[quote="[Mr. Lostman]"][quote="ThinlineTele"]Seeing ZB live on 9/29. It's gonna rock.[/quote]
In Japan? Sweet. Saw them in Vancouver, BC and it is to this day one of the best shows I've ever seen.[/quote]
Love you babe. Get back on fb.

Saw Zazen last night. It was awesome.

Intro from Fender Telecaster
Honnoji
Himitsu Girl's Top Secret
Riff Man
Si Ge Ki
Potato Salad
Cyborg no Obake
Heartbreak
Denkyuu
Tengu
Weekend
Ikasama Love
Ki ga tsukeba Midnight
Ankokuya
Daruma
Sugar Man
You Make Me Feel So Bad
Sandpaper Zara-Zara
Doro-numa
Kimochi
Cold Beat
Stories
Haretsuon no Asa

Encore:

Anminbou (acapella)
Asobi

This was a really wild concert. Mukai looked like the spitting image of his Number Girl days - his hair's grown out longer, and he wasn't wearing a hat, only a simple t-shirt and gray pants. The only guitar he used was the red TL-62 Telecaster with binding that he's used ever since the NG days. Yoshikane mostly played a pink-ish Strat before switching to an Olympic White '62-style Strat for the last few songs; he wore that same crazy shirt with the women's faces that he always does. Yoshida used the same yellow Jazz Bass he always does. Matsushita looked like the hero's clumsy best friend from a Samurai movie.

The sound was excellent - it wasn't super loud, and my ears are mercifully not ringing much. I could hear the guitars very clearly, for once, and the tones were great. As always, Mukai played Tele into AC30, but Yoshikane ditched the Bad Cat for an Orange Tiny Terror, which sounded great.

Some highlights include during Cyborg no Obake, where Mukai gave a shout-out to almost every type of underwear imaginable; during one of the early songs (maybe Riff Man or Si Ge Ki) where Yoshikane did his goofy dance from the Weekend PV; insane noise freakouts in Sugar Man and Kimochi; and beautifully extended versions of Haretsuon and Stories, my favorite songs from the new album, the latter of which had a great Mukai guitar solo.

The encore was hilarious. Yoshikane, Matsushita, and Yoshida did an acapella-ish version of Anminbou, where they voiced their instruments and Mukai sang. It was quite funny. After that they finished with the best version of Asobi I've ever heard, which somehow sounds better every time I hear a performance of it. What really impresses is how precise this band is; they never miss a beat, even on all of the seemingly-random start-stop moments thrown into songs during live performances. The original songs are already complicated enough, but all the added rhythmic details in the live versions are truly mind-boggling.

This was a really good setlist, they played all of Stories and didn't lean too heavy on the old standbys (I don't think I ever need to hear Hantoumei Shoujo or Maboroshi in my Blood ever again.) Sure it would have been nice to hear The Drifting or Kankakuteki ni NG, but it was a great set.

Afterwards, I got the Sad Song for Ugly Daughter CD and got it signed by everyone minus Mukai (who was not at the merch stand.)

I'm so jealous I can't even read your whole post.

[quote="rockman240"]I'm so jealous I can't even read your whole post. [/quote]
lol. When you gonna bootleg us a btb raibu mang?

[url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fm20120913l2.html]Japan Times review![/url]

[url=http://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/52277/Zazen-Boys-Stories/]My review![/url]

[url=http://www.mukaishutoku.com/images/stories/stories_lyrics_trans.pdf]Translated Lyrics! by Leo Imai[/url]

[quote="ThinlineTele"][url=http://www.mukaishutoku.com/images/stories/stories_lyrics_trans.pdf]Translated Lyrics! by Leo Imai[/url][/quote]

Thanks very much for this! Listening to the album with the lyrics is a whole new experience. Definitely increasing my appreciation XD

Hantoumei Shoujo Kankei is a pretty cool song.

How long did Inazawa drum for ZB? I decided to check out Zazen Boys on a whim, happened upon the PV for Hantoumei Shoujou Kankei and was like

" !!!! WHAT THE FUCK THAT'S INAZAWA I DON'T EVEN !!!!"

Great laid back summery live performance of Mukai :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1vcs4mFvgY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGQ8OpLXO5Q
(3 songs)