6 January 2004. pm. Shibuya Quattro.
That was the night I experienced the overwhelming sensation of being blown away. Miya blew to shreds everything I thought I knew about him (which wasn't a lot to begin with, granted). Having come out of the previous night's performance feeling slightly awed by the band as a whole, I realized I hadn't quite focused my attention on just any single member. I was getting used to seeing the songs I like being played live right in front of me, by the band I've been listening to rather intensely for the past few months, and there was too much activity in front of me to actually focus on just one member alone. I found myself shifting focus from one member to the next, depending on when their solo bits come on. Admittedly my attention was drawn often towards Yukke's playing, but yeah on the whole it was still quite evenly spread amongst them.
That was on 5 January.
But 6 January, gosh. It was Miya's night. (my unketto was filled with unabashed outpouring of my emotions on Miya's playing -_-;)
By the time it came to <<9/3>>, my eyes were glued to him and him alone. Not sure what happened to him that night, it was like he went crazy. Absolutely crazy. The sort of intensity that was flowing out of him, and not just during his solo parts but throughout whole songs, was so obvious. And being leader of the band, I'm sure it was felt by the rest of the members, and yes, they were in top form, all of them, that night. No, it was not a flawless performance on 6 January. That would have made it unmemorable. What made it so special was the musical tension that was in the air that night. There's no doubt about it. Both yuj and myself felt it almost immediately after the live started (evidenced by how we both turned to each other at the first possible chance and said simultaneously the same thing to each other ^^).
Have you seen the recording of the 1/29 Shibuya AX performance of <<9/3>>? If you have, and was touched by it (as I was as well), well the truth is, the intensity that you see in that final encore performance, it wasn't even half as good as what we saw on 6 January. Really. That was HOW GOOD the band was that night. You know they've reached a certain level when they seem as if they're performing not because they are putting up a show for the audience, but because they are driven by an innermost desire to express what they've written in their songs. That was how I felt that night.
& that's why mucc has come to hold a special place in my heart. & Miya too.
