). When I met up with him, he was joined by two friends who I haven't seen since the 25th anniversary live at Tokyo Dome City Hall; Tidusauron and Tomoyuki! After the show, I finally found my other friend (who I think went by something like "Yoshi" or "Aizen" on this forum). It was pretty cool being able to meet up, even if it was only for a short time. Anyway, I mention about meeting friends because it always makes the show so much more enjoyable for me; to know that your friends are also in attendance and to have people to rave on about the show with afterwards. So, thanks to all of you guys for taking the time to hang out with me a bit. You're all pretty awesome.

The NOOK IN THE BRAIN album came with two little coupons that you had to cut out; one for the two-item campaign and one for the "tour visitor voucher". If you bring the "tour visitor voucher" to the tour, you will receive a special sticker sheet. Inside, I was able to exchange mine for the sweet sticker sheet at the little CD table.
Before the pillows took the stage, all of the music played over the venue speakers was The Pees. In just a few days, on June 9th, The Pees play their 30th anniversary show at Budoukan. Sawao especially has been doing a lot to promote the performance, including all of his "The Pees fanclub" videos on Youtube. He has gotten me pretty pumped up about it, and I want to go pretty badly now.

Kelly's Duck hit, everyone cheered, the pillows walked on stage and started rockin'.

01.Envy
02.Hang a vulture!
03.I think I can
04.MY FOOT
05.New Animal
06.Last Holiday
07.POISON ROCK'N'ROLL
08.インスタント ミュージック
09.Ride on shooting star
10.王様になれ
11.Blues Drive Monster
12.どこにもない世界
13.GOOD DREAMS
14.ジェラニエ
15.Coooming sooon
16.パーフェクト・アイディア
17.BE WILD
18.Sleepy Head
19.Where do I go?
20.Advice
(encore-1)
21.プロポーズ
22.Funny Bunny
(encore-2)
23:LITTLE BUSTERS

Sawao said that he wants to do a tour where they play a bunch of old classics after the NOOK tour and before the next album.

Overall, super cool show. I'm already looking forward to the tour final at Zepp Tokyo on July 22nd, which I'll be able to share with an even bigger group of friends.
If anyone else from this forum plans on going to the final, maybe we can plan a buster meet up!

Man, that setlist is great. This tour has had some of the most killer setlists ever, and there's a lot of great tours in the past five to ten years that they've done. I would probably prefer this over the 1st/2nd Movement lives, personally. :x

the pillows' live sound is one of the best from any band that I have watched. Their sound crew really has their stuff together. For example, when they played Last Holiday, there was that cool echo effect on the last "matteru". Also, I thought it was cool that there was a white Gremlin sitting on the sound-booth.
Comparing the setlist they played to the final of the last tour, the two sets only share 4 of the same songs. It's a pretty nice variety.

[quote="Mafu"]For example, when they played Last Holiday, there was that cool echo effect on the last "matteru".[/quote]
fucking awesome
[quote="Mafu"]Comparing the setlist they played to the final of the last tour, the two sets only share 4 of the same songs. It's a pretty nice variety.[/quote]
also fucking awesome

it's kinda just hittin me that there'll be new episodes of flcl out at the end of the year and a potential whole new generation of listeners around the world will discover the pillows. hopin the music is just as prominent in these new episodes as they were in the original series, with the band's best songs comin right in with the most important or climactic scenes. can only hope for somethin as instantly resonant as the angel canti / "hybrid rainbow" scene. still gives me chills to this day.

just saw the line live. it starts with どこにもない世界 and when it first came on i was like "wuuuuuuh is this?". anyway, band sounds great on it. still energetic for a bunch of dudes playin "sleepy head" in/close to their 50s.

the pillows' performance skill has aged like a fine wine, only getting stronger each year.


Until Sato breaks down and they have to hope that there's enough money left in the band funds to either replace or upgrade his parts.