Got this a couple of months ago but forgot to post about it. Please take a moment to read Adam Pasion's recount of the Ging Nang Boyz's US trip. It'll brighten up your day!

[img]http://i.imgur.com/5skTr8u.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/nwgI3Hj.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/4XMlzJo.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/nMQjkZp.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/uEsfueV.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/2AmMinT.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/nBZic3V.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/BzvMhQ6.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/XxJ9STA.jpg[/img]

I've never understood the fun of the type of shenanigans GNB get up to, but I guess I'm not really PUNK ROCK, either.

I think even the punks would be made uncomfortable by GNB's outgoing antics. Seems more like the kind of silliness you'd attribute to over-the-top teenagers than a bunch of guys in their 20s, punks or not (Mineta was 28 or 29, I think, when GNB went over to the US; all the other band members are a year younger than him). Not judging, however; sounds like fun to me, even if it's quite far outside my comfort zone. Public urination is fairly innocuous but the spit-and-pubes bucket and whatever the hell is going on on their doco DVD seems like needlessly self-inflicted torture for the losers of their little "games".

I can never tell if Mineta is just fuck-crazy in the head and all the other band members got tired of it and left eventually (see: biting other members and tackling them on stage, pube bucket, etc. etc.) or what happened there. Definitely way outside of most people's comfort zones, but I mean, if people are all willing participants and nobody's getting pressured into shit, I got no real valid complaint to make here.

I should check out that new GNB dvd sometime - has he cooled down the extent of his antics on stage at all? I remember one clip on YouTube he pounds the mic into the side of his skull mid-song, so I half doubt that, but I wonder if he's at least no longer beating on the bandmates lol.

I'd say that the rest of the band is probably pretty close to Mineta's level of nuttiness; they all do their own crazy things onstage, and Chin and Abi have a little thing where they fight each other during "SKOOL KILL". I'm not sure why the other band members left, but I doubt it was because of Mineta's craziness while performing. (Murai gave an interview once that seemed to explain why he and the others left, although I can't read it. I heard Abi's reason was physical deterioration, and Chin's seems to be a need for a change in lifestyle, considering what he's doing now.)

The new GNB DVD includes the band's last performance with all four of the original guys, which was way back in 2011, and by then they'd definitely cooled it on the stage antics a little bit, although by normal standards they'd still be considered fairly crazy. No more beating on bandmates or skull-bashing with the mic, but plenty of falling down, rubbing of genitals, stage-diving, saliva, etc. Since the other members of the band left, though, Mineta has been pretty reserved onstage, being that he's been playing solely acoustic until recently.

The Blu-ray ISOs are up for freeleech on Jpopsuki if you want them. The set includes that performance where Mineta bashes his head with the mic that I presume you were talking about (Rising Sun Rock Festival 2008), and he does it a lot in the rest of the show, not just in that clip that's on YouTube. There's also that final 2011 show and a 2015 acoustic show on the DVD, so you get a nice look at how their onstage behaviour has changed over time.

Hey guys. Sorry to disappoint, but I don't have any lyrics for you today.

Instead, I have a story.

I got to see the Ging Nang BOYZ in concert on Sunday evening. It was fucking awesome. I'll try to relay what I can remember, I took some notes on it, but I didn't have a chance to really sit down and type up a full report after the show.

I went to Tokyo for a mini-vacation over the weekend, and while I was there, I figured, "Hey, why not check out some of my favorite bands' live schedules to see if anything will pop up?" Lo and behold, on the 29th GNB were playing at the Viva La Rock 2016 fest with a bunch of other bands in a full day event. I was on board, not only to see GnB, but also to see some new shit in a live venue. I was excited. I'll relay the non-GnB related information in the Last Show you went to thread.

---

After Indigo la End's show was finished, I stayed behind and finagled my way around into the center of the Viva Stage. There were already some people ahead of me, so they were able to grab a spot right in the front row, but I noticed a kind of T jutting out from center stage, so there was a mini gap for a camera to dolly out and get a wider shot of the stage. Seeing this, I went for the railing there in the center, giving me an UNOBSTRUCTED VIEW of the band. (As an aside, as a shorter-than-average white dude in Japan, I was still taller than average in Japan.)

I was approximately 40 minutes early for the show, so there was a while still to wait for the band to show up. Nonetheless, some of their more hardcore fans were waiting for them too. It was interesting standing out so much because some would look at me with an expression like, "Oh wow, what's that guy doing there? He's probably doesn't really know what's going on." But now that I was waiting for a specific band, it was kind of obvious that I wasn't completely lost in the sauce, but since I was wearing a GnB shirt that I'd bought at their merch counter ahead of time, their eyes would light up at me being a fan. Some girls saw me from across the railing and I heard them saying I was cute. I felt pretty.

So anyway, I was waiting there ahead of time 40 minutes or so while their sound guys set up. Pretty basic stuff, but oh wait, what's this? That's right, I've got some nerd friends who like nerd things, and I thought of my nerd friends who like nerd things, so I give IM a present:

From Blank:
[img]http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w25/the_sir_blank/0529161835_HDR_zpsfk1x1bru.jpg[/img]







[b][u]
I don't know anything about guitars and shit, but here's a bunch of images of guitars and shit the band used:[/u][/b]

[url=http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w25/the_sir_blank/0529161838_zpsqghq2gbi.jpg]Sound guy who would switch the guitars for Mineta and shit[/url]
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w25/ ... qgd4y7.jpg

[url=http://s172.photobucket.com/user/the_sir_blank/media/0529161840_zps9gntewrc.jpg.html?o=10]Close up of guitars and shit[/url]
http://s172.photobucket.com/user/the_si ... g.html?o=9
http://s172.photobucket.com/user/the_si ... g.html?o=8
http://s172.photobucket.com/user/the_si ... g.html?o=7
http://s172.photobucket.com/user/the_si ... g.html?o=2
http://s172.photobucket.com/user/the_si ... g.html?o=1
http://s172.photobucket.com/user/the_si ... g.html?o=0


[url=http://s172.photobucket.com/user/the_sir_blank/media/0529161847_zpsgeqcvkay.jpg.html?o=3]Some pedals and shit I thought you guys would like. Sorry I couldn't get a better view.[/url]

[url=http://s172.photobucket.com/user/the_sir_blank/media/0529161846_zpsuotjb7bh.jpg.html?o=6]Bassist and guitar[/url]
http://s172.photobucket.com/user/the_si ... g.html?o=4

[url=http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w25/the_sir_blank/0529161839a_zpsqqe2n49n.jpg]Drummer and drums[/url]

[url=http://s172.photobucket.com/user/the_sir_blank/media/0529161455_zpsul8xanyt.jpg.html?o=20]Merch stand[/url]
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w25/ ... uthk1o.jpg
http://s172.photobucket.com/user/the_si ... .html?o=18
[img]http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w25/the_sir_blank/fdc23e97-d7d3-479b-b878-143c3795615d_zpsr65icxnh.jpg[/img]
(I bought the black and white tee of the picture with the dude on it. It says Ging Nang BOYZ - Making Pop like Denis Lavant)




So I was chilling out, taking pictures, waiting for shit to start poppin. While the band members are setting up their equipment, Mineta doesn't come out at all; it's just the other dude setting up his guitars the entire time. When they finally get all their gear set up and leave, people start trickling in from the other stages to start coming in to see them perform. The staff at the venue make sure everyone is packed in tighter to the front, so I ended up being in about where the fourth row would be, but I was still on the railing, so I had a completely clear view, which I wanted. People continued coming in for fifteen minutes or so and there was a general buzz of anxiousness for the show to start while the staff were still pressing people in to the front.

The lights went out. A small cheer. Bated breath. The buzzing hush of the crowd. One beat. Two beats. Still nothing happening. Someone started it, then others joined in. The chanting of MI-NE-TA, MI-NE-TA. Then he finally comes out on stage. I pull out my phone to try and record it, but literally two seconds into the video, a staff member stops me by putting his hand in front of my phone. Shit, fuck. I can't get a picture either. I'm kinda bummed out, but it doesn't matter. Mineta walks out to the center of the stage and grabs his acoustic guitar, then he turns to face the audience, and goes into a heartfelt spiel about loving someone so much that you'd be willing to go across the world to another country, and I shit you not, while he got to this part, his eyes roamed over the audience and locked onto mine for like thirty fucking seconds. I wished my Japanese was better so I could more clearly understand what he was saying, and it was super fucking surreal for me to lock eyes with the lead singer of a band that I've been following for over ten. fucking years. and feel like he was talking to me directly about something that seemed extremely personal. There was quite a lot I didn't catch, but then he goes on to say that the song he's written is a song that captures the feelings he described. He then ripped right into Ikitai, and the feeling in the air was electric. The stage lights were dimmed to a reddish purple, and it was just him alone on the stage, and the crowd was quiet, enraptured.

The beginning of the song was almost like seeing the recording in person, yet Mineta would twist and convulse in between verses, going so far as to pound the mic into his head in seeming agony, out of breath for the makkuro ga tsumetai da (the darkness is cold) parts, which made it feel that much more frightening; him singing and acting so recklessly to the point he was drooling/slobbering all over himself while he was singing. He began to roll around the stage when the other members of the band came out and got into place. After a few minutes of him rolling around with the band standing in place, he screamed "BABYYYYYY~!" and the heaviest part of the song began, the antics amplified, the breath more haggard. Me trying to remember the meaning of the words he was singing and getting lost in the melancholy of the song. Takusan hito no senaka ni mezatte~ Densha ni yurare nagara~ The chorus frantic, chaotic, and weak. Ikitakutte sa~ it all seemed so vulnerable, Mineta baring his soul on stage, like a man on the brink of suicide. Then it happened. Aisuru mono no tame ni~ he sang, his voice gaining a new inner strength, a reason to live, a thing to grasp onto that would bring him out of his cold darkness.

It was fucking amazing, the crowd waited to cheer until after the last note of the song and I was doing all I could to contain myself from being the one to break the spell of the crowd and scream out. Then next, he went into a spiel I didn't understand completely of how he was influenced to write this next song from an old television program that would come on TV during the news from way back when in 1989, I think. So I was totally thinking he was about to go into Yume wo Akiramenaide, but instead they played Yume de Aetara. The whole crowd got really amped and everyone was singing along, and I felt like an asshole because I didn't really know the lyrics to the song, so I'm kind of afraid that I'll appear on some live video somewhere, looking like a jackass and mouthing the wrong words to the song.

After Yume de Aetara ended, he asked if there were some people who had problems and if there were any people that wanted to die. He said he absolutely didn't want to die and then ripped into aidonwanadai. The crowd was super pumped up and it was amazing jumping along with them, singing along, and screaming, "YES! YES! YES! YES! YESSSSS!" during the chorus. People were crowd surfing and the staff was struggling to catch them and let them down to the ground gently. It was super awesome and energetic.

After Aidonwanadai, I'm pretty sure he said he really wrote the next song back years, tens of years ago in 1997 while thinking of a girl in a foreign country (I could be wrong.) I knew most of the words and Mineta really fed off the crowd, making us sing the choruses for him, even going so far as to pick his nose and eat his boogers during. Some people laughed, others went eww, fun was had by all. We were so pumped up, that even after the song had kinda ended, we continued to sing the chorus, and he took us back out to the outro.

I'm pretty sure it was after Baby Baby that I think Mineta talked about playing at Viva la Rock in the past and I really regret not taking notes of this at the time, which I have for the other songs above, but since it was near the end of the show and fresh in my mind when I made the other notes, I thought I would remember more clearly what happened. Mah bad guys. He said the next song was the last one and everyone was like, "Heeee?" but he said he didn't have the time to play more songs for the venue, so it would have to do. He introduced the other band members, and we cheered for them. I'm pretty sure he talked about how the next song was written to commemorate the feelings of what it's like to love someone and to grow apart and break up. The next song was Tokyo and I don't remember if we sang along or not, but it was beautiful and I appreciated how true the band sounded to the studio versions of the songs the entire night. It was really, really nice. I really regretted that I would only be able to live that night once, to be savored only fleetingly, and the vividness of those moments to never return. I wished my eyes were like Google Glass and that I would be able to watch everything again as many times as I wanted. Tokyo ended, and Mineta walked off the stage unceremoniously. We started a slow clap and it roared into a crescendo. Mineta and co. did not show. The clapping felt hollow. Our time was over. I didn't want to leave. I refused to leave.

We kept clapping, waiting. Hoping. Ging Nang BOYZ were the last band to play in the venue. The end of a day I did not want to see end. The clapping lost its rhythm and the audience seemed to lose their focus. Then I saw him from the backstage, due to my vantage, but I was patient. I wanted others to see him for themselves before spoiling their moments. Mineta came back out on stage and apologized to us, saying he really didn't have a lot of time, and actually, he was in a bit of a personal bind because I think he had to catch a ride himself after the concert was ending, which set the audience into laughter. He then pulled out his acoustic guitar and kneeled on the stage, saying he actually writes a lot of songs this way, and he actually puts a lot of time and effort into finding the right words that he thinks would please the audience, and that he was working on a new song, and he asked us to bear with him for it. I thought he said it was a version of Ningen, but I'm sure that's wrong because it didn't sound like the original at all. Either way, it felt like the perfect wrap up to the night. Somehow the setlist just [i]made sense.[/i] Words can't describe it, but the whole set just felt like a journey, starting up softly, picking up speed and volume, breaking into crazy high energy, sustained passion, a slowing down of the tempo, and finally after an abrupt pause, a final parting set to sweet words--a couple, lost in the darkness, finding eachother, kindling and making their own light for a time, burning passionately and dying down, the love turning into smoky ashes. I really wish you guys could have seen it like I did and I sincerely hope my insufficient words could make you experience a semblance of the journey I experienced that night. If you've read this far, I thank you.

See you again some time, Little Busters.








tl;dr: Blank-tan got to see Ging Nang BOYZ live and stood out like a sore thumb, being the only blonde in a sea of black; locking eyes with Mineta directly for thirty seconds.

This is super cute on many levels. I love that feeling you get from a really powerful concert - absolutely like a journey across the emotions that kind of takes you away from the rest of the world for a night. Japanese rock festivals are sick! Glad you enjoyed, thanks for the writeup. Pretty cool that Mineta engages so much with the audience.

Ahhhhhh Blank your writing is just wonderful; your excitement comes right through to the reader. And these parts: "I really regretted that I would only be able to live that night once, to be savored only fleetingly, and the vividness of those moments to never return" and "Tokyo ended, and Mineta walked off the stage unceremoniously. We started a slow clap and it roared into a crescendo. Mineta and co. did not show. The clapping felt hollow. Our time was over. I didn't want to leave. I refused to leave." Just beautiful, and evocative of something quite profound for a concert review. I hope the memory of the night endures in your memory for as long as possible.

Some questions/notes:
- Apparently Mineta played the song "大人全滅" at Viva La Rock? Do you know what song this is? He's been playing it at recent shows, and I've been guessing that it's a new version of "Don't Trust Over Thirty".
- The song Mineta played for the encore, according to DailySetlist.net and various Instagram posts, was the song he wrote for Yuko Ando's new album. He's recorded the song himself to play over the credits of the NHK drama he starred in, which is currently airing.
- How'd you feel about the backing band? You said you "appreciated how true the band sounded to the studio versions of the songs the entire night"; did they sound much different to the original lineup?
- "Tokyo" is the best. There have been periods spanning over years during which GNB didn't play that song live, but it's probably the best closing song they could pull from their discog. The full band version is also way better than Mineta doing the song acoustic. Glad you got to see the former.
- The girl Mineta is writing about in "Tokyo" is his ex, Chihiro, who you may also remember as the subject of "銀河鉄道の夜 Ⅰ~東北新幹線はチヒロちゃんを乗せて~", which is supposed to be the sequel to "Tokyo" but also the prequel to "Ginga Tetsudou no Yoru"??

Random GNB stuff:

Just found out that "漂流教室" and "新訳:銀河鉄道の夜 Ⅱ ~my sweet suicide memory~" were used in these "Do! Tokyo Heart" commercials from back in 2008, starring Aoi Miyazaki who was the lead in that [i]Shonen Merikensack[/i] movie that GNB appeared in/wrote and played music for. Also, the version of "銀河鉄道の夜 Ⅱ" in those commercials is an unreleased recording, which is really similar to the version on [i]光のなかに立っていてね[/i] except that the bridge from the GOING STEADY and first GNB versions of the song hadn't been cut yet. Check it out: [url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XeLLkNTXS0[/url]. I also really hope that that recording of "銀河鉄道の夜 Ⅱ" is officially released someday (although a live version was featured on the DVD that came out back in March), because it's just too good...perhaps even my favourite version.

Also, have you guys seen this cover of "銀河鉄道の夜"? It's so cute: [url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fI3av1fRiYE[/url].

Duuuuuuude, all versions of Ginga Tetsudou, more versions of Ginga Tetsudou, are always wanted. This version in the commercial is great, that guitar tone is superb.

For those of you who haven't heard it yet (not my upload btw): [url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSnPWGzMvSo&t=133m15s[/url]

[quote="dimsim3478"]- Apparently Mineta played the song "大人全滅" at Viva La Rock? Do you know what song this is? He's been playing it at recent shows, and I've been guessing that it's a new version of "Don't Trust Over Thirty".
- The song Mineta played for the encore, according to DailySetlist.net and various Instagram posts, was the song he wrote for Yuko Ando's new album. He's recorded the song himself to play over the credits of the NHK drama he starred in, which is currently airing.
- How'd you feel about the backing band? You said you "appreciated how true the band sounded to the studio versions of the songs the entire night"; did they sound much different to the original lineup?
- "Tokyo" is the best. There have been periods spanning over years during which GNB didn't play that song live, but it's probably the best closing song they could pull from their discog. The full band version is also way better than Mineta doing the song acoustic. Glad you got to see the former.
- The girl Mineta is writing about in "Tokyo" is his ex, Chihiro, who you may also remember as the subject of "銀河鉄道の夜 Ⅰ~東北新幹線はチヒロちゃんを乗せて~", which is supposed to be the sequel to "Tokyo" but also the prequel to "Ginga Tetsudou no Yoru"??[/quote]

I'm going to assume "大人全滅" was the encore song. It was acoustic. I don't really remember what he said, and I didn't understand it all too well to begin with, but it did sound like it was a remake of an older song...it may very well have been Don't Trust Over 30, although since it was acoustic, I didn't recognize it.

The backing band was pretty sweet. Everything was crisp and really true to the originals. GnB definitely seemed centered around Mineta for obvious reasons of course, but I personally enjoyed how closely they played to the studio recordings vs. going apeshit insane like in the others' lives. But that being said, they didn't really play any of their really crazy stuff, so it's hard to judge how they'd sound for that as well.

I realize now I didn't write out the setlist in list form:
Ikitai
Yume de Aetara
Aidonwanadai
Baby Baby
Tokyo
Encore


Also, you seem to get some pretty hardcore information about GnB. What are your sources?

[quote="Blank"]I personally enjoyed how closely they played to the studio recordings vs. going apeshit insane like in the others' lives.[/quote]
Ha ha, there's obviously ups and downs to both styles of performance, but personally I love the apeshit insanity. Really gonna miss it.

[quote="Blank"]Also, you seem to get some pretty hardcore information about GnB. What are your sources?[/quote]
Nowhere in particular; I just like to read whatever I can find about my favourite bands. Blogs, forum chatter, books and videos, liner notes, interviews; anything at all.

Been thinking recently: why doesn't UK Project reissue the first two 銀杏BOYZ albums on vinyl? It's probably to keep that first limited edition run special, or maybe that first run was released with the explicit promise that the label would never repress those albums. BUT I think they stand to make a guaranteed profit on another limited press, and would probably maintain a consistent amount of sales if they kept those albums in print; after all, why else would they keep the two GOING STEADY albums perpetually in print? Furthermore, UK Project recently went back and repressed a whole bunch of old releases, including the GOING STEADY [i]Hoshi ni Negai wo / BABY BABY[/i] 7" and some old comps that GOING STEADY played on, so I'm hoping they reconsider making [i]君と僕の第三次世界大戦的恋愛革命[/i] and [i]DOOR[/i] available in that beautiful 2xLP gatefold format again.

I just know I'm never going to pay ~13,000 yen for those albums, new or otherwise, but I still really want them. Maybe I'll spot some reasonably priced ones in some secondhand section when I'm in Japan at the end of the year, or in the U.S., where both albums went for $27 USD on Discogs in 2013.

A tape reissue would be cool, too, as I've been playing my [i]光のなかに立っていてね[/i] and [i]BEACH[/i] ones a lot lately. Just love the ease of popping a tape into my player and pushing play, which you can do with a CD too, but you don't have to be so cautious when handling tapes as you do with CDs in order to avoid scratches.

Also, just found out that copies of the "生きたい" single on clear 12" are being sold on 銀杏BOYZ's current tour. Hopefully the copies that are going to be sold once the tour is over will still be on clear vinyl.

ALSO also, check out this mad pic of Murai! He looks crazy different! There's a little note in the 2015 photobook that says that in the year after Murai left GNB, he put on 15 kilos or something, but he looked pretty much the same in recent photos that I've seen of him, except a little older and a tiny bit chubbier. But damn, check out this photo; the dude looks old! https://www.instagram.com/p/BHCx7nZA_Os/ Chin looks pretty much the same in the snaps that Abiko and randoms have gotten of him. Abiko definitely looks quite a bit older, but not "old" (his daughter is v cute).

ALSO ALSO also, apparently this was the setlist from the 6/22 date of GNB's current tour. "Pink Rotor"! "Hone"! "Don't Trust Over Thirty" / "大人全滅"! "I Don't Wanna Die Forever"! "Ahondara"! "愛してるってゆってよね"! "Yume de Aetera"! And can you believe it, "佳代" is back!! HOLY SHIT!!!!! https://www.instagram.com/p/BG9XO-PN868/

Japan, why your music so good and also so far away? :'(