So yesterday was Jun's birthday and a live at Takasaki Club Fleez. I got there really really early, because my choices were getting there five hours before it opened or ten minutes before it opened...the obvious choice was to go early. I ended up being the very first one there by a long shot, because I had no interest in wandering around the town.
In any case, I was at the venue from about 1:30, so I had a good several hours to wait before the pillows even got there. A few other people showed up slowly, and there was about six of us there by the time the pillows showed up (in the same van they were riding in at Kyoto, haha). They jumped out, and the girl who got there second gave Jun a stuffed doll thing she made (modeled after the little thing in the Pied Piper PV) as a birthday present. Sawao was about to walk right on by and hurry in like the total rock star he is, when he suddenly stopped, turned at me, and was like "I've seen you before somewhere." I was like "Well, I was at this year's San Fransisco and last year's Kyoto shows," and he was suddenly "Oh! Tonight!" and shook my hand, grinning. That was a totally awesome way to start things off.
In any case, I was the very first in line for buying goods, and I could hear bits and pieces of their sound check. There were some amazing, amazing songs coming out of that, which they indeed played, much to my surprise and extreme pleasure. I ended up buying the One Life and New Animal shirts, the towel, the sticker set (same one as before), and the stuffed buster-kun for my girlfriend.
I had a good ticket number (43), so was able to get a spot in the second row of people right between where Sawao and Manabe would be. The press was pretty crazy, because the venue people were like "please move forward," so EVERYBODY suddenly surged forward and it was pretty painful. Damn short people behind me were pressing right into my lower back for the whole show, so it's really sore today. IF THEY WERE LIKE A FOOT TALLER IT WOULDN'T HAVE HURT THOUGH, DAMMIT.
In any case, there were some funny moments, like when Sawao teased Shinchan about playing a DS all the way up to ten minutes before the show when they were backstage, and teasing Jun about losing too much weight (guy's SERIOUSLY skinny now). There was some joking from Shinchan about how if nobody had mentioned that today was Jun's birthday, they would all just finish the show and be like "good job today" then head on home, haha. (People in the crowd were like HAPPY BIRTHDAY JUN). Apparently last year they were recording on his birthday, and nobody realized it was his birthday, so he just kinda went home after the day's work at recording haha. Sawao said that Jun probably wouldn't remember his birthday either though, and Manabe said that it's not the members' birthdays, but the band's birthday that matters, to which everyone cheered.
At one of the breaks when nobody was saying anything, I called out to Manabe like I had done in SF, saying "sekaiichi no gitarisuto no Peechan! (Peechan, the world's greatest guitarist!)" and everybody cheered in agreement. Sawao laughed a little and was like "you were the one that said that at San Fransisco." Pee just kinda grinned a little.
Anyway, the unbelievably great setlist:
No Surrender
Mr. Droopy
Voice
Pied Piper
Wake up! dodo
New Animal
Across the Metropolis
Tokyo Bambi
Go! Go! Jupiter
Last Holiday
Walkin' on the Spiral
Back Seat Dog
Tokyo Zombie
ICE PICK
sono mirai wa ima
Ladybird girl
Patricia
Purple Apple
That's a wonderful world (Song for Hermit)
Finger post of magic
Winning Come Back
Poison Rock'n'roll
kono yo no hate made
Encore:
One Life
Little Busters
This time, like in San Fransisco, I got a Manabe pick. For the pick from the main part of the set, he just threw it out into the crowd like normal, but after One Life, he handed the pick to me. As in he opened up my fist, put the pick in my hand, and then closed my hand around it. I couldn't freaking believe it. I thought that the time at SF with him throwing the pick to me could have just been me imagining that he was giving it to me in particular, but now I'm pretty sure he was giving it to me that time too. This time there was obviously no doubt, haha. Apparently every once in a while he gives a pick out by hand like that. In any case, it was fucking awesome. So again, Sawao and Manabe remembered me, which was tight.
I got to fist touch with Sawao both times that he did it, which was tight. The audience was pretty small, again about only 400 people, but that just made for a more up-close-and-personal experience. The stage wasn't very high at all, maybe only a foot or two off the ground, and the barrier was only about two feet away from teh edge of the stage, if that.
Ice Pick was fucking fantastic. Apparently it's been a really long time since they've played that song live. This tour they've been doing a lot of older songs, like at the one two shows before last night's, they played Robotman. In any case, songs that rocked especially hard were No Surrender, Droopy, New Animal, Bambi (they had the horns played through the sound system), Last Holiday (tear-jerker), Walkin', Back seat, FUCKING ICE PICK (also a bit of a tear-jerker), Patricia, kono yo, and One Life (also a tear-jerker). It was an absolutely fantastic show.
Edit: Keep forgetting to mention that Sawao got a "new machine," a Cyclone done up in the color setup of the Schencker V that he got before. It's got a zebra humbucker and then a single coil on it, and it sounded great.
