December 21, 2012

Live Report: Jrock Evolution 2012 @Legacy Taipei, 21 October,2012 (part 1)

Live Report: Jrock Evolution 2012 @Legacy Taipei, 21 October,2012


List of performing bands (in order)

girugamesh
Alice Nine
Mucc


Note: Part of the live report from below contents the mix of two people's opinion and memories, and the exaggerated version of the conversations between the two. These two people are:

Me, Mizuki.

and my best friend, Shizuka,;

For the sake of convenience, from now on we'd shorten our names as the following:

Mizuki = M
Shizuka = S

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So we made our way to Taipei in the Sunday morning of 21st October. We'd planned to go to Taipei in Saturday but since we failed to secured the plane tickets, so we were forced to take a plane which took flight on Sunday morning.

Which means we were on quite a tight schedule.

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Luckily we had no trouble going to our destination by train after throwing our bags into our hotel room, so by 3:30 we finally arrived to the site...

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And I think the place is really amazing. I love the other livehouse in Taipei, TheWall, in where D'espairsRay had hosted their concert in 2010; but I admit Legacy seems to be even better.

S: Oh, D'espairsRay...I remember them even though I've only heard about them here and there. But what I clearly remember is that you would rather go attempting their live other than making the trip to Taipei to see VAMPS in 2010...
M: *feels guilty for not going to see VAMPS* huh well, let's not talk about the past, okay? ^^;

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This is the outlook of the livehouse itself, although I'm positive that it serves as some kind of theater for performances when it wasn't being a livehouse...

I guess the bands were taking turn rehearsing during the afternoon, and by the time we arrived in front of Legacy to collect our tickets/ I could hear from the outside that Alice Nine rehearsing Rainbow...and it added to my excitement.
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Typically we lingered outside of the building for tour goods and stuff...

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As you can see, there were a lot of goodies!
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I ended up buying this girugeamesh's t-shirt. (this is Halloween! this is Halloween! Can you see that!?)
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and this towel...
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Shizuka didn't buy anything because she isn't familiar with any of the band.


M: So, what do you expect from the concert?
S: Dunno, I know a little about Alice Nine, and listened to a few songs by Mucc. girugamesh I know nothing of.
M: Are you saying that you are here only to accompany me!? I'm so touched!
S: But I'm damn sure seeing Alice Nine is a chance to stare up at hot-looking guys.^_^
M: Can't really disagree with you!

We still had a few hours left after we finished collecting our tickets and buying stuff, the concert wouldn't start after nightfall.

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Two free *large* posters were handed to us along with the tickets!

And we both took one copy of this gorgeous baby away, for free.
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M: I can't believe they are giving this mini-magazine, booklet or whatever-its-name-is away for free!
S: That's quite surprising. ^_^
M: I love these concert-organizers in oversea countries! This one and the one in Thailand that organized L'Arc~en~Ciel's 2012 World Tour @Bangkok! They seem to always know how to make us happy while gaining our money! ^___^
S: They hardly do these sort of considerate things in Hong Kong.
M: How truth!

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an random photo of the photographer of Jrock Evolution.

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During the later part of the afternoon, we went to a nearby cafe (which, predictably was filled with fans who were waiting for the concert to start) to relax a little, then when the sky was darkening we went back at 5:30 PM to queue and wait to get inside the livehouse.

By the way, we were audience no. 675 and audience no. 676.

M: When I learnt we got numbers which are soooooooooooo behind, I was a bit sad.
S: But at least we didn't have to come here too early to queue, we wouldn't have a chance neither. We couldn't have outdone those local fans!
M: I know. But I'm still a bit sad. u___u

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By the time of our return, it was almost fully dark. The staff had just started organizing people to queue, things went on orderly and we got into the line without trouble. Then we spent the next hour chatting to kill time.

And we heard girugamesh rehearsing Break Down inside the livehouse, which added to my excitement.

M: S!!!!! It had been YEARS since we got the chance to listen to the sound of a band rehearsing right outside of the livehouse!
S: Dir en grey live in Hong Kong must be the last time it happened.
M: It was back in 2002.
S: yeah, so long ago.

My biggest worry was that we would ruin the posters when the audience got too...crowded during the performance, so I rolled them up and put them inside my hand-carry bag.

S: And I'll keep my backpack with me, it can work as a shield when needs to!

We both knew how crazy and out-of-hand things could go during live.

Around 7:00 PM The staff started to let people in, 100 people at a time, we waited for our turn. When the time came, we rushed in like everybody else.

There were lockers at the entrance, but it was too late to waste time stuffing our bags into it...we just went as close to the stage as we could.

When I said "as close to the stage as we could", it means there were about 250 people in front of us. Doesn't sound very good, isn't it? ^^;
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Out of pure instinct, maybe also a bit of past-concerts' experience kicking in, I chose to go to the left hand side of the stage, dragging Shizuka with me, and stood our ground on a spot where no one was tall enough to block our view. well, being tall really come in handy, sometime.

Inside the livehouse, the place looks a lot like a warehouse, with grey cement wall and bare floor, the stage was of course already set up, with a white JROCK EVOLUTION backdrop at the back.

It took at least half an hour more for the performance to begin. So I had enough time to place my bag with the posters in it to the corner, next to the foot of a wall.

Shizuka was already showing sign of weariness. =__=

S: I'm glad that I did eat a piece of cake back in the cafe, otherwise I'd have collapsed...
M: I'm glad you didn't collapse, so make sure if you became unwell, do go to the back, but I probably won't be accompanying you to go outside.
S: *shrugs* I know you would say that.+_+

Finally the light went out, and the first band took the stage!

I was really surprised that it was girugamesh who kicked the show start!

M: From the look of the Jrock Evolution's poster, I had always thought Mucc would come first.^^;
S: *grins*

Anyway so the members of girugamesh were on stage and they wasted no time starting the first song.

NOTE: setlist and photos below provides by Raku Music Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/rakumusic

<i>girugamesh

- SE -
01 Break Down
02 ULTIMATE4
03 CRAZY-FLAG
04 driving time
- MC -
05 斬鉄拳
06 volcano
07 sunrise
08 DIRTY STORY
09 絶頂BANG!!
10 evolution</i>

Photo of the crowd from Raku Music FB:


Photo of Satoshi, also from Raku Music FB:


As you can see, Satoshi looked like someone from the skateboarding circle. (Thnks: Bam Margera or members of Green Day, though I had no idea if Green Day has anything to do with skateboarding or not)

M: I sure as hell didn't expect each band to perform for a whole 45 minutes each! So many songs! That really was a treat. XD
S: I also didn't expect the concert to last so long, I first thought it'd only be like a mini concert, each band would only play a four or five songs at best.
M: So we were pleasantly surprised that we were wrong!

They kicked the show open with Break Down, the performance was an energetic and super-hyper one. Satoshi's singing is powerful and very exciting.

M: The same like taking drug and getting high! *bangs her head*
S: As if you had any experience on that field. XD
M: By the way, I'm glad they played many songs from their 'Music' album! And there was 'volcano' their song from the earlier period! Plus surprisingly the songs from their 'NOW' album aren't bad as I feared! I just don't like those latest songs from 'GO'! Though I do like this new song 'driving time'!

The members also did a lot of jumping, trashing and screaming, hyper! Though I was a bit surprised how......Hip-Hop and/or Nu-metal-sounding the performance was. I was also surprised to see Ryo standing up and being hyperactive while he drummed. And Nil, who wore a funny-looking suit jacket and a pair of trousers with skeleton printed on them, seemed to be one hell of crazy, funny person during live (one hell of joker he is!), always manged to fool around in hilarious ways. Nil really had some crazy dance moves for their song!!!!

And there was also a new discovery...

M: I always knew Ryo is a cutie, but I didn't expect to find Shuu also looking so adorable when he played.XD
S: The performance wasn't bad, but I think that vocalist guy didn't sing with much emotion, just a lot of screaming.=_=
M: Arrrggghhhhh...you really feel this way?^^;

Satoshi also did MC, I remembered him saying "How are you? We're girugamesh!" in Chinese, I remembered he also introduced the members one by one in English and said some other things that sadly, I CAN'T REMEMBER!

girugamesh's performance ended with 'evolution'...as the song ended the members left the stage one by one, and we were left to wait for round 2.


Extra: A report by a Japanese rock magazine: http://vif-music.com/2012/10/21/jrock-evolution-2012%EF%BC%A0legacy-taipei/


M: Last but not least, I found a link to the video of girueamesh's Jrock Evolution performance: http://youtu.be/kvkzb0BCqLE

Plus I'm positive my LJ friend junakabisque would love to hear about the Alice Nine performance...So now we’re going to talk about Alice Nine!
S: Hot guys on the way!^_^
M: Sure thing!

But in fact I didn’t expect Alice Nine would be the second band, so I was really surprised to see them showing up!

S: Plus the fans simply just rushed toward the stage, in order to get closer!
M: Yes, people were really getting excited! I can’t imagine how crowded and life-threatening it must be for the fans in the front rows!
S: So I moved back to the safe-area, far behind.^_^;;
M:But I’m not afraid, so I’d better go forward too!^_^

Photos and setlist from: Raku Music’s Facebook

<i>
Alice Nine
- SE -
01 閃光
02 RAINBOWS
03 Heart Of Gold
- MC -
04 華
05 FANTASY
- SMC -
06 ハイカラなる輪舞曲
- MC -
07 TSUBASA
08 RED CARPET GOING ON
09 春夏秋冬
10 the beautiful name
</i>

Hiroto was the first to come up, followed by the rest of the band.^_^

M: Did I mention that we stood on the left hand side of the stage? So once they started, we could see Tora and Saga for most of the time! Although we were still quite far from the stage!

To tell the true I don’t know so many of A9’s songs, Rainbow and Fantasy are probably the only two songs which I’m familiar with and enjoy. Though I grew to like Senkou as well.

I really do want to draw fanarts for the A9 members, but so far I still can’t manage it.

Here’s my little observation...

Shou was very shiny and attractive on stage.
Also Hiroto is such a cute, cute chibi! Even when his hair was a bit wild.XDDDD
Saga’s new hair style looks quite different from before but he still looked very cool (especially with the black gloves)...though sometime he had a strangely lazy look on him from time to time.
And Tora looked really pale, for some reason. But he really is one hell of cool, handsome fellow.^_^
Nao..............I’m so sorry but I can’t tell you much about him because for most of the time I couldn’t see him.X___X

As a whole, the members were really hyper and cheerful.

The performance is fierce, that much was sure, though not as energized as girueamesh’s or as hardcore as Mucc’s.

M: Why I have a feeling that Alice Nine is kind of...in the middle, out of the three bands?^^;
S: I think they’re easy to get into! *enjoys*

In the middle of the performance, one of the staff had to hold up an iPad which showed sign: "BACK OFF, DANGEROUS!" to warn the fans not to rush to the front row anymore.

In between songs, Shou did the MCs (most of them in Japanese), he thanked the fans for all these years of support.

And now we need to get down to the fan-service parts...

In one of the songs, I saw Hiroto kind of kissed Shou on the cheek. That was quite sweet.
Also, Tora and Saga leaned against one another for a few times.

M:Well, I’m puzzled that whether Saga’s licking his bass also counted as fan-service...O_o;
S: Who cares!?
M: The readers of my live report may care.XD

By the way, I saw Saga and Hiroto took turn going to the far end of our side of the stage, getting really close to the crowd in order to provoke the fans. I like this! ^___^

I don’t really remember much of the ending part of the performance because I’m not familiar with those songs.*sobs* But the performance was GREAT anyway!

M: Still, on the music-wise level, I don’t enjoy Alice Nine’s music all that much...
S: But like I had said before, I think their music is likable and very easy to get into!
M: It’s not that I don’t like their music, but to me it’s not....overwhelming enough.^_^;
S: And you know, William, our mutual net friend who also likes visual-kei, dislike Alice Nine a great deal.
M: Not just Alice Nine, William dislikes the rest of PSC’s bands as well, saves probably Kagrra and The GazettE.XD
S: To the man-folks, they probably can’t accept those pretty-boy-looking bands. XDDD
M: I HATE boybands as well! But I don’t think A9 is as bad as William had made them sound like.XDDD
S: Hahaha!


Stay tune for Live Report Part 2!

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