Coldplay Viva La Vida Tour 23 Mar 09 @ Singapore Indoor Stadium

The performance was great! But the audience pissed me off majorly. Everyone's just so OBSESSED with taking photos, there were flash-lights going on ALL THE TIME! It doesn't matter for the fast pieces, but when they do a ballad and you keep getting distracted by the flashes of light all over, it is TOTALLY NOT COOL. It just spoilt the atmosphere!

I don't understand it, why do people derive so much joy in recording the whole darn concert in their cameras, when they shoud instead be immersing in the live and enjoying it there & then??! Is it so important to put it up on your blog or show it to your friends??? Even if it's for memories' sake, is it really necessary to take so many pictures & videos???

& from the performer's point of view, isn't it more rewarding to see the audience rocking to the live performance, instead of seeing them hold up a camera/handphone perpetually to record the performance???

See that's the reason why i prefer to watch lives in Japan.

Rainy Rave Finale Live - Studio Coast 26 May

My hip bones hurt like hell !
And there are bruises popping out now at strange places !!!
But it was indisputably shiok lah!

Well what happened on the 26th was, unfortunately in an attempt to get the full worth of my JR East pass, i decided to travel out of Tokyo that day... not that i didn't get back to Tokyo with sufficient time to arrive early at Studio Coast... but i got complacent and started dilly-dallying at Shinjuku... and before i knew it, it was fast approaching 6pm! Egad!

So I rushed to Studio Coast, making mental calculations about when I'll reach the live venue... shit, i'll just be there on the dot! No time to change into my platforms! No time to queue for the loo! No time to get an onigiri and drink and fuel up! How??!

So i quickly decided... grabbed an Oronamin C at the Station, drank it in the train just before reaching Shinkiba, decided to skip the platforms and loo, got ready my 500 Yen for the drink ticket, 300 Yen for the locker, sweets to carry with me (to fuel during the live), and of course the live ticket... and once the train opened its doors at Shinkiba station, i russssshhhheeeeddd for the darn venue!

Only to get stopped by the traffic light. uuurrrgghhh. longest traffic light wait EVAR!

Finally reached Studio Coast. Great, 6pm. They have already started calling the numbers! Rushed to the lockers, flung open the doors of the nearest one that's open, stuffed my bags in, then sped to the barricades... the guy was shouting so softly i couldn't hear the number, but i was sure it was already past 72! So i quickly walked towards the barricades. Stupid guy stopped me and wanted to see my tic! But it was all crumpled up in my hand and i was struggling to unfold it to show him the ticket (note this wasn't even the entrance check... this was the guy with the loudhailer!)...

Long and short of it (sorry to have grumbled so much about this pre-live thing so far...), by the time i got in, the closest i could stand to the stage was the 4th row. There I was, beating myself for getting to the venue late when i had such a wonderful entry number, wasn't it silly of me??! But i comforted myself that in Studio Coast, 4th row was already pretty good... and i was at Miya's side, though i wasn't quite sure how much to the side i was...

That was the bad news.

The good news was... once the live started... miraculously... very very miraculously... and up till now i have no idea how it happened... in all that pushing and shoving and confusion once the translucent curtains came down... i ended up in the 2nd row!!! And it was right in front of Miya! I was staring straight at his (snarling) face! And cos the 1st row girls were not standing that close to each other, i could push like my entire head into the hole between their heads... hahaha... it sounds so funny now... basically i was really happy with my view... could see Miya's performance so clearly, Satochi too... Tatsurou if i looked to my left... the only unfortunate thing was i couldn't quite see Yukke unless i stretched my head a little, but that was still possible.

Some random things again...
- The muckers are a cheeky bunch. During the 10min countdown to the live, when the screen came to 6:09, a bunch of muckers shouted out "muuukkkuu!", hahaha! then at 3:08, they shouted "miiiyaaa!!!", hahahahaha.... so people in the audience caught on to this, and when it finally came to 0:38, everyone shouted "miiiiyyyyaaaa!!!"

- All 3 in front were barefoot... oh my, Miya has such cleancut toenails... probably more pedicured than mine! And why do their skin look so good on the stage??! Is it the lighting??!

- Setlist did not, alas, produce any surprises... and yup, they did not play [空忘れ] again!

- Miya's guitar-playing has definitely improved... and his overall performance too. I couldn't take my eyes off his fingers, i tellya.

- I think it was the proximity to Miya... the main thing i remember about this live was Miya, Miya, Miya.

- Otherwise, best band moment for me was one of the guitar solos in [シヴァ]... Yukke & Miya were in the middle playing together, Tatsu was rocking together behind with Satochi... perfect band moment.

- Most high moment was during one of the songs in the encore when Miya was the first one to go round to Satochi, picked up a drumstick and started banging at a cymbal! Then the other 2 got into the action too... Satochi became Mr Popular! But when Yukke first tried to get up to the platform that Satochi's drumset was on, he lost his balance and fell over to the stage... that was at Miya's side of the stage, so he looked over to us and gave a meek smile XD

- When members came out for the encore, some of them did the jump thing with the audience again!

- During the encore, Tatsurou suddenly discovered, the cloth near his groin area... had a hole! The audience went "woooooooooo!!!" He was like "eh! what happened?!".. .and then quickly covered it with another part of the cloth from his trousers...

- Miya got so high at the end... he even went to the back of the stage to grab a bunch of picks to throw at the audience...

- Divers, divers, divers!!! No joke, these divers... luckily i wasn't scathed by them... but a few people around me were, and i realized that the people in the first row have it tough too... sometimes the divers roll down so fast, the people in the first row have to bend their heads down so low just to get these people off... you can imagine how terrible that felt because at the front row you're pressing your body against really hard railings...

- There were at least 4 cameras pointing at the stage... chances of a DVD or television broadcast coming up?

The amazing thing is, after the live, although i was dripping wet (and my clothes were not even dry the next morning), my legs were not as painful as the night before. Maybe it was the trackshoes instead of the platforms. But like i mentioned above, it was my arms and back and stomach and hips that were (and still are) shouting for help... but it's still tolerable, and strangely, in a satisfying way! i was so exhilirated after the live, and i couldn't sleep that night...

Overall my live experiences at the Rainy Rave lives were more enjoyable than the last album tour, i.e. the Psychedelic Analysis ones. Of course not to mention the Houyoku album tour. Looking forward to their next piece of work!

Yuzu 'Wonderful World' - Saitama Super Arena 24 May

The tour's titled after their latest album, which was released this year after a 2+ year wait.

It was a very wholesome live, with a wide profile of people in the audience - the young, old, guys, gals, couples, friends, families... the most memorable was this entire family which ended up in the row just behind me... the parents dressed up their kids (i'm guessing around 4-7 years old) into... what else... little yuzus! XD and these kids were awesome... they didn't kick up a ruckus at all during the show, and could even sing along to some of the tunes... word for word!


Not sure if it's a yuzu live thing, since this is my first time checking out their live, but it starts with the blasting of that morning exercise refrain that i suppose every primary and secondary school broadcasts every morning... so the entire audience stood up and starting doing the morning exercises together... yes... even the old uncles in the audience... so of couse i joined in lah :P


The personalities of the yuzu members are so distinct... you can see why they complement each other so well... overall their performance was v polished, with a good mix of laughter vs touching moments and fast vs slow numbers. Perhaps it was the theme of the album, but curiously i was quite touched at their delivery of a number of songs.

Towards the end when the backdrop and dancers popped out (and the kids behind started singing), it seemed like one huuuuggge family outing. You just gotta give it to the Japanese for the live-going culture.


For the encore, instead of shouting for the encore, the audience started singing the chorus of Wonderful World... on repeat until they boys came out... that was cool too.

Rainy Rave - Studio Coast 25 May

Rained in the day on Rainy Rave day!

- 10 min to the live, a big counter flashed on the screen, counting down to the start of the live. In the background was a rotating mucc symbol that changed colour with every minute... finally the last minute when the background reverted back to its original red colour... the atmosphere was awesome!
- when the translucent screen came down halfway into the first song, woa! a breathtaking backdrop. on the screen, out of a lotus rose a crystal ball, with the mucc symbol on it, and 'mucc' written in english at the bottom of it (though the 'u' looked a little strange...). The crystal ball was flanked by 2 fierce-looking deities, very elaborately drawn... behind Yukke and Miya were standing blindscreens, each with a different flower (lotus) motifs... and the motifs were replicated on each of Satochi's 2 bass drums. Overall, it was a magnificent view! Members were dressed as previously, in the line with the Shion theme.
- There was an extra speaking monologue in the middle of [小さな窓] added during this live
- [蘭鋳] is the song where the band gets the audience to squat down before all jumping up again
- Had an excellent view of Satochi... his drumming was especially powerful in this live!
- Setlist was nothing new from the rest of this tour. Halfway through, during the performance of one of the live favourites, the backdrop changed back to the normal white mucc symbol on black background, and the stage effects focused on the lighting instead.
- When members came out for the encore, starting with Satochi, they had this thing where they would jump with the audience... except for Tatsu though the audience was prompting him to do so XD
- It was Satochi's dad's birthday!
- Live was about 2.5h, shorter than Sendai (3h)
- Congratulatorybouquets included one from D'erlanger
- Saw Seek walking out with a few other people after the live

Tokyo audience was way rougher than the Sendai audience... in the beginning was stuck with a bunch of really aggressive (& short) muckers who was really into jumping, dancing in circles & headbanging... i hafta admit, i actually like the parts when the audience headbangs, cos then i get a full view of all the members! anyway, i think today I'll be in for a hard time if I'm gonna squeeze right in front... went to the front to recce last night and overhead a mucker saying her chest was flattened... 0_o

Best songs in my view for 25 May were [小さな窓] (almost perfect rendition - emotional, yet held in at the right moments, [シヴァ] (Yukke & Miya's solos were v intense) and [流星]. They didn't play [空忘れ] again!

Rainy Rave - Sendai Club Junk Box 23 May 08

Just back from my first live for this trip - Rainy Rave @ Sendai!

It was good!
Is all i can say :)

Very quickly...
I was at Miya's end, had a pretty good view of him and Tatsu throughout the live. Could see Yukke now and then, but I really had to stretch my neck to see Satochi - the stage was so low!
Went over to see his drums at the end of the live... he wasn't using his new double-bass drumset, but his drumming was still pretty awesome, especially in [ゲーム], [1979] and [志恩]. This set had a neat lotus design in line with the Shion theme.

Crowd's reaction was great! You can tell they've been waiting for a long time to see the band.

Miya was in excellent form. Already at the 1st and 2nd songs [梟の揺り篭] & [塗り潰すなら臙脂], he was already deep into it, especially [塗り潰すなら臙脂] since there're plenty of guitar solos in that one. Man... he was snarling at the audience most of the time, hahaa... only time he smiled was when they played [謡声], and towards the end. One song he obviously enjoyed playing (it seemed to me) was [シヴァ] - he does that screech right at the beginning btw!

Just some random things i can remember...
- Opening of [アンジャベル] was different... i expected it to be [ファズ] but it turned out to be [アンジャベル] instead... and Tatsu was excellent in his rendition, it moved me to tears (urrgh i'm so weak)
- During [ファズ], the audience joined in the wow-wow portion... frankly it felt so strange!
- [ゲーム] live is quite powerful. There was a new added portion not in the recorded version.
- Having the programming mix with the live had its good and bad moments... some parts sounded quite natural but for others i think they might have to work on it a bit more...
- They didn't play [空忘れ]... i think? well i can' remember hearing it... hope they play it at Studio Coast
- In the middle of [リブラ], i was thinking to myself, nothing beats mucc-sound. Really, it's that mucc-sound. :)

Okay other non-setlist stuff...
- In the middle of the encore, Tatsu started taking pics of the audience... and then himself, and briefly the people on the stage... then Yukke noticed and came forward to be taken, but Tatsu had already put down the cam... heehee but later on Tatsu went over the Yukke's side and choh-chohed him a bit... and Yukke was obviously enjoying it XD
- During the encore, Tatsu came out with a huge bottle of mineral water and handed it to the audience in front of him... with styrofoam cups... a result of their American live experiences? :) Anyway, the audience was like fumbling with it... so in the end... Tatsu actually helped pour the water into the cups for them XD ... Miya also had some water which he splashed to the crowd... and later on, so did Tatsu... from that HUGE bottle... so everyone, and i mean everyone, got wet! - Was it during Ranchuu?... Can't remember which song now (yuj, do you know?), but they actually got everyone to like... squat down??... in the tiny livehouse!!... and then they talked for a while onstage... and then when the song re-started, the audience like jumped up all at once! I was, of course, not aware of this 'new' thingy XD... so i just followed suit, hahaha

2 more RR lives... 25/5 I'll probably be stuck in the depths of the far end in the audience, since my ticket number is so humongous! But I suppose I'll just enjoy the show from the back since it's at Studio Coast so there's likely to be a good laser show or backdrop screen going on there... as for 26/5, I'm hoping to get to the first row... wish me luck!

ムックの日おめ!

rushed home from work but by the time i launched the video player, it was already about 15-20 min into the live already! still, it was a close-to-3 hrs worth of live streaming, shiok!

& the members were in top form!　ムックの皆さんカッコいい～ね！

the streaming was smooth, audio was great, had great company on msn, what more could i have asked for? :) :) :D

they had mostly newer songs in their main setlist... highlights for me were パノラマ, 1979 (first time for me seeing played using Yukke's upright bass, and it was solid!) & 25時の憂鬱. but it was the setlist for the 1st encore that made me jump! 断絶 and 9月3日の刻印 starting it off! i haven't seen 9月3日 for a long time, so it was really wonderful i got a chance to see it again ^~^

kudos to them for adopting the live streaming idea! 本当に、ありがとうございます！

D'ERLANGER NIGHT「薔薇色の愛と死と恍惚」

Because of this live, which i got to know only 2 nights before i was supposed to fly to tokyo, i changed my entire accomodation plan for this trip! O_o;;; Thinking it would really be a waste if i missed this live, since i was going to be in tokyo, i changed my hotel to one amidst the host clubs at shinjuku XD XD Cos Shinjuku Loft is smack right in the middle of Kabukicho, and the live starts past midnight at 2430, so it makes more sense for me to stay at shinjuku rather than take a cab back after the live (the cabfare would have cost the same amount as one night's stay at the hotel)

But it's all worth it!!!

The live consisted of performances by a series of session bands, playing tribute to D'erlanger (D'erlanger's live at Yaon was the following day). Miya was in one of the session bands, and Tatsurou was in another. I must confess I'm not familiar with D'erlanger's music, but by the end of the live, I've definitely got acquainted with their style. "La Vie En Rose" was played at least 4 times that night ^^; Tatsurou's session band (called "I CAN'T LIVES" XD), unfortunately played only 1 piece, but wow, it was SUCH a solid performance! It was the only band which had an acoustic performance, so Tatsurou's rendition was literally instrumental in bringing out the piece. I was really happy to hear Tatsurou's voice back to normal! Am so relieved!!! There were lots of english in that song too ^^;

As for Miya, he cosplayed D'erlanger's guitarist, complete with the slicked back hair, '80s eye-lined eyes, and yes, no goatee! The vocalist for his band was Ao-san, and yeah, i reckon most people were there to see this session band, cos i noticed its "cup" had the most ticket stubs stuck into it (for events, when you enter you're asked which band you came to see, and they will stick your ticket stub into this paper cup with the band's name). It was also the last band to appear. The wait was really loooonng. The whole live ended at 4+am! But woa, Miya was a good form too! His guitars held up the band's whole performance, in my opinion! You can see they were really all enjoying themselves. (yeah and there was one part during a song where Ao tried some fanservice and had his arms around Miya... the crowd went mad)

As with most events, all the members came out at the end and sang a final song together (what else, "La Vie En Rose"!) And..and... Daisuke appeared onstage too!!! In the beginning he stayed at the side of the stage together with Tatsurou :) ... Miya emptied a cup of beer at one go (at the prompting of the audience...) ... Then, when they were playing the finale piece, Daisuke went over to Miya's side, and he picked up a guitar and tried to play alongside Miya :) :) Tatsurou was one of the vocalists, of course, and did his part well in making the atmosphere really high. Then at some point during the song, he went over to Daisuke, and the three of them, Tatsurou, Daisuke and Miya, were side-by-side and performing together --- it was GREAT! :D

As the song was coming to an end, Tatsurou did a yasashii thing... he passed the mike to Daisuke, and urged him to sing. So the final "growl" of the song came from Daisuke! Hurrah~

K, gotta go. Have spent way too long at this public computer. Write more later!

I'm back!...with some La Loco first :)

YO! I'm back from an absolutely wonderful trip to Paris & Slovenia.
Couldn't have asked for anything more! Yep, yep, yep... was fortunate enough to be able to catch mucc's live at La Loco, Paris.
As for Slovenia, work-wise things turned out great! And I've really taken a liking to the country and its people... both are equally beautiful!

First, a short one on the mucc live @ La Loco...


Pic of queue outside La Loco at around 2pm. It stretched over to the end of the street and round the corner! What an awesome turnout! And cos it's next to Moulin Rouge, there are lotsa tourists stopping by to take a look, and they were all curious about why we were queueing up.

A lady driving by stopped her car at the side and shouted to us: "Who are you waiting for?"
We shouted back: "Mucc!"
She went: "Who??"
Then we laughed... XD XD XD

Anyway, they only started admitting people into the livehouse at 4pm, even though it was stated on the ticket that it was supposed to start at that time! I don't know if it's because they forgot about daylight saving (which just started the night before) or was it because of Tatsurou's injury.. whatever it was, the live only started proper at around 5.40pm or so.

Inside the livehouse, i got a good standing position at the stepped balcony area near Yukke. I was really happy, cos I had a good view of all the members (though ironically not Yukke at times)!

The setlist was basically an extension of the Psychedelic Analysis tour, except for 路地裏, haven't seen that on their setlist for some time! And of course, the new single in May, フライト. I agree with Josu, it's not going to be my favourite mucc song. But we got to hear it 4 times! XD Yup, cos mucc sprang a surpise on the audience during the encore and told us they were filming the PV for the song during the La Loco live!

--->
First take - normal live performance. Kinda strange to see Tatsurou mouthing the lyrics XD
2nd take - members were suppose to come up close to the edge of the stage and play more...erm... expressively XD XD
3rd take - members play with their back to the audience, so that the audience gets into the shot!
4th take - audience-only shots! By this time, only the 2 camermen + Tatsurou were left on stage, each with a camera. Tatsurou looked like he was having lotsa fun filming us.

In between the takes, the members were all figuring out with the cameramen how best to take the shots... i remember it was Yukke who was the first to perform with his back to the audience so that more of the audience gets into the shot, how sweet! In between takes the audience also shouted each member's name in turn, prompting the cameras to focus on each of them for the next take XD When it was Satochi, he grinned and puffed up his chest, haha! XD XD

By the end of the 4th take, i was tired like hell from jumping up and down. i'm sure if i even get into the scene (i never have luck for such stuff!), i'm sure to look like some exhausted idiot! :oP There were a few guys who dived and ended up on the stage, and Tatsurou and the cameramen had a field time filming them XD

Performance-wise, the condition of Tatsurou's voice still got me worried... he couldn't reach the high notes of some songs... later i brought this up with one of the muccrew and she said, well, it's the 3rd consecutive night of lives. Still, it's worrying cos he really has to maintain his voice on a sustainable basis... there are so many more lives to go... i hope!

Speaking of which, there was another highlight of the Paris leg of the trip. Turns out i was staying at the same hotel as some of the muccrew, and the hotel owner kindly introduced me to a lady muccrew. That was after the hotel owner realized i was going to watch a live at La Loco, and asked me whether it was to see a Japanese band. When I said "yeah!", she dug out an issue of Shuunoto newsletter, and pointed to a picture of Yukke and a little boy, saying "My grandson!" She was pointing to the little boy, of course, not Yukke XD

Anyway, the lady muccrew was really nice, and we chatted for a while before the live, as well as the next day before i left. She gave me Yukke's pick as a parting gift... that really made my day! ^_^

Tatsurou's professionalism

Deeply impressed by Tatsurou's professionalism.
No sign at all during the live that he was in pain.
In fact, he gave it his all... even when we had to do 4 takes to film the next single Flight's PV... he was still the only member left on stage running around, genkily filming everyone!

I have great respect for a band that feels that it's their responsibility to give the audience the most wonderful live experience they've ever had. 不愧是ムック。不能不爱他们。

2.24: サイケデリック アナライシス 新木場STUDIO COAST

Arrived at the venue at 12.30pm, because I was supposed to meet a mucker from whom I bought BH's live tic for tomorrow. She turned out to be a really friendly person, and we later chatted over lunch. Or rather, I tried to make myself as comprehensible as I can, because my spoken Japanese is really bad! *hangs my head in shame*...

新木場STUDIO COAST
The livehouse is relatively big - it can take about 2,000 in the audience, including 2F seated audience. 新木場 itself, besides the livehouse, has... nothing! I mean... seriously, even its Lotteria was already closed before 9pm! Shinkiba's like the last stop on the Rinkai and Metro lines that go there, away from all the hustle and bustle..the best place, one might say, for a livehouse? I must say, it does feel rather good to see the place getting all crowded with muckers, as if it's the muckers that have come to bring life to this 鸟不生蛋 place... on the other hand, it's nice to be able to pop into a nearby 居酒屋 after a live to toast the night away, instead of having to first take a train ride back to civilization.

Anyway, back to the story. Went back to the livehouse at around 4+pm to grab tour goods. Alas, the M-size black Tour T-shirt was already sold out! First day of their 2-day lives in Tokyo, and it's sold out?!! T_T It wasn't long before the goods table got carted back in as the staff got ready to call the audience in.

That's how they indicate which number they're calling into the livehouse, cos it's a sizeable audience so the waiting area outside is quite large. Poor guy flipping the numbers got laughed at everytime he flipped a page wrongly... ^^;

But it was soooo coooolllllldddd!!! Almost unbearable when you've locked all your stuff in a locker and you're waiting outside in T-shirt & pants...brr!!!

Finally got myself into the livehouse and chose to stand in front of the PA, which is at the back of the block of audience directly in front of the stage. Studio Coast has a broad stage, and its 1F audience space is also stepped. Many muckers who wanted to get a better view rushed to 'chope' the first row of each 'stepped space'. (psst yuj: i was standing next to 古典美人！ But later on she moved to the back...还算跟她蛮有缘的嘛！)

Then.... lights out! Live starts!

1. (SE) レイブサーカス
喜欢这个SE! Tatsurou was in his oversized white T, looking as cool as ever. Miya in the checked outfit.
Apparently the 3 in front were barefoot again.

2. 極彩
Green lasers! And the backscreen came alive. First time I'm seeing a show like this for mucc!
This tall guy who ended up standing to my left (thankfully not in front) started pumping his fist into the air and jumping. Hardcore fan yea!!!

3. 嘆きの鐘
Setlist following the order in the album. 『カラカラ哭いた』part was the most heart-wrenching.

4. 絶望
Squeals from the audience when the intro came on. 　絶望。。。希望。。。words floating up the background screen. Everyone in the audience started jumping!

5. どしゃぶりの勝者
2nd time hearing this live... surprised they've included it so often in their setlists.

6。 キンセンカ
I really didn't expect this to be the first song during the live to move me. It wasn't particularly one of the songs in the album that left a deep impression, but during the live, the band, and in particular Tatsurou, gave a top-notch rendition.

7. ガーベラ
Miya's guitars were awesome.

MCTatsurou: 「ムックです。」
Audience: YEAHHHHHHH!!!...some other Tatsurou-らしい MC =)

8. 蘭鋳
A favourite with the audience...always gets the audience hyped up once the intro comes on.

9. 月光
I gotta say more about the performance of this song.
They had some of the key lyrics floating on the backscreen (they were a bit more selective in the lyrics that appeared onscreen...they had these lyrics appearing at very apt moments, quite unlike previous times when they put up full lines of the lyrics). The overall effect was really solid. The band was excellent in this one... one of my favourites for the live. Surprised to find tears filling up my eyes at the end.

10. パノラマ
Again, 'strategic' lyrics appeared on the screen, as did a scene of a long road ahead.
Tatsurou was utterly sincere in this one. Serious rendition but not over-doing it.When 「僕「等」の夢は終わったのかな？」came up on the backscreen and Tatsurou sang it to the audience, it just felt so... 心酸。

11。リスキードライブ
Audience joined in the shouting of "riskyyyyyy driveeeee" and "crazyyyyyy babyyyyyy" parts. Miya looked like he was enjoying the chorusing a lot XD

12。ディーオージ
The audience seemed to love this rock-&-roll piece. Tatsurou growled into the mike, haha.

13. レイブサーカスPart 2
Unfortunately, I do not remember much about this, except that it caught me by surprise and i was wondering what this piece was. It was good!

14. 25時の憂鬱
What can I say... I was looking forward to this one, Green lasers shooting out from the stage to the audience amidst a darkened livehouse. Yukke's new upright bass filling up the hollow spaces in the air... interlacing itself with the echos from Satochi's drums... the audience was totally still....and mersmerized.
The Quattro performances had more raw energy, more musical tension in the air, while the performance at Shinkiba felt more polished and professional. Both were equally memorable.

With the upright bass, Yukke can't move around as freely, but then he has this special way of slanting it towards Satochi when he's playing, especially at the climatic moments. It was a pleasure a watch and listen to him, really.

15. ホリゾント
Perhaps it was because the audience was still recovering from 25時, or perhaps it's just not a live favourite amongst the audience, but the response to this song was not that great. Only a spattering of hands outreached into the air. Saw Miya look/peek up to observe this. Remember thinking to myself, this song is probably not going to end up in their future setlists.

Is it possible to decide on a setlist without taking into consideration how the audience will react? Not possible huh.

16. 流星
The "hand" from the PV appeared on the backscreen. Growing to like hearing this song live.

MC
During the MC, Tatsurou mentioned that he likes this livehouse a lot. He can't quite pinpoint why, but he just likes it a lot, so he's really glad they have an opportunity to perform here for 2 nights. (ne... i like this livehouse a lot too... from the audience's point of view, it may be big but it's still possible to get good views even if you have a late entry number, cos the audience space is broader and shallower than other livehouses.)

17. 謡声
Egad, PV scenes popped up on the backscreen! Made me squirm for a moment there!
But the audience loves this song, and i think so do the band members during lives, cos the song just exudes 笑顔+阳光。

18. 夢死
The live intro (Miya's guitars and Tatusurou's voice) was very interesting!
Absolutely love this song.

19. スイミン
Standard live number..

20. 夕紅
I'm definitely starting to like this live. A song that has the audience smiling as they're jumping along with the music.

21. リブラ
First impression of the verses... heavy Jay Chow???!! Don't beat me... but yeah, it was rappish but with a heavier feel... the chorus had ascending notes of the scale... and strong chorus backing... While the song itself didn't quite speak to me at first listen, I liked how the members performed it. I always like how mucc performs a new song with lots of intensity and raw energy.

Encore 1
"Sweet episode" where Tatsurou fed Yukke with a sweet, from this bowl of individually-wrapped sweets. Later Tatsurou threw most of the sweets into the audience... then Yukke wanted to get the sweet out of his mouth and initially wanted to spit it out into the audience... XD... but Tatsurou went ダメ!!! Yukke later spit it into a tissue provided by a staff...

Tatsurou also mentioned about how the members room for Studio Coast (this livehouse) was so glamorous... and how there's like a pool behind or something... ah... no wonder he likes this place lah!

1. 娼婦
I noticed this piece didn't become a 'regular' piece on the setlist until the recent few tours? Anyway, I'm not complaining!

2. 大嫌い
One of the rare pieces during this live that had diving. But hey that's expected for this song, right?

3. 名も無き夢
Satochi's turn to bring the house down!!!

Encore 2
1. 優しい歌
Tatsurou came out with his harmonica, smiling. All the members appeared pleased too... When the song came to the ラララ portion, all the members joined in, as did the audience... then it became acapella...mmm... nice feeling to hear ♪ラララ resounding through the hall... at some part Tatsurou stopped singing and we only heard Miya... then Miya went 「オイ声出せよー!」
And it was just the audience singing, with the members listening... woa...
Then finally it was the last refrain and we had to say bye-bye... and Tatsurou muttered into the mike: 「また明日~」

It was about 8.30pm when the live ended... more than 2 hours of solid mucc live performance... but why does every mucc live seem so short to me? ^^;

Time passes by so fast when you're enjoying yourself~★

2.23: kyo-mei 対バンツアー The Back Horn vs 银杏Boyz

Only managed to arrive at Yokohama Blitz at around 6.30pm, because before that I was at a friend's place at Saitama.

Packed!!! Yup, all the lockers were taken! And there were piles and piles of jackets, scarves, shoes and wotnot thrown on top of the lockers! How~~~ In the end, I had no choice but to bring my bags in with me to the livehouse... all 3 of them! orz...

Livehouse crowd: a fair mix of TBH and GNBoyz fans, judging from the T-shirts. Many, many guys in the audience.

First band up: GNBoyz. All of them except the guitarist: Topless! (and the guitarist will join them in being topless shortly after the live started) 'Ooohs!' from the crowd. It's the first time seeing GNBoyz for me, and i must say, they lived up to my expectations of being one helluva crazy band! Halfway through their setlist, the vocalist disappeared from stage, only to re-appear again on the 2nd floor of the audience! There he sang and MC-ed, and created so much amusement that even Eujin & Kohshu peeped out from backstage to see what the commotion was about XD

But for me, the real excitement came on only when TBH started its setlist. In fact, only when TBH started playing did i realize that the livehouse sound system was quite good after all! What a difference a band makes.

Setlist:
01.レクイエム
02.コバルトブルー
03.ブラックホールバースデイ
MC
04.風船
05.生命線
06.アカイヤミ
MC
07.美しい名前
08.涙がこぼれたら 09.声
MC
10.光の結晶
Encore
01.共鳴
02.無限の荒

I've come to realize that I really enjoy watching Kohshu play. Unconsciously my eyes will end up straying onto him, hahaha. The level of engrossment of his playing was so high! Halfway through he deciding to untie his halfhead-ponytail, and at times he would look out for the audience's response to their songs. As did the other members, actually, especially when they played their new single to be released in March. TBH's sound is still as strong and mellow as ever, especially when there was GNBoyz as comparison just moments before. It's still TBH's sound that I like. & I'm sure some new TBH fans were born that night :)

Muse @ Fort Canning Park, 16 Jan 2007

I still remember, the first time i heard Muse's music, i thought, it's the kind of music that's bound to sound 100x better live than recorded. Not that I don't like their recordings, I do! (A lot) It's just that, well, there's the magic of a live that can't be captured on the CD. For some bands, it doesn't matter, but for Muse's brand of dramatic rock, I was sure something else would be found in their lives.

Boy, was I right! Singapore was lucky enough to be one of their stops during their current tour, and on 16 Jan 07, at Fort Canning Park, they blew the crowd away, i tellya. Since it was after work, I could only arrive at the venue just minutes before the scheduled starting time of 8pm. But there was still a long queue to the entrance, so by the time I got in, it was about 8.15pm. The band didn't come out till about 8.30pm. There was a sizeable crowd, but it wasn't packed full, imagine that! They were still selling tics at the door! This is the band whose live at the UK Wembley Stadium was sold out within 1 hr of release!

The show focused on the music, with minimal lighting or other special effects. They only let loose a bunch of huge confetti-filled ballooons into the audience halfway through the show, and i think there were also some fire sparkles at the end. But really, with the band's charisma and stage presence, there wasn't a need to depend on effects. My eyes were rivetted to the members all the time. Matthew's guitars were totally mersmerizing! As were his piano solos! What intensity! I also didn't expect his vocals to sound so clear live.

Yes, I was moved close to tears at some parts of the live. Sometimes at the most unexpected parts! (like during the guitar solo in "Invincible", this is the first time I think, that I've been moved to tears because of a guitar solo in a song like this!)

The setlist was a mix of old and new songs:
01. Knights Of Cydonia
02. Hysteria
03. Map of the Problematique
04. Butterflies & Hurricanes (YESH!!!)
05. Supermassive Black Hole
06. New Born
07. Forced In
08. Bliss
09. Feeling Good
10. Sunburn
11. Invincible
12. Time Is Running Out
13. Plug In Baby

Encore
14. Soldier's Poem
15. Starlight
16. Stockholm Syndrome

It's amazing what came out of these three people (+ support keyboardist). For a glimpse, there are 3 short video clips up on www.stomp.com.sg. Here's one: Hysteria.

The members didn't speak much to the crowd. But at the end, I thought i heard them say "See you next year!". Did they??? I hope so! Muse is a band i'd consider travelling to watch. Too bad their shows in Malaysia and Taiwan fall within the dates I'll be in Japan!

I went to check out the tour mechandise only after the live, but many items were already sold-out, so i didn't manage to get anything, sob! The mad squeeze out amongst all those sweaty Singapore men was just un-tahanable... but, by that time i was already grinning from ear-to-ear and lightning could have struck for all i cared, i was already thinking, the ticket's totally worth every cent!

三線

Just read the R&R Newsmaker interview, and Miya confirmed that it was indeed him who played the Okinawan Sanshin in 優しい歌! :)
And it was composed during the World Tour Extra in Okinawa. :) :)
I like how he described what the song was all about. :) :) :)

Someone uploaded the performance of 25時の憂鬱 during 69Days live in Quattro on 3 Oct. It is WAY cool:
25時の憂鬱 - Shibuya Quattro, 06/10/03

Yes imagine watching it live. Imagine those sounds echoing through the livehouse, enveloping you completely. Pure b.l.i.s.s.

I shall blog relentlessly this weekend

Yup! It's that time of year again! The time of the year when i NEED to go on a relentless blogging mode about Mucc's new album, so to all non-mucker readers of this blog, you either:
a) go pick up the album and check it out yourself too! or
b) skip this post entirely.
Of course i'd prefer you do a). Good things must share mah!

Anyway, on to the album. [Warning: long soliloquy ahead.]

Need I say, the first inkling I got of the album was during the 2 Oct and 3 Oct 69days lives @ Quattro, when mucc first played a "new song", later to be famously-known as "The Quattro New Song". At first, we didn't know whether it would come from the new single or album (Horizont had not been released yet). But when we saw the jacket design of Horizont, we though, "nah, can't be the single!" Unless it's a B-track of the single. And yet, the song was so experimental, so alternative, that it just tingled "album material" to us. So, we waited.

Of course, when Horizont came out, it became clear that the song was from the new album. Then the question was, which title was it? Mucc had also played another song from the new album during their 69days lives, but to be frank, I can't quite remember which track it is now. I only remember "The Quattro New Song". Why? Simply because it blew me away. Yukke used a handsome new bass for the number, and we heard frighteningly new sounds coming out from Miya's guitars. At first, Yukke's bass went on loop for some time, haunting the live-house. Yet later, he had a beautiful solo part too. As mentioned earlier, there was a strong experimental feel to it, so to see the band play something like this live was a first time for all of us.

From the description, some muckers might already know I'm referring to 「25時の憂鬱」. Yup, it was eventually revealed that "The Quattro New Song" was 「25時の憂鬱」, i think Tatsu said its title in the recent Zy. Stylish Wave event or somethin'... Anyway, my point is, it made me really excited about where the band was gonna go in this new album. What are the rest of the songs like? Equally surprising? Worth it for me to consider watching their Winter lives?

Oh yes, I'd also like to say, the darn loop and tune for 「25時の憂鬱」 re-emerged in my head on the first day back to work on 5 Oct. Scary, cos I had only heard the song like, what, 2 times??! I was so amazed at that, I sms-ed yuj (who's in Hong Kong) about it. Later, yuj sms-ed me back saying, the same thing happened to her!

[To be continued...]