DOGinTheパラレルワールドオ ーケストラ

At the start of March I had been invited to see DOGinTheパラレルワールドオ ーケストラ, or rather DOG in the PWO for short! It was my first time seeing them live in concert, and it was their final live of their Japan tour so as expected the Band gave it their very best and put on such a dramatic performance.
DOG in the PWO are such a creative band and I enjoyed seeing them live, I was also given the chance of meet and greet, or after show guest, which you could casually talk with the band after the show (and if you asked nicely had a photo opportunity with them).

The band announced the Live would be recorded and released later this year on DVD, so I look forward to watching that at some point. They also announced a few other release dates, tour dates and ended with "SECRET" which the crowd gave shocked and disgruntled responses.

I don't really follow DOG in the PWO however, but I have not been to a concert in a while now. Of course their Vocalist was crowded with Fans after the show, so a simple and small gesture was all I was bothered with rather than crawling through a mass of Fangirls. Their Drummer amusingly had a gathering of elderly Women, who I am wondering if they are Family Friends or relatives, but it was so sweet watching them fawn over him! I managed a photo oppertunity with one member, who completely trolled my photo, so I was given a second one. After we said our good byes we left to go home. Sadly we couldn't keep our passes, but I did get a photo of mine.

07112012 o(≧∀≦)o

I went to see An Cafe in London! o(≧∀≦)o スーパ楽しい！ I travelled to London on the day, and met my Friend Toni in the coach station before we headed to the venue. Already people were queuing, which was irritating as hell because the venue specifically said 'No early queueing' -- according to staff, early means 'over night'.Oh.. I met with a lot of people who I had not seen in over a year (yeah, people who claim they're anti-social when they see Friends weekly, stop now). It was shocking that I had not met Toni or Gigi in over a year almost. But I was truly glad to see everyone~!!

We headed to Picadilly after talking to people, I wanted to find my Boyfriend a present but I had no luck swimming through ignorant tourists and accidentally spoke Japanese in my struggle to say 'MOVE OUT MY WAY'. The Purikura place was such a failure too, I am kind of glad it was shut down, but please hire Staff that know how to work and load the machine because evidentially you are losing out on profit. Wow, so far to do nothing but whine. We ventured around China Town and honestly I had forgotten how dirty London is, in comparison to my stay in Yokohama. Anyway I took some photos while out, mainly to mail my Boyfriend to convince him I didn't get shot/murdered/abducted etc.

Well, I say 'No body got murdered' and found this. But it seemed to  be interesting art on the ground, I saw a couple of these actually, very clever!

This is a penlight they use during the live. Very cute! They should really consider selling cuter merchandise while on tour, but usually they get the Tour Promoters in Europe to produce and "manufacture" their goods, ie; a tacky £5 mug. But I still purchased it to store pens in. HAH

Here is the flag created. You cannot see it very well, because it was a quick sneaky snapshot I took. The artwork is by Keita, who is often the UK flag designer and will offer to draw for most flags. I do wish the font was a tiny bit bigger - because there was another banner floating around which got most signatures, but I cannot complain.

It was getting a little cold, and around 7:00PM they let non-vip inside. Already the crush-fest began and that REALLY pissed me off. I've decided now that An Cafe will be my last UK show, unless someone I truly like comes back (mainly Girugamesh, An Cafe) But I really enjoyed it, and got to take part with my Friends around me. Peter was close by, he told me that Toni and I wouldn't have a problem with people crushing us, it made me laugh -- I seem very violent during lives. (*σ´▽`)σ When An Cafe were introducing each other, Kanon was struggling to get his words out, and despite my admiration for him I had to shout "はやく！はやく！" which made him stutter more and I felt guilty so I shouted "がんばってね！" for a better reaction. The English words he chose were sweet (confusingly sweet) "I want to make you melt" (*'ω`★从)*:.。. .。.:*・

It was really fun, though at one point I couldn't help but laugh at people. Miku shouted "ただいま！" (tadaima) and everyone around me shouted 'tadaima' back to him -- but I was the only person around me to shout "おかえりなさい！" (okaerinasai) (οдО;) The tour is based on 'tadaima and okaerinasai' which is 'I am back - Welcome back/home' in Japanese. They only played a couple of the new releases, which I was a little thankful because Amazing Blue is not so amazing, that is coming from a fan of theirs for almost 10 years, (surprised how old they are?) They sang Bonds, and I am happy that steadily towels are becoming a recent theme here in Europe, though I only saw maybe 5 towels in total that night.

I cannot remember the entire setlist but I do remember them playing Escapism and Merry Making, which I hardcore danced to (lol), and I amazingly made people move away from me. At one point one girl DID try to jab into me but a few elbows later she backed down. Plus the guy beside me REFUSED to let her ass through too. Kudos.

After the encore etc, and getting smashed by IDIOTS and punching them, we went to fetch merch (more merch) I got the An Cafe note pad. It's cute, but I realised how I will never use it. OH WELL. Cute. (☆ω☆)
I'm going to miss out a LARGE chunk of the night because I am far too tired, and let's just say I enjoyed the night talking to a Friend, sitting on the floor getting piles because cold. The journey home felt so much quicker than going to London, mainly because I slept for an hour maybe. My Friend exchanged a couple messages to keep me entertained, he also seemed worried about me being in London so I insisted London is a nice place. (；´Д`A Please visit me~~

Now I am home, and dying with gig 'aids' as people call them. My everything feels broken and I don't think a bath will justify the pain. Now I am off to write a bunch of complaint emails.

N@H 1ST ワンマン!

Aug 11 2012: You know someone really cares for you when they spend all morning (and the previous day) worrying about whether or not you can make it to Shibuya alone. Considering I had a blinder of a hangover, I felt well enough to head out to Shibuya to do a small purchase and head back to Hachiko to meet Katie.
I was originally going to go see N@H on my own, but Katie and I hadn't spent much time together so she offered to go see my overly auto-tune-pop-band with me. We sat outside waiting, talking and just generally trying to escape the heat until I realised most people had gone in already. (I totally messed up the times oops).
The merchandise table was pretty much empty, but I wasn't too fussed, I had already purchased the CD from Like an Edison that day anyway, and I found no appeal in the scrunchie or t-shirt. We soon settled at the back, it was pretty packed out, much fuller than when I saw Rojak at the same venue.

The live itself was amazing, Katie was worrying that she didn't know the furi, and I only knew it from the first release, and they had released a mini album since then! But thankfully their furi wasn't too insane or challenging, albeit one song アッパーホップDANCEマニア! Oh man.
They had a few video intervals which basically was the members each talking about their process as a band and how they have gained so much more from being as 'N@H'. It was really memorable and I am so happy to have been able to take part in their first oneman!

セットリスト

opSE(Impulse)

1.ツナグオト

2.スペース

-MC-

3.Pieces

4.Hello!!

5.DROP MAN

6.Beautiful

-SE-

7.RAGSIOD

～ドキュメンタリー風な映像～

8.たまねぎのうた-鬼ON!!-(ライボーカル)

9.コトノハ

10.アッパーホップDANCEマニア

11.Puzzle

～Encore～

1.未来へ掲ぐ掌

-MC-

2.FLY HIGH!!

哀愁を漂わせながらライが「たまねぎのうた-鬼ON!!-」を熱唱中。

N@H @ FACEBOOK

After the live, we quickly headed out in fear of the push and shove and went to the conbini for essentials before chilling back outside to wait for the Gays. It confused me that there wasn't a mad rush of Fangirls, but I remembered seeing cheki, and those lines take forever to filter down and out. 

Eventually the Gays rolled up, we were taking bets how wasted they'd be, but I was told they only had a small drink. So we wandered around Shibuya before taking purikura looking absolutely terrible from a gig and how humid it was that night. Gross. Deciding on food over beer, we went to McDonalds and we introduced the Gays to - French Fries dipped in Mc Flurry. Which.. sadly they did not enjoy. PSSSH, they don't know what they are missing! Anyone else enjoy doing this? 

(つω`*)☆ DELeTE ニコニコ！

DELeTE @ 六本木 BeeHIVE

『Live Stream K-Station ～D.chi Birthday Voyage～』  

Today I watched DELeTE @ 六本木 BeeHIVE, via ニコニコ. The live was for D.chi and his Birthday which was previous this week! D.chi is a member of a Pirate themed band called Rojak, who I adore dearly. I discovered Rojak a little before venturing to Japan this year! But anyway, the live looked like it was super fun, even if I was sat for hours beforehand watching these weird solo artists who I have no clue who they were! However I did find out while looking at Gicchi's blog the line up for this evening!!

【出演】志信／高橋侑響永／DELeTE／Lych veilL ／Rojak

Of course, Rojak were headlining the show! I had to do a  bit of research on Lych veiL but they were incredibly scary looking. Finally DELeTE came on stage, the stage was rather strangely set out, as the band themselves had to set up their own equipment, so we watched Neu and Renji set out their instruments while Mio tried to tell the female co-host how to pronounce poor Renji's name!

I took a couple screen snaps of the live! I just have to wait for permission from DELeTE Staff to upload them to the Facebook~ But of course with ニコニコ people can talk - during the live words will scroll across the screen! Amusing. (DELeTE did supply us with two other links, but I chose to stick with ニコニコ though it was jumpy at times.

 

After DELeTE it was Rojak next and finally, they played their set list, and I must admit, Rojak Fans are very cute! They had a theme - which possibly was only due to D.chi and his Birthday, but it was so very cute! During the 'encore' Gicchi announced he was tired! ”眠いです!バイバイ” 笑 So he vanished and D.chi did a couple solo songs. His voice is very powerful, but I prefer Mio's! After awhile Gicchi came back with a Birthday hat for D.chi who didn't see to want to wear it. I'm certain the song they sang kept saying 'SEXY' - awkward.

When Rojak's set was over, they left, only to return with DELeTE and Lych veiL and they did a little lottery for Fans. Wonderfully, a DELeTE fan won the prizes from DELeTE! I saw she got a couple of the flashing rings and a CD. Then the whole group of Bands did a song together, by this time I had stopped screen capping, but Mio had to read the lyrics from the paper, very cute! 笑

To be honest, I miss Japanese lives. I gave up the option to go to see ScReW and I put the money from that towards Japan! I mailed Boo earlier to explain something! But my Japanese still needs to improve, because it's bothersome writing in Japanese with English beneath it. So exciting though! I'll be in Japan again from August through to September! 

Today has been a very good day! Yet I feel super exhausted from doing very little. Tomorrow I get to visit my Great Grandma and Grandmother, so I will use the peaceful time to study. Since my Great Grandma usually falls to sleep and I could use the little distractions to study!

  

Twitter: DELeTE UK 

Facebook: DELeTE UK

(★ω★。) Tokyo ・ March 2012 ・ PT2

Alright, so get ready for the 'official first day in Japan' blog! It will be a little picture heavy, but nothing too terrible. Ready! Go- ミ☆ Our first day was a little crazy-busy but amazing, Juu had ordered us tickets to go to the live at 東京キネマ倶楽部. The name was familiar, and I realised I had been to the live house before when I first went to Japan. Live house is called, "kinema" and is a nice building, neatly hidden away and really easy to locate from the train station, unlike most live houses!
Before this we went to meet Juu's Friend who was going to be at the show too, she is called Ku, who was very sweet! (Again, I realised I had met her briefly before in Japan - in the same live house! It's scary at such a coincidence.) We met Ku at Ueno and went to grab a bite to eat in Hard Rock Cafe! Despite how cold it was - as always in Tokyo, I ended up with iced peach tea while freezing to death. (No wonder I am so ill right now)

 

This is Juu and Myself, and then Ku and Imke! (stealing pictures from Juu's Facebook!)

Afterwards we made our way to a Cat Cafe in Shinjuku! Called, 猫カフェ 新宿... at first I was a little sceptical considering I live with four cats and I didn't want to pay to sit with even more cats! But I am glad I did visit in the end! There were so many cats in the first room, and for 300yen you could buy treats for them. Since they were so used to treats, the moment they saw you with a plastic pot, you were suddenly covered in cats! Upon arrival you are given a pass, mine was No.07 and it had the cutest picture of a white persian! Not exactly like my own cat, but close enough!

 

Ku and Imke both had a pot of chicken, so the cats were all crazy! It was so cute. I did take a video of Juu and some cats, I should upload it, eventually! She was hand feeding them also! So cute~

After Cat madness, Ku had mentioned a Cafe which is Alice in Wonderland themed. It took us awhile to locate it, and at some points Juu and I weren't very helpful and danced around mindlessly at one point. Sorry!

The plates were so cute, and the whole Cafe inside was adorable. The Girls who served us were dressed as Alice too in small blue outfits. We ate, and spoke a whole bunch and just generally spoke about a couple Bands and stuff. We also had cute Alice themed desserts which were too adorable to eat! If you have me on Facebook - I have uploaded more photos there! We took Purikura at one point too, you can not go to Japan and not take purikura, seriously! It's a must!

After we ate, it was time to go to the live house! I was rather excited, because I was getting to see a band called N@H-ノア- and they look really fun live, and yes! They were super fun. I got to see Lycaon again, but we didn't know what they were wearing, well I was certain Yuuki was wearing white snake skin, and no one seemed to believe me until he came on stage. The first row ended up getting water spat on by Yuuki, I wasn't so amused because it happened at least four times afterwards. Mocking Yuuki seemed so amusing too, while people were headbanging I just stuck up my finger at him in which he returned it. Even though the event was an Undercode one, I wasn't so amused for Kisaki. I left around 8:30pm before him anyway to go meet a Friend in Shibuya! Pssh~

3月10日2012 @ 東京キネマ倶楽部 

凛 / Black Gene For the Next Scene / DIAURA / Lycaon / 

Megaromania / 怪奇!!動物アジテーター / N＠H-ノア- / SOMATIC GUARDIAN

 

YeeeeeeeeeLL⇒

I actually wanted to do this 12/28 but lacking in motivation, etc etc.
A year ago on that date I attended a live @ ShinjukuMARZ - Japan.

「2010年PIECElangラストパーティ→"STAY⇔GOLD”」

「ＳＴＡＹ⇔ＧＯＬＤ」　３ｎｄ　ＯＮＥＭＡＮ

The band are dumb, "3nd" is a typo, it was actually their "2nd" oneman live. This live was the main reason for me to scrape every last penny I could possibly find in the remaining three months of the year.

I travelled with my Friend Toni, and her Friend. We arrived in Japan on the 27th, so we were pretty jet lagged the next day. I got told Shinjuku is a strange area, but I didn't particularly care. Of course, we got lost, I ended up asking the first white person I could find to ask for directions, he was a really TALL american, who was  more creepy than the older men starring. BUT, we got lost again, well we were actually really close to the live house, just a couple blocks away. (Japan have live houses in the weirdest place.) But a nice Kansai man came to help us, though a little sarcastic and witty, since I asked him for 'Shinjuku Marz' he decided to name planets in English while walking us that way. He pointed out all the places on the map for us too. I swear if I ever hear the word パチンコ again!

RESULT! We found MARZ. The Guy - I think his name was Kenji? He asked us to name a Japanese band, with a Japanese name. It kept us guessing for some time. Can any of my followers/readers name a Japanese band with a Japanese name? (Solo artists do not count.) The only one I managed was 東京指定 haha.
The guy was so nice I asked him for a photo, he was more of a poser than me (left). While we were stood, the band did come out - but not my favourite member, of course he needs to be on a leash. 笑

Kenji did approach the band for us, asking them questions in Japanese, to which I did not understand since he walked off and I couldn't listen in. But Kenji returned, and told us they were shocked to see foreign girls at the show. 笑 After this, Kenji took us on a tour of Shinjuku, he snapped a couple photos of us too. 
I had arranged to meet a blog Friend from Ameba at PIECElang, which I had forgotten about until she approached me - how do you greet a Japanese person? My British instinct was to hug her. But a simple bow, wave and sort of giggle seemed to work the trick. But we both had limited words since the language barrier invaded us, I guess we only managed to do an introduction.

Hours passed, eventually we were let in. As much as I love the Japanese entry system, I really-really need to work on my numbers. （ ´Д｀） But thankfully the Girls behind us helped, and the ticket-yeller also helped us. Either way we got in and I totally ripped a huge hole in my wallet, well it was necessary. PIECElang merch is live only, and even on auctions is IMPOSSIBLE to obtain (apart from CD, which I own ALL of them)
PIECElang had an even weirder system which was, 2 people for 1 ticket, we got a DVD and a flier too, since PIECElang call their lives 'PARTY'. So it was a party. We gathered around the stage and just spoke, the saizen in front of us were doing the furi, so I picked up pretty easily on that by watching them.

I would love to share with you every little detail of how the live went, but it is impossible. Basically, this live held two meanings: I met Pinpin in Shibuya when I first went to Japan, so I found him a little unique, quirky and down right idiotic since his bandmate, ANDo punched him for being so hyperactive. Ever since then, I have been hooked on PIECElang. Also the live we attended, was ANDo's last live. So it held the end of a chapter for him. The live was tearful during MC, each member said their last "Thank You" - which, was all Pinpin actually said to ANDo, that was a little heart wrenching, because as a DJ he is always so lively. Thus his name DJ☆ぴんぴん, which roughly translated back is 'lively/energetic' 笑 

Oh, during ANDo's MC, once he finished it, the British fans decided to 'surprise' him. We stepped forward and let off a couple party poppers. 笑 It made him jump, and the saizen thought the band had done it, so they tried to collect the confetti. 笑 But, HKR and the band thought it was very amazing, but ANDo kept saying he was shocked. He thanked everyone for showing up, even though it wasn't a sell out as I wished.

Best Points:
♪  ANDo, picking his nose - in front of us all. He only realised this when a girl gave him a pack of tissues, it was truly disgusting - yet awesome.
♪  Pinpin, suddenly emerging  from behind his deck with a set of pompoms. He is so very awkward and hyperactive on stage. I was waiting for this to appear.
♪  Kana being unable to wipe his nose, so HKR came along to wipe it for him, the brotherly love in this band is so great. Though HKR calls Pinpin tiresome.
♪  Aki, giving Pinpin a hug. Pinpin left the stage for a short moment during the MC. Aki said the sweetest thing to ANDo, telling him he loved and would miss him.
♪  HKR, he was very affectionate to his Band and the Fans. Even though he is the vocalist, he let ANDo shine that night.

After the night, cheki was released, I spent so much again. I traded a couple inside, then Kana wandered in with more cheki. I love how comfortable Japanese musicians are, they can walk in freely without being mauled and attacked by hundreds of fan girls - the total opposite happens here in Europe, and it's actually annoying.
I went outside and met with my Japanese Friend who had been asking for me. She shown me her cheki and she had the most adorable cheki of Pinpin, I was jealous, and I shown her mine, she called ANDo an idiot too 笑  I really miss her, I keep forgetting to write to her too. While leaving I pulled down the poster for the venue for keepsakes. I am so glad I did now since this was there final oneman show too --

I will honestly miss this band and the Friendship they held. PIECElang said, due to musical differences they would disband. Shortly after the devastating news in March of the Earthquake and Tsunami, it was announced Kana had lost his parents. Which seemed to be the final dot to end of PIECElang. Aki has now moved on to a new band called -dist-. HKR now known as his former name Hikaru works with Haku on a side project, who occasionally Pinpin is called up to drum for them. ANDo of course went to complete and continue on with Family Business.

Here is their one, and only PV that was to be released on their first mini album! Enjoy.